Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 21:45
There failed not aught of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.
45. There failed not ] Comp. ch. Jos 23:14-15. None of the gracious promises of God to Israel remained unfulfilled.
any good thing ] Or, aught of all the good word = the sum of the reiterated assurances which God had made to the nation. Of these the possession of the land of Canaan was regarded as the essence and central point, because this possession was to be for Israel the foundation of all further blessings, the pledge of the continued fulfilment of the rest of the promises of God. See Keil’s Commentary.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
There failed not ought of any good thing,…. Not only every good thing in general, but every part and particular of that good thing; that, with all that was included in it, or were appendages to it, or circumstances of it:
which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel; as of their deliverance out of Egypt, and passage through the Red sea and wilderness, with all conveniences for them therein; so of their passage through Jordan, success of their arms, the conquest of their enemies, possession of their land, a land flowing with milk and honey:
all came to pass; exactly, precisely, and punctually, even everything relative to their temporal and spiritual good: so all that God promises to his spiritual Israel, with respect to their present comfort or everlasting happiness, all is exactly fulfilled, all his promises in Christ are yea and amen.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
45. There failed not aught of any good So far as Jehovah was concerned, for he had expressly said, “I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.” Exodus xxiii, 29, 30. Comp. Deu 7:22. Israel’s subsequent failure to possess all the land was, as the history itself shows, largely owing to their cowardice. Tribal jealousies also had much to do with their failure.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 45. There failed not ought of any good thing, &c. Whatever God had promised them was effected in proportion to the efforts they had made on their part, under sanction of the right which God had given them, and in order to the drawing down upon them his blessing by their obedience to his laws. On this obedience depended the final accomplishment of the divine promises in future times, according as their necessities required, and, to use Pelican’s words, “all this process, in a very evident manner, shows the faithfulness of God, the confidence which his children should place in his promises, and the reliance they ought to have thereon even when he seems slow in the performance of them.”
REFLECTIONS.The experience of God’s Israel will ever confirm the faithfulness of his promises. The land which had been so long expected is now possessed; their enemies are subdued, their habitations large and peaceable; no foe remained to interrupt their quiet, or endanger their persons. Some Canaanites indeed were left, but they only were spared to keep possession against the beasts of the field, till Israel were multiplied to occupy the land; and if they afterwards prevailed, the Israelites would have only to blame their own sloth, cowardice, unbelief, and sin, which robbed them of their portion. All the people solemnly acknowledge the exact accomplishment of the Divine promises; which is repeated, 1Ki 8:56.; and all who are faithful to him shall find, to their everlasting comfort, that one jot or tittle shall never pass away from his word until the whole be fulfilled.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
DEAREST Jesus! cause me to, learn from hence thy tender care of thy more immediate servants. Thy Levites shall be well provided for, whom thou hast set apart to thy service. And if they have no portion among their brethren, is it not, because thou thyself art their portion? And though to the eyes of an unfeeling world, some of thy most faithful labourers are sent without scrip or shoes as thy first disciples, yet having thee for their portion, they lack nothing, but are full and abound. Oh! let me learn from hence to reverence thy servants, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake, and for the sake of their ever-blessed Master.
Pause, my soul! and remark the faithfulness of Jehovah to his people. And if there failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to Israel, but all came to pass; will not this prompt thee to believe thy God to be faithful to thee also? Will not God thy Father fulfil all his covenant promises? Will not thy Jesus be still Jesus in all his love and favor? And will not the Holy Ghost continue his faithful influences, in directing thy heart into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Jesus Christ? Oh! for faith in lively exercise to believe God’s word: to trust him now in the moment of trial, and not to hesitate, until it be seen, how things will go. Is he not still the holy one of Israel? And hath not all the faithful gone before, bore testimony to his faithfulness and truth? Oh! sweet thought! Blessed be the Holy Ghost for teaching it to the church: if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot, he will not deny himself. Lord! in this firm persuasion let me live; and in this assured hope may I die.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.” Jos 21:45
Personal testimony is better than literary argument. Of this testimony Biblical religion can always avail itself. Of this testimony Christianity can still more pointedly make account It is no mean indication of the power of Christianity, that it constrains its disciples to bear witness to the power of Christ in the soul. The Bible writers are always particular to maintain that the word of the Lord never failed. Failure there would have been fatal to the whole idea of divine providence as disclosed in the Bible. The ancient writers are, if possible, more particular to notice that the good things promised of God were assuredly given rather than that his threatenings were realised. There seems to be a subtle willingness to overlook the infliction of punishment in view of the daily and abundant manifestation of divine goodness. We soon forget the darkness when the light shines. The day whose wind and rain gives us discomfort is speedily forgotten when the summer broods over the land and turns it into one garden of flowers. A very marvellous thing it is, that in health we soon forget our sickness; there may be in this some indication of that which will take place in higher states of being; in heaven we shall forget every trouble of earth. A text of this kind seems to challenge the reader to contradict it. If it were a mere question of argument, one disputant might be outwitted by another; but where it is a question of direct personal witness, the character of the witness must be taken as equivalent to an argument. The good things of God seem to grow in number and in magnitude in proportion as we look upon them from the point of advancing age. We do not see them in their true magnitude at first, or at the moment of their introduction; we are then too near them to see exactly their bearing and colour; a man at fifty knows more of the riches and blessedness of life than it was possible for him to know when but half that age. The testimony in this case is most precise and inclusive. It is not a general commendation of the faithfulness of God, but a critical declaration that not one thing failed of all which God had spoken. The argument of history is one of the most solid arguments in theology. Doctrine is attested by providence. We judge men by the manner in which they have kept their word to us, and where the word has been faithfully realised, honour is accorded and trust is increased. It should be so in our relations to the Creator and Ruler of life.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Jos 23:14, Jos 23:15, Num 23:19, 1Ki 8:56, 1Co 1:9, 1Th 5:24, Tit 1:2, Heb 6:18
Reciprocal: Gen 10:19 – And the Gen 35:12 – the land Gen 35:22 – Now the sons Jos 2:24 – Truly the Lord Jos 3:10 – drive out from Jos 11:23 – And the land Jos 24:13 – And I 1Ki 8:15 – hath Neh 9:24 – So the Psa 78:55 – cast Psa 136:21 – General Isa 42:9 – the former Isa 48:3 – and I Eze 48:29 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 21:45. There failed not aught Which they themselves, as Joshua afterward tells them, (Jos 23:14,) knew very well, and could not but confess. But it must be understood according to the explication given verse
43. For the time of fulfilling some part of the divine promises was not yet come, and the entire completion of what was already begun was partly conditional, and depended on their obedience to God. All came to pass Such an acknowledgment as this, here subscribed by Joshua, in the name of all Israel, we afterward find made by Solomon; and all Israel did, in effect, say amen to it, 1Ki 8:56. The inviolable truth of Gods promise, and the performance of it to the uttermost, is what all believers in Christ have been always ready to bear their testimony to. And if in any thing it has seemed to come short, they have been as ready to take all the blame to themselves.