John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Joshua 22:1



INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 22



The war with the Canaanites being ended, Joshua called to him the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who came over Jordan with him to assist in it, and commended them for their obedience to Moses and to himself, and to God by them; and then dismissed them, with some instructions to keep the ways and worship of God, and with his blessing upon them, Jos 22:1; upon which they returned to their country, and when they came to the borders of it set up an altar by Jordan, Jos 22:9; which, when the children of Israel heard of, it gave them great offence, they fearing they were going to make a revolt from the pure worship of God, and therefore sent a deputation of princes to them, with the son of the high priest, to inquire into the matter, and expostulate with them about it, who did, Jos 22:11; and who received from them a very satisfactory answer, Jos 22:21; with which they returned and reported to the children of Israel, and which gave them pleasure, Jos 22:32.



Ver. 1. Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. The promise of God to Israel being fulfilled, the land of Canaan being for the most part subdued, the war at an end, and rest had on all sides from their enemies, and the land divided among the nine tribes and an half, and they settled in the quiet possession of their lots; Joshua sent for the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who had, at their own request, their portion allotted them on the other side Jordan, and who came over that river with him to assist their brethren in their wars with the Canaanites, and addressed them in the following respectable manner.





Joshua 22:2



Ver. 2. And said unto them, ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you,.... Which was, that they should leave their wives and children, and flocks, and herds, behind them in the land of Gilead, and pass over Jordan, with their brethren the children of Israel armed, and fight with them, and for them, until the Canaanites were subdued, and not return until their brethren were peaceably settled in the possession of their inheritances; all which they had punctually observed, and inviolably kept, as they agreed to,

Nu 32:1;



and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you; as the generalissimo and commander in chief of the Israelitish forces; as what rank and position to be in, what part to take in an engagement, what attack to make, when and where, or on what expedition to go; wherever he ordered them to go, they went; and upon whatsoever and wheresoever he sent them, they readily and cheerfully obeyed, as they promised, Jos 1:16; and approved themselves as good soldiers under him; for all which he commends them, and gives them military honour.





Joshua 22:3



Ver. 3. Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day,.... For the space of fourteen years, which is the commonly received notion of the Jews {f}; seven years according to them the land was subduing, and seven more spent in dividing it, and then these tribes were sent for and dismissed; all this time they stayed close by their brethren, and assisted them in their wars, and never offered to return to their wives and children, until they had an order from their general:



but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God; for what both Moses and Joshua commanded them was from the mouth of the Lord; so that, in obeying them, they obeyed him.



{f} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 32.





Joshua 22:4



Ver. 4. And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren,

as he promised them,.... As in Jos 21:44; see De 12:9;



therefore now return ye, and get ye unto your tents; not their military tents in the army, from which they now came to Joshua, but their houses, as the Greek version, and their cities, as the Targum; they having been so long used to tents in the wilderness, and during the wars in Canaan, this was a familiar word for their dwellings:



[and] unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you, on the other side Jordan; before his death, on condition of doing what they now had done; even the land of Gilead and Bashan, beyond Jordan.





Joshua 22:5



Ver. 5. But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law,.... The ten commandments, and all other laws, both ceremonial and civil:



which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you; in the name of the Lord, to keep and observe:



to love the Lord your God; of which keeping the commands of God is an evidence, and which is the true principle and motive of hearty, sincere, and cheerful obedience to them:



and to walk in all his ways; which he has prescribed, all his ways of worship, paths of duty, faith, truth, holiness, and righteousness:



and to keep his commandments; whether moral, ceremonial, or judicial: whether of natural and moral obligation, or of positive institution:



and to cleave unto him; and not depart from his ways, worship, word, and ordinances:



and to serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul: in the most strict and affectionate manner. This advice Joshua thought proper to give them, and inculcate into them, now they were about to leave their brethren, and go on the other side Jordan; where they would be at a distance from the tabernacle, altar, and service of God, and might be under temptation to relinquish it, and set up another form of worship elsewhere.





Joshua 22:6



Ver. 6. So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away,.... Dismissed them from his presence with a blessing, in order to go to their own country; this he did by wishing them well, praying to God for a blessing on them, their persons, and families, who had been so useful in assisting their brethren to get possession of the land of Canaan. Some think this blessing includes gifts and presents he bestowed on them:



and they went unto their tents; here the word means their military tents in the camp of Israel, to which they returned, in order to take with them their goods, their substance and riches, their part of the spoil of the enemy, which of right belonged to them.





Joshua 22:7



Ver. 7. Now to the [one] half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given [possession] in Bashan,.... The kingdom of Og, see De 3:13;



but unto the [other] half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward: of which an account is given, and the border of their lot described, Jos 17:1;



and when Joshua sent them also unto their tents, then he blessed them; it seems as if this half tribe was separately dismissed and blessed, they being more nearly related to Joshua, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, and so had a more particular dismission and blessing; and he took his leave of them in a different and affectionate manner. Kimchi makes mention of a Derash, or Exposition of theirs, which says, that after they had taken leave they stayed two days, and returned and took leave a second time, and which he understands of them all, and not of the half tribe only; but it is plainly the half tribe that is only spoken of.





Joshua 22:8



Ver. 8. And he spake unto them,.... To the half tribe of Manasseh only, though some think also to the other ten tribes:



saying, return with much riches unto your tents; that is, return to their own land, and habitations there, with whatsoever riches they had got from the spoil of the enemy:



and with very much cattle; they had taken from them, and fell to their share, and for which they had good pasturage in Gilead and Bashan, and therefore very proper to take with them,



with silver and with gold, and with brass, and with iron; whether in massive pieces, or wrought up into vessels, which they found in the houses of the Canaanites when they plundered them:



and with very much raiment; some no doubt very rich and costly, such as their kings, princes, nobles, and great personages among them wore:



divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren; according to Jarchi and Kimchi, this is spoken to the half tribe of Manasseh, to divide their spoil with the tribes of Reuben and Gad; but it rather means the dividing the above spoil, when they came to their own country with their brethren they left behind; who as they were employed in guarding and defending their cities, their wives and children, herds and flocks, in their absence, they had a right to part of the spoil; and as in other instances it appears to be a common case for those that stayed at home to share in the spoil with them that went to war, see

Nu 31:27; though the notion of Abarbinel pleases me best, that by "their brethren" are meant the other half tribe of Manasseh that remained in Canaan, and were settled there: when the spoil of the Canaanites was divided among all the tribes, the whole tribe of Manasseh had its share; and whereas now half of it were going to their own country on the other side Jordan, it was but reasonable they should have their part of the spoil to carry with them; and this seems to be the true reason of their being separately addressed, and dismissed and blessed.





Joshua 22:9



Ver. 9. And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, returned,.... First to the camp to take their substance, and then set forward to their own land:



and departed from the children of Israel; from the rest of them, for otherwise they were children of Israel also:



out of Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan; for here the camp of Israel was, as well as the tabernacle:



to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession,

whereof they were possessed; Gilead is put for the whole country on the other side Jordan, as the land of Jazer, and the kingdom of Bashan, which the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, were possessed of:



according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses; for when they moved to have that country, Moses, it seems, consulted the Lord about it, who declared it to be his will they should have it, on performing what they promised, see Nu 32:1.





Joshua 22:10



Ver. 10. And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that [are] in the land of Canaan,.... To the banks of it, or the sand heaps, some take the word to signify, which were thrown up to restrain the waters from overflowing; some by Geliloth understand a place so called; and Jerom {g} says it was near Jordan in the tribe of Benjamin: but rather the word signifies the meanders, windings, and turnings, of the river {h}; and such circuits and compasses it fetched near Jericho, as the same writer {i} observes, where we may suppose these tribes went over, and at a place where the river jetted out into the land of Canaan:



the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, built there an altar by Jordan; or "then"; that is, when they had passed over the river into their own country, for which Josephus is express {k}; and certain it is, that the altar was built not on the Canaan side of Jordan, but on the opposite side, as is clear from Jos 22:11: and indeed they had no right to build on any other ground than their own; and they pitched upon a spot where the river jetted out into the land of Canaan, as most proper to erect it on, to be a witness, that though separated from the rest of the Israelites by the river Jordan, yet were a part of them, and had a right to join them in the service of God, and bring their sacrifices to the altar of God in the tabernacle, as more fully appears in some after verses:



a great altar to see to; built up very high, so that it might be seen at a great distance.



{g} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. C. {h} Vid. Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 170, 573. Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 1. l. 1. c. 43. p. 274, 279. {i} Ut supra, (De loc. Heb. fol. 92.) G. {k} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 26.





Joshua 22:11



Ver. 11. And the children of Israel heard say,.... Those that dwelt in the land of Canaan, for otherwise, as before observed, the two tribes and a half on the other side Jordan were Israelites also; and this is a further proof that the altar was built on their side, or those in the land of Canaan would have known of the building of it, and have seen them at it, and not come at the knowledge of it by hearsay only, as it seems they did, it being reported to them by some who had been in those parts, and had seen the structure:



behold, the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, have built an altar over against the land of Canaan; which clearly shows it was on the other side Jordan, though Noldius, who places it in the land of Canaan, renders the words, "in the neighbourhood of" it {l}; which will not much help him, since it might be in the neighbourhood of it, and yet not in it:



in the borders of Jordan; on the banks of it, or in one of the meanders and windings of it, at a place where it ran out and fetched a compass in the land of Canaan:



at the passage of the children of Israel; where they passed over when they first came into Canaan, and where those tribes also passed over at their return; supposed to be the Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing, Joh 1:28.



{l} lwm la "in vicinia", Noldius, No. 369. p. 80.





Joshua 22:12



Ver. 12. And when the children of Israel heard [of it],.... Of the building the altar in the above place, namely, the nine tribes and a half settled in the land of Canaan:



the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh; where the tabernacle and altar of the Lord were, whose cause they undertook to avenge, being injured as they imagined by the altar the other tribes had built, and where they could consult the Lord by Urim and Thummim, if needful; hither they repaired from the several places around, where their tribes were settled; not the whole body of the people, but their heads and representatives:



to go up to war against them; to consult about it, and to prepare for it, which they were obliged to do by the law of God, as in the case of a city, so of a tribe drawn aside to idolatry; and which they imagined was the case of these tribes, or at least what they had done had a tendency to apostasy from the true worship of God, which they were zealous to defend at the hazard of their lives, and though it should issue in an extirpation of one or more of their tribes; see

De 13:12.





Joshua 22:13



Ver. 13. And the children of Israel,.... In the land of Canaan:



sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead; they were possessed of, and had now returned unto and dwelt in; hither they sent an embassy to them, to inquire into the truth of what they had heard, and the reason of it, before they went to war with them, or proclaimed it, or took any further steps towards it; and which they were obliged to do by the above law, when there was any suspicion of idolatry, and any good ground and reason for it, De 13:14; and at the head of this deputation was



Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest; a man zealous for the Lord of hosts, and his glory, of which there is an instance in Nu 25:7; and so a fit person to be employed in this affair, who would be faithful, bold, and zealous, as well as capable of giving advice and counsel to both parties, if needful.





Joshua 22:14



Ver. 14. And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince,

throughout all the tribes of Israel,.... The nine tribes and a half, so that the half tribe of Manasseh sent a prince, as well as the whole tribes:



and each one [was] an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel; that is, among the rulers of the thousands of Israel; and so the Greek version calls them Chiliarchs, rulers of thousands; for the people were divided into tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands, over whom there were distinct rulers, Ex 18:25. Now these were among the chief of them, of the highest rank and authority; they were the chief princes, heads of several tribes; a very honourable deputation this! the son of the high priest, and ten princes, the heads of the tribes; these were chosen and sent, partly in honour to their brethren beyond Jordan, and partly that they might carry the greater authority with them, and prevail upon them to hearken to them.





Joshua 22:15



Ver. 15. And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead,.... The deputation came thither; they either sent for the chiefs among the two tribes and a half, to meet them at some place, or they, having a notion of their coming, assembled together to receive them, and hear what they had to say to them:



and they spake with them, saying; as follows; very probably Phinehas was the mouth of the whole, for there could be but one speaker.





Joshua 22:16



Ver. 16. Thus saith the whole congregation of the Lord,.... By whom they were sent, and whom they represented; and they do not call them the congregation of Israel, but of the Lord, because it was not on a civil but religious account they were come, and not to plead their own cause, but the cause of God; and not so much to show a concern for their own honour and interest as for the glory of God:



what trespass [is] this that ye have committed against the God of Israel; they took it for granted that they had committed a sin, and that so great, they were not able to express the greatness of it in all its aggravated circumstances, and plainly suggest it was idolatry; which was too premature, when as yet they had not inquired into it; but their zeal for God, and his honour, hurried them into this hasty step:



to turn away this day from following the Lord; they intimate, that they had begun a revolt from the worship of God, which is aggravated by their falling into it so soon, having received so many favours from God, and had so lately seen such wonderful appearances of his power and goodness, and had just had such excellent instructions, exhortations, and cautions given them by Joshua, when he dismissed them:



in that ye have built you an altar; which they supposed was to offer sacrifices upon; whereas there was to be but one altar, and that in the place which the Lord should choose to put his name in, and which he had now chosen, where all sacrifices were to be brought and offered up; see

Ex 20:24;



that ye might rebel this day against the Lord? against the commandment of the Lord expressed in the places referred to, which they charge with rebellion against himself, a very high and heavy charge indeed! but they should first have inquired whether they were guilty of the trespass, or with what view they had built the altar, whether for sacrifice, or for some other use; but they took it for granted it was for sacrifice.





Joshua 22:17



Ver. 17. [Is] the iniquity of Peor too little for us,.... The worshipping of that idol, when in the plains of Moab; the history of which, see in Nu 25:2, was that so small a sin, that another must be added to it, or a greater committed? since building an altar seemed designed not for a single action of idolatrous worship, but for the continuance of it, whereas the sin of Peor was only committed at one time, and not continued in:



from which we are not cleansed until this day; not cleared from the shame and disgrace of it, or the guilt of it expiated or removed; but it might be expected, as in the case of the golden calf, that God would still at times punish for it, when provoked by new crimes; or the sense is, that there were those among them that were infected with the same contagion, and whose inclinations were to commit the same, or like sin of idolatry:



although there was a plague in congregation of the Lord; of which twenty four thousand died, Nu 25:9.





