40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Joshua 23:1-24:33 (Episode 197)

Episode Date: January 3, 2020

Chad and Daniel wrap up the book of Joshua. There is a lot of talk about idolatry and the "good words" of God. Joshua dies but before he does he says his most famous words. Does "choose this day who you will serve" mean what we have come to think it means? Have a listen! 1517 Podcast Network Houston City Event Las Vegas City Event Donate

Welcome to another episode of 40 Minutes in the Old Testament. 40 Minutes in the Old Testament is a 1517 Podcast Network podcast. You can go to 1517.org slash podcast. Check out all the things that are going on over there. While you're over there, you can go to the events page because events are coming to you this 2020. In February and in March, February 22nd, we will be in Houston, Texas.

Chad will be there. I'll be there. Matt Popovich, Scott Keith, Gretchen Ronovic, and Loso talking about what happens when people encounter Jesus. Come on out. It's free. You can register right there. just go to the events page on the 1517 website get signed up we would love to hang out

with you also if you're in the Las Vegas area you know or the deep southern California area you can drive on over and join us in Las Vegas we're going to be talking about the entire book of Galatians March 21st get all the information over there

I got links in the show notes so if you're wanting just a quick click to get over there just go to the show notes click on those things You know what I realized the other day, Chad Is that I told my daughter It was the day after Christmas And I said, oh man, are you excited?

Only 364 more days Until Christmas And she said, no 365 I said, no, no, no, it's 364 Like yesterday doesn't count She said, no, it's 365 We have an extra day coming up

And I said, I don't think so She's like, yeah, it's leap year and i was like oh this whole thing backfired on me my 11 year old has shown me up yeah all those kids born on uh february 29th finally get to celebrate their their birthday like every four years celebrate their birthday she said she said she said there's a boy in her class she's like there's a boy in my class it's three yeah forever young it's like the opposite of dog years I wonder if you're like born on the 29th of February Every time that actually

Rolls around You have to nail it right Oh man yeah it's going to be a huge celebration That's great Leap year coming up this year guys It's going to be a good one I hope Chad we're recording this on the very last day Of 2019

It won't come out today so this will come out in 2020 But we're going to see what happens We have two chapters left we're not making any promises but we're going to see uh see how far we get hey it might happen last day of 2019 could be the last recording for us and joshua could be it seemed it seemed appropriate yeah yeah we could start going into a new decade man yeah we could we could we could leap into uh uh the the crazy the crazy world of judges so we'll see what happens but uh yeah let's get rolling. We're in chapter 23, and it's relatively short, 16 verses, and then 24 is longer,

but it's basically all the same kind of material. This is Joshua speaking to Israel, and it's sort of his last sermon, last address, at least, to the people of Israel. So we're coming off the heels of chapter 22, which, if you remember, was all about the dispute over this altar that the two and a half tribes had built at the jordan as a way of witnessing to their descendants and to the descendants on the west side of the jordan that they were all israel so that was as you remember that was a kind of almost a violent episode but it ended peacefully with an understanding between the tribes so we're going to jump ahead now in fact we're going to jump ahead about 20 years. So there's a lot of time between chapter 22 and chapter 23. And we

don't know exactly what happened during this time. Presumably there was a little bit more conquering, not a complete conquering, but a little more conquering of some of the lands. And no doubt there was settling of the cities and all that kind of stuff that would have happened when Israel was making this land their own. But now we are near the end of Joshua's life. We know from the very end of the book that he dies at 110 years old. And we know that at this point, he's probably pretty near death. So it's probably safe to say he's 109, or maybe he's early into his 110th year, whatever it is, he's at his life's end. So we're going to see what he has to say. This is kind of like Moses' farewell address in the book of Deuteronomy. You're going to hear some of the

similar language that Joshua addresses Israel. So we start out this way. Verse 1 says that it came about after many days when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies on every side. And Joshua was old, advanced in years, that he called for all Israel. And then we have a list of the various groups that he called for, the elders and the heads and the judges and the officers. And then he starts his address, begins here with verse 2 and continues through verse 16. And when you read through these verses, if I summarized them, I'd probably say it was Joshua's way of doing two things. First of all, he's reminding them as he has before, but he's reminding them in some unmistakably clear language that everything God promised, he has fulfilled. we're going to see that especially in verse 14 that every single promise that god gave them

