Bible Study Joshua 24
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Joshua 24 · WEB

Covenant Renewal at Shechem; Joshua's Death

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Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
2Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor. They served other gods.
3I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac.
4I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau. I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
5I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them; and afterward I brought you out.
6I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea.
7When they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness many years.
8I brought you into the land of the Amorites that lived beyond the Jordan; and they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land; and I destroyed them from before you.
9Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you;
10but I would not listen to Balaam. Therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand.
11You went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I gave them into your hand.
12I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites. It was not by your sword or by your bow.
13I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you didn't build, and you dwell in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn't plant.'
14"Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.
15If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh."
16The people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh to serve other gods;
17for it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed.
18Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God."
19Joshua said to the people, "You can't serve Yahweh; for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience or your sins.
20If you forsake Yahweh and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil and consume you, after he has done you good."
21The people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve Yahweh."
22Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh, to serve him." They said, "We are witnesses."
23"Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel."
24The people said to Joshua, "We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice."
25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
26Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh.
27Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of Yahweh which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God."
28So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.
29After these things, Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old.
30They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of the mountain of Gaash.
31Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh, which he had done for Israel.
32They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
33Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
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Summary

Joshua calls all Israel to Shechem for a final covenant renewal ceremony — the climax of the entire book. He delivers a sweeping retelling of Israel's history entirely from God's first-person perspective: "I took...I gave...I sent...I brought...I delivered." The purpose is to make Israel see that every step of their story has been God's initiative and God's work. Then Joshua presents a clear, honest challenge: choose today whom you will serve. When the people affirm they will serve Yahweh, Joshua pushes back hard — you cannot serve this holy and jealous God without total commitment — and makes them witnesses against themselves. A covenant is made, a great stone is set as a witness, and Joshua dies at 110. The book closes with three burials: Joshua, the bones of Joseph (finally brought home from Egypt as he had requested), and Eleazar the priest.

Themes

  • Covenant renewal as Israel's defining act of identity and commitment
  • The entire history of Israel re-narrated from God's perspective: "I did this"
  • The radical demand of exclusive loyalty to a holy and jealous God
  • The weight of choice — and the willingness of Joshua to declare his own household's allegiance
  • The fragility of faithfulness across generations: Israel served God during Joshua's lifetime — but what about after?

Key verses

  • Josh 24:13 — “I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you didn't build, and you dwell in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn't plant.”
  • Josh 24:15 — “Choose this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”
  • Josh 24:22 — “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh, to serve him.”
  • Josh 24:31 — “Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh.”

Context & background

Shechem (modern Nablus in the West Bank, in the central hills between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal) was the most symbolically loaded location in Canaan for this ceremony. It was where Abraham first arrived in Canaan and built an altar (Genesis 12:6–7), where Jacob bought land and set up a pillar (Genesis 33:18–20), and where Joshua had already held a covenant ceremony after Ai (Joshua 8:30–35). It sat at the geographic center of the land, making it accessible to all the tribes. Joseph's bones, carried out of Egypt at the Exodus (Exodus 13:19), are finally buried here in the field Jacob had bought — completing a journey of over 400 years and fulfilling Joseph's dying request (Genesis 50:24–25). Joshua dies at 110, the same age as Joseph, a literary connection suggesting both were model servants of God who saw His promises fulfilled. Joshua is buried at Timnath Serah in the West Bank hill country, the same city he received as his personal inheritance.

Cross-references

  • Deuteronomy 30:15–20 — Moses's final call to choose life and blessing by loving and holding fast to Yahweh — the direct precursor to Joshua's challenge
  • Exodus 13:19 — Moses takes Joseph's bones out of Egypt at the Exodus, fulfilling the oath
  • Genesis 12:1–7 — Abraham's original call and arrival at Shechem, the starting point of the story Joshua retells
  • Genesis 50:24–25 — Joseph's dying request: "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here"
  • Judges 2:7–12 — The generation after Joshua's elders dies, and Israel immediately abandons Yahweh — the cliff-edge the book leaves us standing on

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    In Joshua's historical review (verses 2-13), what is the dominant grammatical pattern and what does it communicate?

  2. Observe

    What does Joshua do after the people affirm they will serve Yahweh, and what does he set up as a witness?

  3. Interpret

    Why does Joshua push back on the people's enthusiastic affirmation that they will serve Yahweh?

  4. Interpret

    Why does faithfulness to God so often fail across generations?

  5. Apply

    What does it mean to make a clear, deliberate, stated commitment to serve God like Joshua's "as for me and my house"?

  6. Apply

    How would deliberately narrating our lives as God-initiated stories change our perspective?

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