682 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them,.... As in Joshua 21:44; see Deuteronomy 12:9; therefore now return ye, and get ye unto your tents; not their military tents in the army, from which they now came to Joshua, but their houses, as the Greek version, and their cities, as the Targum; they having been so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law,.... The ten commandments, and all other laws, both ceremonial and civil: which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you; in the name of the Lord, to keep and observe: to love the Lord your God; of which keeping the commands of God is an evidence, and which is the true principle and motive...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away,.... Dismissed them from his presence with a blessing, in order to go to their own country; this he did by wishing them well, praying to God for a blessing on them, their persons, and families, who had been so useful in assisting their brethren to get possession of the land of Canaan. Some think this...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now to the [one] half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given [possession] in Bashan,.... The kingdom of Og, see Deuteronomy 3:13; but unto the [other] half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward: of which an account is given, and the border of their lot described, Joshua 17:1; and when Joshua sent them also unto...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he spake unto them,.... To the half tribe of Manasseh only, though some think also to the other ten tribes: saying, return with much riches unto your tents; that is, return to their own land, and habitations there, with whatsoever riches they had got from the spoil of the enemy: and with very much cattle; they had taken from them, and fell to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, returned,.... First to the camp to take their substance, and then set forward to their own land: and departed from the children of Israel; from the rest of them, for otherwise they were children of Israel also: out of Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan; for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that [are] in the land of Canaan,.... To the banks of it, or the sand heaps, some take the word to signify, which were thrown up to restrain the waters from overflowing; some by Geliloth understand a place so called; and Jerom (g) says it was near Jordan in the tribe of Benjamin: but rather the word...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel heard say,.... Those that dwelt in the land of Canaan, for otherwise, as before observed, the two tribes and a half on the other side Jordan were Israelites also; and this is a further proof that the altar was built on their side, or those in the land of Canaan would have known of the building of it, and have seen them...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the children of Israel heard [of it],.... Of the building the altar in the above place, namely, the nine tribes and a half settled in the land of Canaan: the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh; where the tabernacle and altar of the Lord were, whose cause they undertook to avenge, being...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel,.... In the land of Canaan: sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead; they were possessed of, and had now returned unto and dwelt in; hither they sent an embassy to them, to inquire into the truth of what they had heard, and the reason of it,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince, throughout all the tribes of Israel,.... The nine tribes and a half, so that the half tribe of Manasseh sent a prince, as well as the whole tribes: and each one [was] an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel; that is, among the rulers of the thousands of Israel; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead,.... The deputation came thither; they either sent for the chiefs among the two tribes and a half, to meet them at some place, or they, having a notion of their coming, assembled together to receive them, and hear what...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus saith the whole congregation of the Lord,.... By whom they were sent, and whom they represented; and they do not call them the congregation of Israel, but of the Lord, because it was not on a civil but religious account they were come, and not to plead their own cause, but the cause of God; and not so much to show a concern for their own...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Is] the iniquity of Peor too little for us,.... The worshipping of that idol, when in the plains of Moab; the history of which, see in Numbers 25:2, was that so small a sin, that another must be added to it, or a greater committed? since building an altar seemed designed not for a single action of idolatrous worship, but for the continuance of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But that you must turn away this day from following the Lord?.... From the worship of the Lord, as the Targum, and so on Joshua 22:16; not content with the former transgression, but must add this revolt unto it, and at a time which sadly aggravates it: and it will be, that [seeing] ye rebel to, day against the Lord; against the Word of the Lord,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession [be] unclean,.... That is, if it was judged to be so by them, because not cleansed from the sins of the former inhabitants of it by sacrifice, or because there was no altar in it to offer up sacrifice for the expiation of sin: [then] pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Did not Achan the son of Zerah,.... One that descended from Zerah the son of Judah, Joshua 7:18; commit a trespass in the accursed thing; in taking what was devoted to sacred uses: and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and which was what was feared now; and this instance is brought to show that such fears were not groundless: and that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, answered,.... By some person whom they appointed to deliver the answer in their name: and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel; who were over those that were rulers of the thousands of Israel, persons of greater authority than they, being princes of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods,.... They first set out in their answer with asserting their firm belief of Jehovah, the God of Israel, being the supreme God, God over all; over all that are called gods, whether angels, of whom Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; or civil magistrates and judges of the earth, who bare the same name; nor...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That we have built us an altar, to turn from following the Lord,.... That is, we desire, as we deserve, to be cut to pieces, and not saved, if it should appear to be our view, in building this altar, to revolt from the pure worship of God: or if to offer thereon burnt offering, or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings; even to the Lord...