Chapter 24 is the closing chapter of Sefer Yehoshua. Yehoshua gathers the people a second time, at Shechem, reviews before them the entire chain of kindnesses from Avraham Avinu until the conquest of the land, and sets before them a sharp choice: either the service of Hashem alone, or idolatry. From these pesukim emerges a great principle in understanding the ways of Divine providence: how the Holy One, blessed be He, transformed the Godly matter from the inheritance of individuals into the inheritance of an entire nation, and what process of refinement and purification the fathers and the sons underwent until they became worthy of this.
וַיֶּאֱסֹף יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶת־כׇּל־שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁכֶמָה וַיִּקְרָא לְזִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּלְרָאשָׁיו וּלְשֹׁפְטָיו וּלְשֹׁטְרָיו וַיִּתְיַצְּבוּ לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים׃ - And Yehoshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
The Radak emphasizes that this is not the gathering mentioned in the previous chapter, but an additional gathering. For in the previous chapter it already stated, "And Yehoshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers," and if this were the very same occasion, why would it write "and he gathered" again? They are already gathered and standing. Rather, Yehoshua assembled them once more and rebuked them again and again, so that they would be careful to keep the Torah.
"And they presented themselves before God" - what is the meaning of "before God" at Shechem? After all, the Aron of God was in Shiloh and not in Shechem. The Radak says: it appears that they brought the Aron of God there, in order to make the covenant before the Aron. And a proof for this is what is stated afterward, "And Yehoshua wrote in the book of the Torah of God" - implying that the Aron was there, and in it the Sefer Torah.
But immediately a question arises: if so, why gather the people to Shechem and transport the Aron there, and not gather them to Shiloh where the Aron already was? For the rule is that one minimizes the transporting of the Aron. The Radak answers that perhaps he did so by Divine command, that the covenant be made specifically at Shechem. And what is the distinction of Shechem? First, there Avraham Avinu first paused when he entered the land, as it is written, "And Avram passed through the land until the place of Shechem." Second, there a great miracle was performed for Yaakov Avinu, and through recalling these things they would remember the Holy One, blessed be He, and cleave to Him alone. Third, Shechem is the beginning of Yaakov's inheritance in the Land of Israel, for he purchased there the parcel of field from the sons of Chamor the father of Shechem. And fourth, at this very place Yaakov said to his sons, "Remove the foreign gods that are among you," and in that very place and with those very same words Yehoshua now says to them, "Remove the foreign gods that are in your midst."
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶל־כׇּל־הָעָם כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֵבֶר הַנָּהָר יָשְׁבוּ אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם מֵעוֹלָם תֶּרַח אֲבִי אַבְרָהָם וַאֲבִי נָחוֹר וַיַּעַבְדוּ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים׃ - And Yehoshua said to all the people: So says Hashem, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt beyond the river in olden times, Terach the father of Avraham and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods.
These pesukim are familiar to all of us from the Haggadah of Pesach, but their source is here, in Sefer Yehoshua. "If you will it, it is no aggadah" - this is Sefer Yehoshua itself.
The Malbim asks: what does the verse come to teach us? That Terach was the father of Avraham and the father of Nachor - do we not already know this? Now, "the father of Avraham" is still understandable, for it wishes to show the root from which we came, but what relevance is it to us that he was also the father of Nachor, that it is fitting to emphasize this?
וָאֶקַּח אֶת־אֲבִיכֶם אֶת־אַבְרָהָם מֵעֵבֶר הַנָּהָר וָאוֹלֵךְ אֹתוֹ בְּכׇל־אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וָאַרְבֶּה אֶת־זַרְעוֹ וָאֶתֶּן־לוֹ אֶת־יִצְחָק׃ - And I took your father Avraham from beyond the river, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Yitzchak.
וָאֶתֵּן לְיִצְחָק אֶת־יַעֲקֹב וְאֶת־עֵשָׂו וָאֶתֵּן לְעֵשָׂו אֶת־הַר שֵׂעִיר לָרֶשֶׁת אוֹתוֹ וְיַעֲקֹב וּבָנָיו יָרְדוּ מִצְרָיִם׃ - And I gave to Yitzchak Yaakov and Esav, and I gave to Esav Mount Seir to possess it, and Yaakov and his sons went down to Egypt.
Here the questions sharpen: what kind of gift is this, "And I gave to Yitzchak Yaakov and Esav"? Is Esav a gift we rejoice in? The language of "and I gave" indicates something good, a gift. And furthermore: regarding Avraham it does not say "and I gave him Yitzchak and Yishmael," but only "and I gave him Yitzchak," whereas regarding Yitzchak both sons are mentioned. Why is Esav considered a gift, while Yishmael is not mentioned at all?
The Malbim explains, and his foundation comes from the Sefer HaKuzari: from Adam HaRishon until Avraham Avinu, the special quality and the Divine matter rested upon individuals alone. The Holy One, blessed be He, took interest in individuals, not in an entire nation. Those individuals, the seekers of God, were like the heart and the fruit, and all the rest, both nations and individuals, were like the shells.
But from the time that the sun of Avraham's righteousness shone forth, God wished that the Divine matter should rest upon the many. Not upon a single individual who bequeaths it to his son, and his son to his son, but upon an entire nation: tribes, seventy souls, and finally a whole people with whom the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks face to face, and all of whom merit prophecy at the standing at Har Sinai. Since this was so, it was necessary to pass all the descendants through a process of refining and purification, in the words of the Malbim: "that the dregs be purified and the shells removed." The dregs of wine are the inferior part that must be filtered out. Thus we find that those who left Egypt were, according to the most expansive view, twenty percent, and according to the most limiting view only two per thousand. And where were all the rest? The dregs and the shells remained there in Egypt. And then everything became heart and fruit and choicest oil, as the Kuzari elaborated at length.
This is what Yehoshua told them: See now, your forefathers were not worthy that the Divine matter should rest upon them. Not from the standpoint of place, "Your forefathers dwelt across the river," for the successful place to grow a vine of delight is the Holy Land, whereas they dwelt in the impure land of the nations. And not from the standpoint of lineage, "Terach the father of Avraham and the father of Nachor." This is not a lineage one adds to his resume, to be the great grandson of Terach. And what does "and the father of Nachor" come to teach us? That Avraham was surrounded by thorns and thistles from every side: from above, Terach, and from the sides, Nachor. See in what reality Avraham Avinu stood, and how far from simple it was for him to reach the place he reached. And also from the standpoint of their preparation there was nothing, "and they served other gods."
"And I took your father Avraham from across the river and led him through all the land of Canaan" - first the Holy One, blessed be He, rectified the aspect of place. The Malbim illustrates this: like the owner of a garden who sees a precious sapling planted in a barren place among stone houses, in a place that has no soil fit to make things grow, who takes it from its place and plants it "on a fertile hilltop." So too the Holy One, blessed be He, took Avraham from across the river and led him through all the land of Canaan, planting this special sapling in a place fit for special plantings, a place worthy of Divine providence and prophecy. And beyond this, the very journey was part of the refining and the trials of Avraham, for through it he was tested in the trial of "Lech Lecha."
The second matter is the deficiency on the side of the root. We brought in the Sefer Mishnat HaGilgulim that there was more here than what appears on the surface: Avraham Avinu was born from a union in which Terach came upon Amatlai bat Karnevo while she was a niddah, and in the holy books it is written that even the gentiles were careful about this. It emerges that he came literally from an impure source. "Who can bring a pure thing out of an impure? Is it not the One?" And of whom is this said? Of Avraham, that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought forth a pure thing from an impure source, and only He alone can do so. And the reason, as we elaborated there: so that the sitra achra should not accuse when it sees such a great soul descending to the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, brings it down in the place of impurity, and thus the sitra achra says "surely it will be drawn after the impurity," and agrees to release its prey from its mouth, and afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, devises plans to bring that soul to its rectification.
