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Bible Outlines - Joshua 24-1-33 - Decision Time - As For Me and
Bible Outlines - Joshua 24-1-33 - Decision Time - As For Me and
BIG IDEA:
INTRODUCTION:
Trent Butler: Josh 24 completes the book by giving the theological
definition of the people of God. “The preceding account of God’s saving acts
and election of Israel has made devotion to other gods absurd.” Here we
suddenly find highly loaded theological language, defining God and the God-
human relationship. Here we find “what is arguably the central idea about God
in the Old Testament.” “Joshua powerfully establishes Israel’s identity as a
people defined by the decisions it freely makes in response to God’s initiative.” .
..
(:1-13) Review of Covenant History — The nation of Israel had a history with
God—a record of how God had provided and remained faithful to them through
the years. In the years ahead they would find it necessary to review that history
periodically.
Gordon Matties: God’s purpose and direction are confirmed. In spite of their
worship of other gods, Yahweh has called them into a relationship and acted on
their behalf against Egypt, Balak, Balaam, and the Canaanites. Here at the end
of Joshua’s story, we have the result of God’s initiative: God has given the
land to Israel.
I. Deliverance.
“I brought you out” (Josh 24:5). They were emancipated through blood (Exod.
12:13). So are we (1 Peter 1:18, 19). Once the slaves of sin, now the children of
God. Delivered to serve (Luke 1:74).
II. Separation.
“The Lord put darkness between you and the Egyptians” (Josh 24:7). The
darkness of death still lies between the saved and the unsaved (John 5:24).
The Lord doth put a difference (Exod. 11:7). No human power will ever be able
to bridge the great gulf fixed between death and life.
III. Victory.
“I gave them (enemies) into your hand” (Josh 24:8). All the enemies of the
believer are conquered foes. They need not have dominion over you (Rom.
6:14; Micah 7:9). He giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom.
7:25).
IV. Protection.
“When Balak called Balaam to curse you he blessed you still” (Josh 24:9, 10).
He can turn the counsel of the wicked to naught (Neh. 4:15). “The Lord is thy
keeper; He shall preserve thee from all evil” (Ps. 121:5, 7).
V. Possession.
“I have given you a land for which you did not labour,” etc. (Josh 24:13). “Not
of works, lest any man should boast.” What did the prodigal do for the benefits
he received? (Luke 15:22, 23) What have we that we have not received (Eph.
2:7). “Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve Him.”
“Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the
elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and
they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people,
‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,’”
Kenneth Gangel: Joshua had selected the perfect place for this gathering—
Shechem—just a few miles northwest of Shiloh where Abraham first received
the promise that God would give his seed the land of Canaan. Perhaps he even
stood by Abraham’s altar (Gen. 12:6-7). Jacob also stopped at Shechem, and
Joshua had built an altar there (Josh. 8:30-35). This was an excellent place
for this speech, since the stones on which the law had been written were
probably still standing—a vivid visual aid of that significant event.
Robert Hubbard: Joshua launches the proceedings by addressing the
assembled crowd. His first words are the so-called messenger formula (“Thus
says X”), the standard phrase invoked to introduce a verbatim message from a
third party (e.g., Gen. 32:5; 45:9; Num. 20:14; Judg. 11:15; Isa 36:4). In this
case, the formula is (lit.) “Thus says the LORD,” the typical preface to oracles by
prophets (e.g., Judg. 6:8; 2 Sam. 12:7; Isa. 29:22; Jer. 2:5). It clearly signals
that the sound the assembly hears may be Joshua’s but the voice speaking is
in fact that of Yahweh. Indeed, this marks Yahweh’s lone, personal, direct
address to assembled Israel in the book.
This section is unique among the historical summaries in the Old Testament in
the way it focuses on the choice between the Lord and other gods. . . This
emphasis on the Lord’s initiative in forming Israel provides the foundation for
the larger argument that it would be foolish to worship other gods, since this
God is completely responsible for Israel’s existence. Verses 2–13 provide a
powerful prelude to the charge that follows, “[C]hoose this day whom you will
serve” (v. 15).
“From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah,
the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other
gods.”
Kenneth Gangel: Joshua goes all the way back to Terah and Abraham to remind
them that just as God provided for the patriarchs he provides for Israel out of
their sin and into his grace.
“And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir, to
possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.”
“Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its
midst; and afterward I brought you out.”
