Joshua 23-24
Joshua 23-24; Pss 50, 81
A leader’s final speech is often a moving event; they may use the situation to review successes they enjoyed and set a course for the future of the organization they have led. Joshua’s farewell address includes these features. He argued that God’s faithfulness to His people ought inspire their commitment to Him—especially when they considered the lengthy list of specific works He had done for them.
Joshua’s farewell address (ch 23) had several points:
- Israel’s place in the land was the result of the LORD fighting for His people (vv. 1-5)
- Success in the land was inextricably linked to practicing the law of Moses (vv. 6-8)
- In light of all that the LORD had done for Israel, association with the remaining pagan nations of Canaan would be a breach of the covenant God had made with them, and grounds for removal from the land (vv. 9-16)
Joshua went on to review Israel’s history from the divine perspective (24.1-13). This analysis was arranged to emphasize the dynamic character of Israel’s past, and call to mind all that the LORD had done for His people
- From the time Abraham entered Canaan until Jacob went to Egypt (vv. 1-4)
- From the call of Moses and Aaron until the exodus (vv. 5-7)
- From the southern edge of Transjordan until its occupation (vv. 8-10). Here the LORD claimed superiority over Balaam—who sought to curse Israel—but whose tongue ultimately spoke the LORD’s blessing of His people. This is in accord with Ps 50, where the Psalmist told of God’s blessing upon His people and retribution to those who discount His righteousness
- From the Transjordan to the boundaries of Canaan (vv. 11-13)
This catalogue of God’s faithfulness to Israel inspired them to renew the Sinaitic covenant (24.14-28). The scene is composed of call-and-response between the LORD’s spokesman Joshua and the reply of Israel. Two themes dominated Joshua’s speech: devotion to monotheistic religion (vv. 14-15, 23), and Israel’s inability to carry out their commitment (vv. 19-20; 25-28). Likewise, two themes structured Israel’s reply: commitment to monotheistic religion (vv. 16, 21, 24), and a recounting of God’s faithfulness from the exodus through the conquest of Canaan (vv. 17-18).
The burials of Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar in the land (24.29-33) served to place an exclamation point on God’s faithfulness to His people. Sarah’s grave was the first property God’s people possessed in Canaan (cf. Gen 23.14-20), and these burial allotments signify the LORD’s blessing upon His people since the early days of the Abrahamic covenant. Further, the burial of Joseph’s bones recalled not only the exodus event, but also the reality that Israel had preserved the patriarch’s remains from one generation to the next, and fulfilled their commitment to bury him in Canaan (cf. Gen 50.24-25)! Joseph’s life stimulated the Psalmist to review Israel’s history and God’s faithfulness, exhorting Israel to rely fully on the LORD in the future (Ps 81). The account of the burial of Joshua and Eleazar in Canaan is fitting since these two men apportioned the Promised Land to the descendants of Jacob (cf. 14.1).
Joshua’s farewell address in chs 23-24 forces the reader to consider again that Joshua understood his call—and that of Israel—to be part of something larger than their own lives; although their setting in Canaan was significant, it was part of the storyline of Scripture. Joshua reviewed Israel’s history from the time God’s call of Abraham, to the division of the territories the Israelites inhabited at the time of his speech. After reviewing the history of Israel from the patriarchs to the present, Joshua made predictions about their future; his sentiments echoed the pessimistic phrases Moses spoke on the plains of Moab (cf. Dt 28-32). Joshua predicted that Israel would fail in the land, and the book of Judges wastes no time detailing the truth of Joshua’s prophetic words. Ultimately they failed to heed Joshua’s exhortation concerning the jealousy of their God, and the corresponding demand that they avoid idolatry; he had said:
“Be very diligent to love the LORD your God for your own well-being. For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry or associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out before you. They will become a snare and a trap for you, a scourge for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you disappear from this good land the LORD your God has given you” (23.11-13).
It is no wonder then that Paul so sharply warned the Corinthians—those who had experienced God’s grace in Christ, had been made rich in every spiritual ability, who had been called into fellowship with Christ (cf. 1.4-9)—about their idolatrous tendencies, saying:
“My dear friends, flee from idolatry. I am speaking as to wise people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread that we break, we who are many are one body, for all of us share that one bread. Look at the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?...You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?” (1 Cor 10.14-18, 21-22).
*For a complete list of references, please see scripturestoryline.com