CRITICAL NOTES.—
Joshua 24:14. Now therefore fear the Lord] “The marvellous history so clearly and succinctly recounted was the natural preface for the exhortation which here begins.” [Crosby.] Put away the gods which your fathers served] That is, Put away all gods made by men. Probably Joshua did not allude to exactly the same kind of gods as those worshipped by Terah, as Crosby suggests, who thinks that the Israelites may have kept some of the actual teraphim, named in Genesis 31:34, as heirlooms among their families. His other suggestion, that some of the idols of the subdued Canaanites had been preserved as curiosities, and were in danger of being presently regarded with reverence, is far more natural and likely. We cannot actually decide whether Joshua alluded to gods cherished “in heart,” or to images preserved in the tents of the people. It should not, however, be forgotten that even in the wilderness the Israelites are said to have shown manifest tendencies to idolatry (cf. Exodus 32; Amos 5:25-26; Acts 7:39-43), as numbers of them had previously done in Egypt (Ezekiel 20:6-24).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Joshua 24:14-18
CHOOSING GODS
Every man needs a god. The consciousness of this need is not to be lightly shaken off. A man’s god is his individual choice, and tells us, not merely what he does worship, but what he would worship. Thus every man’s religion is an expression of the desires of his own soul. The chosen religion of a human heart is a confession, in all the details of its faith and worship, of that heart’s yearnings. The particular god whom we may choose is the delineation of our own conclusions about what is most desirable and most important in life. A man may alter his views of his god, and to that extent he alters his confession. A man may give up one god and choose another. Thus Jehovah called aloud to His people, through Jeremiah: “Pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.”
In Joshua’s appeal to the Israelites to choose Jehovah for their God, and in their response, we have the following points for consideration:—
I. The choice of God for our God is a matter of liberty, and not of compulsion. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” After bringing the Israelites into this good land with a high hand and an outstretched arm, God speaks to them through the man whom He had raised up to lead them to so many victories, and gives them absolute freedom of choice. All this was in a solemn meeting, convened before God for this very purpose. The Lord gives us all equal liberty under the gospel. He will have no service which is not of the heart’s own choosing.
1. Think of the choice of gods in the light of conscience. What says our sense of right? If it “seem evil” to a man to serve the Lord, the verdict of conscience should have weight. The word of God comes to us full of conscious purity. Whether it speaks to us in the Old Testament, or in the New, or in the person of Jesus Christ, it seems ever full of the feeling, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?”
2. Think of the choice of gods in the light of reason. What says the mind on this great question? Men are to weigh the evidences; they are to consider how things “seem” on either hand, and then choose. The Bible never plays the ecclesiastic with us. It never says, “Do not read for yourself; do not think for yourself; submit yourself to the authority of the Church.” On the contrary, the Scriptures bid every man to see for himself, to think for himself, to decide for himself. When the blind come to Christ, be the blindness physical or religious, He ever loves to begin with them by opening their eyes. God never shrinks from the enquiry of the intelligence which He has created in us. Whoever else may be nervous before the intense questionings of man’s investigation, the voice of the Bible betrays no trembling.
3. Think of the choice of gods in the light of love. What answer does the heart make on this matter? This is a far more important item in our decision than the verdict of the understanding. After all, it is “with the heart man believeth.” If the heart be set on pleasure, the mind will decide against Christ’s self-denial. If the heart be ambitious, it will ignore the Saviour’s meekness and lowliness. If the heart be selfish, it will conclude that the self-sacrifice of the cross has “no form nor comeliness” sufficient to make it desirable.
4. Think of the choice of gods in the light of example. What says our neighbour? What say our best neighbours? What do the greatest benefactors of their fellow-men say? If men who by their own merits have risen to a chief place among their fellows, if the Joshuas of history are found crying, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” that should have some weight in our decision. Good citizens have sometimes been found with little religion; but, if history be fairly read, the best helpers of men are found on the side of the Bible.
Thus, the word of God appeals to the whole of a man’s being, and to all life. Conscience, reason, love, or history, it matters not which is consulted; and if all are consulted, so much the better. They who thus enquire will be among the first to cry, “This God is our God for ever and ever.”
