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Last Words of Joshua
331
Abraham was called out, “or the gods of the Amorites, in whose
land you dwell.”
These last words were a sharp rebuke to Israel. The gods of the
Amorites had not been able to protect their worshipers. Because of
their shameful sins, that wicked nation had been destroyed, and the
good land that they once possessed had been given to God’s people.
How foolish for Israel to choose the gods for whose worship the
Amorites had been destroyed!
“As for me and my house,” said Joshua, “we will serve the Lord.”
The people felt the same holy devotion that inspired the leader’s
heart, and they gave the unhesitating response, “Far be it from us
that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods.”
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But before they could make any permanent changes in their lives,
they must feel their complete inability in themselves to obey God.
While they trusted their own righteousness it was impossible for
them to obtain pardon—they could not meet the claims of God’s
perfect law, and it was hopeless for them to pledge themselves to
serve God. Only by faith in Christ could they obtain pardon of sin
and receive strength to obey God’s law. They must totally trust in
the merits of the promised Savior.
With deep earnestness they once more stated their pledge of
loyalty: “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will
obey!”
“So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made
for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. ... So Joshua let
the people depart, each to his own inheritance.”
His work was done. He had “wholly followed the Lord.” The
most noble evidence of his character as a leader is the history of the
generation that had come under the influence of his work: “Israel
served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders
who outlived Joshua.”
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