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325 Book of Joshua and the record of the events of the conquest and settlement of Canaan under his leadership. It ends, how- ever, as it began: with the need to reaffirm the existence and presence of Yahweh; for, as the Bible explains, not only Joshua but all the elders who could recall the Exodus and the Lord's miracles were passing from the scene. So Joshua assembled the tribal leaders at Shechem, to re- view before them the history of the Hebrews from their an- cestral beginnings until the present. On the other side of the Euphrates River did your ancestors live, he said—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—"and they worshipped other Elohim." The migration of Abraham, the story of his descen- dants, the enslavement in Egypt and the events of the Exodus under the leadership of Moses were then briefly reviewed, as well as the crossing of the Jordan and the settlement under Joshua's leadership. Now, as I and my generation are passing on, Joshua said, you are free to make a choice: you can remain committed to Yahweh—or you can worship other gods: Would'st ye hold Yahweh in awe, and worship Him in sincerity and in truth— then remove the Elohim whom your forefathers had worshipped across the river [Euphrates] and in Egypt, and worship [only] Yahweh. But if it does not please you to serve Yahweh— choose here and now whom ye shall worship: whether the Elohim which your forefathers had served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Westerners in whose land ye dwell; and I and my family shall worship Yahweh. Faced with this momentous yet clear-cut choice, "the peo- ple answered and said: It is unthinkable that we should for- sake Yahweh to worship other Elohim ... It is Yahweh our God whom we shall worship, it is Him whom we. shall obey!" So "Joshua said unto the people: Ye all are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen Yahweh to worship. And they said: We are witnesses." Thereupon "Joshua made Prophets of an Unseen God