Joshua 24:19 Komentář

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.

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 Exo 23:21.

Joshua gathers all the tribes together at Shechem, Jos 24:1; and gives them a history of God's gracious dealings with Abraham, Jos 24:2, Jos 24:3; Isaac, Jacob, and Esau, Jos 24:4; Moses and Aaron, and their fathers in Egypt, Jos 24:5, Jos 24:6. His judgments on the Egyptians, Jos 24:7. On the Amorites, Jos 24:8. Their deliverance from Balak and Balaam, Jos 24:9, Jos 24:10. Their conquests in the promised land, and their establishment in the possession of it, Jos 24:11-13. Exhorts them to abolish idolatry, and informs them of his and his family's resolution to serve Jehovah, Jos 24:14, Jos 24:15. The people solemnly promise to serve the Lord alone, and mention his merciful dealings towards them, Jos 24:16-18. Joshua shows them the holiness of God, and the danger of apostasy, Jos 24:19, Jos 24:20. The people again promise obedience, Jos 24:21. Joshua calls them to witness against themselves, that they had promised to worship God alone, and exhorts them to put away the strange gods, Jos 24:22, Jos 24:23. They promise obedience, Jos 24:24. Joshua makes a covenant with the people, writes it in a book, sets up a stone as a memorial of it, and dismisses the people, Jos 24:25-28. Joshua's death, Jos 24:29, and burial, Jos 24:30. The people continue faithful during that generation, Jos 24:31. They bury the bones of Joseph in Shechem, Jos 24:32. Eleazar the high priest dies also, Jos 24:33.

Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is a holy God - If we are to take this literally, we cannot blame the Israelites for their defection from the worship of the true God; for if it was impossible for them to serve God, they could not but come short of his kingdom: but surely this was not the case. Instead of לא תוכלו lo thuchelu, ye Cannot serve, etc., some eminent critics read לא תכלו lo thechallu, ye shall not Cease to serve, etc. This is a very ingenious emendation, but there is not one MS. in all the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi to support it. However, it appears very possible that the first ו vau in תוכלו did not make a part of the word originally. If the common reading be preferred, the meaning of the place must be, "Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is holy and jealous, unless ye put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the flood. For he is a jealous God, and will not give to nor divide his glory with any other. He is a holy God, and will not have his people defiled with the impure worship of the Gentiles."

JOSHUA ASSEMBLING THE TRIBES. (Jos 24:1) Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem--Another and final opportunity of dissuading the people against idolatry is here described as taken by the aged leader, whose solicitude on this account arose from his knowledge of the extreme readiness of the people to conform to the manners of the surrounding nations. This address was made to the representatives of the people convened at Shechem, and which had already been the scene of a solemn renewal of the covenant (Jos 8:30, Jos 8:35). The transaction now to be entered upon being in principle and object the same, it was desirable to give it all the solemn impressiveness which might be derived from the memory of the former ceremonial, as well as from other sacred associations of the place (Gen 12:6-7; Gen 33:18-20; Gen 35:2-4). they presented themselves before God--It is generally assumed that the ark of the covenant had been transferred on this occasion to Shechem; as on extraordinary emergencies it was for a time removed (Jdg. 20:1-18; Sa1 4:3; Sa2 15:24). But the statement, not necessarily implying this, may be viewed as expressing only the religious character of the ceremony [HENGSTENBERG].

But in order to place most vividly before the minds of the people to what it was that they bound themselves by this declaration, that they might not inconsiderately vow what they would not afterwards observe, Joshua adds, "Ye cannot serve Jehovah," sc., in the state of mind in which ye are at present, or "by your own resolution only, and without the assistance of divine grace, without solid and serious conversion from all idols, and without true repentance and faith" (J. H. Michaelis). For Jehovah is "a holy God," etc. Elohim, used to denote the Supreme Being (see at Gen 2:4), is construed with the predicate in the plural. On the holiness of God, see the exposition of Exo 19:6. On the expression "a jealous God," see Exo 20:5; and on לפשׁע נשׂא, Exo 23:21. The only other place in which the form קנּוא is used for קנּא is Nah 1:2. "If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, He will turn (i.e., assume a different attitude towards you) and do you hurt, after He has done you good," i.e., He will not spare you, in spite of the blessings which He has conferred upon you. חרע is used to denote the judgments threatened in the law against transgressors.