Joshua 24:23-33
Jos 24:23
Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods
which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
Now in case any had any of the idols that were handed
down through their family line, they were to completely put them away, that is
to destroy them and have nothing to do with them.
Instead they were to incline their heart, that is, to lean in favor of or
to gravitate toward the true God of Israel and reject all false gods.
Jos 24:24
And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we
serve, and his voice will we obey.
Then they once again declared that they would serve the
LORD their God and would not depart from him and they would listen only to his
voice. Before the completion of the
Bible, his voice came in many ways such as the written Pentateuch, prophets, and
dreams, and visions which were to be obeyed when they were legitimately from the
LORD.
Jos 24:25
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and
set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
So then based upon their declarations of fidelity to the
LORD, Joshua now makes that a covenant which was binding upon them, just as
binding as the covenant of Sinai.
We could probably call this the Covenant of Shechem where they declared their
obedience unto the LORD as they did in Sinai.
The fact that it was a statute and ordinance meant the people were now
bound to their declarations of fidelity to the LORD and any involvement with
false gods means they have broken the covenant.
Jos 24:26
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.
Then Joshua took their words and wrote them in the book
of the law of God and was placed beside the five books of Moses on the side of
the Ark. Each prince of each tribe
would get a copy so they would be able to read it to the people of their own
tribe when they returned. The oak
tree mentioned must have been the same oak tree which Jacob hid all the false
gods under.
And they gave unto Jacob all the strange
gods which were in their hand,
and all their earrings which
were in their ears; and Jacob
hid them under the oak which was
by Shechem. (Genesis 35:4) The
Tabernacle was not moved to Shechem but some believe the Ark was brought there
as a testimony and that is how the book of Joshua was placed on the side of the
ark. The sanctuary of Shechem was a
place of prayer and devotion.
Jos 24:27
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.
Then the stone which Joshua set up was to be a witness or
testimony which represented the fact that the representatives of the tribes
heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke to them and it would double as a
witness to the declarations they made in that they would never depart from the
LORD. Jacob did a similar thing
between him and Laban.
And Jacob took a stone, and set it up
for a pillar. (Genesis 31:45)
Jos 24:28
So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his
inheritance.
Then when the proceedings were completed Joshua dismissed
all the representatives and they all went back to their individual tribes.
This would have been Joshua’s final words for he soon died after these
meetings.
Jos 24:29
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.
Joshua then died and was promoted to glory at the ripe
old age of 110 years old. It is
interesting that Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim which was one of the
children of Joseph. Joseph also
died at the age of 110.
So Joseph died,
being an hundred and ten years
old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. (Genesis 50:26)
Jos 24:30
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in
Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill
of Gaash.
Timnath-serah was about 13 miles (21 KM) west of Shiloh
where the Tabernacle was. It was
located in the hill country of Ephraim.
It was probably the same area where Caleb and his father Nun were buried.
He was probably buried at the bottom of the hill which is mentioned in 2
Samuel 23:30.
Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai of the
brooks of Gaash, (2 Samuel 23:30)
Jos 24:31
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.
Israel remained faithful to God all the days of Joshua
and the elders who outlived Joshua were able to keep the people in line and
according to their covenant. Then
there were those old enough to remember what God did for Israel from the time of
the exodus to the crossing of the Jordan keeping his promise of a homeland for
them. They remembered all his works
and I am sure they were passed on to the younger generation.
Jos 24:32
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.
When they left Egypt they had brought up the bones of
Joseph and he was buried in Shechem in a plot of land which Jacob had purchased
from the sons of Hamor. He was not
buried in the city itself but in a field close by.
This portion of land became the inheritance for the children of Joseph.
Joseph did not want his bones to remain in Egypt but wanted to be buried
in the promised land.
Jos 24:33
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.