he was faithful and fulfilling so that's one of the themes of this chapter is basically that that god did what god promised to do he brought them there he fought for them he gave them the land everything that he said he was going to do he accomplished and he did it for them that's another one of the themes that comes up this is this is not like for god this is all for israel So you have a definite grace theme that permeates the chapter. But alongside that, what we might say alongside the gospel is also the law. There's also a very stern warning, and he picks up on the language both of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, warning them not to forsake the Lord's word, not to intermingle with the

nations which are around them, not to intermarry with the various tribes of the Canaanites. Because if they do, then all of the covenant curses, which were pronounced back in Leviticus, are going to befall them. So that's a theme that we see played out in these next few verses. So let me kind of give you an idea as to how some of it sounds. So he starts out here with verse 3 saying, You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you. For the Lord your God is he who has been fighting for you. so here we're there that that warrior motif that we can trace all the way back to the red sea and

the song of moses where the lord is actually called a warrior so he's the he's the one fighting for them verse four talks about how he's given them the inheritance of the land he says see i have apportioned to you these nations which remain as inheritance for your tribes with all the nations which i have cut off from the jordan even to the great sea toward the setting of the sun and the Lord your God, he shall thrust them out from before you and drive them out from before you, and you shall possess their land just as the Lord your God promised you. So we have an acknowledgement that, hey, part of the land remains unconquered, but God is going to keep fighting for you on your behalf to make sure that you're able to obtain all the land. And then he shifts gears in verse 6

to an encouragement and admonition to the people to stick with what God has told them. Be very firm then. The Hebrew has something like, literally something like, be strong to do. Be strong to keep. So be firm to keep and to do all that's written in the book of the law of Moses, or more literally in the scroll of the teachings of Moses. So everything that Moses has given you, everything he's taught you, preached to you, cling to that. Don't turn aside to the right or to the left.

And then he goes into, in verse 7, he goes into a warning about all the things that they shouldn't do. And almost every single aspect of this has to do with idolatry. so he says that you may not associate with these nations or intermingle is probably a better better translation of that these which remain among you you shall not mention the name of their gods or make anyone swear by them or serve them or bow down to them now the word in my translation mention is probably not the best way to translate this uh because i remember reading this before before i knew hebrew i was like man you can't even like say the name of these gods say voldemort yeah but the problem with that is like it's a seeming contradiction it's like okay you're not

supposed to even mention the name of these gods but the names of these gods are mentioned in lots of parts of the old testament so i mean what gives here right so we have all you know all the canaanite gods we have babylonian gods later on all these gods are mentioned by name in the old testament and yet we're told here we're not supposed to mention their names but it's it's a translation issue is what it is so i think a better translation would be something like you shall not invoke the name of their gods or profess the name of their gods it's uh we've talked a lot about the verb for remember zakar and this is a causative form of of this particular verb so it's like you shall not cause to be remembered the name of their gods, which is usually translated as something like,

you shall not invoke them, you shall not profess them. So it's not just like saying the names. It's not like mentioning the names. It's actually a worship kind of term. In fact, that particular verbal form is often used for praise or adoration when it's talked about in the psalms so this is not just like mentioning in casual conversation the names of other gods this is invoking those names in worship if you're not allowed to even mention it it would imply that there's a lot of power in in this name right i mean if you're not even allowed to mention it then it seems like you're sort of legitimizing this god that don't even don't even say it dude don't even don't even say the name of i mean this is not and this is not at all how god speaks of

other gods or how israel or the prophets or anyone else speaks of other gods i mean they speak of them as as non-gods yeah so it's not the voldemort like you said yeah it's not like it's not like when elijah goes and confronts the prophets of baal he's like oh i'm so i won't i'm so afraid to even say your god's name yeah quite the opposite you know the the prophets mock the of the gods yeah elijah mocked them isaiah goes to great lengths to mock the idols of the nations or the idols that the israelites are worshiping you know he talks about how oh you you take a piece of wood and you you chop it in half and one half you carve into an idol and you bow down to it and the other half of the wood you chop up and you make a fire out of it you cook your meal