Trent Butler: Moses and Aaron are introduced as representatives of the two
sources of authority for the Israelite community, the priesthood and the
Torah of Moses. The emphasis of the historical review is not on human
authority but on divine action. Any authority derived from Moses and Aaron is
secondary. God himself is the sole source of primary authority. He sent out the
humans from whom authority is secondarily derived.
“And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and
Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
7 But when they cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between you
and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them;
and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt.”
Helene Dallaire: After 430 years in Egypt, the Israelites cried out to the Lord,
who then raised Moses and Aaron up to deliver them from slavery in Egypt. God
afflicted the Egyptians, destroyed their chariots and horses in the sea, and
brought Israel out on dry ground (Ex 12:31–39) to a desert region, where they
lived for the next forty years.
“Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the
Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and
you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you.”
“Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against
Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.
10 But I was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I
delivered you from his hand.”
Kenneth Gangel: Instead of cursing Israel, Balaam was forced by God to bless
them. Once again God took what someone intended as evil and turned it into
something good for his people.
Robert Hubbard: The theme of divine rescue marks one of the speech’s key
themes, another of a string of divine deliverances from hostile enemies over
the centuries (Ex. 18:8–10; Judg. 8:34; 1 Sam. 17:37). The implication is that
had Yahweh not intervened, there would be no Israel for him to address on this
or any other occasion. Enemies would have overwhelmed them long ago.
D. (:11-13) History of Conquest of Canaan
“and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and the Amorite and the
Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite
and the Jebusite. Thus I gave them into your hand.”
“Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the
Amorites from before you, but not by your sword or your bow.”
Therefore, God’s statement that it was not “with your sword or your bow” must
be understood as saying that it was not by their own power, by the might or
ferocity of their own weapons, that they had success. Only by God’s power did
they accomplish what they did, something the book affirms over and over
again.
Trent Butler: God, not man, has acted. Israel’s blessings, Israel’s entire identity,
is a result of divine choice and action, not human power. The point is made in
the language of Deut 6:10–11, another context centering on the service of
other gods.
4. (:13) Crowning the Conquest with the Gift of Undeserved Productive Land
“And I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which
you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of
vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”
Helene Dallaire: God has been generous with his gifts to Israel. But with gifts
come responsibilities.
David Guzik: There is a sense in which every blessing is undeserved, but some
are more obviously so. When Israel enjoyed vineyards and olive orchards in
Canaan, it should have made them especially grateful for undeserved
blessings.
They should also have remembered that those who planted the vineyards and
orchards were removed by God’s righteous judgment, and if they disobeyed
and rejected God, they might also be so judged.
Robert Hubbard: A subtle, seamless shift from the divine “I” to the third person
signals that Joshua speaks from here on. Syntactically, “now” shows that
Joshua will draw out the logical implications of Yahweh’s historical review. A
shift from indicative to imperative mood also occurs: Two pairs of imperatives
confront Israel with a decision to make in response (v. 14).
Van Parunak: The common requirement, “serve the Lord,” is modified the first
time with two phrases that emphasize this need for consistency, “in sincerity
and in truth.” This is an amplification of Deut 6:5-8.
Robert Hubbard: Given Joshua’s expected death (cf. 23:1, 2, 14), at stake is
whether the exclusive devotion to Yahweh—the kind typified by Joshua and
Moses—will continue into the next generation. In demanding a choice,
Joshua mirrors the pattern of Moses, who made a similar passionate plea
before Israel entered Canaan (e.g., Deut. 30:19–20; cf. Josh. 23). Here
Joshua asks for commitment from the present generation, the first one in
Israel’s history to occupy the Promised Land. But his words also confront
readers today with a similar choice: Is Jesus your Lord or not?
“for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out
of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage,”
b. (:17b) Preservation along Our Journey
“and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us
through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples
through whose midst we passed.”
“And the LORD drove out from before us all the peoples,
Kenneth Gangel: But the verses which follow seem to suggest that they were
unable to convince Joshua by this great acclamation. What they said should
have pleased him. But it seems as if Joshua were stopping them as they
rushed to the altar to make their commitment and sending them back to
rethink it. He appears to say, “You don’t know what you’re committing to. You’re
not serious enough about this. You don’t realize how holy God is and that he
won’t just ignore your sin and idolatry. You haven’t yet counted the cost of
serving God.” He actually told them that this jealous God… will not forgive your
rebellion and your sins.” But they persisted and repeatedly said, “We will serve
the LORD.” They were willing to be witnesses against themselves to this
covenant commitment.
