Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
ourselves," signifying thereby, "we profess and ratify once more all that we have
said" ( Rosenmüller ). Joshua then repeated his demand that they should put away the
strange gods from within them, and incline their hearts (entirely) to Jehovah the God
of Israel. bªqirªbªkem (OT:7130) 'asher (OT:834) haneekaar (OT:5236) 'eloheey
(OT:430) might mean the foreign gods which are in the midst of you, i.e., among
you, and imply the existence of idols, and the grosser forms of idolatrous worship in
the nation; but bªqereb (OT:7130) also signifies "within," or "in the heart," in which
case the words refer to idols of the heart.
That the latter is the sense in which the words are to be understood is evident from
the fact, that although the people expressed their willingness to renounce all idolatry,
they did not bring any idols to Joshua to be destroyed, as was done in other similar
cases, viz., Gen 35:4, and 1 Sam 7:4. Even if the people had carried idols about with
them in the desert, as the prophet Amos stated to his contemporaries (Amos 5:26; cf.
Acts 7:43), the grosser forms of idolatry had disappeared from Israel with the dying
out of the generation that was condemned at Kadesh. The new generation, which had
been received afresh into covenant with the Lord by the circumcision at Gilgal, and
had set up this covenant at Ebal, and was now assembled around Joshua, the dying
servant of God, to renew the covenant once more, had no idols of wood, stone, or
metal, but only the "figments of false gods," as Calvin calls them, the idols of the
heart, which it was to put away, that it might give its heart entirely to the Lord, who is
not content with divided affections, but requires the whole heart (Deut 6:5-6).
Joshua 24:24-25
And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice
will we obey.
On the repeated and decided declaration of the people, "the Lord our God will we
serve, and to His voice will we hearken," Joshua completed the covenant with them
that day. This conclusion of a covenant was really a solemn renewal of the covenant
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