43 Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 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. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
Section Oerview
The second major section of the book, chapters 13–21, now concludes with a ringing statement of God’s faithfulness. In the corresponding passage in this carefully arranged section, 13:1–7, God himself spoke to remind Joshua of the necessity to possess the land, pressing a leader, who was perhaps tired and lingering, into action. Now it is done—and the narrator’s summary reflects entirely on the complete faithfulness of Israel’s God in fulfilling his promises to his people.
Section Outline
II.J. God’s Promises Fulfilled (21:43–45)
Response
The conclusion of the military campaigns in the first part of the book finished with a summary statement of the taking of the land promised by God and the arrival of rest (Josh. 11:22–23). There the focus fell on Joshua as the leader of God’s people through the territorial wars against aggressive kings. Here, by contrast, in the summary concluding the book’s second section the emphasis falls entirely on God’s fidelity as that which enabled Israel’s success.
The text bears echoes back to the beginning of the book, particularly to the words of the Transjordan tribes to Joshua regarding their commitment to accompany their brothers into the land west of the Jordan; this is seen especially in 21:44 and the provision of “rest” (cf. 1:13–15). But the arc of this summary goes far beyond that. Twice it identifies the recipients of these promises of God as “their fathers.” Clearly in context this refers to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (cf. Ex. 4:5) and again makes a connection to the language that began the book (cf. Josh. 1:6; 5:6). This reach back into the patriarchal promises is deeply significant. The books of Moses come to an end in Deuteronomy 34 with those promises still unfulfilled: Israel remains outside the land on the plains of Moab, poised and prepared to progress, yet outside the Land of Promise all the same. Here, as the two phases of settlement—identified with Gilgal and Shiloh—have been completed and provision of cities for refuge and Levi has been made, that promise now stands fulfilled.
This emphatic and inclusive statement of the fulfillment of God’s promise rings with clarity, which is its primary purpose. However, there may be a subtle message between the lines. The overt and definitive statement of God’s comprehensive faithfulness to his good promises to Israel throws into relief the partial, flawed, and incomplete nature of Israel’s settlement noted at various points as the territorial inheritance has taken place. The dominant surface message of these verses has often been superficially juxtaposed by some with the more pessimistic trajectory of the book of Judges, as if these books told two contradictory, or at least incompatible, stories. But it is not so, as the final chapters of Joshua will further clarify.