Joshua 22:18



Ver. 18. But that you must turn away this day from following the Lord?.... From the worship of the Lord, as the Targum, and so on

Jos 22:16; not content with the former transgression, but must add this revolt unto it, and at a time which sadly aggravates it:



and it will be, that [seeing] ye rebel to, day against the Lord; against the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, and so on Jos 22:16;



that tomorrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel; or, in a little time, if a stop is not put to this revolt, the whole body of the people will suffer for it: here they express a concern for the whole nation of Israel, as well as for the glory of God; for sometimes the whole congregation has been charged with the sins of individuals, and punished for it, as a case after mentioned shows; see Jos 7:1.





Joshua 22:19



Ver. 19. Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession [be] unclean,.... That is, if it was judged to be so by them, because not cleansed from the sins of the former inhabitants of it by sacrifice, or because there was no altar in it to offer up sacrifice for the expiation of sin:



[then] pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord,

wherein the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth; if you repent of the choice you have made of a country to dwell in, quit it, and come over into the land of Canaan, which the Lord has taken possession of, and residence in, and where his tabernacle is fixed, the place of his presence and worship, and where an altar is erected to sacrifice upon:



and take possession among us; they were willing to quit possession of their own, and make room for them in each of their tribes, and even though they straitened themselves, and parted with much of their estates, rather than they should make a schism, or go into idolatrous practices; which was a brave, noble, spirit indeed, and showed their great concern for the honour and glory of God, and his worship, and their love to their brethren, and affectionate regard for their spiritual welfare, above their own private, personal, and temporal good:



but rebel not against the Lord: the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, either Christ the essential Word, the Angel of Jehovah's presence, or his word of command:



nor rebel against us; by breaking off from us, and setting up another religion or form of worship:



in building you an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God: which ought to be common to both, and no other to be set up against it, or used beside it.





Joshua 22:20



Ver. 20. Did not Achan the son of Zerah,.... One that descended from Zerah the son of Judah, Jos 7:18;



commit a trespass in the accursed thing; in taking what was devoted to sacred uses:



and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and which was what was feared now; and this instance is brought to show that such fears were not groundless:



and that man perished not alone in his iniquity: which seems to confirm the notion of those who think that his children suffered with him; though it may be observed, that it was through his sin that thirty six men were slain by the men of Ai, Jos 7:5.





Joshua 22:21



Ver. 21. Then the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, answered,.... By some person whom they appointed to deliver the answer in their name:



and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel; who were over those that were rulers of the thousands of Israel, persons of greater authority than they, being princes of the respective tribes to which they belonged.





Joshua 22:22



Ver. 22. The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods,.... They first set out in their answer with asserting their firm belief of Jehovah, the God of Israel, being the supreme God, God over all; over all that are called gods, whether angels, of whom Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; or civil magistrates and judges of the earth, who bare the same name; nor are the gods of the Gentiles to be spoken of with Jehovah, the God of Israel, who is the supreme Being, self-existent, the Being of beings, eternal and immutable, all which is contained in his name Jehovah; now this is repeated by them for the confirmation of their faith in this great article of it, and shows the steadiness of it, and to express their earnest and vehement affection for this truth, and to clear themselves from any imputation of idolatry, or thought of it, or doing anything that might have a tendency to it:



he knoweth; he is the omniscient God, the searcher of the hearts and the trier of the reins of the children of men; he knows our cordial belief of this truth, the integrity of our hearts, the intention of our minds, that we never had a thought in us of departing from his worship, and of setting up an altar beside his in opposition to it:



and Israel he shall know; our brethren the Israelites that dwell in the land of Canaan, whose representatives you are, shall know, not only by our present declaration, but by our future conduct, and strict adherence to the pure worship of God in time to come, that it was never our view by what we have done to depart from it:



if [it be] in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lord; with a design to rebel against his word, and transgress his command:



save us not this day; this is said with respect to God, and as an apostrophe to him, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel observe; as expressing their desire to have no mercy shown them by him, but that vengeance might be taken on them by him, to whom all things were naked and open, and who full well knew whether they were guilty or not; or else the address is to Phinehas, and the princes, that they would rise up and put them to death by sword, if this appeared to be the case; or that all the other tribes would rise up, and make war against them, and cut them off with the edge of the sword, and not spare them.





Joshua 22:23



Ver. 23. That we have built us an altar, to turn from following the Lord,.... That is, we desire, as we deserve, to be cut to pieces, and not saved, if it should appear to be our view, in building this altar, to revolt from the pure worship of God:



or if to offer thereon burnt offering, or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings; even to the Lord himself: they declare that as they had no design to apostatize from God, and worship idols, so it was not their intention to offer any kind of sacrifice on the altar they had built, even to the Lord himself; and they take notice of every kind of offering, to remove every charge of this sort from them, and to purge themselves of every imputation of this nature: then



let the Lord himself require [it]; seek it out, who is the omniscient God, and revenge it, who is the Lord God Almighty, just and true.





Joshua 22:24



Ver. 24. And if we have not [rather] done it for fear of [this] thing,.... So far they suggest were they from doing this, in order to turn from the pure worship of God, and introduce idolatrous worship, that it was to guard against everything of that kind for the future; and through fear of it, and anxiety and distress of mind, lest some time or another there should be any temptation to it in their posterity, had they built this altar:



saying, in time to come your children might speak unto our children; or "tomorrow" {m}, in a short time after your heads, and ours, are laid in the grave, your posterity will accost us:



saying, what have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? you are aliens and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, live in a foreign land, and not in the land, of Canaan; are separated from us by the river Jordan, are a different people from us, and have nothing to do with the tabernacle of the Lord, and the service of it, or with the altar of the Lord, to offer sacrifice on it. Now as they returned to their own country, or when got there, such anxious thoughts and fears rose up in their minds, which they communicated to one another, and thought of this expedient to prevent what would be so fatal to their posterity. The Targum is,



"you have no part in the Word of the Lord God of Israel;''



see Joh 13:8.



{m} rxm "cras", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.





Joshua 22:25



Ver. 25. For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you,.... And by it separated them from them, as if they were a distinct people; not that this was really the case, but so they feared it would be represented in time to come; for though Jordan was the border of the land of Canaan, strictly so called, eastward, Nu 34:12; yet it did not exclude the land of the two tribes and a half from being part of the land of promise; for the Amorites, which before inhabited it, and were driven out of it, were Canaanites, and were one part of the people, whose land the Lord promised to Abraham, Ge 15:18;



ye children of Reuben, and children of Gad, have no part in the Lord; in his covenant and promises, in his worship, word, and ordinances; these are things you have nothing to do with, being separated from us his peculiar people; or "have no part in the Word of the Lord", as the Targum, the promised Messiah, being without, or separated from him, as the Gentiles are said to be, Eph 2:12;



so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord; from worshipping the Lord, the fear of the Lord being often put for the whole worship of God, external and internal, Ec 12:13; by behaving in the above manner towards them, they would be the cause and occasion of their apostasy from the true God, and it would be in effect to say to them, "go, serve other gods", 1Sa 26:19.





Joshua 22:26



Ver. 26. Therefore we said,.... One to another, in order to prevent the apostasy of our children from God, their departure from his worship, and going into idolatry:



let us now prepare to build us an altar; get materials ready, and set about it instantly, without any delay, while the thing dwells upon our minds:



not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; not for offerings of any kind required by the law, neither for sin offerings nor trespass offerings, nor any other not named.





Joshua 22:27



Ver. 27. But [that] it [may be] a witness between us and you, and our generations after us,.... That we are one people, worship one God, and serve at one altar, of which this built was a resemblance, and would put them in mind of it:



that we might do the service of the Lord before him; in the tabernacle, and at the altar, in the place where he had chosen to put his name and dwell:



with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; to be brought at stated times, or as occasion required:



that your children may not say to our children, in time to come, ye have no part in the Lord; nor right to his altar, and so forbid them offering their sacrifices on it; or



"have no part in the Word of the Lord,''



as the Targum; the Messiah, whose sacrifice was typified by the sacrifices of the legal dispensation, and all such, who offered theirs in the faith of that, had a part in it, and their sins were expiated by it.





Joshua 22:28



Ver. 28. Therefore said we,.... To prevent any such usage of our children, and that they might have a ready answer to give:



that it shall be, when they should [so] say unto us, or to our generations, in time to come; as above suggested, that they were a separate people from them, and had no interest in the Lord, nor right to his altar, nor concern in his worship:



that we may say [again]; in reply, that is, our posterity:



behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made; which exactly agrees with the Mosaic altar, and which they could never have framed in so exact a manner if they had not seen it, and served at it; wherefore this was a plain proof of their being originally worshippers of the same God, partakers of the same altar, and were in the faith, fellowship, and communion of Israel. According to Gussetius {n}, this was not the altar the Reubenites, &c. built, which the children of Israel would be bid to behold, but the Mosaic altar at the tabernacle or temple, which was the archetype and exemplar, according to which that of the Reubenites was formed; and therefore say not, come and behold, but behold the altar present before them, that of Moses, and acknowledge that to be a type and exemplar, which they had related, and so confess it to be a testimony of their mutual fellowship: and what they had made in imitation of it, which exactly answered to it, was



not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; of any sort, that was not the intention of erecting it:



but it [is] a witness between us and you; that we worship the same God, and are of the same faith and fellowship.



{n} Ebr. Comment. p. 135.





Joshua 22:29



Ver. 29. God forbid that we should rebel against the Lord,.... Against the command of the Lord, who ordered one altar to be made, to which all sacrifices were to be brought from the several parts of the land of Israel, and there to be offered on it; or



"against the Word of the Lord,''



as the Targum, Christ typified both by the altar and the sacrifices on it; and who is but one, one priest, one sacrifice, one altar, one Mediator and Saviour:



and turn this day from following the Lord; apostatize from him, and from his worship:



to build an altar for burnt offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices; which was never our intention, or ever entered into our hearts to erect one for such a purpose:



besides the altar of the Lord our God, that [is] before his tabernacle; it standing in the court of the tabernacle before the holy place.





Joshua 22:30



Ver. 30. And when Phinehas the priest,.... For he was, being the son of Eleazar the high priest, so the word "priest", Jos 22:13; is to be joined, not to Eleazar but to Phinehas:



and the princes of the congregation; the ten princes, who were sent by the congregation of Israel, one out of each tribe:



and heads out of the thousands of Israel; these are the same with the princes, and this belongs to their title, who were heads of the Chiliarchs, or those who were rulers of thousands in Israel:



which [were] with him; with Phinehas, who were joined with him in the embassy, and now present with him:



heard the words that the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad,

and the children of Manasseh; spake; in defence of themselves, explaining the meaning and design of the altar they had built:



it pleased them; they were not only satisfied with their answer, but highly delighted with what they had done, as tending to preserve the common faith and fellowship of Israel.





Joshua 22:31



Ver. 31. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,.... As the mouth of the deputation, and in their name:



said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh; the representatives of them assembled together on this occasion:



this day we perceive that the Lord [is] among us; his Shechinah, as the Targum; his powerful Presence in preserving their brethren from committing a trespass, as they feared; his gracious Presence smiling upon them; and as the God of peace and order, and not of confusion, uniting and cementing their hearts in love to one another:



because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord; which they were fearful and jealous of they had, but they found that the Lord had been good and gracious in preserving them from it:



now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord; into which they would have fallen, had that been the case, and would have felt the effects of the divine resentment, but now they were secure from them.





Joshua 22:32



Ver. 32. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes,.... Being fully satisfied with the relation of things that had been given them, and having taken their leave of the assembly:



returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad; the Greek version adds, "and from the half tribe of Manasseh"; which, though not in the Hebrew text, is undoubtedly meant:



out of the land of Gilead: which, though only a part of the country these tribes inhabited, is put for the whole, and it is not improbable that the assembly might be held in it:



unto the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel; the rest of the children of Israel who dwelt in the land of Canaan, properly so called:



and brought them word again; reported the whole affair, related all that had passed, and acquainted them with the intention and design of their brethren erecting the altar, and what had been the issue of their embassy to them.





Joshua 22:33



Ver. 33. And the thing pleased the children of Israel,.... They were quite satisfied with the account of things, and were pleased and delighted with what their brethren, the other two tribes, had done:



and the children of Israel blessed God: returned thanks to him, that there was no trespass committed against him, and no schism like to be made among them, nor any wrath to come upon them:



and did not intend to go up against them in battle; for though upon first hearing of their building an altar, which they supposed was for idolatry, they had intended to make war against them, but now understanding the design of that building, they laid aside all thoughts of that kind:



to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt; which they judged by the law in De 13:12 they were obliged to do. The Greek version here adds also, "and the half tribe of Manasseh", and renders the last clause, and "they dwelt in it"; continued to dwell in it undisturbed by their brethren.





Joshua 22:34



Ver. 34. And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, called the altar [Ed],.... Which signifies a "witness"; they caused such an inscription to be put upon it, or this word to be engraved on it, that so the intention of erecting it might be known in future time; that it was not for sacrifice, but to be a testimony of their being one with their brethren on the other side Jordan, in worship, faith, and fellowship:



for [it shall be] a witness between us that the Lord [is] God; is the one God, the God of them both, of all Israel, whether on the one or the other side of Jordan; to be worshipped by them in one and the same manner, and their sacrifices to be offered to him on his altar before the tabernacle.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Joshua 23:1



INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 23



Joshua being old, convenes the states of Israel a little before his death, Jos 23:1; and in his address to them observes what God had done for them, and would do, Jos 23:3; and exhorts them to keep the commandments of God, and cleave to him, and not to mix with the Gentiles, and join with them in idolatrous practices, and then it would be well with them, Jos 23:6; but otherwise should they join with them, and depart from the Lord, who had so faithfully and punctually performed every good thing he had promised them, they might expect all evils and calamities, utter ruin and destruction, to befall them,

Jos 23:12.



Ver. 1. And it came to pass a long time after,.... Or "after many days" {o}, that is, years:



that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about; the greatest part of the land of Canaan was subdued, the whole divided by lot to the tribes of Israel, and they quietly settled in the respective portions assigned them, the Canaanites that remained giving them no disturbance, in which state of rest and peace they had now been for some years; and this may be reasonably supposed to be the last year of the life of Joshua, see Jos 23:14.



that Joshua waxed old [and] stricken in age; and became feeble and decrepit, and greatly declined; for though he was ten years younger than Moses when he died, yet not so vigorous, strong, and robust as he, but was pressed and bore down with the infirmities of age.



