Winding Down Again

Joshua 23 & 24

Joshua sounds a lot like Moses, doesn’t he? 

Another ending and then soon another beginning. 

As he sends Reuben, Gad and Manasseh to their land West of the Jordan?

“But be very careful to keep the commandments and law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you; to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His Ways, to obey His commands, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him, with all your heart and all your soul? “(Ch 22:5)

More heart and soul talk. 

And these 3 tribes built an altar there at the edge of the river as a witness between all the tribes that they too belonged to Israel, even though they lived outside of the actual land of Promise.  A testimony to prove that they remained loyal to the LORD and to their nation.  So they could continue to worship the LORD at the tabernacle and not be viewed as foreigners. 

One of those stories that I never really read before.

The whole nation of Israel was ready to go to war against these three, worried they would defile the good and promised land, by assuming this newly built altar was built for pagan purposes.   Worried it would jeopardize this inheritance finally realized. 

They named this monument: “A Witness Between Us that the LORD is God” Ch 22:34

As Joshua prepares his exit speech, he recaps his journey with Israel and Israel’s journey with the LORD her God.

His talk is consistent with his lifelong walk.  Ch 23:6, 8, 11 “Be very strong.  Be very careful to obey.  Hold fast.

And he urges the people to stay straight and true and not intermarry with the surviving Canaanites among them.  Reminding them of what they already know with all their hearts and with all their souls.  Ch 23:14 “that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed.  Every promise has been fulfilled.”

And in his last official act, he gathers the tribes at Shechem to calls them to covenant renewal.  Joshua reminding the people of all that God has done to hold up his end of the covenant.   What He did to the Egyptians and the words he put in Balaam’s mouth. 

Ch 24:2 “This is what the LORD your God says;

13 I gave you a land

For which you did not toil

And cities which you did not build;

And you live in them

And eat from vineyards

And olive groves that you did not plant.

14 Now fear the LORD

And serve Him with all faithfulness.

Throw away the gods of your forefathers. M

Your golden calves.

15 Choose for yourselves this day

Whom you will serve.

But as for me

And my household

We will serve the LORD.

The people answer oh so confidently that they too choose to serve the LORD.

Ch 24:25 “On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws. 26 And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God.  Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak, near the holy place of the LORD.  27’ See!’, he said to all the people. ‘This stone will be a witness against us.  It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us.  It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God!’ “

Joshua was 110 and went the way of all the earth (Ch 23:14)

And then there were 3 burials.

Ch 24:32 “And Joseph’s bones

Which the Israelites brought up from Egypt

Were buried at Shechem

In the ancient tract of land

That Jacob had bought

For 100 pieces of silver

From the sons of Hamor

The father of Shechem

And this became the inheritance

Of Joseph’s descendants.  “

Significant, say the NIV notes, because it was a deep desire of the ancients to be buried in their homeland.  These burials:  Joseph, Eleazar and Joshua, not only mark the conclusion of the story, but also the end of an era.  It underscores the fact that Israel has indeed been established in the Promised land and calls it her home.  Israel’s long pilgrimage is ended. 

“This is home.  Now I’m finally where I belong” - Switchfoot