And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
Joshua's life does not close with a battle. It closes with a summons. The whole nation and its leaders are called to one place, to stand in God's presence and hear Him speak. Why a second gathering? Why Shechem? And what did a people already settled in their land still need to hear?
The last chapter already recorded words from Joshua. This gathering is a separate occasion, with a different kind of speech.
The words Joshua spoke at Shechem are different from those recorded in the last chapter. They were a special message from Jehovah to the people. The nation — elders, heads, judges, officers — presented itself before God. Joshua called this assembly together, and there Jehovah spoke His last words through that leader's lips.
The place was not neutral ground. Israel had stood there before, at the start of the conquest. Reminders of that day were still in sight.
In choosing Shechem for this solemn gathering of all Israel, God would remind His people of the beginning of His ways with them, and of the state of their hearts toward Him. The nation had come to Shechem at the start of the wars in Canaan. Wives and little ones, soldiers and old men had all gathered there. With the people of the land in force around them, in the middle of their enemies, the nation had built their altar to the Lord God of Israel. There the Levites had read the law of God aloud, and all Israel had agreed to its demands with answering Amens. Israel now gathered again in the narrow valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The stones covered with plaster, with the words of the law written on them, stood as witnesses before their eyes. The Amens of that first great assembly were still ringing in the ears of many.
Shechem also carried an older memory, one that shaped what Joshua would ask of them.
The Lord's great name, and His favour to him that day, had stirred Jacob to cleanse his household. There they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their hand. … In the same way the nation had gathered first in Shechem, and the cities around them kept quiet; and now, at this last great assembly in Joshua's day, they were told to "put away the foreign gods" that were among them.
Standing before God, they hear about their own ancestry — and it is not flattering.
The final charge of Joshua follows in Joshua 24. There we learn a striking fact never told us before: their fathers worshipped idols. Even Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nachor, did so on the other side of the river (that is, the Euphrates), when Jehovah took Abraham as the root of promise and began the line from which they were born. Next comes His rescue of the people from Egypt, His care through the wilderness, and His gift of the land — all of His grace.
The review of their history gives every step to God, and it aims at the heart.
The review is a marvel of short statements, going over the whole history of Israel from the call of Abraham on. Its aim is to remind the gathered people once more of the mercies and faithfulness of Jehovah. How soon they can be forgotten! Yet a true walk with God depends on remembering what we are by nature, and what the Lord in His infinite grace has done for us. … Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his offspring — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.
Some people resist the idea of a God who chooses. The opening of this chapter answers them.
In Joshua 24:1–3 He has made it plain that this was the condition of everyone when His grace was first made known in public in Abram. Blessing has come into the earth among men while all are evil. So nothing but the sovereignty of God's election can explain why anyone is saved and blessed.
The meeting ends in a pledge, and that pledge changes the terms on which they hold the land.
But the people, not having yet lost the sense of the power of God who had blessed them, declare that they will serve Jehovah alone. They are thus placed under responsibility, and undertake to obey, as the condition of their possessing the land and enjoying the fruit of God's promise. … What a picture of the assembly ever since the days of the apostles!
Reading the chapter, the right reaction is not admiration but self-examination.
From first to last (verses 2-13) these words recount Jehovah's sovereignty, power, and grace. His sovereignty in bringing their fathers out of idolatry. His power in rescuing the people from their enemies. His grace in settling them in their possessions. And as we think about the sovereign favour, power, and grace of our God and Father, our response should be to cleanse ourselves from the evil thing He hates.
- Summoned — Joshua calls the whole nation and its leaders. They stand before God to hear a message that is Jehovah's, not their leader's.
- Shechem — God chose a place full of memory: Israel's first altar in Canaan, the law read aloud between Ebal and Gerizim, and the foreign gods Jacob's household gave up.
- Sovereign — the message opens with the fathers serving other gods. God's taking of Abraham stands out as pure choice, not reward.
- Supplied — the history is told as a chain of God's own acts: I took, I led, I gave, I brought you in.
- Separate — as we weigh God's sovereign favour, power and grace, the response He calls for is to put away the evil thing He hates.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel Your fathers dwelt of old on the other side of the river, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.
Joshua gathers Israel at Shechem for his last words. He begins the nation's story not with their victories but with their ancestors. The first fact God puts on record is that Abraham's own family served idols. Why open a farewell speech there?
Joshua is at the end of his life, but what he gives Israel is not a memoir.
Do not overlook this: the words of Joshua are not his own. They are the words the Lord gave him. "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel," is the way he begins. The retrospect runs through the whole history of Israel, beginning with the call of Abraham. Its aim is to remind the gathered people once more of the mercies and faithfulness of Jehovah. How soon they may be forgotten! Yet a true walk with God depends on memory: on what we are by nature, and on what the Lord in His infinite grace has done for us. Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his seed — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.
Scripture has already recorded plenty of human evil by this point. Something here is new.
This is the first notice the Bible affords of idolatry; and this not when it began, but when it corrupted the immediate ancestor of Abraham. There was abundant and flagrant evil in the world before the flood; but of serving other gods we never hear.
So why did God call one man out of the world at all? Darby ties the call directly to what had just gone wrong:
Then came another principle: the call of God. By separating one person, one people, one family, one assembly that acknowledged the true God, this call could make them witnesses of His character. "Your fathers served other gods!" — a fresh crime, a fresh snare of Satan, which called for new measures on the part of a God who is all goodness.
Terah came from the line of Shem — the branch of Noah's family that Noah had blessed. That is what makes the verse startling.
Noah said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem." But now we find the sons of Shem, and in the most favoured branch, serving other gods. If Ham had fallen away like this, or Canaan, Shem's servant, it would not be so astounding. But no. It was not even proud Japheth, spreading his borders and forgetting the only true God in his worldly drive. It was Shem's descendant Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor; it was they who "served other gods."
