Chapter Twenty-Four

1. The assembly at Shechem-Shiloh. 2–14. The Lord’s mercies to Abraham and his descendants. 15–24. The question to the people concerning their choice of religion and its decision. 25–28. The renewal of the Covenant with the Lord and its perpetuation. 29–33. The death of Joshua son of Nun and the high priest Eleazar. 34–36. An addition to the text.

Joshua 24:1. And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called the elders of Israel and their heads, their judges and their officers, and they stood before [the] God. The second exhortation was pronounced by Joshua also before a national assembly, which was animated by the thought of God and his presence: “they stood before... God.” The people’s assembly was convened at Shechem according to the present Hebrew text, many later Greek manuscripts and the editions based on them (for example, the Complutensian Polyglot and the Aldine Bible), with which the Slavonic Bible agrees, as well as according to Jerome’s translation. On the contrary, in the ancient Vatican, Alexandrian and some later manuscripts of the LXX translation, Shiloh is read instead of Shechem. The first of these readings can be called at present generally accepted including in our own literature 232. In proof of its correctness it is pointed to the particularly important meaning of Shechem as a sacred city because of religious memories of the patriarchs, Abraham (Gen 12:7) and Jacob (Gen 33:19-20) and because of the memory of a recent religious event, whose location was the mountains near Shechem, appointed for this very purpose by Moses (Josh 8:30-35;Deut 11:29-30). In explaining the choice of Shechem for the people’s assembly in Joshua’s time, however, a not insignificant difficulty is encountered, presented by the words Josh 24:26: “and he took a great stone and set it up there under an oak, which was by the sanctuary of the Lord” (in the Hebrew text “bemikdash Iehovah”). “Sanctuary” was, as can be seen from Exod 25:8, Lev 12:4 and others, one of the names of the Tent of Meeting. If Shechem was the place of the people’s assembly, then the existence in it of the Tent of the Lord, which was set up at Shiloh (Josh 18:1), raises a question. This question for him who reads the present chapter of the book of Joshua according to the Slavonic or Russian translation is intensified by the fact that in Josh 24:25 it is said of the conclusion of the Covenant with the people “at Shechem, [before the Tent of the Lord God of Israel].” The existence of the Tent of the Lord at Shechem clearly indicated in both verses, in our own literature is explained by the fact that during the time of the people’s assembly “the Ark of the Covenant had been brought from Shiloh to Shechem, where a temporary Tent or pavilion was set up near the oak grove of Moreh,” or – that “the Tent was brought from Shiloh 233. But there are no indications in the biblical text of the transfer of the Tent or of its greatest holy object to Shechem, wherefore this explanation turns out to be nothing other than a supposition lacking any foundation, which is why in the works of Western European commentators in recent times it has been abandoned. The question of the “sanctuary of the Lord” (Josh 24:26) or Tent at Shechem, if this was indeed the city which was the place of the people’s assembly in Joshua’s times, remains thus without a proper solution. This state of the question impels one to turn to those aforementioned manuscripts of the LXX translation, according to which in Josh 24:1 instead of “at Shechem” is read “at Shiloh.” The originality 234 of the latter reading is evident from the fact that it is found in the most ancient manuscripts of the LXX translation, that after the transfer of the Tent of Meeting from Gilgal to Shiloh, the latter indeed served repeatedly as the place of people’s assemblies (Josh 18:1), that there are no circumstances indicated in the book of Joshua because of which Shechem was chosen for this purpose, and that, finally, with this reading the question raised by what is said in Josh 24:25-26 is of itself eliminated (concerning the meaning of the latter see further). It is probable that in the ancient, pre-Ostrog Slavonic translation, following the text of the LXX according to its most ancient manuscripts, especially the Alexandrian, “at Shiloh” was also read 235.

Joshua 24:2. And Joshua said to all the people: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Your fathers dwelt of old beyond the river, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. The service of Abraham’s ancestors to “other gods,” that is, pagan gods, serves as an explanation and supplement to what is said in Gen 31:19-34.

Joshua 24:4. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave Mount Seir as an inheritance; and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt [and became there a great, strong, and numerous people, and the Egyptians oppressed them]. The words “[and became there a great]” belong to the Greek-Slavonic translation; they are absent in the Hebrew text, but very similar to them are read in Deut 26:5-6. If these words were not in the original text, Josh 24:5 would appear to have no direct connection with what precedes it.

