Bible Commentaries
Joshua 22

Verses 1-33

XXIII

BRIEF REVIEW; RETURN OF WARRIORS OF THE TWO AND A HALF TRIBES

Joshua 22-24

We commence this discussion at Joshua 22, and there are several things that I wish to discuss in this section. First Theme: Brief review Joshua 13-21, enough to make it clear what part of the territory was yet unoccupied, as well as one or two other little things.

Second Theme: The return of the warriors of the two and a half tribes whose territory lay east of the Jordan.

Third Theme: Joshua’s first address.

Fourth Theme: Joshua’s final address, Joshua 24:1-28.

Fifth Theme: The renewal of the covenant and its witness.

Sixth Theme: Completing the records, as was done in the Pentateuch by Moses.

Seventh Theme: The death and burial of Joshua, the burial of the bones of Joseph and the death and burial of Eleazar. That part of Joshua 24, just as a part of Deuteronomy as a connecting link, was inserted by the later historians, and you will see that not only here but it reopens in the next book. Now those are the several themes that I shall discuss. In the preceding section on the division of the land, Joshua 13-21 inclusive, you will notice that on account of Joshua’s age the Almighty instructed him to divide the land on the west side of the Jordan as it had been divided on the east side of the Jordan, and yet the record states that much land yet remained to be possessed.

Now, in the part of the territory where they had not been fully subjugated, their enemies were the Geshuri, very different from the Geshurites that we shall learn about directly. They occupied the Arabian desert from the river of Egypt where it went into the Mediterranean Sea clear on up almost to Kadesh-barnea, until it touched the Philistine country. Now, that tribe of the Canaanites west of the Jordan inhabiting that territory, while it had been divided, had not been brought into complete subjugation. Their territory came up to the narrow strip on the Mediterranean Sea, the five towns of the Philistines that were not completely occupied, then going further up by the Mediterranean Sea were the Phoenicians, the chief towns of which were Tyre and Sidon, and they were not completely conquered. So that what remained to be conquered on the west were the Phoenicians and the Philistines.

Now, when it comes to the northern border, a strip of country commencing in the mountains of Lebanon and including the entrance into Hamath, a stretch clear across into the mountains of Gilead, where was the half tribe of Manasseh, that strip had not been completely subjugated. So that on three sides, the Geshuri on the south; on the west, the Philistines and Phoenicians; on the north, the strip including a number of small kingdoms, particularly the kingdom of Maachi, and one other that the half tribe of Manasseh had not overcome were not subjugated. Now, without going into an elaborate detail, I determined to give you an idea of the country, so that you could see that on the three borders, south, west, and stretching clear across the north, there was unpossessed territory.

The next thing to explain in that section is that the section closes in Joshua 21:43-45, by stating that every promise that God had made to them had been literally fulfilled and that they had been put in possession of the land and that no enemy was able to stand before them and that they had rest. The point is, to reconcile that with those facts that I have just stated, that on the north, on the west and on the south are portions of territory that have not been occupied. How, then, is the conclusion of that section true? You will find by carefully noting Exodus 23:29-30, and Deuteronomy 7:22, that God had forewarned them that he would not put them in possession of all this territory in one year. It would have been a destruction of the population before any other population could move in and keep the land from going to waste, therefore, in making the promise to put them in possession that promise was modified. "I will not drive out the enemy the first year, lest the land should go to waste, but I will drive them out little by little, year after year." That explains the apparent discrepancy between the two statements.

The next thought that I wish to bring out is that in the beginning God had appointed Joshua to make the general conquest of the land where it required all Israel to be held together in one army, the main battles to be fought and the enemy to be defeated, so that they would not take the open field. Then Joshua’s part must end, and the details of driving out the remnants of the people devolved upon each tribe, which God clearly foretold, as you will see in Numbers 33:55, and Joshua restates it in Joshua 23:11-13. God designedly left a portion of the inhabitants for each tribe, in its tribal capacity, to grapple with and assured them that if they were sluggish in completing that, then he would preserve these remnants alive to be a thorn in their flesh; as a test of their character. So that they understood that these remnants would rise in punishment, as you will see illustrated when you come to the book of Judges. So all of the statements have been taken together and scripture compared with scripture. Some of the greatest sermons that have ever been published are on those remnants of nations, God permitting them to remain to try the tribes. Generally the sermons preached on that make this scriptural application, viz.: that after regeneration there remain remnants of the fleshly nature to be overcome by sanctification, and if a man does not cultivate sanctification these remnants will rise up and conquer him and bring him into temporary captivity at least. It is a fine spiritual application.

