Bible Talks - Family Church (9:45am)
Series: The Promised Land - 6 Sermons From Joshua
Past, Present and Future
Sunday, 18 May 2003
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Today we come to the end of our look at the Israelite conquest of Canaan as described in the book of Joshua. We have seen that Canaan was the land promised to Abraham and his descendants in the original covenant made by God with Abraham. Later Canaan became the promised land flowing with milk and honey during the Israelites' exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses.
We have seen how God passed on that mantle of leadership to Joshua. We have seen Joshua self-consciously emerge as the worthy successor to Moses. We have seen the Israelites under Joshua's leadership fulfil their role as God's just punishment on the Canaanites, capturing their cities; in the cases of Jericho, Ai and Hazor, destroying them utterly, while in others killing all their citizens.
We have seen the prostitute, Rahab, welcomed into Israel and heard how later she married Salmon, an Israelite, and became an ancestress of King David and eventually our Lord, Jesus Christ. In contrast to Rahab's turning to the Israelites, the kings of Canaan hardened their hearts against the Israelites which both justified and ensured their destruction.
We saw how the disobedience of one family, that of Achan, with regard to the ban placed on Jericho lead to the Israelites being routed in their first assault on Ai. But after their dealing with the offenders God gave the Israelites victory at Ai.
We have seen how the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and the Israelites but how the Israelites regarded their promises to the Gibeonites to be binding so their were spared, albeit as servants to the Israelites.
Along the way we gave some thought the biblical teaching about war as the war against Iraq was played out in our time.
Last week we looked at that summary passage in ch 11 that heralds the end of the warfare. Between last week's sermon and today's there is a 11 chapter section that deals mainly with how the land of Canaan was divided up amongst the tribes of Israel as well as the establishment of cities of refuge and allotments for the Levites who didn't receive land of their own as they lived amongst and served the other tribes as priests and shrine attendants.
After this was done the fighting men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manassah who had been allocated land across the Jordan returned home and this summary statement is made at the end of Ch 22:
43So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. 45Not one of all the LORD’S good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
Today we're looking mainly at Joshua's farewell speech to the Israelite leaders which was read as our first lesson. In its purpose it resembles the deathbed testaments of other leaders of Israel such as Jacob, Joseph and Moses. All of these occasions allow the leader to describe the future of Israel, but only in the cases of Moses and Joshua is there a choice as to what that future will be. In both of these cases, it depends on the decision of the people. Like Moses, Joshua reminds the people of all that God has given to them. He calls them to faithfulness, mainly using reminiscences from the Pentateuch, the 5 books of Moses, especially Deuteronomy. Joshua had no real new message to announce to people, but was concerned to impress the never changing truths about God, and their relationship with him, upon their minds once more.
This farewell speech divides into 3 main sections:
1. God's deeds for Israel
2. A challenge to obedience
3. Warnings for the future
1. God's deeds for Israel (21:1‑5)
For us Christians, the message of God's work of redemption and blessing on behalf his Old Testament people, the Israelites, is a model or type of God's work of redemption on our behalf in Christ and the blessings to us of the Christian life. While we may enjoy these, we are called to lives which are faithful to the teachin of our Lord and master. It is only through faithfulness that we can continue to enjoy the divine blessings, which was always the message to the Israelites; remain faithful to the covenant relationship and God will bless you; turn from it and there is grief ahead.
Joshua's death does not end Israel's responsibilities to occupy the land. This is true despite the note that the LORD had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them. The promise of rest is found back in Deuteronomy and occurs in the exhortation of Joshua 1 and again in the summaries of chapters 21 and 22. In Deuteronomy and in Joshua 1, it is part of God's promise to the people and to Joshua in reward for their faithfulness.
Joshua reminds Israel that his review of their history is based on firsthand experience; remember that he and Caleb were the only adults who had left Egypt and were still alive to enter the promised land.
