Joshua 24:14

The Israelites Promise to Serve Yahweh

14 "So now, revere Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; remove the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.

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 before you [the] hornet and they drove out before you two kings of the Amorites; [but] not by your sword or bow.

13 I gave to you a land that you have not labored on, and cities that you have not built, and you live in them; you eat [from] vineyards and olive groves that you have not planted.'

14 "So now, revere Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; remove the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.

15 But if it is bad in your eyes to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you want to serve, whether it is the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you [are] living; but as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh."

16 And the people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we would forsake Yahweh to serve other gods,

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "fathers"
• [b]. That is, the Euphrates