Featured The gross wresting of Joshua 24:15

I put this here, seeing it will become a Cal v. Non-Cal debate eventually...


How many on here see this verse plasted on keychains, shirts, bumper stickers, church signs, &c? Well, they use this verse for supporting their free will, and that could not be further from the truth. They take one verse outta that whole chapter and that's all they look at. But, let's see what that verse really has to say.

“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” [Joshua 24:14,15 NASB]


Now, look closely at how Joshua worded this statement. "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord....." So, it appears these ppl do not want to serve the God of Israel. So, the free will believers then jump all over "choose for yourselves today whom you will serve" w/o doing any investigative study into what Joshua is actually saying here. He then says "whether the gods(idols) which your fathers served...or the gods(idols) of the Amorites in whose land you are living." So, he is saying to pick between two idols, door #1 or door #2. Behind both doors are idols. Choose between them, because "It is disagreeable in you sight to serve the Lord." He's giving them the option to serve the idols of their fathers or the Amorites because serving the Lord is disagreeable to them. He closes by saying "but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Ppl seem to let their hermeneutics drive their exegesis(in reality they employ eisegesis) and not the other way around.

 

In verse 14 Joshua said "and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord."

However, he then said if it is disagreeable for you to serve the Lord, choose today who you will serve. The choice Joshua gave them was between the gods(idols) their fathers worshiped or the gods(idols) of the Amorites, the land they were living in at that time.

Ppl use verse 15 for them to choose between serving God or not. That's not the context. The context is for serving idol 'A' or idol 'B'.

 

Bingo!!

 

TBH, I don't think it is assumed. I think it was a reality they had already rejected Him.

Ergo, Joshua's proclamation. "You think it is disagreeable to serve the Lord. Now, choose to serve the gods(idols) of your fathers or the gods(idols) of the Amorites, in whose land you are now dwelling." They were given fully to idolatry at this time. Joshua was saying "You can choose between these idols and I and my family will serve the Lord."

 

Yet, Israel continually fell into idolatry. They continually broke the covenant that was betwixt them and God.

 

Well, Joshua told them to put away the gods their fathers worshiped, so that tells me they were given to idolizing them, too.

Now, Jesus stated "they praise Me with their lips but their hearts are far from Me." They would say one thing and do another. They said they would serve Him, but they fell back into idolatry.

 

They did say they would serve the Lord, but did they follow through with it? No. They said it with their lips only, not their hearts.

 

Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. "If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you." The people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD." Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses." "Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and we will obey His voice." So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God." Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.[Joshua 24:19-28]

They did say they will serve the Lord and obey His voice, but they did not. Joshua even erected a stone as a witness to their oath. An oath they did not keep.

 

He told them to choose between idol 'A' or idol 'B'. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That's the context.

 

And I am saying they said we will serve the Lord, but those were hollow words, seeing all the idolatry the Jews partook of.

The same Jews that said 'Hosanna!' a few days later said 'crucify Him.'

So, by them saying and not doing is the same as not serving Him.

 

Joshua is showing them they will not choose God, but idols. He puts their feet to the fire when he said “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins."[vs 19] This was after they had said “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!"[vs 16] They had already done this. They had already forsakened Him and was given wholly to idolatry(the reason why I say wholly is because I don't think anyone worships an idol half-heartedly).

Then, in vs 21 they said “No! We will serve the Lord.” And then he said “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.” Now, did they choose to serve the Lord? By word they did. But by deed they did not. So, they did not choose to serve the Lord, but idols. Which brings us back to vs 15 and serving betwixt idol 'A' and idol 'B'.

The reason why I brought this up is because I am preaching through the first 3 chapters of Hosea(maybe more if the Lord leads me to) and this shows how much Israel was given to idolatry, which was typified as harlotry through Gomer.