"And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now, therefore, put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey."
Joshua 24:21-24
Part 2
Yesterday: Israel Chooses to Serve the LORD
“And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.
“And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves.”
“That ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him.” “And they said, We are witnesses.”
Today: It’s Time to Make Good on Your Promise
“Then Joshua said, “So throw away the false gods that you have among you. Love the LORD, the God of Israel, with all your heart.” Then the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God. We will obey him” (Joshua 24: 23-24, HSB [1]).
Israel is at a crossroads. It is time for them to begin settling the Promised Land where Jehovah has brought them. They must choose who they are going to serve. They have not been faithful to their God Jehovah and have gone after the false gods of the people around them. Joshua has called them to Shechem, the very place where Jacob buried his family’s false gods so that they could serve Jehovah faithfully. Joshua is standing before the congregation and challenging them to renew the Covenant with Jehovah. This takes serious thought and commitment if they are going to serve the Lord God. Yesterday we saw that Israel has chosen to serve Jehovah, and Joshua has called them to be witnesses against themselves if they violate this covenant promise.
“Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses” (Joshua 24:21b-22).
Since the Children of Israel have agreed to God’s terms, Joshua now calls on them to get serious about their decision.
“Now, therefore, put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you.”
Israel, you said you chose the Lord to serve Him, so now it’s time to begin acting on your promise. It’s time to throw away all the false gods that you’ve been clinging to.
“He had heard the pledge on their lips; now, he challenged them to prove their sincerity by their works. Knowing that many of them were secretly practicing idolatry, Joshua forthrightly demanded that they remove their foreign gods” [2] (BKC).
“Now, therefore, put away – As you have promised to reform, begin instantly the work of reformation. A man’s promise to serve God soon loses its moral hold of his conscience if he do [sic.] not instantaneously begin to put it in practice. The grace that enables him to promise is that by the strength of which he is to begin the performance” [3] (Clarke).
“There could be no mixing of allegiance to God with idol worship. A firm choice had to be made then as in every generation. People must choose between expediency and principle, between this world and eternity, between God and idols….[4] (BKC).
From the Children of Israel at Shechem to every child of God today, we are all expected to remove the idols from our hearts. We serve God only!
“For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
Dear believer, how is your heart? Do you try to balance on the throne of your heart, Jesus, and the things of this world? It will never work. It must be Jesus or nothing!
“And incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.”
The only way to prove your allegiance to the Lord Jehovah is by ridding yourself of any other loyalties that divide your heart. God will never be fooled by halfhearted Christians, for He always knows the direction that your heart is leaning. The word incline here means just that. Which way does your heart lean toward God or to the things of the world?
“The people made their promises, but the report does not indicate that they did away with their gods, unlike their ancestor Jacob. He buried the gods in his possession at Shechem, the same place where his descendants now stood (Genesis 35:2–4)” [5] (CSB).
“Some families or clans may have reverted to ancient household gods and superstitions—or taken up with new ones. Joshua’s speech is a ringing call to repent and commit themselves to the Lord, the only true God of Israel” [6] (TBG).
“And the people said unto Joshua.”
Joshua did not force them into a quick decision. But neither did he waste time waiting for them to make the right choice. Here they made their choice, not through coercion but hopefully from a genuine desire to serve Jehovah.
“The LORD our God will we serve.”
This is the third time this day that they have promised they will serve Jehovah.
“And the people answered and said, God, forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods” (Joshua 24:16).
“And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:21).
“And His voice will we obey.”
This is a crucial thought to everyone who serves God. There are many voices out there in the world vying for our attention. And it is the voice that we listen to the most that we end up obeying. Joshua let Israel know that they need to cut out all other voices and listen to only one voice, Jehovah.
Faithful child of God, guard your heart and beware of the danger of listening to the voices that would draw you away from listening to your God. This is another reason that we need to be in the Word of God daily for ourselves. It is for our growth and our devotion. His voice will strengthen and encourage our hearts.
Quote: “Where God and man are in relationship, this must be the ideal. God must be the communicator, and man must be in the listening, obeying attitude. If men and women are not willing to assume this listening attitude, there will be no meeting with God in living, personal experience…” [7] (A. W. Tozer).
[1] HSB is the Harvest Study Bible from Harvest Ministries in Guam.
[2] BKC, Campbell, D. K. (1985). Joshua. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 370). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword. Joshua 24:23. The emphasis is his.
[4] BKC, ibid.
[5] CSB, Hess, R. S. (2017). Joshua. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 357). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] TBG, Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., pp. 115–116). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
[7] Tozer’s quote Downloaded: October 30, 2021. From: https://quotestats.com/topic/quotes-about-listening-to-god/.