Reading for November 2nd

Read Joshua 24.14-28
In 24.14-28: Joshua insists on religious fidelity.
In verse 14-15: Three types of gods had proved ineffective.
Abraham was taken away from the territory of the gods beyond the River (v. 3), and the gods of Egypt and of the Amorites could not protect their worshipers (vv. 5-7 and 8-13).
In verses 19--20: With a rhetorical jolt, Joshua warns Israel of the difficulties and the dangers implicit in their commitment: you cannot serve the Lord.
The obstacle is God's basic nature as a jealous God, one who is a passionately determined to be Israel's only God.
In verse 23: Incline your heart calls for personal conviction, not just outward conformity (1 Kings 8.58).
The demand to put away the foreign gods may reflect a ceremony of burying idols at Shechem (compare Gen 35.2-4).
In verses 25-26: Hoshua performed three actions to give structure and effectiveness to Israel's commitment: he made a covenant, wrote down its rules in the book of the law, and set up a witness stone under the oak (see Judg 9.6).
In verse 27: The stone is a witness int he sense of being a visible public reminder (compare 22.27, 34), but also because it was present when all the words of the Lord (that is vv. 2-13) were proclaimed.
Comments or Questions..