joshua-24:16-28

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:21-25

The covenant. I. THE TERMS OF THE COVENANT . It was to bind the people to their promise to renounce the old life of sin and idolatry, and to enter upon and remain in the true service of God. Nations are proud of protecting treaties, constitutional pledges, charters of liberty, etc. No nation ever took a more important covenant than this. The chief question for all of us is whether we will live for the world or for God. The gospel brings to us a new covenant. The promises are... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:22

Ye are witnesses against yourselves. Joshua has not disguised from them the difficulty of the task they have undertaken. Like a true guide and father, he has placed the case fully and fairly before them, and they have made their choice. He reminds them that their own words so deliberately uttered will be forever witnesses against them, should they afterwards refuse to keep an engagement into which they entered with their eyes open. They do not in any way shrink from the responsibility, and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:23

Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you. Keil and Delitzsch notice that the words translated "among you" have also the meaning, "within you," and argue that Joshua is speaking of inward tendencies to idolatry. But this is very improbable. For The plain provisions of the law demanded obedience. Comparatively little heed was given at first to inward feelings and tendencies. There can be little doubt that the meaning is precisely the same as in Genesis 35:2 ,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:24

And the people said unto Joshua. The triple repetition of the promise adds to the solemnity of the occasion and the binding force of the engagement. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:25

So Joshua made a covenant. Literally, cut a covenant, a phrase common to the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues, and derived from the custom of sacrifice, in which the victims were cut in pieces and offered to the deity invoked in ratification of the engagement. The word used for covenant , berith, is derived from another word having the same meaning. This appears more probable than the suggestion of some, that the berith is derived from the practice of ratifying an agreement by a social... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:26

And Joshua wrote these words. Or, these things, since the word (see note on Joshua 22:24 ; Joshua 23:15 ) has often this signification. Joshua no doubt recorded, not the whole history of his campaigns and the rest of the contents of what is now called the Book of Joshua, but the public ratification of the Mosaic covenant which had now been made. This he added to his copy of the book of the law, as a memorial to later times. The covenant had been ratified with solemn ceremonies at its... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:27

A witness (see note on Joshua 22:27 ). For it hath heard. Joshua speaks by a poetical figure of the stone, as though it had intelligence. The stone was taken from the very place where they stood, and within earshot of the words which had been spoken. Thus it became a more forcible memorial of what had occurred than if it had been brought from far. Ye deny your God. To deny is to say that He is not. The Hebrew implies "to deny concerning Him," to contest the truth of what has been... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joshua 24:25

Made a covenant with the people - i. e. he solemnly ratified and renewed the covenant of Sinai, as Moses had done before him Deuteronomy 29:1. As no new or different covenant was made, no sacrifices were necessary. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joshua 24:26

Consult the marginal references.That was by the sanctuary of the Lord - i. e. the spot where Abraham and Jacob had sacrificed and worshipped, and which might well be regarded by their posterity as a holy place or sanctuary. Perhaps the very altar of Abraham and Jacob was still remaining. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Joshua 24:19

Joshua 24:19. Ye cannot He speaks not of an absolute impossibility, (for then both his resolution to serve God himself, and his exhortation to them, had been vain,) but of a moral impossibility, or a very great difficulty, which he alleges not to discourage them from God’s service, but to make them more considerate in obliging themselves, and more resolved in answering their obligations. The meaning is, God’s service is not, as you seem to fancy, a slight and easy thing, but it is a work of... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:21-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:22

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:23

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:24

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:25

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:26

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 24:27

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joshua 24:25

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joshua 24:26

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Joshua 24:19

Group of Brands