II. Seeing that God is what He is, the very liberty which God gives becomes a compulsion.
1. The works of God for men are an unmistakable manifestation of His deep love. The Israelites could not but have felt the reality of Divine love, as displayed in the mighty works of which they had just been reminded. God had done great things for them; they might well feel glad, even in thinking on His mighty acts. God has done for us all, in Christ, far more than He did for these Israelites. His very deeds for us are such a revelation of His heart as might well compel us to choose Him for ever. Emerson has written, in half a dozen subtle lines, this:
“Nature centres into balls;
And her proud ephemerals,
Fast to surface and outside,
Scan the profile of the sphere;
Knew they what that signified,
A new genesis were here.”
So it is. Nature is all rolled into balls. The earth is a ball. The sun is a ball. The moon and stars are balls. And we, proud, ephemeral creatures, stuck fast to the outside of one of the balls, which we call earth, scan the profile of this ball, or of one of those other balls up in the heavens, and know almost nothing of what we so readily conclude we have seen.
“Knew we what that signified,
A new genesis were here.”
The very fulness of wisdom and power and love displayed in the creation of a single world, could we understand all, might perhaps be well-nigh enough to generate us into new creatures towards the Creator. But in Jesus Christ we look upon the profile of God Himself; and every feature in the life of the Saviour tells of the love of God.
2. With all this fulness of love, God leaves every man his liberty. He says, “Choose whom ye will serve.” Love and liberty, together, tend to hold the heart as nothing else can. Force forges no links so stout as those of freedom. Might has no ties so matchlessly strong as those of love. God loves as no mother ever did love, and then asks if we choose to leave Him? The very question might well bring us into a life-long bondage. Mahomet said: “Paradise is under the shadow of swords.” So it may be, as to our poor little political man-made heavens. Men, in their earthly kingdoms, can only keep up any semblance of heaven by holding over their petty paradises the sign of blood and pain and death. Peace, born of the blades of war; that is the peace which communities of men manage to get into. Sword-made heavens are ours here; sword-made, and sword-kept. So far the Gospel according to Mahomet—“Paradise is under the shadow of swords.” No one is much tempted to sing, “And must I leave thee, paradise?” about that kind of thing. Then God shews us His way of making paradise He shews us power enough to crush, easily, all opposition to His will. He leads His people up from bondage with a strong hand, and with a tender heart. The sea is nothing to Him; the wilderness is nothing; Jordan is nothing; fortified cities are nothing. God leads His people where He will; He keeps them as the apple of His eye. He does this year after year; and then, as their great earthly leader is about to die, God musters the hosts for whom He has so long and so blessedly cared, and says, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” There is only one thing to say before love like that: “God forbid that we should forsake Jehovah to serve other gods.” Before a similar experience of mercy and love, and in answer to the Saviour’s similar question, Peter, of necessity, similarly answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
III. He who thinks fairly on God’s claims finds the compulsion to choose and serve God irresistible. Brought face to face with what God had done for them, and thinking on the gracious way in which God appealed to them, the people could only declare themselves on the Lord’s side. He who will only think of God, and keep thinking, must follow God.
1. Here is the compulsion of admiration. The people dwelt on Jehovah’s works as though they would say, “Who is a god like unto our God?”
2. Here is the compulsion of gratitude. God had done so much for them, that they felt they were not their own. Really reflecting on the love and grace of Jehovah, they acknowledged themselves drawn irresistibly to Him. Mr. Cooke, in his recent lectures in Boston, has thus retold an ancient classical story: “When Ulysses sailed past the isle of the Sirens, who had the power of charming by their songs all who listened to them, he heard the sorcerers’ music on the shore, and, to prevent himself and crew from landing, he filled their ears with wax, and bound himself to the mast with knotted thongs. Thus, according to the subtile Grecian story, he passed safely the fatal strand. But when Orpheus, in search of the Golden Fleece, went by this island, he—being, as you remember, a great musician—set up better music than that of the Sirens, enchanted his crew with a melody superior to the alluring song of the sea nymphs, and so, without needing to fill the Argonauts’ ears with wax, or to bind himself to the mast with knotted thongs, he passed the sorcerous shore not only safely, but with disdain.” God does not keep us from hearing all that can be said of other gods, which are no gods; God does not bind us by force, so that we cannot seek and follow them; He does but make “better music,” and ask us to choose for ourselves. If men do not choose to serve Him, it is because they have closed their eyes to His wonderful works, and stopped their ears against His gracious words.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Joshua 24:14-15.—THE PLEADINGS OF HOLY LOVE.
