Josué 21

Josué 21

Guzik - All the tribes had their land. They must go into every corner of what God has given, and take full possession, but God had provided everything necessary for them to do so. (Joshua 21 Commentary) Donald Campbell - Some theologians have insisted that the statement in Joshua 21:43 means that the land promise of the Abrahamic Covenant was fulfilled then. But this cannot be true because later the Bible gives additional predictions about Israel possessing the land after the time of Joshua (e.g., Amos 9:14–15+). Joshua 21:43, therefore, refers to the extent of the land as outlined in Numbers 34 and not to the ultimate extent as it will be in the messianic kingdom (Ge 15:18–21+). Also though Israel possessed the land at this time it was later dispossessed, whereas the Abrahamic Covenant promised Israel that she would possess the land forever (Ge 17:8). (The Bible Knowledge Commentary Old Testament) M H Woudstra - This passage constitutes one of the key sections of the entire book, for one may learn from it the revelational purpose that the Holy Spirit had in inspiring the human author to compose this book. This purpose is to let the full light of revelation fall upon the faithfulness of the covenant God who keeps his word once given to the forefathers. As such, this passage summarizes the first part of the book and points out its basic message. (The Book of Joshua The New International Commentary) Believer's Study Bible - This doxology forms a fitting conclusion to the second main division of the book (Joshua 13-21), reminding Israel of the faithfulness of their God. This passage has been called "the theological heart of the Book of Joshua." In a sense, Joshua 21:43 summarizes Joshua 13-21, Joshua 21:44 summarizes Joshua 1-12, and Joshua 21:45 states the main theme of the entire book. In every situation God had demonstrated Himself faithful and sufficient. In spite of the power of the Egyptians, the size, number, and technology of the Canaanites, and the stubbornness and foolishness of His people, God was fulfilling His promises. He continues to do so for the Christian as well, for whom there will be a final, complete, and eternal victory and rest (cf. Phil. 4:13+; 2 Th 1:6-10+). Ryrie adds that "God had kept His promise to give Israel the land of Canaan as recorded in Gen. 17:8. It is true that the Israelites had not yet fully conquered it, but God had told them they would do so gradually (Deut. 7:22+). The promise of Gen. 15:18-20+ involving a larger territory will be fulfilled in the Millennium. (Ryrie Study Bible) GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 21 And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land, &c. The foregoing history is here wound up by a suitable acknowledgment of the faithfulness of God, in the performance of all his promises. The Canaanites, it is true, were yet in possession of some parts of the country, but they were so far subdued, that they gave them no serious molestation, and they were enabled to sit down in their possessions in the enjoyment of comparative rest and quiet. They had as much of the land in actual possession as they could occupy; and as they increased God enabled them, according to his promise, Ex. 23:30 (“I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land."), to carry forward the work of extermination, and obtain further room for their settlement. All the assurances given to Joshua, Joshua 1:5, of a successful tide of victories during his life, were accomplished, and as to the subsequent annoyance and occasional prevalence of their enemies, it was owing solely to the supineness and infidelity of Israel. So long as they were obedient, they, were uniformly triumphant and prosperous. See notes on Joshua 1:5. Joshua 21:43-45 TODAY IN THE WORD A quote from one of the characters in Harper Lee's masterpiece novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, speaks to a different kind of courage: “It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.” Joshua's courage led Israel through divinely victorious battles into the promise of God's peace from war; but the true test of Israel's courage wasn't in how they fought, but how they lived after the battle. The last portion of Joshua 21 is an amazing statement, given all that Israel was up against. They were a people prone to disobedience. Physically, they were dwarfed by the Canaanites. But nothing stood in the way of God's promise to Israel during the reign of Joshua; neither physical enemies nor spiritual failures could prevent God from showing His love. Think for a moment about how improbable it was for Israel to enter Canaan. Consider everything that happened in between God's covenant with Abraham and today's reading. Israel had started as a nation of one, and that one wasn't even born until after Abraham and Sarah were well beyond childbearing years. But that one became a multitude—through sacrifices and substitutions; stolen birthrights and switched brides; a coat of many colors and the plotting of many brothers; imprisonment and empowerment; captivity and deliverance; plagues and a Passover; grumbling and wandering; and finally, strength and courage—the nation of Israel had their land, and they had their rest. Everything we've learned of Israel to this point in their history shows that they were a nation prone to wander, contentious and disobedient. There was nothing in their character as a people that set them apart as decidedly godly or sanctified—nothing, that is, except for a constant thread of faith. There was always someone in Israel who showed faith in God. When we read that not one of the Lord's promises failed, we know who deserves the glory. God is faithful above anything Israel deserved. He held on to Israel by a lifeline of faith, and no matter what happened after Israel claimed their land, they had ample evidence that God reigns supreme. TODAY ALONG THE WAY - Joshua and Israel had missteps of their own along the way, but God kept His promises to them. We can take heart in that invaluable lesson about God's longsuffering love. Don't get discouraged by your failures and your weaknesses—we all have them. Instead, take courage that God has given you faith and forgiveness. The Lord is mightier than the world around you and the sin inside you. Serve Him with confidence and praise Him today! H Witherby - Rest JOSHUA 21:43–45 “If Joshua had given them rest, then would he [David] not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”—HEB. 4:8, 9. ALL Jehovah’s promises were fulfilled, and the land