And how was Avraham purified from the standpoint of the root and the lineage? "And I multiplied his seed" - through the multiplication of the seed the refuse was placed in Yishmael, and afterward Yitzchak emerged pure and clean. This is "and I gave him Yitzchak," for Yitzchak was special, holy fruit of delight. Yet even in Yitzchak a little dross and admixture remained, and therefore there was need for "and I gave to Yitzchak Yaakov and Esav." And behold, in the verse Yaakov is mentioned first, because Yaakov acquired the birthright, but in actuality Esav was born first, so that he would draw to himself all the filth, and after him Yaakov would emerge refined. And since Esav drew off all the filth, therefore "and I gave to Esav Mount Seir to inherit it."
"And Yaakov and his sons went down to Egypt" - Yaakov and his sons needed to be purified, and the place for this was Egypt. But there was a concern: if Esav too went down with them, he too would become worthy of the Holy Land, for anyone who undergoes the purification is entitled to the land. Therefore "and he went to a land away from Yaakov his brother" - Esav made a calculation: if one must undergo purification in order to receive the land, then neither it nor its reward. He does not want the Holy Land and he does not want the purification that must be undergone for its sake. And thus the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged that we would be worthy of the Holy Land according to our preparation, while the sons of Esav would be distanced and not be part of it.
And then we went down to Egypt, which is like an iron furnace. And it is not called so without reason, for in a furnace one purifies and removes the dross from the silver and the gold. Through the harshness of the servitude, the preparation was made for us to become worthy to be called the people of God. And from then on the Shechinah rests not upon individuals alone but upon great multitudes, and it rests not intermittently but permanently. All this the Holy One, blessed be He, did in order to bring forth an entire nation from Avraham Avinu.
This principle resolves a very difficult question. When the Holy One tells Avraham "Know for certain that your offspring will be strangers in a land not their own, and they will be enslaved and afflicted for four hundred years" - it is astonishing that Avraham remains silent and accepts this with resignation. After all, over the wicked people of Sedom he tried to bargain for concessions: perhaps fifty righteous will be found, forty five, until there was nothing left to do. And here we are speaking of his own children, who would be enslaved with mortar and bricks and field labor for four hundred years, yet Avraham accepts it with equanimity.
According to what has been explained, this is not a punishment but a gift. You as an individual clung to the divine matter, says the Kuzari, and you received a good promise that from you would emerge a nation entirely bound to the divine matter. Except that a process of refinement would be necessary for this. Avraham said: let them undergo whatever refinement they must, as long as they cling to the divine matter. Therefore he saw no room at all to ask for a concession. It is like one who goes in for surgery, and they tell you the surgery is very difficult. Would you ask that they spare him the surgery? If they spare him, the person will die. The surgery is essential, and one should rejoice that there is such a surgery, for through it Israel will be set apart from the nations and become like the fruit and the treasured essence from which continuity will be drawn.
As for what we asked, why it does not say "and I gave him Yitzchak and Yishmael" - on this the Radak says: he did not mention Yishmael because he was the son of the maidservant. This is unlike Esav, who was born of Rivka, in holiness, in the same womb as Yaakov. Furthermore, regarding Yishmael it says "Cast out this maidservant and her son," so there was here an expulsion and complete distancing, which was not the case with Esav. Therefore Yishmael is entirely disinherited and is not mentioned at all.
וָאֶשְׁלַח אֶת־מֹשֶׁה וְאֶת־אַהֲרֹן וָאֶגֹּף אֶת־מִצְרַיִם כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי בְּקִרְבּוֹ וְאַחַר הוֹצֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם׃ - And I sent Moshe and Aharon, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in its midst, and afterward I brought you out.
"With what I did in its midst" - the Radak explains that the plaguing with which I struck them was not in one instance, but in many plagues, like all the plagues I brought in its midst.
The Malbim explains that here the verse recounts the matter of the exodus, that the time had come for the divine matter to rest upon all of Israel. For this purpose fitting emissaries were required - Moshe and Aharon, and very great means were required, for it was a matter of taking an entire people and transforming it into a divine nation. In order for the people to accept His divinity upon themselves, it was necessary to plague Egypt with wonders, signs and miracles, "with what I did in its midst," and only after all these wonders, when they recognized the power of Hashem - "and afterward I brought you out."
And note: even though we have read verses that appear in the Haggadah of Pesach, this verse the author of the Haggadah omitted. "And I sent Moshe and Aharon, and I plagued Egypt" is not read in the Haggadah. And why? The Gra says: the author of the Haggadah takes great care not to mention Moshe Rabbeinu in the Haggadah, because the Seder night is a night of praise entirely to the Creator of the world alone - "I and not an angel, I and not a seraph, I and not a messenger." Since this is so, he does not mention Moshe at all, so that no impression would arise that Moshe too added something here on his own account, but rather everything is from Hashem. Therefore he omitted this verse, so as not to mention salvation that came through the power of Moshe and Aharon, but solely from Him.
וָאוֹצִיא אֶת־אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם מִמִּצְרַיִם וַתָּבֹאוּ הַיָּמָּה וַיִּרְדְּפוּ מִצְרַיִם אַחֲרֵי אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם בְּרֶכֶב וּבְפָרָשִׁים יַם־סוּף׃ - And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Sea of Reeds.
The verse addresses them in the second person, "and you came to the sea," because it is speaking to those very elders who crossed the Sea of Reeds, people who are still alive among them.
The Malbim says: here the Holy One wished to add further miracles, so that no doubt whatsoever would remain about the Creator's ability. Therefore even after He brought you out of Egypt, "and you came to the sea" - and the purpose was that the Egyptians would pursue you, all in order that they would believe in Hashem, as it says "And they believed in Hashem and in Moshe His servant" following what happened at the Sea of Reeds. These additional miracles came to further strengthen their faith.
וַיִּצְעֲקוּ אֶל־יְהֹוָה וַיָּשֶׂם מַאֲפֵל בֵּינֵיכֶם וּבֵין הַמִּצְרִים וַיָּבֵא עָלָיו אֶת־הַיָּם וַיְכַסֵּהוּ וַתִּרְאֶינָה עֵינֵיכֶם אֵת אֲשֶׁר־עָשִׂיתִי בְּמִצְרָיִם וַתֵּשְׁבוּ בַמִּדְבָּר יָמִים רַבִּים׃ - They cried out to Hashem, and He placed darkness between you and the Egyptians, and He brought the sea over them and covered them, and your eyes saw what I did to Egypt, and you dwelt in the wilderness many days.
"He placed darkness" - according to the Metzudat David, this is "there was the cloud and the darkness." And what is the connection between the darkness and "He brought the sea over them and covered them"? The Metzudat David gives a wonderful explanation: precisely because there was darkness, therefore the sea came over them and covered them. For had the Egyptians seen where they were going, they would have seen that Israel was walking on dry land within the sea, and they would not have run into the sea to their own destruction. But Hashem placed darkness over them, so that they could not see even a meter ahead, and they kept running after them, and as a result they drowned in the sea. According to this, there is a slight reduction of the great praise written by the Ramban, who considered it greater in his eyes than all the miracles that Pharaoh's mind was so confounded that he and his army entered into the Sea of Reeds which had split before their eyes, so it was clear to them that this was miraculous and yet they entered inside. But in fact, according to the Metzudat David, it was the darkness that caused him to enter.
The Malbim explains that Hashem placed darkness until they went down into the sea, and here two opposites are found: on the one hand you were saved and they drowned, and on the other hand darkness covered them while for you "your eyes saw." You saw, while their eyes were darkened. And the term "מאפל," the Malbim precisely notes, refers to something that obscures and covers the light, and it differs from "אופל," for "מאפל" is a term of action: the cloud and the darkness that darkened before the Egyptians, while Hashem lit up the night for Israel.
