Joshua24
New International Version
1Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
2Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.
3But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,
4and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.
5“‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out.
6When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea.
7But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8“‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.
9When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you.
10But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11“‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.
12I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.
13So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
14“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!
17It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.
18And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”
19Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.
20If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
21But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”
22Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.
23“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
24And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.”
25On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws.
26And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord.
27“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”
28Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.
29After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
30And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.
32And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.
33And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Joshua 24.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: 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).
vv1-14
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.
vv15-28
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.
vv29-33
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.
Key Words
יְהוֹשׁוּעַ: Jehoshua (i.e. Joshua), the Jewish leader
אָסַף: to gather for any purpose; hence, to receive, take away, i.e. remove (destroy, leave behind, put up, restore, etc.)
שֵׁבֶט: a scion, i.e. (literally) a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.) or (figuratively) a clan
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
שְׁכֶם: Shekem, a place in Palestine
קָרָא: to call out to (i.e. properly, address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications)
זָקֵן: old
רֹאשׁ: the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itc.)
שָׁפַט: to judge, i.e. pronounce sentence (for or against); by implication, to vindicate or punish; by extenssion, to govern; passively, to litigate (literally or figuratively)
שֹׁטֵר: properly, a scribe, i.e. (by analogy or implication) an official superintendent or magistrate
Cross References
Joshua 24The divine promise of sending hornets to drive out the Canaanites before Israel.
Supported by JFB
Jacob burying foreign gods and earrings under the oak tree in Shechem.
Supported by JFB
Joseph's dying request that his bones be carried up from Egypt to Canaan.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Esau leaving the promised land of Canaan to dwell in Mount Seir.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Moses' warning that Israel would inherit cities and vineyards they did not labor for.
Supported by John Calvin
The formal prohibition in the Decalogue describing Yahweh as a jealous God.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallel record of Joshua's death at the age of one hundred and ten.
Supported by JFB
Stephen's speech recalling the burial of Joseph and the patriarchs in Shechem.
Supported by Matthew Poole
New Testament commemoration of Joseph's faith concerning the exodus and his bones.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Shechem as the first place where God appeared to Abram in Canaan.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Terah departing Ur of the Chaldees with Abram prior to the Canaan call.
Supported by JFB
Balak calling upon Balaam to curse the rising forces of Israel.
Supported by John Calvin
Moses repeating the promise of the hornet driving out remaining nations.
Supported by JFB
Moses taking the bones of Joseph along during the initial Exodus departure.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Joshua's formal renewal of the covenant at the assembly in Shechem.
Supported by JFB