Joshua 24

the tabernacle. Many such places ho makes account there were; of which see more on ver. 26. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came unto the sea. When he had brought them out (as is related Exod. xii. 40.) they were led by God through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, (Exod. xiii. 18.) by which they encamped, and were in very great straits, (xiv. 9.) And the Egyptians pursued after your fathers zuith chariots and horsemen into the Red Sea.] Imagining them to be in such difficulties, that they could not escape out of their hand, (Exod. xiv. 3.) Who had a great inclination to do what Balak desired; and one would think by this, begged of God to give him leave to use his arts to do the Israelites mischief: and when this was denied him, yet ohtaining licence to go to, the king of Moab, he went with these intentions, and with hope he might prevail with God to suffer him to prosecute his design, (Numb. xxii. 32.) Therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand.] He all along pronounced nothing but blessings on them, instead of curses, notwithstanding all the attempts that were made to the contrary, Numb, xxiii. and xxiv. Which was to be ascribed to the overruling power of God, >vho hindered him from hurting them.

Joshua 24:1

JjlND Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel. It is likely that Joshua, living longer than he expected when he made the foregoing speech to them, called the people together once more, to give them good advice before he died; as Moses made a great many speeches X6 them (I observed upon the book of Deuteronomy) before his departure from them: or, perhaps, it was the usual custom “of Joshua to take occasion often to call them together, and put them in mind of their duty. And these two exhortations, which he made to them in the latter end of his life, he thought fit to record. To Shechem.] Some will have this place to be the same with Shiloh, called here Shechem, because it was in the country of Shechem, and not far from it. The LXX. also call it StjXw, both here and ver. 25. It is plain also, by the latter end of the verse, that they assembled there where God dwelt, which was in Shiloh: yet all this is not sufficient to make us think they were not summoned to the city called Shechem: for there is no good reason for calling Shiloh by this name, it being (as St. Jerome saith) ten miles from Shechem: and all other copies of the LXX. but the Vatican, having Sv^eju, not 2rjXw. And as for their appearing before God at this place, I shall give an account of it in the end of this verse; and now only say, that it is likely Joshua, who was the supreme governor of God’s people, being old and. infirm, caused the ark, for this time, to be brought to Shechem,.being near to him, that he might renew the covenant with the people in that place where Abraham first settled, when he came into the land of Canaan, and where he built an altar, and God established his covenant with him, (Gen. xii. G, 7.) and where the patriarchs were buried, (Acts vii. 15, 16.) and where he was about to lay the bones of Joseph (ver. 32. of this chapter), and where the Israelites, at their first entrance into Canaan, renewed their covenant with God, (Josh, viii* 30, &c.) For Ebal and Gerzim were hard by Shechemi And called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers.] The same persons mentioned xxiii. 2* Which places give, us a distinct account of the persons concerned in the government of the Israelites; as Const. L’Empereur observes, in his annotations upon Bertram de Repub. Judaica, p. 3G2. 395^ 39G. And they presetited themselves before God.] At his tabernacle; which was, as I said, for the present brought hither. For it is plain, as Cornel. Bertram observes, (L. de Republ. Judaica, cap. 15. p. 249.) the kings or chief rulers of Israel had a power to carry the ark from the place of its constant residence when there was a great occasion for it, (1 Sam. iv. 3, 4. 2 Sam. xv. 24.) And now, at this great assembly of the whole nation by their representatives, there was a just reason for its being brought hither (seeing Joshua could not conveniently, by reason of his great old age, go to Shiloh), that it might be a more, solemn meeting, being held in the presence of God. Mr. Mede hath another notion of this matter; for he thinks that there was a proseucha, or praying-place, erected by the Israelites (at least by the Ephraimites, in whose lot Shechem was) after they had subdued the country, that they might resort hither to call upon God, when they were not able to go as far as