"Your eyes saw what I did to Egypt, and you dwelt in the wilderness many days" - the Malbim says: even though your eyes saw all that I did to Egypt, your faith was still not complete faith, and therefore "you dwelt in the wilderness many days." I had to move you about for forty years in the wilderness in order to refine you and to cleanse you from the impurity of Egypt, and even there "Hashem did not give you a heart to know until this day."
וָאָבִיא אֶתְכֶם אֶל־אֶרֶץ הָאֱמֹרִי הַיּוֹשֵׁב בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן וַיִּלָּחֲמוּ אִתְּכֶם וָאֶתֵּן אוֹתָם בְּיֶדְכֶם וַתִּירְשׁוּ אֶת־אַרְצָם וָאַשְׁמִידֵם מִפְּנֵיכֶם׃ - I brought you to the land of the Emori who dwelt across the Jordan, and they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you.
The Malbim says: once you reached the land of the Emori, two kinds of wars arose against you. One war was physical and human, and the second war was spiritual, above nature. The physical war is what they actually waged against you, and I delivered them into your hand. But there was also a war that was above nature:
וַיָּקׇם בָּלָק בֶּן־צִפּוֹר מֶלֶךְ מוֹאָב וַיִּלָּחֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּשְׁלַח וַיִּקְרָא לְבִלְעָם בֶּן־בְּעוֹר לְקַלֵּל אֶתְכֶם׃ - Balak son of Tzippor, king of Moav, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and called for Bilam son of Beor to curse you.
The Radak raises a difficulty: we do not find in the Torah that Balak fought against Israel. Moreover, Yiftach says explicitly "did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them," which implies that he did not fight against us. So how does it say here "he fought against Israel"? The Radak resolves that the war spoken of here is his sending to call Bilam to curse you, and through his deeds he showed that had he been able to fight, he would have fought, for he said "perhaps I will be able to strike him." And with a gentile, the Holy One, blessed be He, turns thought into deed, and since it was in his mind to fight had he been able, it is written of him "he fought."
The Malbim explains that this refers to an actual spiritual war: the "he fought" is not a physical war with sword and spear, but rather in that he sent and called Bilam to curse you.
וְלֹא אָבִיתִי לִשְׁמֹעַ לְבִלְעָם וַיְבָרֶךְ בָּרוֹךְ אֶתְכֶם וָאַצִּל אֶתְכֶם מִיָּדוֹ׃ - But I did not want to listen to Bilam, and he surely blessed you, and I saved you from his hand.
"But I did not want to listen to Bilam" - from the spiritual war too I saved you.
וַתַּעַבְרוּ אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן וַתָּבֹאוּ אֶל־יְרִיחוֹ וַיִּלָּחֲמוּ בָכֶם בַּעֲלֵי־יְרִיחוֹ הָאֱמֹרִי וְהַפְּרִזִּי וְהַכְּנַעֲנִי וְהַחִתִּי וְהַגִּרְגָּשִׁי הַחִוִּי וְהַיְבוּסִי וָאֶתֵּן אוֹתָם בְּיֶדְכֶם׃ - You crossed the Yarden and came to Yericho, and the men of Yericho fought against you, the Emori, the Perizi, the Canaani, the Chiti, the Girgashi, the Chivi and the Yevusi, and I gave them into your hand.
The difficulty everyone raises: were all seven nations really "the men of Yericho"? Where do we get such a thing? Rashi explains: all seven nations are mentioned here because Yericho stood on the frontier, on the border, and was the bolt and lock of the Land of Israel ("neger" from the language of a lock). Therefore the mighty warriors of all seven nations gathered there. In simple terms: since Yericho was the gateway and the lock of the Land, everyone knew that the battle had to be fought over the lock, so they all came there.
The Radak too finds this difficult, and offers another approach. The verse says "and Yericho was closed and shut up before Bnei Yisrael," and it is quite possible that the leaders of the city went out from Yericho to the kings of Canaan to warn them that Israel was already at the gate, and then all the kings gathered to fight Yehoshua. Against Rashi's approach the Radak objects that we do not find such a story anywhere in Scripture, that they all gathered into Yericho in order to fight, and it is a strange thing. Rather the correct reading is as he explained: that they went out from Yericho and organized all the kings, and this is indeed stated explicitly in Scripture, that after the conquest of Yericho the kings gathered to fight against Israel. Meanwhile Yericho was conquered, and then they all gather, including the men of Yericho, to fight against Israel.
The Malbim adds: "You crossed the Yarden" - miraculously, for the Yarden split for them. "And came to Yericho" - miraculously, for in a very short time they reached Yericho. "And the men of Yericho fought against you" - this is how he refers to the kings who later gathered to avenge Yericho, along the lines of the Radak's words. Yet the Malbim raises a difficulty: there the Girgashi was not mentioned, and here he is mentioned. He resolves this by explaining that the Girgashi did in fact come at first together with everyone, but afterward he grew afraid and turned and went to Africa, and therefore he is not mentioned later on. It follows from here that he turned and left only after the conquest had already begun, even though in other places it is implied that already at the stage when Yehoshua sent the letters the Girgashi turned and went off to Africa.
"And I gave them into your hand" - this refers to some of them, meaning all those who were listed, except for the Girgashi. And about that minority, the Girgashi, the following verse speaks.
וָאֶשְׁלַח לִפְנֵיכֶם אֶת־הַצִּרְעָה וַתְּגָרֶשׁ אוֹתָם מִפְּנֵיכֶם שְׁנֵי מַלְכֵי הָאֱמֹרִי לֹא בְחַרְבְּךָ וְלֹא בְקַשְׁתֶּךָ׃ - I sent the hornet before you, and it drove them out from before you, the two kings of the Emori, not by your sword and not by your bow.
Seemingly this verse is out of order: we have already moved on to speak of the entry into the Land, whereas the war with Sichon and the Emori was already mentioned in verse 8. Why does it return to this now? The Malbim explains: here the verse explains what that hornet was that drove the Girgashi to Africa - "the two kings of the Emori, not by your sword and not by your bow." When the Girgashi heard how the two kings of the Emori, Sichon and Og, were conquered, and that it was not by sword and bow but truly by the salvation of Hashem, this cast great fear upon him, and as a result he turned and left.
Chazal say there were two hornets: one of Moshe and one of Yehoshua. There was a hornet in the days of Moshe and a hornet in the days of Yehoshua, and in both cases the Holy One, blessed be He, sent the hornet against them. And what was that hornet? The Radak says: a kind of noxious fly that injects venom. Chazal say that the hornet would strike their eyes and blind them, so that they could not fight, and Israel would come and slay them. Thus the hornet neutralized them, and Israel only had to go and strike. This is "not by your sword and not by your bow," for by the power of the hornet they were disabled.
The translation of "tzir'ah" is "ar'ita," and the Radak explains that it is called so because it comes toward a person and strikes him in the face, just as we translate "asher karcha" - "de'ar'ach," a language of encounter. It meets them and strikes them.
And what is meant by "not by your sword and not by your bow," when after all they fought with swords and bows? The meaning is that were it not for the divine help you could not have conquered them with your sword and your bow, and only in the wake of the divine help were you able to prevail with your sword and your bow. That is: with your sword and your bow alone you could not have prevailed. As it says, "For I do not trust in my bow, and my sword shall not save me" - a person goes to fight with sword and bow, but the salvation is not in them, rather the salvation is from Hashem and not by the power of the sword and the bow.
וָאֶתֵּן לָכֶם אֶרֶץ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָגַעְתָּ בָּהּ וְעָרִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא־בְנִיתֶם וַתֵּשְׁבוּ בָּהֶם כְּרָמִים וְזֵיתִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא־נְטַעְתֶּם אַתֶּם אֹכְלִים׃ - And I gave you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwelled in them; vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant, you eat.
The Alshich says there is a response here to a claim. Perhaps you might come and ask: Master of the Universe, why did You give us the lands of nations and the toil of peoples? Why were You not concerned that the nations would come and claim, "You are robbers, you conquered the inheritance of nations and took it for yourselves"? Why did You not give us a land in which no peoples had settled or toiled?
