Joshua 24

Joshua 24 (NASB95)

It took about 7 years for Israel to receive all of the Promised Land that God gave them

Joshua takes Israel a walk down memory lane- a highway of God’s Faithfulness and Provision to His people

12 ‘Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but not by your sword or your bow.

24:1–13 Chapter 24 continues Joshua’s farewell address to Israel, which began in chapter 23. As Joshua’s exhortation continued, he gave the people a history lesson. Now that they were in the promised land, Joshua reminded them of how they got there, taking them all the way back to Abraham’s story that began in Genesis 12. The speaker here is Joshua, but the message is from God. Notice that throughout the rehearsal of Israel’s history, God insisted that he was the star of the show and the performer of the action: I took (24:3), I gave (24:3–4, 13), I sent (24:5, 12), I defeated (24:5), I brought (24:5–6, 8), I did (24:7), I handed (24:8), I annihilated (24:8), I would not listen (24:10), I rescued (24:10). In summary, God was telling them, “You got from slavery to here because of me. When you sinned and were unfaithful, I came through. I never bailed on you, and my promises never failed. Yes, there were things you had to do, but I enabled you to succeed all the way.”

In saying, I gave you a land you did not labor for (24:13), God reminded the Israelites that they were living in homes they hadn’t built, eating food they hadn’t grown, and sitting under shade trees they hadn’t planted. Now that doesn’t seem like a big deal at first given the way our culture buys and sells houses and ready-made meals. But in Bible times, if you wanted a home, you built it. If you wanted to eat, you grew or raised it. And if you wanted a luxury like a shade tree, you couldn’t just transplant a sapling from the local nursery. That God gave his people a land so well-equipped was a big deal.

Importantly, he used the unrighteous to get all this ready for them. The Canaanites did all the work, enjoying the fruit of their labors up until the day God evicted them for their wickedness. This reminds us that even the ungodly are God’s ungodly—not by relationship but by sovereignty. Similarly, even the devil is God’s devil, because he can only do what God permits. Israel needed to remember that they were like turtles on fence posts, which hadn’t gotten to their safe place by their own power.

What should believers in Jesus Christ learn from this? Whatever blessings we have received, we should give him all the thanks and praise.

13 ‘I 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.’

14 “Now, 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.

Fear HIM

SERVE (WORSHIP) HIM in sincerity & truth

PUT AWAY

SERVE HIM

So how was Israel to respond to this gracious provision from God? They were to Fear the LORD and worship him in sincerity and truth. To “fear” God means to take him seriously, rather than having a mere casual relationship with him and trying to keep him on the periphery of life. They were also to Get rid of the gods [their] ancestors worshiped. While this was likely a reference to the false gods mentioned in the Old Testament story to this point, an idol isn’t merely a statue before which someone bows. An idol is any unauthorized person, place, or thing that a person looks to as a source of purpose, promise, or provision.

Therefore, an idol can be:

money, power, popularity, sex, influence, comfort, pleasures, or a person, and the list goes on.

You have only one ultimate source to meet your needs—God. Look to nothing else, take him seriously, and serve him.

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 the 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, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins.

20 “If 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.”

24:15 In this verse Joshua laid all his cards on the table. He said, Choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship?… As for me and my family, we will worship the LORD. Joshua spoke like a kingdom man. He couldn’t control the hearts of the people of Israel, but he knew whose agenda he himself would follow and who would lead his home. He was determined to serve the Lord. He called the Israelites to make the same crucial decision.

24:16–20 In response to Joshua’s bold declaration, the people replied, We will certainly not abandon the LORD to worship other gods!… We too will worship the LORD, because he is our God (24:16–18). To this, however, Joshua responded, You will not be able to worship the LORD (24:19).

Now that response may seem a little odd. Why challenge them to follow the Lord and then call them liars when they promise to do it? Joshua said this because he recognized the danger of not putting your money where your mouth is. Talk is cheap, but actions prove our words. Frankly, Joshua didn’t believe they were serious, so he doubled down. He warned, He is a jealous God.… If you abandon the LORD and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you (24:19–20). Indeed, God is jealous—righteously jealous—for his people, just as an honorable husband would be righteously jealous if he saw his wife acting inappropriately with another man. It isn’t enough to agree with truth; you must act on that truth.

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 you 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 incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey His voice.”

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

26 And Joshua wrote 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, this 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.”

The Tony Evans Bible Commentary IV. Serving God in the Promised Land (22:1–24:33)

God will not tolerate idols. If you have an idol in your life that you are unwilling to renounce (see commentary on 24:14), then you have, in effect, rejected God’s help and blessings in your situation. Many people ask God why he’s not working in their circumstances, while they’re hugging their idol of choice at the same time. They don’t stop to consider that God’s inactivity may be a result of the fact that like many in Israel, they aren’t willing to lay down the competition.

24:24–28 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people (24:25). A covenant is a divinely sanctioned bond. It’s a declaration of legal relationship in the spiritual realm. Through a covenant, God provides a “covering” for individuals, families, and nations. For example, when a husband honors his marriage covenant with his wife, God provides a covering—an umbrella—of blessing. So Joshua recorded this agreement in the book of the law of God (24:26). He also set up a large stone as a witness (24:26–27). Previously, Joshua had set up memorial stones to remind Israel of what God had done for them (see 4:1–9) and to remind them of the seriousness of sinning against God (7:26). This time, however, the memorial stone was to point them to their agreement to worship God. Every time they passed by it, the stone would silently whisper, “Do not deny your God; practice what you preach” (24:27).

mere words of commitment are insufficient without action. True repentance requires abandoning what displeases God, urging readers to reflect on what might hinder their relationship with HImI think the question is what idols would Jesus find in our house - phone - Idol of self - likes and pings - sports etc

What is your favorite road trip snack and drink?

If you were to write a personal testimony of God's provision in your life, what key points would you include?

In what ways can believers today recognize and reflect on God’s faithfulness in their own lives?

How can we ensure that we are not serving 'foreign gods' in our modern context?

What steps can you take to put away distractions in your life that compete for your devotion to God?