“
And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?” (Lord Jesus Christ, Luke 12:57).
The phrase "choose God" is absent from Deuteronomy 30:11–19 and Joshua 24:15–22.
Isreal was punished for opposition to God after the Deuteronomy 30:11–19 and Joshua 24:15–22, so God conferred no ability to choose God in Deuteronomy 30:11–19 and Joshua 24:15–22.
The Hebrew Word For “Choose” And It’s Conjugates Is בָּחר (bachar) Strong’s Number 977
Beholding Joshua 24:15
Joshua expresses a conditional logic statement in
Joshua 24:15, and a conditional logic statement is normally an IF/THEN construct, for example:
IF condition THEN predicate
Stated in a more
Joshua 24:15 focused fashion.
IF you_do_this that_will_happen
Thus, the conditional expresses an action in the condition (you_do_this), and the effectual result in the predicate (that_will_happen).
A conditional does not convey ability to the recipient of the conditional.
Now, the conditional logic statement Joshua expressed was “
If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD” (
Joshua 24:15), so the condition (you_do_this) is “
to serve the LORD is disagreeable in your eyes”; furthermore,
Joshua 24:15 contains no reference to “choice” nor “free will” towards God . The condition Joshua expressed states the condition/state-of-being/nature of the person.
Disagreeable does not mean choose.
In the predicate Joshua provides only false gods to choose among for the those people whose nature is against the LORD, for Joshua said “
choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living” (
Joshua 24:15), and the word “
choose” in this verse is translated from
בָּחר (bachar) (Strong’s Number 977).
Finaly, Joshua states “[b[but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD[/b[“, and there is no reference to “choice” nor “free will” towards God (
Joshua 24:15).
A state of being, “disagreeable”, is mentioned in
Joshua 24:15, and action, “serve”, is mentioned in
Joshua 24:15.
There is no choice towards God mentioned in
Joshua 24:15
Beholding The Larger Context Surrounding Joshua 24:15
No scripture states that the people in attendance actually chose the gods of their fathers or that they chose the gods of the Amorites, not in
Joshua 24:15, not elsewhere.
I am not necessarily saying that they could not choose the gods of their fathers or the gods of the Amorites.
The people said "We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God" (
Joshua 24:18).
Joshua declared to the people in response "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" (
Joshua 24:19).
JOSHUA JUST TOLD THEM THAT THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SERVE GOD.
The people then said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve YHWH." (
Joshua 24:21).
Joshua responded to the people with "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves YHWH, to serve Him." (
Joshua 24:22)
JOSHUA JUST TOLD THEM THAT THEY ARE "WITNESSES AGAINST YOURSELVES", SO THEY TESTIFIED TO THE CONDEMNATION OF THEMSELVES.
When a person is a "witness for a defendant", then such a one is a proponent for the defendant; in other words, a witness for the defendant. This scenario outlines testimony for justification of the defendant.
When a person is a "witness against a defendant", then such a one is an opponent against the defendant; in other words, a witness against the defendant. This scenario outlines testimony for condemnation of the defendant.
The truth is there is no free will in the passage.
Regarding when Joshua said "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him" (
Joshua 24:22):
From the time that Joshua commanded "Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst" (
Joshua 24:23) until after Joshua's death (
Joshua 24:29) and after Othneil (
Judges 3:9) and after Ehud (
Judges 3:15) and after Shamgar (
Judges 3:31) and after Deborah and Barak (
Judges 4-5) and after Gideon (
Judges 6-8) and after Tola (
Judges 10:1) and after Jair (
Judges 10:3), it was not until after all that time that...
After all that time it is written "they put away the foreign gods from among them" (
Judges 10:16), and there is no record of the Israelites putting away the foreign Gods prior to that time.
Judges 10:16 contains the first occurrence of "foreign gods" after
Joshua 24:23.
