Joshuachapter 24
33 verses · Joshua, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · History
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Introduction
Joshua, by tradition, History, Joshua Overview.
This chapter gathers all the tribes at Shechem for the last act of Joshua's life. Shechem was where Abraham first built an altar in the land and where Jacob told his household to put away their foreign gods. The people standing before Joshua had been born in the wilderness or were children when Israel left Egypt. They lived among neighbours who served the gods of Canaan. Listen for whose voice tells Israel's story, and for the choice put to the people. Listen also for the witnesses Joshua names before the tribes go home.
Context
- Who
- All the tribes of Israel, summoned to choose whom they would serve
- What
- A covenant renewal at Shechem in which Joshua recites God's dealings with Israel and the people choose to serve the LORD, closed by three burials.
- Where
- Shechem, in the pass between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, under the oak near the sanctuary of the LORD.
- When
- About 1380 BC on the fifteenth-century date for the conquest, at the end of Joshua's life.
- Why
- To bind the generation living in the land to the LORD by its own oath before Joshua died.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to Joshua and to the LORD, who speaks in the first person from verse 2 to verse 13. Every verb of the recital is God's: I took, I gave, I sent, I brought, I delivered.
Show the rest of the historical context, 6 more paragraphs
It stands at the very end of the book, after the farewell of chapter 23, and it closes with three burials.
Shechem sits at a crossroads in the middle of the country, in the pass between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, where the blessings and curses had already been read at Joshua 8:30 to 35.
The occasion is a covenant ceremony, and the speech follows the shape of a treaty between a great king and a small nation. The king names himself, rehearses the history, states his demands, calls witnesses, and has the terms written and a marker set up.
A first hearer knew why Shechem was the right ground. Abram built his first altar in the land there at Genesis 12:6 and 7, and Jacob bought the parcel of ground there at Genesis 33:19. Genesis 35:4 records Jacob hiding his household's foreign gods under the oak by Shechem.
Such a hearer also knew that a standing stone could serve as a witness to an agreement. The wording here treats the stone as having been present and having heard the words.
The last thing a first hearer took in was the opening of the recital. Terah, the father of Abraham, served other gods beyond the Euphrates, so Israel's own family tree begins in idolatry and the chapter says so before it asks anyone to choose.
Significance
The choice is put as a live one. Put away the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and choose this day whom you will serve. Verse 23 says those gods were still among the people while the ceremony was under way.
Show the rest of the significance, 2 more paragraphs
Joshua's own answer became the line the nation carried, and he gives it for a household rather than for one man.
The burials closed three long threads at once. Joshua was buried in the town he had asked for, Joseph's bones reached the field Jacob had bought, and Eleazar was buried in the hill country of Ephraim.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The last chapter is a covenant ceremony, and the commentary reads it as one. Metzudat David explains why the people are brought before God at Shechem, that they came there "to cut (or establish) a treaty before him (Hashem) like it says at the end of the matter" (Metzudat David on Joshua 24:1:2, the Sefaria Community Translation, CC0). Rashi reads the closing act the same way, that Joshua "set in order for them there the statutes of the Torah and they accepted them upon themselves" (Rashi on Joshua 24:25:1, the Metsudah Publications translation of 1997, CC-BY). The chapter's own words are therefore heard as the making of a binding agreement rather than as a farewell speech with a ceremony attached.
The historical rehearsal that opens the speech is read letter by letter. On the promise to multiply Abraham's seed Rashi notices that the Hebrew word is written short of one letter, and infers a second sense from the shortened form, a sense of strife: "How many troubles and tests ... did I bring upon him before I gave him a descendant" (Rashi on Joshua 24:3:1). On the sea closing over the Egyptians he asks why the verse uses the singular, and answers that the sea came upon each man separately, so that a wave pursued anyone who ran from it (Rashi on Joshua 24:7:1). On the men of Jericho fighting against Israel he explains why all seven nations are named in one verse, because Jericho stood on the border and was the bolt and lock of the land, so every nation sent its best soldiers there (Rashi on Joshua 24:11:1).
Metzudat David's note on the fourth verse is the plainest piece of aggadah in these twelve chapters, and a Christian reader should hear it as the rabbis' own way of teaching rather than as a claim about the text's surface. Of Jacob and Esau in one womb he says that Jacob is reckoned the good one "because he drew all the poison, and Jacob came out clean" (Metzudat David on Joshua 24:4:1, the Sefaria Community Translation, CC0).
