Joshua is old, and he says his goodbyes twice — once to the leaders, once to the whole nation at Shechem. He retells the entire story, from Abraham’s idol-worshipping father to the land they now hold, and then forces a decision: choose you this day whom ye will serve. The people promise loyalty; Joshua tells them they do not know what they are promising. Then he dies, and the bones of Joseph are finally buried in the ground Jacob bought.
A study in Joshua 23-24 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 9 min read
One Man Of You Shall Chase A Thousand
“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. Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.”
Joshua 23:10-11
In his first farewell, to Israel’s leaders, Joshua drives home the lesson of his whole career: the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you. That is why one man can rout a thousand. But he pairs the promise with a warning — do not intermarry with the nations left in the land, or “they shall be snares and traps unto you… and thorns in your eyes” (verse 13). The book of Judges is that warning coming true.
Not One Thing Hath Failed
“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.”
Joshua 23:14
Like Moses before him, Joshua faces death plainly — “the way of all the earth” — and his summary is the same as chapter 21’s: every good promise kept. But he presses the other edge too: the God who fulfilled every blessing will fulfil every threat, and if Israel breaks the covenant they “shall perish quickly from off the good land” (verse 16). God’s word is reliable in both directions.
Choose You This Day Whom Ye Will Serve
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Joshua 24:15
At Shechem — between Ebal and Gerizim, where the nation first swore the covenant — Joshua retells the whole history: Abraham called out of a family that “served other gods,” the exodus, the land “for which ye did not labour.” Then the demand. Serving God cannot be inherited or coerced; each generation has to choose. Joshua goes first, and puts his own household on the line: as for me and my house.
“Joshua desired to lead them to serve God, not by compulsion, but willingly. Love to God is the very foundation of religion. To engage in His service merely from hope of reward or fear of punishment would avail nothing.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 523
Ye Cannot Serve The LORD
“And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God… 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.”
Joshua 24:19, 21-22
The people answer too easily, so Joshua checks them: on your own strength, holy as He is, you cannot. It is the same point Israel needed at Sinai — a pledge made in self-confidence is worth little; obedience has to come from trust in the promised Saviour, not willpower. When they insist, Joshua makes them own it: ye are witnesses against yourselves. He writes it down, and sets up a stone that has “heard all the words of the LORD.”
“It was only by faith in Christ that they could secure pardon of sin and receive strength to obey God’s law. They must cease to rely upon their own efforts for salvation, they must trust wholly in the merits of the promised Saviour, if they would be accepted of God.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 524
The Servant Of The LORD Died
“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… And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua.”
Joshua 24:29, 31
Joshua gets the title Moses had: the servant of the LORD. The book ends with three burials — Joshua in his own small town, Eleazar the priest, and, at last, the bones of Joseph, carried out of Egypt on a promise made four centuries before and laid to rest in the field Jacob bought at Shechem (Genesis 50:25). The best line of his epitaph is the sentence about the people he led: they “served the LORD all the days of Joshua.” A leader’s work shows in the generation he leaves behind.
