Joshua 24:1-13 | The Way of Scripture

Joshua 24:1-13

Why does the covenant appeal begin by recounting what the Lord has given?

Berean Standard Bible

1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5 Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and afterward I brought you out. 6 When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7 So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. 8 Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your hand, that you should possess their land when I destroyed them before you. 9 Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam. So he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you from his hand. 11 After this, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand. 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow. 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build, and now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

What is the context?

Joshua gathers the tribes and leaders at Shechem and speaks the Lord’s account of their history. It begins with ancestors serving other gods beyond the Euphrates and with the Lord taking Abraham and giving him descendants.

The story moves through Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Egypt, the sending of Moses and Aaron, the plagues, deliverance through the sea, and the wilderness. It then recalls victory east of the Jordan, the frustration of Balak and Balaam’s attempt to curse Israel, and entry into the land.

The repeated emphasis is the Lord’s initiative: He called, led, gave, sent, and delivered. The land, cities, vineyards, and olive groves include what the people themselves did not build or plant.

This remembrance establishes the setting for the following demand to serve Him. The account does not erase the fighting already narrated; it denies that Israel’s sword and bow independently explain the inheritance.

How is this passage commonly understood?

Wesley takes the hornet as literal swarms assisting Israel. The Cambridge commentary considers a literal reading but prefers an image of the terror God brought upon the opponents. The BSB retains the hornet wording; neither reading requires adding an independently verified insect outbreak.

The Cambridge commentary organizes the speech around the Lord’s repeated acts of favor. Wesley likewise stresses that inherited ancestry is no reason to boast as though the blessings originated in the ancestors’ own merit. The account directs gratitude toward the One who gave and delivered.

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