Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Josue
Ver. 20. Turn, and alter his conduct in your regard, instead of being your protector, he will destroy you.
Ver. 21. Lord. We shall not experience the chastisements with which thou hast threatened us, because we will adhere inviolably to the Lord. (Calmet)
Ver. 25. Covenant. He renewed the one that had been formerly made, stipulating, on the part of God, that the people should serve Him alone, ver. 23. After which he probably read some of the most striking passages of Deuteronomy, (Calmet) particularly the Decalogue, or ten commandments, with the blessings and curses which enforced the observance of them, Deuteronomy v., and xxvii., and xxviii., and xxix., and xxx. (Haydock) --- Then the people swore that they would observe the law, the customary sacrifices were offered, and a record of the whole was subjoined by Josue to that of Moses, in order that it might be deposited in or near the ark, Deuteronomy xxxi. 26. (Calmet) --- This renewal of the covenant prefigured the law of grace. (St. Augustine, q. 30.) (Worthington)
Ver. 26. Lord, particularly what related to the ratification of the covenant, which was the last public act of this great man. He placed it in its proper order in the continuation of the sacred history, which Moses had commenced. (Haydock) --- Stone unpolished, except where there was an inscription, relating what had taken place. (Menochius) --- This monument of religion was not forbidden, Deuteronomy xvi. 22. (Calmet) --- Oak. Hebrew alla, is translated a turpentine tree, Genesis xxxv. 4., (Haydock) and by the Septuagint here. But most people translate the oak. (Chaldean; Aquila; &c.) Under it Jacob buried the idols of Laban, and Abimelech was chosen king; (Judges ix. 6,) as Abraham had entertained the angels under the same tree, Genesis xviii. 1., (Calmet) and had sat under it when he first came into Sichem, Genesis xii. 6. On which supposition it must have subsisted about 500 years. (Menochius) --- It was even shewn some ages after Christ. But it is hardly credible that the same tree should have continued for such a length of time. --- Sanctuary, or tent, where the ark was placed on this occasion under the oak. (Calmet; Bonfrere) --- Some think it was at Silo. (Menochius; ver. 1.) --- Kennicott denies that the ark was present, and supposes that they offered sacrifice upon the very altar which Josue had erected on Garizim, between 20 and 30 years before; and that this mountain is here called the sanctuary or "holy place." Upon it the oak might very well grow, and Josue might "with great propriety take some large stone, and set it up for a witness, making at the same time this striking remark, that this stone had heard all the words of the Lord, or had been present when his law was inscribed and read to the people at their former solemn convention." Hence he infers against Collins, "that the Jews had thoughts of worshipping, and did worship at Gerizim long before the separation of Israel from Juda;" and it was probably for fear of the Israelites returning to a sense of their duty, by the sight of these monuments of the old religion, that Jeroboam refrained from setting up his golden calves in the vicinity. (Diss. ii. p. 119.) (Haydock)
Ver. 27. It hath heard. This is a figure of speech, by which sensation is attributed to inanimate things; and they are called upon, as it were, to bear witness in favour of the great Creator, whom they on their part constantly obey, (Challoner) which is the best manner of hearing. They rise up to our confusion. (Theodoret, q. 19.) (Worthington) --- The oriental writers delight in these strong figurative expressions, which are not confined to poetry. Jesus Christ says, that if the children were silent, the stones would cry out, Luke xix. 40. See Numbers xiii. 33., and Genesis iv. 10. (Calmet) --- Lest. Hebrew, "it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest you deny your God;" or literally, "lie unto your Elohim." (Haydock) --- The expression often means to revolt and prove faithless, Deuteronomy xxxiii. 29., &c.
