John Calvin Commentary Joshua 24:25

"So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem." — Joshua 24:25 (ASV)

So Joshua made a covenant, etc. This passage demonstrates the purpose for which the meeting had been called, namely, to bind the people more completely and more solemnly to God by the renewal of the covenant.

Therefore, in this agreement, Joshua acted as if he had been appointed on God's behalf to receive in His name the homage and obedience promised by the people. It is accordingly added, exegetically, in the second clause, that he set before them precept and judgment.

For the meaning is corrupted and distorted by some commentators, who explain it as referring to some new speech of Joshua, whereas it should properly be understood as referring to the Law of Moses. It is as if it had been said that Joshua made no other agreement than that they should remain steadfast in observing the Law, and that no other main points of the covenant were brought forward; they were only confirmed in the doctrine they had formerly embraced and professed.

In the same way, Malachi, to keep them under the yoke of God, demands nothing more than that they should remember the Law of Moses (Malachi 4:4).