{o} Mybr Mymym "post dies multos", Pagninus, Masius, Tigurine version; "exactis maltis diebus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Joshua 23:2



Ver. 2. And Joshua called for all Israel,.... Summoned them together, whether at Timnathserah, his own city, he being old and infirm, and not able to go elsewhere; or whether at Shechem, where it is plain they were afterwards convened, Jos 24:1, or whether rather at Shiloh, where the tabernacle was, is not certain; and by "all Israel" cannot be meant the whole body of the people, unless it can be thought to be at one of the feasts, when all the males in Israel appeared before the Lord; though this seems to be not a stated convocation, but occasionally made, and to be understood of the representatives of the people called together, as explained in the following clause:



[and] for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; the first and is supplied, and another word or words may be supplied, as "even", or "that is", or the like, and so explanative of all Israel, namely, "their elders", both in age and office, especially the latter, the seventy elders, or who composed what in later times was called the great sanhedrim; and the "heads" of their tribes, the chief princes of every tribe; and their "judges" in their several cities, who heard and tried causes, and administered justice and judgment to the people; and their "officers", who attended on them to execute the judgment they pronounced:



and said unto them, I am old [and] stricken in age; which he observes as a reason of his calling them together to give them some advice and instructions before his death, and in order to command greater reverence of him, and respect to him, and to excite attention to what he had to say to them.





Joshua 23:3



Ver. 3. And ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all those nations because of you,.... How he had destroyed them, and driven them out of their habitations to make room for them, meaning the seven nations of the Canaanites:



for the Lord your God [is] he that hath fought for you; Joshua does not attribute any of the things that were done to his own valour, nor theirs, nor so much as mentions himself or them as instruments, but wholly ascribes all to the Lord, who fought their battles for them, and conquered their enemies, and subdued them under them; the Targum is,



"the Word of the Lord fought for you;''



the Captain of the host of the Lord, Jos 5:14.





Joshua 23:4



Ver. 4. Behold, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain,.... Who are unsubdued, not yet conquered, as well as those that are



to be an inheritance for your tribes; to be possessed by them and their children for ever:



from Jordan, with all the nations I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward; the phrase, "with all the nations I have cut off", is to be read in connection with "those nations that remain"; both those that were cut off by the sword of Joshua, and those that remained unconquered, being divided by lot to the tribes of Israel; and which reached from Jordan eastward, where Joshua and Israel entered into the land, to the Mediterranean sea, called the great sea in comparison of little ones in Canaan, as the Dead sea, and the sea of Tiberias; and which great sea lay west to the land of Israel, or where the sun sets, as the phrase in the Hebrew text is.





Joshua 23:5



Ver. 5. And the Lord your God he shall expel them from before you,.... That is, such of them as yet remained among them:



and drive them from out of your sight; the same thing expressed by different words, for the confirmation of it:



and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord your God hath promised unto you; all which is to be understood on condition of their good behaviour towards the Lord, and obedience to his commands; by which tenure they held the possession of the land when put into it, and for their disobedience did not possess the whole.





Joshua 23:6



Ver. 6. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses,.... To observe which required spiritual strength, fortitude of mind, a holy courage, a firm and fixed resolution, and particularly to destroy the Canaanites required in that book, and to abstain from all communion and fellowship with them:



that ye turn not aside therefrom, [to] the right hand or the left;

See Gill on "Jos 1:7".





Joshua 23:7



Ver. 7. That ye come not among these nations, those that remain among you,.... That remained unsubdued, or that were suffered to dwell among them, being tributaries to them; with these they were not to converse freely and familiarly, nor to carry on trade and commerce with them, nor enter into any alliances or marriages with them, and not even attend any of their feasts, and especially their idolatrous ones:



neither make mention of the name of their gods; not in common conversation, and still less in any religious matters; never with any reverence of them, or in any respectable manner; but always with indignation and contempt, calling them dunghill gods, and the like, as they often are in Scripture:



nor cause to swear [by them]; neither swear by them themselves, nor cause others to swear by them, as Abarbinel; or a man his neighbour, as Kimchi; no, not a Gentile, as Ben Melech; so it is said in the Misnah {p},



"he that vows in the name of an idol, and confirms in his name, (which Bartenora interprets, swears by his name,) transgresses a negative precept.''



Maimonides {q} also says,



"he that vows in the name of an idol, and swears by it, is to be beaten--he that swears by it himself, or causes a Gentile to swear by it; for it is forbidden to cause a Gentile to swear by his fear (or idol), and even to cause him to make mention of it, though not in the way of an oath, it is forbidden:''



neither serve them; by offering any sacrifice or incense to them, or by praying to them, or offering them praises on any account, or by performing any religious service in any instance or form whatever:



nor bow yourselves unto them; give them any adoration or worship, external or internal.



{p} Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 6. {q} Hilchot & Obedeth Cochabim, c. 5. sect. 10.





Joshua 23:8



Ver. 8. But cleave unto the Lord your God,.... To his word, worship, and ordinances; externally, by close adherence to them, and strict observation of them; and internally, by strong affection to him, hope, trust, and confidence in him, expectation of all good things from him, and constant application to him for help in all times of need, and a fixed dependence on him:



as ye have done unto this day; that is, since they came into the land of Canaan, and had been under the government of Joshua; for otherwise, while in the wilderness, they frequently revolted from God, and murmured against him; and this is to be understood not of individuals, who doubtless were guilty of various failings and sins, but of the whole body, and with respect to any notorious offence, particularly idolatry, which they had not fallen into since they came into the land of Canaan, and had very lately shown great zeal against it; not only the tribes on this side, but those on the other side Jordan, as the preceding chapter largely relates.





Joshua 23:9



Ver. 9. For the Lord hath driven out before you great nations and strong,.... Especially as they were reckoned in those times, before any great monarchies had existed, as did afterwards; and indeed these were, considering the land they inhabited, very numerous and populous, and were very stout and able bodied men, and some of a gigantic stature; and all dwelt in strong fortified cities, and were able to bring out large armies into the field, with chariots of iron, so that they were very formidable; but notwithstanding all this, the Lord drove them out of their strong holds, and put Israel into the possession of them, and of their land:



but [as for] you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day; that is, of those that came out against them, and fought with them; these were all to a man cut off by them, or fled before them, and became tributaries to them; otherwise there were many, who as yet were not expelled by them; this the Lord had promised, and now had fulfilled, De 11:25.





Joshua 23:10



Ver. 10. One man of you shall chase a thousand,.... Here Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, that the future tense is put for the past, and that the sense is, one of them had chased a thousand in their war with the Canaanites; but Abarbinel disapproves of this observation, and thinks it refers to time to come, what they should be able to do if they cleaved unto the Lord; this was fulfilled in Samson, Jud 15:15; such a promise was made, Le 26:8;



for the Lord your God he [it is] that fighteth for you; and no wonder then that a thousand should be put to flight by one man; the Targum interprets it of the Word of the Lord, as in Jos 23:3;



as he hath promised you; see De 1:30.





Joshua 23:11



Ver. 11. Take good heed therefore unto yourselves,.... To be upon their guard, and to be watchful, were very necessary to them, that they might not be ensnared by the Canaanites, and drawn aside by them into idolatry, and so apostatize from the Lord and his worship, since their temptations would be many:



that ye love the Lord your God; which would the most strongly influence and engage them to serve and worship the Lord, and obey his commands, and be the best preservative against idolatry and false worship.





Joshua 23:12



Ver. 12. Else if ye do in any wise go back,.... From the Lord and his worship, from his word and ordinances:



and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, [even] those that remain among you; in cities not taken, or in several which the Philistines were in possession of, or lived among them as tributaries to them, if they should take to them, and be free and familiar with them, which may lead on to nearer connections in civil and religious matters:



and shall make marriages with them; marry their daughters to the sons of Canaanites, or admit the daughters of Canaanites to be married to their sons:



and go in unto them, and they to you; which is expressive of the consummation of marriage, and of the performance of the conjugal duty,





Joshua 23:13



Ver. 13. Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out [any] of these nations from before you,.... Or, "knowing ye shall know" {r}; or "know ye"; this may be taken for granted, or the fullest proof, and clearest demonstration, and strongest assurance will be given of it, that in case of such bad conduct, and disobedience to the will of God, no more of the nations of the Canaanites will be driven out of the cities in which they are:



but they shall be snares and traps unto you; who by their bad examples would draw them both to idolatry and superstitious worship, and into all irreligion, profaneness, and immorality, as they did,

Ps 106:35;



and scourges in your sides; who either, by ensnaring them, would get an advantage over them, and distress them in their persons, families, and estates; or would be the means of the Lord's correcting and chastising them with the rod and stripes of men, for the iniquities these would draw them into; the allusion is to scourges and lashes laid on the sides of men, or to goads with which beasts are pushed on their sides and driven:



and thorns in your eyes; very troublesome and distressing; for even a mote in the eye is very afflicting: and much more a thorn;

See Gill on "Nu 33:55". Jarchi interprets this word by camps surrounding them, as shields do the bodies of men, and which is approved of by Gussetius {s}:



until ye perish from off this good land, which the Lord your God hath given you; by sword, famine, pestilence, or captivity, which has been their case.



{r} wedt ewdy "sciendo scietis", Montanus; "sciendo scitote", Pagninus, Vatablus. {s} Comment. Ebr. p. 717.





Joshua 23:14



Ver. 14. And, behold, this day I [am] going the way of all the earth,.... That is, about to die; not that precise day, but in a short time, of which the daily increasing infirmities of old age gave him notice. Death is a journey from this world to another, a man's going to his long home, a path trodden by all men, and but once {t}; a way in which all men without exception must and do walk, and even the best as well as the greatest of men, such as Joshua; no man is exempted from death, be he ever so great or good, ever so wise and knowing, ever so holy or so useful; see 1Ki 2:2;



and ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls; in their consciences; it was a glaring truth, which none could deny; it had a testimony in every man's breast:



that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God hath spoken concerning you; particularly concerning the good land, and the Lord's bringing them into it, removing the old inhabitants, and settling them in their room, and putting them in possession of all temporal good things and spiritual privileges, as the word and ordinances:



all are come to pass unto you, [and] not one thing hath failed thereof; see Jos 21:45.



{t} "----Sed omnes una manet nox, Et calcanda semel via lethi". --Horat. Carmin. l. 1. Ode 28.





Joshua 23:15



Ver. 15. Therefore it shall come to pass, [that] as all the good things are come upon you which the Lord hath promised you,.... Of which there was full proof, and it could not be denied:



so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things; calamities and distresses, by his sore judgments of famine, sword, pestilence, evil beasts, and captivity, in case of disobedience to his commands:



until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you; for as he is faithful to his promises, so to his threatenings; and from his punctual performance of the one may be argued and expected the sure fulfilment of the other, and which has been abundantly verified in that people; see Le 26:1 and the notes there.





Joshua 23:16



Ver. 16. When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God,

which he commanded you,.... The law, so called, and the several precepts of it, particularly those which relate to the faith and worship of the one only true God; see Ex 24:7;



and have gone and served other gods, and have bowed down yourselves unto them; been guilty of idolatry, of having and worshipping other gods, which are no gods, with or besides the God of Israel, see

Jos 23:7;



then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you; nothing being more provoking to him than idolatry, he being a jealous God of his honour and worship:



and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you; as they did at the time of the Babylonish captivity, and at the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Joshua 24:1



INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 24



This chapter gives us an account of another summons of the tribes of Israel by Joshua, who obeyed it, and presented themselves before the Lord at Shechem, Jos 24:1; when Joshua in the name of the Lord rehearsed to them the many great and good things the Lord had done for them, from the time of their ancestor Abraham to that day,

Jos 24:2; and then exhorted them to fear and serve the Lord, and reject idols, Jos 24:14; and put them upon making their choice, whether they would serve the true God, or the gods of the Canaanites; and they choosing the former, he advised them to abide by their choice,

Jos 24:15; and made a covenant with them to that purpose, and then dismissed them, Jos 24:25; and the chapter is concluded with an account of the death and burial of Joshua and Eleazar, and of the interment of the bones of Joseph, Jos 24:29.



Ver. 1. And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem,.... The nine tribes and a half; not all the individuals of them, but the chief among them, their representatives, as afterwards explained, whom he gathered together a second time, being willing, as long as he was among them, to improve his time for their spiritual as well as civil good; to impress their minds with a sense of religion, and to strengthen, enlarge, and enforce the exhortations he had given them to serve the Lord; and Abarbinel thinks he gathered them together again because before they returned him no answer, and therefore he determined now to put such questions to them as would oblige them to give one, as they did, and which issued in making a covenant with them; the place where they assembled was Shechem, which some take to be Shiloh, because of what is said Jos 24:25; that being as they say in the fields of Shechem; which is not likely, since Shiloh, as Jerom says {u}, was ten miles from Neapolis or Shechem. This place was chosen because nearest to Joshua, who was now old and infirm, and unfit to travel; and the rather because it was the place where the Lord first appeared to Abraham, when he brought him into the land of Canaan, and where he made a promise of giving the land to his seed, and where Abraham built an altar to him, Ge 12:6; where also Jacob pitched his tent when he came from Padanaram, bought a parcel of a field, and erected an altar to the Lord, Ge 33:18; and where Joshua also repeated the law to, and renewed the covenant with the children of Israel, quickly after their coming into the land of Canaan, for Ebal and Gerizim were near to Shechem, Jos 8:30;



and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers: See Gill on "Jos 23:2";



and they presented themselves before God; Kimchi and Abarbinel are of opinion that the ark was fetched from the tabernacle at Shiloh, and brought hither on this occasion, which was the symbol of the divine Presence; and therefore the place becoming sacred thereby is called the sanctuary of the Lord, and certain it is that here was the book of the law of Moses, Jos 24:26; which was put on the side of the ark,

De 31:26.



{u} De loc. Heb. fol. 94. I.





Joshua 24:2



Ver. 2. And Joshua said unto all the people,.... Then present, or to all Israel by their representatives:



thus saith the Lord God of Israel; he spoke to them in the name of the Lord, as the prophet did, being himself a prophet, and at this time under a divine impulse, and spirit of prophecy. According to an Arabic writer {w}: the Angel of God appeared in the form of a man, and with a loud voice delivered the following, though they are expressed by him in a different manner; perhaps he mean, the Captain of the Lord's host,

Jos 15:13; and which is not unlikely:



your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time; on the offer side the, river Euphrates; so the Targum,



"beyond Perat;''



i.e. Euphrates; in Mesopotamia and Chaldea; meaning not the remotest of their ancestors, Noah and Shem, but the more near, and who are expressly named:



[even] Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor; the Israelites sprung from Terah, in the line of Abraham, on the father's side, and from him in the line of Nachor on the mother's side, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel, being of Nachor's family:



and they served other gods; besides the true God, strange gods, which were no gods: "idols"; the idols of the people, as the Targum; so did Terah, Abraham, and Nachor; See Gill on "Ge 11:26";

See Gill on "Ge 11:28";

See Gill on "Ge 12:1".



{w} Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 35.





