Daily Verse Daily Verse by Faithlife | Joshua 24:15

[SCAdmin]

 

[Lori Jane]

24:15 the gods that your ancestors served Shechem was the place at which Jacob had earlier buried the gods that his wives and concubines had brought from Haran (Gen 35:2–4). See Josh 24:14.​

the Amorites Here “Amorites” refers generally to the Canaanites. Often refers to the Transjordan region (the territory of Og and Sihon; see vv. 12; Num 21; Deut 2–3).​

as for me and my household Joshua and his extended family.


​

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Jos 24:15). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

 

[Lori Jane]

24:14–15 Joshua does not invite Israel to choose the Lord but repeats Deuteronomy’s command to fear and to serve/worship only the Lord (see Dt 6:13; 10:12, 20). Only if they refuse are they faced with a choice: which of the many pagan gods of their ancestors or the Amorites/Canaanites to foolishly follow. Joshua refuses to turn from following the Lord.


Hess, R. S. (2017). Joshua. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 356). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

 

[Lori Jane]

15 Joshua concludes his case by spelling out the alternatives facing Israel, with the language “in your eyes” connecting back to v 7. Perlitt finds no free choice here but a sharpening of the sermon born out of extreme danger. For Perlitt, this comes not from tradition or from the cult but from a political situation. Nelson eliminates the significance of Joshua’s declaration of loyalty for his own house by calling it “a rhetorical flourish.”454 It may serve as a literary decoration at one level, but it remains a central, narrative-turning element at the theological level.​

The call for Israel to choose is unique in several respects. (1) God is normally the subject, having chosen Israel (Deut 4:37; 7:6, 7; 10:15; 14:2; 1 Kgs 3:8; Isa 41:8–9; 43:10; 44:1–2; 49:7; Ezek 20:5; Pss 33:12; 47:5 [47:4]; 135:4; Neh 9:7). Yet his very choice forces a decision on Israel, for it is made in the midst of many attractive “religions.” God calls Israel to choose life (Deut 30:19). The doctrine of election may well have been formulated precisely in the battle against the Canaanite religion (see Judg 5:8). (2) Israel’s neighbors faced only one choice: Which god do I serve at the moment, in the present crisis? Polytheism, the worship of many gods, was the natural presupposition in Israel’s environment. Ultimate choice was unnecessary, heretical, and thoughtless. (3) Cultic activities presupposed that the god of the cult was known and chosen before cultic worship began. The task of the cult was celebration, not choice. Perlitt correctly observes the uniqueness of this once-and-for-all observance calling for commitment under oath.457​

The unique qualities of this text testify to its foundation in Israel’s early cultic history. By the time of Solomon, a royal call like this would be contrary to the king’s own practice. This is not Deuteronomistic language but pre- or proto-Deuteronomistic, early language calling for Israel to choose rather than reviewing Yahweh’s choice. Israel’s later cult celebrated Yahweh’s victories in Egypt and at the Jordan. The Joshua narrative represents early admonition to stay on task and instruction to understand the absolute loyalty involved in task.​

Joshua thus forces Israel to make a choice that has never confronted their neighbors, a choice which will determine the nature of their cult from that moment on, a choice that spotlights as no other the unique quality and demand of Yahweh. In the hour of choice, Israel’s freedom remains totally protected. No prophetic threats thunder down upon her. Israel is simply asked to view God’s history and determine if it proves his superiority over other claims to deity. The decision is not one to be made in isolation, for Joshua leads the way, proclaiming that his family has already chosen Yahweh. When Israel chooses Yahweh, they have a leader to show them the way. Here is “a leader willing to move ahead of his people and commit himself, regardless of the people’s inclinations.”459


​

Butler, T. C. (2014). Joshua 13–24. (N. L. deClaissé-Walford, Ed.) (Second Edition, Vol. 7b, pp. 322–323). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

 

[Lori Jane]

Passage Guide | Joshua 24:15 › Cross References

	The Lexham English Bible
Genesis 18:19	For I have chosen him, that he will command his children and his household after him that they will keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham that which he said to him.”
Genesis 35:2	Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are in your midst and purify yourselves and change your garments.
Exodus 23:24	“ ‘You will not bow to their gods, and you will not serve them, and you will not act according to their actions, because you will utterly demolish them, and you will utterly break their stone pillars.
Exodus 23:32–33	32 You will not make a covenant with them and with their gods. 33 They will not live in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me when you serve their gods, for it will be a snare to you.’ ”
Exodus 34:15	lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they prostitute themselves after their gods, and they sacrifice to their gods, and they invite you, and you eat their sacrifice,
Deuteronomy 6:14	You shall not go after other gods from the gods of the peoples who are all around you,
Deuteronomy 13:7	from among the gods of the people who are around you, those near you or those far from you, from one end of the earth and up to the other end of the earth,
Deuteronomy 29:18	so that there is not among you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe whose heart turns today from being with Yahweh our God to go to serve the gods of these nations, so that there is not among you a root sprouting poison and wormwood.
Deuteronomy 30:15–19	15 “See, I am setting before you today life and prosperity and death and disaster; 16 what I am commanding you today is to love Yahweh your God by going in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his regulations, and then you will live, and you will become numerous, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land where you are going. 17 However, if your heart turns aside and you do not listen and you are lured away and you bow down to other gods and you serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you will certainly perish; you will not extend your time on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to go there to take possession of it. 19 I invoke as a witness against you today the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring,
Joshua 24:2	And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: ‘Long ago your ancestors—Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor—lived beyond the river, and they served other gods.
Joshua 24:14	“So now, revere Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; remove the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.
Joshua 24:22	And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves to serve Yahweh.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”
Judges 2:11–13	11 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and they served the Baals. 12 They abandoned Yahweh the God of their ancestors, who brought them out from the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from the gods of the people who were around them; and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the anger of Yahweh. 13 They abandoned Yahweh, and they served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
Judges 6:10	And I said to you, ‘I am Yahweh your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.’ But you have not listened to my voice.”
Ruth 1:15–16	15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law too.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you! For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.
Ruth 2:12	May Yahweh reward your work and may a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you came to take refuge.”
1 Kings 18:21	Elijah approached to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping over two opinions? If Yahweh is God, go after him; but if Baal, go after him.” But the people did not answer him a word.
Psalm 101:2	I will give attention to the way of integrity. When will you come to me? I will walk in the integrity of my heart in the midst of my house.
Ezekiel 20:39	And you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Let each one go serve his idols now and after, if you are not listening to me, but my holy name you will not profane any longer with your gifts and with your idols.
Daniel 3:18	And if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, and the statue of gold that you have set up we will not worship.”
1 Timothy 3:4–5	4 managing his own household well, having children in submission with all dignity 5 (but if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),

Page . Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:35 AM January 20, 2021.