“You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a
jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins.”
Ben Reaoch: The key lesson for us is to acknowledge that we cannot serve the
Lord in our own strength. We are incapable of doing what God commands of us.
We can only do so by His power. So we need to ask for His help. Don’t be
overconfident in your own abilities. It seems like Joshua detected a bit of
overconfidence in the Israelites’ response. So he had to remind them of their
true condition.
Robert Hubbard: At first glance, Joshua’s reply (“You cannot serve the LORD”)
sounds like an irritated rebuttal (v. 19; in modern terms, “In your dreams!”). But
his seeming rejoinder in fact dispenses to theologically naive Israel a strong
dose of divine reality in order to dispel a dangerous delusion. Probably Joshua
senses in Israel’s response (vv. 16–18) a mistakenly narrow preoccupation with
Yahweh’s ability to protect. The danger is that they fail to reckon fully with
Yahweh’s unique character compared to the gods they have known. His
audience viewed the latter as so easy to please that they could serve several of
them at the same time. They would, thus, assume they could easily get along
with Yahweh in a mutual back-scratching relationship: They protect Yahweh
and he protects them. Rhetorically, Joshua’s reply underscores that two unique
character traits of Yahweh—his holiness and his jealousy—make serving him
all-demanding. Those traits also make the present moment a deadly serious
transaction, not a simple, casual formality to be endured and then ignored.
“If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn
and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to
you.”
Trent Butler: The issue at stake in the entire chapter is the service of other
gods, presented as a present reality for Israel. Their experience is that of
the service of gods who make fewer demands than does Yahweh. Israel has
been able to serve such gods. She could build images for them, dress them,
perfume them, build a house for them, bring sacrifices to feed them, carry
them in processions, even bury them in appropriate moments (Gen 35:4; cf.
31:34). The scholarly theology of the priesthood of these gods might have
denied the possibility; but for the common worshipers, it was certainly within
their possibilities to serve the gods they knew, indeed, to serve several of them
simultaneously.
Joshua has detected this in the response of the people. They see God as the
one who is bound to protect them along their way, so they can protect him by
serving him. Joshua demands a service with deeper motivation. He wants
service based on the nature of God himself. Joshua has described this
nature in the acts of gracious election, creating a people through salvation
history. Now he defines this nature with two theologically loaded terms, terms
that explain why Israel cannot serve Yahweh.
First, God is holy. This is, aptly enough, language taken over from the
Canaanite tradition itself. It is in a category all by itself in describing an
attribute belonging to deity, namely, the numinous, mysterious element that
separates him from all creation and creatures. In its earliest tradition Israel
understands this holiness both as a saving and as a destructive power. The
demonstration of the destructive power of holiness is not simply an
impersonal, automatic entity in itself, however. It must be understood as the
power of a God who feels himself personally insulted by the unimpressed. The
holiness of God impresses the worshiper to imitate the purity of God, acting in
accordance with the demands of God (Exod 22:30 [22:31]; Lev 19:2). The
true worshipers of Yahweh are impressed by the numinous holiness of God, so
impressed that they know they cannot meet the demands of such a god. We
cannot serve such a god. As Creach phrases this situation, “Israel cannot fulfill
its covenant obligation to God by simple adherence to a legal code. Rather
particular stipulations were illustrative examples of Israel’s larger obligation to
express God’s holiness in every word and deed.”
Similarly, God is jealous and zealous. Here again, terminology is taken from
Israel’s environment, where the gods are jealous among themselves. Yahweh’s
uniqueness lies precisely in his jealousy over against his worshipers. He loves
them so much that he wants their undivided love in return. He will not share
them with any other god. God turns his jealous indignation against the
unfaithful worshiper, not against the rival lover. He punishes the people who try
to serve him along with some other god. God’s jealousy cannot tolerate this. He
has given undivided love and wants the same from them (cf. Exod 20:5;
34:14–16). Thus Eichrodt can call the jealousy of God “the basic element in the
whole Old Testament idea of God.”
The nature of God himself prevents Israel from serving him. His holy
purity and jealous love both tie him in total devotion to his people and tie them
off from fulfilling his demands. This has drastic consequences. God will not
forgive Israel’s sins (cf. Exod 23:21). His expectations of them are too high. His
love for them is too great. He cannot easily ignore their wrongdoings, their
casual flirtations with other gods. The gods of the neighbors would simply wait
for the worshiper to come back. Yahweh goes out to discipline the errant lover
until she returns.
