Josué 24
John Gill · Citado em PreceptAustin
Josué 24
Gill on fear - “Since He has done such great and good things, fear the Lord and His goodness, fear Him for His goodness’ sake; nothing so influences fear, or a reverential affection for God, as a sense of His goodness; this engages men sensible of it to fear the Lord, that is, to worship Him both internally and externally in the exercise of every grace, and in the performance of every duty”. Keil on sincerity and truth - The whole stress of this exhortation is laid upon בְּתָמִים וּבֶאֱמֶת in integritate et veritate, i.e. integro et vero s. sincero amino (ED: sincerity and truth). For they already worshipped him with words and deeds; there was no gross idolatry existing amongst them then. Their heart, however, was not given completely and undividedly to the Lord, but still clung to the foreign gods, which their fathers had worshipped beyond the river and in Egypt. These they were to put away and to worship Jehovah with entire and sincere heart....Masius has well said: “Integrity is here opposed to feigned religion, a fault so prevalent amongst men in the present day, that it might almost be thought to be inherent." (Commentary on Joshua - go to page 484) Remember that when God gives a commandment, He always gives an enablement. See the notes on circumcision of the heart and how this relates to Israel's ability to keep these commandments. Note that the verb serve (abad) is a keyword occurring 19 times in Joshua 24 - (Josh 24:2, 3 times in Josh 24:14, 4 times in Joshua 24:15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 31) Sincerity is translated in NET as integrity. The English word integrity speaks of the state of being whole and undivided (sounds like a "Caleb-like" spirit in Nu 14:24+ = "followed Me fully") The word truth ('emeth) often conveys the sense of one who is faithful. Together the picture is that of without hypocrisy.
Josué 24
Gill - cannot serve the Lord - he said not to discourage or deter them from serving the Lord, since it was his principal view, through the whole of this conversation with them, to engage them in it, but to observe to them their own inability and insufficiency of themselves to perform service acceptable to God; and therefore it became them to implore grace and strength from the Lord to assist them in it, and to depend upon that and not to lean to and trust in their own strength; as also to observe to them, that they could not serve him perfectly without any defect and failure in their service, for there is no man that does good and sins not; and therefore when a man has done all he can, he must not depend upon it for his justification before God; or consider it as his justifying righteousness, which was what that people were always prone to; some supply it, "you cannot serve the Lord with your images,'' John
Josué 24
Gill - for he [is] an holy God: perfectly holy, so that the best of men, and the heat of their services, are impure and unholy before him and will not bear to be compared with him, and therefore by no means to be trusted in; and it requires much grace and spiritual strength to perform any service that may be acceptable to him through Christ. In the Hebrew text it is, "for the Holy Ones [are] he": which may serve to illustrate and confirm the doctrine of the trinity of, persons in the unity of the divine Essence, or of the three divine holy Persons, holy Father, holy Son, holy Spirit, as the one God, see Isa 6:3; Michael Grant - Serving the Lord was not like serving other gods: “He is an holy God; he is a jealous God” (v. 19). His holiness meant that those who serve Him must be holy (Lev 19:2). As a jealous God, He would not accommodate any rival for their devotion (Ex 20:4–6). In the New Testament the character of the Lord brings the same demands upon the Christian for exclusive and holy service (James 4:4–5; 1 Pet 1:16). Reformation Study Bible (see note) - You cannot serve the LORD. This paradoxical statement will all too soon be proved true (Joshua 31 note; 7:1–26 note; 23:12, 13 note; Jdg. 2:7, 10–13; 2 Kin. 17:7–23; Deut. 31:16). It is based on the holiness of God, who cannot be approached casually (Ps. 15:1, 2; Eccl. 5:1, 2). Also, Joshua warns the people because he knows their rebelliousness himself (22:17 and note). Nelson Study Bible - Immediately after Joshua exhorted the Israelites to serve God (Josh 24:14), he stated you cannot serve the LORD! This use of exaggeration emphasizes the gravity of the obligation to which the people committed themselves. Theirs was not to be