Two notes bear on doctrine directly, and the card names the difference where it falls. At the nineteenth verse Rashi takes up the plural form of the divine name and explains it as the ordinary Hebrew way of expressing rulership, setting beside it the plural forms used of the ruler of the land and of a master, and concluding that the name is a name of power (Rashi on Joshua 24:19:1). Christian teaching reads the same plural without resting any doctrine on the grammar, and the Trinity is confessed from the New Testament's own statements rather than from the form of this noun, so the two traditions are closer here than a reader might expect. At the twenty-second verse Rashi gives a reason for Joshua's hardness with the people: he foresaw that in the days of Ezekiel they would say they wanted to be like the nations, and he made them witnesses against themselves now so that the later generation could not plead that the covenant of Moses had been accepted only to gain entry to the land (Rashi on Joshua 24:22:1). The covenant is read as binding on generations that had not yet been born, which is the point at which Jewish and Christian readings of covenant most need to be heard separately.
Metzudat David, Radak and Malbim carry the rest, and the corpus holds sixteen of their refs with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand cited and unquoted: Metzudat David on Joshua 24:2:1, 24:10:1, 24:13:1, 24:15:1, 24:18:1, 24:20:1, 24:21:1, 24:23:1 and 24:24:1; Radak on Joshua 24:5:1, 24:6:1, 24:8:1, 24:9:1, 24:12:1 and 24:14:1; and Malbim on Joshua 24:16:1. The famous choice of the fifteenth verse, to choose this day whom you will serve, is commented on in this corpus only by Metzudat David, and that note carries no English text.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. The second verse, where Joshua says the fathers served other gods beyond the River, draws the tradition about Terah and the idols: the corpus holds Aggadat Bereshit 37:1, Avot DeRabbi Natan 41:9 and Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 47:2. The third verse, the multiplying of Abraham's seed that Rashi reads out of a missing letter, carries Bamidbar Rabbah 14:10 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai, Additions 3:8. The fourth carries Midrash Lekach Tov on Deuteronomy 2:22:2 and on Numbers 20:17:1, and the fifth carries Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai, Additions 9:1 with Shemot Rabbah 15:15.
Balak and Balaam return at the ninth and tenth verses with Bereshit Rabbah 41:3, Eikhah Rabbah 1:38 and Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 23:6:4. Jericho and the hornet at the eleventh and twelfth carry Bamidbar Rabbah 15:15, Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 6:1:13 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Appendix to Devarim 9:1. The choice of the fifteenth verse carries Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Lech Lecha 6 and Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 1:3:3, and the seventeenth carries Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 17:1.
The covenant itself draws the rest. The holy God of the nineteenth verse carries Bereshit Rabbah 8:9 and Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 9:1:12, the twenty-second carries Midrash Lekach Tov on Deuteronomy 1:3:1 and 31:19:1, the twenty-fifth carries Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 7:4:4 and Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer 16:28, the writing in the book of the law at the twenty-sixth carries Makkot 11a:5 and Midrash Tanchuma, Tetzaveh 9:2, and the stone set up as witness at the twenty-seventh carries Midrash Shmuel 9:4. The first verse carries Jerusalem Talmud Horayot 3:5:8, Midrash Shmuel 15:3 and Midrash Tanchuma, Nitzavim 1:1.
The book's three burials close the list. Joshua's own death at the twenty-ninth carries Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 43:18 and Bava Batra 15a:7, the tractate where the writing of the biblical books is discussed. His burial at the thirtieth carries Bava Batra 122b:1 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 13:2. The generation that outlived him at the thirty-first carries Bamidbar Rabbah 3:7 and Midrash Tanchuma, Metzora 6:1. The bones of Joseph buried at Shechem at the thirty-second carry Bereshit Rabbah 85:3 and Devarim Rabbah 2:8, and the burial of Eleazar at the last verse carries Bava Batra 111b:14 and 112a:4. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Joshua 24:3:1, 24:7:1, 24:11:1, 24:19:1, 24:22:1 and 24:25:1, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997, CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Joshua 24:1:2 and 24:4:1, the Sefaria Community Translation, CC0; and 24:2:1, 24:10:1, 24:13:1, 24:15:1, 24:18:1, 24:20:1, 24:21:1, 24:23:1 and 24:24:1 cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Joshua 24:5:1, 24:6:1, 24:8:1, 24:9:1, 24:12:1 and 24:14:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on Joshua 24:16:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/joshua/24.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Shechem: from Terah's idols to a land you did not build
Joshua 24:1-2
Shechem carries its history into this scene: Abram built his first altar in the land there at Genesis 12:6-7, and Jacob bought ground there at Genesis 33:19. At Genesis 35:4 Jacob buried his household's foreign gods under the oak near Shechem, as Joshua deals with foreign gods and an oak here. Verse 2 says Terah worshiped other gods, so the chosen line begins among idolaters.