Joshua 24:2

And Joshua said unto all (he people. That were there present, viz. the elders, heads, judges, and officers, mentioned in the foregoing verse, who were to report his words to all the people. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.] This is an argument that Joshua spake all that follows by a Divine impulse; for he begins his speech in the solemn form used by the prophets (thus saith the Lord) and introduces God himself speaking in his own person. From.whence it may be inferred he was a prophet, as well as the ruler of God’s people. Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood.] That is, of the river Euphrates. - In old time.] A long time before they camo from Ur of the Chaldees into Haran, (Gen. xi. 28. 31.) Even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor.] These were Terah’s two eldest sons, (Gen.xi.26.) And they served other gods.] All agree that Terah was an idolater living in that country, from whence, as many think, idolatry first came, (Gen. xxxi. 19.) The Jews, in Schalsch. Hakkabala, say he was a priest: see Hottinger in his Smegma Orientale, cap. 8. p. 290. Others of them say, he was a statuary, who made images of several materials, \iywv tovtovq thai $toi>e, saijing, These were gods; as Suidas speaks, who, together withEpiphanius, is of this opinion. (See Bochartus, in his Phaleg. lib. ii. cap. 5.) Abraham himself also, most agree, was bred up in the same idolatry; though some few deny it; as Hottinger observes in the same place; where he alleges the words of Maimopides, who saith, He was converted to the worship of the Creator of all, in the forty-eighth year of his age; and that his father Terah also repented, and worshipped tjie true and only God. (Sec upon Gen. xi. 31.)

Joshua 24:3

And I took your father Abraham frgrn th% other side of the flood. From that idplatrous country where he was born and educated. Which is mentioned as a singular obligation upon the Israelites to adhere unto God, who singled out the father of their families, so many ages ago, to be his worshipper. This Maimonides, having occasion to mention these words of Joshua, represents in very pat)ietical expressions: " How great is the benefit (saith tie) that we receive by these precepts, which have freed us from such a grand error in which our father was educated, and converted us to the true belief of God? by teaching us that he created all things, and that he is to be worshipped, and loved, and feared, and he only; and that there is no great labour required to do his will, but only the love and fear of him, in wiiich two all his worship is perfected,” &c. (More Nevochim, par. iii. cap. 29.) And led him.] From Charran, after his father’s death. Tliroughout all the land of Canaan.] Till he came to Shcchcm (where the Israelites now were assembled), and so to “Beth-el; and so on still towards the south of the land of Canaan, (Gen. xii. 6. 8, 9.) And multiplied his seed, and gave hirfi Isaac] In order to’the fulfilling of his promise, (Gen. xv. 5.) he bestowed a son upon him, when he w r as a hundred years old, (Gen. XXi. 1, 2, &c.). yer. 4. And I gave unto Isaac, Jacob and Esau.] Who had a vpry numerous issue, (Gen. xxv. 24, &c.) And I gave unto Esau, Mount Seir to possess it.] He and his brother being grown so rich, and their cattle so increased, that there was not ro&n for them both in the land of Canaan, where they sojourned, (Gen. xxxvi. G — 8.) And^ Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.] Though Esau left the land of Canaan entirely to him, yet the time was not come w r hen God intended to plant his posterity in it; but they were forced to go’down into Egypt, where theysuffered a cruel bondage, (Gen. xlvi.C. Exod.i. 11, &c.) So the LXX. explain it.

Joshua 24:5

I sent Moses also, and Aaron. And when they were multiplied exceedingly, (Exod. i. 7. 14. 20.) these two great persons were sent to deliver them from that bondage, (Exod. iii. 10. iv. 14.) And I plagued Egypt, according to that I did amongst them.] Smote it with those signs (as the LXX. explain it) which are related in that book of Exodus. And afterward I brought you out.] By those wonderful plagues they were, at last, constrained to let the Israelites depart, as they desired, (Exod. xii. 31, &c.) "

Joshua 24:7

And whenihey cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians. So that w T hen they had overtaken them, they could not see where they w r cre, (Exod. xiv. 10. 19, 20,) And brought the sea upon them, and covered them.] Inso-* much, that they marched after them into the sea, where they were overwhelmed, (Exod. xiv. 27, 28.) And your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt.] Or, upon the Egyptians. He appeals to them for the truth of this, who had seen them lie dead upon the sea-shore, (Exod. xiv. 30, 31.) For their elders, to whom he now speaks, (ver. 1.) were all then there: and now not only men of great dignity, but (many of them at least) of great age. And ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.] Forty years, Numb. xiv. 33. where he gave them a law, and fed them miraculously, &c.

Joshua 24:8

And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan. Towards the latter end of that time, (Numb. xxi. 20, 21.) And they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, &c] See there, ver. 23, 24. 33, &c.