so it's it's yeah it's so it's his way of poking fun at at idolatry so in other words don't yeah don't take this to mean that you can't even say the names of these foreign gods as if there's something magical or powerful about them. No, it's just, he's basically using a series of synonyms saying, don't do anything that is related to worship in connection with these strange gods. Yeah. I mean, we don't even do that with the devil. Right. Yeah. We're not afraid to say Satan or the devil or anything like that. Yeah. Because there's no power there's no power in that name but instead so instead of doing that verse eight and now we have we have the introduction of marriage language you are to cling to the lord

your god as you have done to this day so that verb there in hebrew is davak it's the same one that occurs in genesis 2 24 when adam when a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, clings to his wife. So this picks up the very common theme we've already seen that is developed even more throughout the rest of the Old Testament of God's marriage to Israel. So don't go adulterating yourself to these other gods by invoking their name or swearing by them or bowing down to them. Instead, remember that the Lord, your God, has married you to himself. he has become your divine husband so cling to him cleave to him just like a wife does to her husband and a husband does to his wife and then uh he goes on from there to describe how god has

driven out these nations and he's fulfilled the promise that he gave back in leviticus 26 where he said that israel would be so strong that one israelite would put a thousand of their enemies to flight. That's the kind of language he uses in verse 10, because, of course, God is on their side. And then he goes on in the following verses to kind of repeat the same promises and warnings. So if you go back from God and cling to the other nations and intermarry with them and associate with them, then the opposite is going to happen. Instead of God driving them out, then he won't. Instead, verse 13 says that these nations will, and I love this imagery that he uses here, there shall be a snare and a trap to you and a whip on your sides and

thorns in your eyes. So Joshua is like, you don't hear this kind of metaphorical language often in the book of joshua but joshua is uh is pulling from various images like a like a that word for snare can mean like a a net that you get a bird with snare birds with or net birds with or trap and you have whips on your sides and thorns in your eyes it's all that's going to happen if instead of clinging to god you go whoring after other gods and cleave to them instead yeah it all make sense till you get the thorn to your eye i mean it's snare and a trap yep a whip on your side yep i'm going to be driven by this thing you have a thorn in your eyeball and you're like what whoa he's yeah he's pushed it there yeah probably the idea is that i mean you basically

you're gonna be blinded right yeah yeah you're gonna be you can be snared you may caught in this trap. It's going to be a whip in your side and you'll be blinded. So don't do that. And then we have verse 14. Verse 14 is one of my favorite verses in Joshua because it in many ways is kind of a theme verse or maybe even the theme verse of the whole thing. Here's what he says. Now behold, today I'm going the way of all the earth. And you know, in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed. All have been fulfilled for you.

Not one of them has failed. So it begins by pointing out probably what is obvious, that he's old, his end is near, and he's going the way of all the earth which is the same same kind of language that david uses later in fact exact same language that david uses later when he's about about to die and he's encouraging solomon his son so josh was encouraging the israelites so he's going the way of all the earth in other words he's about to he's about to uh end this life and then he he repeats over and over the Hebrew word for the root for word, which is devar. So you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one devar, not one word, of all the good devarim, of all the words which

the Lord your God worded to you, spoke to you, has failed. So we have this repeated emphasis upon what God, the word that God gave is the word that God kept. So he's the God who is always faithful to his promises so not one word of all those good words which the lord spoke has failed this is the we saw this i can't remember which chapter it was but we've we saw this language before literally in the hebrew it's not one word has dropped not one word has fallen we saw that i think one or two chapters back so everything everything basically the image is like god is is is holding all these words in his hand all these promises and none of them fell out none of them fell to the ground instead they were all fulfilled by him they all came they all came true and that

that is kind of the you know that that is really the the ultimate theme of joshua one of the things i like about this too is all the good things and all the good all the good words which is interesting you're like well you know you're just saying that god is good yeah god said a lot of things that weren't so good uh and and a lot of those things didn't come to pass uh even though they certainly could have uh god does a lot of do this or else this is going to happen to you and not all that stuff happens because all that stuff is ultimately going to happen to christ right and so uh he he does all the good things that he promises to do but doesn't always do the bad things that he says he's going to do yeah yeah that's a great thing to keep in mind when you

read through sections like leviticus 26 where you have the curses and the blessings you know a lot of we we talked about those curses and just how horrendous they were now one thing to keep in mind is if you look through the rest of the history of the old testament yeah a lot of bad things happened to israel i mean a lot of bad things happened to israel because they did forsake the lord their god but at no point did all of those curses ever completely befall israel no i mean yeah there were a lot of a lot of bad things that happened they went into exile you know their cities were demolished a lot of people died but there were a lot of things that were threatened against israel like complete decimation that never happened so god was saving all of that

