Yehoshua 24 יהושע כ״ד

וארב את זרעו. חסר ה"א, כמה מריבות ונסיונות עשיתי עמו, עד שלא נתתי לו זרע:

I multiplied his descendants. The word אַרְבֶּ in the text lacks the letter ה,¹The word should have been written אַרְבֶּה. [from which we infer:]² The root of ארב would be רִיב which means to quarrel. “How many troubles and tests³Avrohom was tested a total of 10 times, the tenth being the binding of Yitchok on the altar. did I bring upon him before I gave him a descendant.”

ויבא עליו את הים. על כל יחיד ויחיד שבהם, שאם היה היחיד בורח שלא ליכנס בים, גל של ים רודף אחריו וקולטו:

And He brought the sea upon “him.”⁴Why is the singular עָלָיו, upon him used in the text? Rashi goes on to explain its significance. He brought the sea upon each individual among them. If it happened that one of them ran away, in order not to enter the sea, a sea-wave would pursue him and catch him.

וילחמו בכם בעלי יריחו האמורי והפרזי וגו'. כל שבעה העובדי כוכבים נזכרין כאן, לפי שיריחו עומדת על הספר, והיתה נגרה ומנעולה של ארץ ישראל, נקבצו לתוכה מכל שבעה האומות גבורי החיל:

The people of Yericho went to war against you. As did the Emorites, the Perezites etc.⁵Why were these nations involved in the battle of Yericho? All these seven nations are mentioned here because Yericho is on the border, and was the bolt and lock of Eretz Yisroel. Therefore, all these seven nations were gathered there, represented by their elite soldiers.

אלהים קדושים. ברוב מקומות נקרא כל לשון רבנות לשון רבים, כמו (בראשית מב ל): אדני הארץ ; (שם לט כ): אדני יוסף ; (שמות כב יד): אם בעליו עמו ; (שמואל ב ז כג): אשר הלכו אלהים לפדות, לפי שהשם הזה שם שררה הוא:

A holy God.⁶Why is this Name of God always in the plural form אל־הים instead of א־ל. In most places, every expression of rulership is found in the plural form, such as: “the ruler of the Land,”⁷ Bereishis 42:30. “The man the master of the land, אַדנֵי הָאָרֶץ spoke to us.” Here too, it should have been written אַדוֹן הָאֶָרֶץ in the singular. “the ruler of Yoseif,”⁸Bereishes 39:20. “if his master is with him,”⁹ Shemos 22:14. Here too it should have said אִם בַּעַל עִמוֹ in the singular referring to the owner. that God went to redeem¹⁰II Shmuel 7:23.. The reason for this is because this name is the name of power.

עדים אתם בכם. ראה יהושע שעתידין לערער בימי יחזקאל ולומר (יחזקאל כ לב) נהיה כגוים, לפיכך הכביד עליהם עכשיו, ולכך הושב להם בימי יחזקאל, (שם פסוקים לב לג): והעולה על רוחכם היה לא תהיה וגו', חי אני אם לא ביד חזקה וגו', כבר קבלתם עליכם בימי יהושע, ולא תאמרו מה שקבלנו עלינו בימי משה, כדי ליכנס לארץ עשינו, הרי בימי יהושע כבר נכנסתם וקבלתם:

You are witnesses against yourselves. Yehoshua foresaw that in the future, they would undermine [the covenant] in the days of Yechezkeil and say, “We want to be like the [other] nations,” and therefore he was so hard on them now. Therefore it was said to them in the days of Yechezkeil, “The thought you entertain will never come to pass etc., As I live says Adonoy, God, I will rule over you with a strong hand etc.”¹¹ See Yechezkeil 20:32,33. You have already accepted upon yourselves [the covenant] in the days of Yehoshua. And you can not say “We only accepted it upon ourselves in the days of Moshe because we wanted [God’s help] to enter the land,” since in the days of Yehoshua you had already entered the land, and [yet] you accepted the covenant.

וישם לו חק ומשפט בשכם. סידר להם שם החוקים שבתורה, וקבלו עליהם:

And he established it as a statute and an ordinance at Shechem. He set in order for them there the statutes of the Torah and they accepted them upon themselves.

ויכתב יהושע וגו'. תרגם יונתן: וכתב יהושע ית פתגמיא האלין ואצנעינון בספר אורייתא דה', ובמסכת מכות (יא א) נחלקו אמוראים, חד אמר אלו שמונה פסוקים (דברים לד ה-יב) מן 'וימת משה' עד 'לעיני כל ישראל', שהרי ספר תורה חסר, והשלימו, וחד אמר פרשה זו של ערי מקלט כתב בספרו כמו שהיו כתובים בספר התורה:

And Yehoshua wrote, etc.¹²What were the words that Yehoshua wrote and where did he write them? It might be inferred that he wrote the words of his admonishment to the people and inserted them in the Sefer Torah of Moshe, but we know this is not true. According to Targum Yonasan— And Yehoshua wrote these words, and concealed them in the Sefer Torah of God.¹³According to Targum Yonasan, He merely placed them where the Sefer Torah was kept, which was in the Ark. In Maseches Makos,¹⁴ 11a. two Amoraim argue [about what Yehoshua wrote]. One says that it refers to the eight verses from ‘And Moshe died’ until ‘in view of all of Yisroel,’ for the Sefer Torah was incomplete and he [Yehoshua] completed it.¹⁵See Devorim 34:5-12. These verses describe the passing of Moshe. Could Moshe have written them himself? How could he have written them while he was alive when they were not yet true? Moshe could not have written that he had died when it had not yet happened. This Amora says therefore that the final eight verses were written by Yehoshua. The other one says that this refers to the chapter of the cities of refuge¹⁶See above, Chapter 20. which he wrote in his book [Sefer Yehoshua] as they were written in the Sefer Torah.