Joshua 24:9

Tlien Balak, the son of Zippor, king ofMoab, arose, and tvarred against Israel. He did not actually draw out his forces, and fall upon them, but he prepared them and made them ready, with an intention to drive them from his coast, if Balaam could have disabled them by his curses; which sufficiently appears from Numb. xxii, 11..David Camius therefore notes pertinently, " the design or contrivance is reputed the work itself.” • And sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.] See Numb. xxii. 5, 6, Sec. •

Joshua 24:10

But the Lord would not hearken unto Balaam.]

Joshua 24:11

And ye went over Jordan. Having vanquished the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of it, and got quit of all other enemies (the Moabites and Midianites), God in a wonderful manner brought them into Canaan, by drying up the river Jordan to give them a passage over it; And came unto Jericho.] Which was the first place they besieged, being the nearest city to Jordan. And the men of Jericho fought against you.] We do not read of any sallies they made upon the Israelites; but they shutting their gates, to defend the city against them, it is likely, flung stones from their wall upon them. The Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, rind the Hittites, and the Girgashites, a and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.] After which, it appears by this book, that they fought with all the seven nations of Canaan; who engaged them in several bodies, arid at several times: which was done so lately, that there was no need he should repeat all the particulars mentioned in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth chapters. But by the division of their land •among the Israelites, it was very well known to them, that >(as this verse concludes) God had delivered them into their hands. It is ohservable, that the Girgashites are here particularly mentioned, as fighting against Israel with the rest of the seven nations; which makes Grotius’s observation doubtful, of their surrender at Joshua’s first summons; (see xvi. 10.) but if that be not true, it is manifest ^some of them remained unsubdued, and had a settlement in Canaan in our Saviour’s days: when we read of the country of the (jergesens, the inhabitants of which were not Jews, as appears by their breeding swine. (See Constant. I/Empcreur in his annotations on Bava-kama, p. 180.)

Joshua 24:12

And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you. This may signify, either that before the Israelites came into those parts, God sent hor-.ncts, which so infested them, that many of them were.forced to leave their country, and flee into other places; or, that when they came to give them battle, these hornets made such assaults upon them, as facilitated the victory. This God promised in Exod. xxiii. 27, 28. Dent. vii. 20. and here Joshua remembers how true he was to his word. The Book of Wisdom calls them 7rpodp6fiovg, the forerunners of God’s host; and Kimchi saith, they flew in the eyes of the Canaanites, and made them so blind, that they could not see to fight.. Even the two kings of the Amorites.] Sihon and 0%, whose country was first infested with them; and afterward the kings of Canaan, and their people, felt their fury: for this is a short expression, likq that which I observed xxii. 10. But not with thy sword, or with thy bow.] These swarms of hornets, it seems, did greater execution than the armies of the Israelites. We do not read of their assaulting the Canaanites^in any of the battles that Joshua fought with them; for he did not think fit to mention it particularly in the foregoing account of his victory, but now in general, when he was to sum up all the mercies of God -to them.

Joshua 24:13

And J have given you a land for which you did not labour, and cities which yc built.not, and ye dwell in them. As Joshua had observed before, (xi. 13.) Of the vineyards and olive-yards which ye planted not do ye eat.] According to his promise, Deut. vi. 10, 11.

Joshua 24:14

Now therefore fear the Lord. The fear of God commonly signifies his worship and service, unto which he exhorts them in the following words: which seem to relate to all outward acts of worship; as this to the inward reverence they owed to him in their minds, as the only God. And serve him in sincerity and truth.] Worship no other God together with him, nor mix any idolatrous rites with those prescribed by him; but serve him constantly and purely according to his law, which is the truth, (Psal. cxix. 142.) And put away tlie gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood.] See ver. 2. This intimates, that there were now some idolaters among them, though secretly in private, and not openly; for they had lately expressed, so unanimously such a zeal against any appearance of idolatry, that one cannot think there was any known worshipper of othjer gods now in the nation* And in Egypt.] Where they began to be corrupted in their religion, as is often suggested by the prophet Ezekiel, xx. 6—8. 18. xxiii, 3. 8. 19. 21. 27. And serve ye the Lord.] He repeats it again,, as a thing of the greatest moment, that they should worship the Lord alone.