The verse puts Abraham's own father among the idolaters. So nothing in Abraham explains why God chose him.
God appeared in sovereign grace. Even the line of Shem — Abraham's father and relatives — were idolaters. Grace gives what is good; it does not find it. And the God of glory did not only appear. He appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia — at the farthest point from "the land," and among idolaters.
God took Abraham out of that setting. That explains how much he had to leave behind.
First, the call of God means separation. Abram had to go "out of … from … from …" It meant snapping links — links that were national, social and even family… God called Abraham out of these idolatrous surroundings. Because of them, the separation his call involved was drastic and thorough. The man who would later be called "the friend of God" could not be left in any friendship with the idolatrous world.
Joshua does not raise the family's idolatry to humiliate Israel. He raises it because of where it leads — to a call to be rid of the evil God hates.
These last words from Jehovah to Israel, spoken through Joshua, deserve the most earnest attention. From first to last (vv. 2-13) they recount Jehovah's sovereignty, power, and grace. He showed His sovereignty by bringing their fathers out from idolatry. He showed His power by rescuing the people from their enemies. He showed His grace by settling them in their possessions. We too should consider the sovereign favour, power, and grace of our God and Father. Our response should be to purge ourselves from the evil thing He hates.
- Source — Joshua opens with "Thus says the LORD." He repeats God's account, not his own memories.
- Beyond — Abraham's family lived beyond the Euphrates. This is the Bible's first mention of idolatry, at the moment it corrupted his own father.
- Inside — The idolatry sat in Shem's line, the favoured branch. That is what makes the record so severe.
- Taken — The verse names Abraham's family among the idolaters, so his call rests on grace alone. Grace gives what is good; it does not find it.
- Separated — God called him out of idolatry, so the break had to be total: national, social and family ties all snapped. The same call reaches us — purge ourselves of the evil God hates.
And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, and led him throughout the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac.
Joshua has gathered the whole nation at Shechem for his last words. He starts not with what Israel did, but with God, who took one man out of an idol-worshipping family and made a nation from him.
Older translations read "the other side of the flood," which has led some readers to place Abraham in Noah's day.
There is a similar translation error in Joshua 24. It has Abraham taken from the other side of the flood, as if he lived in Noah's day. He lived long after, as Genesis 11 tells us. The mistake is obvious to any fair mind. Many other Scriptures translate that same word as "river." It means that the Lord took Abraham from the other side of the river Euphrates.
Israel hears what they came from. The family on the far bank of the Euphrates served other gods.
Abraham had lived with his father Terah east of the Euphrates River. There they were idol worshipers (v.2). This was a humbling reminder for Israel, that they came from someone who had followed false gods. But grace can make a wonderful difference, as it did with Abraham. After he left his native land, God led him through the land of Canaan. There the Lord also blessed him greatly and multiplied his descendants. The account names only his one son Isaac, for Israel was to come from Isaac.
Read the verbs in order and the speech becomes a list of things the Lord did.
The words of Joshua are not his own, but the words given to him by the Lord... A true walk with God depends on remembering what we are by nature and what the Lord in His infinite grace has done for us... Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his seed — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.
"I took" and "I led" belong together. One writer draws the line straight to the Christian.
"I have done this," is the burden of the words of the Lord to Israel. His people are blessed solely because He will bless. Israel's history began with idolatry — "they served other gods." They were far off from God, and He found them there. He finds sinners today in the same place: far from Him, dead in trespasses and sins. "I took," the Lord continues, "Abraham" out of the far-off land of idolatry, "and led him through all the land of Canaan." In the same way God takes His own out of their state of death in sin and puts them in Christ in the heavenly places. For Abraham, as for God's saints now, there was no going back to the other side of the river, no return to the old state and home.
The verse says God gave Isaac. One writer asks how that son came.
Was Isaac the child of natural or supernatural power? We all say that after God had stamped death on both Abraham and Sarah (see Rom. 4:19), as to any expectation of having a child, then God, according to His promise and power, gave them Isaac.
The many descendants are more than a matter of numbers. This one call started something that had never existed before.
Abraham is the beginning of the religious institutions of God in the new world. He is the root of the olive tree of promise. When the world had turned to idolatry (Josh. 24), God called Abram out, and established the promises in his seed. He was the first head of God's family, as Adam was of the sinful one. There was no root of a family of God, as Adam was the root of an evil family, until Abram — though there had been saints before.
The history is not nostalgia. Joshua tells them where they came from because the same pull still worked on them.
Remembering it would have taught them how much they needed to watch themselves. That gross and terrible evil could somehow draw them back in. God, in His sovereign grace and electing love, had called their father Abraham out of it. They would have been wise to see this: the very evil their fathers lived in long ago was exactly the evil they themselves were likely to fall into.
- River, not flood — "beyond the River" is the Euphrates; Abraham lived long after Noah, in the land of idols.
- Cause: I took — grace found Abraham among people who served other gods. The first move was God's.
- Gift: I gave — God gave Isaac by promise and power when Abraham and Sarah were past hope of a child. The line rests on His gift.
- Reach: I multiplied — before Abraham there were saints, but no family of God on earth. That family began with him.
- Result: watch — remember what God took you out of, and you will guard against drifting back into it.
And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau; and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; and Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt.
Joshua stands at Shechem near the end of his life. The words he speaks are not his own review of the past. They are God's recital of it, and it starts with a family that served idols. This verse sets two odd facts side by side. God gives one brother a mountain range to keep. The chosen brother's family ends up in Egypt.
Every verb in this verse belongs to God. The whole address runs as a chain of God's actions. One writer traces that chain from Abraham to the land:
Do not overlook this: the words of Joshua are not his own. They are the words the Lord gave him. "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel," is how he begins... Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his seed — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.
