Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 24:14
Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
14. Now therefore fear the Lord ] Comp. Job 28:28, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding;” Psa 2:11, “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling;” Pro 1:7, “ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
in sincerity and in truth ] “with perfite herte and most trewe,” Wyclif. The Greek word here rendered “sincerity” in the LXX. occurs also in 1Co 5:8, “let us keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth;” 2Co 1:12, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world;” 2Co 2:17, “but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” The Latin word from which our “sincerity” comes, denotes “honey without wax,” unmixed purity. The Greek word is considered by some to be founded on the idea of something held up in the rays of the sun, and proved to be without speck or flaw.
put away the gods which your fathers served ] Two epochs of ancestral idolatry are here alluded to; ( a) on the other side of the flood, i. e. the Euphrates, in Mesopotamia; and ( b) in Egypt. Some have supposed that the expression alludes to idolatry “in the heart,” but this is untenable. (i) In Lev 17:7 we read, “they (the people) shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring.” (ii) Again in Amo 5:25-26, quoted by St Stephen in his address before the Sanhedrim (Act 7:42-43), “Have ye offered (= did ye offer) unto Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.” (iii) Once more, in Eze 20:6-8 we read, “In the day that I lifted up my hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt but they rebelled against Me, and would not hearken unto Me; they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt.” Joshua’s words plainly imply his sad conviction that there were still idolaters amongst them in secret, as there were in the days of Jacob before him, Gen 35:2, and of Samuel after him, 1Sa 7:3, seq.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jos 24:14-29
Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him.
The last days of Joshua
I. The reasonableness of serving God (verses 14, 15). To serve God, to obey Him, to love Him, to submit heart and life to His control, is only a seemly and adequate acknowledgment of claims felt to be just. Gods character, His mercy, His grace in the gospel, His promises of pardon, the gift of eternal life through His Son, create an obligation which, if it be disregarded, makes our attitude towards God not only sinful, but unreasonable. It is inconsistent with all in us that is true and noble and manly. This is the paradox of sin: it makes one conscious of placing an inferior good above the superior, of seeking for dross and refusing the gold, of plucking a bauble and rejecting the crown.
II. The state of mind required for the service of God (verses 19, 20.) The service of God must be born of something more than impulse. It must be the result of choice; it must be the determined purpose of the whole being to enter and continue in a life of obedience. To every one God is saying, Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Many desire to be Christians, they wish they were the servants of God, but they are unwilling to choose to become such. If for a time they set their faces heavenward, they soon turn back. When they sink in the Slough of Despond, they struggle to be free on the side nearest the City of Destruction. Such need to remember that, when the service of God is entered, the will is to be unalterably set towards Him.
III. The right attitude for those who propose to serve God. Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, &c. Joshua well understood the benefit arising from such a formal enactment.
1. It would be a test of the strength of their purpose. Often the way to disclose the feebleness of ones Christian aims is to bring them to the test of an open declaration–to ask, Are you willing that others should know, that all should know, that you commit yourself unqualifiedly to be the Lords?
2. It would be helpful by bringing to their aid the motive of consistency. Most men desire to act in harmony with their past record.
IV. The value of a single life devoted to the service of God. Joshuas days are now ended. His work is done, and he is ready for his reward. Few men have lived so worthily. Men are needed everywhere of like decision, and who are ready to thus openly declare for God. Will you be one? (Sermons by the Monday Club.)
Joshua, and his zest for the service of the Lord
This was a great event, and we ought to know the secret of its causes. It was, we see, this old man Joshuas burning, quenchless zeal for the service of the Lord, kindled full five and sixty years before. It led to results worthy to rank with the revival under Ezra, with the Pentecost at Jerusalem and at Caesarea, with the conversion of Roman emperors and British islanders to Christianity, with the Reformation and the triumphs of Wesley and Whitfield.
I. Zeal for the service of God is born of views which are taken of God. This plainly was the case with Joshua; this was the case with the people also, and universally this must be true. We are asked to view God as creation presents Him (Psa 19:1-14.). This has, at least, the merit of being poetry of the highest school; it is a thousand pities if it is not true. Oh, does not this vast fabric suggest a God? Perhaps not; but we have got the suggestion somehow, and to our anxious inquiries of her all nature seems to give back a ready affirmative response. We are asked to view God as He is presented to us in the phenomena of mind. One observes that these mental phenomena taper away downwards to the tiniest forms of sentient life. One feels that somehow it must and does, in a corresponding manner, expand in its upward way, and when we have reached the loftiest heights of the finite we seem to come in sight of the lowest rays of light from the throne of the Infinite mind. Then if the Lord our God is one Lord, there will be a concentration of thought on Him; our love will be undivided, rising to suitable proportions to its Infinite object. We are asked to see God in His providence. This is a name we give to a constantly-observed work resulting from an unseen Presence. We notice the perpetual operation of certain great forces in nature, which say nothing so distinctly as they say that they are only the expressions of an all-comprehending and sufficient Power behind them. Can we connect this governing power with that all-pervading mind, and with the creating power of which we have spoken? Yes, I am sure of it. There are unattached threads in all. They evidently find their complements in one another. Then if this is the God of my life, throughout my days my grateful powers shall sound His praise, my song shall wake with opening light, and cheer the dark and silent night. But all these are summed up and expressed by the Incarnation. You are asked to view God in Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son hath declared Him. It is when we view God thus that our zeal for His service will rise and abound; will flow forth and overflow. Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small, love so amazing, so Divine, demands a house of prayer, a noble service, Christian toil, more than we can give, or think to give.