So there is no record of the people in attendance fulfilling Joshua's command of "Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst" (
Joshua 24:23), and non-performance of the command shows fruit contrary of their choice mentioned by Joshua.
Beholding The Corollary Between Joshua's Words And Jesus' Words - Expressing The Exclusive Power Of God For God And Man Communing
Joshua declared "You will not be able to serve YHWH" (
Joshua 24:19, and recall Joshua saying the people chose God in a pejorative manner in
Joshua 24:22).
Lord Yeshua declares "you did not choose Me" (
John 15:16).
The Lord is a Holy God (
Joshua 24:19), and no man can enter the presence of God by the man's own autonomous power (
Matthew 19:25-26).
BEHOLD THE DISTINCT COROLLARY BETWEEN JOSHUA'S WORDS AND YESHUA'S WORDS - THAT MAN IS IMPOTENT AT CHOOSING GOD.
Joshua declared "He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins" (
Joshua 24:19).
Lord Yeshua declares "I chose you out of the world" (
John 15:19, includes salvation).
The Lord is a jealous God (
Joshua 24:19), so God does not share the glory of choosing man unto salvation (
Isaiah 42:8).
BEHOLD ANOTHER DISTINCT COROLLARY BETWEEN JOSHUA'S WORDS AND YESHUA'S WORDS - THAT GOD EXCLUSIVELY CONTROLS FORGIVENESS OF SINS UNTO SALVATION.
(1) The scripture in
Joshua 24 never indicates that the people chose God with God's blessing.
(2) Joshua told the people that they are "witnesses against yourselves" (
Joshua 24:22), so the people testified to the condemnation of themselves.
(3) From the time that Joshua commanded to the people in attendance "Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst" (
Joshua 24:23) at least 245 years
* transpired until another generation of people "put away the foreign gods from among them" (Judges 10:16), and there is no record of the Israelites putting away the foreign gods prior to that time, and non-performance of the command (Joshua 24:23) shows fruit contrary of the people in attendance choice mentioned by Joshua (Joshua 24:22).
* 40 years (
Judges 3:11) + 80 years (
Judges 3:30) + 40 years (
Judges 5:31) + 40 years (
Judges 8:28) + 23 years (
Judges 10:2) + 22 years (
Judges 10:3) = 245 years
The Truth (
John 14:6) is no scripture states that man was imparted free will, in particular, the ability to choose God unto man being saved from the wrath of God, for God reserses this glorious work unto God's majestic glory alone (
John 15:16,
John 15:19, includes salvation).
Joshua Deuteronomy 30:11–19 and Joshua 24:15–22 are not proof texts free-will, in fact, free-will is nonsense according to the Word of God who says:
- ”you did not choose Me, but I chose you” (Lord Jesus Christ, John 15:16), so God chooses people to be friends (John 15:15, the prior verse) and to believe (John 6:29) and to be born again (John 3:3-8) and for righteous works (John 3:21, John 15:5) and to repent (Matthew 11:25) and to love (John 13:34) and unto salvation (John 15:19 the same passage).
- ”I chose you out of the world” (Lord Jesus Christ, John 15:19, includes salvation), so God exclusively chooses people unto salvation.
- ”What I say to you I say to all” (Lord Jesus Christ, Mark 13:37 – Jesus had taken the Apostles Peter, Andrew, James, and John aside in private and said this), so all the blessings of God mentioned above are to all believers in all time.
The only way for free-willian philosophers to acheive free-will is for free-willians to add to the Word of God, and it is written “do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar” (
Proverbs 30:6).
No Word of God states man was imparted the ability to choose God - God reserves the glory of man's salvation unto God!
We Christians are blessed of God to be chosen by Lord Jesus without us being required to do any kind of work because the Word of God says “
you did not choose Me, but I chose you” (Lord Jesus Christ,
John 15:16) and “
I chose you out of the world” (Lord Jesus Christ,
John 15:19, includes salvation)!
is not the gospel not even close