Joshua 24:15

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord 7 choose you this day whom you will serve. He could not think they would turn atheists, and have no God at all; and he was unwilling to suppose that they would prefer any other god to him, who had obliged them by such benefits as are beforementioned; which he expresses in this rhetorical form of speech; which, is as much as if he had said, If you like not the Lord’s service, tell me whom ye will serve? Where do you hope to find a God comparable to him? TFIiether the gods tliat your fathers served, that were on the other side of the flood.] That had some colour for it, because of its antiquity; but was condemned by Abraham their father, who forsook that religion, and was blessed for it by God with the inheritance he had now given them in the land of Canaan. Or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.].That was so absurd, as to need no confutation; for those gods could not defend their servants that worshipped them. But as for me, I and my house, we will serve the Lord.’] He declares his firm resolution (let them take what course they pleased), together with his whole family (as far as he could.oblige them), to worship the Lord alone. Ver. 1G. And the people answered and said.] All the elders and others there present, and all those to whom they reported what Joshua had said, made this answer. God forbid that we should fqrsake thejjord.] TheHe- Microsoft® [chap, xxi.v, brew -word CJialila (which we translate God forbid) imports a great abhorrence and abomination of that which is mentioned with it. To serve other gods.’] Which they now looked Upon as the greatest madness.

Joshua 24:17

For the Lord our God, he it is that brought its tip and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house hf bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, &c. They gave such powerful reasons why thfcy should serve none but the Lord alone; that if they had always preserved them as fresh in their minds as they were now, they could never have gone after other gods.

Joshua 24:18

And the Lord drave out from before us all the people. That is, of Canaan. Even the Amorites tvhich dwelt in the land.] In the Hebrew, and the Amorites; that is, together with the two kings of the Amorites, whom they had drivel before out of the land on the other side of Jordan. -‘Therefore’ will we also serve the Lord.] Follow the example of Joshua, their leader, (ver. 15.) For he is our God.] As they were convinced by their wonderful deliverance out of Egypt; all the great signs he wrought there, arid after they came from thence; and the care he took of them in the wilderness, and all other places; and now by their late victories over most potent enemies, whom he had driven out of their/country, and put the Israelites in possession of it.

Joshua 24:19

And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord. This is far from signifying an utter impossibility of it; (for that would have contradicted his exhortation, ver. 14.) but that they were so very prdne’to idolatry, that they would not be able to persevere steadfast in their resolution, unless they took care constantly to reflect upon, and lay to heart, what they had now acknowledged, (ver. 17, 18*) which he was afraid they would not do. For he is a holy God, he is a jealous God.] Who, having no equal (that is meant by holy), will endure no riVal; and therefore they who communicated the worship proper to him, unto any other besides him, or with hhh, were deemed io deny his incomparable sanctity, and said in Scripture to profane his holy name, as Mr. Mode observes, (see book i. disc. 2.) It is a just remark which Mr. Aiix here makes/in his excellent book of the Judgment of the Jewish Church against the Unitarians, chap. ix. that here is a plain idea of a plurality of persons in the Godhead, the words in the -Hebrew being, he is the holy Gods; like that Eccles. xii. 1, Remember thy Creators. And, indeed, this is a place anciently noted by the Christian doctors (whom the Jews call heretics),.who asked R. Samlai, as (he Jews themselves tell us, what he had to answer unto these words, Ye cannot serve the Lord, Ki Elohim Kedoshim IIu, because he is the holy Gods? Who had nothing to reply* “but that Joshua doth not. say, Tliey are the holy Gods, but JTe is the holy Gods. Which is the very same that we affirm, that he is Three in One. This is in Bereschith Rabba, mentioned by Raymond in his Pugio Fidei, and by J. Wagenseil, in his confutation of Lipman’s Carmen Memoriale, p. 129.. lie will not forgive yourtransgressions nor your sins.] ]But make those who assume any other deity into fellowship with him in worship, feel howhe resents such dishonour done to his Divine Majesty.

Joshua 24:20

If you forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods. Either the gods of the Amorites, beforementioned, or those that their fathers anciently served. llien he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.] Alter the course of his providence towards you, and send as many curses upon you as he hath done blessings; according to the prediction of Moses in Deut. xxviii. <53;

Joshua 24:21

And the people said unto Joshua, Nay, but we will serve thel^rd. They desire him to entertain a better opinion of them; for they persist in their well-grounded resolution, (ver. 1G — 18.) Ver;22. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen the Lord to serve him.] This solemn profession, whichthey had thus deliberately and publicly made, he tells them, would testify against them, and condemn them, if they proved false tdGod. - And they said, We are witnesses.] Here they renew that choice of God for their king, which their forefathers tnade when they came out of Egypt (in the nineteenth and twenty-fourth chapters of Exodus), and acknowledged they should bio self-condemned if they did not make it good.

