Joshua 24

The well-known psychoanalyst Eric Fromm wrote in Man for Himself, “To die is poignantly bitter, but

the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable.”

Joshua the son of Nun had lived! His long life started in Egyptian bondage and ended in a worship service in the Promised Land. In between those events God had used him to lead Israel in defeating the enemy, conquering the land, and claiming the promised inheritance. With the apostle Paul, Joshua could sincerely say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4: kjv).

Joshua was about to go “the way of all the earth” (Josh. 23:14), the way you and I must go if the Lord doesn’t return first. But at the end of a long and full life, Joshua’s greatest concern wasn’t himself. His greatest concern was his people and their relationship to the Lord. He didn’t want to leave until he had challenged them once again to love the Lord and keep His commandments. His life’s work would be in vain if they failed to keep the covenant and enjoy the blessings of the Promised Land.

He first called a meeting of the leaders of the nation (v. 2), either at Shiloh or at his home in Ephraim, and warned them what would happen if they deserted the Lord. Then he gathered “all the tribes of Israel to Shechem” (24:1) and gave a farewell address which reviewed the history of Israel, starting with Abraham, and challenged the people to love the Lord and serve Him alone. In these two addresses Joshua emphasized three important topics.

In the April 15, 1978 issue of Saturday Review, the late author and editor Norman Cousins called history “a vast early warning system,” and philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” A knowledge of their roots is very important to the Jews because they are God’s chosen people with a destiny to fulfill in this world.

Shechem was the ideal location for this moving farewell address by Israel’s great leader. It was at Shechem that God promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land (Gen. 12:6–7), and there Jacob built an altar (33:20). Shechem was located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, where the people of Israel had reaffirmed their commitment to the Lord (Josh. 8:30–35). Shechem was indeed “holy ground” to the Israelites.

If nation and land were the key words in Joshua’s first address, then the Lord is the major focus in this second address, for Joshua refers to the Lord twentyone times. In fact, in 24:2–13, it is the Lord who speaks as Joshua reviews the history of the nation. Another key word is serve, used fifteen times in this address. Jehovah gave them their land and would bless them in their land if they loved Him and served Him.

God chose Israel (vv. 1–4). Abraham and his family were idolaters when God called Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees and go to Canaan (Gen. 11:27— 12:9). “The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham,” declared Stephen in his own farewell speech (Acts 7:2), reminding the Jews that their national identity was an act of God’s grace. Abraham didn’t seek after God and discover Him; it was God who came to Abraham! There was nothing special about the Jews that God should choose them (Deut. 7:1–11; 26:1–11; 32:10), and this fact should have kept them humble and obedient.

“You did not choose Me,” Jesus told His disciples, “but I chose you and appointed you” (John 15: nkjv). Believers were chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4) and are called “God’s elect” (Rom. 8:33; Titus 1:1). One of my professors in seminary used to say, “Try to explain election and you may lose your mind, but explain it away and you may lose your soul.” No matter what “school” of theology we belong to, all of us must admit that God takes the first step in our salvation.

Abraham’s firstborn son was Ishmael (Gen. 16), but God rejected him and gave His covenant to Isaac, the child of Abraham and Sarah’s old age (17–18, 21). Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau, and God chose Jacob. Paul called these choices God’s purpose “according to election” (Rom. 9:11). Esau became the ancestor of the Edomites in Mount Seir, and Jacob became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Eventually, the children of Israel went to Egypt, where God made them into a great nation.

One of the repeated titles for God in the book of Joshua is “the Lord God of Israel,” used fifteen times (7:13, 19–20; 8:30; 9:18–19; 10:40, 42; 13:14, 33; 14:14; 22:16, 24; 24:2, 23). The Jews were indeed an elect and a special people, for the Lord of heaven chose to associate His great name with them and be their God.