was distributed amongst Israel, according to His word. “And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give unto their fathers. “And they possessed it, and dwelt therein. “And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that He sware unto their fathers. “And there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. “There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.” Jehovah had been unwearied in bringing Israel into the possession of the land promised to the fathers. He had now fulfilled His own sure word. He had come down into Egypt, the land of Israel’s bonds; He had been afflicted there in their afflictions; He had ransomed them from captivity, and, having given them the spirit of pilgrims, had guided them as a flock through the wilderness, where He fed them daily, went before them, and was their rearward; He had healed their wilderness backslidings, and forgiven their unbelief in His grace; He had brought them through the river into the promised land, fought for them, given them victory over all their enemies, and had made the promised inheritance their possession. All that Jehovah had given them to anticipate was fulfilled. Israel was at rest—rest in the midst of fulfilled promises, in the midst of possessed blessings. In one sense Israel entered Canaan at rest—at rest from the judgment of Egypt, from the pursuit of the destroyer, and from the wilderness. All their hopes concerning deliverance from the place of bondage and Pharaoh, and of reaching the land of promise, were then fully realized. Thus they began their fight in Canaan as God’s men of war, and in the power of His liberty; and, having waged Jehovah’s wars for seven years, as it is generally understood—a perfect period—“the land rested.” (Joshua 11:23.) Conquest produced rest from warfare; but as this was obtained by conquest, it could only be sustained by incessant watchfulness, being lost to them should they fail to exterminate the enemy. The rest was not absolute. But the rest mentioned in verse 44 of the chapter before us is complete, at least so far as Israel was concerned. Every character of rest which Israel enjoyed resulted from divine faithfulness. That here described, being a fulfilment of promise, is one which, when entered, leads the devout heart to exclaim, Behold, what hath God wrought! It anticipates a day when, every foe of God’s people being subdued, all the blessings which are promised them in Christ shall be realized. What follows in the book of Joshua, morally considered, is hardly a development of the history of Israel. With rest we have reached the desired end. The remainder of the book is a warning to such as, having a promise given them of entering into rest, seem to come short of it (chap. 22), and an exhortation to those which have in spirit entered into rest, to abide in the power of it (chap. 23 and 24). The Christian, as the result of Christ’s victory, enjoys through faith present rest over sin, the world, and Satan, even while warring with these foes. It is his portion, by faith, to know full deliverance from the judgment of the world through the precious blood of Christ, his passover; to know that Christ, being risen from among the dead, has broken the power of death and Satan; from both of which He has delivered His redeemed people. The Christian knows, too, that Christ is in the heavenly places, and that he is seated in Him there; that he is God’s freed man, and in the power of this liberty and rest, and, in his Lord’s might, he fights against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. The Christian enjoys the peace of his Shiloh, worships the Father in spirit and in truth in the true tabernacle, where the glory-cloud ever abides. But while all these blessings are his to enjoy and to dwell in, yet there is a rest which he is anticipating, a rest which he has not at present entered, even the rest of God. The Christian is a man of expectation; he is saved in hope—in hope of coming glory. Did he not enjoy complete peace with God, and rest for his conscience through the finished work of the Lord Jesus, he could not hope for the glory. His salvation is absolute, but the longings of the new nature render him a man of expectation. “Hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Rom. 8:24, 25.) Hope and possession are woven together in his soul. He is not yet transformed into the image of Christ, though he is now a child of God; what he shall be is not yet manifested, but he is blessed in Him with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. He is not yet morally like the Lord, but by beholding His glory he is, day by day, changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor. 3:18.) He is compassed about with infirmity, and with the whole groaning and travailing creation, groans within himself, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body (Rom. 8:21–23); yet he has the Spirit of God within him, the earnest of the promised possession. (Eph. 1:13, 14.) Hope and security are both his,” As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (1 Cor. 15:49); “we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:20, 21), yet even now “all things” are ours. (1 Cor. 3:21.) In the sympathies of Christ, the Christian anticipates the day of his Redeemer’s glory, and longs to behold that glory, as the Lord prayed the Father (John 17:24); in the “patience of” Christ he awaits the day when the Lord’s foes shall be made His footstool. (Rev. 1:9.) It is further the Christian’s privilege to look forward, desiring the honour of Jesus, to the time when Israel’s twelve tribes shall own their now rejected Messiah, when north and south shall give up the people who are now nationally dead, when their land shall once more flow with milk and honey, and shine with God’s favour, and when Israel shall sing to Jehovah “and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him;” when the Kingdom of God shall be established, and the name of Jesus be confessed by every tongue, and every knee bow to Him and own Him Lord, to the glory of God the Father. In a word, the Christian is expecting all that shall accrue to Christ’s glory, which His precious death has purchased, and for which He Himself waits, for “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” (Isa. 53:11.) In order to enjoy rest in our present spiritual blessings ceaseless vigilance is necessary, for the foe is still active. But fightings without and fears within will cease before long; idols and their names will shortly come no more in remembrance. The strivings