Joshua 23
1
And it came to pass a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto
Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and
stricken in age.
2 And Joshua called for
all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their
judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and
stricken in age:3 And ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done
unto all these nations because of you; for the Lord your God is he that
hath fought for you.
4 Behold, I have
divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance
for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off,
even unto the great sea westward.
5 And
the Lord your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them
from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord
your God hath promised unto you.
6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; 7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
8 But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day.
9 For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong:but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. 10 One man of you shall chase a thousand:for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
11
Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your
God. 12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant
of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make
marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:13 Know for a
certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these
nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.
14 And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth:and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
15
Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon
you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon
you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land
which the Lord your God hath given you. 16 When ye have transgressed
the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and have gone
and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the
anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly
from off the good land which he hath given unto you.
Joshua 24
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.
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 Timnathserah,
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.
Comments by Joan Boney
Joshua 24 ...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
We,
too, were in bondage to our flesh, to devils, to the god of this
present world ... How did those things profit us which we once lusted
after? What was the result of our lust?
Like the
people of the children of Israel, how can we not remember that God
brought us out and delivered us and cared for us all these years in this
vast wilderness we call this world of today.
And God made a difference between us and those people we were once like.
I Cor. 10 ... 11 Now all these things happened unto them for
ensamples:and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of
the world are come.