Josh 24.1-33 tells us about Joshua’s farewell address, and an account of his death. He gathered all the tribes together to Shechem and this is not the same assembly as in Josh 23. Shechem means “shoulder” and this denotes strength. He then gives a historical review of Israel’s history and what the Lord has done for them (v 2.13). He reminds them of their ancestry and how they were involved in idolatry (Terah and Nahor). It’s good to remind ourselves of God’s grace in removing us from our idolatrous practices, too.
He goes on to talk about Esau (type of unbeliever) and Jacob (type of believer) and how Esau was given Mount Seir but Jacob was taken to Egypt. This teaches that earthly blessings are worthless without the Lord. Then the Lord brought them out of Egypt and were pursued by the army of Egypt. When the Lord brings us out of bondage we will be pursued by the enemy also. He put darkness between the Egyptians and Israel just like he puts darkness between the unbeliever and believer today, in our lives. He covered the Egyptians with the sea, which is a symbol of the wicked (Isa 57.20). In the Birth-pains, nations will rise against Israel, and each other, and come against the False Messiah (Pharaoh) but he will be covered up in defeat.
But the Lord was with them and he brought them into the land of the Amorite (sayer) and they fought with them. Israel took possession of their land and God destroyed them. Then he recounts the story of Balak (destroyer) the king of Moab (seed of the father) and how he tried to stop Israel through Balaam. People will join forces to try and stop us also. They then crossed the Jordan (death) and came to Jericho meaning the “city of palms” and this speaks of righteousness. But in Canaanite hands it speaks of self-righteousness. This is our first fight, too.
Then Israel fought against the Amorites (“sayers, talkers”), the Perizzite (“rustic squatters” or the earthly man occupied with only earthly things), the Canaanites (“merchants, traffickers” peddling the word of God for money), the Hittite (“terror” in spiritual ways), the Girgashites (“stranger drawing near” or the unconverted mingling with the converted), the Hivites (“livers” or those who portray themselves as born again) and the Jebusites (“trodden down” or those who trample on the things of God). In our “Canaan” we will encounter these same enemies.
Then they wrote these words in the Book of the Law (instruction, guidance) of God written by Moses which was with them because it was put beside the Ark (Deut 31.26). He took a large stone (type of the risen Messiah) and set it up under the oak (the oak of Moreh by Jewish tradition, the same oak that Jacob hid the idols in Gen 35.4) that was by the sanctuary of God. This does not mean that the Mishkan was brought to Shechem, but the Ark was there. Abraham and Jacob had put up an altar and this area was regarded as a holy place, and a place with a kedusha on it. The word for “sanctuary” here is “mikdash” and it means “kedusha” and the Lord’s presence was there.
Josh 24.27 says something very interesting. Joshua says, “This stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, lest you deny your God.” So, let’s look at some concepts related to “the stone.” Notice it says, “for it (the stone) has heard.” The concept of the stone is alluding to the Messiah. In Gen 28.18 Jacob took a stone and anointed it after he rested on it. Messiah means “anointed.” In Gen 49.24 it says, “From there is the Shepherd, the stone of Israel.” The word for stone in Hebrew is “even” and it is spelled with an aleph, bet and nun. The first two letters (aleph, bet) spell “Av” meaning father. The last two letters (bet, nun) spell “ben” meaning son. The father and son are one in this word “stone.”
In Exo 17.6 we learn that Moses struck a rock and living water came out and saved the people from thirst. In Num 20.8 Moses was to speak to another rock so that it would bring forth water, but he struck the rock in disobedience. The stories teach that the Messiah was struck once (died) in order to bring life. We don’t need to crucify him over and over again. Moses just needed to speak to the rock to be saved from thirst, but he struck the rock ruining the picture God had set up. As a result, Moses could not go into the promised land. In Matt 21.42 is says that whoever falls on “this stone” that the builders rejected (Yeshua as Messiah) will be broken (humbled in repentance-John 12.44-50)), but on whomever if falls will scatter them like dust. In 1 Cor 10.4 we learn that the people drank from a spiritual rock and the “rock was Messiah.”
In Josh 24.29-31 we are told about the death of Joshua. Everyone’s service comes to an end in this world. He was 110 years old. He was buried in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah (extra portion) in the mountain country of Ephraim, which was his city. Josh 24.32-33 tells us that they buried the bones of Joseph in Shechem, in a field. This doesn’t mean they did this at the same time as Joshua but probably as soon as the tribe of Ephraim got possession of the place and found rest.
There is a piece of ground that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of silver. It became the inheritance of the children of Joseph as a gift. There are three pieces of ground that are contested today by the Arabs, and all three pieces of ground are documented in the Bible as belonging to Israel. They are the cave at Machpelah, the tomb of Joseph and the Temple Mount.
We are then told about the death of Eleazar, the son of Aaron. We have seen that Joshua is a type of Yeshua as the “warrior Messiah” who brings his people into the promises, but he died. We also have seen Eleazar as the High Priest serving the spiritual needs of his people, but he dies. But this is not so with Yeshua. We have a warrior-priest who lives on in the Olam Haba and is the captain of our warfare, deliverance and salvation.