Joshua 24:1
“Shechem, situated between those mountains, Ebal and Gerizim, which had already been the scene of a solemn rehearsal of the covenant soon after the first entry of the people into the promised land Jos 8:30-35, was a fitting scene for the solemn renewal on the part of the people of that covenant with God which had been on His part so signally and so fully kept. The spot itself suggested the allusions to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etc., in Joshua’s address; and its associations could not but give special force and moving effect to his appeals.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Joshua 24:1
“All Israel - Namely, their representatives. Shechem - To the city of Shechem, a place convenient for the purpose, not only because it was a Levitical city, and a city of refuge, and a place near Joshua's city, but especially for the two main ends for which he summoned them thither.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Terah, the father of Abraham: Genesis 11:31 has Terah leave Ur of the Chaldeans with Abram and settle at Haran. Laban, grandson of Nahor through Bethuel, kept the household idols that Rachel stole at Genesis 31:19. The other gods travelled with the family.
Joshua 24:2
“On the other side of the flood - The river Euphrates. They served other gods - Probably Abraham as well as Terah his father was an idolater, till he received the call of God to leave that land. See on Gen 11:31 (note); Gen 12:1 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Joshua 24:2
“Let them remember that rock out of which they were hewn, and not relapse into that sin from which their fathers by a miracle of free grace were delivered. "I took him," says God, "else he had never come out of that sinful state." Hence Abraham's justification is made by the apostle an instance of God's justifying the ungodly, Rom. iv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joshua 24:2
“THIS passage, though audibly uttered by the mouth of Joshua, is to be regarded as the immediate voice of God. Joshua said unto all the people, "Thus says Jehovah, God of Israel." Jehovah reminded the tribes, their elders and judges, of all that He had done and of all that He had been to them—and from this He challenged their allegiance, requiring that they should henceforth be loyal unto their great Benefactor. Addressing them, Himself, His argument became all the more impressive.”
Joshua 24:3-4
From here to verse 13 God speaks in the first person and the verbs are all his: I took, I gave, I sent, I brought, I destroyed. Abraham does nothing in verse 3 except get taken, as at Genesis 12:1, where the call comes before any word of Abram's. Esau's grant of Mount Seir is credited to God, as Deuteronomy 2:5 credits it.
Joshua 24:3
“And multiplied - That is, gave him a numerous posterity, not only by Hagar and Keturah, but even by Sarah and by Isaac. Gave Isaac - By my special power and grace to be heir of my covenant, and all my promises, and the seed in or by which all the nations were to be blessed.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Esau held his land first, and Genesis 36:8 records him settling in the area of Mount Seir. Jacob's line went down to Egypt, into the four hundred years of slavery foretold to Abram at Genesis 15:13. The heir of the promise waited longest.
Joshua 24:4
“THIS passage, though audibly uttered by the mouth of Joshua, is to be regarded as the immediate voice of God. Joshua said unto all the people, "Thus says Jehovah, God of Israel." Jehovah reminded the tribes, their elders and judges, of all that He had done and of all that He had been to them—and from this He challenged their allegiance, requiring that they should henceforth be loyal unto their great Benefactor. Addressing them, Himself, His argument became all the more impressive.”
Joshua 24:5-7
The darkness of verse 7 is the cloud of Exodus 14:20, which came between the two camps. Though those who watched died in the wilderness, Joshua tells this crowd, "Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians", as Deuteronomy 5:3 speaks of Horeb's covenant to a later generation. Thirty-eight years then close in one line, "you lived in the wilderness for a long time".
Joshua 24:5
“I sent Moses also and Aaron,.... To demand Israel's dismission of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to be the deliverers of them: and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did amongst them; inflicting ten plagues upon them for refusing to let Israel go: and afterwards I brought you out; that is, out of Egypt, with an high hand, and outstretched arm.”
with chariots and horsemen: Exodus 14:7 counts six hundred of the best chariots at the head of Pharaoh's pursuit, with all the other chariots of Egypt behind them. Chariots met Israel again at the waters of Merom, and 11:9 records Joshua hamstringing the horses and burning the chariots as the LORD ordered. The LORD defeated both hosts.
Exodus 14:10 records the cry, and the next two verses record the complaint to Moses that serving the Egyptians would have been better. Joshua's recital keeps only the cry.
Joshua 24:7
“The same waters were the Israelites' guard and the Egyptians' grave, and this in answer to prayer; for, though we find in the story that they in that distress murmured against God ( Exod. xiv. 11, 12 ), notice is here taken of their crying to God; he graciously accepted those that prayed to him, and overlooked the folly of those that quarrelled with him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joshua 24:8-10
The Amorites beyond the Jordan are Sihon and Og of Numbers 21:21-35, and Balak's hire of Balaam runs through Numbers 22 to 24. God says "I would not listen to Balaam", putting the blessing down to his own refusal rather than any restraint in the prophet, as Deuteronomy 23:5 does. Israel heard none of it at the time, so this verse tells them what passed over their heads.
