Joshua 24:1-28

1 And Joshua gathered all the tribe of Israel to Selo, and convoked their elders, and their officers, and their judges, and set them before God.

2 And Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers at first sojourned beyond the river, Thara, the father of Abraam and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods.

3 And I took your father Abraam from the other side of the river, and I guided him through all the land, and I multiplied his seed;

4 and I gave to him Isaac, and to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau mount Seir for him to inherit: and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt, and became there a great and populous and mighty nation: and the Egyptians afflicted them.

5 And I smote Egypt with the wonders that I wrought among them.

6 And afterwards brought out our fathers from Egypt, and ye entered into the Red Sea; and the Egyptians pursued after our fathers with chariots and horses into the Red Sea.

7 And we cried aloud to the Lord; and he put a cloud and darkness between us and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt; and ye were in the wilderness many days.

8 And he brought us into the land of the Amorites that dwelt beyond Jordan, and the Lord delivered them into our hands; and ye inherited their land, and utterly destroyed them from before you.

9 And Balac, king of Moab, son of Sepphor, rose up, and made war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam to curse us.

10 But the Lord thy God would not destroy thee; and he greatly blessed us, and rescued us out of their hands, and delivered them .

11 And ye crossed over Jordan, and came to Jericho; and the inhabitants of Jericho fought against us, the Amorite, and the Chananite, and the Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Chettite, and the Gergesite, and the Lord delivered them into our hands.

12 And he sent forth the hornet before you; and he drove them out from before you, twelve kings of the Amorites, not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

13 And he gave you a land on which ye did not labour, and cities which ye did not build, and ye were settled in them; and ye eat vineyards and oliveyards which ye did not plant.

14 And now fear the Lord, and serve him in righteousness and justice; and remove the strange gods, which our fathers served beyond the river, and in Egypt; and serve the Lord.

15 But if it seem not good to you to serve the Lord, choose to yourselves this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods of your fathers that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, among whom ye dwell upon their land: but I and my house will serve the Lord, for he is holy.

16 And the people answered and said, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord, so as to serve other gods.

17 The Lord our God, he is God; he brought up us and our fathers from Egypt, and kept us in all the way wherein we walked, and among all the nations through whom we passed.

18 And the Lord cast out the Amorite, and all the nations that inhabited the land from before us: yea, we will serve the Lord, for he is our God.

19 And Joshua said to the people, Indeed ye will not be able to serve the Lord, for God is holy; and he being jealous will not forgive your sins and your transgressions.

20 Whensoever ye shall forsake the Lord and serve other gods, then he shall come upon you and afflict you, and consume you, because he has done you good.

21 And the people said to Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the Lord.

22 And Joshua said to the people, Ye witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen the Lord to serve him.

23 And now take away the strange gods that are among you, and set your heart right toward the Lord God of Israel.

24 And the people said to Joshua, We will serve the Lord, and we will hearken to his voice.

25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and gave them a law and an ordinance in Selo before the tabernacle of the God of Israel.

26 And he wrote these words in the book of the laws of God: and Joshua took a great stone, and set it up under the oak before the Lord.

27 And Joshua said to the people, Behold, this stone shall be among you for a witness, for it has heard all the words that have been spoken to it by the Lord; for he has spoken to you this day; and this shall be among you for a witness in the last days, whenever ye shall deal falsely with the Lord my God.

28 And Joshua dismissed the people, and they went every man to his place.

Joshua 24:1-28 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. in.
• [b]. gave.
• [c]. set himself in array.
• [d]. shall eat.
• [e]. See Mark 1. 7. Luke 3. 16. 1 Pet 2. 24.
• [f]. whereas on the contrary.
• [g]. Properly a pine or turpentine tree. So chap. 17. 9.