And how many problems we have today because of the Palestinians, who feel like the owners here merely because they were here a hundred or two hundred years ago. That we were here a thousand and two thousand years ago no longer interests anyone. And if someone does take an interest, they go and destroy all the antiquities that could prove something. In reality, and in the antiquities excavated from a thousand, two thousand, and three thousand years ago, there is no mention whatsoever of Palestinians, there is no such thing, and Jerusalem is not even mentioned at all in the Koran. But lies and stories can always be invented in abundance. In any case, to our point: the very existence of another people here created a problem that must be dealt with. And so it was for Yehoshua too. And what ultimately caused the exile? Precisely the fact that there were peoples here, who led us to sin and came with the claim, "You are robbers," and this created all the problems. If so, Master of the Universe, why did You give us the lands of nations and the toil of peoples?
To this the verse says, "And I gave you a land." The Alshich points out that the vav here is like a second gift, an additional giving. Just as our Sages expounded on "And God shall give you" (veyiten lecha) - why does it say "veyiten" rather than "yiten"? Because the vav adds an additional giving, He shall give and give again. So too here, "and I gave" (va'eten) - I first gave it to the nations, and afterward I gave it to you. And why can the Holy One, blessed be He, do so? Because the land is His. This is what Rabbi Yitzchak said, cited by Rashi at the beginning of Chumash Bereishit: by His will He gave it to them, and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" - the Holy One, blessed be He, is the Master of the world, and He gives to whomever He wishes.
Yet the difficulty still stands: would it not have been better for us to be here first, without there being those who claim, "They took what was mine, they drank what was mine"? Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, not do it in a way that would remove such troubles from us? To this the verse continues: "for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: had you entered the land first, without any people being here, you would have had to begin building all the infrastructure from scratch. But this way you entered and found cities already built, wells, fields, everything ready. This is what I wanted to provide for you - a gift not through labor, that you should inherit their toil.
And if you should say: this is fine regarding the houses, but what does this have to do with food, for in any case we must sow the crops? To this he says: true, with regard to grain there is nothing to be done, for every year one must sow anew. But "vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant, you eat" - vineyards and olive groves are plantings of many years, and when you came they were already planted. Thus, even if this does not apply to grain, it does apply to trees.
וְעַתָּה יְראוּ אֶת־יְהֹוָה וְעִבְדוּ אֹתוֹ בְּתָמִים וּבֶאֱמֶת וְהָסִירוּ אֶת־אֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר עָבְדוּ אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם בְּעֵבֶר הַנָּהָר וּבְמִצְרַיִם וְעִבְדוּ אֶת־יְהֹוָה׃ - And now fear Hashem and serve Him with sincerity and truth, and remove the gods which your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Hashem.
The Malbim asks: why the repetition of "and serve Him" at the beginning of the verse and "and serve Hashem" at the end? Rather, this is what he told them: now, after all these kindnesses, "fear Hashem" - the awe of His exaltedness, to be in awe of the majesty of His glory. This is not the fear of punishment, the dread that one may be punished. And out of the awe of His exaltedness, "and serve Him with sincerity and truth": "with truth" - that the service not be false, which is the opposite of truth. "With sincerity" - in completeness, for the sake of serving Him out of His exaltedness, and not service in which you expect reward, as we learned, "Do not be like servants who serve the master in order to receive a reward," which is the opposite of sincerity. Not for benefit and not for profit.
And in order to reach this, one must "remove the gods which your fathers served," for it is impossible to serve the Holy One, blessed be He, in partnership; rather, Hashem alone. And this is the repetition at the end: "and serve Hashem" - alone, without partnership, for one who joins another power with Him is not serving Hashem at all.
וְאִם רַע בְּעֵינֵיכֶם לַעֲבֹד אֶת־יְהֹוָה בַּחֲרוּ לָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת־מִי תַעֲבֹדוּן אִם אֶת־אֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר־עָבְדוּ אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר מֵעֵבֶר הַנָּהָר וְאִם אֶת־אֱלֹהֵי הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם יֹשְׁבִים בְּאַרְצָם וְאָנֹכִי וּבֵיתִי נַעֲבֹד אֶת־יְהֹוָה׃ - And if it is evil in your eyes to serve Hashem, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods that your fathers served who were beyond the river, or the gods of the Emori in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Hashem.
And why would it enter one's mind that it might be evil in their eyes to serve Hashem? The Malbim says: perhaps there is among you a root bearing gall and wormwood, that you will want to perform other forms of worship to assist you, according to the vain belief that was accepted in their time - that if a person serves the forces of the constellations, the array of the heavens will bestow good upon him; if he serves the stars, the stars will bestow good upon him. If that is what you want, to perform the natural worship according to the array of the heavens, "choose for yourselves today," but know that then you must abandon Hashem entirely, for it is impossible to serve Hashem in partnership. If you want to serve the stars, you serve only the stars.
He sets before them two possibilities: either you will think that the array of the heavens will conduct itself with you according to your state as it was beyond the river, and then "serve the gods that your fathers served who were beyond the river" - that is, you will forfeit the distinction of Israel and go backward, according to the source of your origin, the place from which you were hewn. Or you will want the array of the heavens to conduct itself according to the place in which you now dwell, and then "serve the gods of the Emori in whose land you dwell," for they believed that there is a separate array for each nation and each place.
And either way - "but as for me and my house, we will serve Hashem." We believe solely in the Holy One, blessed be He; we are not influenced by any celestial minister, by any fortune, or by any star, but by Him alone, blessed be He, "to Hashem alone." And even if everyone goes the way of corruption, we will remain servants of Hashem.
There is a great moral lesson here. Yehoshua teaches us not to be swayed by the noise around us and not to be swayed by the majority. Even if the entire world serves idolatry - I and my house will serve Hashem. Even if we remain the only ones in the world, we will not be swayed by what the nations say and by what others do. We were never a majority, for "you are the fewest of all the peoples," and the Holy One, blessed be He, chose us precisely because we are few. And this does not mean that if there is a majority, the majority is right. The saying "a billion Chinese can't be wrong" is fundamentally mistaken: a billion Chinese and seven billion human beings can be wrong, and there can be a small nation of a few million alone that carries the torch of truth in its hand. And this torch, already three thousand three hundred years since the giving of the Torah, and if you wish another five hundred years before that from the time of Avraham Avinu, has not been extinguished, and it lives and endures and will reach the days of Mashiach and the resurrection of the dead and all the good promises. The majority does not determine facts: even if the entire majority says it is now night, do I not see that it is now day? When it comes to facts the majority has no significance at all, and here we are dealing with facts.
וַיַּעַן הָעָם וַיֹּאמֶר חָלִילָה לָּנוּ מֵעֲזֹב אֶת־יְהֹוָה לַעֲבֹד אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים׃ - And the people answered and said: Far be it from us to forsake Hashem to serve other gods.
כִּי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ הוּא הַמַּעֲלֶה אֹתָנוּ וְאֶת־אֲבוֹתֵינוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים וַאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְעֵינֵינוּ אֶת־הָאֹתוֹת הַגְּדֹלוֹת הָאֵלֶּה וַיִּשְׁמְרֵנוּ בְּכׇל־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר הָלַכְנוּ בָהּ וּבְכֹל הָעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר עָבַרְנוּ בְּקִרְבָּם׃ - For Hashem our God is the One who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did before our eyes these great signs, and preserved us on all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.
The people answer Yehoshua that they will not forsake Hashem, and they bring four reasons for this. The first, from the obligation incumbent upon us: He is our God, He is the One who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and by this He acquired us with an acquisition of the body. Until then we were slaves, and one who redeems a slave from his master's house has acquired him for himself. And this is the reason, says the Malbim, that the exodus from Egypt is mentioned in the rationales of most of the mitzvot - "a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt" recurs again and again - because this is the main reason for our obligation to serve Hashem: we left Egypt in order to become servants before the Master, blessed be He.