Joshua 24:23

Now therefore put aicay (said he) the strange gods that are among you. See ver. 14. This is an’argument that he was & prophet, as I said upon ver. 2. that he saw their inward disposition, and the secret affection they hadtoidols. For though there was no public idol worshipped, yet he knewj by the Spirit of prophecy, that they had their pendtes (as the Romans called them), household gods;’ or, rather, gods which they worshipped secretly in their closets, as our Dr. Spencer observes, lib’. iii« dissert. 1. cap. 3. These being the very same words which Jacob used to his household, when he suspected them of the same crime, though there was no open idolatry practised among them, (Gen. xxxv. 2.) And incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel.] Settle your affection upon the Lord alone, who you profess is your sovereign, to whom the tfhole nation hath infinite obligations, (ver. 16 — 18.)

Joshua 24:24

And’ the people said unto Joshua, Hie Lord our God will we serve, and his voice ive will obey. They repeat their professed resolution a third time* which made it more binding; and a stronger witness against them, if they forsook the Lord. Ver.; 25. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day.] Engaged them to make good this solemn profession, •by renewing the covenant they had formerly entered into, both in the “time of Moses, and in his time: wherein they promised to worship him alone, and be obedient to him; and he promised to do for them as he had formerly done; that is, be their constant protector and benefactor. There are those who think this covenant was now established by sacrifice; as it was when they came out of Egypt, (Exod. xxiv. 4, 5.) and when they came into Canaan, (Josh. viii. 31.) But,as there is no mention of an altar, or any offering, so it is not likely that Joshua’ would offer any sacrifice but in the place which God had chosen, which was Shiloh: for though we suppose the sanctuary to have been brought hither for a little time, yet it was not the settled place of the Divine residence. irff vi ^f^^fi \ CHAP. XXIV.] UPON JOSHUA. And set them a statute and an ordinance.] It is commonly interpreted, that he propounded to them in brief the precepts of the law; which are the conditions of the covenant: but it may be expounded, that he enacted this covenant to have the force of a statute and ordinance, or judgment, as it is in the Hebrew. In Shechem.] So that it was called hereafter the covenant or statute in Shechem, where they all made repeated professions of love to God.

Joshua 24:26

And’ Joshua tvrote these toords. From whence, as I observed in the preface, the Talmudists gather Joshua to have been the author of this book. As if these words signified, that he, after the example of Moses, committed to writing all that we read in this, book, and added it at the end of the five books written by Moses, as it is now annexed to them. But it must be confessed, that one cannot certainly infer more from these words than that he wrote the words of the foregoing covenant; and this he did, as it here follows, in the very book of* the law of God, that it might be preserved in everlasting remembrance. In the book of the law of God.] Which was laid up by Moses’s order, in the side of the ark, (Deut.xxxi. 24 — 26.) From whence he took it, and wrote in it all that had passed between him and the people, that they might look upon this as a sacred transaction, as indeed it was, and most carefully observe it: and perhaps he wrote it also in that copy of the law of God, which the princes had for the use of every tribe. (Sec upon Deut. xxxi. 9.) And took a great stone, and set it up there.] As a monument of the covenant now made. Which was an ancient way of preserving the memory of things past, as appears by, what Jacob.did,.Gen.;cxviii. IS. and they thenv selvcs had lately done, iv. 3. 20, 21, &c. Upon this stone, it is probable, there was an inscription, signifying what it meant. Under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.] This is one argument Mr. Mede uses (in the place I mentioned upon ver. 1.) to prove that the sanctuary, properly so called, cannot be here meant, because it was unlawful to plant any. trees near it, (Deutxvi. 21, 22.) and therefore he understands hereby a proseucha, or praying -place, which, in memory of Jacob, was here at Shechem. And lie doth plainly shew, there were both such places, and also synagogues,.in several parts of the country; the former beinginthc fields, open on the top; the latter in cities, cor vered as,our houses are. And I may add, that we do read of sanctuaries, in the plural number, that,werc among them in aftcrtimes, (Amos vii. 9.) Yet it must be acknowledged, that the argument he uses from the place I mentioned in Deuteronomy is not cogent: for though they be prohibited there to plant a grove of any trees near God’s altar, after the manner of the gentiles, this did not make it unlawful to set up the sanctuary under a tree that had been planted before; especially when it was done only for a short time, and not to make it the settled place for its constant abode. But there are those who avoid this seeming difficulty, by referring these words, in the sanctuary of the Lord (as they may be translated), not to the oak, but to the words going before, the book of the law of God; which was in the sanctuary. And thus, it is certain, words are sometimes to be connected, not with those immediately preceding, but with! those which are more remote. A notable instance of which, we have in Gen. xiii. 10. where those words in the end of. the verse, As thou comest unto Zoar, cannot be joined to the land of Egypt, just beforementioned, but to the plain of Jordan, in the very beginning of the verse.