Joshua 24:3



Ver. 3. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood,.... The river Euphrates, as before: or "your father, to wit, Abraham", as Noldius {x}; he took him not only in a providential way, and brought him from the other side of the Euphrates, out of an idolatrous country and family, but he apprehended him by his grace, and called and converted him by it, and brought him to a spiritual knowledge of himself, and of the Messiah that should spring from his seed, and of the Covenant of grace, and of the blessings of it, and of his interest therein; which was a peculiar and distinguishing favour:



and led him throughout all the land of Canaan; from the northern to the southern part of it; he led him as far as Shechem, where Israel was now assembled, and then to Bethel, and still onward to the south,

Ge 12:6; that he might have a view of the land his posterity was to inherit, and, by treading on it and walking through it, take as it were a kind of possession of it:



and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac; he multiplied his seed by Hagar, by whom he had Ishmael, who begat twelve princes; and by Keturah, from whose sons several nations sprung; see Ge 17:20; and by Sarah, who bore him Isaac in old age, in whom his seed was called; and from whom, in the line of Jacob, sprung the twelve tribes of Israel, and which seed may be chiefly meant; and the sense is, that he multiplied his posterity after he had given him Isaac, and by him a numerous seed; so Vatablus: Ishmael is not mentioned, because, as Kimchi observes, he was born of an handmaid; but Abarbinel thinks only such are mentioned, who were born in a miraculous manner, when their parents were barren, as in this and also in the next instance.



{x} Concord. Ebr. Part. p. 119.





Joshua 24:4



Ver. 4. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau,.... When Rebekah was barren, so that the children appeared the more to be the gift of God; though Esau perhaps is mentioned, for the sake of what follows:



and I gave unto Esau Mount Seir to possess it; that Jacob and his posterity alone might inherit Canaan, and Esau and his seed make no pretension to it:



but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt; where they continued many years, and great part of the time in bondage and misery, which is here taken no notice of; and this was in order to their being brought into the land of Canaan, and that the power and goodness of God might be the more conspicuous in it.





Joshua 24:5



Ver. 5. I sent Moses also and Aaron,.... To demand Israel's dismission of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to be the deliverers of them:



and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did amongst them; inflicting ten plagues upon them for refusing to let Israel go:



and afterwards I brought you out; that is, out of Egypt, with an high hand, and outstretched arm.





Joshua 24:6



Ver. 6. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt,.... Which more fully expresses the sense of the last clause of Jos 24:5:



and you came unto the sea; which respects some senior persons then present; for, besides Caleb and Joshua, there were many at this time alive who came to and passed through the Red sea, at their coming out of Egypt; for those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness were such as were mere than twenty years of age at their coming out from Egypt, and who were the murmurers in the wilderness; and it may be reasonably supposed, that many of those who were under twenty years of age at that time were now living:



and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers, with chariots and horsemen, into the Red sea; of the number of their chariots and horsemen, see Ex 14:7; with these they pursued the Israelites, not only unto, but into the Red sea, following them into it; the reason of which strange action is given in Jos 24:7.





Joshua 24:7



Ver. 7. And when they cried unto the Lord,.... That is, the Israelites, being in the utmost distress, the sea before them, Pharaoh's large host behind them, and the rocks on each side of them; see Ex 14:10;



he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; the pillar of cloud, the dark side of which was turned to the Egyptians, and which was the reason of their following the Israelites into the sea; for not being able to see their way, knew not where they were; see Ex 14:20;



and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; or "upon him, and covered him" {y}; on Pharaoh, as Kimchi; or on Egypt; that is, the Egyptians or on everyone of them, as Jarchi, none escaped; see

Ex 14:26;



and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt; what signs and wonders were wrought there, before they were brought out of it, and what he had done to and upon the Egyptians at the Red sea; some then present had been eyewitnesses of them:



and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season; forty years, where they had the law given them, were preserved from many evils and enemies, were fed with manna, and supplied with the necessaries of life, were led about and instructed, and at length brought out of it.



{y} whokyw-wyle "super eum, et operuit eum", Munster, Vatablus, Pagninus, Montanus.





Joshua 24:8



Ver. 8. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan,.... The kingdoms of Sihon and Og, and they fought with you; the two kings of them, and their armies:



and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and which was now possessed by the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh:



and I destroyed them from before you; the kings, their forces, and the inhabitants of their countries; the history of which see in

Nu 21:10.





Joshua 24:9



Ver. 9. Then Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, arose,.... Being alarmed with what Israel had done to the two kings of the Amorites, and by their near approach to the borders of his kingdom:



and warred against Israel; he fully designed it, and purpose is put for action, as Kimchi observes; he prepared for it, proclaimed war, and commenced it, though he did not come to a battle, he made use of stratagems and wiles, and magical arts, to hurt them, and sent for Balaam to curse them, that they both together might smite the Israelites, and drive them out of the land, Nu 22:6; so his fighting is interpreted by the next clause:



and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you; by which means he hoped to prevail in battle, and get the victory over them; but not being able to bring this about, durst not engage in battle with them.





Joshua 24:10



Ver. 10. But I would not hearken unto Balaam,.... Who was very solicitous to get leave of the Lord to curse Israel, which he knew he could not do without; he had a goodwill to it but could not accomplish it:



therefore he blessed you still; went on blessing Israel to the last, when Balak hoped every time he would have cursed them; and Balaam himself was very desirous of doing it; but could not, being overruled by the Lord, and under his restraint; which shows his power over evil spirits, and their agents:



so I delivered you out of his hands: both out of the hand of Balak, who was intimidated from bringing his forces against them, and out of the hand of Balaam, who was not suffered to curse them.





Joshua 24:11



Ver. 11. And ye went over Jordan,.... In a miraculous manner, the waters parting to make way for the host of Israel:



and came unto Jericho; the first city of any size and strength in the land, which was about seven or eight miles from Jordan;

See Gill on "Nu 22:1";



and the men of Jericho fought against you; by endeavouring to intercept their spies, and cut them off; by shutting up the gates of their city against Israel; and it may be throwing darts, arrows, and stones, from off the walls of it at them. Kimchi thinks that some of the great men of Jericho went out from thence, to give notice and warning to the kings of Canaan of the approach of the Israelites, and in the mean time the city was taken; and that these afterwards joined with the kings in fighting against Joshua and the people of Israel:



the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; the seven nations of Canaan; this they did at different times, and in different places:



and I delivered them into your hand; these nations and their kings.





Joshua 24:12



Ver. 12. And I sent the hornet before you,.... Of which

See Gill on "Ex 23:28";



which drave them out from before you, [even] the two kings of the Amorites; who were Sihon and Og, and not only them, and the Amorites under them, but the other nations, Hivites, Hittites, &c.



[but] not with thy sword, nor with thy bow; but by insects of the Lord's sending to them, which, as Kimchi says, so blinded their eyes, that they could not see to fight, and so Israel came upon them, and slew them; in which the hand of the Lord was manifestly seen, and to whose power, and not, their own, the destruction of their enemies was to be ascribed.





Joshua 24:13



Ver. 13. And I have given you a land for which you did not labour,.... Or, in which {z}, by manuring and cultivating it, by dunging, and ploughing, and sowing:



and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; neither built the houses in them, nor the walls and fortifications about them; in which now they dwelt safely, and at ease, and which had been promised them as well as what follows; see De 6:10,



of the vineyards and oliveyards, which ye planted not, do ye eat; thus far an account is given of the many mercies they had been and were favoured with, and thus far are the words of the Lord by Joshua; next follow the use and improvement Joshua made of them.



{z} hb "in qua", V. L. Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Joshua 24:14



Ver. 14. Now therefore fear the Lord,.... Since he has done such great and good things, fear the Lord and his goodness, fear him for his goodness sake; nothing so influences fear, or a reverential affection for God, as a sense of his goodness; this engages men sensible of it to fear the Lord, that is, to worship him both internally and externally in the exercise of every grace, and in the performance of every duty:



and serve him in sincerity and in truth: in the uprightness of their souls, without hypocrisy and deceit, and according to the truth of his word, and of his mind and will revealed in it, without any mixture of superstition and will worship, or of the commands and inventions of men:



and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; that is, express an abhorrence of them, and keep at a distance from them, and show that you are far from giving in to such idolatries your ancestors were guilty of, when they lived on the other side Euphrates, in Chaldea, or when they were sojourners in Egypt; for it cannot be thought that the Israelites were at this time guilty of such gross idolatry, at least openly, since Joshua had bore such a testimony of them, that they had cleaved to the Lord unto that day, Jos 23:8; and their zeal against the two tribes and a half, on suspicion of idolatry, or of going into it, is a proof of it also:



and serve ye the Lord: and him only.





Joshua 24:15



Ver. 15. And if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord,.... Irksome and troublesome, a burden, a weariness, and not a pleasure and delight:



choose you this day whom you will serve; say if you have found a better master, and whose service will be more pleasant and profitable:



whether the gods your fathers served, that [were] on the other side of the flood; the river Euphrates; these may bid rid rest for antiquity, but then they were such their fathers had relinquished, and for which undoubtedly they had good reason; and to take up with the worship of these again was to impeach their wisdom, judgment, and good sense:



or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but then these were such as could not preserve their worshippers in the land, or the Israelites had not dwelt in it, and therefore no dependence could be had upon them for future security. The Amorites are only mentioned, because they were a principal nation, some of which dwelt on one side Jordan, and some on the other, and indeed there were of them in the several parts of the land:



but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord; be your choice as it may be: this was the resolution of Joshua, and so far as he knew the sense of his family, or had influence over it, could and did speak for them; and which he observes as an example set for the Israelites to follow after; he full well knowing that the examples of great personages, such as governors, supreme and subordinate, have great influence over those that are under them,





Joshua 24:16



Ver. 16. And the people answered and said,.... To Joshua, upon his proposal to them, the option he gave them to serve the Lord or idols, and which was only done to try them:



God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; they speak with the utmost abhorrence of idolatry, as a thing far from their hearts and thoughts, as the most abominable and execrable that could be thought or spoken of; to forsake the word, and worship, and ordinances of God, and serve the idols of the Gentiles, strange gods, whether more ancient or more recent, such as their fathers worshipped in former times, or the inhabitants of the land they now dwelt in, for which they were spewed out of it.





Joshua 24:17



Ver. 17. For the Lord our God, he [it is] that brought us up and our fathers, out of the land of Egypt,.... When Pharaoh, the king of it, refused to let them go, yet he wrought such wonders in it and inflicted such plagues on it, as obliged Pharaoh and his people to dismiss them:



from the house of bondage: where they were held in the greatest thraldom and slavery, and their lives made bitter and miserable:



and which did those great signs in our sight; meaning the wonders and marvellous things wrought before Pharaoh and his people, and in the sight of Israel, Ps 78:11; though Abarbinel is of opinion it refers to what had been done in their sight of late in the land of Canaan, as the dividing of the waters of Jordan, the fall of the walls of Jericho, the standing still of the sun in Gibeon; but this seems not so well to agree with what follows:



and preserved us in all the way wherein we went: in the wilderness from serpents and scorpions, and beasts of prey, and from all dangers from every quarter:



and among all the people through whom we passed; through whose borders they passed, as the Edomites, Moabites, and Amorites; though the above writer seems to understand it of preservation from the dangers of their enemies in the land of Canaan.





Joshua 24:18



Ver. 18. And the Lord drave out from before us all the people,.... The seven nations of the land of Canaan:



even the Amorites which dwelt in the land; the strongest and most populous of the nations, Am 2:9, or especially the Amorites, so Vatablus; or "with the Amorites", as others; those that lived on the other side Jordan, over whom Sihon and Og reigned:



[therefore] will we also serve the Lord: as well as Joshua and his house, for the reasons before given, because he had done such great and good things for them:



for he [is] our God: that has made and preserved us, and loaded us with his benefits, and is our covenant God, and therefore will we fear and serve him.





Joshua 24:19



Ver. 19. And Joshua said unto the people,.... To their heads and representatives now assembled together, and who had returned to him the preceding answer:



ye cannot serve the Lord; which he said not to discourage or deter them from serving the Lord, since it was his principal view, through the whole of this conversation with them, to engage them in it, but to observe to them their own inability and insufficiency of themselves to perform service acceptable to God; and therefore it became them to implore grace and strength from the Lord to assist them in it, and to depend upon that and not to lean to and trust in their own strength; as also to observe to them, that they could not serve him perfectly without any defect and failure in their service, for there is no man that does good and sins not; and therefore when a man has done all he can, he must not depend upon it for his justification before God; or consider it as his justifying righteousness, which was what that people were always prone to; some supply it,



"you cannot serve the Lord with your images,''



or along with them, so Vatablus:



for he [is] an holy God: perfectly holy, so that the best of men, and the heat of their services, are impure and unholy before him and will not bear to be compared with him, and therefore by no means to be trusted in; and it requires much grace and spiritual strength to perform any service that may be acceptable to him through Christ. In the Hebrew text it is, "for the Holy Ones [are] he": which may serve to illustrate and confirm the doctrine of the trinity of, persons in the unity of the divine Essence, or of the three divine holy Persons, holy Father, holy Son, holy Spirit, as the one God, see Isa 6:3;



he [is] a jealous God; of his honour and glory, and of his worship, in which he will admit of no rival, of no graven images, or any idols to be worshipped with him, or besides him; nor will he suffer the idol of men's righteousness to be set up in the room of, or in opposition to, the righteousness of God, even no services and works of men, be they ever so good, since they cannot be perfect before him:



he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins; even the transgressions and sins of such that forsake the worship and service of him, and fall into idolatry, or who seek for justification by their own services, these are both abominable to him; otherwise he is a God pardoning the iniquity, transgression, and sin, of all those who seek unto him and serve him, confess their sins, and renounce their own righteousness; see Ex 23:21.





Joshua 24:20



Ver. 20. If you forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods,.... Joshua knew the proneness of this people to idolatry, and therefore expresses his jealousy of them, that they would not be able to continue in the service of God, and would be apt to be carried away after idols; and therefore, to make them the more cautious and watchful, he represents to them the danger they were in, and what would befall them should they forsake the Lord they now promised to serve, and follow after other gods, which their fathers worshipped before they were called out of their estate of Heathenism, or which the Canaanites, or Egyptians worshipped, whose examples they were too ready to imitate:



then he will turn and do you hurt; not that there is properly any change in God, either of his counsel or covenant, or of love and affection to his people, but of his providential dealings, or outward manner of acting towards men; or the sense is, he will again do you hurt, bring evils and calamities upon you again and again, frequently as you revolt from him, such as the sword, pestilence, famine, and captivity, which these people after experienced when they fell into idolatry:



and consume you; by these his sore judgments:



after that he hath done you good; by bringing you into such a good land, and bestowing so many good things upon you, natural, civil, and religious; and yet, notwithstanding, being disobedient to him, and especially in the instances mentioned, they are made to expect his resentment, and the effects of it.





