Joshua’s Farewell: Covenant Renewal
Joshua 24:1-15:
1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the offic ers of Israel. And they presented themselves before God.
2And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.
3Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac.
4And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
5And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterward I brought you out.
6“‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
7And when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time.
8Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you.
9Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you,
10 but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand.
11And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand.
12And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow.
13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’
14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
15And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Throughout the history of the United States, outgoing presidents are expected to deliver a farewell address. The very first president, George Washington, did not initially plan for his farewell address to be spoken, according to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. Instead, it was printed for the American people and appeared in newspa-
1
pers across the country. Later, it was republished as a booklet to reach thousands of Americans. It first appeared on September 19, 1796, in Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser of Philadelphia. It has been said that his address was a plea for the preservation of the union and warned against political strife and foreign entanglements. For these reasons, it was read in the House of Delegates on Washington’s birthday from 1899 until 1984, and it continues to be read annually in the U.S. Senate. It remains as relevant today as when it was first delivered, and it has helped shape this nation.
Farewell addresses from a country’s leader didn't start with George Washington; they began in the Bible with God’s chosen leader for Israel, Joshua. As we finish studying the Book of Joshua, we will focus on Joshua’s farewell speech to all of Israel. Last Sunday, with Pastor Jerome’s message, we covered the first part, which was specifically di rected at the nation's leaders. In our main text, he will speak to the entire nation. This was a crucial moment because Joshua knew his time was ending, and he didn’t want to leave behind a nation prone to drifting away from faithfully serving the Lord. Now that they are in a good land, Joshua understood that the only way for the nation to fully enjoy its blessings was to stay close to and be submissive to the Lord. Although the message is directed at Israel, we can clearly see that it is very relevant to us today. To better understand the text, let’s break down how Joshua divided his address.
I JOSHUA CHRONICLES GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (vs. 1-13)
As Joshua gathers the nation of Israel for his final address, it is essential that we highlight the location he chose for this address. Verse 1 says, “Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem.” So, the place was in Shechem. If you go back to Genesis 12:6-7, we read these words:
6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
The historical value of this place is undeniable. This was the very place where God met with Abraham and promised him and his descendants the land as their inheritance. By choosing this place, Joshua was strategically re minding them of God’s faithfulness. Going back to Joshua 23:14, the emphasis on God’s faithfulness seems to be the overall theme of this address.
14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good thingsthat the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.
You know, this should remind us of how important it is to keep in our hearts that God will always be faithful to His promises. Not a single promise of God will fail. Now, in this place, Joshua will recount to them how God kept deliv ering His promise beginning from time of Abraham (vs. 2-13). This chronicle of
A. God Selected Them (vs. 2-3)
Let’s read these words in verse 2-3, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived be yond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac.”
As Joshua addressed the people, he clearly presented himself as God’s representative. He repeatedly used the pronoun “I,” emphasizing that it was God speaking. In fact, he used it 17 times so his listeners wouldn’t miss God’s sov ereign actions before them.
The first act of God for them was choosing them through Abraham from the pagan, idol
atrous nation. Abraham was not chosen because he was living a perfect, sinless life. He was as idolatrous as his fathers. This truth of Abraham’s selection is so true for all of us believers today; it is wholly based on God’s love and grace.
Ephesians 1:4-5 (ESV):
4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
If not for God’s sovereign love, we would not be saved today. To Him be the glory. But it is truly humbling to realize that none of us were worthy of salvation because of our sinful past. As the great old Puritan preacher Thomas Watson reminded us, “God did not choose us because we were worthy, but by choosing us he makes us worthy.”
B. God Saved Them (vs. 5-7)
5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterward I brought you out. 6“Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7And when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and
the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time.
When Israel found themselves in Egypt as oppressed slaves, God sent Moses to deliver them from the tyrant Pharaoh. It was a spectacular salvation that culminated in the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. In our case, just the drowning of the Egyptians, our salvation to culminate in the total eradication of sins in our lives. I love the promise given in Hebrews 9:28:
28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
In other versions like NIV, the phrase “to bear the sins of many” is rendered as "to take away the sins of many.” The verse clearly emphasizes that Jesus has finished dealing with sin, so when He returns, He will no longer deal with it; He has already overcome it and will remove it from those He has saved.
C. God Sustained Their Victory (vs. 8–13)
8Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9Then Ba lak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Be or to curse you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. 12And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.
