Purpose

Bible Studies for those who love the Word or want to discover more.

Saturday, February 2, 2019

No Better Way - Joshua 24


The book of Joshua is rife with transition, the Israelites facing change nearly on a daily basis. They were standing on the banks of the Jordan river looking on at the land the Lord had said was theirs. They, and their new leader Joshua, had received the command to “Be strong and of good courage” for one simple reason, because the Lord God Almighty was with them!

Essentially chapters 2-13:8 are all about conquering. Not conquering for conquering sake, but conquering because God had given them the land set out before them. It wasn’t their land, but it was His land to do with what he wanted. That’s what sovereignty means. While sovereignty without love is devasting and cruel, sovereignty with love is a welcome reign under which to live. 

There was another reason for the conquering. All the land that lay before the Israelites was inhabited by peoples who served many, many gods. Jim Edelin, in the Illustrated Bible Life periodical (Fall 2018), reviews several reasons that polytheism was attractive, three of which I will highlight here. The first was economic incentive—if a people worshiped the gods of the land, water and air, and if those gods elected to answer their prayers by providing all that was needed agriculturally, then it was very economically beneficial to serve them. Secondly, many of these gods had tangible images of all shapes and sizes throughout these kingdoms. A visible, touchable statue or painting provided a welcome sense of being “able to control the divine world.” A controllable god appears to be quite advantageous. Thirdly, the sensual nature of worship gave vast permissions for people to indulge in whatever sexual pleasures that they could imagine or crave. Temple prostitution was wide-spread and easily accessible. While to some the sensual pleasures were valued as ecstatic worship experiences, Israel’s God knew that indulging in them to the extreme could lead to poor health, disease and misunderstanding of sex as the ultimate act of human behavior. Edelin concludes by writing that these elements of pagan worship, were really just “an illusion that God could be manipulated” and that one’s life could be self-orchestrated. This was the essential temptation—to be like God—plied to Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden. These were some of the religious principles that the Israelites had been tempted to in Egypt as well as rife within the land that God had promised to them. Conquering these lands and their idols was the way that God would see his Kingdom come during their age.

The Israelites moved all the way through the land of God’s promise, taking some missteps along the way (note Achin’s sin in Chapter 7 and the Gibeonite deception and consequential treaty in Chapter 9), but still conquering everyone else along the way. In 13:9-22:34, Joshua, their faithful and triumphant leader, worked with the one, true, living God to divide up the land in equitable ways. He also gave the Levites towns, if not land, so that they could be dedicated to the work of the Lord. Throughout this leveraging of their new land, they kept affirming that they would only serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and continually. But something was still amiss.

In Joshua 23, Joshua, now old and having seen them through many battles had a farewell speech to give to the Israelites. It includes prophetic words directly from God. This speech is reminiscent of Stephen’s speech in Acts 7:1-53 as a recalling of their history and a sound rebuke. And a sound rebuke is what they needed!

Read Joshua 24:1-13.

By recalling his history of these victories, victories that clearly could not have accomplished on their own, God set up the ultimate choice for the Israelites. Remembering this history would be important because Israel’s God was master Provider, Master of the Elements, King of kings, Military Strategist extraordinaire. Why would anyone want any other god?!

Read Joshua 24:14-15.

Choice. It is the gift that God has given to all of humanity. Rather than being automatons or robots, we have been given a free will to either choose God, gods or ourselves. Joshua recognized this choice. He knew that something was still amiss. He knew that for all of their devoted talk, some still harbored love and affection for other gods. Perhaps they were hiding the statues, or perhaps they were openly exhibiting them to influence their Israelite neighbors intentionally or unwittingly. But, after all that they had been through with the highest God, Joshua set the choice before them deliberately. If they did not like God, if they didn’t think He had done much for them, if you they thought it best to follow the tradition of multiple gods . . . As simple as it is to give in to the prevailing culture, it is more powerful and a far better way to use the gift of will to choose to follow God.

The voice of Joshua, faithful and true, rang out in confrontation and with God’s offer of complete redemption. “Now fear the Lord!” and “Throw away the idols!” and “Choose!” echoed off the hillsides. The proclamation of a choice is powerful. It meant that the Israelites did not have to worship other gods! They did not have to be subject to economic or agricultural prosperity to thrive. Indeed, every parcel of land on which they set their foot was an unearned parcel. They had not built those cities! They had not nurtured the vineyards! They had not spent generations cultivating the olive groves! There was only one way that they had acquired all of those riches—God himself had provided it for them. So, in light of that great provision by the highest God, there was no better way but for them to go with God!

Throw away those pitiful statues who cannot provide as God provides!  Pile them up in a heap and burn them to ashes to be swept away by the wind that God created. Toss them in to the garbage dump and watch them decay while your God continues to provide for you whether or not the crops or rains are good. Choose today! Choose every day!

Joshua, whose name means “salvation”, then said something that was not prophetic, not a quote of God’s words, not a communal statement. He stated that he and his family made that choice. Indeed, he had made that choice when he was a young man called by Moses to lead an army and explore the land. He had made the choice day after day through every battle, all of the changes and transitions up to the Promised Land and now in the Promised Land. No one or no thing had ever deterred Joshua. His God had imbued him with wisdom on how to use his choice. And he employed that choice for the best way—all along the way.

Read Joshua 24:16-28.

Joshua then entered into a dialog with the people. He makes a statement that seems so counter to their ardent voices. “You won’t be able to do this because God is holy.”  Of course, they won’t be able to do this! Not because it is impossible, but because some of them would use their will to go against God despite what they were affirming on that day. The function of this statement is also a check on their ardor. Every time Joshua pronounced failure over them, they responded that they would not deny God—with even more ardor. It’s as if only the volume of their voices were what they believed was required. But what God required was a daily devotion to Him, a daily sweeping clean of the house, a daily dedication to ridding their lives of all other gods, a daily acknowledgement that there really was no better way than to follow God. 

Joshua did several deliberate things then. He reaffirmed all of the decrees and laws that had been handed down.  “Yes, these are still the rules we play by.” He wrote the re-committal down. “Yes, you can confirm this later on in writing.” A large stone was moved as a reminder of their re-affirmation. “When you see this, remember Who you committed to.” They said it. They heard it. They read it. They recognized it that day. There was no better way.

Read Joshua 24:28-33.

At this, Joshua had done his part. There really was nothing further that he could do besides living out his few remaining days the way he had lived them for so long—free of idols, free of superstition, free of the whims of human desires without God, free of prosperity tied to his own efforts, free of trying to control his own world, free to love the God who had guided him all along the way.
Reading further in the Old Testament, we see that God’s people go up and down through valleys of commitment and re-commitment. Many of them suffered the sad consequences of going back on their choices. And many of them, and at times just a remnant, clung to their choice of God.
What is your choice today?

Prayer: Almighty God, Maker of Heaven and Earth. Today I recommit to you because there really is no better way. I acknowledge my weaknesses, my lack of self-discipline, my insatiable hunger to provide for myself and manipulate You. Please help me and give me the wisdom to know how to employ the gift of my will that you have given me. You are the best Way and I choose to follow You. Amen

Copyright 2019 M. R. Hyde

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