Joshua 24:27

And Joshua said unto all the people, This stone shall be a witness unto us. As Laban said concerning the heap of stones which he and Jacob raised, (Gen. xxxi. For it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us.] All those speeches which had been delivered by Joshua in the name of God, (ver. 2, 3, &c.) and all that the Israelites had answered to him: that is, the covenant between God and them; which being renewed before this stone, it is said, by an elegant figure, to have heard what was spoken; because it would remain to testify arid declare to all posterity the engagements that lay upon them. Thus the prophet calls to all creatures, Hear, O heaven, &c. It shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.] To accuse them; as much as if it had heard what they said, and could speak against them.

Joshua 24:28

And so Joshua let the people depart, every one unto his inheritance. And the sanctuary of the “Lord re-^ turned to its settled place, which was in Shiloh.

Joshua 24:29

And it came to pass, that after these things.J Not long after, in all probability. Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died. Leaving this honourable character behind him, which Moses also had, that he had served the Lord faithfully. Being a hundred and Jen years old.] Of the same age with Joseph. How many of these years he spent in Canaan, as the chief ruler of God’s people, men’s opinions are very widely different: for some say he lived twenty and eight years after they came” over Jordan (which is the opinion of the Jews in Seder Olam); though others will not. allow so much as the odd eight years,, but say it was only seven. There is a middle opinion maintained by others, that he was their governor seventeen years. (See Bonfrcrius.)

Joshua 24:30

And they buried him in the border of Jtis in- Iwritance in Timnath-serah. Called in Judg. ii. 9. Timneth-heres; because of the image of the sun engraven on his sepulchre, in memory of that famous day, when the sun stood still till he had completed his victory. (Chap, x.) So several of the Jewish authors say, particularly he who wrote the book put out by Hottinger, under the title of Cippi Hebraici, p. 32. where he saith, his father Nun was buried here, and Caleb the son of Jephunnch. (See also his Smegma Orientalc, cap. 8. p. 523.) And thus Tully saith, a sphere and a cylinder were put upon the tomb of Archimedes.’ On the north side of the hill Gaaslu] So called, as the Jews fable, because it trembled and quaked, at the burial of Joshua, whose death the people did not enough bewail. Which fancy, it is likely, came into their head, because there is no mention here of any days of mourning for him, as there were for Aaron and Moses. In which St. Jerome and other of the fathers think there is a mystery; viz. that tinder the law, when the kingdom of heaven was not yet opened, they had reason to mourn and weep for the death.of their friends; but under the gospel, wherein is revealed by “the Lord Jesus (of whom Joshua was a figure) the Microsoft® [chap. XXIV. wonderful love of God to men, &c. there is no reason for mourning and lamentation, but rather for rejoicing. Of this hill, see Const. L’Empereur upon Benjamin’s Itinerarium, who calls Montpelier by this name of Har- Gaash, the trembling hill, p. 142, 143. Vcr. 31. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua.’] No idolatry appeared among them publicly while he lived, (whatsoever private superstition might be practised, ver. 14. 23.) for all that wicked generation which came out of Egypt (except the younger sort) were consumed in the wilderness, before Joshua took the conduct of them* And God kept them there so many years, as wasted them also, for this reason, among others, that they might forget the idolatrous custom of Egypt, unto which it early appeared, by their making the golden calf, they were strongly inclined. Thus St. Chrysostom discourses: (lib. i. advers. Vitae Monast. vituper.) God, saith he, that’ the children of Israel might unlearn the evil customs of Egypt, brought them KaTafiovag lirl rTjg tpijfiiag, to lead a solitary life in the wilderness, forming their minds, as in a monastery, far from those who had corrupted them. And he destroyed there all the elder sort, that none might enter into Palestine, but they who had not seen the superstitious impieties of the Egyptians, koI /x^Stva SiSdtricaAov tytiv rijg rotraurijc Trovrjofac, and that they might have no master left among them to teach them such hind of wickedness. And all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, and which had seen all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel.] These elders had been chosen by Moses, who knew them to be men of great piety; that had not only seen, but observed and kept in mind all God’s wonderful works; and would put others in mind of them, and teach them to serve and obey the Lord.. From this place the Jews labour to establish all their oral traditions; which Moses, say they, delivered to Joshua, and he to tUpse ciders, and they to the prophets, and they to others, (see Maimonides in Seder Zeraim, set forth by our most learned Dr. Pocock, p. 34.) for which there is no foundation.’