Joshua 24:9. Then Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and called Balaam, son of Beor, to curse you; “Fought against Israel,” in the LXX: (παρετάξατο τῷ Ισραηλ, Slavonic “arrayed himself against Israel”), that is, prepared for war with Israel (cf. Num 22:6, Judg 11:25), one of the means of which was the calling of Balaam.

Joshua 24:12. I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. “Hornets” served as a means of striking down the Canaanites during the time of the struggle of the Israelites for the Canaanite land, like those creeping things and insects with which the Lord struck Egypt (Deut 7:18-20). In the book of Wisdom (Wis 12:8) they are called “the vanguards of the Lord’s host,” sent for the purpose that they “little by little destroy” the Canaanites. In Palestine hornets are found in large quantities and are distinguished by their particularly great size 236.

Joshua 24:14. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in integrity and faithfulness; put away the gods which your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. The exhortation “put away the gods” gives one to understand that among the Israelites contemporary with Joshua there were those who had an inclination toward paganism, which showed itself in the fact that with the worship of the Lord they joined the honoring of other gods; the existence of images of the latter among the Israelites of that time is even more indicated further in Josh 24:23 by the words “put away the foreign gods 237, which you have.” This inclination of a certain part of the Israelite people to pagan worship was evidently understood also in the words of the messengers of the trans-Jordanic tribes “is it not a small thing that we have become unclean with the iniquity of Peor, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day” (Josh 22:17). In his first exhortation Joshua did not touch upon this dark aspect in the life of the Israelite people of that time, because it had not appeared clearly and was overshadowed by another prevailing disposition, which expressed itself in faithfulness to the Lord (Josh 23:8).

Joshua 24:15. If it is displeasing to you to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, the gods which your fathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, [for he is holy]. Since the cleansing of the people’s worship of the Lord from pagan superstitions could not be achieved by external measures, therefore Joshua, to achieve this goal, turns to the people’s conscience, proposing to it to decide the question of whom the people want to serve, the Lord or other gods, and by the very way the question is posed, the thought of the compatibility of one and the other service is removed. Making this proposal to the people, the Israelite leader acts in the same way as Moses (Deut 30:15) and later Samuel (1 Sam 7:3). He limits his influence on the people’s decision to the action of his own example: “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The words “[for he is holy]” are read only in the manuscripts of the LXX translation; according to the Hebrew text they were pronounced by Joshua later, in Josh 24:23.

Joshua 24:18. The Lord drove out before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God. “Therefore we also will serve the Lord,” that is, like Joshua and his house (Josh 24:15).

Joshua 24:19. Joshua said to the people: You cannot serve the Lord [God], for he is a holy God, a jealous God, he will not tolerate your iniquity and your sins. In reply to the readiness expressed by the people to remain faithful to the Lord, Joshua answers by pointing to the impossibility for them to “serve the Lord” as one should serve him, that is, “in integrity and faithfulness” (Josh 24:14), if, of course, the people will not at the same time reject other gods. And the cause of this impossibility of performing service pleasing to the Lord is indicated in the fact that “he is a holy God” or “most holy” (in the Hebrew text the word “holy” is placed here in the plural “Elohim Kedoshim” to express the fullness of holiness belonging to the Lord), “he is a jealous God, he will not tolerate your iniquity and your sin.” As possessing the highest moral purity, comprehended in the concept of holiness, the Lord will not tolerate unclean, sinful service to him, performed with the violation of his commandment concerning the non-worship of other gods (Exod 19:3-5); as a jealous God, the Lord will not tolerate that his greatness be diminished through being served together with false gods. The impossibility for the people of performing service pleasing to the Lord, under the stated condition, is revealed and demonstrated for the purpose, of course, of bringing them to the realization of the necessity and full decisiveness to “put away foreign gods and wholly turn their heart to the one Lord God of Israel” (Josh 24:23).

Joshua 24:25. And Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and made for them a law and an ordinance at Shechem [before the tent of the Lord God of Israel]. “And made for them a statute and an ordinance” (in the Hebrew text “hok umishpat”), that is, he set forth the obligations which the people undertook upon entering into the covenant with God, and the rights to receive the blessings promised to those who fulfill the divine commandments (Exod 15:25, where the same expressions are used). Concerning Shechem and the Tent see Josh 24:1.

