The valley of Shechem at dawn between a bare rocky mountain and a greener terraced one, a great old oak on the valley floor with a single tall rough standing stone in its shade, tents and a small walled town far off.

The Book of

Joshua 24

Joshua tells Israel’s whole story in one breath, then asks one question: whom will you serve?

33 verses≈ 7 min3 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–5Crossing overInto the land
6–12Taking the landThe LORD fights for Israel
13–21Dividing the landAn inheritance for each tribe
22–24Choose this dayServe the LORDChapter 24

Joshua Reviews Israel’s History

Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

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Joshua

Joshua

Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and afterward I brought you out. When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your hand, that you should possess their land when I destroyed them before you. Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam. So he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you from his hand.

Joshua

Joshua

After this, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand. I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow.

Evening in the hill country: old olive trees and terraced vineyards heavy with grapes, a stone-lined well with a rope and jar, and a small walled town on the ridge beyond.

So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build, and now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

0:10

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Reflect

A land you did not toil for

Joshua let the LORD tell the story, and line after line He says “I”: I took, I gave, I sent, I brought. It ends, “So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build.” Make your own list. What do you live in, eat from and rest in that someone else built or planted? What has God given you that you never earned? Write a few lines, and thank Him by name for each.

Choose Whom You Will Serve

Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

Joshua 24:15

The Israelites

The people replied, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! For the LORD our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us throughout our journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because He is our God!”

Joshua

But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and consume you, even after He has been good to you.”

The Israelites

“No!” replied the people. “We will serve the LORD!”

Joshua

Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”

The Israelites

“We are witnesses!” they said.

Joshua

Joshua

“Now, therefore,” he said, “get rid of the foreign gods among you and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.”

On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance. Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God.

Under a great spreading oak in the valley of Shechem, men in plain wool tunics heave a tall rough stone upright with ropes and wooden levers while old white-bearded Joshua stands by with his staff, the people watching at a distance.

Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was near the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.”

Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

The covenant at Shechem

Whiteboard

First Joshua tells what the LORD had done, from Terah’s gods beyond the River to vineyards they never planted. Only then does he ask them to choose. The people answer quickly, so Joshua warns them, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God.” They answer again, and a third time, and stand as witnesses against themselves. Then comes the hard part: putting away the gods they still had, a covenant written down, and a great stone under the oak that “has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us.”

Question

Quick question

Joshua gathered all the tribes for one last covenant before he died.

Where did Joshua gather the tribes to make this covenant?

Joshua’s Death and Burial

Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

Israel had served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced all the works that the LORD had done for Israel.

Morning in the green valley of Shechem: at the edge of a field of young wheat, four men carry a plain closed wooden coffin on two poles toward a low rock-cut tomb in the hillside, elders and families walking behind.

And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. So it became an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants.

0:15

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Eleazar son of Aaron also died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

Pray

As for me and my house

Lord God, You have done everything for us, and we have earned none of it. Today I choose You again. “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!” Keep my household choosing You, and my church, and the generation coming after us, so that it never forgets what You have done. Where I have kept other gods close, give me grace to put them away, and incline my heart to You. Through Jesus, who keeps me when I cannot keep myself. Amen.

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Joshua 24

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A verse to carry with you

But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!

Joshua 24:15

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