Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years.
By 'all Israel' we must understand the representatives of the people, their elders in office, the heads of tribes, judges who administered justice, and officers who executed judgment. Joshua, old and infirm, summoned them together to give counsel before his death and to command the respect due to his final words.
AI summary
Joshua called for the officers and representatives of the people, most likely at Shiloh. His extreme age and approaching death occasioned this solemn assembly, where he charged the chosen people and their posterity to remain faithful and unswerving in the faith and worship of the God of Israel.
AI summary
Four civil ranks appear here: the elders or senate of tribal princes; the heads of families; the judges who decided according to law; and the officers or serjeants who executed their judgments. Whether Joshua held this assembly at his own city, at Shiloh where the ark was, or at Shechem remains uncertain, though two distinct assemblies seem likely from the text.
AI summary