So the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice." The people saidThis phrase indicates a collective response from the Israelites. In the Hebrew text, "the people" is "הָעָם" (ha'am), which refers to the entire community of Israel. This collective voice underscores the unity and shared commitment of the Israelites at this pivotal moment. Historically, this reflects a significant moment of covenant renewal, where the people reaffirm their dedication to God, reminiscent of earlier covenants made by their ancestors. to Joshua
Joshua, whose name in Hebrew is "יְהוֹשֻׁעַ" (Yehoshua), meaning "The LORD is salvation," serves as the leader and mediator between God and the people. His role is crucial as he guides the Israelites in their spiritual and physical journey into the Promised Land. Joshua's leadership is a continuation of Moses' mission, emphasizing obedience and faithfulness to God's commands. We will serve
The Hebrew word for "serve" is "נַעֲבֹד" (na'avod), which implies worship, labor, and allegiance. This declaration is not merely about performing religious rituals but encompasses a lifestyle of devotion and obedience to God. It reflects a conscious decision to prioritize God's will above all else, a theme that resonates throughout the Old Testament. the LORD
The term "LORD" in the Hebrew text is "יְהוָה" (YHWH), the sacred and personal name of God revealed to Moses. This name signifies God's eternal presence and covenantal faithfulness. By invoking this name, the Israelites acknowledge their unique relationship with God, who has delivered them from Egypt and sustained them in the wilderness. our God
This phrase personalizes the relationship between the Israelites and God. "Our God" signifies ownership and intimacy, highlighting the covenant relationship established at Sinai. It is a reminder of the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the fulfillment of those promises as the Israelites settle in the Promised Land. and we will obey His voice
The commitment to "obey His voice" underscores the importance of listening and adhering to God's commandments. The Hebrew word for "obey" is "נִשְׁמַע" (nishma), which means to hear, listen, and act upon. This obedience is not passive but requires active engagement and responsiveness to God's guidance. It reflects the covenantal stipulation that blessings follow obedience, a recurring theme in the Deuteronomic history. Persons / Places / Events 1. JoshuaThe leader of Israel after Moses, Joshua is delivering his farewell address to the Israelites, urging them to remain faithful to God. 2. The IsraelitesThe people of God who have entered the Promised Land under Joshua's leadership. They are gathered at Shechem to renew their covenant with God. 3. ShechemA significant location in Israel's history, where God first promised the land to Abraham and where the covenant is renewed in Joshua 24. 4. The Covenant RenewalAn event where Joshua calls the Israelites to reaffirm their commitment to serve and obey God, rejecting other gods. 5. The LORD (Yahweh)The covenant God of Israel, who delivered them from Egypt and gave them the Promised Land. Teaching Points Commitment to GodJust as the Israelites committed to serving the LORD, believers today are called to a wholehearted commitment to God, rejecting all forms of idolatry. Obedience to God's VoiceObedience is a key aspect of faith. Listening to and following God's commands is essential for a faithful walk with Him. Covenant RenewalRegularly renewing our commitment to God helps us stay focused on our spiritual journey and reminds us of His faithfulness. Community AffirmationThe collective response of the Israelites highlights the importance of community in faith. Believers should encourage one another in their commitment to God. Historical ContinuityUnderstanding the historical context of Israel's covenant helps us appreciate the continuity of God's promises and our place in His redemptive plan. Bible Study Questions 1. What does it mean for you personally to "serve the LORD" in your daily life, and how can you ensure that you are listening to His voice? 2. How does the commitment of the Israelites at Shechem challenge or inspire your own faith journey? 3. In what ways can you regularly renew your commitment to God, and why is this important? 4. How can you encourage your faith community to remain committed to serving and obeying God? 5. Reflect on a time when you had to choose between serving God and following other "gods" (e.g., career, relationships, materialism). What did you learn from that experience, and how does it relate to Joshua 24:24? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 19:8The Israelites similarly commit to obeying God's voice at Mount Sinai, showing a pattern of covenant renewal and commitment. Deuteronomy 6:4-5The Shema, which calls Israel to love and serve God with all their heart, soul, and strength, echoes the commitment made in Joshua 24:24. 1 Samuel 12:14-15Samuel reminds Israel of the importance of serving and obeying God, reinforcing the covenant theme. Matthew 22:37Jesus reiterates the greatest commandment, which aligns with the call to serve and love God wholeheartedly. People Aaron, Amorites, Balaam, Balak, Beor, Canaanites, Egyptians, Eleazar, Esau, Girgashite, Girgashites, Hamor, Hittites, Hivite, Hivites, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Jebusites, Joseph, Joshua, Nachor, Nahor, Nun, Perizzites, Phinehas, Seir, Serah, Terah, ZipporPlaces Canaan, Egypt, Euphrates River, Gaash, Gibeah, Jericho, Jordan River, Moab, Red Sea, Seir, Shechem, Timnath-serahTopics Ear, Hearken, Joshua, Listen, Obey, Servants, Serve, VoiceDictionary of Bible Themes Joshua 24:24 6616 atonement, in OT
8208 commitment, to God
8711 covenant breakers Joshua 24:14-24 7160 servants of the Lord
8466 reformation Joshua 24:14-27 8145 renewal, people of God Joshua 24:19-24 5923 public opinion Joshua 24:21-24 6622 choice Joshua 24:22-25 1349 covenant, at Sinai Joshua 24:24-25 7263 theocracy Library February the Tenth Registering a Verdict
"The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey." --JOSHUA xxiv. 22-28. Here was a definite decision. Our peril is that we spend our life in wavering and we never decide. We are like a jury which is always hearing evidence and never gives a verdict. We do much thinking, but we never make up our minds. We let our eyes wander over many things, but we make no choice. Life has no crisis, no culmination. Now people who never decide spend their days in hoping to do so. But this kind of life …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling YearA Summary of Israel's Faithlessness and God's Patience
'And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. 2. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? 3. Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
Subdivision B. At Jacob's Well, and at Sychar. ^D John IV. 5-42. ^d 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 and Jacob's well was there. [Commentators long made the mistake of supposing that Shechem, now called Nablous, was the town here called Sychar. Sheckem lies a mile and a half west of Jacob's well, while the real Sychar, now called 'Askar, lies scarcely half a mile north of the well. It was a small town, loosely called …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Meditations for Household Piety.