I. Joshua’s recognition of every man’s spiritual liberty. He saw that every man could choose, would choose, and must choose for himself.
1. Men compelled to serve, would be only slaves, and God seeks sons.
2. Men compelled to serve, would render only the obedience of the hands, and God is satisfied with nothing less than the love of the heart.
3. Men compelled to serve, would be utterly miserable, and God’s great desire is to make them supremely happy.
II. Joshua’s urgency to bring every man into subjection to God.
1. The absence of force is no sign of want of love. He who ignores force does not necessarily undervalue persuasion. He who refuses to coerce is in a better position to persuade.
2. All religious persecution has been a mistake from the beginning. Even the days before “the dark ages” were far too bright to suffer an error like this. By His example, God has said from the beginning: “Put up thy sword into its sheath;” “My kingdom is not of this world.” All the time spiritual liberty is inherent and essential, “religious persecution” is a solecism of speech, and a contradiction of human life. The whole thing is self-condemned, even before we come in sight of the principles of Christianity.
III. Joshua’s qualifications for pleading with his fellow-men. We have in these words—
1. The appeal of a man having much knowledge of the human heart. Joshua saw that the people were faithful and earnest now. He would make them still stronger in all that was good. He knew how fickle men are. He also knew that men were open to abiding impressions from the appeals of truth and manliness.
2. The appeal of a man with deep and firm convictions about God. He was convinced of God’s claims; of God’s supreme and incomparable glory; that the highest interests both of individual men and of the nation lay in serving Him.
3. The appeal of a man with much personal fitness for the work. Joshua’s advanced age; his large experience in God’s service; his high authority with the people; his choice of the time; the tact and wisdom of his words.
4. The appeal of a man whose own life was a noble example. Joshua had been remarkably true to God all his life long. He had been “faithful among the faithless,” even when Moses and Aaron had more or less gone astray. Joshua was equally resolved to be faithful to the last. Let others choose as they might, he and his would serve the Lord to the end. The plea of the aged man’s words was noble; the plea from his beautiful life was nobler still.
Joshua 24:14.—THE OBLIGATIONS ARISING FROM GOD’S GOODNESS.
I. God’s works for men should impose fear. “Now therefore fear the Lord.”
II. God’s works for men should provoke service. “And serve Him.”
III. God’s works for men should induce realness. “Serve Him in sincerity and in truth.”
IV. God’s works for men should lead to sanctification. “Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt.”
Joshua 24:15, last clause.—PERSONAL DECISION FOR GOD.
I. Joshua decided for himself, even though he should be left by himself. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Whatever help and encouragement may be derived from fellowship with others in things general, there are great aspects of life in which the soul is isolated and alone.
1. The individuality of the soul’s want. All our spiritual bread is eaten in secret.
2. The solitude of the soul’s life. “The heart knoweth its own bitterness.” There are other things, also, with which “a stranger doth not intermeddle.”
3. The loneliness of the soul in death. Not only in some places in life, but at the end of life, men stand where their fellows cannot reach them. “We must die alone.” It is well that we should choose for our God one on whom we can rely when we are placed where no one of our fellows can reach us. Joshua felt so confident in Jehovah, that, let others do as they might, he would serve the Lord. His household were of the same mind with himself. It is not necessary to think that Joshua really decided for his house, as some suggest, excepting to determine that no other gods should be worshipped in the place where his authority imposed upon him so much of responsibility.
II. Joshua decided for God after a long trial of God. He had tasted and handled and felt, for many years, the joy of the great name which he here commended to others. There had been in his experience—
1. Trials in heavy responsibilities. Such burdens his position had put upon him daily.
2. Trials in great emergencies. As, for instance, in the crossing of the Jordan and the overthrow of Jericho.
3. Trials in great battles in the open field. Such were the conflicts at Beth-horon and the waters of Merom.
4. Trials in painful defeats. He could remember how God failed him not at Ai. Besides all this, there were the
(5.) Trials of his own spiritual life. These, amidst such great daily cares and temptations, could hardly have been small. Joshua looked back on what God had been to him in all this, and said, “I will serve the Lord.”