Joshua 24:8
“And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan,.... The kingdoms of Sihon and Og, and they fought with you; the two kings of them, and their armies: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and which was now possessed by the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh: and I destroyed them from before you; the kings, their forces, and the inhabitants of their countries; the history of which see in Num 21:10.”
Numbers records no battle with Balak, and Jephthah asks at Judges 11:25 whether Balak ever fought against Israel. Balak himself told Balaam at Numbers 22:6 that a curse might let him defeat Israel and drive them out. The curse was the war he waged.
Joshua 24:9
“Then Balak - arose and warred against Israel - This circumstance is not related in Numbers 22:1-41, nor does it appear in that history that the Moabites attacked the Israelites; and probably the warring here mentioned means no more than his attempts to destroy them by the curses of Balaam, and the wiles of the Midianitish women.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Balak complains at Numbers 24:10 that Balaam had blessed Israel these three times. Balaam's hand reached Israel later, when Numbers 31:16 traces the plague at Peor to his counsel. Joshua 13:22 records his death by the sword.
Joshua 24:10
“Unto Balaam - Who hereby appears to have desired of God leave to curse Israel; and therefore it is not strange, that God who permitted him simply to go, was highly angry with him for going with so wicked an intent, Num. xxii, 20, 22, 32. Delivered you - That is, from Balak's malicious design against you.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 24:11-13
Verse 11 names the seven nations of Deuteronomy 7:1, and the hornet of verse 12, promised at Exodus 23:28 and Deuteronomy 7:20, appears only in those three places. Readers take it as literal swarms or, with Keil and Delitzsch, as a figure for the terror that ran ahead of Israel. Verse 13 reports Deuteronomy 6:10-11 as done, cities "that you did not build".
Joshua 24:11
“And ye went over Jordan,.... In a miraculous manner, the waters parting to make way for the host of Israel: and came unto Jericho; the first city of any size and strength in the land, which was about seven or eight miles from Jordan; See Gill on Num 22:1, and the men of Jericho fought against you; by endeavouring to intercept their spies, and cut them off; by shutting up the gates of their city against Israel; and it may be throwing darts, arrows, and stones, from off the walls of it at them.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 24:11
“The men of Jericho fought against you - See the notes on Joshua 3:1-16 (note) and Jos 6:1 (note), etc. The people of Jericho are said to have fought against the Israelites, because they opposed them by shutting their gates, etc., though they did not attempt to meet them in the field.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The two kings are Sihon and Og, named at 9:10. Psalm 44:3 says the same of the whole conquest, that Israel did not take the land by its own sword. Jacob at Genesis 48:22 had spoken of land taken from the Amorites with my sword and bow.
Joshua 24:12
“I sent the hornet before you--a particular species of wasp which swarms in warm countries and sometimes assumes the scourging character of a plague; or, as many think, it is a figurative expression for uncontrollable terror (see on Ex 23:28).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 24:12
“These dreadful swarms which first appeared in their war with Sihon and Og, tormented them with their stings and terrified them with their noise, so that they became an easy prey to Israel. God had promised to do this for them, Exod. xxiii, 27, 28, and here Joshua observes the fulfilling the promise.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Deuteronomy 6:12 follows the same list of unbuilt cities and unplanted vineyards with a warning, to be careful not to forget the LORD. Joshua's next word, in verse 14, is fear the LORD. The gift carried its own danger.
Joshua 24:13
“THE Israelites, when they came into Canaan, entered into possession of a country which was thoroughly prepared for their occupation. There were walled cities and houses exactly adapted for their use and in habitable repair. The vineyards were in full bearing and the hills terraced ready for cultivation. They were not like emigrants to the wild west who have to clear forests and turn over prairies! They had not even to take possession of ruined cities and to rebuild them!”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3248: “Gathering Without Planting” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
As for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah
Joshua 24:14-15
Now therefore fear the Lord: The order to cast aside the gods their fathers served shows idols still in the camp after all that verses 2 to 13 recite, and verse 23 says so plainly. Joshua's choice lies between the gods beyond the Euphrates and those of the Amorites, so serving nothing at all is absent from the options. He answers his own question before anyone else speaks, and he answers for a household.