The verse names Isaac's two sons together, then splits them. One writer lists what each stage of this history shows, and verse 4 is the stage of free choice:
In Abraham (v. 3) we find election, calling, faith, and the promises that centre in Isaac. In Jacob and Esau (v. 4) we have the free choice of grace. In Egypt (v. 5) Israel learn forgiveness; at the Red Sea (v. 6) deliverance.
Birth order did not decide the outcome:
Esau was born first, but Jacob was God's choice to father a nation separate from all other nations.
The verse gives Esau a settled home in the hills of Seir, later held by Edom. It sends Jacob's family the other way, down to Egypt. The gap between God's promise and its arrival is the lesson:
Esau entered into his possession. But when Edom's armed men held their strongholds, Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. There for centuries they had nothing but God's promise, because as a nation they lay buried in the slavery of Egypt. This is a familiar experience for God's children. They have to learn to trust God's word, to walk by faith, and to wait in patience. But God's arm never fails; in due time the deliverance came.
At the time it looked as if God had blessed the wrong brother:
reason: two very-hard sentences; archaic "sojourners on sufferance"; passive
The line does not run on natural strength at any point. One writer takes the line back one more step. Isaac's birth was beyond nature, and so was the birth of these two sons:
God had shown His power in the gift of Isaac, given when Abraham was past the age of having children. Even Jacob and Esau came from a mother who could not have children. To Esau God had given Seir, while Israel endured the needed discipline in Egypt.
The recital is not history for its own sake. It presses people who now hold the land to decide, and it ends with a call to clear out every rival god:
From first to last (vv. 2-13) these words recount the Lord's sovereignty, power and grace. He was sovereign when He brought their fathers out of idol worship. He was powerful when He rescued the people from their enemies. He showed grace when He settled them in their possessions. So as we consider the sovereign favour, power and grace of our God and Father, our response should be to cleanse ourselves from the evil thing He hates.
- Giver. Read the verse by its verbs. The sons, the mountain, the move to Egypt — God gave or allowed each one. No one seized anything.
- Choice. Esau came first by birth. Jacob came first by God's free choice. The nation goes back to that choice, not to any natural claim.
- Contrast. Esau received Seir and settled there. Jacob received the promise and still had to leave the land for Egypt.
- Delay. For centuries it looked better to be Edom. Faith holds God's word through the wait. God's arm never fails, and the deliverance came at the right time.
- Response. Every link in the chain was sovereign favour, power and grace. The only fitting reply is to put away whatever God hates and serve Him alone.
And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them; and afterwards I brought you out.
At Shechem, Joshua gives the people God's own review of their history. Every line names something God did: He sent two men, He struck Egypt, He carried a nation out.
The retelling covers centuries in a few sentences, and one commentator points out how the verbs keep the same subject from start to finish.
The retrospect is a marvel of brief statements, rehearsing the entire history of Israel, beginning with the call of Abraham. Its object is to remind the assembled congregation once more of the mercies and faithfulness of Jehovah. How soon they may be forgotten! Yet a true walk with God depends on remembering what we are by nature and what the Lord in His infinite grace has done for us. The Spirit of God, through Joshua, shows that God called Abraham away from idolatry, and traces all that Jehovah did for him and his descendants. Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his seed — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.
Between the promise and the rescue lay a long silence. The two verbs of this verse close it.
Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. There, for centuries, they had nothing but God's promise, for Egypt's bondage buried them as a nation. This is a familiar experience for God's children, who have to learn to trust God's word, to walk by faith, and to wait patiently. But God's arm does not fail; in due time the deliverance came. "And I sent Moses and Aaron, … I brought your fathers out of Egypt." The Lord "sent," and the Lord "brought out." All was of Him.
Striking Egypt is not listed here as raw power. One writer sets the plagues inside the same current of kindness that called Abraham out from beyond the Euphrates.
It was grace that called Abram out from beyond the Euphrates, where their fathers in old times lived and even served other gods. It was grace that sent Moses to plague Egypt, the nation that oppressed the sons of Israel. It was grace that brought them out of the iron furnace and across the Red Sea, which covered their enslavers.
The blows fell on Egypt and not on Israel — but not because Israel had cleaner hands. This is the point Joshua drives home later in the same speech when he tells them to put away the gods their fathers served in Egypt.
Though the Lord made known to them the only way of deliverance, they were in themselves no better morally than the Egyptians. Suppose any of them had rested their hope of safety from the coming judgment on belonging to a favoured people. They would then have been mourning and burying their firstborn along with the Egyptians, on the fifteenth day of Nisan. If they had trusted in any goodness of their own to escape it, nothing could have sheltered them, for at that time they were idolaters who had refused outright to put their idols away.
The recital moves place by place, and the places are not interchangeable. Egypt teaches one thing, the Red Sea another.
The early part of our chapter deals only with God's ways of grace towards His earthly people. In Abraham (v. 3) we find election, calling, faith, and the promises centred in Isaac. In Jacob and Esau (v. 4) we have the free choice of grace. In Egypt (v. 5) Israel learn forgiveness; at the Red Sea (v. 6) deliverance.
A story where God does everything should produce dependence. Israel drew the opposite conclusion.
In this chapter God, through the mouth of His servant, sums up all His ways of grace towards Israel, from the call of Abraham to the full possession of Canaan. If the people had been wise, touched by God's untiring mercy and distrustful of themselves, they would have asked Jehovah that His grace, and that alone, might keep them and lead them still. But in their folly they cling to the principles of the law, and trusting in themselves they say: "We will serve the Lord."
- I sent — Moses and Aaron did not appoint themselves. God chose the deliverers, and Israel's long wait in Egypt ended at His timing, not theirs.
- I plagued — striking Egypt was grace toward the oppressed. It lifted them out of the iron furnace and drowned their enslavers at the Red Sea.
- I brought out — the Lord sent and the Lord brought out; all of it was His, which is why every clause of the speech begins with "I."
- Not deserved — Israel were idolaters, no better than the Egyptians. Leaning on their place as a favoured people would have left them burying their firstborn too.