II. Zeal for Gods service is nourished by the views which we cherish concerning the character of that service. Our experience and our observation are faithful witnesses hereto. Joshua presents a severe but accurate view of Gods holiness, and then urges a service that shall perfectly accord with it–a service that was pure, and sincere, and true, and grateful. Serve the Lord, said he, in sincerity and truth. It must, he meant to say, be service of the heart rather than of the hands. A service which demands the heart nourishes the zeal born of right conceptions of Jehovah. This is living bread, this is water of life. Our God searcheth the heart, but we are not afraid, we are the more confident. The sacrifices He desires are the broken heart, the contrite spirit (Isa 66:1-5). But outwardly and visibly it must be pure, as inwardly it was sincere and true. The oldest forms of Gods service were wealthy in sacrifice, and prayers, and Divine blessing. David, the Homer, the Virgil, the Milton of the Hebrews, enriched that service by adding psalmody and music. Later times added the stated reading of the Scriptures, and later still we have the sacraments and the proclamation of the gospel. Of our Christian ritual, then, we boldly say that it supplies us with the green pastures and still waters of Gods Word. It has the spread table of heavens bounties, if not dainties. It anoints the devout worshipper with a holy oil, and gives him an overflowing cup. It is the expression of the goodness and mercy which follow every step of the pilgrim, making him glad to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
III. Joshuas enthusiasm was perfected by his conviction of the influence which the worship of God exerts on men. To tell the history of its influence on individuals is to tell the story of every worthy instance of personal piety. You may seek for them and you will find them among all ranks and kindreds. You may scan the calendar of your own history, and its red-letter days are those you have spent in the service of God. To tell its influence on families would be to write the history of the best of earths households and homes from tent to palace. To these God has kept covenant and showed mercy to the fourth generation. What a heritage of mercy! Let us in our families see to it that the legacy never runs out. Let the men of the fourth generation in this descent remember what they ought to do. But how shall we tell its historic influence on the nation? It has supplied the place of navies; invincible armadas have been scattered as forest leaves before it. It has been better than armies, than revenue, than police. (G. Woolnough.)
In sincerity and in truth.
Marks of being sincerely religious
Sincerity is the disposition of soul which alone can recommend us to God, and incline Him to look with an eye of mercy upon the errors and frailties of our conduct.
I. If we would know whether we serve God in sincerity, let us look with an attentive eye into our hearts, in order to trace the true springs or principles of our actions.
II. Another evidence of our serving God in sincerity is, when we are as careful to preserve a good conscience as to save appearances, and act with the same integrity in secret, where God is the sole spectator of our actions, as when they lie open to the view and observation of the world.
III. Another evidence of our serving God in sincerity and in truth is, when we pay an equal regard to the whole law, and mean not, by selecting some favourite duties, to compensate for the habitual violation or neglect of others that happen not to fall in with our taste and inclination.
IV. Another evidence of our serving God in sincerity is, when we resist and overcome temptations; for to serve God in those instances only where we are not tempted to disobey is a very defective test of our integrity. The decisive proof is, when we are faithful to our duty in opposition to seducements, and reject every solicitation that offers to corrupt us.
V. The last evidence I shall mention of our serving God in sincerity is, if, in cases where we are doubtful of the obligation or lawfulness of an action, we always incline to do what appears most conformable to duty, what will best answer the ends of piety, and be most conducive to the honour of religion. (G. Cart, B. A.)
Put away the gods which your fathers served.–
An address to image-worshippers
Here is a forcible address to every image-worshipper, and, indeed, every image-possessor: Put away these gods from you. What have any who own the Bible for their guide to do with these vain and worthless toys of sin, these devices of Satan, and degrading productions of ignorance, the very perversions of reason, as well as the corruptions of revelation? They are everywhere the contempt and derision of inspired truth. To make them is directly prohibited, and to destroy them explicitly commanded, so that it may be matter of wonder how any can plead for their use, under any plausibility or pretence, as remembrancers only of spiritual and hidden realities. If in the Church of the Old Testament the very mention of idols, or the keeping any representations of them, became so offensive in the Divine eye, what shall be said of any rivalship in the heart in services and worship offered to saints or angels? Supplications and sacrifices, offered even to holy intelligences, must be idolatry in its spirit, equally offensive to God and opposed to His Word as the most degrading rites of the heathen. Oh, what false gods, what spiritual imagery is formed within the chambers of the heart! Who does not need to put them away, and to cleanse himself from the filthiness of flesh and spirit! How easily does carnal affection change the best of things into the worst l There is nothing but, through the corruption of imagination or sinfulness of affection, may become an idol of the heart. Whatever denies to God supremacy of love, and occupies the regards to be paid to spiritual and eternal realities, that is an idol to be put away; and happy are such who can say, What have I to do any more with idols? Choice enters into the very nature of true and sincere religion, so that none serve the Lord cheerfully, acceptably, and with profit, whose heart is not itself a willing offering. (W. Seaton.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. Fear the Lord] Reverence him as the sole object of your religious worship.
Serve him] Perform his will by obeying his commands.
In sincerity] Having your whole heart engaged in his worship.
And in truth] According to the directions he has given you in his infallible word.
Put away the gods, c.] From this exhortation of Joshua we learn of what sort the gods were, to the worship of whom these Israelites were still attached.
1. Those which their fathers worshipped on the other side of the flood: i.e., the gods of the CHALDEANS, fire, light, the sun.
2. Those of the EGYPTIANS, Apis, Anubis, the ape, serpents, vegetables, c.
3. Those of the CANAANITES, MOABITES, &c., Baal-peor or Priapus, Astarte or Venus, &c., &c. All these he refers to in this and the following verse. See Clarke on Jos 24:33.
How astonishing is this, that, after all God had done for them, and all the miracles they had seen, there should still be found among them both idols and idolaters! That it was so we have the fullest evidence, both here and in Jos 24:23; Am 5:26 and in Ac 7:41. But what excuse can be made for such stupid, not to say brutish, blindness? Probably they thought they could the better represent the Divine nature by using symbols and images, and perhaps they professed to worship God through the medium of these. At least this is what has been alleged in behalf of a gross class of Christians who are notorious for image worship. But on such conduct God will never look with any allowance, where he has given his word and testimony.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In sincerity and in truth; either these two expressions note the same thing; or sincerity is opposed to the mixture of false gods with the true, as it here follows, or of a false and corrupt worship of God with that which God appointeth; and truth is opposed to dissimulation and falseness, and instability of heart.
Put away the gods; whereby it appears, that although Joshua had doubtless prevented and purged out all public and manifest idolatry, yet there were some of them who practised it in their private houses and retirements. See Jos 24:23; Amo 5:25,26; Ac 7:42,43. Your fathers, Terah, and Nahor, and Abraham, as Jos 24:2, and others of your ancestors.