God delivered Israel (vv. 5–7). God sent Joseph ahead to Egypt to preserve the nation during the famine (Ps. 105:16–22), and then He sent Moses and Aaron to deliver the nation from bondage (vv. 23–45). Egypt had been saved from starvation because of the Jews, but instead of being grateful, the rulers of Egypt eventually enslaved the Jews and made their lives bitter (Ex. 3:7–9). All of this was a fulfillment of what God had promised to Abraham centuries before (Gen. 15:1–17), but their suffering in Egypt only made the Israelites multiply more.

God judged the gods and rulers of Egypt by sending ten plagues to the land, climaxing with the death of the firstborn (Ex. 7–12). Only then did stubborn Pharaoh give the Jews permission to leave the land, but then he changed his mind and sent his army after them. God not only brought His people out, but He also led them through the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army in its waters (chaps. 14–15).

God instructed His people to observe the Passover as an annual reminder of their redemption from Egyptian bondage (chaps. 12–13). In his farewell speech Moses frequently reminded the Jews that they had once been slaves in Egypt but the Lord had set them free (5:15; 6:12; 8:14; 13:5, 10; 15:15; 16:3, 6; 20:1; 24:22). It does a believer good to remember what it was like to be in bondage to sin and then to rejoice in the redemption that was purchased so dearly for us on the cross. It’s a dangerous thing to take the gift of salvation for granted.

God guided Israel (vv. 8–10). God brought Israel out that He might bring them in (Deut. 6:23). His goal for them was the Promised Land, but their sin at Kadesh Barnea caused them to wander in the wilderness until the old unbelieving generation had died off. As Israel marched behind the ark of God, the Lord defeated their enemies. When Balaam tried to curse Israel, God turned the curse into a blessing (Num. 22–24; Deut. 23:5; Neh. 13:2). Whether Satan came against Israel as the lion (the army of the Amorites) or as the serpent (the curses of Balaam), the Lord defeated him.

God gave them their land (vv. 11–13). The same God who took Israel through the Red Sea also took them across the Jordan River and into their inheritance. Except for a temporary defeat at Ai (Josh. 7), and a humiliating compromise with Gibeon (chap. 9), Joshua and his army defeated every enemy in the land because the Lord was with them.

The “hornet” mentioned in 24: (see Ex. 23:28; Deut. 7:20) may have been the insect whose sting is extremely painful, but it’s possible that the word is an image of something else. Invading armies are compared to bees (Deut. 1:44; Ps. 118:12; Isa. 7:18), and some students think that’s the meaning here. God sent other armies into Canaan to weaken the people and prepare them for the invasion of Israel.

But perhaps the hornets better represent the reports that came to Canaan of Israel’s conquests, reports that frightened and almost paralyzed the inhabitants of the land. The words of Rahab describe the panic of the Canaanites because of what they heard about Israel: “And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you” (Josh. 2:11; see 5: and 9:24). God had promised to do this and He kept His promise (Deut. 2:25).

In Joshua 24:13, God’s words remind us of what Moses said to Israel in Deuteronomy 6:10ff. Once again, the emphasis is on the goodness of God and all that He did for Israel because He loved them. When the Jews started taking their blessings for granted, they began drifting away from sincere worship of the Lord. A grateful heart is a strong defense against the devil’s temptations.

One of the key words in this section is serve, used fifteen times. To serve God means to fear Him, obey Him, and worship only Him. It means to love Him and fix your heart upon Him, obeying Him because you want to and not because you have to.

Decision (vv. 14–18). Joshua made it clear that the people of Israel had to make a decision to serve the Lord God of Israel. There could be no neutrality. But if they served the Lord, then they would have to get rid of the false gods that some of them secretly were worshipping. Even after the great experience of the Exodus, some of the Jews still sacrificed to the gods of Egypt (Lev. 17:7; Amos 5:25–26; Acts 7:42–43; Ezek. 20:6–8). Jacob had given this same warning to his family (Gen. 35:2), and Samuel would give the same admonition in his day (1 Sam. 7:3ff.).

Joshua wasn’t suggesting that the people could choose to worship the false gods of the land, and God would accept it, for there was no other option but to serve Jehovah. Being a wise and spiritual man, Joshua knew that everybody must worship something or someone, whether they realized it or not, because humanity is “incurably religious.” If the Jews didn’t worship the true God, they would end up worshipping the false gods of the wicked nations in Canaan. His point was that they couldn’t do both.

