24:15The people had to decide whether they would obey the LORD, who had proven his trustworthiness, or obey the local gods, which were only hand-made idols. It’s easy to slip into a quiet rebeltion—going about life in your own way. But the time comes when you have to choose who or what will control you. The choice is yours. Will it be God, your own limited personality, or another imperfect substitute? Once you have chosen to be controlled by God’s Spirit, reaffirm your choice every day.
Life Application Study BibleJoshuaChapter 24
Joshua 24
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 347, 348, 349
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
24Joshua 24
The LorpD’s Covenant Renewed
124 Then Joshua summoned all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, including their elders, leaders, judges, and officers. So they came and presented themselves to God. 2Joshua said to 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 they worshiped other gods. *But I took your ancestor Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him into the land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants through his son Isaac. 4To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir, while Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. 5“Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I brought terrible plagues on Egypt; and afterward I brought you out as a free people. 6But when your ancestors arrived at the Red Sea,* the Egyptians chased after you with chariots and charioteers. 7When your ancestors cried out to the LORD, I put darkness between you and the Egyptians. I brought the sea crashing down on the Egyptians, drowning them. With your very own eyes you saw what I did. Then you lived in the wilderness for many years. 8“Finally, I brought you into the land of the Amorites on the east side of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I destroyed them before you. J gave you victory over them, and you took possession of their land. 9Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, started a war against Israel. He summoned Balaam son of Beor to curse you,!°but I would not listen to him. Instead, I made Balaam bless you, and so I rescued you from Balak. 1When you crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho, the men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I gave you victory over them. 12And I sent terror* ahead of you to drive out the two kings of the Amorites. It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory. '$1 gave you land you had not worked on, and J gave you towns you did not build—the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them. 14”So fear the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone. ‘But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.” 16The people replied, “We would never abandon the LORD and serve other gods. '”For the LORD our God is the one who rescued us and our ancestors from slavery in the land of Egypt. He performed mighty miracles before our very eyes. As we traveled through the wilderness among our enemies, he preserved us. 18It was the LORD who drove out the Amorites and the other nations living here in the land. So we, too, will serve the LORD, for he alone is our God.” 19Then Joshua warned the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for heis a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20If you abandon the LORD and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you.” 21But the people answered Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD!” 22"You are a witness to your own decision,” Joshua said. “You have chosen to serve the LORD.” “Yes,” they replied, “we are witnesses to what we have said.” 23“All right then,” Joshua said, “destroy the idols among you, and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” 24The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God. We will obey him alone.” 25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem, committing them to follow the decrees and regulations of the LORD. 26Joshua recorded these things in the Book of God’s Instructions. As a reminder of their agreement, he took a huge stone and rolled it beneath the terebinth tree beside the Tabernacle of the LORD. 27Joshua said to all the people, “This stone has heard everything the LORD said to us. It will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word to God.” 28Then Joshua sent all the people away to their own homelands.
Leaders Buried in the Promised Land
2929 After this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. 30They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 31The people of Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him—those who had personally experienced all that the LORD had done for Israel. 32The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought along with them when they left Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the parcel of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor for 100 pieces of silver.* This land was located in the territory allotted to the descendants of Joseph. 33Eleazar son of Aaron also died. He was buried in the hill country of Ephraim, in the town of Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas.
Textual footnotes
- 24:2 Hebrew the river; also in 24:3, 14, 15.
- 24:6 Hebrew sea of reeds.
- 24:12 Often rendered the hornet. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
- 24:32 Hebrew 100 kesitahs; the value or weight of the kesitah is no longer known,
Life Application Notes 7 notes
24:15in taking a definite stand for the LORD, Joshua again displayed his spiritual leadership. Regardless of what others decided, because Joshua had made a commitment to God, he was determined to set an example of living by that decision. The way we live shows others the strength of our commitment to serving God.
24:16-18,21All the peaple boldly claimed that they would never forsake the LORD. But they did not keep that promise. Very soon God would charge them with breaking their contract with him (Judges 2:2, 3). Talk is cheap. It is easy to say we will follow God, but it is much more important to live like it. Yet the nation followed God through Joshua’s lifetime, a great tribute to Joshua’s faith in God and powerful leadership.
24:23Joshua told the Israelites to destroy their foreign gods, or idols. To follow God requires destroying whatever gets in the way of worshiping him. We have our own form of idols—greed, wrong priorities, jealousies, prejudices—that get in the way of worshiping God. God is not satisfied if we merely hide these idols. We must completely remove them from our lives.
24:24-26The covenant between Israel and God was that the people would worship and obey the LORD alone. Their purpose was to become a holy nation that would influence the rest of the world for God. The conquest of Canaan was a means to achieve this purpose, but Israel became preoccupied with the land and lost sight of the LORD God. The same can happen in our lives. We can spend so much time on the means that we forget the end—to glorify God, Churches may make this mistake as well. For example, the congregation may pour all of its energies into a new facility, only to become self-satisfied or fearful of letting certain groups use it. If this happens, they have focused on the building and lost sight of its purpose— to bring others to God.
24:29-31The book of Joshua opens with a new leader being handed a seemingly impossible task—to lead the nation in taking over the land of Canaan. By following God closely, Joshua led the people through military victories and faithful spiritual obedience. In 24:16 we read that the people were sure they would never forsake the LORD. The response of the whole nation during these many years is a tribute both to Joshua’s leadership and to the God he faithfully served.
24:33Joshua and Eleazar died, but not before iaying before the people the fundamentals of what it means to have faith in God. We are to honor and serve the LORD alone (24:14). This is based on a choice: to obey him instead of following other gods (24:15). We are incapable, however, of properly worshiping him because of our rebeltion and sins (24:19). By choosing God as LORD, we enter into a covenant with him (24:25) whereby he promises not only to forgive and love us, but also to enable us by his Spirit to do his work here on earth. This covenant requires us to renounce the principles and practices of the culture around us that are hostile to God’s plan (24:23). This is not to be done alone, but by binding ourselves together with others who have faith in God. (See Deuteronomy 30:15-20 for a similar message from Moses.)