Joshua 23 and 24 Joshua's Last Words

Joshua 23-24 Joshua's Last Words

And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.

And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:

And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.

Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward.

And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.

Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;

Joshua 23:1-6

Joshua had instructed and led the people of Israel to know the Lord and to obey Him, but now it was time for this wonderful man of God to pass on. He had faithfully

served the Lord his God, and had perservered to the end of his life. His final words to the Israelites, in chapters 23 and 24, reminded the people of all that the Lord

had done for them so far. He reminded them of the first commandment: 'Do not have any other gods before me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image.

Thou shalt not bow down to them or serve them.' And yet time and time again, God's people would turn away from Him to serve other gods, which had no understanding,

made out of only stone or wood. The people even said, 'The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.' And their heart may have been in it at the time.

But, O how our hearts are deceiful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? Somewhere along the line, the people's hearts strayed from the Lord their

God, and from the commandments that He had set up for them to follow. May it not be so with us. We need to make sure that we stick to the truth like bees to pollen.

If we do so, the Lord will call us blessed.

Am I straying from the commandments of the Lord, that He had set up for me to follow? or am I dilligently seeking Him and calling upon His name, when I am

tempted to sin?