The second reason, from the awe of His exaltedness: "and who did before our eyes these great signs." We saw the signs and the might of Hashem, blessed be He, and we recognized His power and His ability to override the natural order.
The third reason, from the benefit: "and preserved us on all the way that we went." The Holy One, blessed be He, watched over us and provided our needs in the wilderness, and He who watched over us then has the power to watch over us now as well. And likewise regarding the war against the peoples, we saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, guarded us on all the way as a man who guards his son. If so, why should we forsake a source of living waters?
וַיְגָרֶשׁ יְהֹוָה אֶת־כׇּל־הָעַמִּים וְאֶת־הָאֱמֹרִי יֹשֵׁב הָאָרֶץ מִפָּנֵינוּ גַּם־אֲנַחְנוּ נַעֲבֹד אֶת־יְהֹוָה כִּי־הוּא אֱלֹהֵינוּ׃ - And Hashem drove out all the peoples and the Emori who dwelt in the land from before us; we too will serve Hashem, for He is our God.
The fourth reason: because of the fear of harm. We saw that the Holy One drove out all the peoples and the inhabitants of the land before us, and if we act as they did, then just as the land vomited them out, so it will vomit us out as well. The fear of harm too is a reason to serve the Holy One.
With this, the Malbim adds, they also answer what Yehoshua had put before them, to choose between the gods of their fathers from beyond the river and the gods of the Emori. After all, the Holy One took us out of Egypt, whereas their gods did not save them. And what reason would there be for us to go and serve the gods of the Emori, when you see that the Emori were driven out, a sign that there is no power in their gods? What logic is there in going to serve a god that has already been proven weak?
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶל־הָעָם לֹא תוּכְלוּ לַעֲבֹד אֶת־ה' כִּי־אֱלֹהִים קְדֹשִׁים הוּא אֵל־קַנּוֹא הוּא לֹא־יִשָּׂא לְפִשְׁעֲכֶם וּלְחַטֹּאותֵיכֶם׃ - And Yehoshua said to the people: You cannot serve Hashem, for He is a holy God, He is a jealous God, He will not forgive your transgressions and your sins.
The Malbim raises a great difficulty here: what does Yehoshua mean when he tells the people that they cannot serve Hashem? On the surface the argument seems to make no sense. The people have already declared "Far be it from us to forsake Hashem," and Yehoshua challenges them. Then they answer "No, but we will serve Hashem" - and seemingly what did they add to their first words? Yet it is specifically the second time that Yehoshua is appeased, and says to them "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Hashem for yourselves." But did they not choose Hashem the first time?
The Malbim explains: Yehoshua saw that the people were choosing to serve Hashem out of good and benefit, out of fear of harm. Such service is not complete service. A person who serves the Holy One only in order to gain benefit or to remove harm from himself, if he finds another power that can provide him those same conditions, he will leave and go to it; and if he is offered better conditions, all the more so. So we find with the prophets who rebuked Israel for idolatry, and they answered: "And since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven we have not seen good, and we have had only evil." In other words: if you believe there is an external power that can give you more, you defect. If I am here only for the salary, and there they pay more, that is already a reason to leave and go.
To this Yehoshua says to them: You cannot serve Hashem. If this is the aim and this is the goal - hope for reward and fear of punishment - this is not a way in which you will be able to serve Hashem with a service that will endure. And why? Because such service is difficult in two respects.
The first respect is regarding the deeds they must do: "For He is a holy God." The Holy One commands that we sanctify ourselves in His holiness, "And you shall be holy, for I am holy." And the definition of holiness, says the Malbim, is that a person elevate himself above all matters of matter and flesh toward divine, spiritual matters. But you - all your aspiration is in physical matters. Why do you serve Hashem? So that there be better food, so that there be a more successful livelihood. This is exactly the opposite of "He is a holy God": He wants you to rise above this, to be more spiritual, and not a person whose every aspiration is physical and who stays in his place only because the salary is higher. To a small child you speak with candy; you draw him to Tehillim with candy or with pictures of rabbis that are worth more. But a grown person does not come to a shiur because of candy - he comes because he needs to learn, because he knows that it is good. "Taste and see that Hashem is good."
The second respect is regarding the prohibitions: "He is a jealous God, He will not forgive your transgressions." When you transgress Hashem's commandments, the Holy One will not pardon you. And then, instead of receiving the reward that is your entire goal, the friction and contradictions will begin.
כִּי תַעַזְבוּ אֶת־ה' וַעֲבַדְתֶּם אֱלֹהֵי נֵכָר וְשָׁב וְהֵרַע לָכֶם וְכִלָּה אֶתְכֶם אַחֲרֵי אֲשֶׁר־הֵיטִיב לָכֶם׃ - When you forsake Hashem and serve foreign gods, He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.
When you are not attached to His service, you will easily forsake the Holy One - for the whole matter is for you merely a matter of benefit, and the moment you see greater benefit in another god, you will immediately defect. And then, instead of the benefit and profit you expected, sickness and calamity will come.
The Malbim emphasizes: the very fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, did good to you through a providence that cleaves to you, that itself obligates that when you abandon Him, it will return and bring evil upon you through that same providence. We have already spoken about two kinds of governance over the people of Israel. There is a situation in which Israel sins and the Holy One, blessed be He, abandons them, and then they are subject to the natural order: if according to the natural order evil should befall them, it will befall them, and if not, nothing will happen to them, even if they commit very grave deeds they will not be harmed. And in contrast there is a situation in which we are under providence.
An example: for forty years in the wilderness we were under close providence. What happened when we did evil? They did not wait for us even a moment. In a single instant twenty four thousand men died; in a single moment "the fire of Hashem burned among them"; in a single moment the earth opened its mouth. The entire dispute of Korach ended in less than twenty four hours. Where do we see today that the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts such retribution from one who commits wickedness, from one who desecrates the Shabbat, from one who does terrible deeds? Because we are not under open providence but under hester panim (the concealment of the face), and under hester panim the punishment does not come immediately. But when you are under providence, you receive the punishment at once. And this is what Yehoshua tells them: you are under providence, and therefore if you abandon Hashem, "it will return and bring evil upon you." Had you been under the natural order, the natural order would act; but since you are under providence, the providence will act upon you. And this is the meaning of "after He has done good to you": because He did good to you, because you are under providence, therefore you will receive the punishment.
וַיֹּאמֶר הָעָם אֶל־יְהוֹשֻׁעַ לֹא כִּי אֶת־ה' נַעֲבֹד׃ וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶל־הָעָם עֵדִים אַתֶּם בָּכֶם כִּי־אַתֶּם בְּחַרְתֶּם לָכֶם אֶת־ה' לַעֲבֹד אוֹתוֹ וַיֹּאמְרוּ עֵדִים׃ - And the people said to Yehoshua: No, for we will serve Hashem. And Yehoshua said to the people: You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves Hashem, to serve Him. And they said: We are witnesses.
The Malbim explains: the people answer Yehoshua, it is not as you thought. We do not serve Hashem for benefit, nor for profit, but rather "we will serve Hashem" - Him for His own sake, and not on account of anything else.
To this Yehoshua says to them: "You are witnesses against yourselves." The Radak explains: you yourselves will be witnesses against yourselves that you chose the Holy One, blessed be He, so that if tomorrow someone denies it, people will arise from among you and testify that they were there and accepted upon themselves Hashem as God. And some explain in the name of the Radak: who are the witnesses that are within you? The soul and the body, like "Give ear, O heavens, and let the earth hear" - the soul from the heavens and the body from the earth, and they are the witnesses within you yourselves.