Joshua 24:14
“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, etc. - From this exhortation of Joshua we learn of what sort the gods were, to the worship of whom these Israelites were still attached.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Choose is the verb of Deuteronomy 30:19, where Moses told Israel to choose life. Elijah set the same choice on Mount Carmel at 1 Kings 18:21, and there the people did not answer a word. At Shechem the people answer at once.
Joshua 24:15
“JOSHUA knew that the people who surrounded him, while ostensibly serving Jehovah, were, many of them, secretly worshipping the ancient idols of their Mesopotamian fathers—those seraphim which were once hidden in Rachel's tent and were never quite purged from Jacob's family. Some of them, also, harbored the Egyptian emblems. And some had even fallen into the worship of the gods of the people whom they had displaced and were setting up the images of Baalim in their homes. The people were nominally worshippers of Jehovah, but in reality, many of them had turned aside unto strange gods.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 24:15
“Choose - Service of God in sincerity and truth can only result from a free and willing allegiance of the heart. This accordingly is what Joshua invites, as Moses had done before him (Deu 30:15 ff).”
Joshua 24:16-18
The people answer with an accurate recital: "the house of slavery" is the phrase of Exodus 20:2, the great signs are the plagues, and the protection on the way is the wilderness. Nothing in it is wrong, which makes Joshua's answer in verse 19 hard to read. Judges 2:7 says they served the Lord all Joshua's days, and Judges 2:10 says the next generation did not know him.
Joshua 24:16
“God forbid that we should forsake the Lord - That they were now sincere cannot be reasonably doubted, for they served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and the elders that outlived him, Jos 24:31; but afterwards they turned aside, and did serve other gods. “It is ordinary,” says Mr. Trapp, “for the many-headed multitude to turn with the stream - to be of the same religion with their superiors: thus at Rome, in Diocletian’s time, they were pagans; in Constantine’s Christians; in Constantius’s, Arians; in Julian’s apostates, and in Jovinian’s, Christians again!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Us and our fathers puts the speakers inside the Exodus, as Joshua had put them at verse 7. Deuteronomy 26:8 gave every Israelite bringing firstfruits the same confession, the LORD brought us out of Egypt. The people answer in the words Moses taught.
Joshua 24:17
“For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers, out of the land of Egypt,....”
We too will serve the LORD ends on the words of Joshua's own pledge for his house in verse 15. The people name the Amorites as a nation the LORD drove out, the same Amorites whose gods verse 15 set before them. Those gods had lost their own land.
Joshua 24:19-20
The line "You are not able to serve the LORD" stands without softening. Matthew Henry and John Gill read it as Joshua pressing the cost so the oath is not taken lightly, and the witness clause of verse 22 supports that. Others read it of people still holding foreign gods, as verse 23 says, and the refusal to forgive stands beside Exodus 34:7, where God forgives transgression; both stand.
Joshua 24:19
“Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is a holy God - If we are to take this literally, we cannot blame the Israelites for their defection from the worship of the true God; for if it was impossible for them to serve God, they could not but come short of his kingdom: but surely this was not the case.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 24:19
“I cannot but fear that after my decease you will think the service of God burdensome, and therefore will cast it off and revolt from him, if you do not carefully avoid all occasions of idolatry. A jealous God - In the Hebrew, He is the holy Gods, holy Father, holy Son, holy Spirit. He will not endure a partner in his worship; you can not serve him and idols together.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
He will turn names a reversal that Isaiah 63:10 later records as done, when Israel grieved His Holy Spirit and He turned and became their enemy. Jeremiah 21:5 has the LORD say to Judah, I Myself will fight against you. The God who fought for Israel at 23:10 turns.
Joshua 24:20
“Will turn - That is, he will alter his course and the manner of his dealing with you, and will be as severe as ever he was kind and gracious. He will repent of his former kindnesses, and his goodness abused will be turned into fury.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 24:21-22
we will serve the Lord: Ye are witnesses against yourselves is a legal move rather than a rhetorical one. Covenant documents name witnesses, and Deuteronomy 30:19 calls heaven and earth to that office, while here the people are made witnesses to their own oath, so nobody outside the assembly is needed to convict them later. Their answer opens by contradicting what Joshua has just said and then repeats the promise of verse 18.
Joshua 24:21
“And the people said unto Joshua, nay,.... We will not serve strange gods: but we will serve the Lord; according to his revealed will, and him only.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 24:21
“And the people said - Nay; but we will serve, etc. - So they understood the words of Joshua to imply no moral impossibility on their side: and had they earnestly sought the gracious assistance of God, they would have continued steady in his covenant.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The same exchange closes a sale at the city gate in Ruth 4:9 to 11, where Boaz tells the elders they are witnesses and they answer, We are witnesses. You have chosen answers the choose for yourselves of verse 15. The choice is now on record.