תחת האלה. תחות אלתא, היא מזוזת הפתח, כמו שנאמר (מלכים א ו לא): האיל מזוזת חמישית ; ומדה אחת לאילם. ויש אומרים זו האלה אשר עם שכם, שכתוב ביעקב (בראשית לה ד): ויטמון אותם יעקב תחת האלה:

Under the doorpost. This is translated according to Targum Yonasan, תְּחוֹת אַלְתָא. הָאַלָה refers to the door post of the entrance, as it is said,¹⁷I. Melachim 6:31. “the doorposts were a fifth, and¹⁸Yechezkeil 40:10. the doorposts had one measure.” Other say that [הָאַלָה means ‘the oak tree’] and it refers to the oak near Shechem which is written regarding Yaakov,¹⁹See Bereishis 35:4. As Yaakov was preparing to return to his father, Yitzchok, in the Holy Land, he instructed that all idols and earrings were to be given to him and he buried them under the oak tree near Shechem. “And Yaakov hid them beneath the oak.”

אשר במקדש ה'. כלפי שהביאו שם את הארון, כמה שנאמר למעלה (פסוק א): ויתיצבו לפני האלהים:

Which is in the Sanctuary of Adonoy.²⁰But the Sanctuary had not yet been built. Since the Ark was brought there [it is referred to as the Sanctuary] as it stated above,²¹Verse 1. ‘And they stood before God.

האבן הזאת תהיה בנו לעדה וגו'. הא אבנא הדא תהי לנא כתרין לוחי אבן קיימא ארי יתה עבדנא לסהדו ארי פתגמיא דכתיבין עלה מעין כל פתגמיא דה' דמליל עמנא וגם יש לפותרו כמשמעו, כי היא שמעה את הדברים אשר דברתי לכם בשליחותו של מקום:

Behold this stone will be witness against us, etc.²²The question is, how could the stone hear? Another problem: the verse states that it heard “all the words of Adonoy that He spoke to us,” and yet there is no mention of Adonoy having spoken to them. [Here Rashi quotes from Targum Yonasan]: This stone will be for us as the two stone tablets of the covenant,²³Yehoshua compared it to the two tablets of the Ten Commandments which were witness to the covenant at Mount Sinai, and are therefore always referred to as the לוּחוֹת הָעֵדוּת, the Tablets of Testimony. for we have made it for a witness,²⁴It would stand as a silent witness to the covenant they had made on that day. since the words written on it [the stone] are almost similar to all the words of God that He spoke to us. This verse can also be explained according to its plain meaning: for it [the stone] has heard the words that I have spoken to you, on behalf of the Omnipresent.

בתמנת סרח. כך שמה ובמקום אחר (שופטים ב ט) הוא קורא אותה: תמנת חרס, על שם שהעמידו תמונת החמה על קברו (של יהושע), לומר, זה הוא שהעמיד החמה, וכל העובר עליה אומר חבל על זה שעשה דבר גדול כזה ומת. ויש אומרים, תמנת חרס שמה, ולמה נקרא שמה תמנת סרח, על שם שפירותיה מסריחין מרוב שמנן:

In Simnas-serach. This was its actual name. Elsewhere it is called Simnas-cheres²⁵See Shoftim 2:9. because they erected a figure of the sun upon his grave,²⁶See Shoftim 8:13 where חָרֶס refers to the sun. Also See Shoftim 14:18. to indicate that he is the one that caused the sun to stand still, and all who pass by it say, “Woe for the loss of this one, who did such a great thing and died.” Others say its actual name was Simnas-cheres, and why was it called Simnas- serach? because its fruit would rot because of their abundant richness.

להר געש. מלמד שרעש עליהם ההר להורגם לפי שלא הספידוהו כראוי:

The Storming Mountain It was so named to teach us that the hill stormed [shook] and threatened to kill them, because the people did not eulogize him properly.²⁷The verse merely states that “they buried him” and no mention is made of them having eulogized him, or mourned for him.

האריכו ימים. ימים האריכו, שנים לא האריכו, שנענשו:

Lived on after [Lit. they had length of days.] Their days were lengthened but their years were not lengthened for they were punished.

קברו בשכם. משכם גנבוהו, לשכם החזירוהו:

They buried in Shechem. From Shechem he was stolen [kidnapped]²⁸See Bereishis 37:14. and to Shechem they returned him.

בגבעת פינחס בנו. מהיכן היה לו לפנחס חלק בארץ, שירש מאשתו:

In the hill of his son, Pinchos.²⁹These words seem to imply that the hill belonged to Pinchos even during his father’s lifetime. But if he did not inherit it from Elozor, from where could he have gotten it? There are others who say that Pinchos did inherit the land from Elozor, and since inheritance takes effect immediately, it already belonged to Pinchos before Elozor was buried. From where did Pinchos have a portion in the land? He inherited it from his wife.