Joshua 24

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

2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Long ago your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river, even Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods.

3 And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river and led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his generation and gave him Isaac.

4 And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt.

5 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them; and afterward I brought you out.

6 And I brought your fathers out of Egypt; and when ye came to the sea, the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea.

7 And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt; and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.

8 And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you, but I delivered them into your hands that ye might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you.

9 Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of the Moabites, arose and warred against Israel and sent and called Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you.

10 But I would not hearken unto Balaam; to the contrary, he blessed you repeatedly, and I delivered you out of his hand.

11 And ye passed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the lords of Jericho fought against you: the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hands.

12 And I sent hornets before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

13 And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour and cities which ye did not build, and ye dwell in them and eat of vineyards and oliveyards which ye did not plant.

14 Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in perfection and in truth and put away from among you the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt, and serve ye the LORD.

15 And if it seems evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

16 Then the people answered and said, May it never happen that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods.

17 For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery and who did those great signs in our sight and has kept us in all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed.

18 And the LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land; therefore, will we also serve the LORD, for he is our God.

19 Then Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not allow your rebellions nor your sins.

20 If ye forsake the LORD and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you, after he has done you good.

21 And the people said unto Joshua, No, but we will serve the LORD.

22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye shall be witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We shall be witnesses.

23 Now, therefore, take away, the strange gods which are among you and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.

24 And the people replied unto Joshua, We will serve the LORD our God and hear his voice.

25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them statutes and laws in Shechem.

26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and taking a great stone, he set it up there under an oak that was in the sanctuary of the LORD.

27 And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke unto us: it shall be, therefore, a witness unto you lest ye deny your God.

28 So Joshua sent the people, each one unto his inheritance.

29 And after these things, Joshua, the son of Nun, the slave of the LORD, died, being one hundred and ten years old.

30 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in Mount Ephraim, on the north side of the Mountain of Gaash.

31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua and who had known all the works of the LORD that he had done with Israel.

32 And the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the part of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred ewes, and it became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph.

33 And Eleazar, the son of Aaron, died, and they buried him in the hill of Phinehas, his son, which was given to him in the mountain of Ephraim.

Joshua 24 Commentary

Chapter 24

God's benefits to their fathers. (1-14) Joshua renews the covenant between the people and God. (15-28) Joshua's death, Joseph's bones buried, The state of Israel. (29-33)

Verses 1-14 We must never think our work for God done, till our life is done. If he lengthen out our days beyond what we expected, like those of Joshua, it is because he has some further service for us to do. He who aims at the same mind which was in Christ Jesus, will glory in bearing the last testimony to his Saviour's goodness, and in telling to all around, the obligations with which the unmerited goodness of God has bound him. The assembly came together in a solemn religious manner. Joshua spake to them in God's name, and as from him. His sermon consists of doctrine and application. The doctrinal part is a history of the great things God had done for his people, and for their fathers before them. The application of this history of God's mercies to them, is an exhortation to fear and serve God, in gratitude for his favour, and that it might be continued.

Verses 15-28 It is essential that the service of God's people be performed with a willing mind. For LOVE is the only genuine principle whence all acceptable service of God can spring. The Father seeks only such to worship him, as worship him in spirit and in truth. The carnal mind of man is enmity against God, therefore, is not capable of such spiritual worship. Hence the necessity of being born again. But numbers rest in mere forms, as tasks imposed upon them. Joshua puts them to their choice; but not as if it were indifferent whether they served God or not. Choose you whom ye will serve, now the matter is laid plainly before you. He resolves to do this, whatever others did. Those that are bound for heaven, must be willing to swim against the stream. They must not do as the most do, but as the best do. And no one can behave himself as he ought in any station, who does not deeply consider his religious duties in family relations. The Israelites agree with Joshua, being influenced by the example of a man who had been so great a blessing to them; We also will serve the Lord. See how much good great men do, by their influence, if zealous in religion. Joshua brings them to express full purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord. They must come off from all confidence in their own sufficiency, else their purposes would be in vain. The service of God being made their deliberate choice, Joshua binds them to it by a solemn covenant. He set up a monument of it. In this affecting manner Joshua took his last leave of them; if they perished, their blood would be upon their own heads. Though the house of God, the Lord's table, and even the walls and trees before which we have uttered our solemn purposes of serving him, would bear witness against us if we deny him, yet we may trust in him, that he will put his fear into our hearts, that we shall not depart from him. God alone can give grace, yet he blesses our endeavours to engage men to his service.

Verses 29-33 Joseph died in Egypt, but gave commandment concerning his bones, that they should not rest in their grave till Israel had rest in the land of promise. Notice also the death and burial of Joshua, and of Eleazar the chief priest. The most useful men, having served their generation, according to the will of God, one after another, fall asleep and see corruption. But Jesus, having spent and ended his life on earth more effectually than either Joshua or Joseph, rose from the dead, and saw no corruption. And the redeemed of the Lord shall inherit the kingdom he prepared for them from the foundation of the world. They will say in admiration of the grace of Jesus, Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Chapter Summary

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.