Joshua 24:22
“And Joshua said unto the people,.... In reply to their answer and resolution: ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you the Lord God to serve him; that is, should they, after this choice of him, which they had so publicly declared, desert his service, and go into idolatry, their testimony would rise up against them, and they would, be self-condemned: and they said, we are witnesses; should we ever apostatize from the Lord and his worship, we are content to have this our witness produced against us.”
2 more voices on this verse
Joshua 24:22
“Ye are witnesses against yourselves - Ye have been sufficiently apprised of the difficulties in your way - of God’s holiness - your own weakness and inconstancy - the need you have of Divine help, and the awful consequences of apostasy; and now ye deliberately make your choice. Remember then, that ye are witnesses against yourselves, and your own conscience will be witness, judge, and executioner; or, as one terms it, index, judex, vindex.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 24:22
“He promises himself that they would never forget the solemnities of this day; but, if hereafter they should break this covenant, he assures them that the professions and promises they had now made would certainly rise up in judgment against them and condemn them; and they agreed to it: " We are witnesses; let us be judged out of our own mouths if ever we be false to our God." 2.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joshua 24:23-24
The idols are said to be among them, in the present tense, at the end of a covenant ceremony. At Genesis 35:2 Jacob gives his household nearly the same order, "Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you", and at 35:4 buries them under the oak near Shechem. The people's second answer adds "obey His voice", moving the promise from loyalty to obedience.
Joshua 24:23
“We need only to will perfection, since it is within our power and is developed by us, for, when the soul keeps the understanding in its natural state, perfection is confirmed. The soul is in its natural state when it remains as it was created, and it was created beautifully and exceedingly upright. For this reason, Joshua, the son of Nave [Nun], commanded the people: "Incline your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel," and John: "Make straight his paths." Rectitude of soul, then, consists in preserving the intellect in its natural state, as it was created.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Life of St. Anthony 20patristic
At Sinai the people answered in the same form at Exodus 24:7, all that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient. Moses had written the words and set up twelve pillars at Exodus 24:4, as Joshua writes and sets up a stone in verse 26. Shechem renews the covenant of Sinai.
Joshua 24:24
“And the people said unto Joshua,.... A third time, that as by the mouth of two or three witnesses everything is confirmed, so by three testimonies of the same persons: the Lord our God will we serve; as they had before declared, and to which they add: and his voice will we obey; or his word, as the Targum, not only his word of command, but his essential Word, the Son of God.”
The stone that has heard; three graves in the land
Joshua 24:25-26
Joshua recorded these words in the Book of the Law of God, putting a hand other than Moses into it. Gill and Keil add it to the roll of Deuteronomy 31:24-26; others read a separate record at the sanctuary. The stone stands near "the sanctuary of the LORD", though the tabernacle was at Shiloh, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown suppose the ark was brought over, as at Judges 20:27.
Joshua 24:25
“Made a covenant with the people - i. e. he solemnly ratified and renewed the covenant of Sinai, as Moses had done before him Deu 29:1. As no new or different covenant was made, no sacrifices were necessary.”
Judges 9:6 has the leaders of Shechem make Abimelech king beside the oak at the pillar in Shechem. Keil and Delitzsch take that pillar for this stone.
Joshua 24:26
“Possibly this agreement was written upon this stone, as was then usual. By the sanctuary - That is, near the place where the ark and tabernacle then were; for tho' they were forbidden to plant a grove of trees near unto the altar, as the Gentiles did, yet they might for a time set up an altar, or the ark, near a great tree which had been planted there before.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 24:26
“Consult the marginal references. That was by the sanctuary of the Lord - i. e. the spot where Abraham and Jacob had sacrificed and worshipped, and which might well be regarded by their posterity as a holy place or sanctuary. Perhaps the very altar of Abraham and Jacob was still remaining.”
A stone standing as a witness is an old form in these books. Genesis 31:45-52 has Jacob and Laban raise a mound called Galeed as a witness, and Joshua 22:26-28 has the eastern tribes build an altar as one. Adam Clarke takes permanence as the point, a stone fit in every later age to witness that it heard the words, should they ever deny their God.
Joshua 24:27
“Moreover, Joshua, the son of Nun, even set up a stone as witness of his words (already a heap somewhere had been called a witness by Jacob), for he says, "Behold this stone shall be a witness unto you this day to the end of days, when ye lie to the Lord our God," perhaps believing that by God's power even the stones would speak to the conviction of the transgressors; or, if not, that at least each man's conscience would be wounded by the force of the reminder.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · ON THE SPIRIT 13.30patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 24:27
“It hath heard - It shall be as sure a witness against you, as if it had heard. This is a common figure, whereby the sense of hearing is often ascribed to the heavens and the earth, and other senseless creatures.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 24:28-30
Judges 2:6-9 repeats these verses almost word for word as the next book takes up the thread. Every earlier servant of the LORD, from Deuteronomy 34:5 through Joshua 22:5, is Moses, and the title comes to Joshua here and at Judges 2:8. He dies at 110, Joseph's age at Genesis 50:26, the only two men given it, and lies in Timnath-serah, which he asked for at 19:50.