III. What Joshua decided individually, that he avowed openly.
1. The servant of God can afford to confess God. This is a name that brings much glory, and no real shame.
2. The confession of the faithful man tends to strengthen faithfulness still more. To confess God is to stand openly committed to serve God, and the very decision gives strength. Cæsar meditating at the Rubicon was Cæsar in his weakness; after the words, “the die is cast,” he seemed almost another man.
3. To confess our love to God is due, not only to ourselves, but to others. They too may be made strong by our firmness. What Joshua so firmly says, the people, at once, firmly echo.
4. To confess ourselves on the Lord’s side is due, most of all, to the Lord Himself. He by whom we are all that we are, may well be acknowledged, even though we should have to stand quite by ourselves. As Henry well says, “Those that are bound for heaven must be willing to swim against the stream, and must not do as the most do, but as the best do.”
Joshua 24:15.—“I WILL SERVE THE LORD.”
“ ‘As for me and my house,’ said Joshua, ‘we will serve the Lord;’ and doubtless he would have said, ‘If my house will not, still, as for me, I will.’
“In response to Joshua’s appeal, say ye after this fashion:—
“
I. Some of my friends have made up their minds for wealth; I will serve God, and live for Him.
“
II. Some of my friends have gone in for pleasure; as for me, I will serve God, and live for Him. The paraphrase which Doddridge wrote on his family motto—’While we live, let us live’—shall be my motto:
“ ‘Live while you live, the epicure would say,
And seize the pleasures of the present day.
Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries,
And give to God each moment as it flies.
Lord, in my view let both united be;
I live in pleasure when I live in Thee.’
“
III. Some of my friends have gone in for doubt; as for me, I will serve the Lord.
“In doing this, I shall be in good company, in fellowship with the greatest and best of all ages.
“This is a resolution which will stand trial by fire.
“The resolution thus to serve God will stand the test of conscience.
“The resolve to serve God will stand the test of a deathbed. Wealth will not. Earthly dignities and honours will not. Pleasure will not. Unbelief will not.
“The service of God through Christ will stand the test of the judgment-day.
“Come then, young and old, let us enrol ourselves on the Lord’s side.”—[Dr. Kennedy.]
“It is not enough to have made a good beginning, but he who perseveres to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 24:13.)
“God can put up with no mixed religion; with Him it is ‘all mine, or let it alone altogether.’ (Matthew 4:10.)”—[Osiander.]
Joshua 24:15.—THE TWO SERVICES.
I. “The service of sin is essentially wrong, and the service of God is essentially right.
II. “The service of sin is essentially degrading, and the service of God is essentially exalting.
III. “The service of sin is essentially painful, and the service of God is essentially happy.
IV. “The service of sin is essentially destructive, and the service of God is essentially saving.”—[James Parsons.]
MAN’S POWER OF CHOOSING EVIL
“That men would be better than they are if they always chose good instead of evil, is evident. But that they would be better, or indeed, could have a rational existence, if they had not the power of choosing evil instead of good, is the most foolish and presumptuous of fancies.”—[Sterling.]
Joshua 24:16-18.—GOOD WORDS RIGHTLY SPOKEN.
I. The influence of good words spoken in a right way.
II. The influence of good words spoken at a fit time.
III. The influence of one man’s confession upon others.
Joshua 24:16-18.—FORSAKING THE LORD GOD.
I. Devout horror at the thought of forsaking God.
1. The recoil of loving hearts from the suggestion of apostasy. “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord.”
2. The contempt of the truly pious for idolatry. “That we should forsake Jehovah to serve other gods.”
II. Holy admiration of God.
1. It is one thing to resolve not to forsake God, and another to adore and love Him.
2. Where God is sincerely loved, His tender mercies are gratefully remembered.
3. They who love God much, so far from. fearing His power, make it their delight and confidence. “Therefore will we also serve the Lord.”
4. They who love and serve God sincerely, ever find a possession in God. “For He is our God.”