Joshua 24:20-24 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 24:15-28

Never was any treaty carried on with better management, nor brought to a better issue, than this of Joshua with the people, to engage them to serve God. The manner of his dealing with them shows him to have been in earnest, and that his heart was much upon it, to leave them under all possible obligations to cleave to him, particularly the obligation of a choice and of a covenant. I. Would it be any obligation upon them if they made the service of God their choice?--he here puts them to their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:20

If you forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods ,.... Joshua knew the proneness of this people to idolatry, and therefore expresses his jealousy of them, that they would not be able to continue in the service of God, and would be apt to be carried away after idols; and therefore, to make them the more cautious and watchful, he represents to them the danger they were in, and what would befall them should they forsake the Lord they now promised to serve, and follow after other gods, which... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:21

And the people said unto Joshua, nay ,.... We will not serve strange gods: but we will serve the Lord ; according to his revealed will, and him only. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:22

And Joshua said unto the people ,.... In reply to their answer and resolution: ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you the Lord God to serve him ; that is, should they, after this choice of him, which they had so publicly declared, desert his service, and go into idolatry, their testimony would rise up against them, and they would, be self-condemned: and they said, we are witnesses ; should we ever apostatize from the Lord and his worship, we are content to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:23

Now therefore put away, said he ,.... Which last words are rightly supplied, for they are the words of Joshua: the strange gods which are among you ; not their private notions and secret sentiments that some of them had imbibed in favour of idols, and the worship of them, as Ben Gersom thinks; but, as the Targum expresses it,"the idols of the Gentiles;'either such as they had brought out of Egypt, or had found among the plunder of the Canaanites, and had secretly retained; or, as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:24

And the people said unto Joshua ,.... A third time, that as by the mouth of two or three witnesses everything is confirmed, so by three testimonies of the same persons: the Lord our God will we serve ; as they had before declared, and to which they add: and his voice will we obey ; or his word, as the Targum, not only his word of command, but his essential Word, the Son of God. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 24:21

And the people said - Nay ; but we will serve , etc. - So they understood the words of Joshua to imply no moral impossibility on their side: and had they earnestly sought the gracious assistance of God, they would have continued steady in his covenant. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 24:22

Ye are witnesses against yourselves - Ye have been sufficiently apprised of the difficulties in your way - of God's holiness - your own weakness and inconstancy - the need you have of Divine help, and the awful consequences of apostasy; and now ye deliberately make your choice. Remember then, that ye are witnesses against yourselves, and your own conscience will be witness, judge, and executioner; or, as one terms it, index, judex, vindex . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 24:23

Now therefore put away - As you have promised to reform, begin instantly the work of reformation. A man's promise to serve God soon loses its moral hold of his conscience if he do not instantaneously begin to put it in practice. The grace that enables him to promise is that by the strength of which he is to begin the performance. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 24:22

Verse 22 22.And Joshua said unto the people, etc We now understand what the object was at which Joshua had hitherto aimed. It was not to terrify the people and make them fall away from their religion, but to make the obligation more sacred by their having of their own accord chosen his government, and betaken themselves to his guidance, that they might live under his protection. They acknowledge, therefore, that their own conscience will accuse them, and hold them guilty of perfidy, if they... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 24:15-28

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:21

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 24:24

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 24:21

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 24:22

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 24:23

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 24:22

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