On the other side of the flood, and in Egypt: see Eze 23:3,8,19,21,27. Under these particulars no doubt he comprehends all other false gods, which were served by the nations amongst whom they were, as appears from Jos 24:15, but only mentions these, as the idols which they were in more danger of worshipping than those in Canaan; partly because those of Canaan had been now lately and palpably disgraced by their inability to preserve their worshippers from total ruin; and partly because the other idols came recommended unto them by the venerable name of antiquity, and the custom of their forefathers. See Jer 44:17; Eze 20:18.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14-28. Now therefore fear the Lord,and serve him in sincerity and in truthAfter having enumeratedso many grounds for national gratitude, Joshua calls on them todeclare, in a public and solemn manner, whether they will be faithfuland obedient to the God of Israel. He avowed this to be his ownunalterable resolution, and urged them, if they were sincere inmaking a similar avowal, “to put away the strange gods that wereamong them”a requirement which seems to imply that some weresuspected of a strong hankering for, or concealed practice of, theidolatry, whether in the form of Zabaism, the fire-worship of theirChaldean ancestors, or the grosser superstitions of the Canaanites.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Jos 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Challenge Issued and Accepted, vs. 14-24
The things of this reading include one of the greatest resolutions and challenges in all the Bible. It can be considered in three parts, verses 14-15, 16-18, 19-24.
1) The first consists of Joshua’s challenge to the people and his personal resolution. Joshua has brought the people’s history before them in his previous words. Now he challenges them to have reverent fear toward the Lord and to sincerely and honestly serve Him.
This is a call to them to go beyond mere outward formality and ritual, which they were all likely not doing. Joshua’s words suggest that there had always been idolatry among the people, for they are told to put away the gods they had kept among them since the time of Abraham and his brother, Nahor (see Rachel’s theft of her father’s gods, Gen 31:19 ff), and the gods some of them had clung to since they had come out of Egypt.
If it should seem to them wrong to serve the Lord it was time for Israel to declare whom they would serve. If they do not intend to serve the Lord God, but will insist on serving the gods of their forefathers, or of Egypt, or the new gods of the Amorites which they found in Canaan, then let them declare it now.
But Joshua rises to his great resolution, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. ” Not only was Joshua strong to declare his own intent unequivocally, he could also speak, as the head of his house, for all his household. This is as it should be with all Christian men today, (Eph 6:4).
2) The second act of the account is the declaration of the people, or of their spokesmen. They recoiled from the suggestion that they might forsake the Lord who had brought them from Egypt and given them this good land of Canaan, in which they were dwelling.
They stood ready to accredit the Lord with having delivered them from the bondage of Egypt; preserved them through all their way by His great signs, which they had seen with their own eyes; and delivered them safely to the Promised Land. How could they turn their backs on Him and turn to idol gods? Therefore, they also resolved, “We will also serve the Lord; for he is our God.”
3) The third act of closing words of the passage show the magnitude of Israel’s promise, which Joshua understood better than they. After having just challenged them to serve the Lord alone, he now tells the people they cannot serve the Lord, because He is a holy and jealous God and one who will not forgive them their transgressions and sins.
How can Joshua tell them this when he has just challenged them to turn from false gods and serve the Lord alone? Is he challenging them to do something they cannot do? The sequel will bring out his meaning. Under existing conditions among them they will forsake the Lord, turn to the false gods, and the Lord God will turn upon them, do them hurt and consume them although He has previously done them good, (2Jn 1:8).
But the people were insistent that they would, indeed, continue to serve the Lord and would surely not turn from Him to the false gods. Upon this Joshua made them witnesses against themselves that they will adhere to God and shun false gods. Now Joshua can tell them what they must do if they live up to their resolution.
There were already those among them worshipping the idol gods. The people probably thought they were keeping this false worship secret, and the elders were likely pretending that such worship did not exist, but Joshua knew it did. Certainly. the Lord knew it. The reason Joshua told them they could not serve the Lord was because they were harboring this false religion among them. They must reject it and incline their ear to the Lord to hear only His will. They said, “The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.”
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Jos. 24:14. Now therefore fear the Lord] The marvellous history so clearly and succinctly recounted was the natural preface for the exhortation which here begins. [Crosby.] Put away the gods which your fathers served] That is, Put away all gods made by men. Probably Joshua did not allude to exactly the same kind of gods as those worshipped by Terah, as Crosby suggests, who thinks that the Israelites may have kept some of the actual teraphim, named in Gen. 31:34, as heirlooms among their families. His other suggestion, that some of the idols of the subdued Canaanites had been preserved as curiosities, and were in danger of being presently regarded with reverence, is far more natural and likely. We cannot actually decide whether Joshua alluded to gods cherished in heart, or to images preserved in the tents of the people. It should not, however, be forgotten that even in the wilderness the Israelites are said to have shown manifest tendencies to idolatry (cf. Exodus 32; Amo. 5:25-26; Act. 7:39-43), as numbers of them had previously done in Egypt (Eze. 20:6-24).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jos. 24:14-18
CHOOSING GODS
Every man needs a god. The consciousness of this need is not to be lightly shaken off. A mans god is his individual choice, and tells us, not merely what he does worship, but what he would worship. Thus every mans religion is an expression of the desires of his own soul. The chosen religion of a human heart is a confession, in all the details of its faith and worship, of that hearts yearnings. The particular god whom we may choose is the delineation of our own conclusions about what is most desirable and most important in life. A man may alter his views of his god, and to that extent he alters his confession. A man may give up one god and choose another. Thus Jehovah called aloud to His people, through Jeremiah: Pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
In Joshuas appeal to the Israelites to choose Jehovah for their God, and in their response, we have the following points for consideration:
I. The choice of God for our God is a matter of liberty, and not of compulsion. Choose you this day whom ye will serve. After bringing the Israelites into this good land with a high hand and an outstretched arm, God speaks to them through the man whom He had raised up to lead them to so many victories, and gives them absolute freedom of choice. All this was in a solemn meeting, convened before God for this very purpose. The Lord gives us all equal liberty under the gospel. He will have no service which is not of the hearts own choosing.
1. Think of the choice of gods in the light of conscience. What says our sense of right? If it seem evil to a man to serve the Lord, the verdict of conscience should have weight. The word of God comes to us full of conscious purity. Whether it speaks to us in the Old Testament, or in the New, or in the person of Jesus Christ, it seems ever full of the feeling, Which of you convinceth me of sin?
