Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods,
16. And the people answered and said, etc Here we see he had no reason to repent of the option given, when the people, not swearing in the words of another, nor obsequiously submitting to extraneous dictation, declare that it would be an impious thing to revolt from God. And thus it tends, in no small degree, to confirm the covenant, when the people voluntarily lay the law upon themselves.
Joshua compels them to choose not because serving God is optional, but because a reasoned, deliberate choice will bind their consciences far more securely than mere obligation. The will of man clings most firmly to what it has elected freely; thus he sets before them a genuine fork in the road and demands they take it knowingly.
AI summary
Commenting on Joshua 24:15-28
And the people answered and said,.... To Joshua, upon his proposal to them, the option he gave them to serve the Lord or idols, and which was only done to try them: God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; they speak with the utmost abhorrence of idolatry, as a thing far from their hearts and thoughts, as the most abominable...