1) (:21) Pledge
2) (:22a) Warning
3) (:22b) Witnesses
Jerome Creach: God’s zealousness requires people of faith to “love the LORD
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might”
(Deut. 6:5). This message is at the heart of the book of Joshua, and at the
heart of the gospel.
“And the people said to Joshua, ‘We will serve the LORD our
God and we will obey His voice.’”
“So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a
statute and an ordinance in Shechem.”
“And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God;”
David Howard: What is clear is that the people were binding themselves to
serve and obey him. The writing down of the decrees and laws and the calling
of the great stone as a witness against them both served to seal their solemn
commitment to this.
“and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by
the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Behold,
this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words
of the LORD which He spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against
you, lest you deny your God.’”
David Howard: The stone itself was now a witness of the covenant (as were the
people in v. 22). It had “heard” everything that the Lord had said to Israel. The
text only claims that the stone had heard what God had said (i.e., vv. 2–13), not
the rest of the ceremony (vv. 14–24). So its presence would serve as a
testimony to God’s faithfulness to his people, just as the twelve stones that
Joshua erected on the bank of the Jordan were to serve as testimonies to
what he had done at the Jordan (4:9, 20–24). Such a reference to the stone’s
“hearing” is obviously a literary metaphor, in the same way that references to
rivers clapping their hands and mountains singing for joy (Ps 98:8) or to the
trees of the field singing for joy (Ps 96:12) are metaphors.
David Howard: The Book of Joshua ends on a satisfying, peaceful note, giving
the accounts of Joshua’s death and burial (vv. 29–31) and of the burial of
Joseph (v. 32) and of Eleazar the priest (v. 33). Fittingly, the motif of land
inheritance is the common thread in the three burial notices: the bodies of all
three men were buried in land that belonged to the inheritance of their families.
The burials of these three men signified the ends of eras: Joshua the leader
and Eleazar the priest were the last recent links with Egypt, whereas Joseph
represented a more distant link with Egypt and with the promises to the
patriarchs. God’s promises to give his people the land were now indeed fulfilled:
every tribe had received its inheritance, and Israel’s leaders died peaceful
deaths and were buried in land that was finally their own. This peaceful ending
to the book gives little hint of the troubles in that land that were to come
shortly, in the Book of Judges. However, the Book of Joshua has already given
hints of these troubles. The point here is that Joshua’s and the people’s
obedience was rewarded and especially that Yahweh is a God who keeps his
promises.
Donald Campbell: Recording three burials is a strange way to end a book like
Joshua! But these three peaceful graves testify to the faithfulness of God,
for Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar once lived in a foreign nation where they
received God’s promise to take His people back to Canaan. Now all three were
at rest within the Promised Land. God kept His word to Joshua, Joseph, and
Eleazar—and to all Israel. And this encourages God’s children today to count on
God’s unfailing faithfulness. (The Bible Knowledge Commentary)
a. (:29) Death
“And it came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun,
the servant of the LORD, died,
Gordon Matties: Deuteronomy ends with the death of Moses, and Joshua
begins with After the death of Moses. Similarly Joshua ends with the death of
Joshua, and Judges begins with “After the death of Joshua.” Joshua’s ending,
therefore, makes an explicit link forward to the book of Judges and rounds out
the narrative by referring back to the transition between the books of
Deuteronomy and Joshua.
Helene Dallaire: For the first time, Joshua is called “the servant of the LORD.”
Until now, only Moses had carried this epithet (Dt 34:5; Jos 1:1, 13, 15; 8:31,
33; 11:12; 12:6; 13:8; 14:7; 18:7; 22:2, 3, 5). Joshua’s faithfulness and
dedication to the mission of Yahweh has won him the honor.
b. (:30) Burial
David Howard: This verse forms a fitting epitaph for Joshua: the people under
his leadership served the Lord for many years during his lifetime and after his
death. They evidently followed his example when he challenged them to
choose whom they would serve and when he asserted that he and his
household would serve the Lord (vv. 14–15).
“Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought
up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob had
bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred
pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons.”
Helene Dallaire: Years earlier, Joseph had asked his brothers to swear that they
would bring his bones to the Promised Land (Ge 50:25–26). The promise is
fulfilled here when those bones are buried at Shechem, in the tract of land
Jacob had purchased for his family during the time of the patriarchs.
“And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah of
Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.”
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