2. Think of the choice of gods in the light of reason. What says the mind on this great question? Men are to weigh the evidences; they are to consider how things seem on either hand, and then choose. The Bible never plays the ecclesiastic with us. It never says, Do not read for yourself; do not think for yourself; submit yourself to the authority of the Church. On the contrary, the Scriptures bid every man to see for himself, to think for himself, to decide for himself. When the blind come to Christ, be the blindness physical or religious, He ever loves to begin with them by opening their eyes. God never shrinks from the enquiry of the intelligence which He has created in us. Whoever else may be nervous before the intense questionings of mans investigation, the voice of the Bible betrays no trembling.
3. Think of the choice of gods in the light of love. What answer does the heart make on this matter? This is a far more important item in our decision than the verdict of the understanding. After all, it is with the heart man believeth. If the heart be set on pleasure, the mind will decide against Christs self-denial. If the heart be ambitious, it will ignore the Saviours meekness and lowliness. If the heart be selfish, it will conclude that the self-sacrifice of the cross has no form nor comeliness sufficient to make it desirable.
4. Think of the choice of gods in the light of example. What says our neighbour? What say our best neighbours? What do the greatest benefactors of their fellow-men say? If men who by their own merits have risen to a chief place among their fellows, if the Joshuas of history are found crying, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, that should have some weight in our decision. Good citizens have sometimes been found with little religion; but, if history be fairly read, the best helpers of men are found on the side of the Bible.
Thus, the word of God appeals to the whole of a mans being, and to all life. Conscience, reason, love, or history, it matters not which is consulted; and if all are consulted, so much the better. They who thus enquire will be among the first to cry, This God is our God for ever and ever.
II. Seeing that God is what He is, the very liberty which God gives becomes a compulsion.
1. The works of God for men are an unmistakable manifestation of His deep love. The Israelites could not but have felt the reality of Divine love, as displayed in the mighty works of which they had just been reminded. God had done great things for them; they might well feel glad, even in thinking on His mighty acts. God has done for us all, in Christ, far more than He did for these Israelites. His very deeds for us are such a revelation of His heart as might well compel us to choose Him for ever. Emerson has written, in half a dozen subtle lines, this:
Nature centres into balls;
And her proud ephemerals,
Fast to surface and outside,
Scan the profile of the sphere;
Knew they what that signified,
A new genesis were here.
So it is. Nature is all rolled into balls. The earth is a ball. The sun is a ball. The moon and stars are balls. And we, proud, ephemeral creatures, stuck fast to the outside of one of the balls, which we call earth, scan the profile of this ball, or of one of those other balls up in the heavens, and know almost nothing of what we so readily conclude we have seen.
Knew we what that signified,
A new genesis were here.
The very fulness of wisdom and power and love displayed in the creation of a single world, could we understand all, might perhaps be well-nigh enough to generate us into new creatures towards the Creator. But in Jesus Christ we look upon the profile of God Himself; and every feature in the life of the Saviour tells of the love of God.
2. With all this fulness of love, God leaves every man his liberty. He says, Choose whom ye will serve. Love and liberty, together, tend to hold the heart as nothing else can. Force forges no links so stout as those of freedom. Might has no ties so matchlessly strong as those of love. God loves as no mother ever did love, and then asks if we choose to leave Him? The very question might well bring us into a life-long bondage. Mahomet said: Paradise is under the shadow of swords. So it may be, as to our poor little political man-made heavens. Men, in their earthly kingdoms, can only keep up any semblance of heaven by holding over their petty paradises the sign of blood and pain and death. Peace, born of the blades of war; that is the peace which communities of men manage to get into. Sword-made heavens are ours here; sword-made, and sword-kept. So far the Gospel according to MahometParadise is under the shadow of swords. No one is much tempted to sing, And must I leave thee, paradise? about that kind of thing. Then God shews us His way of making paradise He shews us power enough to crush, easily, all opposition to His will. He leads His people up from bondage with a strong hand, and with a tender heart. The sea is nothing to Him; the wilderness is nothing; Jordan is nothing; fortified cities are nothing. God leads His people where He will; He keeps them as the apple of His eye. He does this year after year; and then, as their great earthly leader is about to die, God musters the hosts for whom He has so long and so blessedly cared, and says, Choose you this day whom ye will serve. There is only one thing to say before love like that: God forbid that we should forsake Jehovah to serve other gods. Before a similar experience of mercy and love, and in answer to the Saviours similar question, Peter, of necessity, similarly answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
III. He who thinks fairly on Gods claims finds the compulsion to choose and serve God irresistible. Brought face to face with what God had done for them, and thinking on the gracious way in which God appealed to them, the people could only declare themselves on the Lords side. He who will only think of God, and keep thinking, must follow God.
1. Here is the compulsion of admiration. The people dwelt on Jehovahs works as though they would say, Who is a god like unto our God?
2. Here is the compulsion of gratitude. God had done so much for them, that they felt they were not their own. Really reflecting on the love and grace of Jehovah, they acknowledged themselves drawn irresistibly to Him. Mr. Cooke, in his recent lectures in Boston, has thus retold an ancient classical story: When Ulysses sailed past the isle of the Sirens, who had the power of charming by their songs all who listened to them, he heard the sorcerers music on the shore, and, to prevent himself and crew from landing, he filled their ears with wax, and bound himself to the mast with knotted thongs. Thus, according to the subtile Grecian story, he passed safely the fatal strand. But when Orpheus, in search of the Golden Fleece, went by this island, hebeing, as you remember, a great musicianset up better music than that of the Sirens, enchanted his crew with a melody superior to the alluring song of the sea nymphs, and so, without needing to fill the Argonauts ears with wax, or to bind himself to the mast with knotted thongs, he passed the sorcerous shore not only safely, but with disdain. God does not keep us from hearing all that can be said of other gods, which are no gods; God does not bind us by force, so that we cannot seek and follow them; He does but make better music, and ask us to choose for ourselves. If men do not choose to serve Him, it is because they have closed their eyes to His wonderful works, and stopped their ears against His gracious words.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos. 24:14-15.THE PLEADINGS OF HOLY LOVE.
I. Joshuas recognition of every mans spiritual liberty. He saw that every man could choose, would choose, and must choose for himself.
1. Men compelled to serve, would be only slaves, and God seeks sons.
2. Men compelled to serve, would render only the obedience of the hands, and God is satisfied with nothing less than the love of the heart.
3. Men compelled to serve, would be utterly miserable, and Gods great desire is to make them supremely happy.
II. Joshuas urgency to bring every man into subjection to God.
1. The absence of force is no sign of want of love. He who ignores force does not necessarily undervalue persuasion. He who refuses to coerce is in a better position to persuade.
