Joshua 24:14

Choose Whom You Will Serve

14 Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. ¹

Joshua 24:14 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 24:14

Now therefore fear the Lord
Since he has done such great and good things, fear the Lord and his goodness, fear him for his goodness sake; nothing so influences fear, or a reverential affection for God, as a sense of his goodness; this engages men sensible of it to fear the Lord, that is, to worship him both internally and externally in the exercise of every grace, and in the performance of every duty:

and serve him in sincerity and in truth:
in the uprightness of their souls, without hypocrisy and deceit, and according to the truth of his word, and of his mind and will revealed in it, without any mixture of superstition and will worship, or of the commands and inventions of men:

and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of
the flood, and in Egypt;
that is, express an abhorrence of them, and keep at a distance from them, and show that you are far from giving in to such idolatries your ancestors were guilty of, when they lived on the other side Euphrates, in Chaldea, or when they were sojourners in Egypt; for it cannot be thought that the Israelites were at this time guilty of such gross idolatry, at least openly, since Joshua had bore such a testimony of them, that they had cleaved to the Lord unto that day, ( Joshua 23:8 ) ; and their zeal against the two tribes and a half, on suspicion of idolatry, or of going into it, is a proof of it also:

and serve ye the Lord:
and him only.

Joshua 24:14 In-Context

12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow.

13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build, and now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

14 Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

15 But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”

16 The people replied, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!

Cross References

• 1. (Deuteronomy 10:12–22)