And the Malbim adds: "you have chosen" - from intellectual choice, not from desire. We have already explained the difference between desire (chefetz) and will (ratzon): the will is the intellectual will, whereas desire is a matter of lust, a matter of profit and pleasure. Intellectual choice is many times even the opposite of pleasure. A person wants to eat healthy foods, but desires ice cream. I prefer ice cream, but my intellect tells me that it is not healthy and not good. It turns out that I want healthy food and desire junk. "You have chosen" - an intellectual choice, not a choice from the standpoint of profit and reward and benefit.
And from here comes a great principle of the Malbim: one who serves for the sake of reward and punishment is not serving Hashem, he is serving himself. For why does he serve? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, provides for his needs, because he is well off with Him, because He bestows upon him what he needs. Whom did you serve? Yourself. To serve Him means to perform an act that is the opposite of my benefit: seemingly I lose from it, but I do it for the honor of the Creator, blessed be He, and there the service is tested. And when a person serves only when it is worthwhile for him, the Satan already said: "Does Iyov fear God for nothing?" - for You have bestowed upon him and granted to him, this is no test. The true test: take everything away from him, and let us see "whether he will not curse You to Your face." One must examine how you serve even when it is not worthwhile.
וְעַתָּה הָסִירוּ אֶת־אֱלֹהֵי הַנֵּכָר אֲשֶׁר בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וְהַטּוּ אֶת־לְבַבְכֶם אֶל־ה' אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And now remove the foreign gods that are in your midst, and incline your hearts to Hashem, the God of Israel.
The Alshich explains that this was the whole purpose from the outset, that they should distance idolatry from among them. And he was precise in the wording "levavchem" (your hearts) and not "libchem": we have already explained what Chazal expounded, that the two letters bet symbolize the two hearts that a person has, a heart for good and a heart for evil, the good inclination and the evil inclination that dwell in his heart. Through your removing the impurity of the foreign gods from among you, both inclinations will incline toward Hashem: there will not be a good inclination that inclines toward Hashem and an evil inclination that is drawn after idolatry, but on the contrary, even the evil inclination will serve Hashem. As we found with Avraham Avinu, who completely subdued his inclination, and the evil inclination too was enslaved to the service of Hashem, blessed be He. And once we spoke about this in the Michtav MeEliyahu, how one enslaves even the evil inclination to the service of Hashem, and this is not the place to elaborate.
And further: "to Hashem, the God of Israel" - not only to the name Havayah, when He bestows upon you good and kindnesses, but also to the name Elokim, which is the attribute of judgment. Even when He bestows upon you judgments, incline your hearts to serve Him.
The Metzudat David is also troubled by the Malbim's question: what does Yehoshua want from them, and why does he seem to doubt the acceptance they took upon themselves? He explains that Yehoshua had not yet finished his words at all. When he said to them "choose today whom you will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve Hashem" - he had not yet finished, and the people burst into his words and declared "far be it from us to forsake Hashem." Therefore Yehoshua went back and completed what he had intended to say from the outset: "you will not be able to serve Hashem." Then they answered him again "no, we will serve Hashem," and only then did he say "you are witnesses against yourselves." In other words, there was a pause in the middle of his words, and he wished to complete the entire rebuke he intended to convey.
The Malbim explains "and now": after you have taken upon yourselves to serve Hashem out of a sense of His exaltedness and not out of reward and punishment - "remove the foreign gods that are among you," meaning the thoughts of idolatry in your hearts. And then "incline your hearts toward Hashem" - as He is "the God of Israel," as He watches over us. The people of Israel are the portion of His inheritance, and we are not placed under any star or any celestial system, but rather "the eyes of Hashem your God are always upon it." The Malbim holds a principle: wherever the name of God is mentioned as a title referring to Israel, it indicates the connection He has with us.
This is also the reason we are forbidden to serve in shituf (partnership). For a non-Jew, idolatry in partnership is permitted; Christianity, for example, is idolatry in partnership - they worship the Holy One together with additional powers, so to speak a son of God and all sorts of nonsense. Islam is not idolatry: they believe only in Hashem, and although they call Muhammad their prophet (and the Rambam calls him "the madman," and he never uttered any prophecy) - there is no partnership in this. But for Israel, idolatry in partnership is not permitted at all. Because Hashem is our God, watching over us individually, whereas for the nations He is God in a general way and not through individual providence.
וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָעָם אֶל־יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶת־ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ נַעֲבֹד וּבְקוֹלוֹ נִשְׁמָע׃ - And the people said to Yehoshua: Hashem our God we will serve, and to His voice we will hearken.
The people once again declare: "Hashem our God we will serve" - without any partnership. "And to His voice we will hearken" - this too without hoping for reward and without fearing punishment, similar to "we will do and we will hear," without any other hope but solely for the sake of His service.
וַיִּכְרֹת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בְּרִית לָעָם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא וַיָּשֶׂם לוֹ חֹק וּמִשְׁפָּט בִּשְׁכֶם׃ - And Yehoshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and set for it a statute and law at Shechem.
The Radak explains "and set for it" - for the people, a statute and law, as in the verse "there He set for it a statute and law, and there He tested it," and he arranged for them in general terms the statutes of the Torah and the laws, and they accepted them upon themselves. Another explanation: Yehoshua set for himself a statute and law at Shechem regarding the covenant he made with them, and these are the stone and the terebinth (the terebinth is a tree) that he set up as witnesses, and the words of the covenant he wrote in the book of the Torah of God.
And the Malbim explains: he made a covenant with them over what they willingly accepted upon themselves, to perform complete service without any ulterior motives - and the making of a covenant indicates absolute agreement and acceptance of the matter. "And set for it a statute and law" - he arranged for them ordinances and statutes according to the conditions of the land, as the Gemara brings several ordinances that Yehoshua instituted in the Land of Israel, concerning the removal of refuse and the like, and these he established there at Shechem.
וַיִּכְתֹּב יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה בְּסֵפֶר תּוֹרַת אֱלֹהִים וַיִּקַּח אֶבֶן גְּדוֹלָה וַיְקִימֶהָ שָּׁם תַּחַת הָאַלָּה אֲשֶׁר בְּמִקְדַּשׁ ה'׃ - And Yehoshua wrote these words in the book of the Torah of God, and he took a great stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Hashem.
"The book of the Torah of God" means the Torah of Moshe, and seemingly, what has Yehoshua to do with the Torah of God? Targum Yonatan renders: "And Yehoshua wrote these words in a book, and he stored it away in the book of the Torah of Hashem" - he wrote the words in a book and stored it inside the book of the Torah of Hashem. Chazal bring a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nechemia as to what Yehoshua's portion in the Torah was: one said the eight verses at the end of the Torah, and one said the passage of the cities of refuge. The eight verses are those dealing with the death of Moshe, for it is impossible that Moshe himself wrote "And Moshe the servant of Hashem died" - since he had already died; and the cities of refuge were only given afterward. But the Radak writes: "According to the plain meaning neither of these seems correct, and the truth is as Targum Yonatan rendered" - that Yehoshua wrote the words in a book and placed it beside the Torah of Moshe, but not as part of it.
And there is an opinion that disagrees: if Yehoshua wrote the last eight verses, then the Torah scroll that Moshe transmitted was incomplete! Rather, "Moshe wrote it in tears (bidema)." And everyone asks: what have we gained with this answer? Did Moshe then write something untrue, writing "And Moshe died" while he was still alive, and when one weeps it is permitted to lie?! A wonderful explanation is given by the Gra, who is truly the truth of the truth of the Torah and needs no endorsements from us, but from this explanation one hears just how true he is: "bidema" does not mean in tears, but is from the word meduma, a mixture, as in the phrase "one raises the meduma (mixed terumah) in one hundred and one." Moshe Rabbeinu transmitted to us a complete Torah scroll, except that the letters of the end were mixed together, and the one who arranged them into "And Moshe the servant of Hashem died" was Yehoshua. It turns out that both things are true: Moshe did not transmit to us anything false, since he transmitted the letters mixed together, and on the other hand he transmitted to us a complete Torah.