- The right answer — a history like this should have made them distrust themselves and ask for more grace. Instead they trusted themselves and said, "We will serve the Lord."
And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea.
Joshua is near the end of his life. He gathers the whole nation to hear their own history told back to them, from Abraham through Egypt, the sea, the wilderness and the land. Verse 6 sits at the hinge of that story. The people are out of Egypt and standing at the water's edge. Egypt's chariots are closing in behind them.
Joshua is the one speaking. One writer asks whose words these really are.
We must not overlook this: the words of Joshua are not his own. They are the words the Lord gave him... The purpose of this review of their history is to remind the gathered people once more of the mercies and faithfulness of Jehovah. How soon they may be forgotten! ... Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his descendants — I gave him Isaac — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.
Another writer looks at the long wait before this moment, and at the two verbs that ended it.
For centuries in Egypt they held nothing but God's promise, because as a nation they were buried in slavery there. God's children often know the same experience. They have to learn to trust God's word, to walk by faith, and to wait patiently. But God's arm never fails. At the right time the deliverance came. "I sent Moses and Aaron, … I brought your fathers out of Egypt." The Lord "sent," and the Lord "brought out." All was of Him.
Notice too where they arrive — at the sea. That was not their idea.
God's plagues on Egypt are also mentioned briefly, because these were what finally moved Pharaoh to release Israel (v.5). But it was God who brought them out. And it was God who directed them to the Red Sea — a route Israel would never have chosen for itself.
The verse names the pursuit in detail: chariots, horsemen, all the way to the Red Sea. One writer says Israel's enemies achieved the opposite of what they wanted.
Are there enemies? They only show the almighty grace of God more clearly as it acts for His people. God judges the Egyptian who had held them in slavery. Destruction overtakes him in the Red Sea, in the very act of opposing their deliverance.
Another writer sets Egypt's army, and the sea in front of Israel, beside the Lord Himself.
"When He bares His arm, who can stand against His might?" The chariots and the horsemen of Egypt, and the waters of the Red Sea, were as nothing to the Lord.
Each stage of the story carries its own lesson.
In Abraham (v. 3) we find election, calling, faith, and the promises that centre on Isaac. In Jacob and Esau (v. 4) we have the free choice of grace. In Egypt (v. 5) Israel learns forgiveness; at the Red Sea (v. 6), deliverance.
One writer reads the Red Sea as a picture of something larger. The blood had already sheltered them from judgment. The sea was about the power behind them.
Seen as a moral picture, the Red Sea clearly stands for the death and resurrection of Jesus... The blood shelters us from the judgment of God. His power then acts for us and sets us free from the power of Satan, the prince of this world. The blood keeping us from the judgment of God was the beginning. Christ has gone down into death for us. The power that has made us alive in Him has freed us from the whole power of Satan, who was following us.
The retelling had a purpose. Israel missed it.
The people should have been wise. They should have been touched by God's untiring mercy and distrustful of themselves. Then they would have asked Jehovah that His grace, and His grace alone, might keep them and lead them on. But in their folly they cling to the principles of the law. Trusting themselves, they say: "We will serve the Lord."
The intended effect was a fresh sense of how little they had contributed.
Such reminders from Joshua ought to have stirred Israel to realize afresh how dependent they were upon the power and grace of God on their behalf.
- Whose "I" — Joshua's mouth, but God's words. The chapter is a chain of "I took, I led, I sent, I brought out," and every link is His.
- Brought, not escaped — the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and the Lord brought Israel out. He also chose the route to the sea, which Israel would never have picked.
- Pursuit that backfires — the chariots and horsemen only show God's grace more clearly. Destruction overtakes Egypt in the very act of opposing the rescue.
- The sea's lesson — Egypt taught forgiveness; the Red Sea teaches deliverance. One writer reads it as Christ's death and resurrection, which frees His people from the power chasing them.
- Remember and depend — Joshua told the story so Israel would lean on that grace alone. Instead they trusted themselves and answered, "We will serve the Lord."
Then they cried to Jehovah, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt; and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long time.
Near the end of his life, Joshua gathers Israel at Shechem. The speech he gives is not his own. God is retelling Israel's story in the first person, from Abraham to the land they now hold. Verse 7 packs the whole Red Sea night into one line: a cry, a wall of darkness, a drowned army. Then come long years in open country.
Every clause in this retelling has God as its subject. One writer lists the verbs:
Do not overlook that the words of Joshua are not his own. They are the words given to him by the Lord. "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel," is how he begins. The retrospect is a marvel of brief statements, rehearsing the entire history of Israel, beginning with the call of Abraham. Its object is to remind the assembled congregation once more of the mercies and faithfulness of the LORD. How soon they may be forgotten! Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his seed — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.
The verse opens with Israel crying out to the LORD. They were trapped when they did it.
What could they do? Behind them is their relentless enemy, they are shut in on either side, and before them are the waters of the Red Sea. All they can do is cry to God. And when did He ever fail to respond to His people's cry? He opened the way for them, not by first overthrowing Pharaoh, but by dividing the sea.
The darkness God placed between the two camps was the pillar of cloud that had been leading Israel. It moved, and its role changed with it.
The pillar was not only cloud and fire one after the other, as day and night followed each other. It was also light and darkness at the very same moment, when Israel needed that. The pillar puts itself between the two armies. Instead of being lit and shining all through, it becomes darkness on the side turned to the Egyptians, and light on the side turned to the Israelites. So the one could not come near the other. It was a shield now, as it had been a guide before. It is just whatever the people needed.
When the waters came back, Israel's pursuers were gone. That did more than remove a threat; it removed a direction.
When I am "saved" I am clear of the enemy, and I am out of this scene in spirit and heart. I am a delivered man, in resurrection surroundings. When Israel looked, and saw all their enemies dead, they doubtless said, There is no road back to Egypt. The road was closed in.
Commentators find more here than a rescue from Egypt.