Joshua 24:26. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone and set it up there under the oak which was by the sanctuary of the Lord. “And Joshua wrote these words,” that is, what he spoke to the people on behalf of God and what the people answered him, “standing before God, in the book of the law of God” (Josh 24:1-2), by which is understood “the book of the law,” which Moses gave to the priests and elders (Deut 31:9). To perpetuate the people’s decision and the renewal of the Covenant, Joshua “took a great stone and set 238 it up there under the oak 239 which was by the sanctuary 240 of the Lord”. Thus the last four words are in the present Hebrew text. In the LXX translation 241 they correspond to “before the Lord” 242. So they are translated literally in the pre-Ostrog translation “before the Lord” 243. According to this original Greek-Slavonic translation the biblical writer speaks in this place of the fact that a great stone was set up by Joshua “under the oak before the Lord,” but according to the present Hebrew text – “under the oak which was by the sanctuary of the Lord” or – “in the sanctuary of the Lord.” Which of these two readings, presented by the main sources of the biblical text, has the advantage is evident from the fact that up to now, as far as is known, no proper explanation has been given of the name “sanctuary of the Lord” read here in the present Hebrew text. The usual explanation among Western commentators 244 of it as “a sacred place” near Shechem, marked by the construction on it of altars to the Lord in patriarchal times (see explanation of Josh 24:1) is implausible, because in none of the other places in the Bible is this place called “sanctuary” or “sacred,” and some of the proofs advanced in support of such understanding of it even raise questions 245. With the above assumption that the Tent of the Lord was present in Shechem during the time of the people’s assembly, the mention of the “sanctuary” near which a memorial was set up becomes more understandable, but, apart from the lack of foundation in the assumption itself, against the understanding of “sanctuary” in the sense of “the Tent of the Lord” it is argued especially by the fact that with this the Tent is assigned a place not in accordance with the law; it is found set up near an oak or terebinth, against which the words of Deuteronomy are directed (Deut 16:21) “you shall not plant any tree as a sacred pole beside the altar of the Lord your God.” The name “sanctuary of the Lord,” resisting satisfactory explanation, as read in this place according to the present Hebrew text, inclines one to doubt the correctness of the latter and to recognize that reading transmitted in the LXX translation as the original. The meaning of the words of the biblical text according to this translation is “and he set it (that is, the great stone) up there before the Lord,” meaning that Joshua set up this memorial in the name of the Lord, prompted by faith in God and devotion to him, and not for the perpetuation of his own name.

Joshua 24:30. After this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten years old. Joshua did not leave himself a successor for the rule of the people because, of course, he considered it sufficient for this, given the condition of the people at that time, the existing means of rule, which were the elders together with the high priest. Concerning the place of Joshua’s burial and the addition made here to the biblical text by Greek translators, see Josh 19:50.

Joshua 24:31. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of the mountain of Gaash. What is said here serves as a confirmation of the fact that the good disposition indicated by Joshua (Josh 23:8) and expressed by the people (Josh 24:16-17) was predominant in him, so long as it found support in the elders, “who had seen all the works of the Lord.”

Joshua 24:32. And the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in the plot of land which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver; and it became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph. The burial of the bones brought forth from Egypt of Joseph (Exod 13:19) was probably accomplished soon after the settlement of the tribe of Ephraim in Shechem, and is related at the end of the book so that in relating this information the sequence of the account of other events would not be interrupted. The sepulcher of the righteous Joseph (Kabr Yusef), located in the Shechem valley, twenty minutes from the source of Jacob (Bir Yakub), is even now honored not only by Jews and Christians, but also by Samaritans and Muslims.

Joshua 24:33. [After this] also Eleazar the son of Aaron [the high priest] died; and they buried him on the hill of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim. Eleazar, son of Aaron, called in the LXX ἀρχιερεὺς – “[high priest],” was buried, according to the Hebrew text, in “Gibeah of Phinehas” – (literally) “on the hill of Phinehas,” in the LXX (according to the Alexandrian manuscript) ἐν Γαβααθ Φινεες – “Gaba-á-f Phiné-sa,” according to the Slavonic Bible; the place of this city is now recognized to be the village of Jibia on the Shechem road, to the southwest of Shiloh. – According to the Hebrew text and Jerome’s translation the book of Joshua ends with Josh 24:33.