Ver. 29. And after, &c. If Josue wrote this book, as is commonly believed, these last verses were added by Samuel, or some other prophet. (Challoner) --- Scholastic History. (Worthington) --- Josue had governed Israel 17 years with the greatest prudence and fidelity. (Calmet) --- Some extend his administration to a longer period. (Haydock) --- He paid the debt of nature [i.e., he died] probably not long after the ratification of the covenant. It does not appear that he was ever married. (St. Jerome, contra Jov. 1.; St Chrysostom) --- The Scripture does not mention that the people mourned for him, as they had done for Moses, &c. Yet we cannot doubt but they would shew this mark of respect to his memory, on account of the many benefits which they had received from him. The Holy Ghost has vouchsafed to be his panegyrist, Numbers xxvii. 12., and Ecclesiasticus xlvi. 1., &c. Josephus ([Antiquities?] v. 1,) represents him as a most universal character, equally perfect in every thing that he took in hand. His greatest honour is to have been so striking a figure of Jesus, whose name he bore, (Calmet) and whose sacred office in administering a second circumcision after he had caused the people to cross the Jordan, he so well described. Like him he introduces the faithful into the land of promise, overthrows their enemies, and establishes them in peace, taking care both at the beginning and at the end of his administration, to set before their eyes the will of the heavenly Father, the God who is both holy and jealous, ver. 19. Under Josue the Israelites are invincible, only as long as they continue faithful, chap. vii. But Jesus secures his Church both from infidelity and from the attacks of all her enemies, by his all-powerful grace. (Haydock) --- The Jews have attributed to Josue ten regulations, which are too trifling to have been made by him. (Selden, Jur. vi. 2.) --- The Samaritan chronicle embellishes the account of this great man with many surprising and puerile fictions, as if the true history were not sufficient to excite our attention. See Basnage and Serarius. (Calmet) --- The Jews say Josue died on the 26th of Nisan, unmarried. The Roman martyrology honours his memory on the 1st of September. (Salien, in the year before Christ 1453.) It is probable that the Egyptian or Tyrean Hercules, who encountered so many giants and difficulties, was no other than Josue, whose history the pagans have obscured with fables. (Vossius.) (Haydock)
Ver. 30. Thamnathsare. Judges ii. 9. The last word is written hares (eros) the first and last letters being transposed in one of these places. It may probably be in this verse, as we read of Mount Hares, Judges i. 35. Kennicott rather thinks that Sare is the proper reading, as it is found in the Syriac, Arabic, and Vulgate versions of the Book of Judges. He observes, that if we were to read in an English historian that the renowned Marlborough was buried at Blenheim, near Woodstock, and a few pages after that his remains were interred "at Blenmeih," &c., we should naturally conclude that two letters had exchanged their places. And may we not allow the same in this part of the sacred history, as it is universally printed" in Hebrew? (Dis. i.) Some, however, maintain that Thamnath hares was so called, on account of "the image of the sun" being placed in the tomb of Josue, along with the knives of stone used by him in circumcision, which last the Septuagint and St. Augustine (q. 30,) admit. But these must be reckoned among the Jewish or Oriental fables, (Calmet) though it is not improbable but the circumcising knives might be thus preserved, as a monument of the covenant made with the Israelites. (Haydock) --- Gaas. This was another name for Mount Sare, or Hares, a part of Mount Ephraim; where St. Jerome tells us St. Paula visited the tomb of Josue. It was shewn near Thamna in the days of Eusebius. (Calmet) --- No mention is made of mourning, as for Moses, &c., to insinuate that under the law the saints descended into limbo, but are admitted into paradise under the gospel. (St. Jerome, mans. 34.) (Worthington)
Ver. 31. Long time; perhaps fifteen years. These ancients kept the people in order by their authority (Calmet) and good example, so great an influence have the manners of superiors upon those of the subjects. (Menochius) --- Regis ad exemplar totus componitur orbis. See 2 Paralipomenon xxiv. 2, 16. After the death of these virtuous rulers, who had been formed in the school of Moses and of Josue, and had beheld the wonders of God, (Haydock) the people began to embrace the worship of Baalim, Judges ii. 11.
Ver. 32. Sichem. Joseph had charged his brethren to take his bones with them, Genesis l. 24., and Exodus xiii. 19. Masius supposes that they were solemnly interred after the altar was erected near Sichem, and the covenant ratified, when all the people were together. Others think that they deferred doing this till the country was conquered and divided. Josue would lose no time unnecessarily in performing these last rites to the revered patriarch. --- Field. Jacob had given this field to his son. He had first purchased it; (Genesis xxxiii. 19,) and when the Amorrhite had taken possession again, after the unhappy affair at Sichem, he recovered it by the sword, Genesis xlviii. 22. --- Ewes. Hebrew Kesita may denote also some species of money, though not perhaps marked with any figure of a lamb, &c. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "pieces of silver." (Haydock) --- The mausoleum of Joseph at Sichem, was to be seen in St. Jerome's time. (q. Heb. in Gen.) (Worthington)