Joshua 24:14

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12 ^aI sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but ^bnot with your sword or with your bow.

13 I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and ^acities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

14 ^a“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in ^bsincerity and in truth, and ^cput away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of¹ the River and ^din Egypt. Serve the Lord!

15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, ^achoose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether ^bthe gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of¹ the River, or ^cthe gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. ^dBut as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods;

17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

<< Joshua 24:13

Joshua 24:15 >>

Joshua 24:14

Fear the Lord - Reverence him as the sole object of your religious worship.

Serve him - Perform his will by obeying his commands.

In sincerity - Having your whole heart engaged in his worship.

And in truth - According to the directions he has given you in his infallible word.

Put away the gods , etc. - From this exhortation of Joshua we learn of what sort the gods were, to the worship of whom these Israelites were still attached.

1.Those which their fathers worshipped on the other side of the flood: i.e., the gods of the Chaldeans, fire, light, the sun.

2.Those of the Egyptians, Apis, Anubis, the ape, serpents, vegetables, etc.

3.Those of the Canaanites, Moabites, etc., Baal-peor or Priapus, Astarte or Venus, etc., etc.

All these he refers to in this and the following verse. See at the conclusion of Joshua 24:33 (note). How astonishing is this, that, after all God had done for them, and all the miracles they had seen, there should still be found among them both idols and idolaters! That it was so we have the fullest evidence, both here and in Joshua 24:23; Amos 5:26; and in Acts 7:41. But what excuse can be made for such stupid, not to say brutish, blindness? Probably they thought they could the better represent the Divine nature by using symbols and images, and perhaps they professed to worship God through the medium of these. At least this is what has been alleged in behalf of a gross class of Christians who are notorious for image worship. But on such conduct God will never look with any allowance, where he has given his word and testimony.

Other Adam Clarke entries containing Joshua 24:14:

Genesis 11:31
Joshua 24:33

<< Joshua 24:13

Joshua 24:15 >>

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