Joshua 24:2–3

Do not overlook this: the words of Joshua are not his own. They are the words the Lord gave him. "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel," is the way he begins. The retrospect runs through the whole history of Israel, beginning with the call of Abraham. Its aim is to remind the gathered people once more of the mercies and faithfulness of Jehovah. How soon they may be forgotten! Yet a true walk with God depends on memory: on what we are by nature, and on what the Lord in His infinite grace has done for us. Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his seed — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.

This is the first notice the Bible affords of idolatry; and this not when it began, but when it corrupted the immediate ancestor of Abraham. There was abundant and flagrant evil in the world before the flood; but of serving other gods we never hear.

Then came another principle: the call of God. By separating one person, one people, one family, one assembly that acknowledged the true God, this call could make them witnesses of His character. "Your fathers served other gods!" — a fresh crime, a fresh snare of Satan, which called for new measures on the part of a God who is all goodness.

Noah said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem." But now we find the sons of Shem, and in the most favoured branch, serving other gods. If Ham had fallen away like this, or Canaan, Shem's servant, it would not be so astounding. But no. It was not even proud Japheth, spreading his borders and forgetting the only true God in his worldly drive. It was Shem's descendant Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor; it was they who "served other gods."

God appeared in sovereign grace. Even the line of Shem — Abraham's father and relatives — were idolaters. Grace gives what is good; it does not find it. And the God of glory did not only appear. He appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia — at the farthest point from "the land," and among idolaters.

First, the call of God means separation. Abram had to go "out of … from … from …" It meant snapping links — links that were national, social and even family… God called Abraham out of these idolatrous surroundings. Because of them, the separation his call involved was drastic and thorough. The man who would later be called "the friend of God" could not be left in any friendship with the idolatrous world.

These last words from Jehovah to Israel, spoken through Joshua, deserve the most earnest attention. From first to last (vv. 2-13) they recount Jehovah's sovereignty, power, and grace. He showed His sovereignty by bringing their fathers out from idolatry. He showed His power by rescuing the people from their enemies. He showed His grace by settling them in their possessions. We too should consider the sovereign favour, power, and grace of our God and Father. Our response should be to purge ourselves from the evil thing He hates.

There is a similar translation error in Joshua 24. It has Abraham taken from the other side of the flood, as if he lived in Noah's day. He lived long after, as Genesis 11 tells us. The mistake is obvious to any fair mind. Many other Scriptures translate that same word as "river." It means that the Lord took Abraham from the other side of the river Euphrates.

Abraham had lived with his father Terah east of the Euphrates River. There they were idol worshipers (v.2). This was a humbling reminder for Israel, that they came from someone who had followed false gods. But grace can make a wonderful difference, as it did with Abraham. After he left his native land, God led him through the land of Canaan. There the Lord also blessed him greatly and multiplied his descendants. The account names only his one son Isaac, for Israel was to come from Isaac.

The words of Joshua are not his own, but the words given to him by the Lord... A true walk with God depends on remembering what we are by nature and what the Lord in His infinite grace has done for us... Notice the different acts of the Lord. I took your father Abraham — I led him — I multiplied his seed — I gave him Isaac — I gave — I sent Moses — I plagued Egypt — I brought you out — I brought you into the land.

"I have done this," is the burden of the words of the Lord to Israel. His people are blessed solely because He will bless. Israel's history began with idolatry — "they served other gods." They were far off from God, and He found them there. He finds sinners today in the same place: far from Him, dead in trespasses and sins. "I took," the Lord continues, "Abraham" out of the far-off land of idolatry, "and led him through all the land of Canaan." In the same way God takes His own out of their state of death in sin and puts them in Christ in the heavenly places. For Abraham, as for God's saints now, there was no going back to the other side of the river, no return to the old state and home.

Was Isaac the child of natural or supernatural power? We all say that after God had stamped death on both Abraham and Sarah (see Rom. 4:19), as to any expectation of having a child, then God, according to His promise and power, gave them Isaac.

Abraham is the beginning of the religious institutions of God in the new world. He is the root of the olive tree of promise. When the world had turned to idolatry (Josh. 24), God called Abram out, and established the promises in his seed. He was the first head of God's family, as Adam was of the sinful one. There was no root of a family of God, as Adam was the root of an evil family, until Abram — though there had been saints before.

Remembering it would have taught them how much they needed to watch themselves. That gross and terrible evil could somehow draw them back in. God, in His sovereign grace and electing love, had called their father Abraham out of it. They would have been wise to see this: the very evil their fathers lived in long ago was exactly the evil they themselves were likely to fall into.