2. All religious persecution has been a mistake from the beginning. Even the days before the dark ages were far too bright to suffer an error like this. By His example, God has said from the beginning: Put up thy sword into its sheath; My kingdom is not of this world. All the time spiritual liberty is inherent and essential, religious persecution is a solecism of speech, and a contradiction of human life. The whole thing is self-condemned, even before we come in sight of the principles of Christianity.
III. Joshuas qualifications for pleading with his fellow-men. We have in these words
1. The appeal of a man having much knowledge of the human heart. Joshua saw that the people were faithful and earnest now. He would make them still stronger in all that was good. He knew how fickle men are. He also knew that men were open to abiding impressions from the appeals of truth and manliness.
2. The appeal of a man with deep and firm convictions about God. He was convinced of Gods claims; of Gods supreme and incomparable glory; that the highest interests both of individual men and of the nation lay in serving Him.
3. The appeal of a man with much personal fitness for the work. Joshuas advanced age; his large experience in Gods service; his high authority with the people; his choice of the time; the tact and wisdom of his words.
4. The appeal of a man whose own life was a noble example. Joshua had been remarkably true to God all his life long. He had been faithful among the faithless, even when Moses and Aaron had more or less gone astray. Joshua was equally resolved to be faithful to the last. Let others choose as they might, he and his would serve the Lord to the end. The plea of the aged mans words was noble; the plea from his beautiful life was nobler still.
Jos. 24:14.THE OBLIGATIONS ARISING FROM GODS GOODNESS.
I. Gods works for men should impose fear. Now therefore fear the Lord.
II. Gods works for men should provoke service. And serve Him.
III. Gods works for men should induce realness. Serve Him in sincerity and in truth.
IV. Gods works for men should lead to sanctification. Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt.
Jos. 24:15, last clause.PERSONAL DECISION FOR GOD.
I. Joshua decided for himself, even though he should be left by himself. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Whatever help and encouragement may be derived from fellowship with others in things general, there are great aspects of life in which the soul is isolated and alone.
1. The individuality of the souls want. All our spiritual bread is eaten in secret.
2. The solitude of the souls life. The heart knoweth its own bitterness. There are other things, also, with which a stranger doth not intermeddle.
3. The loneliness of the soul in death. Not only in some places in life, but at the end of life, men stand where their fellows cannot reach them. We must die alone. It is well that we should choose for our God one on whom we can rely when we are placed where no one of our fellows can reach us. Joshua felt so confident in Jehovah, that, let others do as they might, he would serve the Lord. His household were of the same mind with himself. It is not necessary to think that Joshua really decided for his house, as some suggest, excepting to determine that no other gods should be worshipped in the place where his authority imposed upon him so much of responsibility.
II. Joshua decided for God after a long trial of God. He had tasted and handled and felt, for many years, the joy of the great name which he here commended to others. There had been in his experience
1. Trials in heavy responsibilities. Such burdens his position had put upon him daily.
2. Trials in great emergencies. As, for instance, in the crossing of the Jordan and the overthrow of Jericho.
3. Trials in great battles in the open field. Such were the conflicts at Beth-horon and the waters of Merom.
4. Trials in painful defeats. He could remember how God failed him not at Ai. Besides all this, there were the
(5.) Trials of his own spiritual life. These, amidst such great daily cares and temptations, could hardly have been small. Joshua looked back on what God had been to him in all this, and said, I will serve the Lord.
III. What Joshua decided individually, that he avowed openly.
1. The servant of God can afford to confess God. This is a name that brings much glory, and no real shame.
2. The confession of the faithful man tends to strengthen faithfulness still more. To confess God is to stand openly committed to serve God, and the very decision gives strength. Csar meditating at the Rubicon was Csar in his weakness; after the words, the die is cast, he seemed almost another man.
3. To confess our love to God is due, not only to ourselves, but to others. They too may be made strong by our firmness. What Joshua so firmly says, the people, at once, firmly echo.
4. To confess ourselves on the Lords side is due, most of all, to the Lord Himself. He by whom we are all that we are, may well be acknowledged, even though we should have to stand quite by ourselves. As Henry well says, Those that are bound for heaven must be willing to swim against the stream, and must not do as the most do, but as the best do.
Jos. 24:15.I WILL SERVE THE LORD.
As for me and my house, said Joshua, we will serve the Lord; and doubtless he would have said, If my house will not, still, as for me, I will.
In response to Joshuas appeal, say ye after this fashion:
I. Some of my friends have made up their minds for wealth; I will serve God, and live for Him.
II. Some of my friends have gone in for pleasure; as for me, I will serve God, and live for Him. The paraphrase which Doddridge wrote on his family mottoWhile we live, let us liveshall be my motto:
Live while you live, the epicure would say,
And seize the pleasures of the present day.
Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries,
And give to God each moment as it flies.
Lord, in my view let both united be;
I live in pleasure when I live in Thee.
III. Some of my friends have gone in for doubt; as for me, I will serve the Lord.
In doing this, I shall be in good company, in fellowship with the greatest and best of all ages.
This is a resolution which will stand trial by fire.
The resolution thus to serve God will stand the test of conscience.
The resolve to serve God will stand the test of a deathbed. Wealth will not. Earthly dignities and honours will not. Pleasure will not. Unbelief will not.
The service of God through Christ will stand the test of the judgment-day.
Come then, young and old, let us enrol ourselves on the Lords side.[Dr. Kennedy.]
It is not enough to have made a good beginning, but he who perseveres to the end shall be saved. (Mat. 24:13.)
God can put up with no mixed religion; with Him it is all mine, or let it alone altogether. (Mat. 4:10.)[Osiander.]
Jos. 24:15.THE TWO SERVICES.
I. The service of sin is essentially wrong, and the service of God is essentially right.
II. The service of sin is essentially degrading, and the service of God is essentially exalting.
III. The service of sin is essentially painful, and the service of God is essentially happy.
IV. The service of sin is essentially destructive, and the service of God is essentially saving.[James Parsons.]
MANS POWER OF CHOOSING EVIL
That men would be better than they are if they always chose good instead of evil, is evident. But that they would be better, or indeed, could have a rational existence, if they had not the power of choosing evil instead of good, is the most foolish and presumptuous of fancies.[Sterling.]