of sin and the buffetings of Satan have an end for God’s people; it shall be said of all the saints, even of the weakest, “The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.” The day will dawn, ushered in by the Morning Star shining in the sky; and then this world and the lusts thereof shall pass away; and it shall be proved that the word of the Lord endureth for ever. Then, resting in God’s rest, heart shall respond to heart with joyful praise, “There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken … all is come to pass.” Joshua 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hand. KJV Joshua 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. NET Joshua 21:44 The LORD made them secure, in fulfillment of all he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could resist them. BGT Joshua 21:44 καὶ κατέπαυσεν αὐτοὺς κύριος κυκλόθεν καθότι ὤμοσεν τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀνέστη οὐθεὶς κατενώπιον αὐτῶν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτῶν παρέδωκεν κύριος εἰς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν NLT Joshua 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD helped them conquer all their enemies. ESV Joshua 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. NIV Joshua 21:44 The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. YLT Joshua 21:44 and Jehovah giveth rest to them round about, according to all that which He hath sworn to their fathers, and there hath not stood a man in their presence of all their enemies, the whole of their enemies hath Jehovah given into their hand; LXE Joshua 21:44 And the Lord gave them rest round about, as he sware to their fathers: not one of all their enemies maintained his ground against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands. CSB Joshua 21:44 The LORD gave them rest on every side according to all He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies were able to stand against them, for the LORD handed over all their enemies to them. NKJ Joshua 21:44 The LORD gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. NRS Joshua 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their ancestors; not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. Jos 1:15 Joshua 11:23 Joshua 22:4,9 De 7:22-24 Dt 31:3-5 Heb 4:9 Joshua 21 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Joshua 11:23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war. Joshua 22:4; 9 “And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as He spoke to them; therefore turn now and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan.....(22:9) The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home and departed from the sons of Israel at Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession which they had possessed, according to the command of the LORD through Moses. And the LORD gave them rest on every side - NET = The LORD made them secure" Of course there were still Canaanites in the land Israel possessed, but their power had been subdued by Israel's conquest led by Joshua. Sadly this rest would be short lived, for Israel disobeyed God resulting in the tragic descriptions in the book of Judges which is summarized by the statement "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.." (Jdg 21:25) Guzik has an interesting note - This is the point where Israel stopped commemorating Passover as if equipped to travel as described in Exodus 12:11). Now they will eat the Passover reclining at rest (as described in John 13:23), because the LORD had given them rest in the land. (Joshua 21 Commentary) Bush - The Canaanites, it is true, were yet in possession of some parts of the country, but they were so far subdued, that they gave them no serious molestation, and they were enabled to sit down in their possessions in the enjoyment of comparative rest and quiet. They had as much of the land in actual possession as they could occupy; and as they increased God enabled them, according to his promise, Ex. 23:30 (“I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land."), to carry forward the work of extermination, and obtain further room for their settlement. All the assurances given to Joshua, Joshua 1:5 (“No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.), of a successful tide of victories during his life, were accomplished, and as to the subsequent annoyance and occasional prevalence of their enemies, it was owing solely to the supineness and infidelity of Israel. So long as they were obedient, they, were uniformly triumphant and prosperous. See notes on Joshua 1:5. (Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 21) Related Resources: Rest in the Bible Dr Walter Kaiser's excellent summary - The Promise Theme and the Theology of Rest - Bibliotheca Sacra: Volume 130 According to all that He had sworn to their fathers - NET = "in fulfillment of all he had solemnly promised their ancestors." And no one of all their enemies stood before them - NET = None of their enemies could resist them. The LORD gave all their enemies into their hand - Yahweh fulfilled the promises He had made to Israel in Deuteronomy... Deuteronomy 7:22-24 “The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you. 23“But the LORD your God will deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24“He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them. Deuteronomy 31:3-5 “It is the LORD your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the LORD has spoken. 4“The LORD will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. 5“The LORD will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you. Keil and Delitzsch - “Notwithstanding the fact that many a tract of country still remained in the hands of the Canaanites, the promise that the land of Canaan should be given to the house of Israel for a possession had been fulfilled; for God had not promised the immediate and total destruction of the Canaanites, but only their gradual extermination (Ex. xxiii. 29, 30; Deut. vii. 22). And even though the Israelites never came into undisputed possession of the whole of the promised land, to the full extent of the boundaries laid down in Num. xxxiv. 1–2, never conquering Tyre and Sidon for example, the promises of God were no more broken on that account than they were through the circumstance, that after the death of Joshua and the elders his contemporaries, Israel was sometimes hard pressed by the Canaanites; since the complete fulfillment of this promise was inseparably connected with the fidelity of Israel to the Lord.” J