Commentary - Joshua 21:43-45

Bird's-eye view

This magnificent little paragraph at the end of Joshua 21 is one of the great summaries of God's covenant faithfulness in all of Scripture. It serves as a majestic conclusion to the entire section dealing with the conquest and allotment of the land (Josh. 13-21). After all the battles, all the marching, all the casting of lots, the historian pauses to hoist a banner over the whole proceeding. And on that banner is written, in blazing letters, "God keeps His promises."

The text makes three grand, sweeping declarations. First, God gave Israel all the land He had sworn to their fathers. Second, He gave them rest from all their enemies. Third, not one of His good promises failed. This is a threefold cord of divine fidelity, not easily broken. It is a potent reminder that our God is a covenant-keeping God, and what He says, He does. This passage is not just a historical footnote; it is a theological anchor. It shows us the nature of the God we serve and provides a pattern for how we should understand His dealings with us in Christ.

Outline

Context In Joshua

These verses are the capstone of the second major division of the book of Joshua. The book neatly divides into the crossing (1-5), the conquest (6-12), the dividing of the land (13-21), and the final covenant exhortations (22-24). Our text sits at the very end of that third section. The land has been subdued, and now it has been distributed among the tribes. The Levites have received their cities. The cities of refuge are established. The work assigned to Joshua is, for all intents and purposes, complete.

This summary statement is therefore strategically placed. Before moving to the final section where Joshua will charge the people to remain faithful, the narrator wants to make it unambiguously clear that God has been entirely faithful. Israel's future obedience will not be an attempt to earn God's favor, but rather a response to a favor that has already been lavished upon them. God went first. He fulfilled His end of the bargain down to the last detail. This sets the stage for the crucial question: how will Israel respond?

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

Joshua 21:43

So Yahweh gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it.

So Yahweh gave Israel... The verse begins with the true and ultimate actor in this whole drama. It was not the military genius of Joshua or the courage of the Israelite soldiers that won the land. It was Yahweh. He is the great Giver. The land is a gift of grace from start to finish. This is central. If we miss this, we turn the story of conquest into a story of human achievement, which is precisely what it is not. This is a story of divine gift.

...all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers... Now, some might quibble here. They will point to later passages in Judges or even in Joshua itself that show pockets of Canaanites remaining. They will say, "See? They didn't really get all the land." But this is to misunderstand the nature of biblical language and the nature of the promise. The promise was that God would give them the land, to drive out the inhabitants before them. He did this. He broke the back of the Canaanite resistance. He gave Israel the title deed and the military supremacy. The land was theirs for the taking. The subsequent failure to mop up the remaining pockets was Israel's failure of obedience, not God's failure of promise. God gave them the keys to the house; it was their job to go into every room and clean it out. The statement here is a statement of legal and covenantal reality. The land grant was fulfilled.

...and they possessed it and lived in it. This is the result of God's gift. Possession and habitation. The promise made to Abraham centuries before (Gen. 15) has now come to fruition. The wandering is over. The slavery in Egypt is a distant memory. The forty years in the wilderness are done. They are home. They possess it, and they dwell in it. This is the tangible outworking of God's covenant faithfulness.

Joshua 21:44

And Yahweh gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; Yahweh gave all their enemies into their hand.

And Yahweh gave them rest on every side... Here is the second great gift. First the land, now the rest. The word for rest here is nuach, and it means more than just a ceasefire. It is a state of security, peace, and stability. It is the end of the strenuous warfare that characterized the initial conquest. And notice again, Yahweh is the one who gives it. Rest is not something they achieved; it is something they received. And it was "on every side." The major, organized, national threats were neutralized.

...according to all that He had sworn to their fathers... The historian keeps ringing this bell. This is not a happy accident. This is not Plan B. This is the meticulous fulfillment of ancient promises. God's oaths are not trifles. When God swears by Himself, you can take it to the bank. The rest they were experiencing was the cash value of a promise God had made long ago.

...and no one of all their enemies stood before them; Yahweh gave all their enemies into their hand. This is the basis of their rest. It wasn't that their enemies had all become friends. It was that their enemies had all been defeated. "Stood before them" is a military term. It means to withstand, to mount a successful resistance. The narrator declares that this did not happen. Whenever Israel went out to battle in faith, God gave them the victory. He delivered their enemies into their hand. This is a staggering statement of God's absolute sovereignty in the affairs of nations and in the grit of warfare.

Joshua 21:45

Not one promise of the good promises which Yahweh had promised to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.

Not one promise of the good promises... This is the grand crescendo. The Hebrew is emphatic: "not one word fell of all the good word." God's words are not empty air; they are substantive. They accomplish what they are sent to do. And notice they are "good" promises. God's intentions toward His people are always for their good. He is not a reluctant giver. He is a Father who delights to give good gifts to His children.

...which Yahweh had promised to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass. The verse ends with this magnificent, airtight summary. Not one promise failed. All of them arrived at their appointed destination. The word here is not that God will be faithful. The word is that He has been faithful. The verdict is in. The evidence has been presented. The history of the conquest is Exhibit A. God is a promise-keeper. This is the bedrock on which the faith of Israel was to be built, and it is the bedrock on which our faith is built today.

From Joshua to Jesus

As wonderful as this summary is, we must, as Christians, read it with New Testament eyes. The writer to the Hebrews makes it plain that the rest Joshua gave to Israel was not the final rest. "For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day" (Heb. 4:8). The land of Canaan, as glorious as it was, was a type, a shadow, a down payment of a greater inheritance. The rest from warfare was a picture of a deeper rest.

The name Joshua is the Hebrew form of the name Jesus. The first Joshua, the son of Nun, was a faithful servant who led God's people into a temporary, earthly rest. But the second Joshua, Jesus the Son of God, has come to lead His people into an eternal, heavenly rest. The first Joshua conquered Canaanites. The second Joshua conquered sin and death and Hell itself. The first Joshua gave them a land flowing with milk and honey. The second Joshua gives us Himself, and in Him, a new heavens and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Therefore, when we read that not one of God's good promises failed, we should shout Amen, and then look to Christ. For in Him, all the promises of God are Yes and Amen (2 Cor. 1:20). The perfect fulfillment that Joshua 21:45 describes for the old covenant is a type of the even more perfect fulfillment we have in the new covenant. God was faithful then, in the shadow. How much more will He be faithful now, in the Son?

Application

First, we must learn to trust the promises of God. Our God does not lie. He does not forget. He does not fail. This passage is a historical monument to the absolute reliability of God's Word. We live in a world of broken promises, but the Christian is one who has anchored his soul to the promises of an utterly faithful God. We should read passages like this and have our confidence in God's character bolstered.

Second, we must understand that God's gifts require a faithful response. God gave Israel the land, but they still had to go in and possess it. He gave them victory, but they still had to fight. God has given us every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, but we are still called to put on the whole armor of God and fight the good fight of faith. Grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning. God's faithfulness empowers our faithfulness.

Finally, we must long for our true rest. We are grateful for the foretastes of rest God gives us in this life, but we know this world is not our home. Like the patriarchs, we are looking for a better country, a heavenly one. The story of Joshua should make us grateful for the type, but it should make us even more eager for the antitype. Our Joshua has secured our inheritance, and one day, we will possess it and dwell in it, and enjoy a rest that will never be disturbed.