Bible Commentaries
Joshua 21

Verse 44

REST AT LAST!

‘Rest round about.’

Joshua 21:44

The conquest is ended, and the distribution of the land is completed. The time has now come for the peaceable possession and cultivation of the land. During the whole of this time, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, already settled on the east side of the Jordan, have been helping their brethren on the west side of Jordan. The time seems now to have come for their return home.

I. Recapitulation.—This portion of the Book of Joshua relates how, in accordance with the earlier injunction, given in Numbers 35, three cities on either side of the Jordan were set apart as cities of refuge for innocent homicides; how also, for the Levites, forty-eight cities, with their pasture land, including the six cities of refuge, were drawn from the other tribes, and assigned by lot to the three Levitical clans, and how, then, the eastern tribes were dismissed by Joshua in peace, being heartily commended by Joshua for their unselfish service. These tribes, on the way back, erected a memorial altar. This being regarded as idolatrous by the western tribes, was inquired into, but the offenders proved clearly that the altar signified neither rebellion nor a new sacrificial centre, but merely stood as a witness of their kinship and sympathy with the western tribes. Their plea was effective. The deputation accepted it, commended the piety of their brethren, and reported to the nation that the incident was worthy of praise.

II. The nation’s unity.—These details emphasise the strong and hopeful spirit of unity manifested by the people. That this should appear is surely not strange, after the inspiring leadership of Joshua and his judicious management of the allotment of the land.

Joshua 21:43–5 puts delightfully the writer’s view of the work of Joshua in this age. ‘ So the Lord gave,’ as in the Revised Version, though but a slight alteration, makes an important difference. The people were now in actual possession of the land promised to their fathers. In one sense it was theirs by conquest, but they had conquered only as far as they had received Divine help, and had obeyed the Divine will. Individually it was theirs also by Divine appointment—for it had been divided to them by lot. ‘Promised.’ The promise was first made centuries before, to Abraham. But time neither annuls nor invalidates God’s promises. ‘The Lord gave them rest,’ etc. The rest was twofold, from the wilderness wanderings, and from the perils of war. But the rest was not absolute. The Apostle uses it as a type of the true rest in Christ ( Hebrews 4:8-9, R.V.). None of the Israelites were now in arms against them. Most of those who remained were in subjection and paid tribute. The subsequent ascendancy of the Canaanites at certain periods was the effect of the cowardice and slothfulness of the Israelites; and may be regarded as the punishment of their sinful tendencies towards idolatry.

III. The Divine faithfulness.—‘There failed not,’ etc. Note how the writer dwells upon the Divine faithfulness. God takes His own time—to us it may seem a long time—to make good His promises. But he who can wait God’s time will always prove the truth of God’s promises. God royally fulfils His part of His covenants. Delays and failures are always found to be due to the over-confidence, or cowardice, or inertness, of those who have the right to trust His promises and go ahead.

Illustrations

(1) ‘ “There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel.” The verse would end well there, but that is not a full stop. After the word “Israel” there is but a semicolon. Four words remain which contain all we want to know about God’s promises and God’s dispensations. These four words are all of one syllable. They might form a child’s first lesson in reading. “All came to pass.” What a testimony for the old man to bear! What more could be said? The note of hand had matured and been redeemed. The promised harvest had grown into golden abundance, and had been reaped and garnered.’

(2) ‘Here is the triumphant record of God’s faithfulness. But the only name inscribed thereon is Jehovah’s. Other memorials of victories have borne the pompous titles of commanders who arrogated the glory to themselves; but the Bible knows of only one conqueror, and that is God. “The help that is done on earth, He doeth it all Himself.” The military genius and heroic constancy of Joshua, the eagerness for perilous honour that flamed, undimmed by age, in Caleb, the daring and strong arms of many a humbler private in the ranks, have their due recognition and reward; but when the history that tells of these comes to sum up the whole, and to put the “philosophy” of the conquest into a sentence, it has only one name to speak as cause of Israel’s victory. That is the true point of view from which to look at the history of the world and of the church in the world. The difference between the “miraculous” conquest of Canaan and the “ordinary” facts of history is not that God did the one and men do the other; both are equally, though in different methods, His acts.’