Joshua 24:21



Ver. 21. And the people said unto Joshua, nay,.... We will not serve strange gods:



but we will serve the Lord; according to his revealed will, and him only.





Joshua 24:22



Ver. 22. And Joshua said unto the people,.... In reply to their answer and resolution:



ye [are] witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you the Lord God to serve him; that is, should they, after this choice of him, which they had so publicly declared, desert his service, and go into idolatry, their testimony would rise up against them, and they would, be self-condemned:



and they said, [we are] witnesses; should we ever apostatize from the Lord and his worship, we are content to have this our witness produced against us.





Joshua 24:23



Ver. 23. Now therefore put away, [said he],.... Which last words are rightly supplied, for they are the words of Joshua:



the strange gods which [are] among you; not their private notions and secret sentiments that some of them had imbibed in favour of idols, and the worship of them, as Ben Gersom thinks; but, as the Targum expresses it,



"the idols of the Gentiles;''



either such as they had brought out of Egypt, or had found among the plunder of the Canaanites, and had secretly retained; or, as others think, their "penates", or household gods, they had privately kept and worshipped, such as those that were in Jacob's family, which he caused to be delivered to him, and which he hid under an oak in this place where Israel were now assembled, Ge 35:2; and which Joshua by a prophetic discerning spirit perceived were now among them:



and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel; to love, fear, and serve him; that is, pray that your hearts may be inclined thereunto, and make use of all means that may tend to direct your hearts to him, and his service; so the Targum,



"to the worship of the Lord God of Israel.''





Joshua 24:24



Ver. 24. And the people said unto Joshua,.... A third time, that as by the mouth of two or three witnesses everything is confirmed, so by three testimonies of the same persons:



the Lord our God will we serve; as they had before declared, and to which they add:



and his voice will we obey; or his word, as the Targum, not only his word of command, but his essential Word, the Son of God.





Joshua 24:25



Ver. 25. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day,.... Proposing to them what was most eligible, and their duty to do, and they agreeing to it, this formally constituted a covenant, of which they selves were both parties and witnesses:



and set statute and an ordinance in Shechem; either made this covenant to have the nature of a statute and ordinance binding upon them, or repeated and renewed the laws of Moses, both moral and ceremonial, which had been delivered at Mount Sinai, and now, upon this repetition in Shechem, might be called a statute and ordinance there.





Joshua 24:26



Ver. 26. And Joshua wrote these words,.... Which had passed between him and the people:



in the book of the law of God; written by Moses, and which he ordered to be put in the side of the ark, and that being now present, the book could be easily taken out, and these words inserted in it, De 31:26;



and took a great stone: on which also might be inscribed the same words:



and set it up there under an oak, that [was] by the sanctuary of the Lord; or "in it" {a}; that is, in the field or place where the ark was, which made it sacred, and upon which account the place was called a sanctuary, or an holy place; for there is no need to say that the tabernacle or sanctuary itself was brought hither, only the ark; and much less can it be thought that an oak should be in it; though it was not improbable, that had it been thither brought, it might have been placed under, or by an oak, as we render it; and it is a tradition of the Jews, which both Jarchi and Kimchi make mention of, that this was the same oak under which Jacob hid the strange gods of his family in Shechem, Ge 35:4; Mr. Mede {b} is of opinion that neither ark nor tabernacle were here, but that by "sanctuary" is meant a "proseucha", or place for prayer; such an one as in later times was near Shechem, as Epiphanius {c} relates, built by the Samaritans in imitation of the Jews; but it is a question whether there were any such places so early as the times of Joshua, nor is it clear that such are ever called sanctuaries.



{a} vdqmb "in sanctuario", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Vatasblus, Junius & Tremellius. {b} Discourse 18. p. 66. {c} Contr. Haeres. l. 3. tom. 2. Haeres. 80.





Joshua 24:27



Ver. 27. And Joshua said unto all the people,.... The chief of them now gathered together, and who represented the whole body:



behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; of the covenant now made, and the agreement entered into, as the heap of stones were between Jacob and Laban, Ge 31:45;



for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us; this is said by a figure called "prosopopaeia", frequent in Scripture, by which inanimate creatures are represented as hearing, seeing, and speaking, and may signify, that should the Israelites break this covenant, and disobey the commands of the Lord they had promised to keep, they would be as stupid and senseless as this stone, or more so, which would rise in judgment against them. Nachmanides {d} a Jewish commentator, interprets this stone of the Messiah, the same as in

Ge 49:24;



it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God; for a memorial and testimony to prevent them from going into atheism, a denying of the true God, or into apostasy from him, and into idolatry and false worship. The Targum of which is,



"behold, this stone shall be to us as the two tables of stone of the covenant, for we made it for a testimony; for the words which are written upon it are the sum of all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us, and it shall be unto you for a memorial, and for a testimony, lest ye lie before the Lord.''



{d} Apud Masium in loc.





Joshua 24:28



Ver. 28. So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance. Dismissed them, and took his final leave and farewell of them, dying soon after; upon which they returned to the possessions and inheritances assigned by lot to the several tribes, of which they were the heads and princes.





Joshua 24:29



Ver. 29. And it came to pass, after these things,.... Some little time after, very probably the same year:



that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, [being] an hundred and ten years old; he wanted ten years of Moses his predecessor, De 34:7, and just the age of Joseph, Ge 50:22, from whom he sprung, being of the tribe of Ephraim, Nu 13:8.





Joshua 24:30



Ver. 30. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance,.... In a field belonging to his estate; for they buried not in towns and cities in those times. The Greek version adds,



"and they put into the tomb, in which he was buried, the stone knives with which he circumcised the children of Israel at Gilgal, when he brought them out of Egypt;''



and an Arabic writer {e} affirms the same, but without any foundation:



in Timnathserah, which [is] in Mount Ephraim; which was his city, and where he dwelt; and of which See Gill on "Jos 19:50"; and his grave was near the city; here, they say {f}, his father Nun, and Caleb also, were buried:



on the north side of the hill of Gaash; of the brooks or valleys of Gnash mention is made in 2Sa 23:30; which very probably were at the bottom of this hill.



{e} Patricides, p. 31. apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 523. {f} Cippi Heb. p. 32.





Joshua 24:31



Ver. 31. And the children of Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua,.... Without going into idolatrous practices:



and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua; that lived a few years longer than he; some of them that came young out of Egypt, and were now elderly men; and some of them doubtless were of the court of the seventy elders; these could not overlive Joshua a great many years, for, in the times of Chushanrishathaim, Israel fell into idolatry, Jud 2:6;



and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel; in Egypt, at the Red sea, in the wilderness, as well as since their coming into the land of Canaan.





Joshua 24:32



Ver. 32. And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt,.... At the request, and by the order of Joseph,

Ge 50:25; which were punctually observed by the children of Israel under the direction and command of Moses, and therefore is ascribed to him, as here to them, Ex 13:19;



buried they in Shechem; not in the city, but in a field near it, as the next clause shows. The Jews in their Cippi Hebraici say {g}, that Joseph was buried at a village called Belata, a sabbath day's journey from Shechem; but Jerom says {h} he was buried in Shechem, and his monument was to be seen there in his time. Not that they buried him at the same time Joshua was buried, but very probably as soon as the tribe of Ephraim was in the quiet possession of this place; though the historian inserts the account of it here, taking an occasion for it from the interment of Joshua:



in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for an hundred pieces of silver; of which purchase

See Gill on "Ge 33:19";



and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph; and particularly of the tribe of Ephraim by lot, agreeably to the gift and disposal of it by Jacob to Joseph, See Gill on "Ge 48:22".



{g} Ut supra. (Cippi Heb. p. 32.) {h} Quaest. Heb. in Genesim, fol. 73. C.





Joshua 24:33



Ver. 33. And Eleazar the son of Aaron died,.... Very probably in a short time after Joshua; and, according to the Samaritan Chronicle {i}, he died as Joshua did, gathered the chief men of the children of Israel a little before his death, and enjoined them strict obedience to the commands of God, and took his leave of them, and then stripped himself of his holy garments, and clothed Phinehas his son with them; what his age was is not said:



and they buried him in a hill [that pertaineth to] Phinehas his son; or in the hill of Phinehas; which was so called from him, and might have the name given it by his father, who might possess it before him, and what adjoined to it. The Jews in the above treatise say {k}, that at Avarta was a school of Phinehas in a temple of the Gentiles; that Eleazar was buried upon the hill, and Joshua below the village among the olives, and on this hill is said {l} to be a school or village of Phinehas:



which was given him in Mount Ephraim; either to Eleazar, that he might be near to Shiloh, where the tabernacle then was, as the cities given to the priests and Levites were chiefly in those tribes that lay nearest to Jerusalem; though the Jews say, as Jarchi and Kimchi relate, that Phinehas might come into the possession of that place through his wife, or it might fall to him as being a devoted field; but it is most likely it was given to his father by the children of Ephraim, for the reason before observed. The Talmudists say, that Joshua wrote his own book, which is very probable; yet the last five verses, Jos 24:29, must be written by another hand, even as the last eight verses in Deuteronomy, De 34:5, were written by him, as they also say; and therefore this is no more an objection to his being the writer of this book, than the addition of eight verses by him to Deuteronomy is to Moses being the writer of that; and the same Talmudists {m} also observe, that Jos 24:29, "Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died", &c. were written by Eleazar, and Jos 24:33, "and Eleazar, the son of Aaron, died", &c. by Phinehas, which is not improbable.



{i} Apud Hottinger. p. 524. {k} Cippi Hebraici, ut supra. (p. 32.) {l} See Weemse's Christ. Synagog, l. 1. c. 6. sect. 5. p. 157. {m} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 14. 2. & 15. 1.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Judges 1:1



INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES



The title of this book in the Hebrew copies is Sepher Shophetim, the Book of Judges; but the Syriac and Arabic interpreters call it,



"the Book of the Judges of the Children of Israel;''



and the Septuagint only Judges; so called, not because it was written by them, though some think it was compiled out of annals and diaries kept by them; but it seems to be the work of one person only: the true reason of its name is, because it treats of the judges of Israel, gives an account of their lives and actions, and especially such as concerned their office; which office was different from that of kings, and seems only to have been occasional, and chiefly lay in delivering the people out of the hands of their enemies, when oppressed, distressed, or carried captive by them; in protecting them in the enjoyment of their country, rights, and liberties; in leading out their armies against their enemies when needful; and in settling differences, judging law suits, and administering justice. The government of the nation, during their time, was a theocracy. It is not certain who was the penman of this book; some ascribe it to King Hezekiah, others to Ezra; but the Jewish writers {a} are generally of opinion that it was written by Samuel, which is most likely, who was the last of the judges; and it seems plainly to be written before the times of David, us appears from a speech of Joab, 2Sa 11:21; and from some passages in Ps 68:8, which seem to refer or allude to Jud 5:4; and from Jerusalem being called Jebus, which shows it to be inhabited by the Jebusites in the time of the writer of this book, whereas it was taken out of their hands by David; besides, Samuel himself refers to the annals of this book; 1Sa 12:9; and from whose testimonies, as well as from others in the New Testament, there is no doubt to be made of its being genuine and authentic, and written by divine inspiration; as is evident from the use the Apostle Paul, and the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, have made of it, Ac 13:20; it is useful as an history, and without which the history of the people of Israel would not be complete; it containing an account of all their judges, excepting the two last, Eli and Samuel, of whom an account is given in the following books, and of some facts incidental to those times, related in an appendix at the end of it, concerning the idol of Micah, and the war of Benjamin; and furnishes out many useful moral observations concerning God's displeasure at sin in his own people Israel, and his corrections for it; and about his providential care of them in raising up for them deliverers in their time of need, as well as points at various virtues and excellencies in great and good men, worthy of imitation. It contains, according to Piscator, Dr. Lightfoot, and others, an history of two hundred ninety and nine years.



INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 1



The children of Israel, after Joshua's death, inquiring of the Lord which tribes should first go up against the remaining Canaanites, Judah is ordered to go up, who with Simeon did, Jud 1:1; and had success against the Canaanites under Adonibezek, whom they brought to Jerusalem Jud 1:4; and against the Canaanites in Hebron, Debir, Zephath, Hormah, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, Jud 1:9; the Benjamites had not such good success as Judah against the Jebusites in Jerusalem, Jud 1:21; nor as the house of Joseph had against Bethel, Jud 1:22; nor could the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali, drive out the Canaanites from several places which belonged unto them, though many of them became their tributaries, Jud 1:27; and as for the Amorites, they were too powerful for the tribe of Dan, though some of them became tributaries to the house of Joseph, Jud 1:34.



{a} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 14. 2.



Ver. 1. Now after the death of Joshua,.... With the account of which the preceding book is concluded, and therefore this very properly follows after that; though Epiphanius {b} places the book of Job between them:



it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord; that is, the heads of them who gathered together at Shiloh, where the tabernacle was; and standing before the high priest, either Eleazar, or rather Phinehas his son, Eleazar being in all probability dead, inquired by Urim and Thummim:



saying, who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? for they had no commander in chief, Joshua leaving no successor, though the Samaritan Chronicle {c} pretends he did; one Abel, a son of Caleb's brother, of the tribe of Judah, on whom the lot fell, out of twelve of the nine tribes and a half, to whom Joshua delivered the government of the nation, and crowned him: but this inquiry was not for any man to go before them all as their generalissimo, but to know what tribe should first go up, and they were desirous of having the mind of God in it, when they might expect to succeed; which to do, at their first setting out, would not only be a great encouragement to them to go on, but strike dread and terror into their enemies; and this is to be understood of the Canaanites who remained unsubdued, that dwelt among them, and in cities, which though divided to them by lot, they were not in the possession of; and these being troublesome neighbours to them, and besides the Israelites daily increasing, needed more room and more cities to occupy, and more land to cultivate.



{b} De Mensur. & Ponder. c. 13. {c} Apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 522.





Judges 1:2



Ver. 2. And the Lord said,.... By an articulate voice, which it is probable was the usual way of answering by Urim and Thummim:



Judah shall go up; not Judah in person, who was long ago dead, but the tribe of Judah; it was the will of the Lord that that tribe should engage first with the Canaanites, being the principal one, and the most numerous, powerful, and valiant, and perhaps had the greatest number of Canaanites among them; and who succeeding, would inspire the other tribes with courage, and fill their enemies with a panic:



behold, I have delivered the land into his hands; that part of it which belonged to that tribe as yet unsubdued, the conquest of which they are assured of for their encouragement.





