Favor · the best way to learn the Bible
Joshua 24 Bible study: Choose today whom you will serve
Joshua's "as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (24:15) ends a sentence that first offers a different choice: if serving the LORD seems evil, choose which other gods. Abraham's own father "served other gods" (24:2), and the book's last stone is the only one it calls a witness, because "it has heard all the LORD’s words" (24:27).
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the words behind the words, what most readers miss, and how it all leads to Jesus.
First week free, then $10 a month per person
“If it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Joshua 24:15, both choices Joshua offers to anyone who finds serving the LORD evil are other gods.”
Is that in Joshua 24, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
The LORD tells the story first
Before Joshua asks Israel for anything, he gives them the LORD's own words: "The LORD, the God of Israel, says" (24:2). From there to 24:13 the LORD speaks, and nearly every step is his: "I took your father Abraham" (24:3), "I sent Moses and Aaron" (24:5), "I brought you into the land of the Amorites" (24:8), "I gave you a land on which you had not labored" (24:13). You have read these stories in Genesis, Exodus and Numbers. What is new here comes first: "Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor. They served other gods" (24:2). Only after all of it does Joshua say, "Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him" (24:14).
Where it leads to Jesus
No one can serve two masters
Joshua 24:15leads toMatthew 6:24
Joshua tells Israel, "choose today whom you will serve", and gives his own answer: "as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (24:15). He warns them, "He is a jealous God" (24:19), and tells them to "put away the foreign gods which are among you" (24:23). Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon" (Matthew 6:24). Jesus doesn't cite Joshua 24, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some hear the same call in both: a person serves one master, and serving the LORD leaves no room for another. Others keep them apart: Joshua sets the LORD beside other gods, "the gods which your fathers served" and "the gods of the Amorites" (24:15), while Jesus sets God beside Mammon, just after his words on treasure (Matthew 6:19-21), and says nothing of Joshua or of those gods.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Joshua 24
That was a taste
The rest of Joshua 24 is waiting in Favor
- The choice that comes first
- Witnesses: the people and a stone
- Three burials
- Not with your sword
- Foreign gods put away at Shechem, twice
- Told again in Judges
- 23 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Joshua 24 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
עָבַדavadsay a-VAD
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "work, serve". Strong's: "to work (in any sense); by implication, to serve". In Hebrew this chapter says it sixteen times, of the twenty-one times in the book of Joshua. It is what Terah's family did, "They served other gods" (24:2); what Joshua asks, "fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth" (24:14); what he chooses, "we will serve the LORD" (24:15); what the people promise, "We will serve the LORD our God" (24:24); and what the chapter says of that generation, "Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua" (24:31). In 24:17, "the house of bondage" is beit avadim in Hebrew, with the plural of the noun eved, "servant" (tap servant).
For your group
Joshua 24 Bible study questions
- 1Before Joshua asked for a choice, he told everything the LORD had done, from Abraham to the land (24:2-13). What would you tell first, if you were telling what God has done in your own story?
- 2Joshua said "as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (24:15) before the people answered. What would it look like for you to say something like that first, whatever the people around you choose?
- 3The people promised to serve the LORD, and Joshua still told them, "put away the foreign gods which are among you" (24:23). What in your life competes to be served alongside God?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Joshua 24 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
Start a Bible studyThe best way to learn the Bible
Favor opens up every chapter as you read.
Favor is a Bible study app for your phone or computer. It takes you through the Bible one chapter at a time, a few minutes a day, and shows you what's really there: the words behind the words, the moments most people miss, and how the whole story fits together. For you. For everyone.
Every chapter explains itself
As you read, short notes open up what's really going on, the details most readers walk past, and the honest questions people ask.
The Hebrew and Greek behind it
Tap a highlighted word to see the original, how to say it, and what it means, checked against the original-language texts.
Every page leads to Jesus
Watch promises made in Genesis kept in Jesus. Each line lights up on your map as you read.
Better together
Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together.
- 1
Start your free week
Sign up in a minute with your email.
- 2
Read a few minutes a day
Each chapter opens itself up as you go. Tap what you're curious about.
- 3
Bring your people, if you like
Send one link. Everyone reads the same chapter, then meets to talk.
First week free, then $10 a month per person
Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
How much does it cost?
Your first week is free. After that it's $10 a month per person, the same for everyone, including groups and churches. There are no tiers and nothing extra to unlock.
Can I read Joshua 24 straight away?
Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach Joshua 24 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
Do I need a group?
No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.
I've never really read the Bible. Is this for me?
Yes. Favor starts where you are and explains as it goes. The questions along the way aren't marked right or wrong: you answer, then see what the text shows.
Which Bible does Favor use?
The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
Is Favor tied to a church?
No. Favor is non-denominational. Where Christians read a passage differently, it shows the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Start with Joshua 24
The best way to learn the Bible. For you. For everyone.
There's a seat for you at the table.
Start your free weekFirst week free, then $10 a month per person · Log in
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home