Joshua reminds the leaders that "You yourselves have seen what God did." God will continue to fight to drive out the remaining nations. Israel did not win the battles through its own skill. God won Israel's battles. He would go on doing so only if Israel remains faithful. There is the reminder that there are nations that remain in the land and that they are still to be driven out. God has given Israel an inheritance from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. But Israel must occupy it. Joshua reminds the people that they have already conquered many of these nations so they know that with God on their side. It can be done. It is God who gives the victory but in the future Israel, like the past generation, must lay claim to what God has promised.
2. A Challenge To Obedience (23:6‑11)
The second section is “A Challenge To Obedience”.
It describes the responsibility of Israel in the strategy of victory. It is no new strategy, only to hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have until now. The concern to be very careful begins and ends this section, suggesting that this is the key to victory. The care exercised is one of:
1. Precise Obedience, Joshua warns the Israelites not to turn either to the right or to the left away from the Book of the Law of Moses.
2. Avoidance Of Other Gods. God's people must avoid association with the other nations so that they do not worship their gods. This fundamental command against idolatry becomes the chief test of obedience.
3. To Love The LORD your God. The love described is a covenantal commitment to God and his word.
It is God who has won the Israelites' victories. Without faithfulness to God, Israel cannot hope to enjoy its successes. For the Christian, the avoidance of idolatry and its promise of victory is a theme to which Paul alludes when he asks for whole‑hearted dedication to Christ in Rom. 12:1, just as Jesus himself demanded such total and loving commitment in his teaching on discipleship. (Mt. 16:24; Lk. 9:62; 14:26, 33).
3. Warnings For The Future (23:12‑16)
The third section is “Warnings For The Future” (23:12‑16).
Blessings and cursings are both a part of God's covenant, just as the promise of heaven is there for those who have faith in Christ, but the awfulness of hell awaits those who reject him. So Joshua's speech concludes with warnings for disobedience. These motivate the listener with three descriptions of covenant violation and its consequences:
1. association and intermarriage with the inhabitants of the land
2. the certainty of God's judgment and
3. idolatry
Next time, when we start looking in the book of Judges at the subsequent history of the Israelites in the promised land, we'll see that this focus on the consequences of covenant violation was very necessary. Joshua wants the people to know that God will continue to treat Israel with the same justice, despite his own imminent departure. Joshua may die but God will not change. Israel has experienced God's faithfulness to his promises and knows this with all its heart and soul. however, his purpose is not to praise God for his faithfulness but to warn Israel that God will apply this same faithfulness to his judgments upon the sinful nation: he will destroy it.
The certainty of God's judgment is a central theme in the Bible. The psalmist (e.g. Ps. 73) and the prophets proclaim it repeatedly. Their purpose is not to condemn the people, but to bring them to repentance. Here as well, Joshua wishes Israel to remain faithful and uses these warnings to emphasize the point, after all they themselves were the instrument of God's judgement on the Canaanites.
Joshua warns Israel not to violate God's covenant lest they lose the land which God has given them.
The last chapter of the book of Joshua covers a great ceremony held at Shechem in which the people renew their covenant promises. Joshuah recites the history of Israel from the time of Terah, Abraham's father, it includes Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the 12 sons of Jacob, the sojourn in Egypt, the Israelites' slavery and the Exodus under Moses and a recitation of their victories over the Amorites, Perizzites, Hittites, Girgashites, Jebusites, Amorites and Canaanites.
Jos then makes that famous challenge to the Israelites:
14“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
If you've ever come to our front door have you noticed that we have a little plaque about level with the doorbell that is the last bit of that challenge. "as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD"
The people answered Joshua's challenge, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! 17It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”
Four times Joshua challenged the people and four times they promised to serve the Lord and we are told, "25On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws. 26And 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.”
The last paragraph of the book is a description of Joshuah's death and burial at Shechem. But it is all a bit of a cliff hanger. Will the Israelites remain true to the covenant? Will the Israelites truly have the rest that God promised them? Tune in next week as we open the book of Judges and find out. The suspense is killing me.
Let us pray
