Jos. 24: A Brief History of Jew Time

Joshua 24:14 "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."

A 110-year-old Joshua knew his time was drawing to a close. It was time to address the Israelites one last time. He gets them together and begins to go through the history of God's work in and through the nation of Israel. The first name he drops is Terah, the father of Abraham, and reveals (to me) how they served other Gods...other than the LORD.

And at first that struck me. Abraham was this great, mythic figure in Biblical history, yet at some point before God got a hold of his life, even he was into idolatry? This serves the purpose of a couple things, I think. First, so that when the Israelites go around bragging about who they are, they don't forget that even their most prized ancestors were sinners, who had to be collared by God, and put on the right track. The second is a reminder that it is God alone who accomplishes great things through men.

And we know the story of Jacob going to Egypt, Moses leading them out, and then here in verse 7, Joshua reports that God "put darkness between you and the Egyptians." Which I didn't recall from the original story. So I went back and looked and sure enough, in Exodus 14:20, where there was darkness on one side, and light on the other. The darkness bringing confusion, the light, rescue.

Lets see...defeat of the Amorites, Balaam, crossing the Jordan, defeating the HACPHAJ,...

Ooh...he sent the hornet to drive out the enemies. Can you imagine a swarm of hornets so nasty they'd clear an entire city? And I imagine these being big God-hornets...like the size of your fist, and being able to jab out a person's eyeball with a stinger the size of a golf pencil...yeah...scary. But maybe that didn't happen, but I wonder if it did.

So Israel might be feeling pretty cocky. After all they just cleaned out the entire promised land...until God drops verse 13 on them, and its a verse I need to remember when I get too big for my britches.

"So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant."

A great verse that forces one to remember just who it is that is doing great things. So Joshua presents them with a challenge, and it's the verse thats in all those plaques at Kregels that you give to people who need a housewarming gift..."As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD..." and so on. He takes a stand, knowing full well that there are people giving him lies when he asks if the LORD is their God, since people apparently still have their idols. He even tells them to throw them away. Has God told you to throw an idol away in a (not so) subtle way? I'm going to have to take stock, because I know there are things I hang onto that I shouldn't.

The most damning verse about this hidden sin is verse 19, where Joshua basically says, "You are not able to serve the LORD...he is holy and jealous." Loving? Not mentioned. Merciful? Nah. Unforgiving? Bingo. The point here cannot be missed. If you serve another god, it is impossible to serve God. It can't be done. God will not be served "too." Will not be served "also."

So Joshua sets up the witness stone. The earth, the land, is also a witness to what happens with God and with man. Another anthropomorphization of creation. I need a better word for that...

So Joshua dies and is buried in his inherited land. And so is Joseph, whose bones were apparently being hauled around all this time. He was buried at Shechem, where Jacob had bought land like a million years ago or something.

Eleazar died too. So, I'm not sure who the next leader is, or who the next high priest is. These people weren't lined up as specifically as Joshua and Eleazar were. Who is the next mediator between God and Israel?