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.