ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 Tu‘apulelulu ‘Okatopa 14, 2021

Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods

Molekemama‘o ha‘amau li‘aki ‘a Sihova ke tauhi ‘Otua kehe

Siosiua 24 (Joshua 24)

(v. 16-18) Pea na‘e tali ‘e he kakai, ‘o pehē, Molekemama‘o ha‘amau li‘aki ‘a Sihova ke tauhi ‘Otua kehe; he ko Sihova ko hotau ‘Otua, ko ia ia na‘a ne ‘ohake kitautolu mo ‘etau ngaahi kui mei ‘Isipite, mei he fale pōpula, mo ne fai ‘a e ngaahi fu‘u me‘a fakaafe ko ia na‘a tau mamata ki ai, mo tauhi kitautolu ‘i he hala kotoa na‘a tau fononga ai, pea ‘i he lotolotonga ‘o e ngaahi kakai na‘a tau laka atu ai; pea na‘e kapusi ‘e Sihova mei hotau ‘ao ‘a e ngaahi kakai, ‘io, ‘a ha‘a ‘Āmoli na‘e nofo ‘i he fonua ni: ko ia ko kimautolu foki te mau tauhi ‘a Sihova, he ko hotau ‘Otua ia.

(v. 16-18) Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

Here we have the record of the final address of Joshua. In it he first concisely and comprehensively traced the Hebrews' history from the call of Abraham and did so in the form of the speech of Jehovah to them. In the brief compass of eleven verses the pronoun "I" as referring to Jehovah occurs no less than seventeen times. The whole movement emphasized the truth that everything of greatness in the history of the people was the result of divine action.

Then he appealed to them with a touch of fine irony. If they would not serve God, he called them to choose whom they would serve, asking them whether they would go back to the gods of their fathers beyond the river or turn to the gods of the Amorites in whose land they were now dwelling. Thus, by presenting the alternatives to loyalty to Jehovah he made patent the foolhardiness of disloyalty. He ended with the declaration of personal decision. "As for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah."

Then we have a dramatic description of what followed. The people declared their choice of God as against any other gods. From an intimate knowledge of them Joshua declared that in spite of their declared choice they were not able to serve God. It was a strange outburst and one wonders whether the tone was of scorn or of intense pity. The subsequent history of the people shows that the words were prophetic. Again the people affirmed their determination to serve the Lord and Joshua called them to put away all strange gods. Everything ended with the making of a covenant and the erection of a memorial.

The Book closes with an account of the death of Joshua and the death of Eleazer. It is significant that in the midst of the darkness of death there was something almost weird and yet full of the suggestion of hope. The bones of Joseph were buried in the land.

David Guzik :: Study Guide for Joshua 24

For the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt: Significantly, their declaration is based on God's past dealings with them. How could they not serve such a great God?

We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God: This is essentially the same attitude reflected by Jesus' disciples in John 6:66-69: Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  If serving God sometimes seems hard, think of the alternatives.