Ver. 1. And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel— Calmet thinks, that the discourse in the former chapter is to be considered only as the exordium or introduction to the present: which is nearly the opinion of Calvin. But the two discourses seem very distinct in the text, and we see no reason for putting them together.
To Shechem— Some copies of the LXX, particularly the Roman edition, and Alexandrian manuscript, read here, and in ver. 25 to Shiloh. What renders this reading very probable is, that we find the Israelites assembled before God; that is, before the ark, which certainly resided in the tabernacle; and that, undoubtedly, was at Shiloh. Of this opinion likewise are Grotius, Junius, Wells, and others. In answer to which it is to be considered, 1. That, according to Eusebius and St. Jerome, there were not less than ten or twelve miles distance between these two places. 2. Other copies of the LXX, as well as the Hebrew, Chaldee, and other eastern versions, read Shechem, and not Shiloh; and to these we may add Josephus, Hist. Jud. lib. 5: cap. 1. See Dr. Wall. 3. It is easy to account for this convocation of the assembly at Shechem. For, not to mention that this city was the capital of the tribe of Ephraim, and in the neighbourhood of Timnath-serah, where Joshua resided, who, on account of his great age, might very possibly be unable to go to Shiloh; it is probable, that he thought it proper to renew the divine covenant in the place where Abraham had first settled, and had erected an altar on his entering into the land of Canaan (Genesis 13:6-7.); where the patriarchs were interred, Acts 7:16.; and where Joshua himself had first entered into covenant with the Israelites, chap. Joshua 8:30, &c.; for Ebal and Gerizzim were very near Shechem. See Le Clerc and Calmet. We will presently consider the objection brought by some, that the assembly in question was held before God; observing here, that an able critic thinks, that the several opinions respecting the matter may be reconciled, by supposing the congregation to have met in the fields of Shechem, and that thence the people went in companies to Shiloh, as it were to confirm before God what they had promised to Joshua, who had received the assembly at Timnath-serah, his place of residence, situate between Shechem and Shiloh. See Shuckford's Connection, vol. 3: p. 427.
They presented themselves before God— That is to say, before his tabernacle. "But," say some, "this tabernacle was at Shiloh." It rested there, it is true; but we apprehend, that upon this grand solemnity it was removed from Shiloh to Shechem; and the kings and leaders of Israel certainly had a right to have the ark removed from its usual station to any other place upon extraordinary occasions. See 1 Samuel 4:3-4. 2 Samuel 15:24., and Bertram de Repub. Jude 1:25; Jude 1:15 p. 249. This was such an occasion: The whole nation had been convened at Shechem to renew the divine covenant; Joshua, one hundred and twenty years of age, was come up from Timnath-serah to that city, his strength not allowing him a longer journey: and was not this sufficient to authorise the sending for the ark, that the people might thus assemble before the Lord? We must not, however, pass over the opinion of the learned Mede, who thinks that the Ephraimites had built at Shechem a proseucha, a kind of oratory or chapel, whither the people resorted to divine worship when they could not go so far as the tabernacle; and that it was before this house of prayer that the assembly was held. But for more respecting this ingenious conjecture, see on ver. 26.