As a moral type, the Red Sea is plainly the death and resurrection of Jesus — as far as the actual carrying out of the work goes in its own power. It is deliverance by redemption, and deliverance of His people as seen in Him. The blood shelters us from the judgment of God. Then His power acts for us and delivers us from the power of Satan, the prince of this world.
The verse does not end at the shore. It puts the long wilderness years in the same breath as the rescue.
In Egypt (v. 5) Israel learn forgiveness; at the Red Sea (v. 6) deliverance. In the desert (v. 7) it is grace again which sustains them and brings them across the Jordan (v. 11) to bring them into Canaan (v. 13).
The history is not nostalgia. It is the ground of a demand: clear out what God hates.
These last words from the LORD to Israel came through Joshua. They demand the most earnest attention. From first to last (vv. 2-13) they recount the LORD's sovereignty, power, and grace. He showed His sovereignty by bringing their fathers out from idolatry. He showed His power by delivering the people from their enemies. He showed His grace by settling them in their possessions. So consider the sovereign favour, power, and grace of our God and Father. Our response should be to purge ourselves from the evil thing He hates.
- Cry. Cornered with no escape, Israel could only call out. God answered by opening the sea, not by striking Pharaoh first.
- Cover. The darkness was the pillar that had been guiding them. It now stood behind them as a shield: dark to Egypt, light to Israel, at the same moment.
- Close. When the water returned, the enemy was gone and the way back to Egypt was gone with him.
- Course. The same grace that saved them at the sea carried them through the wilderness years. It brought them into the land.
- Charge. Joshua retells all of it for one purpose. People who owe everything to God's sovereignty, power and grace must clear out the idols He hates.
And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and ye took possession of their land, and I destroyed them from before you.
Near the end of his life, Joshua gathered Israel at Shechem and retold their story. He told it in the first person — as God's own account of what He had done. Verse 8 covers the fighting east of the Jordan. It raises two questions at once. If Israel swung the swords, whose victory was it? And why did God wipe out a whole people?
Joshua speaks, but the words are the LORD's. One writer follows the chain of verbs running through the address:
In Joshua's second and last address to the people at Shechem we have first a historic retrospect. We must not overlook that the words of Joshua are not his own. They are the words the Lord gave him. He begins, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel"... Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his seed — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land. God had kept every promise He made in Exodus and Deuteronomy about possessing and conquering the land... He gave them a land they had not worked for.
Verse 8 sits between the wilderness years and the story of Balaam. One commentator reads the whole run as one unbroken account of God acting for His people:
"You lived in the wilderness a long time," adds the Lord. There they had seen the arm that rescued them. The Christian proves that same strong arm of his God, who brings him on stage by stage through this wilderness world. "Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites," "I gave them into your hand," "I destroyed them before you," the Lord further declares. Weapons failed. Then the king hired the prophet to curse the nation, and He adds, "I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand." Whether the enemy came by force or by cunning, by open hatred on the battlefield on earth or by accusations presented on high, in all these things "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."
"They fought with you" and "I destroyed them" both stand. Writing on a later battle against the Amorites, one writer treats Israel's part as God's choice, not His need:
How clearly all that happened that day is felt to be the Lord's doing! He uses His people, and in a sense it was gracious of Him to do so. He could have done it all without them, just as He did at the Red Sea. But He chose to employ the people of God, in keeping with the way He was dealing with them then... In its own place, it is short-sighted and irreverent folly to miss the honour of doing the Lord's work of that day.
This was no sudden burst of anger. One writer points back to what God told Abraham centuries earlier about the guilt of the Amorites:
Already in Genesis 15:16 God had said to Abraham: "For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." The Amorites were one of the main nations of Canaan. The idol worship of the Canaanites... went together with dreadful moral excesses such as child sacrifice and prostitution. And yet God showed grace towards these nations for more than 400 years. But once Israel came to live in Canaan, wiping out these idol-worshipping nations was a necessary spiritual task. On the one hand God used Israel to punish the ungodliness of these nations. On the other hand this was the only way to preserve the people of God from defilement.
Israel took land east of the Jordan before a foot touched Canaan. One writer shows what that first win was meant to teach:
The victory over these two enemies, Sihon and Og, pointed ahead to further victory in the land. Israel had been afraid to enter the land before because of such enemies (Og was a giant — Deuteronomy 3:11). Now God had given them a lesson from experience that should encourage them.
Hearing all this, Israel answered with a pledge of their own. One writer judges that answer a mistake:
If the people had been wise, moved by the untiring mercy of God, and not trusting themselves, they would have asked the Lord for one thing. They would have asked that His grace, and His grace alone, might keep them and lead them on. But in their folly they cling to the principles of the law, and trusting to themselves, they say: "We will serve the LORD."
- His voice. God is the speaker; Joshua only passes His words on. Every clause of the verse is something He claims to have done.
- His victory. Israel swung the swords, but God claims the conquest. Their part in it was an honour He gave, not a help He needed.
- His patience. The Amorites fell only after more than 400 years of God's patience, when their evil was full.
- His pledge. Israel beat Sihon and Og before crossing into Canaan, so the giants ahead would look smaller.
- His grace — and their answer. The right reply was to ask that grace keep them; instead they promised their own loyalty.
And Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you;
At Shechem, Joshua's last address lists what God did for Israel, not what Joshua did. Here the attack changes shape, from armies to a hired curse, and Balak's summons to Balaam raises a question Israel never knew was asked: can anyone put God's people under a curse?
Joshua's speech names one enemy after another — Egypt, the Amorites, now Balak.
Are there enemies? They only set in stronger relief the almighty grace of God acting in favour of His people. The Egyptian who had kept them in slavery is judged. Destruction overtook him in the Red Sea as he opposed their deliverance. The Amorite lived outside the limits of the Jordan and sought to block their passage; he is conquered. Balak is the subtle enemy. By means of Balaam he seeks to persuade God to turn His face away from His people. He is brought to confusion, and forced to hear blessings pouring out from the lips of the man he had called to curse.
