241 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem , and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers ; and they presented themselves before God . 2 Joshua said to all the people , "Thus says the Lord , the God of Israel , 'From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River , namely, Terah , the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor , and they served other gods . 3 'Then I took your father Abraham from beyond e the River , and led him through all the land of Canaan , and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac . 4 'To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau , and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt . 5 'Then I sent Moses and Aaron , and I plagued Egypt by what 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 ; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red e Sea . 7 'But when they cried out to the Lord , He put darkness between you and the Egyptians , and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt . And you lived in the wilderness for a long time . 8 'Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan , and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand , and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you. 9 'Then Balak the son of Zippor , king of Moab , arose and fought against Israel , and he sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. 10 'But I was not willing to listen to Balaam . So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his hand . 11 ' You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho ; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite , the Hivite and the Jebusite . Thus I gave them into your hand . 12 'Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before e you, but not by your sword or your bow . 13 ' I gave you a land on which you had not labored , and cities which you had not built , and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant .' 14 "Now , therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth ; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt , and serve the Lord .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Joshua 24:1-14
Commentary on Joshua 24:1-14
(Read Joshua 24:1-14)
We must never think our work for God done, till our life is done. If he lengthen out our days beyond what we expected, like those of Joshua, it is because he has some further service for us to do. He who aims at the same mind which was in Christ Jesus, will glory in bearing the last testimony to his Saviour's goodness, and in telling to all around, the obligations with which the unmerited goodness of God has bound him. The assembly came together in a solemn religious manner. Joshua spake to them in God's name, and as from him. His sermon consists of doctrine and application. The doctrinal part is a history of the great things God had done for his people, and for their fathers before them. The application of this history of God's mercies to them, is an exhortation to fear and serve God, in gratitude for his favour, and that it might be continued.