Judges 1:3



Ver. 3. And Judah said unto Simeon his brother,.... The men of the tribe of Judah said to those of the tribe of Simeon, they being not only brethren by father's and mother's side, which was not the case of all the sons of Jacob, but their possessions and inheritances lay near together; and indeed those of Simeon were within the inheritance of the tribe of Judah, Jos 19:1; so that as they lived in great nearness and familiarity with each other, their interests were closely united together:



come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; conjunctly: the meaning is, that the tribe of Simeon, as many of their warlike men as could, would come and join their forces with those of the tribe of Judah, in order to reduce such cities, in the lot of that tribe, the Canaanites as yet were in the possession of:



and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot: the cities being conquered which were in the lot, of the tribe of Judah, that tribe proposed to bring their united forces into the lot of the tribe of Simeon, and reduce such cities as were in that lot:



so Simeon went with him: the tribe of Simeon agreed to the proposal, and went along with the tribe of Judah against their common enemy.





Judges 1:4



Ver. 4. And Judah went up,.... Simeon being along with him, from the southern parts of the land, where they dwelt, and went more northward towards Jerusalem, and which therefore is called a going up:



and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands: into the hands of Judah and Simeon: the Canaanites here is not the common name of the seven nations, but the name of one of those nations, distinguished from the rest, as here from the Perizzites, who otherwise were also Canaanites; and both these, at least many of them, dwelt in those parts, and were subdued by the united forces of Judah and Simeon, whereby the Lord's promise was fulfilled, Jud 1:2;



and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men: that is, in and about Bezek, first and last, in the course of this war, as after related. Jerom says {d} there were two villages of this name in his time near one another, seven miles from Neapolis, as you go to Scythopolis; and our countryman Mr. Sandys {e} says, that when they departed from Bethlehem, bending their course from the mountains of Judea lying west from it, near to which, on the side of the opposite hill, they passed a little village called Bezek, as he took it, two miles from Bethsur, see

1Sa 11:8.



{d} De loc. Heb. fol. 89. H. {e} Travels, p. 142. Ed. 5th.





Judges 1:5



Ver. 5. And they found Adonibezek in Bezek,.... Who was king of, the place, and whose name signifies lord of Bezek; not that they took him there, for he is afterwards said to make his escape from thence, but here he was when they came against that city, and into which they rushed upon him, and fell upon him as follows:



and they fought against him; entering the city with their forces:



and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites: that were in it, or about it, even to the number of ten thousand, as before related, Jud 1:4.





Judges 1:6



Ver. 6. But Adonibezek fled, and they pursued after him, and caught him,.... It is very probable his view was to get to Jebus or Jerusalem, a strong and fortified city and he made his way thither as fast as he could, but was pursued and overtaken by some of the forces of Judah and Simeon; and the rather it may seem he took this course, since when he was taken by them, they brought him thither, as follows:



and cut off his thumbs and his great toes; whereby he was disabled both for fighting and for fleeing. So the Athenians cut off the thumbs of the right hand of the Aeginetae, the inhabitants of the island of Aegina, to disable them from holding a spear, as various writers {f} relate. Whether the Israelites did this, as knowing this king had used others in like manner, and so, according to their law of retaliation, "eye for eye", &c. Ex 21:23, required it; or whether, ignorant of it, were so moved and directed by the providence of God to do this, that the same measure might be measured to him which he had measured to others, is not certain; the latter seems most probable, since the Israelites did not usually inflict such sort of punishments; and besides, according to the command of God, they should have put him to death, as they were to do to all Canaanites.



{f} Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 2. Aelian, Var. Hist. l. 2. c. 9. Cicero de Officiis, l. 3. c. 11.





Judges 1:7



Ver. 7. And Adonibezek said,.... To the men of Judah, after his thumbs and toes were cut off, his conscience accusing him for what he had done to others, and being obliged to acknowledge he was righteously dealt with:



threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off; that is, by him, or by his orders, whom he had conquered and made captives; according to Josephus {g}, they were seventy two; the number may be accounted for by observing, that in those times, as appears by the preceding book, every city had a king over it; and besides, these seventy kings might not be such who had had the government of so many cities, but many of them such who had reigned successively in the same city, and had fallen into the hands of this cruel and tyrannical king, one after another, and their sons also with them might be so called: and these he says



gathered [their meat] under my table: were glad to eat of the crumbs and scraps which fell from thence, and might in their turns be put there at times for his sport and pleasure, and there be fed with the offal of his meat, as Bajazet the Turk was served by Tamerlane, who put him into an iron cage, and carried him about in it, and used him as his footstool to mount his horse, and at times fed him like a dog with crumbs from his table {h}:



as I have done, so God hath requited me; whether he had any knowledge of the true God, and of his justice in dealing with him according to his deserts, and had a real sense of his sin, and true repentance for it, is not certain; since the word for God is in the plural number, and sometimes used of Heathen deities, as it may be here by him; however, the righteous judgment of God clearly appears in this instance:



and they brought him to Jerusalem; to that part of Jerusalem which belonged to the tribe of Judah; see Jos 15:8; here they brought him alive, and dying, buried him, as Josephus {i} says; which might be their view in carrying him thither, perceiving he was a dying man; or they had him thither to expose him as a trophy of victory, and as an example of divine justice:



and there he died: whether through grief and vexation, or of the wounds he had received, or by the immediate hand of God, or by the hands of the Israelites, is not said; neither are improbable.



{g} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 2. {h} Such dogs are called trapezhev kunev, in Homer. Iliad. 23. ver. 173. & Odyss. 17. ver. 227. {i} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 2.





Judges 1:8



Ver. 8. Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it,.... Which accounted for their carrying Adonibezek thither. This they had done in the times of Joshua; for when the king of that place was taken and slain by Joshua, it seems that he and Israel went and fought against the city, and took that in which the tribe of Judah had a principal concern; so Kimchi and Ben Gersom interpret it; but Jarchi and Abarbinel are of opinion, that now from Bezek they went up to Jerusalem, and fought against it, and took it; and so others think, because only the children of Judah are mentioned, and not all Israel, who fought together in Joshua's time; nor is there any mention made of its being taken in his time, and yet it seems plain that it was inhabited in part by the children of Judah, Jos 15:63; some therefore have thought that it was twice taken; that after Joshua had taken it, he and the children of Israel being employed in making conquests in other parts of the land, the Jebusites repossessed it, from whence they were now again in part driven, not wholly; and Josephus says {k}, the lower part was taken, and all the inhabitants killed, but the upper part was hard to be taken, because of the strength of the walls, and the nature of the place:



and smitten it with the edge of the sword; the "inhabitants of it", so far as they got possession of it:



and set the city on fire; some part of it only, for in some part of it dwelt the children of Judah, and in another part the Jebusites.



{k} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 2.)





Judges 1:9



Ver. 9. And afterwards the children of Judah,.... After the taking of Bezek, and the king of it, having him to Jerusalem, where he died: they



went down; from Jerusalem; which was on high ground:



to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley; into which several parts the lot of the tribe of Judah was divided; in each of which they had cities, and some, as it seems, yet unsubdued, and in the hands of the Canaanites; of these several parts, and the cities in them, see Jos 15:21.





Judges 1:10



Ver. 10. And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron,.... Hebron was first taken by Joshua, and the inhabitants of it put to the sword, Jos 10:36; but while Joshua was employed in making other conquests, the Canaanites found ways and means of getting into the possession of it again; wherefore, when a grant of it was made to Caleb, he, with the assistance of the tribe of Judah, of which he was prince, regained it, Jos 15:12; wherefore what is recorded here is only a repetition of what was then done; unless it can be thought that this fact was there inserted by anticipation, or that there were two expeditions of the children of Judah against this place:



now the name of Hebron, before [was] Kirjatharba: see Jos 14:15; in the first of which Caleb, with the assistance of this tribe, drove out the three giants only, who afterwards got possession again, and in this put them to death, as follows:



and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai; see Nu 13:22; but what follows concerning their going from hence to Debir, and the offer of Caleb to give his daughter in marriage to whomsoever should take it, does not seem so well to agree with times after the death of Joshua; since it is highly probable that Caleb, who was contemporary with him and Eleazar, was now dead, and at least cannot well be thought to have a young daughter at this time undisposed of in marriage; wherefore these facts are only repeated upon observing Judah's having taken Jerusalem, to show what exploits were performed by men of that tribe; wherefore for what is after said, Jud 1:11, as is said in Jos 15:15, where the same things are related in express words as here, containing the request of Caleb's daughter: such an one, as made to Domitian, is related by Martial {l}.



{l} "Est mihi sitque precor", &c. l. 9. ep. 16.





Judges 1:11



Ver. 11. And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before [was] Kirjathsepher.

See Gill on "Jos 15:15".





Judges 1:12



Ver. 12. And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it,

to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.

See Gill on "Jos 15:16".





Judges 1:13



Ver. 13. And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.

See Gill on "Jos 15:17".





Judges 1:14



Ver. 14. And it came to pass, when she came [to him], that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off [her] ass;

and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?] See Gill on "Jos 15:18".





Judges 1:15



Ver. 15. And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.

See Gill on "Jos 15:19".





Judges 1:16



Ver. 16. And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law,.... The posterity of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses; for though Jethro returned to his own country, after he had paid a visit to Moses in the wilderness, yet Hobab his son, at the persuasion of Moses, travelled with him and Israel through the wilderness, and went with them into Canaan, at least some of his descendants, and settled there, some in one part of the land, and some in another, of whom we read in several places of Scripture; they continued to the days of Jeremiah, and then went by the name of Rechabites, so called from Rechab, a descendant of Jethro: these



went up out of the city of palm trees; from the city of Jericho, as the Targum, so called from the great number of palm trees which grew near it, see De 34:3. This is to be understood not of the city itself, that was utterly destroyed by Joshua, and the rebuilding of it was forbidden under a curse, but the country adjacent, the valley in which it stood, which was set with palm trees; here was a grove of palm trees {m}, and the garden of balsam, which grew nowhere else, as Strabo {n} says; and who also observes, that here was a royal palace in his time; this belonged to Herod king of Judea in the times of Augustus Caesar, to whose palm tree groves there Horace {o} refers. Here the Kenites first settled when they came first over Jordan with Joshua, being a most pleasant and delightful place, and suitable to such persons who dwelt in tents, as they did, and answered to the promise of Moses to Hobab,

Nu 10:29; and here it seems they had remained to this time: and now they left it, and came



with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah; which was also a convenient place for the habitation of such persons, who loved a solitary life. Perhaps the Canaanites about Jericho might be troublesome to them, and therefore chose to stay no longer, there; or, having a peculiar affection for the tribe of Judah, they chose to be within their lot; and the rather, as they were a warlike and valiant tribe, they might expect the greater safety and protection among them:



which [lieth], in the south of Arad; that is, which wilderness of Judah lay there, of which name there was a country or city, see Nu 21:1; and here some of them dwelt to the times of Saul, the Amalekites then having got possession of the southern parts, which they infested and were troublesome to, see 1Sa 15:6;



and they went and dwelt among the people; of the tribe of Judah, near some of the cities which were in the wilderness; of which see

Jos 15:63.



{m} Justin. e Trogo, l. 36. c. 3. {n} Geograph. l. 16. p. 525. {o} Praeferat Herodis. Palmetis Pinguibus----De Arte Poet. ver. 184.





Judges 1:17



Ver. 17. And Judah went with Simeon his brother,.... Having subtitled his Canaanites which were in his own lot, according to his promise, he went with his brother Simeon, or the tribe of Simeon, into their lot to reduce those that were in that:



and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it: where and what this city was is not certain; there was a place of this name in upper Galilee, mentioned in Jewish writings {p}, which cannot be meant here; and we read of the valley of Zephathah,

2Ch 14:10; which might have its name from hence, and if so it was near Mareshah:



and the name of the city was called Hormah; from the destruction made of it, and of the country about it; for now what had been vowed by Israel in the wilderness, when near Arad, was fulfilled, Nu 21:1.



{p} Juchasin, fol. 68. 1.





Judges 1:18



Ver. 18. Also Judah took Gaza, with the coast thereof,.... Which by lot fell to that tribe, Jos 15:47; it was not till now subdued:



and Ashkelon with the coast thereof; which, according to our countryman Sandys {q}, was ten miles from Gaza:



and Ekron with the coast thereof; this also is the lot that fell to Judah, but was afterwards given to the tribe of Dan, Jos 15:45; for whom Judah now fought and took it; but in a short time all these places were retaken, and possessed by the Philistines, and were three of their five principalities which they ever after retained, see Jud 3:3.



{q} Travels, p. 118. Ed. 5.





Judges 1:19



Ver. 19. And the Lord was with Judah,.... Encouraging, strengthening, succeeding, and giving the tribe victory over the Canaanites; the Targum is,



"the Word of the Lord was for the help of the house of Judah:''



and he drove out [the inhabitants of] the mountains; the mountainous part of Judea, such as was about Jerusalem, and where Hebron stood, and other cities, see Jos 15:48, &c. which though fortified both by nature and man, yet God being with them, they were easily subdued:



but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley; God forsaking them, because they were afraid of them, for a reason after mentioned, or through slothfulness, and being weary of fighting, or because they fell into some sins, which occasioned the divine displeasure; so the Targum,



"after they had sinned, they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley:''



because they had chariots of iron; but this was no reason why they could not drive them out, if God was with them, who could as easily have delivered these into their hands, as the inhabitants of the mountains; but is the reason why they were afraid to fight with them, and to attempt to drive them out, and which they themselves gave why they did not.





Judges 1:20



Ver. 20. And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said,.... Which was done in the times of Joshua, both by him and all the people, according to the order of Moses. This is to be understood not of the city which was given to the Levites, but of the fields and parts adjacent,

Jos 14:13;



and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak: whose names are given Jud 1:10; this shows that this refers to the same expedition as in

Jos 15:14; and is expressed in the same manner.





Judges 1:21



Ver. 21. And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem,.... That is, that part of it which belonged to them, for it lay between Judah and Benjamin; and neither of them separately, nor both conjunctly, could drive out the Jebusites from it, particularly the strong hold on the top of Mount Sion, which they held to the times of David. Abarbinel is of opinion, that Jerusalem in those times was not a city enclosed about, but was a large province, part of which belonged to the tribe of Judah, and another to the tribe of Benjamin, and another was possessed by the Jebusites; and so Jarchi says it was a province, the name of which was Jebusi:



but the Jebusites dwelt with the children of Benjamin unto this day; when this book was written, which was done by Samuel, as Kimchi and Ben Gersom; and it is certain from hence it must have been written before the reign of David, who dispossessed the Jebusites, 2Sa 5:6.





