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.