1.
And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
2.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.
3.
And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.
4.
And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
5.
I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out.
6.
And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea.
7.
And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.
8.
And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you.
9.
Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you:
10.
But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand.
11.
And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand.
12.
And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.
13.
And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.
14.
Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
15.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
A DECISION MADE
‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’
Joshua 24:15
These were the brave and faithful words of a brave and faithful man—words that were brave as regards men, words that were brave as regards God. Joshua, the great leader of the army and the people of Israel, having won for them secure possession of the Promise Land, just before his approaching end, gathers the people together to tell them what is the only true condition on which they can continue to hold this land. He tells them that national prosperity and national safety depend upon national religion, and then, knowing the feeble nature of the people he is addressing, he tells the assembled multitude that they may make their choice, rejecting the worship of the Lord if it seemed to them evil to serve Him, but that as for him and for his, the choice was made, and made unalterably.
I. These words not only express a great and high purpose, but they express a great and an infinitely precious idea and fact: they express for us the idea of family religion, as distinct on the one hand from personal religion and on the other from national religion. They reveal to us the family, as what in truth it is, and what God designed it should be—the home and citadel of religious faith in the heart of the nation.
II. God has His great work for individuals to do. He places a Moses upon the mount to bring down the Law. He sends a Paul out to preach the Gospel. He sends an Augustine to defend it, a Luther to reform it, and a Wesley to revive it. But mightier than all this, deeper than all this, though more hidden than this, is the task God confides to every religious and believing household upon earth. It is the task of taking the seed that these great sowers of the Word have sown and cherishing it beneath the tender, and gracious, and mighty influence of home. Such is God’s will and God’s purpose for the preservation of His faith. The family is its safe hiding-place, its true nursery, that none can invade or desecrate.
—Archbishop Magee.
Illustrations
(1) ‘Joshua was an old man; his children were all grown up; so it is fair to suppose that he was sure of their intelligent and loyal acceptance of his position. Happy old man, who could associate his family with himself in his convictions and his purpose! Probably it was because he could say, “As for me”; that he could add, “and my house.” His children saw how consistently and fearlessly he served God; they saw, too, how constantly he proved the wisdom and blessedness of this service; and they naturally said to their father, “Thy God shall be my God.” No man can make his children grow up in the loving service of God; love and devotion cannot be forced. But where the parents love and serve God, and set an example of whole-hearted service, they will generally lead their children into the way of life. A father’s example counts for much.’
(2) ‘We read about Abraham in the Book of Genesis, that God says, “I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord,” and right down to the times of the New Testament it is always taken for granted that the father shall teach his children and especially his sons. Many of the religious difficulties of the present day arise from the neglect of this Divine rule. Englishmen do not as a rule teach their own children the great secrets of God, and more especially do not teach their sons, so that there is a kind of spiritual alienation between fathers and sons as they grow up. The popular idea is that fathers have a right to demand that some one else should teach their sons. It is a most fatal mistake; the father’s responsibility cannot be devolved upon another; it is one for which he himself must give account to God.’
16.
And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;
17.
For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed:
18.
And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God.
19.
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
20.
If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
21.
And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.
22.
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.
23.
Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
24.
And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.
25.
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
26.
And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
27.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.
28.
So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.
29.
And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.
30.
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.
31.
And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel.
32.
And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
33.
And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.