1. If thou be called to the government of a family, thou must not hold it sufficient to serve God and live uprightly in thy own person, unless thou cause all under thy charge to do the same with thee. For the performance of this duty God was so well pleased with Abraham, that he would not hide from him his counsel: "For," saith God, "I know him that he will command his sons and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety The Promise to the Patriarchs.
A great epoch is, in Genesis, ushered in with the history of the time of the Patriarchs. Luther says: "This is the third period in which Holy Scripture begins the history of the Church with a new family." In a befitting manner, the representation is opened in Gen. xii. 1-3 by an account of the first revelation of God, given to Abraham at Haran, in which the way is opened up for all that follows, and in which the dispensations of God are brought before us in a rapid survey. Abraham is to forsake …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Sovereignty and Human Responsibility
"So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God" (Rom. 14:12). In our last chapter we considered at some length the much debated and difficult question of the human will. We have shown that the will of the natural man is neither Sovereign nor free but, instead, a servant and slave. We have argued that a right conception of the sinner's will-its servitude-is essential to a just estimate of his depravity and ruin. The utter corruption and degradation of human nature is something which …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God And for Your Fearlessness against them Hold this Sure Sign -- Whenever There Is...
43. And for your fearlessness against them hold this sure sign--whenever there is any apparition, be not prostrate with fear, but whatsoever it be, first boldly ask, Who art thou? And from whence comest thou? And if it should be a vision of holy ones they will assure you, and change your fear into joy. But if the vision should be from the devil, immediately it becomes feeble, beholding your firm purpose of mind. For merely to ask, Who art thou [1083] ? and whence comest thou? is a proof of coolness. …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Covenanting Performed in Former Ages with Approbation from Above.
That the Lord gave special token of his approbation of the exercise of Covenanting, it belongs to this place to show. His approval of the duty was seen when he unfolded the promises of the Everlasting Covenant to his people, while they endeavoured to perform it; and his approval thereof is continually seen in his fulfilment to them of these promises. The special manifestations of his regard, made to them while attending to the service before him, belonged to one or other, or both, of those exhibitions …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The First Commandment
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Why is the commandment in the second person singular, Thou? Why does not God say, You shall have no other gods? Because the commandment concerns every one, and God would have each one take it as spoken to him by name. Though we are forward to take privileges to ourselves, yet we are apt to shift off duties from ourselves to others; therefore the commandment is in the second person, Thou and Thou, that every one may know that it is spoken to him, …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments Moses and his Writings
[Illustration: (drop cap W) Clay letter tablet of Moses' time.] We now begin to understand a little of the very beginning of God's Book--of the times in which it was written, the materials used by its first author, and the different kinds of writing from which he had to choose; but we must go a step farther. How much did Moses know about the history of his forefathers, Abraham and Jacob, and of all the old nations and kings mentioned in Genesis, before God called him to the great work of writing …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making "The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. So Then they that Are
Rom. viii. s 7, 8.--"The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is not the least of man's evils, that he knows not how evil he is, therefore the Searcher of the heart of man gives the most perfect account of it, Jer. xvii. 12. "The heart is deceitful above all things," as well as "desperately wicked," two things superlative and excessive in it, bordering upon an infiniteness, such …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Gen. xxxi. 11
Of no less importance and significance is the passage Gen. xxxi. 11 seq. According to ver. 11, the Angel of God, [Hebrew: mlaK halhiM] appears toJacob in a dream. In ver. 13, the same person calls himself the God of Bethel, with reference to the event recorded in chap. xxviii. 11-22. It cannot be supposed that in chap xxviii. the mediation of a common angel took place, who, however, had not been expressly mentioned; for Jehovah is there contrasted with the angels. In ver. 12, we read: "And behold …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Manner of Covenanting.
Previous to an examination of the manner of engaging in the exercise of Covenanting, the consideration of God's procedure towards his people while performing the service seems to claim regard. Of the manner in which the great Supreme as God acts, as well as of Himself, our knowledge is limited. Yet though even of the effects on creatures of His doings we know little, we have reason to rejoice that, in His word He has informed us, and in His providence illustrated by that word, he has given us to …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Joshua
The book of Joshua is the natural complement of the Pentateuch. Moses is dead, but the people are on the verge of the promised land, and the story of early Israel would be incomplete, did it not record the conquest of that land and her establishment upon it. The divine purpose moves restlessly on, until it is accomplished; so "after the death of Moses, Jehovah spake to Joshua," i. 1. The book falls naturally into three divisions: (a) the conquest of Canaan (i.-xii.), (b) the settlement of the …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Joshua 24:24 NIVJoshua 24:24 NLTJoshua 24:24 ESVJoshua 24:24 NASBJoshua 24:24 KJV
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