I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’
Joshua thought his work was finished, yet God stretched his days longer still, and he seized the chance to press Israel once more toward God. We must never lay down our labor for Him while breath remains; if He extends our years beyond expectation, it is because He has further service waiting for us to do.
AI summary
Commenting on Joshua 24:1-14
And I have given you a land for which you did not labour,.... Or, in which (z), by manuring and cultivating it, by dunging, and ploughing, and sowing: and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; neither built the houses in them, nor the walls and fortifications about them; in which now they dwelt safely, and at ease, and which had been...
Your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates in idolatry, serving false gods as Laban did, mixing a faint knowledge of the true God with material images. Yet from that pagan stock God called Abraham and built your nation not by your merit but by His free grace alone.
AI summary
Commenting on Joshua 24:2-13