The book of Joshua is a sequel to the five books of Moses. We have seen Messiah as the Creator and seed of the woman in Genesis. We have seen him as the redeemer and Passover lamb in Exodus. He is the high priest who atones in Leviticus. He is the presence of God, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night who leads Israel through the wilderness (the world) in Numbers and the prophet like Moses who is to come in Deuteronomy. In our next study we will see him as the judge and deliverer in Judges.
v1…Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem (“shoulder” denoting strength; this is not the assembly in Chapter 23), and called for the elders (zekanim) of Israel and for their heads (roshim) and their judges (shophtim) and their officers (shoterim), and they presented themselves before the Lord (the Ark was brought there from Shiloh, and called the sanctuary of the Lord because of its kedusha-v 26).
v 2…And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River (Euphrates), Terah and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods (Yehovah starts by giving them a review of Israel’s history and what the Lord has done for them-v 2-13).
v 3…Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants through Hagar and Ishmael, who begot 12 princes, and Keturah who had several sons) and gave him Isaac (through Sarah).
v 4…And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
v 5…Then I sent Moses and Aaron and I plagued Egypt by what I did in their midst; and afterward I brought you out.
v 6…And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea (Joshua, Caleb, Eleazar the priest, Phinehas and anyone under twenty that was still alive); and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
v 7…But when they cried out to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians (the pillar of cloud with the dark side turned to the Egyptians so they could not see where they were going), and brought the sea upon them and covered them, and your own eyes saw what I did to Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness for a long time (40 years).
v 8…Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan (the kingdoms of Sihon and Og), and they fought with you and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you.
v 9…Then Balak (waster) the son of Zippor (sparrow), king of Moab (seed of the father), arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam (destroyer of the people) the son of Beor (burning) to curse you.
v 10…But I was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his hand (Israel had no idea that Balaam was trying to curse them).
v 11…And you crossed the Jordan (descender/death) and came to Jericho and the citizens of Jericho fought against you (by shutting the gates, possibly shooting arrows at them from the walls; possibly sending messengers for help before the walls fell, and once they did, they joined the others to fight Israel, etc), and the Amorite (sayer) and the Perizzite (rustic squatters) and the Canaanite (merchants, traffickers) and the Hittites (terror) and the Girgashite (stranger drawing near), the Hivite (liver) and the Jebusite (trodden down- all these allude to who we as believers contend with in this world). Thus I gave them into your hand.
v 12…Then I sent the hornet before you (literally or bandits-Exo 23.28) and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites (Sihon and Og) from before you, but not by your sword or your bow.
v 13…And I gave you a land for which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and oliveyards which you did not plant.’
v 14…Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth (found in the Torah), and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the Lord.
v 15…And if is is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living (those gods didn’t help the Amorites) , but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (this alludes to the fact that Joshua was probably married and had children even though they were never named).”
v 16…And the people answered and said (they made their choice), “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods;
v 17…for the Lord our God is he who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of EGypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.
v 18…And the Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
v 19…Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord (because as humans we are deficient and cannot serve him without defect, etc; this was the point Yeshua was trying to make to the people in Matt 5 through 7 of they thought they could be saved by works of the Torah), for he is a holy (has a kedusha) God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgression or your sins (if you forsake him and try to earn salvation by works).
v 20…If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn to do you harm and consume you after he has done good to you.”
v 21…And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.”
v 22…And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve him (if they ever go into idolatry their testimony here would serve against them).” And they said, “We are witnesses.”
v 23…Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst (their secret thoughts in favor of them; or those they had brought out of Egypt of plundered from the Canaanites and kept private, like in Gen 35.2), and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
v 24…And the the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey his voice.”
v 25…So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
v 26…And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God (written by Moses and was put on the side of the ark; the ark being present now- v 1, this book was taken out and these words were written in it), and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak (the oak of Moreh-Gen 35.4) that was by the sanctuary of the Lord (the word “sanctuary” is “mikdash” and the Lord’s presence was with the ark; the Mishkan was not brought to Shechem, but Abraham and Jacob had put up an altar there and this area was regarded as a holy place).
v 27…And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard (The stone alludes to the Messiah-Gen 49.24; Exo 17.6; in Matt 21.44 it is the stone that the builders rejected that falls on the people; 1 Cor 10.4 says the rock was Messiah. The word for stone is “even” and in Hebrew it is spelled with an aleph, beit and nun. The first two letters are aleph and beit, or “av”: meaning “father.” The last two letters is beit and nun, or “ben” meaning “son.” The Father and the Son are “one” in this word-John 10.30-38) all the words of the Lord which he spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, lest you deny your God (Yeshua said something very similar in Luke 19.40).”
v 28…Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.’
v 29…And it came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died, being one hundred and ten years old.
v 30…And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah (portion of abundance), which is in the hill country of ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash (shaking).
v 31…And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which he had done for Israel (in Egypt, the Red Sea, a Sinai, the wilderness and in Canaan; they were those who were under twenty and did not die in the wilderness, and were now elders).
v 32…Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem (in a field near it), in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons (a gift by Jacob to Joseph; this doesn’t necessarily mean they did this at the time they buried Joshua, but as soon as the tribe of Ephraim gort possession of the place and found rest).
v 33…And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
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