27 And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it hath heard all the words of Jehovah which he spoke unto us; and it shall be a witness against you, lest ye deny your God.
And he answering said to them, I say unto you, If these shall be silent, the stones will cry out.
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad gave a name to the altar; for it is a witness between us that Jehovah is God.
but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we might do service to Jehovah before him with our burnt-offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace-offerings; that your children may not say to our children in future, Ye have no portion in Jehovah. And we said, If it shall be that in future they so say to us and to our generations, we will say, Behold the pattern of the altar of Jehovah which our fathers made, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice, but as a witness between us and you.
if we endure, we shall also reign together; if we deny, *he* also will deny us; if we are unfaithful, *he* abides faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
Take this book of the law, and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee;
And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles have befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination which they are forming already this day, before I bring them into the land which I have sworn [unto them].
Hear, [ye] heavens, and give ear, [thou] earth! for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children; and they have rebelled against me.
They profess to know God, but in works deny [him], being abominable, and disobedient, and found worthless as to every good work.
For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
lest I be full and deny [thee], and say, Who is Jehovah? or lest I be poor and steal, and outrage the name of my God.
And Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, and said, Hitherto Jehovah has helped us.
Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth!
I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you: life and death have I set before you, blessing and cursing: choose then life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed,
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye pass over the Jordan to possess it: ye shall not prolong your days on it, but shall be utterly destroyed.
And now, come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be a witness between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up [for] a pillar. And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stones. And they took stones, and made a heap, and ate there upon the heap. And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed, -- and Mizpah; for he said, Let Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we shall be hidden one from another: if thou shouldest afflict my daughters, or if thou shouldest take wives besides my daughters, -- no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and thee! And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up between me and thee: [let] this heap be witness, and the pillar a witness, that neither I pass this heap [to go] to thee, nor thou pass this heap and this pillar [to come] to me, for harm.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Joshua 24
Commentary on Joshua 24 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 24
This chapter concludes the life and reign of Joshua, in which we have,
Jos 24:1-14
Joshua thought he had taken his last farewell of Israel in the solemn charge he gave them in the foregoing chapter, when he said, I go the way of all the earth; but God graciously continuing his life longer than expected, and renewing his strength, he was desirous to improve it for the good of Israel. He did not say, "I have taken my leave of them once, and let that serve;' but, having yet a longer space given him, he summons them together again, that he might try what more he could do to engage them for God. Note, We must never think our work for God done till our life is done; and, if he lengthen out our days beyond what we thought, we must conclude it is because he has some further service for us to do.
The assembly is the same with that in the foregoing chapter, the elders, heads, judges, and officers of Israel, v. 1. But it is here made somewhat more solemn than it was there.
Jos 24:15-28
Never was any treaty carried on with better management, nor brought to a better issue, than this of Joshua with the people, to engage them to serve God. The manner of his dealing with them shows him to have been in earnest, and that his heart was much upon it, to leave them under all possible obligations to cleave to him, particularly the obligation of a choice and of a covenant.
The matter being thus settled, Joshua dismissed this assembly of the grandees of Israel (v. 28), and took his last leave of them, well satisfied in having done his part, by which he had delivered his soul; if they perished, their blood would be upon their own heads.
Jos 24:29-33
This book, which began with triumphs, here ends with funerals, by which all the glory of man is stained. We have here