The second theme is the return of the warriors of the two and a half tribes whose territory lay east of the Jordan. That proves that the conquest of Joshua was over, and the army broken up. Joshua assembled these tribes and passed on them the highest commendations that a general ever gave to soldiers. He said that they had not failed in any particular in doing what Moses required and what they had promised. There was not a blot on their record. Following that commendation, which is as superb as anything I know of in literature, he then exhorts them that on their return to their old home they be as faithful in the future as they had been in the past. Then he gives them a benediction and a blessing is pronounced on them, and in that benediction he says, "You go home; you go with great spoils and many riches, your part of the conquest which has taken place." And so they are dismissed, and this is the first item of the return of the tribes. The next thought is that when these armies got to the river Jordan they erected on the mountains near the Jordan a very great and very conspicuous altar, an altar to be seen, as your text says. You can even see it now, at least the site of it and the ruins of it, and you see it a long way off.

Now, when the nine and a half tribes heard of the erection of that altar, they misconstrued its intent and came rushing together to make war on the two and a half tribes. But before they declared war, somebody had sense enough to suggest the sending of an ambassador to find out about this, and so they selected a high priest and a deputation from the nine and a half tribes, and they went over and interviewed the two and a half tribes, and interviewed them very sternly. They thought that the altar was the altar for burnt offerings and that it was intended to be a line of separation between the two and a half tribes and the nine and a half tribes, and that the two and a half tribes would worship idols there and not the true God; that it meant revolt from the central place of worship and the high priest makes an accusation.

The two and a half tribes turn them down very easily. They say, "Brethren, this is not an altar of burnt offerings. This is an altar of witness and the meaning is that, as long as that hill stands and that altar stands, it is a pledge that the tribes east of the Jordan are bound up with the tribes west of the Jordan in unity of worship, and the unity of the tribes is to be preserved." I imagine that that deputation looked foolish. Just before you go to war on people, read David Crockett, who said: "Be sure you are right, and then go ahead." Stop long enough to be sure you have heard the right of it. If we consider the truth of a thing, it will from much dissension free us. So I think that the two and a half tribes came out way ahead of that high priest as well as upon the fidelity of their service. The two and a half tribes made the name of that altar "Ed." That means witness, not burnt offerings, "witness," like Jacob’s Mizpah, the meaning of which is the same thing: "The Lord witness between me and thee." Somehow I was always charmed with that incident, viz.: the going home of those tribes and their fidelity to the unity of Israel and the true worship of God.

Now we come to the third theme. It is presented in Joshua 23. Joshua calls the people together, it doesn’t say where, but presumably at Shiloh, and delivers them an address bearing upon this point, viz.: The duty that devolved upon them in their several tribal capacities to conquer the remnants: "Now while I was your general, I represented the whole nation; I commanded the army of the whole nation. You will bear witness that God stood by me; that he gave us victory every time; that no nation was able to stand before us. Now that public general part is ended, and your particular part remains to be done." It is in that connection that he tells us that if they are sluggish about driving out these remnants, God would retain them and preserve them as thorns in their sides In that connection he reminds them of the reason that God commanded the extirpation of the Canaanites, viz.: they were idolaters, they were outrageous sinners. Now says Joshua, "If you do as they did, God will do to you as he did to them. If you turn away from the true God and you lapse into the idolatrous ways of these nations, and that can be brought about by your intermarriage and your treaties with them, if you do that, he will sponge you off the map as he sponged them off the map for a like offense, and you will go into captivity." Now, you can see that presumably it was at Shiloh, and the purpose of this assembly is quite distinct from the purpose of the one next to be considered.

So now we come to Joshua 24, the last part. Now he commands all Israel to come together again and the place this time is Shechem, not Shiloh. Why should it be Shechem? Considering the objects that he had in view in calling them together, why was Shechem the appropriate place?

First, Shechem was the place where Abraham halted when he got to this land, and he built an altar and received from God the promises of the land; it was to be given to him and his children. When God sent him out, he went, not knowing whither he went, but here at Shechem God outlines to him that this very territory is to belong to him and his children. That was the first altar and the first promise considering the possession of the land.

The second thing is that when Jacob returned from Mesopotamia, he stopped at Shechem and built an altar and there was a renewal of the promises to him, and he there freed his family from idolatry. You remember that one of his wives carried away the teraphim of Laban and Jacob made his wife bury these things under an old tree.

