On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance. On that dayThis phrase signifies a specific, momentous occasion in the history of Israel. The Hebrew word for "day" is "yom," which can denote a literal 24-hour period or a significant time. Here, it marks a pivotal moment when the Israelites reaffirmed their commitment to God. Historically, this day is a culmination of Joshua's leadership and the people's journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. Joshua made a covenant
The Hebrew word for "covenant" is "berit," which implies a solemn agreement or treaty. In the ancient Near Eastern context, covenants were binding and often involved a ceremony. Joshua, as the leader, acts as a mediator between God and the people, emphasizing the seriousness of their commitment to serve the Lord. This covenant is a renewal of the one made at Sinai, reinforcing the people's identity as God's chosen nation. for the people
This phrase highlights the communal aspect of the covenant. It was not just an agreement between God and Joshua but involved the entire nation of Israel. The Hebrew word "am" for "people" underscores the collective responsibility and unity required to uphold the covenant. This communal aspect is crucial in understanding the corporate nature of Israel's relationship with God. and there at Shechem
Shechem holds significant historical and spiritual importance. It is the place where God first promised Abraham the land (Genesis 12:6-7) and where Jacob buried foreign gods (Genesis 35:4). By choosing Shechem, Joshua connects the people's current commitment to their ancestral heritage, reinforcing the continuity of God's promises and the people's faithfulness. he established for them
The act of establishing indicates a formal setting in place of something enduring. The Hebrew root "qum" suggests raising or setting up, implying that Joshua is instituting something that will stand the test of time. This action underscores the permanence and seriousness of the covenant and the expectations that come with it. a statute and an ordinance
The terms "statute" (Hebrew "choq") and "ordinance" (Hebrew "mishpat") refer to laws and decrees. "Choq" often denotes a prescribed task or boundary, while "mishpat" involves justice and judgment. Together, they represent the comprehensive nature of God's law, covering both moral and ceremonial aspects. This duality ensures that the Israelites understand their obligations in both worship and daily living, reflecting God's holiness and justice. Persons / Places / Events 1. JoshuaThe leader of Israel after Moses, who led the Israelites into the Promised Land. He is a central figure in this passage, acting as a mediator between God and the people. 2. The IsraelitesThe people of God who are renewing their covenant with Him. They are gathered at Shechem to affirm their commitment to serve the Lord. 3. ShechemA significant location in Israel's history, where God first promised the land to Abraham. It serves as a place of covenant renewal and commitment. 4. CovenantA solemn agreement between God and His people, involving promises and obligations. In this context, it is a reaffirmation of the Israelites' commitment to serve the Lord. 5. Statute and OrdinanceLegal terms indicating the establishment of laws and decrees that the Israelites are to follow as part of their covenant with God. Teaching Points Covenant RenewalJust as the Israelites renewed their covenant with God, Christians are called to regularly renew their commitment to follow Christ and live according to His teachings. Significance of PlaceShechem's historical and spiritual significance reminds us that God often uses specific places and events in our lives to deepen our faith and commitment. Obedience to God's LawThe establishment of statutes and ordinances underscores the importance of living in obedience to God's Word as a demonstration of our covenant relationship with Him. Leadership and MediationJoshua's role as a leader and mediator points to the importance of godly leadership in guiding others to a deeper relationship with God. Community CommitmentThe collective nature of the covenant renewal at Shechem highlights the importance of community in the Christian faith, encouraging believers to support and hold each other accountable. Bible Study Questions 1. What does the act of covenant renewal at Shechem teach us about the importance of recommitting our lives to God? 2. How can we identify and create "Shechem moments" in our own lives where we reaffirm our commitment to God? 3. In what ways does the concept of a covenant in Joshua 24:25 relate to the New Covenant established through Jesus Christ? 4. How can we apply the principles of statutes and ordinances in our daily walk with God, ensuring we live in obedience to His Word? 5. What role does community play in our spiritual journey, and how can we foster a supportive environment for covenant renewal within our church or small group? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 19-24The original covenant at Sinai, where God gave the Law to Moses and the Israelites agreed to follow it. This event parallels the covenant renewal in Joshua 24. Deuteronomy 27-28The blessings and curses associated with the covenant, emphasizing the importance of obedience to God's commands. Genesis 12:6-7God's promise to Abraham at Shechem, highlighting the continuity of God's promises and the significance of the location. 1 Samuel 12Samuel's renewal of the covenant with Israel, showing a pattern of covenant renewal throughout Israel's history. | The Covenant of Joshua | W. M. Punshon, D. D. | Joshua 24:25 | | Dying Charges | W. E. Knox, D. D. | Joshua 24:1-33 | | Joshua's Last Appeal | W. G. Blaikie, D. D. | Joshua 24:1-33 | | Joshua's Last Farewell | G. W. Butler, M. A. | Joshua 24:1-33 | | An Address to Image-Worshippers | W. Seaton. | Joshua 24:14-29 | | Joshua, and His Zest for the Service of the Lord | G. Woolnough. | Joshua 24:14-29 | | Marks of Being Sincerely Religious | G. Cart, B. A. | Joshua 24:14-29 | | The Last Days of Joshua | Sermons by the Monday Club | Joshua 24:14-29 | | A Great Decision | R. Glover | Joshua 24:16-31 | | Discouragement Useful | A. Maclaren, D. D. | Joshua 24:19-28 | | Entire Change Needed | British Evangelist | Joshua 24:19-28 | | God Declining First Offers of Service | John Ker, D. D. | Joshua 24:19-28 | | Moral Inability | Spurgeon, Charles Haddon | Joshua 24:19-28 | | Moral Inability | George Bush. | Joshua 24:19-28 | | Reasons Why Man Will not Serve God | | Joshua 24:19-28 | | The Covenant Renewed | De Witt S. Clark. | Joshua 24:19-28 | | The Difficulty of Serving God | The Weekly Pulpit | Joshua 24:19-28 | | The Holy Character of God | E. G. Marshall, M. A. | Joshua 24:19-28 | | The Covenant | W.F. Adeney | Joshua 24:21-25 |
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 Agreement, Covenant, Decrees, Drew, Joshua, Law, Laws, Layeth, Maketh, Ordinance, Ordinances, Rule, Shechem, Statute, StatutesDictionary of Bible Themes Joshua 24:14-27 8145 renewal, people of God 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 24:25 NIVJoshua 24:25 NLTJoshua 24:25 ESVJoshua 24:25 NASBJoshua 24:25 KJV
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