Joshua 24:32

And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought out of Egypt. It is a needless pains which the Jews bestow in reconciling this place with Exod. xiii. 19. where it is said, Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. For there is no contradiction between these two places, the children of Israel doing what Moses required them to do; who could not carry them away himself, but saw them brought out of Egypt. Yet thus they gravely discourse about this matter in the Talmud: (tit. Sota, cap. 1. sect. 47.) " When any one begins a thing, but doth not bring it to perfection, and another comes and finishes it, the Scripture speaks of him who completes it, as if he alone had done it/’ • Buried they in Shechem.] Which was one reason, perhaps, for gathering the great assembly abovementioned, that they might the more solemnly deposit the bones of this great man, in that portion of land which his father Jacob had given him; see Gen. xlviii. 22. where it seems they thought it most agreeable to lay him, rather than in tfie cave of Machpelah. It may be reasonably thought, also, that the bodies of the rest of the sons of Jacob, from whom the twelve tribes descended, were brought into Canaan, to be there interred, as Josephus relates from ancient tradition, lib. ii. Antiq. cnp.4. And St. Stephen confirms it, Acts vii. 16. For though Joseph excelled them all in dignity, and gave this special charge about his body, yet, no doubt, every tribe had as great a regard to the head of it, and would be inclined to do the same for their fathers that Joseph desired for himself. But whether they buried them in the sepulchre at Machpelah, or in some eminent place in their own tribe, as Joseph was, there is none that gives us any account. In a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver.] See Gen. xxxiii. 18, 19. This shews they did not bury him in the city of Shechem, but in a field near it, which was his own ground: for so the ancient manner was, not to bury in cities and towns, but in the adjacent fields or gardens. And it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph,] Of the Ephraimites, \Vho gave Shechem to the Levitcs for a city of refuge, (xxi. 20, 21.)

Joshua 24:33

And Eleazar the son of Aaron died. Who imitated Joshua (if we may believe the Samaritan Chronicle), in calling all the elders and princes of the tribes to him before he died, charging them strictly to obey all the commands of God. After which he put off his sacretl garments, and clothed his son Phinehas with them. This is so far from being improbable, that it is likely all the ciders did the same, as far as their authority could reach; being very desirous their posterity might continue firm and steadfast in the worship of God alone. And they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son.] In the Hebrew the words are, in the hill of Phinehas; that is, a hill called by his name. It being the manner, as I have noted elsewhere, to call places by the name of their eldest son. Which was given him in Mount Ephraim.] It is a question to whom this hill was given: most probable to Eleazar, who, being the high-priest at the time of the division of the land, they thought fit to give him a peculiar portion, distinfet from all the cities of the priests; none of which were in the tribe of Ephraim, but all in the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon, as we read xxi. 9. 17. 19. And they gave it Eleazar in this country, that he might be near to the tabernacle (which was in Shiloh), and near to Joshua,*to be ready on all occasions to advise him, and \ consult the oracle for him. But against this there lies a great objection, that no Levite or priest was to have any portion in the division of the land: and therefore it is the most received opinion among the Jews, that either Eleazar or Phinehas had this inheritance in the right of his wife. So the Gemara Babylonica on Bava Bathra, and a great many others, mentioned by Mr. Selden, in his book de Successionibus ad Leges Ilebr. cap. 38. where he observes another example of this marital succession, as he calls it; that is, the husband succeeding his wife in her estate after her death, in 1 Chron. ii. 21. where the twentythree cities which Jair possessed, Kimchi saitlrhe had by his wife! These five last verses, it is evident, were not written by Joshua: but this is no argument he did not write this book; no more than that Moses did not write the Pentateuch, because there is the like account given of his death irifvi Vwvi I CHAP. I.]