Until finally the true Israelite, the one who was Israel reduced to one, would come. And then actually all of those curses did befall him. So all of that bad stuff we were talking about actually did fall on the head of the Messiah. Yeah. Okay. The chapter finishes out basically with a repetition of what he's been saying earlier, that God is going to remain faithful and don't transgress his covenant. or else. That's the way the chapter ends with verse 16. So with that, let's just go ahead and

there's just something else you want to add. We'll just jump right into 24 because we have another Joshua address, different than this one, different location probably, but this is Joshua speaking some more. We ready? Go on. All right. So chapter 24 begins this way. So chapter 23 began by Joshua gathering, calling for all Israel, and chapter 24 begins the same way, except here we don't know exactly where 23 took place, because it doesn't tell us, but chapter 24 does. It tells us that Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and he called for the same groups that we saw referenced in the previous chapter, the elders, and the heads, and the judges, and the officers and they present themselves before God. So a little bit different scenario here. So here

we know where they're at, they're at Shechem. I'll talk about that in just a second. And we know that they are presenting themselves before God. So previously we know the tabernacle was set up at Shiloh, but evidently what happened is they took the tabernacle apart and they transported it here to Shechem and set it up. Because we know from later in the chapter that the tabernacle actually is here. And when it says that people presented themselves before God, usually that's an Old Testament idiom for they gathered there at the tabernacle. Because of course, that was God's house. It was his tent. So they're before God and they're at Shechem. And this is another case where geography is theology, which is one of the major components of the way that the Old

Testament presents theology. It presents theology geographically. So cities matter, rivers matter, seas matter, wildernesses matter, mountains matter. So you can't separate the theology of the Old Testament or the New Testament as far as that goes, but certainly you can't separate that from the geography there. Both theology and geography go together. So what is significant about this particular place? Why would they gather at Shechem? Because Shechem goes all the way back to the days of Abraham. So when God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, and he arrived in the land of Canaan, the very first place that he went to back in Genesis chapter 12 was Shechem. That's the first place he stopped at. That's the first place that he built

an altar at. So Shechem has roots all the way back to the days of Abraham. Not only that, but that's also the area where later on Jacob bought a patch of ground. So we know that Jacob owned land there at Shechem. And I think what's most fascinating is that, I think it's Genesis 35, Jacob says to his family and to everyone who was kind of part of his household to get rid of all of their foreign gods, and they buried those gods under an oak tree there at Shechem. Now, the reason that's so rich is because later in this chapter, in Joshua 24, they place a stone of remembrance right there by an oak at Shechem. And I can't help but think it's the same place. You got Shechem, you have an oak tree, and there were foreign gods that

were buried there all the way back in the time of Jacob. And now here we are generations later, and they're setting up a stone of remembrance there at that same oak that is by Shechem. So it's sort of like history has come full circle. Israelite history has come full circle. Abraham arrived here first, and now here is Israel in the days of Joshua. They have now taken the land that god promised to to abraham and now you have jacob i mean joshua addressing israel saying basically hey put away your foreign gods just like jacob told them and serve the lord your god and serve him only so we have this this tie-in between genesis and the last chapter last year last chapter of joshua so the site is is significant the fact that this took place at

Shechem has implications that go all the way back to the days of Abraham. It's almost like God never stops saying, put down your idolatry. Yeah, over and over. I mean, that's always the issue, isn't it? It's like the number one thing he says is like, all right, enough with these gods. Yeah, we really don't even need Ten Commandments. One is all we need, right? Well, if you boil it down, some people have questions about God, and you can paint God in sort of a very demanding light.

