“If you do not like to serve the Lord, decide this day whom you will serve: the gods your fathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

This passage comes from the book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Old Testament, according to the Bible Gateway website. It is named after Joshua, the leader of the Israelites.

The 24th chapter of Joshua “is often cited as a key passage of Scripture where ancient rituals break through modern routine to restore faithful worship to God’s people,” Carlos Campo, PhD, told Fox News Digital.

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Campo is CEO of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC

“What makes this passage so powerful for me is the formal call for response and the emphasis on the fact that we are a ‘forgetting people’ who need almost constant reminders of what God has done for us,” he said.

Carlos Campo, PhD, CEO of the Museum of the Bible, described Joshua 24 as “a groundbreaking passage of Scripture,” saying the U.S. may need a “call to action.” (Museum of the Bible; iStock)

In this chapter, Joshua gathers the Israelites for a “covenant renewal ceremony” at a location that “was very meaningful to them.”

Shechem, where Joshua gathered everyone, “is the place where Abram (even before he became Abraham) first encounters the Lord and enters into a covenant relationship with Him in Genesis 12,” Campo noted.

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It is also the same location in Genesis 33 where “Jacob pitched his tent for 100 pieces of money” and “where Joseph asked to be buried when he was dying in Egypt” in Genesis 50, Campo said.

“As one commentator said, Shechem is ‘Lexington, Plymouth Rock and Independence Hall rolled into one,’” Campo noted.

The biblical city of Shechem, seen here in this 2022 photo, was the site of many notable events in the Old Testament, Campo noted. (iStock)

Aside from the location, “the ritual itself is a commemoration and a call to action,” he said, noting that Joshua “likely shocks his audience by proclaiming that ‘your ancestors … worshiped other gods,’ a fact only hinted at in earlier accounts.”

Joshua told those present about God’s faithfulness to other prophets, “to this day.”

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“They all ‘crossed the Jordan’ together, but now the fateful choice remains for everyone,” Campo said. “Will the Israelites continue to worship the gods of their ancestors or, like him, ‘serve the Lord?’”

“Joshua asks the people to affirm their choice three times, just as Jesus asks Peter after the resurrection. He emphasizes the solemnity and definitiveness of this ultimate, binary choice: ‘Who do you want to worship?’” Campo said.

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

But before anything can be said, Joshua begins his declaration, which “has become a mantra for followers of God throughout the ages,” he said. “‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.'”

This statement “contrasts with the hesitation of the Israelites,” Campo said, “who seem inclined to azab or ‘abandonment’ just as easily as they would “serve” or “worship” the Lord.”

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“In their spiritual ambiguity, the Israelites set a pattern that history repeats endlessly: God’s people renewing their faith, only to go astray and ‘coming back to life’ to serve Him again,” Campo said, referring to the many revivals that have taken place in the United States over the centuries.

Joshua’s statement, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” has “become a mantra for followers of God throughout the centuries,” Campo said. (iStock)

These revivals “have served to awaken sleeping believers and highlight the forgetful nature of a fallen people, who surrendered to mammon instead of manna, to Babylon instead of Bethlehem,” he said.

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“Joshua’s people had entered the Promised Land, but had also abandoned the Lord’s edicts. They had assimilated with the people of the neighborhood and were now distracted by ‘foreign gods’ and the lure of the new and exotic,” Campo said.

“In their spiritual ambiguity, the Israelites establish a pattern that history repeats endlessly: God’s people renewing their faith, only to wander and ‘coming back to life’ to serve Him anew.”

Joshua knew it was appropriate to “come together and remember together God’s faithfulness and renew the covenant, promising to be faithful,” he added.

According to Campo, the US may need “the same reminder and call to action.”

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“In the face of mounting resentment and division, a new return to loyalty awaits the birth of a sleeping nation,” he said.

“Time will reveal all, but Joshua’s covenant calling seems more relevant than ever.”