Balak moved against a people who were under orders not to touch him.
When Balak, the king of Moab, saw "all that Israel had done to the Amorites... Moab was in great dread of the people." There was no need for Moab to fear Israel. God was not giving Israel the inheritance of the children of Esau or of the children of Lot (Deut. 2:5, 9, 19). The hostility towards God's people was not because of anything Israel had done, or threatened to do, to Moab.
Joshua says Balak rose up and fought. Long after, Jephthah, a leader of Israel, made a different point to the Ammonites:
He reminds Ammon of the animosity of Balak toward Israel when they came out of Egypt (Num. 22-24), but that he did not fight against Israel.
Balak's weapon was a hired mouth, not a drawn sword. The second half of the verse names it.
The whole contest happened on the hilltops of Moab, out of sight of the camp below.
It is worth watching the scene played out on the high places of Baal. There we see the great question at stake, we listen to the speakers, and we are let in behind the scenes on such an important occasion. How little Israel knew or imagined what was going on between the Lord and the enemy. They may have been grumbling in their tents at that very moment. God was setting out their perfection through the tongue of the greedy prophet.
Balak hired a curse. What he met was God's own answer on behalf of people who could not have answered for themselves.
It is God's right alone to declare the beauty, dignity, and perfection of His people, since He Himself gave them those things... and truly He does it in a way worthy of Himself, and never more wonderfully than when the enemy comes out to injure, to curse, or to accuse. So when Balak seeks to curse the seed of Abraham, the Lord's word is, "I have not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither have I seen perverseness in Israel"... He always puts Himself between His people and every tongue that would accuse them. He does not answer the accusation by pointing to what His people are in themselves, but to what He Himself has made them, and where He has set them.
The words quoted from Numbers 23:21 follow an older English Bible. The ESV reads, "He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel."
Balak did not stop at one attempt; he moved Balaam from place to place. The result was the opposite of what he paid for.
Hatred and unbelief think about circumstances. Balak, frightened by the sight of Israel, tries in the folly of unbelief to pull Balaam away from what he himself dreaded. Unbelief never considers the thoughts of the Lord, and the people were surely not hidden from Him. His persistence in seeking the curse enlarged the blessing; it is always so.
The same attack goes on today. So does the answer.
Satan works tirelessly to bring a curse against us, just because we are redeemed. God's enemy did the same in the history of His people: his aim was to curse them. We have to resist him, standing firm in the faith. His accusations are made to God, and God answers for us. Faith takes up the answer of God, as in Zechariah 3.
- Fear — Balak moved against Israel out of dread. Israel had done nothing to him, and God had barred them from taking Moab's land.
- Hire — he paid for a curse instead of drawing a sword. Jephthah later said Balak never fought Israel.
- Hidden — the real contest was between God and the enemy on the high places. Israel knew nothing of it, and may have been grumbling while God declared them perfect.
- Answer — God does not point to what His people are in themselves, but to what He has made them. He stands between them and every accusing tongue.
- Enlarged — each fresh try for a curse only drew out more blessing. The same attack on the redeemed goes on, and faith still takes up God's answer.
but I would not hearken unto Balaam, and he blessed you expressly, and I delivered you out of his hand.
In his farewell speech, Joshua repeats God's own words about Israel's past. Here God recalls a danger the people never saw: Balak, king of Moab, hired the prophet Balaam to curse them, and God turned the curse into blessing and rescue.
All this happened out of sight of the people it concerned. Balak and Balaam worked on the hilltops above the camp while Israel went about an ordinary day below.
Did Israel know how wonderfully God, their LORD, was defending their cause — and indeed His own sovereign right of grace against the enemy? No, they were unaware, resting at ease in their tents, while the battle was fought and won on the high places of Moab.
God may correct His own people in private. What He lets an enemy say about them is another matter.
How little did Israel know or imagine what was going on between the LORD and the enemy. They may have been complaining in their tents at the very moment when God was declaring their perfection through the mouth of the greedy prophet. Balak wanted Israel cursed; but, blessed be God, He will not let anyone curse His people. He may have to deal with them Himself, in secret, about many things. But He will not let anyone else say a word against them.
Joshua's account says only that God would not listen. Another passage of Scripture gives the reason.
Again and again Balak, king of Moab, tried to use these hostile influences against this people. He hated them as much as he feared them. But God stepped in every time. Truly it could be said of His people, "no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed." There was "no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel." The LORD their God turned the curse into a blessing for them, and why? "Because the LORD your God loved you" (Deut. 23:5). And that is always the great reason for God's intervention.
Israel never asked for this rescue. They did not even know they were in danger.
The great principle of the Balaam history is that God was the unrequested Guardian and Blesser of His people. The schemes of enemies go on, and Israel knows nothing of them, so Israel asks nothing from God. But He is active for His people out of His own grace toward them, and nothing escapes Him... Balak was seeking to bring the curse on Israel when God had said, "Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you." So he was only bringing it on himself.
The words "he blessed you" understate what happened. The push for a curse ended by drawing more out of God than Israel had before.
The enemy's attempt did not simply make God repeat the same blessing. It drew out His activity, as it were, to bring out all the riches of His blessings. He carries out His own purposes according to His own will and thoughts.
That blessing reached far past Balaam's own day.
So God turned the curse Balaam intended into the most magnificent blessing ever spoken over the people of God. It reaches down to the last days, when Israel will be exalted under the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth.
In the verses just before this one, God recalls battles fought with weapons. Balaam used words instead, yet God ends both accounts the same way: "I delivered you."
And when weapons failed and the king hired the prophet to curse the nation, He adds, "I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand." Enemies may attack by force or by cunning. They may fight openly on the battlefield here on earth, or bring accusations against us in heaven. In all these things "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."