Joshua 24:34. [On that day the people of Israel took the Ark of God and carried it with them, and Phinehas served as priest in place of his father Eleazar, until his death, and he was buried in Gibeah. Joshua 24:35. And the people of Israel went each to their own inheritance, each to their own city. Joshua 24:36. And the people of Israel served Astarte and the Ashtaroth and the gods of the surrounding peoples; and the Lord gave them into the hand of Eglon the king of Moab, and he ruled over them for eighteen years]. The information related here about what the Israelites did after the death of the high priest Eleazar and his son Phinehas is communicated only in the Greek manuscripts of the LXX translation and according to them in the ancient and present Slavonic translation. It is borrowed for the most part from the book of Judges; thus the words “took the Ark of God, carried it with them” or, according to the Lucian and some other manuscripts: ἐν Ἰσραηλ – “in Israel, and Phinehas...” have similarity with what is said in Judg 20:27-28, Josh 24:35 is similar to Judg 2:6, Josh 24:36 with Judg 2:13. * * * Apart from educational aids of archpriest M. Kheraskof and P. Vladimirskii, it is recognized as “correct” in the work of V. K. Lebedev, p. 348. See the aforementioned educational aids. Remaining faithful to the present Hebrew text, Western commentators consider the word “at Shechem” of course as original, and the reading in the Greek manuscripts “at Shiloh” as an alteration which the Greek translators made from dislike of the Samaritan city, and they refer to Sir 50:28: “foolish people, dwelling in Sychem.” But did not the Jewish scribes, who left the word “at Shechem” unchanged in the text, have the same or even greater dislike of the Samaritans as the Greek translators who put “Shiloh” instead of “Shechem”? This is not evident from the works of V. K. Lebedev. Tristram. The natural history of the Bible, 1880, p. 322. The opinion of Prof. N. Shchegolev (“The calling of Abraham and the church-historical significance of this event,” 1873, p. 100 et seq.) that “foreign gods” are named here as teraphim, cannot be recognized as proven in view of what is said in Josh 24 concerning the gods of the Amorites, which may also enter into the concept of foreign gods. In Hebrew “vayyekimega,” in the LXX ἔστησεν – Slavonic “set up.” In the LXX τερέμινθον (Β), τερέβινθον (Α) – “terebi-i-nfom,” from which it is evident that instead of “gaalla” the LXX read “gaela.” In the Hebrew text “bemikdash” – (literally) “in the sanctuary,” according to Jerome’s translation: in sanctuano Domini. According to the Vatican, Alexandrian, Lucian and some other manuscripts Josh 24 ends with the words ἀπέναντι Κυρίου – “before the Lord.” This original reading of the LXX translation was supplemented in Origen’s Hexapla through the introduction before ἀπέναντι of the article τῆς, referring to the preceding δρυὸς, as translated in Hebrew “gaalla” by Aquila and Theodotion ὑποκάτω τῆς δρυὸς (Field). This introduced τῆς was changed to τὴν in those Greek manuscripts in which instead of δρυὸς is read τερέβινθον, thus it is thought a reading arose ὑπὸ τὴν τερέβινθον τὴν ἀπέναντι Κυρίου, which is found, for example, in the Moscow Greek Bible and with which the present Slavonic translation agrees “under the terebi-i-nfom, which is before the Lord.” The original text of the LXX translation brought forward ἀπέναντι Κυρίου shows that the Greek translators of the Hebrew word “asher” (“which”) did not read in the Hebrew text which they had, and instead of “bemikdash” – “sanctuary” they read a different Hebrew word, corresponding to the ἀπέναντι used by them, for example, “neged,” transmitted through ἀπενάντι in Josh 3:16, or – “lifne,” translated through ἔναντι in Josh 18:6. V. K. Lebedev, 369. The additional words which is – preceding the words before the Lord – were introduced into the Slavonic translation by the Ostrog correctors. See the aforementioned commentaries of Keil, Dillmann, Oettli. In proving the existence of a sacred place at Shechem, some commentators (Keil. Iosua, 178, 184) point out that the patriarch Jacob “under the oak near Shechem... buried... foreign... gods” (Gen 35:4), as though the latter could have imparted to the place something other than its defilement. Equally out of place is the reference to the fact that “at Shechem on the mountains of Gerizim and Ebal” the setting up of the law in the Canaanite land was accomplished (Keil. Ibid., or the Commentary of Archpriest Vladimirskii). The biblical text makes no indication that this event occurred at the place where the patriarchs built altars to the Lord. The place for the altar and the setting up of stones on which the law was written was Mount Ebal, while the patriarch Jacob’s altar was set up “in a field” (Gen 33:19-20). The places near Shechem connected with the names of the patriarchs Jacob and Joseph are indicated by local tradition in the Shechem valley (The Holy Land, II, 337, 339, 340, 346, 347–348, 351–352). The oak grove of Moreh, near which Abraham built an altar, is located “at the entrance to the Shechem valley, on the plain, near the source of Jacob.” Tristram. Bible places, 197.