And what was that stone? The Malbim explains: since the Torah scroll was placed in the Ark - and Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda disagreed as to whether inside it or outside it - Yehoshua wanted to designate in the sanctuary a special place for his book too, the book of Yehoshua. What did he do? He took a hollow stone and made from it a kind of chest, in which his book would be placed, and set it up under the oak that was by the sanctuary in Shiloh, at that same place we explained, beside the doorpost.
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶל־כׇּל־הָעָם הִנֵּה הָאֶבֶן הַזֹּאת תִּהְיֶה־בָּנוּ לְעֵדָה כִּי־הִיא שָׁמְעָה אֵת כׇּל־אִמְרֵי ה' אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר עִמָּנוּ וְהָיְתָה בָכֶם לְעֵדָה פֶּן־תְּכַחֲשׁוּן בֵּאלֹהֵיכֶם׃ - And Yehoshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of Hashem which He spoke with us; and it shall be a witness against you, lest you deny your God.
Targum Yonatan, which the Radak brings, renders: "Behold, this stone shall be a witness for us" - this stone shall be a witness for us like the two stone tablets; "for the words written upon it are of the same nature as all the words that He spoke with us" - that the statements written upon it are like the statements written on the tablets of testimony; "and it shall be for you a remembrance and a witness, lest you deny before your God" - and it shall be a remembrance and a witness among you, lest you deny Hashem your God. And the Radak, according to the plain meaning, explains "which He spoke with us": all that I spoke with you and the covenant I made with you are not from my own heart, but they are the words of Hashem, what He made with us at Sinai. It turns out that this is not a new covenant, but a renewal and strengthening of that same old covenant already given at Sinai.
Rashi says it should be interpreted according to its plain meaning: for it heard the words that I spoke to you as an emissary of the Omnipresent, and in the sense of "a stone from the wall shall cry out, and a beam from the woodwork shall answer it," the stone will constitute testimony to the truth of the words.
And the Malbim explains: "the stone as a witness" does not refer to the inert stone, but to the book hidden within it. Just as Moshe Rabbeinu said "Take this book of the Torah and place it beside the Ark of the covenant of Hashem, and it shall be there as a witness against you" - that the Torah scroll will testify against you, so too the book of Yehoshua will testify against you. And to what does it testify? "For it has heard all the words of Hashem" - there is found all that Hashem spoke with us, and also the testimony that Yehoshua now testifies against them, "Thus said Hashem," is inscribed there in the book. And the expression "and it shall be a witness against you lest you deny" is like a person who summons a witness whom it is impossible to contradict and before whom one cannot lie, so it shall be a witness against you that you not deny its words. And even though the assembly was at Shechem, where he made the hollow stone and placed his book in it, from there they took it to the sanctuary in Shiloh and set it up as a witness.
And why was it not placed together with the Torah scroll? The Malbim adds: the oak was certainly outside the sanctuary, for it is forbidden to plant any tree in the sanctuary; and by this Yehoshua showed that the level of his book is not like the level of the Torah scroll - for had he placed it together with it, this would be as though saying that the level of my book is like the level of the Torah of Moshe. And an additional explanation: "the oak" was not an actual tree, but a kind of oak-shaped pillar made of stone, like the "ayil" mentioned in Yechezkel, where all the pillars (eilim) spoken of there are a kind of round columns made of hewn stones standing at the entrance - like doorposts, one on the right and one on the left, in place of thresholds. And this was already within the actual sanctuary, and therefore the oak is mentioned here in place of doorposts.
וַיְשַׁלַּח יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶת־הָעָם אִישׁ לְנַחֲלָתוֹ׃ וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וַיָּמׇת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן־נוּן עֶבֶד ה' בֶּן־מֵאָה וָעֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים׃ - And Yehoshua sent the people away, each to his inheritance. And it came to pass after these things that Yehoshua the son of Nun, the servant of Hashem, died, being one hundred and ten years old.
The holy Alshich makes a precise observation: at the beginning of the book, when the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks with Yehoshua, he is called simply "Yehoshua bin Nun," while Moshe Rabbeinu is mentioned in Sefer Yehoshua seven times with the title "eved Hashem" (servant of Hashem). And here, for the first time, Yehoshua is called "eved Hashem." Why? Because all that time was still before Yehoshua had fulfilled all the words of Hashem; but after all the miracles and the redemption, the wars of Hashem and the division of the land, and after he guided and reproved Israel and forged a renewed covenant between them and Hashem, he acquired a new title, to be called "eved Hashem." And this is the meaning of "And it came to pass after these things" - a new state of being came upon him after these things, a title he had not possessed before.
וַיִּקְבְּרוּ אֹתוֹ בִּגְבוּל נַחֲלָתוֹ בְּתִמְנַת־סֶרַח אֲשֶׁר בְּהַר־אֶפְרָיִם מִצְּפוֹן לְהַר־גָּעַשׁ׃ - And they buried him within the border of his inheritance in Timnat Serach, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Ga'ash.
Rashi says: that is its name, and in another place it is called Timnat Cheres. The Radak resolves the matter, saying there is no difficulty, for we find keves and kesev, salmah and simlah - so too serach and cheres, the same place with a transposition of letters. But Rashi brings the words of Chazal: it was named for the fact that Yehoshua set up an image of the sun. "Cheres" means sun, as in "who commands the sun (cheres) and it does not rise," and likewise "if you had not plowed with my heifer"... rather, "before the cheres set" - before the sun set. And according to this, "Timnat Cheres" means the place where they placed an image of the sun upon his grave: everyone who saw it would say, this is the man who made the sun stand still, "Sun, stand still over Giv'on, and moon, in the valley of Ayalon," and alas for one who did such a great thing and died - and they grieved over the passing of the tzaddik, that such an immense power was lost to the world. And one must say that the image was not complete, for to draw a complete form of the sun involves the problem of "You shall not make with Me" - one of My attendants. And therefore even in drawings people are careful not to draw a complete sun, but only in the corner of the page and the like.
And Rashi also brings the opposite explanation: Timnat Cheres was its name, so why is it called Timnat Serach? For a certain matter - that its fruits give off a strong odor (masrichim) from their great richness. And this does not mean, Heaven forbid, a foul stench, but rather from the expression "the overhanging surplus (serach ha'odef)," meaning excess and abundance. Like "the wisdom of the scribes will overflow (tisrach)," where one of the explanations is that when the sage rises to speak with the microphone in hand, who can stop him, he goes on and on, drawing it out at length; that is, the wisdom of the scribes grows longer and longer. And likewise the curtains of the Mishkan that "overhung (sorchot)" behind the Mishkan, from the expression of surplus. So too its fruits "give off odor" - large and rich from their great richness, beyond their natural size, and for this reason it is called Timnat Serach.
"On the north of Mount Ga'ash" - Rabbi Berachyah and Rabbi Simon in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: we searched through Scripture and found no place named Mount Ga'ash. Rather, what is Har Ga'ash? Because Israel were negligent and did not eulogize him properly, the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to shake (lehag'ish) the mountain upon them - as it were, to bury them - because they were lazy in eulogizing him.
וַיַּעֲבֹד יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־ה' כֹּל יְמֵי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וְכֹל יְמֵי הַזְּקֵנִים אֲשֶׁר הֶאֱרִיכוּ יָמִים אַחֲרֵי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וַאֲשֶׁר יָדְעוּ אֵת כׇּל־מַעֲשֵׂה ה' אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And Israel served Hashem all the days of Yehoshua, and all the days of the elders who prolonged their days after Yehoshua, and who had known all the work of Hashem that He had done for Israel.
