Joshua 24:1-13

Joshua Reviews Israel's History

1 Then ¹Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

2 Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, ²Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.

3 'Then ³I took your father Abraham from beyond * the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and ⁴multiplied his descendants and gave him ⁵Isaac.

4 'To Isaac I gave ⁶Jacob and Esau, and ⁷to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but ⁸Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

5 'Then ⁹I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out.

6 'I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ¹⁰you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red * Sea.

7 'But when they cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And ¹¹you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

8 'Then ¹²I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you.

9 'Then ¹³Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.

10 'But I ¹⁴was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his hand.

11 '¹⁵You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and ¹⁶the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Thus ¹⁷I gave them into your hand.

12 'Then I ¹⁸sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before * you, but ¹⁹not by your sword or your bow.

13 '²⁰I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.'

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Joshua 24:1-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 24

This chapter gives us an account of another summons of the tribes of Israel by Joshua, who obeyed it, and presented themselves before the Lord at Shechem, Jos 24:1; when Joshua in the name of the Lord rehearsed to them the many great and good things the Lord had done for them, from the time of their ancestor Abraham to that day, Jos 24:2-13; and then exhorted them to fear and serve the Lord, and reject idols, Jos 24:14; and put them upon making their choice, whether they would serve the true God, or the gods of the Canaanites; and they choosing the former, he advised them to abide by their choice, Jos 24:15-24; and made a covenant with them to that purpose, and then dismissed them, Jos 24:25-28; and the chapter is concluded with an account of the death and burial of Joshua and Eleazar, and of the interment of the bones of Joseph, Jos 24:29-33.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 20

1. Joshua 23:2
2. Genesis 11:27-32
3. Genesis 12:1; Genesis 24:7
4. Genesis 15:5
5. Genesis 21:3
6. Genesis 25:25, 26
7. Genesis 36:8; Deuteronomy 2:5
8. Genesis 46:6, 7
9. Exodus 4:14-17
10. Exodus 14:2-31
11. Deuteronomy 1:46; Deuteronomy 2:14
12. Numbers 21:21-32
13. Numbers 22:2-6
14. Deuteronomy 23:5
15. Joshua 3:14-17
16. Exodus 23:23, 28; Deuteronomy 7:1
17. Exodus 23:31
18. Exodus 23:28; Deuteronomy 7:20
19. Psalms 44:3
20. Deuteronomy 6:10, 11

Footnotes 6

[a]. I.e. Euphrates
[b]. I.e. Euphrates
[c]. Lit "seed"
[d]. Lit "according to"
[e]. Lit "Sea of Reeds"
[f]. Lit "drove them out"