When two people get married, they make solemn promises to one another. In today’s passage, we see the same sort of thing happening, with the people of God promising to worship and serve the Lord.

And, just as is the case in a marriage, the people understood that this was to be an exclusive and permanent choice. Joshua warned them in verse 20 that they were not to forget their promise and forsake the Lord. They were not to serve any other gods. If they were to be the Lord’s people, they must worship and serve Him alone.

And just as in a marriage, that there is nothing conditional in their promise. Husbands and wives take each other unconditionally – in fact, they promise to be faithful regardless of their worldly circumstances, “For better or worse, in sickness and health, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow.” Just so, the people did not say, “We will serve the Lord if He will continue to protect us and provide for us.” No, in verses 17 and 18 they simply recall what God had done for them in the past, and then unconditionally promised to serve Him in the future.

Were they able to keep their promises? No, and Joshua warned them in verse 20 what would happen if they broke their covenant. And all that happened – time and time again throughout the Book of Judges the people turned away from God, and God allowed them to be conquered by the very pagans whose gods His people were worshipping. In fact, Old Testament covenants were always sealed with blood in one way or another, as the two parties to the covenant took a blood oath that if they broke their word they would surely die.

And that, of course, is the good news for us. For at the Last Supper, Jesus said that His is the blood of the covenant. In other words, if His people sin, it is not their blood that must be shed to satisfy their oath – it is His. As John the Baptist said, He is the Lamb of God whose sacrifice takes away the sin of the world.

But if we know how far Jesus would go to fulfill the terms of the covenant between God and His people, shouldn’t we devote ourselves all the more to keep this covenant, to worship God alone, to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength? If Jesus loved us enough to die for us, shouldn’t we love our neighbors in the same sort of self-sacrificial way? For isn’t that what it really means to serve the Lord?

Joshua 24:16-21 (NAS)

16 And the people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods;
17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.
18 “And the LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.”
19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins.
20 “If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.”
21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.”