If you remember, we saw that Yehoshua delayed in the conquest of the land, and this was seemingly to his discredit, and therefore he died at a reduced age - one hundred and ten instead of one hundred and twenty like Moshe his teacher - because he did not hasten. Unlike Moshe Rabbeinu, who rushed to the war against Midian even though he knew his life depended upon it, for as long as he did not fight Midian he would not die, yet nevertheless he hurried to fulfill the command of Hashem. But we already explained then, based on the verse we read here, that Heaven forbid we should suspect Yehoshua the servant of Hashem of making private calculations - what kind of servant of Hashem are you if you are serving yourself?! Rather, Yehoshua knew that "Israel served Hashem all the days of Yehoshua," and he said: if I die at a reduced age, there is a concern of "I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly," as Moshe said - and so it indeed came to pass, for after the death of Yehoshua and the elders Israel acted corruptly. Therefore he thought it worthwhile to conquer slowly, and thereby he would prolong his days and there would be another generation that would continue in the service of Hashem. But since this was a calculation against the will of Hashem, who commanded to hasten and conquer the land, he was punished for it - but Heaven forbid to think there was any private and personal matter here, for his entire deed was for the sake of Heaven.
Rashi brings the teaching of Chazal on "prolonged their days": their days they prolonged, but their years they did not prolong. For the elders too were punished, as Rashi explains in Shoftim - because they were lazy in eulogizing Yehoshua. And the expression is puzzling: if they did not prolong their years, what did they prolong - did they have days of twenty-six hours? Rather, the Malbim in "Bi'ur HaMilot" on Sefer Mishlei explains that "length of days" means good days, from the expression "arich lemebad hachi" - it is good to do so; "arich or lo arich," good or not good. And so here: "their days they prolonged" - that their days were good, days of tranquility; "their years they did not prolong" - but not over a length of years.
And why did they still serve Hashem throughout that whole period? The Metzudat David says: "and who had known all the work of Hashem" - the elders saw it with their own eyes, and through this they would straighten the hearts of Israel toward their Father in Heaven. But once the generation of the elders passed away, there was no longer anyone to strengthen the young toward their Father in Heaven.
וְאֶת־עַצְמוֹת יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר־הֶעֱלוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם קָבְרוּ בִשְׁכֶם בְּחֶלְקַת הַשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר קָנָה יַעֲקֹב מֵאֵת בְּנֵי־חֲמוֹר אֲבִי־שְׁכֶם בְּמֵאָה קְשִׂיטָה וַיִּהְיוּ לִבְנֵי־יוֹסֵף לְנַחֲלָה׃ - And the bones of Yosef, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Yaakov bought from the sons of Chamor the father of Shechem for a hundred kesitah, and they became the inheritance of the children of Yosef.
At first glance there is a difficulty: it is written "And Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him," while here it says that the children of Israel brought them up. The Radak resolves this: Moshe charged the children of Israel to bring them up, and therefore the matter is called by his name, just like "And Shlomo built" - did Shlomo build with his own hands? Rather, he commanded the building of the Mikdash and directed the work, and therefore it is called by his name. So too Moshe Rabbeinu took the responsibility upon himself, and therefore it says that he brought them up, even though in practice the children of Israel brought them up.
The Radak brings a Midrash: Whoever begins a mitzvah but another completes it, it is called by the name of the one who finished it. From whom do you learn this? From Moshe, as it is written "And Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him." Moshe passed away in the wilderness and did not enter the land, and Israel brought his bones into the land and buried them, and they completed the mitzvah, so the mitzvah was attributed to them, as it is written "which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt." It does not say here "which Moshe brought up," but rather "which they brought up." What have you learned? That a mitzvah is called by the name of the one who completes it.
"They buried in Shechem" - the Sages expound: from Shechem he was stolen and to Shechem he was returned, for it was from Shechem that Yosef was stolen away, and therefore they returned him to Shechem. And according to the plain meaning the Radak says: since Shechem was in the portion of Ephraim's inheritance, they buried him in his honor in the first inheritance that Yaakov Avinu had in the land of Israel. So too the Malbim: "and they became the inheritance of the children of Yosef" - the children of Yosef held on to the bones of the tzaddik, and they were to them a precious inheritance, that they merited to have the tzaddik buried in their portion. And they made an effort that Elazar too would be buried in their portion, and when Elazar died they consecrated the hill of Pinchas as a field of cherem.
וְאֶלְעָזָר בֶּן־אַהֲרֹן מֵת וַיִּקְבְּרוּ אֹתוֹ בְּגִבְעַת פִּינְחָס בְּנוֹ אֲשֶׁר נִתַּן־לוֹ בְּהַר אֶפְרָיִם׃ - And Elazar the son of Aharon died, and they buried him in the hill of Pinchas his son, which was given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.
Here there is a whole discussion: from where did Pinchas have a hill of his own? After all, the kohanim took no portion in the land. One explanation among the Sages: this teaches that Pinchas married a woman and she died and he inherited from her. He married a woman of means, and when she died she left lands, and her husband Pinchas inherited them, and there he buried his father Elazar. From here the Sages found support for the inheritance of a husband. Some say it fell to him as a field of cherem, for a field that a person consecrates falls to the kohen. And the Radak brings a further possibility: that Israel gave it to him, just as they gave to Yehoshua and to Calev, except that with Yehoshua and Calev it was by the word of Hashem, while to Elazar it was as a voluntary gift, and this is "which was given to him." For if it were a matter of his wife's inheritance or a field of cherem, what is the meaning of "was given to him"? Who gave it to him? This is not a gift but an inheritance or a right that belongs to the kohen.
And why is it not said that Pinchas simply bought the hill with money? Because land that is sold returns at the Yovel, and would they remove him from his grave after fifty years? Surely such a thing could not be considered. When we see that they bury him there, it means an eternal resting place, that the site will remain his forever. And the very expression "was given to him" did not trouble them, for we find the language of a gift used for a sale: "and let him give me the cave of Machpelah which is his" - let him give me, meaning let him sell to me. Rather, what is difficult, says the Radak, is that a gift from an individual also returns at the Yovel. And the answer: this is a case where the entire tribe gave it to him - the tribe of Ephraim in its entirety gave the place as a gift to Pinchas - and a gift from the many does not return at the Yovel. And according to the view that it was his wife's inheritance, the matter is also understood, for a husband's inheritance does not return at the Yovel: we do not say that what the husband inherited from his wife returns to her family, but rather what the husband inherits is his.
And the Alshich explains by way of comparison: just as Yosef was buried in a place given to him by another, so too Elazar the son of Aharon was buried in a place that Pinchas his son gave to him. And this is what the Sages expounded in Bava Batra 113: from where did Pinchas have what his father Elazar did not have? That he married a woman and she died and he inherited from her.
Chapter 24 concludes Sefer Yehoshua with the covenant assembly at Shechem. Yehoshua gathers the people, reviews the kindnesses of Hashem from Terach and Avraham until the conquest of the land, and calls upon them to serve Hashem in sincerity and in truth. The main point of the chapter, according to the Malbim, is the deep distinction between two kinds of service: service out of hope of reward and fear of punishment, which is essentially a person serving himself and does not endure, for the moment he finds greater advantage elsewhere he will leave; and service for the sake of His very Being, out of intellectual choice and exaltation. For this reason Yehoshua said "You cannot serve Hashem," and only when they answered "No, but we will serve Hashem" - Hashem for His own sake - did he accept their words and say "You are witnesses against yourselves." Afterward they removed the foreign gods and turned both their hearts toward Hashem, Yehoshua made a covenant, set a statute and an ordinance, wrote the words, and set up the stone as a witness. The chapter ends with the death of Yehoshua - who only here merited the title "servant of Hashem" - with the burial of Yosef's bones, where the mitzvah is called by the name of the one who completes it, and with the burial of Elazar. And we learn from here that the true test of service is specifically when it does not pay off, and that the people of Israel are placed under individual providence, having no partnership with any other power. Completed and finished, praise to God, Creator of the world. Just as we have merited to complete this book, so may we merit to learn and to teach, to observe and to do and to fulfill, and to learn yet other books, amen and amen.