Jos. 24:16-18.GOOD WORDS RIGHTLY SPOKEN.
I. The influence of good words spoken in a right way.
II. The influence of good words spoken at a fit time.
III. The influence of one mans confession upon others.
Jos. 24:16-18.FORSAKING THE LORD GOD.
I. Devout horror at the thought of forsaking God.
1. The recoil of loving hearts from the suggestion of apostasy. God forbid that we should forsake the Lord.
2. The contempt of the truly pious for idolatry. That we should forsake Jehovah to serve other gods.
II. Holy admiration of God.
1. It is one thing to resolve not to forsake God, and another to adore and love Him.
2. Where God is sincerely loved, His tender mercies are gratefully remembered.
3. They who love God much, so far from. fearing His power, make it their delight and confidence. Therefore will we also serve the Lord.
4. They who love and serve God sincerely, ever find a possession in God. For He is our God.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(14) Fear the Lord.It should be remembered throughout the whole of this passage that Lord stands for JEHOVAH, the covenant God of Israel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
[ 14. Put away the gods which your fathers served Many expositors hold that these words do not necessarily imply the actual possession of idols by the people, but rather a tendency to idolatry, which was ever too painfully prominent in Israel until after the Babylonish exile. The spirit of the exhortation is, according to this view, well conveyed by Bush: “Keep away, renounce, repudiate, have nothing to do with, idolatry of any sort; being equivalent to a charge to preserve themselves pure from a contagion to which they were peculiarly liable.” Subsequent history shows how they failed. But it is scarcely supposable, that if Joshua meant to warn them merely against tendencies to idolatry he would have used the words here employed, and those still stronger ones, in Jos 24:23, Put away the strange gods which are among you the very words used by Jacob when his household gave up their strange gods, and he buried them at Shechem. Gen 35:2. Better, then, to understand that many of the Hebrews had still in their houses teraphim the gods which the ancient fathers worshipped beyond the Euphrates. Laban had them in his family, (Gen 30:19,) and Rachel carried them off, and they were probably the strange gods buried at Shechem. Gen 35:2-4. We again meet with them in the days of the Judges, (Jdg 17:5, Judges 17:18, Judges 17:20,) and in the time of David, and even in his house, (1Sa 19:13😉 and also in the time of Josiah, who tried to put them away. 2Ki 23:24. It is therefore by no means improbable that among many families in Israel these teraphim were zealously kept, and Joshua, knowing the fact and the danger of it, called this assembly and especially urged this matter, in order to abolish, if possible, this evil.
Though the fathers beyond the Euphrates seem to have worshipped or served these teraphim as gods, there is no sure evidence that they were ever worshipped as gods in Israel. But they were images more or less associated with a false worship, and therefore dangerous to the religion of the Hebrews.
In Egypt The fathers had carried these teraphim in their families to Egypt, and during all their captivity they had not lost sight of them. Comp. Eze 20:7-8.]
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“ Now therefore, fear YHWH, and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and you serve YHWH.”
The requirements were simple and yet demanding. They were firstly that they should ‘fear YHWH’, recognise His greatness, His sovereignty and His power, and serve Him without pretence, but truly and honestly. This meant, of course, in accordance with the Law already given to them.
And secondly that they should reject all rivals. It has already been mentioned that their fathers had worshipped other gods beyond the River, and now is added the fact of gods they had worshipped in Egypt. These were probably not the native gods of Egypt, for there is never any hint that they worshipped them, but gods commonly worshipped in Egypt by sojourners (also taken up by many Egyptians), on which for example had possibly been based the golden calves and the teraphim so often mentioned. We must remember that a good proportion of ‘the children of Israel’ were from a mixture of nations and would have worshipped a number of gods (Exo 12:38), and it is clear that traces of that worship were still among them (compare Gen 35:2).
So Joshua was now calling on them to renounce these ‘gods’ and serve YHWH only. Syncretism was always a huge danger, but it is noteworthy that at this stage there is no suggestion of their pandering to Canaanite gods, although Joshua was aware of the danger (Jos 24:15). They had not yet begun to mix with the Canaanites and learn their ways, a remarkable indication of the authenticity of the speech (a later writer would not have been able to resist incorporating such an idea here).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Exaction of the Promise to be Faithful
v. 14. Now, therefore, v. 15. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, v. 16. And the people, v. 17. for the Lord, our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, v. 18. and the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land, v. 19. And Joshua said unto the people, v. 20. If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, v. 21. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the Lord. v. 22. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves, v. 23. Now, therefore, put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, v. 24. And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord, our God, will we serve, and His voice will we obey. v. 25. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Ver. 14. Now, therefore, fear the Lord, &c. Here it is no longer Jehovah that speaks; Joshua himself addresses the Israelites, and, after all that he had just represented to them in the name of God, concludes with exhorting them to fear Jehovah; i.e. to open their whole heart to his religion, and to render him, in sincerity and in truth, with right and pure intentions, free from all hypocrisy, the worship due to him; and that without any mixture of idolatry, and according to his law, which is truth itself. “Put away from among you,” says he, “those idols, the worship of which your ancestors, Terah, Nahor, Abraham, and others, formerly joined with the worship of the true God, while they remained on the other side of the Euphrates. Remove from you that unhappy propensity to idolatry which you acquired in Egypt: in a word, resolve to serve God, and Him alone.” To the idols of the Chaldees and Egyptians, Joshua in the following verse adds the idols of the Amorites; and from the manner of his speaking, both here and in ver. 23 it is easy to discern, that the Israelites, notwithstanding all that the Lord had done for them, were by no means clear from the capital crime of idolatry. St. Augustin could not agree in this opinion; for, struck with the fine testimonies which Joshua himself bears to the faith of the Hebrews; and seeing it nowhere mentioned, that on account of the last exhortations of that holy sage, the people removed from them any idols; and being moreover unable to believe that God, who took vengeance of the Israelites for many lesser crimes, would have left their idolatry unpunished; this learned man has thought proper to interpret the words of Joshua conditionally, as if he had said; “If any one of you hath still the least inclination to idolatry, let him pluck it from his heart, and unreservedly devote himself to the worship of the only true God.” See Quaest. 29: in Josh. But it is certainly doing violence to Joshua’s discourse: to give it so soft a sense. Besides, what greater difficulty is there in conceiving the Israelites to have given way to idolatry under the government of this general, than under that of Moses their legislator? And how, after all, can we controvert a fact so positively attested by the Holy Spirit in divers other passages of Scripture? Ezekiel, Amos, and St. Stephen warrant the truth of the offence here imputed to the Hebrews. See Eze 3:8; Eze 3:27; Eze 20:6; Eze 20:49. Amo 5:16. Act 7:41. Without doubt, the whole nation was not tainted with it, nor was the scandal of it yet public; but it appears evident, that among the multitude of the Israelites, there were many superstitious persons who privately joined the idolatrous worship of the people of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the land of Canaan, with the worship of Jehovah.
