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Joshua 24: Choose This Day

At Shechem Joshua rehearses God's grace, calls Israel to choose whom they will serve, renews the covenant, and then dies, having served the Lord.

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Joshua 24 (WEB)

1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

2 Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods.

3 I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

4 I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

5 “‘I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did in its midst: and afterward I brought you out.

6 I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea.

7 When they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt: and you lived in the wilderness many days.

8 “‘I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan: and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land; and I destroyed them from before you.

9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you;

10 but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand.

11 “‘You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand.

12 I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow.

13 I gave you a land whereon you had not labored, and cities which you didn’t build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn’t plant.’

14 “Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh.

15 If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”

16 The people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh, to serve other gods;

17 for it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed.

18 Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God.”

19 Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve Yahweh; for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.

20 If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good.”

21 The people said to Joshua, “No; but we will serve Yahweh.”

22 Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”

23 “Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel.”

24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice.”

25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

26 Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh.

27 Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all Yahweh’s words which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God.”

28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

29 After these things, Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred and ten years old.

30 They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

31 Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh, that he had worked for Israel.

32 They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

33 Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.

Summary

Joshua gathers all the tribes to Shechem and, speaking for Yahweh, retells the whole story of God's grace: how he took Abraham from beyond the River, gave Isaac and Jacob, brought Israel out of Egypt through the sea, sustained them in the wilderness, gave their enemies into their hand, and granted them a land they had not labored for and cities they had not built. On the basis of this grace, Joshua calls the people to fear Yahweh, serve him in sincerity and truth, and put away other gods. He sets before them a momentous choice: “choose this day whom you will serve,” declaring for himself, “but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.” The people respond that they too will serve the Lord, recounting his deliverance. Joshua presses them with the holiness and jealousy of God, warning that they cannot serve him casually, yet they affirm their choice again, and he calls them witnesses against themselves. He makes a covenant with them at Shechem, writes it in the book of the law, and sets up a great stone as a witness. Then Joshua sends the people away, and after these things he dies at one hundred and ten years old. Israel serves the Lord all his days and those of the elders who outlived him; the bones of Joseph are buried at Shechem, and Eleazar also dies. The book closes with covenant, choice, and a generation faithful to the Lord.

Main Characters

  • Joshua — The leader who rehearses God's grace, calls Israel to decisive devotion, renews the covenant at Shechem, and dies having served the Lord faithfully.
  • The people of Israel — The tribes gathered at Shechem who hear God's saving acts retold and pledge, with Joshua, to serve Yahweh.
  • Yahweh (the LORD) — The gracious and holy God who chose Abraham, redeemed Israel, gave them the land, and now calls them to wholehearted, exclusive worship.
  • Eleazar the priest — The son of Aaron whose death, alongside Joseph's burial, closes the book as a generation passes.

Key Verse

Joshua 24:15 (WEB)

If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”

Lessons Learned

  • Remembering God's grace is the foundation for wholehearted commitment to him.
  • Faith involves a deliberate choice to serve the Lord and to lead our households after him.
  • God is holy and jealous; he is not served casually or shared with idols.
  • A covenant renewed and witnessed marks God's people as belonging wholly to him.
  • Grace comes before the call. Before any command, God says, “I gave you a land whereon you had not labored” (Joshua 24:13, WEB). Devotion is the response to grace already received.
  • Choose whom you will serve. “choose this day whom you will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh” (Joshua 24:15, WEB). Faith requires a decisive, personal commitment.
  • God is holy and jealous. Joshua warns, “You can’t serve Yahweh; for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God” (Joshua 24:19, WEB). He will not be served half-heartedly or alongside idols.
  • Covenant is witnessed and remembered. Joshua sets up a great stone, saying, “this stone shall be a witness against us” (Joshua 24:27, WEB), to hold the people to their pledge.
  1. Why does Joshua retell the whole story of God's grace before calling Israel to choose?
  2. What does Joshua mean by “choose this day whom you will serve” (24:15)?
  3. Why does Joshua warn that the people cannot serve the Lord, even after they pledge to?
  4. What is the purpose of the covenant and the great stone set up at Shechem?
  5. If you were to declare, as Joshua did, “as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh,” what would need to change in your home and habits?
  1. Joshua rehearses God's grace from Abraham to the conquest (24:2-13) so that Israel's choice flows from gratitude, not bare duty. The whole story shows a God who acted first and gave freely; against that backdrop, serving him is the only fitting response.
  2. Joshua presses Israel to a deliberate, public commitment, refusing a vague or divided loyalty. By declaring his own household's choice (24:15), he models leadership that decides for God and leads others to do the same, making faith a matter of the will, not drift.
  3. Joshua's striking warning (24:19) confronts any casual or self-confident pledge. He stresses God's holiness and jealousy so the people will not treat the covenant lightly or imagine they can serve the Lord while clinging to idols. It calls for sober, sincere commitment, not glib words.
  4. The covenant binds Israel to the Lord, and the great stone stands as a witness that they made this choice (24:25-27). The visible memorial guards against forgetting and gives future generations a tangible reminder of the day they pledged to serve Yahweh.
  5. This is a personal-application question. Invite members to consider what wholehearted service of God would look like concretely in their homes, schedules, and priorities. As leader, keep the tone hopeful and gracious, pointing to the God of grace who first chose and redeemed them, and who enables the very devotion he calls for.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.