Judges 1:22



Ver. 22. And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel,.... Which lay upon the borders of the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, Jos 16:1; and though it seems to have been taken when Ai was, Jos 8:17; yet it appears that it was now in the possession of the Canaanites; wherefore the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh being desirous of enlarging their borders after the example of Judah, went against this place in order to take it:



and the Lord [was] with them; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, directing, assisting, and succeeding them in their attempt.





Judges 1:23



Ver. 23. And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel,.... To reconnoitre the place, to observe its passes and avenues, which were most accessible, and to examine the walls of it, where they were weakest and least defended:



now the name of the city before [was] Luz; which signifies a "nut"; perhaps it was so called from large numbers of nut trees which grew near it; the Jews suggest as if it was like a nut, no entrance into it but through a cave or some subterraneous passage, see Ge 28:19.





Judges 1:24



Ver. 24. And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city,.... Or "the keepers" {r}; those that were sent to watch, and observe, and get what intelligence they could of the city, and the way into it:



and they said unto him, show us, we pray, thee, the entrance into the city; not the gate or gates of it, which no doubt were visible enough, but some private way into it; the Jews, as before observed, think the entrance was by the way of a cave, or some hidden passage, of which Jarchi and Kimchi make mention:



and we will show thee mercy; give him a reward for it, or spare him and his family when the city came into their hands.



{r} Myrmvh "custodes", Pagninus, Montanus; "observatores", Vatablus, Drusius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Judges 1:25



Ver. 25. And when he showed them the entrance, into the city,.... Pointing to it with his fingers, as the same writers observe:



they smote the city with the edge of the sword; they gave notice of what intelligence they had got to the body of the army, who came up, entered the city, took it, and put the inhabitants of it to the sword, as they were ordered to do with all the Canaanites:



but they let go the man and all his family; who had returned to it, encouraged by the promise made him, and for the sake of saving of his family; which though not expressed, he might have asked the favour of sparing them, which might be promised, as was in the case of Rahab; provided he would either renounce Heathenism, and embrace the true religion, or depart to another country, the latter of which he chose.





Judges 1:26



Ver. 26. And the man went into the land of the Hittites,.... With his family; Kimchi says this was not one of the seven nations of Canaan; and it is very clear from this narrative, that the land this man went to was not in the land of Canaan; though it is certain a people of this name formerly dwelt there, Ge 15:20; and the land of Canaan is called the land of the Hittites, Jos 1:4; these either might flee to another country upon Joshua's entry into the land of Canaan, or a colony of them from thence might settle elsewhere, to which this man chose to go, who might be originally of them:



and built a city; his family was numerous, and he a man of wealth, and was allowed to carry all his substance with him:



and called the name of it Luz; in memory of the place he left, and had long lived in. There is a city called Loussa, among the cities which Josephus says {s} were taken by the Jews from the Arabians; and which is very probably the Lysa of Ptolemy {t}, which he places in Arabia Petraea, and might be the same with this Luz; and, if so, this shows the land this man went into was in Edom, which is not unlikely; there is another Luza, which Jerom {u} says fell to the lot of the sons of Joseph, near Sichem, three miles from Neapolis:



which [is] the name thereof unto this day: the time of the writing of this book; See Gill on "Jud 1:21".



{s} Antiqu. l. 14. c. 1. sect. 4. {t} Geograph. l. 5. c. 17. {u} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. M.





Judges 1:27



Ver. 27. Neither did Manasseh,.... One of the sons of Joseph before mentioned; and it respects that half tribe of Manasseh, which had its portion on this side Jordan in the land of Canaan: these did not



drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: all which were places the half tribe had assigned them in Issachar and Asher; of which See Gill on "Jos 17:11". This tribe seems to have been sluggish, and not to have exerted itself at all, or made any attempts to drive out these people:



but the Canaanites would dwell in that land; not only desired it, but were determined on it, and rather chose to submit to a tribute than be expelled, at least would not depart unless they were forced.





Judges 1:28



Ver. 28. And it came to pass, when Israel was strong,.... All the tribes of Israel were become numerous, and able to drive the Canaanites out of the land everywhere, and particularly were able to assist Manasseh in expelling the Canaanites out of the above places, yet they did not; but all they did was,



that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out; which flowed from covetousness, and a love of ease; they did not care to be at the trouble of expelling them, as they found it turned more to their account and present advantage to make them tributaries; and this was true of the Israelites in general, and of the half tribe of Manasseh in particular; which, as Abarbinel thinks, is here respected.





Judges 1:29



Ver. 29. Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer,.... Not so much as made them tributaries, but made a covenant with them, it is probable, contrary to the express will of God:



but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them; the Ephraimites agreeing to it, and here they dwelt to the times of Solomon;

See Gill on "Jos 16:10"; where indeed they are said to be under tribute; but that seems to respect some later time, and not when they were first admitted to dwell among them, since no mention is made of it here.





Judges 1:30



Ver. 30. Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol,.... The first of these seems to be the same with Kattah or Kartah, and the latter with Nahalal, both cities given to the Levites, Jos 19:15; which perhaps was the reason of their sloth in driving them out; though it aggravated their sin not to take care to rid those cities of the Canaanites, which were given to religious persons:



but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries; which is observed so far in their favour, that they exerted themselves to make them tributaries, which was more than was done by some others.





Judges 1:31



Ver. 31. Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho,.... The same with Ptolemais, See Gill on "Ac 21:7"; so called from the first Ptolemy king of Egypt, who enlarged it; but it has since recovered its ancient name pretty nearly, and is now called Acca or Acra.



"On its north and east sides (Mr. Maundrell says {w}) it is encompassed with a spacious and fertile plain; on the west it is washed by the Mediterranean sea; and on the south by a large bay, extending from the city as far as Mount Carmel:''



nor the inhabitants of Zidon; a well known city in Phoenicia, belonging to this tribe, see Jos 19:28;



nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor of Rehob; two of these places, Ahlab and Helbah, are not mentioned among the cities of the tribe of Asher, Jos 19:24; unless Helbah is the same with Helkath, Jud 1:25; of the rest, Achzib,

See Gill on "Jos 19:29", Aphik, and Rehob,

See Gill on "Jos 19:30".



{w} Journey from Aleppo, p. 54.





Judges 1:32



Ver. 32. But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land,.... They were in a worse condition than those before mentioned; for the Canaanites were possessed of their country, especially of the above cities, and were masters of them; and the Asherites only dwelt among them upon sufferance:



for they did not drive them out; either they did not attempt it, or they could not do it, and contented themselves with having leave to dwell among them.





Judges 1:33



Ver. 33. Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath,.... Of which places

See Gill on "Jos 19:38";



but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; in the same disgraceful manner as Asher did, owing to cowardice or sloth:



nevertheless, the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, and of Bethanath, became tributaries unto them; these two cities did at length exert themselves, and got the mastery over the Canaanites, as to make them pay tribute to them; though they ought to have expelled them, and even destroyed them, according to the command of God, but avarice prevailed over them.





Judges 1:34



Ver. 34. And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain,.... Into the mountainous part of the tribe of Dan; the most noted mountains in it were Sear and Baalah, which lay on the border of Judah, Jos 15:10; Joppa in this tribe was built on an high rock, and so Gibbethon, as its name seems to import, perhaps was built on a hill or mountain, as were the cities after mentioned:



for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley; which lay between Joppa and Caesarea, the plain of Sharon, in which were Lydda, Jamnia, &c. which belonged to their tribe, and they afterwards enjoyed;

See Gill on "Jos 19:48".





Judges 1:35



Ver. 35. But the Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim,.... And they would not suffer the Danites to dwell in the valley, a fruitful and delightful part of their country, terrifying them with their iron chariots, which in the vale they could make use of to great advantage; so neither would they let them dwell alone in the mountainous part of their tribe, but would dwell with them, particularly in three places mentioned: where Mount Heres was is not certain; it signifies the "sun"; very probably it had its name from the worship of the sun on it, or from the sun standing still near it; for Aijalon, where that miracle was wrought, is next mentioned. Perhaps it might be near to Timnathheres, which was in Mount Ephraim, Jud 2:9; since Ephraim assisted in making these places tributaries; of the two cities, Aijalon and Shaalbim, see Jos 19:42;



yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries; or "the hand of [it] became heavy" {x}; by which it does not clearly appear whether the hand of Joseph was made heavy, and to hang down, by the Amorites; or whether it was heavy upon them, and so prevailed over them, as our version; but the Septuagint puts it out of doubt, reading the words,



"and the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy upon the Amorites;''



the Ephraimites being near to the tribe of Dan, and observing how they were pressed by the Amorites, took up arms in their favour, and obliged the Canaanites of the above places to become tributaries to the Danites.



{x} dy dbkty "et aggravata est manus", V. L. Paginus Montanus.





Judges 1:36



Ver. 36. And the coast of the Amorites [was] from the going up to Akrabbim,.... Of which See Gill on "Nu 34:4" and

See Gill on "Jos 15:3":



from the rock, and upwards; even from the city Petra in Idumea, and beyond that; and there was a country near Idumea, called Acrabatane, from this mountain Akrabbim,



"Then Judas fought against the children of Esau in Idumea at Arabattine, because they besieged Gael: and he gave them a great overthrow, and abated their courage, and took their spoils.'' (1 Maccabees 5:3)



such was the extent of these people, that their coast reached from the places, mentioned to the mountains where the above cities of Dan were; they were the most powerful people among the Canaanites, and lay on both sides of Jordan, and were very troublesome to Israel, yet were at length destroyed, Am 2:9.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Judges 2:1



INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 2



This chapter gives an account of an angel of the Lord appearing and rebuking the children of Israel for their present misconduct, Jud 2:1; of their good behaviour under Joshua, and the elders that outlived him, Jud 2:6; and of their idolatries they fell into afterwards, which greatly provoked the Lord to anger, Jud 2:11; and of the goodness of God to them nevertheless, in raising up judges to deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, of which there are many instances in the following chapter, Jud 2:16; and yet that how, upon the demise of such persons, they relapsed into idolatry which caused the anger of God to be hot against them, and to determine not to drive out the Canaanites utterly from them, but to leave them among them to try them, Jud 2:19.



Ver. 1. And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim,.... The Targum calls him a prophet {y}; and the Jewish commentators in general interpret it of Phinehas {z}; and that a man is meant is given into by others, because he is said to come from a certain place in Canaan, and not from heaven, and spoke in a public congregation, and is not said to disappear; but neither a man nor a created angel is meant, or otherwise he would have spoken in the name of the Lord, and have said, "thus saith the Lord", and not in his own name; ascribing to himself the bringing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and swearing to them, and making a covenant with them, and threatening what he would do to them because of their sin; wherefore the uncreated Angel, the Angel of the covenant, is meant, who brought Israel out of Egypt, was with them in the wilderness, and introduced them into the land of Canaan, and appeared to Joshua as the Captain of the Lord's host at or near Gilgal, Jos 5:13; and because he had not appeared since, therefore he is said to come from thence to a place afterwards called Bochim, from what happened at this time:



and said, I made you to go out of Egypt; that is, obliged Pharaoh king of Egypt to let them go, by inflicting plagues upon him and his people, which made them urgent upon them to depart:



and I have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; into the land of Canaan, now for the most part conquered, and divided among them, and in which they were settled:



and I said, I will never break my covenant with you; if the covenant between them was broken, it should not begin with him, it would be their own fault; all which is mentioned, as so many instances of divine goodness to them, and as so many aggravations of their sins against God.



{y} So Maimonides, Moreh Nevochim, par. 1. c. 15. & par. 2. c. 6. {z} The Rabbins in Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 42.





Judges 2:2



Ver. 2. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land,.... This the Lord charged them not to do, when he covenanted with them, and assured them of bringing them into the land; and yet they had done it, as some instances in the preceding chapter show, which were the occasion of the angel's coming to them to rebuke them, see De 7:2;



you shall throw down their altars; this they aught to have done as soon as they were come into the land, and possessed of the places where they were erected, to show their detestation of idolatry, and to prevent the use of them to idolatrous purposes, see De 7:5;



but ye have not obeyed my voice; the command of God, but on the contrary had made leagues and covenants with several inhabitants of the land, allowing them to dwell among them on paying a certain tax or tribute to them; and had suffered their altars to continue, and them to sacrifice upon them to their idols, according to their former customs:



why have ye done this? transgressed the commandment of God in the instances mentioned. It showed the wickedness of their hearts, their ingratitude to God, who had done such great things for them, and their proneness to idolatry, and liking of it.





Judges 2:3



Ver. 3. Wherefore I also said,.... Supposing, or on condition of their being guilty of the above things, which was foreseen they would:



I will not drive them out from before you; the seven nations of the Canaanites entirely, and which accounts for the various instances related in the preceding chapter; where it is observed, that they could not, or did not, drive the old inhabitants out of such and such places, because they sinned against the Lord, and he forsook them, and would not assist them in their enterprises, or them to their sloth and indolence:



but they shall be [as thorns] in your sides: very troublesome and afflicting, see Nu 33:55; or for straits, as the Septuagint, or be such as would bring them into tribulation, and distress them, as the Targum; so they often did:



and their gods shall be a snare unto you; which they suffered to continue, and did not destroy them, as they ought to have done; they would be, as they proved, ensnaring to them, and whereby they were drawn to forsake the worship of the true God, and bow down to them, as we read in some following verses.





Judges 2:4



Ver. 4. And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel,.... This being either one of the three solemn feasts, when all the males appeared at the tabernacle of the Lord; or else here was now a solemn convention of all the tribes to inquire of the Lord the reason why they were not able to drive out the Canaanites in some places, and why they prevailed over them in many:



that the people lift up their voice, and wept; being affected with what the angel said, and convicted in their consciences of their sins, and so fearing the bad consequences thereof, they wept because of the sins they had been guilty of, and because of the evils that were like to befall them on account of them.





Judges 2:5



Ver. 5. And they called the name of that place Bochim,.... Which signifies "weepers", from the general lamentation of the people, which before had another name; very probably it was Shiloh itself since all Israel was gathered together, the tabernacle being now at Shiloh, and also because sacrifices were offered up, as follows:



and they sacrificed there unto the Lord; to atone for the sins they had committed; and if they did this in the faith of the great sacrifice of the Messiah, they did well; however, so far there was an acknowledgment of their, guilt, and a compliance with the appointments of God directed to in such cases.