Joshua is not giving a history lesson for its own sake. He retells what God did so it will change how Israel lives.
But God intervened, and Balaam's cursing turned to blessing for Israel, so that God delivered them from Moab (v.10). Such a reminder that God was for Israel should have been a great incentive to them to cling all the more firmly to the Lord.
- Unseen. The danger was real, and the people never knew it. God won the fight on the heights while they rested in their tents.
- Unasked. They asked for nothing, because they knew of no threat. God guarded them out of His own grace, not in answer to prayer.
- Loved. Scripture gives the reason God would not listen to Balaam: He loved them. That is always why He steps in.
- Enlarged. The attack did not just fail. It drew out fuller blessing than Israel had before, reaching to the last days.
- Response. Joshua retells all this so the people will cling to the Lord. The memory of what God did should shape what they do.
And ye went over the Jordan, and came unto Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand.
Joshua's last gathering at Shechem is a roll-call of what God has done, and verse 11 is where it arrives: the river behind them, Jericho ahead, seven peoples in the way. The verse turns on who did the fighting and who handed over the victory.
The address is not a leader's farewell speech in his own name. One commentator counts the verbs and finds one subject behind them all:
It must not be overlooked that the words of Joshua are not his own, but the words given to him by the Lord. "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel," is how he begins... Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his seed — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.
The chapter walks through God's dealings from Abraham onward. This verse marks the arrival:
The early part of our chapter, as I have said, is entirely taken up with God's ways in grace towards His earthly people. In Abraham (v. 3) we find election, calling, faith, and the promises which are centred in Isaac. In Jacob and Esau (v. 4) we have the free choice of grace. In Egypt (v. 5) Israel learn forgiveness; at the Red Sea (v. 6) deliverance. In the desert (v. 7) it is grace again which sustains them and brings them across the Jordan (v. 11) to introduce them into Canaan (v. 13).
Some of this fighting came at Israel, and some Israel went looking for. The outcome never changed:
In Canaan, in the promised land, the same great story is told. Did the men of Jericho or the forces of the seven nations, each greater and mightier than Israel, come against them? The LORD says, "I gave them into your hand." Did Israel take the offensive? It was not by sword or bow that they won the day... In wars, defensive or offensive, in attacks by enemies or attacks on enemies, always, and alone, the Lord won the victory.
The Hebrew word behind "leaders" is worth noticing:
The word for "lords" (baale) is unusual in Hebrew, but it is often found in the Phoenician dialect. Fausset says it is applied to the men of Gibeah (Judges 20:5), to the Canaanite citizens of Jericho (Joshua 24:11), and to the men of Keilah (1 Samuel 23:11-12).
The verse names seven peoples. One commentator reads their names as a picture of what still blocks a believer's enjoyment of what God has given:
The names here, as everywhere, are surely significant. They suggest those powers of evil which take up the ground and would prevent our enjoyment of our God-given inheritance in Christ. The Hittite, "child of terror" — how spiritual dread makes cowards of us all! The Girgashites, "dwellers in clay"; sadly, we are prone to settle down in the dust of earth, instead of rising to our heavenly portion. The Amorite, "the talker," rather than the doer of the Word. The Canaanite, "the trafficker," companion to the talker, who turns the very truth of God into merchandise. The Perizzite, "the countryman," suggesting great power, nobility, false pride. The Hivite, "the villager," suggesting the opposite, a false humility. The Jebusite, "the treader down," never rests until all divine things are put beneath the feet.
Another commentator gives the reason Israel could make no peace with them, and then the picture behind it:
There was to be no peace with the Canaanites — not because Israel dreaded them as rivals, but because they were doomed to destruction for their abominations and seductions. Typically considered, the Canaanites represent the emissaries of Satan, the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places — those rulers of the darkness of this world with whom we are called to wrestle now... With such there can be, there ought to be, no terms, no compromise, no stopping the fight at any time or under any possible circumstances.
Recounting old victories had a purpose. It was meant to produce distrust of self, not confidence in self:
Had the people been wise, touched by the untiring mercy of God, and mistrustful of themselves, they would have asked the LORD that His grace, and that alone, might continue to keep and to lead them. But in their folly they cling to the principles of the law, and trusting to themselves, they say: "We will serve the LORD."
- I brought. God tells the crossing of the Jordan and the arrival at Jericho as His own act, in a chain of first-person verbs: I took, I led, I gave, I sent, I brought.
- They fought. The leading men of Jericho and seven nations stood in the way. They were real enemies, greater and mightier than Israel.
- I gave. Israel fought on defence and on attack. The same hand gave the victory each time, and not by sword or bow.
- No terms. The seven names picture powers that still oppose a believer. They are to be fought, never bargained with.
- Now trust. Such a record calls for dependence on grace. Israel trusted their own resolve instead, and the chapter calls that folly.
And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, [as] the two kings of the Amorites; not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.
At Shechem, Joshua repeats God's own account of Israel's history as a list of things God did. This verse hands the whole conquest of Canaan to God, and it puts a hornet at the centre of the story.
The word names a real stinging insect, and God gave this promise more than once.
The insect tsirah is of the wasp kind. God promised to send these insects ahead of the Israelites, to drive out the people living in the land of Canaan (Exodus 23:28; Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:12). Travellers report that when something disturbs a nest of these insects, animals and people flee in terror. The stings are very painful and sometimes cause death.
Commentators differ on whether the hornet was a real swarm or a picture of terror. The size of the creature makes the point either way.
A hornet is a small, insignificant insect, but the weapons of an army cannot withstand an attack of hornets. The soldiers would not stand and fight Israel while hornets chased them! Whether this is fully literal or not, it still teaches us one thing. God can use the smallest means to put His enemies to flight.
This verse closes a list of defeated nations, and it says who beat them.
