Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
which follows is attached in its first part to Josh 22:3-4, and thus also to Josh 21:43-
44, whilst in the second part it points back to ch. 13:1. The Lord had given the people
rest from all their enemies round about, after the land had been subdued and divided
by lot (Josh 21:43-44). Joshua was already an old man at the termination of the war
(ch. 13:1); but since then he had advanced still further in age, so that he may have
noticed the signs of the near approach of death. He therefore called together the
representatives of the people, either to Timnath-serah where he dwelt (Josh 19:50), or
to Shiloh to the tabernacle, the central sanctuary of the whole nation, as the most
suitable place for his purpose. "All Israel" is still further defined by the apposition,
"its elders, and its heads, and its judges, and its officers." This is not to be
understood, however, as referring to four different classes of rulers; but the term
elders is the general term used to denote all the representatives of the people, who
were divided into heads, judges, and officers.
And the heads , again, were those who stood at the head of the tribes, families, and
fathers' houses, and out of whose number the most suitable persons were chosen as
judges and officers (Deut 1:15; see my Bibl. Arch. ii. §
143). Joshua's address to the elders of all Israel consists of two parts, which run
parallel to one another so far as the contents are concerned, vv. 2b-13 and vv. 14-16.
In both parts Joshua commences with a reference to his age and his approaching
death, in consequence of which he felt constrained to remind the people once more of
all the great things that the Lord had done for them, and to warn them against falling
away from their gracious covenant God. Just as Joshua, in this the last act of his life,
was merely treading in the footsteps of Moses, who had concluded his life with the
fullest exhortations to the people to be faithful to the Lord (Deut 1:30), so his address
consists entirely of reminiscences from the Pentateuch, more especially from
Deuteronomy as he had nothing fresh to announce to the people, but could only
impress the old truth upon their minds once more.
2b-13. Joshua commenced his address by reminding them of the greatest
manifestations of grace which they had received from the Lord, namely, by referring
to what the Lord had done to all these nations (the Canaanites) before them, when He
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