REFLECTIONS.Joshua seems, at his last meeting of the congregation, to have expected his dissolution at hand; but, God having spared him a little longer, he is glad to make use of the last moments of his life in one more solemn assembly of the heads of Israel. Note; (1.) Whilst God continues our lives, it is a sign that he has something for us yet to do. (2.) They whose hearts are faithful to God will be pleased with the returning solemnities, when they come to appear before the Lord. (3.) God is still in the midst of his people, whenever or wherever they assemble in his name.
The congregation being collected, Joshua opens his farewel sermon, commissioned from God to speak, and therefore deserving the most profound attention: he begins with a recapitulation of the signal mercies that, from the beginning until that time, God had shewn to their ancestors, and to them. Their ancestors, who dwelt beyond the Euphrates, were sunk, as other Gentiles, into gross idolatry; when God, in his infinite mercy, separated Abraham from them, and brought him out from thence into the land of Canaan, where they now were, multiplied his posterity in Ishmael, and gave him the promised seed in Isaac. When Rebekah’s barrenness seemed to restrain the fulfilment of the promise, Jacob and Esau were born. Jacob, their great progenitor, with his increasing household, were driven into Egypt by famine; but when his seed were there multiplied and oppressed, with a mighty arm did God rescue them from thence, protecting them with his pillar of a cloud, and overwhelming their pursuers in the sea. Through the dreary wilderness he led them safely, defeated the plots of their enemies, and turned wicked Balaam’s intended curse into a blessing. After this also, he wrought his wonders in the land of Gilead, at Jordan and Jericho, casting out their foes before them, not by their sword or bow, but by his army of hornets, which he sent before them; and now at last he brought them into possession of Canaan, where peace and plenty reigned. In return for which mercies, it was not more their bounden duty, than the dictate of gratitude, 1. That they should fear that God whose wonders they had seen, and with a reverential sense of his majesty and mercy walk before him. 2. That they should serve him in sincerity and truth; for he is a heart-searching God, who cannot be imposed upon, who hateth hypocrisy, and expects the soul in simplicity to be devoted to his service. 3. That they should put far from them strange gods. Note; (1.) God requires the heart in his worship; without this, we can do him no acceptable service. (2.) Neglect of God is not only foul disobedience, but base ingratitude. (3.) That is still our idol, to which our affections cleave more than to the blessed God.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
What a noble resolution Joshua made for himself, and for his household? How worthy of imitation in all families! But could Joshua answer for his servants, or for his family? Certainly he could not compel their consciences: neither did he mean it. Unless led to it by the sweet influences of the Holy Ghost, he could not assure himself that he should serve the Lord; and he well knew that it must be from the same Almighty power his household could do it. But yet, as far as the outward means could be made use of, he resolved to enforce the observance of these upon himself and people. Reader! are you a parent, a master of a family, or placed in any situation of authority? Behold then the beautiful example of Joshua. And think how inexcusable that man, that parent or master must be, in whose house there is no family worship! Tell me, if you can, wherein such households differ from the brutes which perish, when they rise up and lay down as the herds of the stall, and never ask where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night, Job 35:10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jos 24:14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
Ver. 14. And put away the gods. ] Deastros illos, which some of them secretly worshipped, as they did likewise in the wilderness. Amo 5:25-26 Act 7:42-43 So in Josiah’s days, Baal had privily his “Chemarims,” or chimney chaplains, yea, those that “worshipped the host of heaven upon the housetops,” &c. Zep 1:4-5
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 24:14-15
14Now, therefore, fear 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. 15If 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 the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Jos 24:14-15 This is a series of IMPERATIVES from Joshua to the tribes.
1. fear, BDB 431, KB 432, Qal IMPERATIVE, cf. Lev 19:32; Lev 25:36; Lev 25:43; Deu 5:29; Deu 6:2; Deu 6:13; Deu 6:24; Deu 10:12; Deu 10:20; Deu 13:4; Deu 14:23; Deu 17:19; Jos 4:24
2. serve, BDB 712, KB 773, Qal IMPERATIVE; notice how often this VERB is used in Joshua 24 (cf. Jos 24:2; Jos 24:14[twice],15[four],16,18,19,20,21,22,24,31)!
a. in sincerity (BDB 1071)
b. in truth (BDB 54)
3. put away (lit. turn aside), BDB 693, KB 747, Hiphil IMPERATIVE, cf. Gen 35:2; 1Sa 7:4
4. choose, BDB 103, KB 119, Qal IMPERATIVE, cf. Jos 24:22. Covenant faith involves a decision of human choice, as well as a divine choice! Covenant faith is more than family faith or national faith. It must be personal faith (cf. Joh 1:12; Joh 3:16; Rom 10:9-13).
NASBin sincerity and truth
NKJVin sincerity and in truth
NRSVin sincerity and in faithfulness
TEVsincerely and faithfully
NJBtruly and sincerely
The JPSOA translation has with undivided loyalty. These terms focus on an inner attitude and outer lifestyle (cf. Deu 6:4-5). The term truth (BDB 54) is the OT root for faith, believe, trust, which is paralleled to the NT term (pistis, pistos, pisteu). See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness in the OT
Jos 24:15 This is Joshua’ affirmation of personal faith and family faith. He had served YHWH all his adult life and now at the end, he reaffirms his faith.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
and in Egypt. So that they were idolaters there. Compare Eze 23:8. Three systems of idolatry referred to in verses: Jos 24:14, Jos 24:15, Chaldean, Egyptian, and Canaanite.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
fear
(See Scofield “Psa 19:9”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
fear: Deu 10:12, 1Sa 12:24, Job 1:1, Job 28:28, Psa 111:10, Psa 130:4, Hos 3:5, Act 9:31
serve: Jos 24:23, Gen 17:1, Gen 20:5, Gen 20:6, Deu 18:13, 2Ki 20:3, Psa 119:1, Psa 119:80, Luk 8:15, Joh 4:23, Joh 4:24, 2Co 1:12, Eph 6:24, Phi 1:10
put: From this exhortation of Joshua, we not only learn that the Israelites still retained some relics of idolatry, but to what gods they were attached.