Joshua 24:28
“So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance. Dismissed them, and took his final leave and farewell of them, dying soon after; upon which they returned to the possessions and inheritances assigned by lot to the several tribes, of which they were the heads and princes.”
2 more voices on this verse
Joshua 24:28
“So Joshua - After this verse the Septuagint insert Jos 24:31.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 24:28
“33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim. This book, which began with triumphs, here ends with funerals, by which all the glory of man is stained.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Exodus 33:11 calls Joshua son of Nun Moses' young assistant, who would not leave the tent. Numbers 14:30 spared him and Caleb alone of the men sentenced to die in the wilderness. Both lived to hold land in Canaan.
Joshua 24:29
“And it came to pass, after these things,.... Some little time after, very probably the same year: that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old; he wanted ten years of Moses his predecessor, Deu 34:7, and just the age of Joseph, Gen 50:22, from whom he sprung, being of the tribe of Ephraim, Num 13:8.”
Judges 2:9 names the place Timnath-heres, with the three letters of serah reversed. Keil and Delitzsch take both names for one town. The Septuagint adds that the flint knives of the circumcision at 5:2 were laid in the tomb with him, an addition Adam Clarke records.
Joshua 24:30
“And they buried him - in Timnath-serah - This was his own inheritance, as we have seen Jos 19:50. The Septuagint add here, “And they put with him there, in the tomb in which they buried him, the knives of stone with which he circumcised the children of Israel in Gilgal, according as the Lord commanded when he brought them out of Egypt; and there they are till this day.” St. Augustine quotes the same passage in his thirtieth question on the book of Joshua, which, in all probability, he took from some copy of the Septuagint.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 24:30
I cannot adequately extol the mysteries of Scripture or sufficiently admire the spiritual meaning conveyed in its most simple words. We are told, for instance, that lamentation was made for Moses; yet when the funeral of Joshua is described no mention at all is made of weeping. The reason, of course, is that under Moses—that is, under the old law—all people were bound by the sentence passed on Adam's sin, and when they descended into hell were rightly accompanied with tears. For, as the apostle says, "death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned."
Jerome · written before 420 · LETTER 39.4patristic
The verse sets its own limit: Israel served the Lord through the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him. The ground it gives is knowledge, since those elders had experienced all the works of the Lord for Israel. Judges 2:10 supplies the other half, a generation "who did not know the LORD", and one generation is the whole distance to the collapse.
Joshua 24:31
“And Israel served the Lord, etc. - Though there was private idolatry among them, for they had strange gods, yet there was no public idolatry all the days of Joshua and of the elders that overlived Joshua; most of whom must have been advanced in years at the death of this great man. Hence Calmet supposes that the whole of this time might amount to about fifteen years. It has already been noted that this verse is placed by the Septuagint after Jos 24:28.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 24:31
“While Joshua lived, religion was kept up among them under his care and influence; but soon after he and his contemporaries died it went to decay, so much oftentimes does one head hold up: how well is it for the gospel church that Christ, our Joshua, is still with it, by his Spirit, and will be always, even unto the end of the world!”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joseph's bones close an oath sworn at Genesis 50:25 and kept by Moses at Exodus 13:19, and the grave is the plot Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor at Genesis 33:19. Hebrews 11:22 counts his instruction about the bones among the acts of faith. Stephen tells it differently at Acts 7:16, giving the purchase to Abraham, and both accounts stand as written without one used to correct the other.
Joshua 24:32
“And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt,.... At the request, and by the order of Joseph, Gen 50:25; which were punctually observed by the children of Israel under the direction and command of Moses, and therefore is ascribed to him, as here to them, Exo 13:19, buried they in Shechem; not in the city, but in a field near it, as the next clause shows.”
2 more voices on this verse
Joshua 24:32
“And the bones of Joseph - See the note on Gen 50:25, and on Exo 13:19. This burying of the bones of Joseph probably took place when the conquest of the land was completed, and each tribe had received its inheritance; for it is not likely that this was deferred till after the death of Joshua.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 24:32
“The tomb that now covers the spot is a Mohammedan Welce, but there is no reason to doubt that the precious deposit of Joseph's remains may be concealed there at the present time.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The book closes with three graves, Joshua at verse 30, Joseph at verse 32 and Eleazar here. The priesthood passes to Phinehas, who holds the covenant of an everlasting priesthood from Numbers 25:11-13 and is still standing before the ark at Judges 20:28. No successor to Joshua is named anywhere in the chapter, and the next book opens with Israel asking who shall go up for them first.