It is plain that these victories did not come from the superior power of Israel. The Lord "sent the hornet before you" (v.12). This is a picture of how God dealt with the enemies. They were frightened as though hornets had attacked them, and so they could not fight. The verse names two kings of the Amorites, defeated without the help of Israel's sword or bow.
Israel both received assaults and launched them, and God claims the outcome in both cases.
Did the men of Jericho or the forces of the seven nations, each greater and mightier than Israel, come against them? Jehovah says, "I delivered them into your hands." Did Israel attack first? They did not win the day by sword or bow. They won because "I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you." In every war, defensive or offensive, whether foes attacked them or they attacked foes, the Lord alone won the victory.
Israel's own song says the same thing, and one writer sees their weakness as God's design.
Jehovah designed outward weakness as the mark of Israel's national life. He did this so the people would know that "they did not win the land by their own sword; their own arm never saved them. It was Your right hand and Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You had favour toward them." This song should always have been heard among them: "You are my King, O God; command deliverances for Jacob… For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me."
One writer walks through the speech stage by stage and finds one theme running through it.
The early part of our chapter is all about God's ways in grace towards His earthly people. In Abraham (v. 3) we find election, calling, faith, and the promises centred in Isaac. In Jacob and Esau (v. 4) we have the free choice of grace. In Egypt (v. 5) Israel learn forgiveness; at the Red Sea (v. 6), deliverance. In the desert (v. 7) it is grace again which sustains them and brings them across the Jordan (v. 11) to bring them into Canaan (v. 13).
Joshua did not tell this history to give Israel information. The retelling ends by asking the hearer for something.
These last words from Jehovah to Israel through the lips of Joshua demand the most earnest attention. From first to last (vv. 2-13) they recount Jehovah's sovereignty, power, and grace. He showed His sovereignty by bringing their fathers out of idolatry. He showed His power by delivering the people from their enemies. He showed His grace by settling them in their possessions. We too should consider the sovereign favour, power, and grace of our God and Father. Our response should be to purge ourselves from the evil thing He hates.
- Sent — God promised the hornet long before, then sent it ahead of Israel Himself.
- Small — A wasp no army can fight proves God needs no impressive instrument to scatter His enemies.
- Not yours — Two Amorite kings and seven nations fell without Israel's sword or bow doing the work.
- By design — God kept Israel weak on purpose. Their song credits His right hand, never their own bow.
- So then — A history that is all grace from Abraham to Canaan asks one response: put away the evil thing God hates.
And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.
God's last word to Israel through Joshua is a history lesson, not a command, and every verb in this verse belongs to God. Israel lives in houses they never built and eats from trees they never planted — so what do they owe the God who handed it all to them?
The verse is the end of a speech that starts back with Abraham. One writer sums up what verses 2 to 13 are doing:
From first to last (verses 2-13) these words recount the Lord's sovereignty, power, and grace. He showed His sovereignty when He brought their fathers out from idolatry. He showed His power when He delivered the people from their enemies. He showed His grace when He established them in their possessions.
Another writer traces the same speech stage by stage. The chain ends at our verse:
The first part of our chapter deals only with God's ways of grace towards His earthly people. In Abraham (v. 3) we find election, calling, faith, and the promises which are centred in Isaac. In Jacob and Esau (v. 4) we have the free choice of grace. In Egypt (v. 5) Israel learn forgiveness; at the Red Sea (v. 6) deliverance. In the desert (v. 7) grace again sustains them, brings them across the Jordan (v. 11), and leads them into Canaan (v. 13).
Israel had to take the land before they could live in it — but their sword and bow did not take it:
In Canaan, in the promised land, still the same great story is told. Did the men of Jericho or the forces of the seven nations, each greater and stronger than Israel, attack them? The Lord says, "I gave them into your hand." Did Israel go on the attack? They did not win the day by sword or bow. In war, defending or attacking, under attack or attacking others, the Lord alone won the victory, always. Can the Christian fail to rejoice in the same grace — yes, to boast in his God, who is the God of all grace and of all might?
The picture carries across to the Christian. It covers the gift, and also the taste for it:
We, too, are seated in the heavenly places in Christ. We eat from trees we did not plant and enjoy the fruits of His grace, and we are glad to own that it is all of God. Every spiritual blessing comes from Him, and so does the appetite to enjoy it.
Why does God tell them where they came from only after they are settled and full? One writer sees a pattern:
God has brought us into the enjoyment of heavenly places, and there He speaks to us of His grace, and by it He establishes our hearts. But to enter into this, we must have our own state fully shown to us. This is how God works. Only when Israel reached Canaan did He show them the idolatry of their fathers, the utter ruin of the family line they came from, and how far they stood from God. So it is with us. We only realise the total ruin of the first man when we know full deliverance.
The list of gifts should have drawn one answer out of Israel. It drew another:
If the people had been wise, touched by God's tireless mercy and distrustful of themselves, they would have asked the Lord to keep them and lead them by His grace alone. Instead, in their folly, they hold to the principles of the law. Trusting themselves, they say, "We will serve the Lord."
Joshua's call assumes the danger is inside the house, not outside it:
Turning away from God and idolatry are sins that belong to man's fallen nature. Holding a position, even the most favoured one, will not keep them out of the heart. You cannot argue that Israel had no hidden household gods in their houses just because the nation was in Canaan. The call to purge themselves was of God, who knew where the idols were hidden.
- Sovereignty — the speech starts with God taking Abraham out of idolatry. Israel's story begins with a choice that was not theirs.
- Power — God cleared the land, not sword or bow. In attack and defence alike, the Lord alone won the victory.
- Grace — built cities and planted vineyards are grace at its plainest: everything ready, nothing earned, all of God. Even the appetite to enjoy it is His gift.
- Timing — God tells the story of grace only after Israel is inside the land. We see our own ruin clearly only when we know full deliverance.
- Response — they should have distrusted themselves and asked for grace alone. Instead they said, "We will serve the Lord," while idols God knew about stayed hidden in their houses.