Joshua 24

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.'

``We Will Serve the LORD"

14 "Now, therefore, ²¹fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

15 "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or ²²the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

16 The people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods;

17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.

18 "The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."

19 Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, ²³for He is a holy God. He is ²⁴a jealous God; ²⁵He will not forgive your transgression or your sins.

20 "²⁶If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you."

21 The people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD."

22 Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that ²⁷you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

23 "Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and ²⁸incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."

24 ²⁹The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and we will obey His voice."

25 ³⁰So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

26 And Joshua ³¹wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

27 Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, ³²this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God."

28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.

Joshua's Death and Burial

29 It came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred and ten years old.

30 And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in ³³Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.

31 ³⁴Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived * * Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

32 Now ³⁵they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground ³⁶which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph's sons.

33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah of ³⁷Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country 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.

Cross References

• 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
• 21. Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 18:13; 1 Samuel 12:24
• 22. Judges 6:10
• 23. Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:7, 26
• 24. Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14
• 25. Exodus 23:21
• 26. Deuteronomy 4:25, 26
• 27. Psalms 119:173
• 28. 1 Kings 8:57, 58; Psalms 119:36; Psalms 141:4
• 29. Exodus 19:8; Exodus 24:3, 7; Deuteronomy 5:27
• 30. Exodus 24:8
• 31. Deuteronomy 31:24
• 32. Joshua 22:27, 34
• 33. Joshua 19:50
• 34. Judges 2:6
• 35. Genesis 50:24, 25; Exodus 13:19
• 36. Genesis 33:19; John 4:5; Acts 7:15
• 37. Joshua 22:13

Footnotes

• [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"
• [g]. Or "reverence"
• [h]. Or "faithfulness"
• [i]. I.e. Euphrates
• [j]. Lit "bondmen"
• [k]. Lit "listen to"
• [l]. Lit "with"
• [m]. Lit "prolonged days after"
• [n]. Heb "qesitah"
• [o]. Or "on the hill"

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.