Right there Jacob bought a particular section of land, setting a price, and that land he was to deed to Joseph, and the descendants of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh, and right at that place, as we learn later in this book, the bones of Joseph were buried. In the last chapter of Genesis Joseph tells them that he will die and he says, "Take my bones," and Moses took the bones of Joseph with him and we learn here that the bones of Joseph were buried -there, and so we learn from Stephen’s speech in Acts. There you have three reasons. Let us see if we cannot find another. When Joshua first brought the people over into the Promised Land after they had been circumcised and he kept the feast of the Passover, it was to this place that he brought them with Mount Ebal on one side and Mount Gerizirn on the other. He renewed the covenant there and there he built an altar of stone, and on the stones recorded the Pentateuch as a witness. Then we learn next from Ebal and Gerizirn were enunciated in turn a curse and a blessing of the covenant, and yet further we learn that there this copy of the covenant, prepared by Joshua, was set up so that the Pentateuch stood there and the altar of the renewal of the covenant stood there and the echoes of the blessings and curses, and the bones of Joseph were there, and the altar of Abraham was there, and the altar of Jacob was there. "So it was intensely appropriate that in his farewell address he should gather them where they had renewed the covenant on their first entrance into the Promised Land.

Now we come to the final address as it reviews their history. He reminded them that beyond the flood, that is, the Euphrates River (that is the meaning of Euphrates, the flood), in Ur of the Chaldees, their ancestor was Terah, an idolater, and that from that idolatrous country God called their immediate ancestor, Abraham, and brought him to this place and made him that promise. He then shows their history under Moses when God leads them out of Egypt and establishes with them his covenant at Mount Sinai, their wandering in the wilderness and that God conquered for them the tribes east of the Jordan, and God conquered for them the tribes west of the Jordan.

Now, upon these historical facts he makes an exhortation that is very thrilling. He shows if ever a nation in the world was under obligations to keep the covenant given at Sinai and renewed at Ebal and Gerizirn, that this people was under obligations to do it. And he urges them to be faithful, in all things, to their God and their religion. Having finished his exhortation, the people reply, and they say that they will do what he tells them to do. Then he said that they need not think, and you and I need not think, that it is an easy thing to live right in the sight of a jealous God. If you make a vow to do anything, you had better thoughtfully consider it. He having then cautioned them, they renewed their promise. Then he said, "Now we will renew the covenant itself." While the book doesn’t give the details of how the covenant was renewed, they renewed it just as before. There they built an altar; there were certain burnt offerings, certain sanctification and setting apart. Then there was the taking upon themselves the vows of the covenant. Now that having been done, Joshua makes that altar witness of the covenant. Then he completes the records just as Moses finished up the records of the Pentateuch and put them in the ark to be preserved. Joshua completes the record of this time and takes the Pentateuch out of the ark – and slips his record inside of the holy ark of the covenant of God, and all the history in connection with it as a witness.

Then follows an account, doubtless by Phinehas, the high priest. As Joshua had finished the last part of Deuteronomy, so here a record is made of Joshua’s death and his burial. There is a singular thing in the Alexandrian version of the Septuagint, which says that the knives with which the people had been circumcised were buried with Joshua. It may have been, I don’t know. Then follows the death of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, and that closes up the book. Now, this is a very brief discussion but it is sufficient, and in our next discussion we will take the period of the Judges, bearing in mind that a considerable part of the book of Judges overlaps the book of Joshua; that several things occurred before he died and before his final address was delivered.

QUESTIONS

1. Why was the land now divided?

2. What land yet in the hands of the enemy?

3. How was God’s promise literally fulfilled?

4. What was Joshua’s part in the conquest of the land?

5. What each tribe’s part after the general conquest?

6. If they proved sluggish in this then what?

7. What commendation pronounced upon them by Joshua?

8. What exhortation to them?

9. The benediction on them?

10. The altar on the Jordan:

(1) Describe it.

(2) How construed by the nine and one-half tribes, and why?

(3) What steps did they take?

(4) What the response?

(5) What the effect on the nine and one-half tribes?

(6) What name did they give the altar and what its meaning?

(7) What the value of embassy before war?

III. Joshua’s First Address about the Completion of the Conquest

11. Where assembled?

12. What duty does he point out to them?

13. What the penalty for their failure?

14. Where?

15. Why there? (Give seven reasons.)

16. Give brief analysis of this address of Joshua, and their reply.

17. Give an account of the renewal of the covenant.

18. What the witness?

19. Tell how Joshua completed the records.

20. Who wrote the account of Joshua’s death and burial?

21. The fulfilment of what prophecy made by Joseph recorded here?

22. What other death recorded here?