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Key Passage:
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.
(verses 14-18)
1. Joshua made it clear that the people of Israel had to make a to
the Lord God of Israel. There could be no neutrality.
2. If they served the Lord, then they would have to get rid of the false gods that some of them secretly
were worshiping.
3. Joshua knew that everybody must worship something or someone, whether they realized it or not.
4. The people assured Joshua that they wanted to worship and serve only the Lord God of Israel, and
they gave their reasons:
• The Lord had delivered them from Egypt.
• The Lord brought them through the wilderness
• The Lord had taken them into their Promised Land.
(verses 19-28)
1. When the former generation had met the Lord at Mt. Sinai, they had said, “All that the Lord hath
spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8).
• But a few weeks later, they were worshiping a golden calf!
• Joshua knew that it was easy for the people to obedience to the
Lord, but it was quite something else for them to actually it.
2. Israel was “married” to Jehovah, and He would not tolerate any in their hearts.
3. Joshua warned them what would happen if they didn’t get rid of their idols:
• They would eventually forsake the Lord, and then He would have to chasten them.
• They would lose all the blessings He had so graciously given them in the Promised Land.
4. The great challenge facing them was their need to cleanse their hearts of allegiance to other gods and
to incline their hearts only to the Lord (Joshua 24:23).
5. Three times the people affirmed their desire to only the Lord (Joshua 24:16-
18, 21, 24), and Joshua took them at their word.
6. So that they wouldn’t forget this solemn commitment with the Lord, Joshua wrote it in the Book of the
Law and then set up a large stone as a reminder.
7. This is the and last memorial mentioned in the Book of Joshua.