What is so obvious in these verses is that from the time He delivered them from Egypt, God had never aban doned them. He was very much involved in all their victories until they finally possessed their Promised Land. He helped them in all their battles. One statement that we should not miss is found in verse 12, “And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites.” There are two possible interpreta tions. First, they may have been insects whose sting is extremely painful and who weakened Israel’s enemies before
their invasion, or they refer to other armies God has sent to their enemies to weaken their de fenses against Israel’s army.
Again within the theme of God’s faithfulness to His people, it is great to remind ourselves that nothing will ever happen to us that God would not be able to handle. He secures our victo ry from the beginning of our journey till everything is finished. Philippians 1:6 reminds us of this truth:
6And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Can you take the time to reflect on God’s faithfulness in your life? Remember, His faithfulness in the past gives us great hope for our future.
II JOSHUA CHALLENGES ISRAEL TO MAKE A CHOICE (vs. 14-15)
Based on God’s goodness and faithfulness to them, Joshua challenges God’s people to respond appropriately. Listen to these words—“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.”
After they have been impressed with what the Lord has done for them from the beginning of their existence as a nation until now, the next appropriate question is: How are they going to respond? What should be their most appropriate response to a good and faithful God? I believe we should definitely ask ourselves the same questions. There are two simple challenges:
A. They should choose to fear God
This fear doesn’t suggest being terrified of God to the point where we practically run away from Him. We re spond to His glorious being with a sense of awe, reverence, and love. The same fear, which King Solomon emphasizes in Proverbs 9:10 -10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Do you know why the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom? Because it is this respect that leads us to hum ble ourselves before God and be obedient to Him. The reality is that it is never wise to rebel against the Lord.
B. They should choose to serve God
As Joshua stood before the nation, he was aware of their temptation to abandon their commitment to follow and serve God. He understood that it was easier for these people to follow their surrounding pagan nations and wor ship their idols. Therefore, he strongly urges them to make a deliberate decision to serve God sincerely and faithfully.
Let me help you reflect on the importance of serving God sincerely and faithfully. Is it possible to serve God without the right attitude and motivations? Let me share some examples of wrong reasons why people serve the Lord:
1. Desire for Recognition - Serving with the main goal of earning praise or acknowledgment from others.
2. Social Pressure – Some individuals may serve only because they feel obligated or pressured by peers or family rather than out of a genuine desire to contribute.
3. Personal Gain – Serving to obtain specific benefits, such as networking opportunities, financial incentives, or status within the church community, which can compromise the sincerity of service.
4. Distracting from Personal Issues – Some people may participate in service to avoid confronting their personal
problems, using it as an escape rather than truly dedicating themselves to the mis
sion.
5. Fear of guilt – Serving out of obligation or to ease feelings of shame. This often results in resentment toward the service and a lack of joy in what is done.
If you are already serving, it's always helpful to reflect on your motives. However,
many believers also need to be challenged to start serving the Lord. Why? Whether con
sciously or unconsciously, we are serving something or someone. In other words, we have dedicated our life’s energy to serving God, Satan, or ourselves. This means that our actions, priorities, and time are ultimately in service to something we consider more important than other things.
Why should we serve the Lord Jesus Christ today? I love to remind myself with the words of Anne Johnson Flint:
Christ has no hands but our hands
To do His work today,
He has no feet but our feet
To lead people their way
He has no tongues but our tongues
To tell people how He died
He has no help but our help
To bring them to His side.
For the nation of Israel, this decision is critical. Why? If you jump to verses 19-20, Joshua explained to the people -19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.”
Yes, at that point in time, they were in a good land and were being blessed. But these blessings can be with held by the Lord if they fail to obey and serve Him. They should recognize that blessings are only the result of their obedience and service to God.
III JOSHUA CONVEYS HIS CONVICTION (v. 15)
Finally, to inspire the nation he has led for so many years, Joshua will end our message by sharing his personal conviction and decision – “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Undoubtedly, this conviction is what I believe he has shown to the nation throughout his leadership. This is im portant because it confirms what God has expected from all the fathers in Israel since Abraham.
Genesis 18:19 (ESV):
19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”
Notice that when God called Abraham to follow Him by faith, God made sure he understood his responsibility to lead his children in following the Lord because the Lord’s blessings depend on their proper response to Him. I be lieve this expectation extends to all of us parents today. We need to lead our children in serving the Lord.
Parents, let me ask you:
• If your children examined your life today, would they be convinced without a doubt that you love the Lord and are committed to serving Him?”
• If they follow your example, will they end up obeying and serving the Lord?