a nominal, superficial faith. Subsequent history shows that Israel’s record was poor in this regard. Joshua’s challenge is also for Christians. Although salvation is God’s free gift through Jesus Christ to those who believe, truly following Christ is the difficult way of the cross (Matt. 16:24; John 1:12; 1 Cor. 15:1–5). Dale Ralph Davis - Joshua’s is a shocking refusal. ‘You cannot serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not go on forgiving your rebellion and your sins’ (v. 19). If you desert him, he will consume you (v. 20). Don’t lightly mouth your profession of faith, Joshua is saying. Don’t you realise the sort of God you are dealing with? He is a holy, jealous God. You don’t dare come to him thinking, ‘though it makes him sad to see the way we live, he’ll always say, “I forgive” ’. Yahweh is not a soft, cuddly Santa in the sky who drools over easy decisions during invitation hymns. Joshua seeks to put down that blathering self-confidence that makes emotional commitments rather than shutting its mouth and counting the cost. ‘You cannot serve Yahweh.’ Neither Israel nor the church could hear a more beneficial word than that. It was precisely when the Jesus bandwagon was going great guns (Luke 14:25) that Jesus emphasised who ‘cannot be my disciple’ (Luke 14:26, 27, 33). Rather, one must carefully ‘count the cost’ (Luke 14:28) before yielding allegiance to Jesus. The church should note this. Too frequently, the Jesus we present is some variety of prepackaged joy, peace, and provision that works twice as fast as aspirin. He is our cellophane Christ. We should not sell Christ like that but warn people about him! Our task is not to bait people into saying, ‘I will lay down my life for you’ (John 13:37), but to get them (and ourselves) to squirm under his searching, ‘Do you love me?’ (John 21:15–19). Too many of us perjure ourselves before a holy Judge as we sing, ‘I surrender all’, or ‘My Jesus, I love thee’. There are stanzas in some hymns that I dare not sing (ED: I LOVE THIS STATEMENT - THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES WHEN I OMIT A LINE LESS IT BE SUNG HYPOCRITICALLY!) . One of the healthiest things a Christian can do is to doubt and question his easy expressions of commitment. (ED: THIS SOUNDS A LOT LIKE PAUL IN 2 Cor 13:5+!) One of the ordination vows my denomination asks of me is: Do you engage to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as a Christian and a minister of the Gospel, whether personal or relational, private or public; and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your manner of life, and to walk with exemplary piety before the flock of which God shall make you overseer? I would not touch that with the proverbial ten-foot pole. It asks too much of a proud, angry, lustful, covetous man. I affirm it only because there is that clause, ‘by the grace of God’, in it. Otherwise, I would have to turn away, for it would be too much to promise. Baptismal, membership, and marriage vows should receive the same scrutiny. We must retain Joshua’s paradox, must constantly stand between his ‘serve Yahweh’ (Joshua 24:14) and his ‘you cannot serve Yahweh’ (Joshua 24:19). His purpose is not to drive us from Yahweh but to him. Only we must not make our commitment easily, lightly, flippantly, casually, but cautiously and fearfully Joshua 24:21, 24). Douglas Redford - Joshua’s response may seem at first like an effort to discourage the people. But his purpose was to remind them of the seriousness of what they were committing themselves to. They needed to understand clearly some important truths about the Lord. God is holy. He is altogether good, separated from anything that is bad or even questionable. His word to the people was, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). Were the people of Israel ready for that? Are we? God is jealous. He will not tolerate a rival in the minds and hearts of his people (Exodus 20:3–6). He wants their total devotion. Were the people of Israel ready for that? Are we? He is a jealous God - He will tolerate no rival gods. Matthew
Josué 24
Gill - he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins; even the transgressions and sins of such that forsake the worship and service of him, and fall into idolatry, or who seek for justification by their own services, these are both abominable to him; otherwise he is a God pardoning the iniquity, transgression, and sin, of all those who seek unto him and serve him, confess their sins, and renounce their own righteousness; see Ex 23:21. Matthew