Joshua 24:33
“Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him in . . . mount Ephraim--The sepulchre is at the modern village Awertah, which, according to Jewish travellers, contains the graves also of Ithamar, the brother of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar [VAN DE VELDE].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
How this psalm is built
The form: A covenant ceremony following the shape of a Hittite suzerain and vassal treaty, closed by three burial notices, as Mendenhall classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The first person verbs of the recital | From verse 3 to verse 13 God speaks and the verbs are all His: I took, I gave, I sent, I brought, I delivered, I destroyed. Abraham does nothing in verse 3 except get taken, which matches Genesis 12:1, where the call arrives before any word of Abram's.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1708 to 1710, on Joshua 24:3 to 4. | Joshua 24:3, Joshua 24:5, Joshua 24:8, Joshua 24:13 |
| Serve, said fifteen times | The verb to serve runs through verses 14 to 24 and holds the whole exchange together. It is what the fathers did beyond the Euphrates, what the choice is between, what Joshua promises for his house, what the people promise twice, and what Joshua says they are unable to do.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on Joshua 24:14 to 15. | Joshua 24:14, Joshua 24:15, Joshua 24:18, Joshua 24:21, Joshua 24:24 |
| The witnesses named twice | Verse 22 makes the people witnesses against themselves, and verse 27 makes the stone a witness because it has heard all the words. Covenant documents name witnesses, and Deuteronomy 30:19 calls heaven and earth to that office.Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863, on Joshua 24:21 to 22. | Joshua 24:22, Joshua 24:27 |
| Strange gods buried under an oak at Shechem, twice | Genesis 35:2 has Jacob telling his household to put away the foreign gods among them, and Genesis 35:4 says he hid them under the oak by Shechem. Joshua gives the same order in almost the same words at verse 23, and sets a stone under an oak at verse 26, in the same town.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, 1834 to 1885, on Joshua 24:1 to 2. | Joshua 24:23, Joshua 24:26 |
The structure
13 more paragraphs on the patterns
Four parts. Verses 1 to 13 are the recital in God's own voice. Verses 14 to 24 are the choice put, refused twice by Joshua and pressed twice by the people. Verses 25 to 28 are the covenant, the writing and the stone. Verses 29 to 33 are three graves.
The exchange at verses 14 to 24 runs as a four-beat argument. Joshua puts the choice, the people answer, and Joshua tells them they are unable. The people answer again, Joshua makes them witnesses, and they answer a third time with a clause the first two lacked, that they will obey His voice.
The book closes on burials: Joshua at verse 30, Joseph at verse 32 and Eleazar at verse 33.
Across the canon
Genesis 12:1, Genesis 33:19 and Genesis 35:2 to 4 all stand behind the ceremony's place and its language.
The Amorites east of the Jordan at verse 8 are Sihon and Og of Numbers 21:21 to 35. Balak's hire of Balaam at verses 9 and 10 runs through Numbers 22 to 24, and Deuteronomy 23:5 states it the same way, that the LORD turned the curse into a blessing.
Seven nations are named at verse 11, the standard list of Deuteronomy 7:1. Verse 13 is Deuteronomy 6:10 and 11 reported as done, cities they did not build and vineyards they did not plant.
Judges 2:6 to 9 repeats verses 28 to 31 almost word for word, which is how the next book takes up the thread. Judges 2:10 supplies the other half of verse 31, another generation that knew neither the LORD nor His works.
Joshua is called the servant of the LORD at verse 29, a title that belongs to Moses in every earlier place it occurs. He dies at a hundred and ten, the age Joseph reached at Genesis 50:26, and those two men are the only ones in Scripture given that number.
Joseph's bones at verse 32 close an oath sworn at Genesis 50:25 and kept by Moses at Exodus 13:19.
In the New Testament
Hebrews 11:22 counts Joseph's commandment about his bones among the acts of faith, so the New Testament reads the request of Genesis 50:25 as belief that God would bring the family up out of Egypt. Verse 32 is where that faith is discharged.
Acts 7:16 gives Stephen's account of the same burial, with the purchase credited to Abraham and the place called Sychem.
Keep studying
Words12
Subjects1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
George Mendenhall, Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East, 1955; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863, on Joshua 24:1 to 2 and Meredith Kline, Treaty of the Great King, 1963.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.