The people assured Joshua that they wanted to worship and serve only the Lord God of Israel, and they gave their reasons. The Lord had delivered them from Egypt, brought them through the wilderness, and taken them into their Promised Land. (The first half of Joshua’s address [Josh. 24:1–13] had made an impression on them!) Joshua had declared that he and his house would serve only the Lord (v. 15), and the people said, “Therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God” (v. 18).

Devotion (vv. 19–28). When the former generation had met the Lord at Mount Sinai, they had said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do” (Ex. 19: nkjv). But a few weeks later, they were worshipping a golden calf! Joshua knew that it was easy for the people to promise obedience to the Lord, but it was quite something else for them to actually do it. His stern words were meant to curb their overconfidence and make them look honestly into their own hearts (Josh. 24:19).

Israel was “married” to Jehovah, and He would not tolerate any rivals in their hearts. He is a jealous God (Ex. 20:5) and a holy God, and He could never permit them to be divided in their loyalty. Just as a husband and wife are faithful to their marriage vows and jealously guard their mate’s affection, so Israel and the Lord had to be faithful to each other.

Joshua warned them what would happen if they didn’t get rid of their idols: They would eventually forsake the Lord, and then He would have to chasten them. They would lose all the blessings He had so graciously given them in the Promised Land. Their great need was to cleanse their hearts of allegiance to other gods and to incline their hearts only to the Lord (Josh. 24:23). If they persisted in their hidden disloyalty, God would not forgive them (Ex. 23:21) but would punish them for their sins.

Three times the people affirmed their desire to serve only the Lord (Josh. 24:16–18, 21, 24), and Joshua took them at their word. So that they wouldn’t forget this solemn covenant with Jehovah, Joshua wrote it in the book of the law and then set up a large stone as a perpetual witness to their agreement. This is the ninth and last memorial mentioned in the book of Joshua. The nine memorials are:

1. The stones in the midst of the Jordan (4:9).

2. The stones on the western bank of the Jordan (4:20–24).

3. The stones in the Valley of Achor (7:26).

4. The heap of stones at Ai (8:29).

5. The altar on Mount Ebal (8:30).

6. The stones of the law on Mount Ebal (8:32).

7. The stones at the cave at Makkedah (10:27).

8. The altar built by the Transjordanic tribes (22:10ff.).

9. Joshua’s stone of witness (24:26–28).

There’s certainly nothing unbiblical about God’s people memorializing a wonderful event or a sacred decision, so long as the memorial doesn’t become the focus of idolatrous worship. It’s good to remember what the Lord did and how we responded, but we must never live in the past. Religious traditions can be helpful or hurtful, depending on how we use them.

The book closes with three burials. Joshua died at the age of 110 and was buried in his own inheritance. Eleazar the high priest (Num. 20:28) died and was also buried in Ephraim, near Shiloh, where his son Phinehas had property. The bones of Joseph were buried in Shechem in the plot of ground Jacob had bought from Hamor (Gen. 33:19). Shechem became an important city for Ephraim and Manasseh, who were the two sons of Joseph. Thus it was fitting that their great ancestor be buried there. (See Gen. 50:25; Ex. 13:19; Heb. 11:22.)

Moses had named Joshua as his successor, but it’s significant that God didn’t tell Joshua to appoint a successor. The elders who had served with Joshua guided the nation after his death, but then the people went astray and began to disobey the Lord and worship the false gods of the Canaanites (Judg. 2:6–15). Why didn’t the next generation know the Lord and what He had done for Israel? Because the people of Joshua’s generation failed to keep their promise and teach their children and grandchildren to fear and serve the Lord.

God kept His promise and chastened His people, first by bringing other nations into the land (vv. 14–19), and then by taking the Jews out of their land, the northern kingdom to Assyria and the southern kingdom to Babylon. But one day the Lord will regather His people Israel and establish them in their land (Isa. 11–12; 51–52; Ezek. 36:24ff.). Then “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14).