Judges 2:6



Ver. 6. And when Joshua had let the people go,.... This is not to be connected with what goes before, as if that was done in Joshua's lifetime; for during that, as is after testified, the people of Israel served the Lord; whereas the angel, in the speech to them before related, charges them with disobeying the voice of the Lord, making leagues with the inhabitants of the land, and not demolishing their altars, all which was after the death of Joshua; but this refers to a meeting of them with him before his death, and his dismission of them, which was either when he had divided the land by lot unto them, or when he had given them his last charge before his death, see Jos 24:28; and this, and what follows, are repeated and introduced here, to connect the history of Israel, and to show them how they fell into idolatry, and so under the divine displeasure, which brought them into distress, from which they were delivered at various times by judges of his own raising up, which is the subject matter of this book:



the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land; as it was divided to the several tribes and their families; which seems to confirm the first sense given, that this refers to the dismission of the people upon the division of the land among them.





Judges 2:7



Ver. 7. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. In Egypt, at the Red sea, in the wilderness, at the river Jordan, and in the land of Canaan;

See Gill on "Jos 24:31". The Jews {a} say, the elders died on the fifth of Shebet, which answers to part of January and part of February, on which account a fast was kept on that day.



{a} Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 580. sect. 2.





Judges 2:8



Ver. 8. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died,

[being] an hundred and ten years old. See Gill on "Jos 24:29".





Judges 2:9



Ver. 9. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres,.... In Jos 24:30; it is called Timnathserah, the letters of "serah" being here inverted, make "heres", which sometimes is used for the sun, Job 9:7; and therefore some observe, that the whole name signifies the figure of the sun, which the Jews say was put on his monument, in commemoration of the miracle of the sun standing still at his request, and had this inscription on it,



"this is he that caused the sun to stand still;''



but this is not very probable, since it might have had a tendency to idolatry, the sun being what was the first object of idolatrous worship among the Heathens, and had the greatest show of reason for it:



in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash;

See Gill on "Jos 24:30".





Judges 2:10



Ver. 10. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers,.... Were dead and buried, that is, the greatest part of those that were contemporaries with the elders that outlived Joshua; for they might not be all dead, at least not all that came out of Egypt, and still less all that came into the land of Canaan; for, according to the computation of Ben Gersom, the time of Joshua and the elders were but twenty seven years; and there were no more than sixty seven years from their coming out of Egypt to this time; and no doubt there were men living of eighty years of age and more, but these might be but few:



and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord; so as to love, fear, serve, and worship him; did not own him to be the one only living and true God, otherwise they must know him nationally, being educated in the true religion:



nor yet the works which he had done for Israel; some of them, as before observed, might have seen the works and wonders of the Lord for Israel, at their first coming out of Egypt; though not being wise, as the above writer observes, it had no effect upon them, to keep them from doing evil in the sight of God; and they all of them had been informed of them, and many had seen, and must have had personal knowledge of what was done for them at their coming into the land of Canaan; but not a practical knowledge, or such as had any influence upon them, to preserve them from idolatry.





Judges 2:11



Ver. 11. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Openly and publicly, boldly and impudently, in the very face of God, and amidst all the good things they received from him, which were aggravating circumstances of their sins; what the evil was they did is next observed:



and served Baalim; the idol Baal, as the Arabic version, of which there were many, and therefore a plural word is used; to which the apostle refers 1Co 8:5; for the word signifies "lords", and there were Baalpeor, Baalzebub, Baalberith, &c. and who seem to have their name from Bal, Bel, or Belus, a king of Babylon after Nimrod, and who was the first monarch that was deified, the Jupiter of the Heathens. Theophilus of Antioch {p} says, that, according to the history of Thallus, Belus the king of the Assyrians, whom they worshipped, was older than the Trojan war three hundred twenty two years; and that some call Cronus or Saturn Bel and Bal; by the Assyrians called Bel, and in the Punic or Phoenician language Bal {q}.



{p} Ad Autolyc. l. 3. p. 138, 139. Vid. Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 23. {q} Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. 1. prope finem.





Judges 2:12



Ver. 12. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers,.... The covenant God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their more immediate ancestors; his worship they forsook, neglected his tabernacle, and the service of it:



which brought them out of the land of Egypt; out of wretched misery and bondage there, with an high hand, and outstretched arm; and led them through the wilderness, and provided for them there, and brought them into the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey; but all these mercies were forgotten by them:



and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that [were] round about them: the gods of the Canaanites and Phoenicians, of the Egyptians, and of the Moabites, Amorites, and Edomites, that were round about them, on the borders of them; instead of one God they worshipped many, even all in or about the land of Canaan; so much given were they to idolatry:



and bowed themselves unto them; giving them all religious worship and honour they were capable of:



and provoked the Lord to anger; nothing is more provoking to him than idolatry; he being a jealous God, and will not bear any rival in worship, nor his glory to be given to another, to a strange god.





Judges 2:13



Ver. 13. And they forsook the Lord,.... The worship of the Lord, as the Targum; this is repeated to observe the heinous sin they were guilty of, and how displeasing it was to God:



and served Baal and Ashtaroth; two images, as the Arabic version adds; Baal, from whence Baalim, may signify the he deities of the Gentiles, as Jupiter, Hercules, &c. and Ashtaroth their female deities, as Juno, Venus, Diana, &c. the word is plural, and used for flocks of sheep, so called because they make the owners of them rich; and Kimchi and Ben Melech say these were images in the form of female sheep. Perhaps, as Baal may signify the sun, so Ashtaroth the moon, and the stars like flocks of sheep about her. Ashtaroth was the goddess of the Zidonians,

1Ki 11:5; the same with Astarte, the wife of Cronus or Ham, said to be the Phoenician or Syrian Venus. So Lucian says {r} there was a temple in Phoenicia, belonging to the Sidonians, which they say is the temple of Astarte; and, says he, I think that Astarte is the moon; and Astarte is both by the Phoenicians {s} and Grecians {t} said to be Venus, and was worshipped by the Syrians also, as Minutius Felix {u} and Tertullian {w} affirm; the same with Eostre, or Aestar, the Saxon goddess; hence to this day we call the passover Easter {x}, being in Eoster-month; and with Andraste, a goddess of the ancient Britains {y}. There were four of them, and therefore the Septuagint here uses the plural number Astartes; so called either from Asher, being reckoned "blessed" ones, or from Asheroth, the groves they were worshipped in; or from ve, "Ash", and rwt, "Tor", the constellation Taurus or the bull; so Astarte by Sanchoniatho is said to put upon her head the head of a bull, as the token of her sovereignty; See Gill on "Ge 14:5".



{r} De Dea Syria. {s} Sanchoniatho apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 1. p. 38. {t} Suidas in voce astarth. {u} In Octavio, p. 6. {w} Apolog. c. 24. {x} Vid. Owen. Theologoumen, l. 3. c. 4. p. 192. {y} lb. c. 11. p. 244.





Judges 2:14



Ver. 14. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,.... For the idolatries they were guilty of; it burned within him, it broke forth, and was poured out like fire on them, and consumed them; see Na 1:6;



and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them; that rifled their houses, and plundered them of their goods and substance:



and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about; the is, delivered them into their hands, who carried them captive, where they were as men sold for slaves; see Ps 44:12; and this was in just retaliation, that as they had said themselves to work wickedness, the Lord sold them into the hands of their enemies for their wickedness; and, as they had followed the gods of the people round about them, so he delivered them up, into the hands of their enemies round about them, as the Mesopotamians, Moabites, Midianites, Philistines, and Ammonites:



so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies; but turned their backs on them, and fled whenever engaged in war with them.





Judges 2:15



Ver. 15. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil,.... They prospered not in any business they undertook, or put their hands unto; or in any expedition they went upon, or when they went out to war, as Kimchi, Ben Melech, and Abarbinel explain the phrase: the battle went against them, because God was against them; his hand was against them, and there was no resisting and turning that back; and this sense seems to agree with what goes before and follows after; though in some Jewish writings {a} it is explained of those that went out of the land to escape the calamities of it, and particularly of Elimelech and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, Ru 1:1;



as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them; having ratified and confirmed his threatening with an oath, that if they served other gods, he would surely bring upon them all the curses of the law; see De 29:12;



and they were greatly distressed; by the Canaanites they suffered to dwell among them, who were pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides, as had been threatened them; and by the nations round about them, who came in upon them, and plundered them, and carried them captive.



{a} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 12. p. 34.





Judges 2:16



Ver. 16. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges,.... Who are particularly mentioned by name, and their exploits recorded, in some following chapters, and from whom the book in general has its name: these were men that God raised up in an extraordinary manner, and spirited and qualified for the work he had to do by them; which was to deliver the people of Israel out of the hands of their oppressors, and restore them to their privileges and liberties, and protect them in them, and administer justice to them; which was a wonderful instance of the goodness of God to them, notwithstanding their many provoking sins and transgressions:



which delivered them out of the hands of those that spoiled them; who took away their goods and cattle from them, and carried their persons captive: these were the instruments of recovering both again, just as Abraham brought again Lot and all his goods.





Judges 2:17



Ver. 17. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges,.... Afterwards, or not always; but when they admonished them of their sins, and advised them to walk in the good ways of God, and serve him only; they turned a deaf ear to them, and went on in their own ways, which is a sad aggravation of their iniquities:



but they went a whoring after their gods, and bowed themselves unto them; committing spiritual adultery, for such idolatry is, and is often so represented in Scripture; for by it they broke the covenant God made with them, which had the nature of a matrimonial contract, and in which God was an husband to them; and therefore serving other gods was rejecting him as such, and committing whoredom with others; than which nothing was more provoking to God, jealous of his honour and glory:



they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in; as soon as ever Joshua and the elders were dead, they departed from the God of their fathers, and the way in which they worshipped him; and so likewise quickly after they had been delivered by the judges, or however as soon as they were dead:



obeying the commandments of the Lord; serving him at his tabernacle, according to the laws, commands, and ordinances he gave to Moses, which is to be understood of their fathers:



[but] they did not so; did not walk in the same way, nor serve the Lord, and obey his commands, as their fathers did; but all the reverse.





Judges 2:18



Ver. 18. And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge,.... Every one of them that he raised up; as he stirred up their spirits for such service, to judge his people, and qualified them for it, he assisted and strengthened them, and abode by them, and succeeded them in whatsoever they engaged for the welfare of the people; the Targum is,



"the Word of the Lord was for the help of the judge:''



and delivered them out of the hands of their enemies all the days of the judge; so long as a judge lived, or continued to be their judge, they were protected by him, and preserved from falling into the hands of their enemies:



for it repented the Lord because of their groanings, by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them; the Lord being merciful had compassion upon them, when they groaned under their oppressions, and cried unto him, then he received their prayer, as the Targum, and sent them a deliverer; and so did what men do when they repent of a thing, change their conduct; thus the Lord changed the outward dispensation of his providence towards them, according to his unchangeable will; for otherwise repentance, properly speaking, does not belong unto God: the Targum is,



"he turned from the word he spake;''



the threatening he had denounced.





Judges 2:19



Ver. 19. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead,.... Any one of them, the first and so all succeeding ones:



[that] they returned; to their evil ways and idolatrous practices, from which they reformed, and for which they showed outward repentance during the life of the judge; but he dying, they returned again to them:



and corrupted [themselves] more than their fathers; in Egypt and in the wilderness; or rather than their fathers that lived in the generation after the death of Joshua; and so in every generation that lived before a judge was raised up to deliver them out of the evils brought upon them; the children of those in every age successively grew worse than their fathers:



in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; not content with the idols their fathers served, they sought after and found out others, and were more constant and frequent in their worship and service of them, and increased their sacrifices and acts of devotion to them:



they ceased not from their own doings; or, "did not let them fall" {b}; but retained them, and continued in the practice of them, being what they were naturally inclined unto and delighted in:



nor from their stubborn way; which they were bent upon, and determined to continue in: or "their hard way" {c}; which their hard hearts had chosen, and they obstinately persisted in, being obdurate and stiffnecked; and which, in the issue, they would find hard, troublesome, and distressing to them, though at present soft and agreeable, and in which they went on smoothly; but in time would find it rough and rugged, offensive, stumbling, and ruinous; or it may signify a hard beaten path, a broad road which multitudes trod in, as is the way of sin.



{b} wlyph al "non Cadere faciebant", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius. {c} hvqh Mkrdm "de via sua dura", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Drusius.





Judges 2:20



Ver. 20. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,.... As at first, so whenever they fell into idolatry; see Jud 2:14;



and he said, because this people have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers; made at Sinai, in which they were enjoined to have no other gods before him:



and have not hearkened to my voice; in his commands, and particularly what related to his worship and against idolatry.





Judges 2:21



Ver. 21. I also henceforth will not drive out and from before them,.... At least not as yet, not very soon nor hastily, as in Jud 2:23;



of the nations which Joshua left when he died; that is, unsubdued; which was owing either to the infirmities of old age coming upon him, which made him incapable of engaging further in war with the Canaanites; or to the sloth and indolence of the people, being weary of war, and not caring to prosecute it; or to want of men to cultivate any more land, and people other cities, than what they were possessed of; and chiefly this was owing to the providence of God, who had an end to answer hereby, as follows.





Judges 2:22



Ver. 22. That through them I may prove Israel,.... Afflict them by them, and so prove or try them, their faith and patience, which are tried by afflictions; and such were the Canaanites to them, as afflictions and temptations are to the spiritual Israel of God; or rather, whether they would keep in the ways of God, or walk in those the Canaanites did, as follows:



whether they will keep the way of the Lord, as their fathers did keep [it], or not; whether they would worship the true God their fathers did, or the gods of the Canaanites; not that the Lord was ignorant of what they would do, and so made the experiment; but that the sincerity and faithfulness, or insincerity and unfaithfulness of their hearts, might appear to themselves and others.





Judges 2:23



Ver. 23. Therefore the Lord left these nations, without driving them out hastily,.... Left them unsubdued, or suffered them to continue among the Israelites, and did not drive them out as he could have done; which was permitted, either that it might be seen and known whether Israel would give into the idolatry of these nations or not, Jud 2:22; of which there could have been no trial, if they and their idols had been utterly destroyed; or because the children of Israel had transgressed the covenant of the Lord, therefore he would drive no more of them out, but leave them to afflict and distress them, and thereby prove and try them, Jud 2:20; both senses may very well stand, but the former seems rather to agree with what follows:



neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua; having an end to be answered by them, before suggested, namely, to prove and try Israel; and, for a like reason, the indwelling sin and corruptions of God's people are suffered to remain in them, for the trial of their graces, and that the power of God in the support and deliverance of them might appear the more manifest.

 

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