1. Those whom their fathers worshipped on the other side of the food, or the river Euphrates, i.e., the gods of the Chaldeans, fire, light, the sun, etc.
2. Those of the Egyptians, Apis, Anubis, serpents, vegetables, etc.
3. Those of the Amorites, Moabites, Canaanites, etc., Baal-peor, Astarte, etc.
How astonishing is it, that after all that God had done for them, and all the miracles they had seen, there should still be found among them both idols and idolaters! Jos 24:2, Jos 24:23, Gen 35:2, Exo 20:3, Exo 20:4, Lev 17:7, Ezr 9:11, Eze 20:18, Amo 5:25, Amo 5:26
in Egypt: Eze 20:7, Eze 20:8, Eze 23:3
Reciprocal: Exo 20:20 – his fear Exo 23:25 – And ye Jos 5:9 – I rolled away Jos 22:5 – serve Jos 24:15 – whether the gods 1Sa 7:3 – put away 1Sa 12:14 – If ye will 2Ki 17:41 – these nations Jer 4:1 – put away Eze 16:3 – Thy birth Eze 16:26 – with the Mat 4:10 – Thou shalt 1Co 5:8 – but 2Co 6:16 – what 2Co 8:8 – prove Eph 6:5 – in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
On the basis of all God had done for them, Joshua urged the people to serve God and renounce all the gods their fathers had once served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt. That they had a choice is clear from verse 15.
All must recognize that one cannot serve the true God and false gods at the same time. ( Mat 12:30 .) The choice must be made immediately while God is still readily available and receptive to the sinner ( Isa 55:6-7 ). The best choice is for God because he can take care of those who follow him now and in the world to come ( Mat 6:33 ; Mat 10:28 ).
The people chose God because of all the good he had done for them. Joshua did not immediately accept their commitment but made them realize that God is jealous and will punish all who profess to follow him yet still serve other gods. Yet, the people still said they would serve the Lord and Joshua told them their own words would be witnesses against them. When they still accepted, Joshua told them to put away idols and give their hearts to God ( Joh 4:24 ). This they committed to do and let Joshua set up a rock as a reminder of their agreement and wrote their decision in the book of the law of God.
After the renewal of the covenant, everyone went his own way and Joshua died. They buried him in his inheritance. As a fitting tribute to God’s great leader, the text notes the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and the elders who served with him. The people also buried the bones of Joseph in Shechem as had been promised years before ( Gen 50:24-25 ). Eleazar, the high priest, also died and was buried by his son Phinehas ( Jos 24:14-33 ).
Jos 24:14. Put away the gods By this it appears, that although Joshua had doubtless prevented and purged out all public idolatry, yet there were some of them who practised it in their private houses and retirements. Your fathers Terah, and Nahor, and Abraham, as Jos 24:2, and others of your ancestors. In Egypt See Eze 23:3; Eze 23:8; Eze 23:19; Eze 23:21; Eze 23:27. Under these particulars, no doubt, he comprehends all other false gods which were served by the nations among whom they were, but only mentions these, as the idols which they were in more danger of worshipping than those in Canaan; partly because those of Canaan had been now lately and palpably disgraced by their inability to preserve their worshippers from total ruin; and partly because the other idols came recommended to them by the venerable name of antiquity, and the custom of their forefathers.
24:14 Now therefore {f} fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
(f) This is the true use of God’s benefits, to learn by it to fear and serve him with an upright conscience.
3. Covenant stipulations 24:14-24
On the basis of God’s great acts for them (Jos 24:14), Joshua appealed to the Israelites to commit themselves to Him anew (cf. Rom 12:1-2). Though Israel was not as guilty of idolatry at this stage in her history as she was later, this sin existed in the nation to some degree (cf. Lev 17:7).
Joshua’s offer to choose the God or gods they would serve (Jos 24:15) was not, of course, an encouragement to consider the idols as an equally acceptable option. It was simply an oratorical device (i.e., polarization) to help the Israelites distinguish their choices and to make the right alternative more obvious. As a true leader, Joshua announced his commitment, and in so doing encouraged the people to follow his example.
"So we find throughout the entire book of Joshua an emphasis on choice-choice that makes a tremendous difference in history, for individuals, for groups, for future generations." [Note: Schaeffer, p. 213.]
The people responded by committing themselves to Yahweh (Jos 24:16-18). They would join Joshua in serving the Lord. Joshua did not want the people to make a superficial decision, however.
"The great need of most Christians is to learn that in themselves they simply cannot be the people God wants them to be." [Note: Jacobsen, p. 114.]
Therefore Joshua reminded them of the difficulties involved in following the Lord (Jos 24:19-20). They would "not be able to serve the Lord" (Jos 24:19) in their own strength simply by determining to do so (cf. Exo 19:8). They had to remember that their God was holy and jealous (i.e., allowing no rival god in His peoples’ affections). He would "not forgive your transgressions or your sins" (Jos 24:19).
"When does God not spare (forgive)? (1) When transgression and sin is wilfully [sic] committed, and when (2) forgiveness would, as He foresees, lead to no amendment." [Note: J. P. Lange, ed., Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, 2:187.]
The people confirmed their earlier decision (Jos 24:21), and Joshua reminded them that they were witnesses against themselves in the renewal of this covenant (Jos 24:22). They would condemn themselves by their own testimony if they forsook the Lord.
Joshua then repeated his command to put away all idols, physical and mental, and to turn their hearts to follow Yahweh exclusively (Jos 24:23). Again the Israelites committed themselves to follow the Lord faithfully (Jos 24:24).
As Israel’s history proceeded, the Israelites proved unfaithful to their promise to serve and obey the Lord wholeheartedly, as the following books of the Old Testament document. The Israelites should have learned from their past failure to follow the Lord faithfully. Their fathers had made the same promises when God gave them the Mosaic Law (Exo 24:3; Exo 24:7), but they had proved unfaithful at Mt. Sinai and in the wilderness.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)