But at the end of the day, really all God is after for himself is just to be God. All he really wants for himself, I mean, everything else is for you. the only thing he really wants for himself is like can i be me yeah all these other false gods running around i mean uh i mean it'd be it'd be like there's like a you know a million people out there claiming to be me and and all i wanted was like hey i mean can we just acknowledge that i'm me yeah you know how angry we get when someone when we have identity theft take place yeah you know somebody takes your credit card it's happened to me it's probably happening it's It happened to almost everybody I know at some point.

Somebody has claimed my identity to make a purchase, and I was pissed off. I'm like, what the hell? Somebody's claiming, using my credit card, claiming to be me and doing this. And yet when you stop to think about it, yeah, God is just saying, hey, don't be identifying me with a lot of falsities and lies. Don't be doing some kind of identity theft as far as I'm concerned. Just, yeah, like you say, let me be God. Let me be who I am. It'd be like if my kid was, like, hanging out at this other person's house that was claiming to be me, and she was, like, giving him her Christmas list and, like, all this stuff.

And I'm like, what in the world? Yeah. What's going on here? Can I just be your dad? What in the heck? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, to use the marriage analogy, I mean, it'd be like God is the husband saying, would you mind just sleeping with me?

you know being my wife instead of always carousing with all these other lovers that's that's that's what he wants from israel just love me i mean that's really the that's command right love me with all your heart all your soul all your strength i'm your i'm your faithful divine divine husband so don't and i will i'll give you everything that you need so don't go looking to other gods or other goddesses for everything that i am fully and graciously prepared to give you. Yeah, I mean, this is why the family language is the language that's always used, right? I mean, you have the children of Israel, and you have, of course, you know, the children of God, right? Most people can relate to that. If you have kids, like, well, that'd be

horrible. If your kids left you for somebody else to take care of them, you know, that would be fairly hurtful. And then you have the spousal language, of course, I mean, the adultery language and and stuff all throughout uh the bible as well so both and both of these things are completely understandable if you're either a spouse to someone or if you have children you're like yeah that's that's a pretty massive betrayal and so at the end of the day god is is just saying can i just be the thing that i am to you and which if you paint it like that which is the correct way to paint it, as a completely reasonable request. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, I mean, we sometimes complicate the matters, but to simplify it, that's exactly what God wants to do. So let me

be me, and when you do that, and when you love me, then you will actually be you. You will be who I created you to be. But that's, of course, the ongoing temptation for the Israelites as well as for us today is to turn to other gods. And that's why we constantly have a call from God to put away the idols. So anyway, that's the way it starts, actually, when he gathers people at Shechem and he assembles them before God. Joshua starts out by reminding the people that their origins, that Abraham's origins were in idolatry. Joshua said to the people of Israel that from ancient times, your fathers lived beyond the river, that's the Euphrates, lived beyond the Euphrates River, namely Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served

other gods. This is important to point out that before God called Abraham, he was enmeshed in idolatry. It's important to point out because you'll sometimes see, and this is especially from Judaism. Judaism is big on legends which attribute monotheism and fidelity to Abraham prior to God calling him. So there's all sorts of kind of crazy legends about Abraham opposing the idolatry of his father. I remember one story where Abraham's father kept all his idols in this little you know building sanctuary or something like that and young abraham was so zealous for for yahweh that he set fire to this idolatrous building and burned it to the ground well all of that is is nothing more than just legend it's just stories that people made up

what we're told from the scriptures is that abraham was raised in an idolatrous household His dad was an idolater, and no doubt Abraham was too. So it wasn't like God went looking for that one faithful person that he could call and make to be the patriarch of a new nation. No. As it goes on to say in verse 3, then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river. So this is completely God's initiative. So he called Abraham out of idolatry to be the patriarch of Israel. He didn't find Abraham faithful, and as a result of that call him,

he called him and he made Abraham faithful. So it's an important distinction to keep in mind. Yeah, that's that theology of glory hermeneutic that comes flying in when we read the Old Testament. We want to read some stuff in there, Abraham. There was a book just called Noah. It's a kid's book. It's about Noah, and it starts with,

everyone was terrible and bad and so evil, and god was very sad and decided he had to get rid of all the people but then there was noah and noah and yeah and noah was the one good man i've read those and you're like what what does it say that every when i when my kids were uh were little and i'd read them children's bible stories or when my grandsons now uh when i read them stories i'm constantly editing on the fly i like never just read the story out of the book because it's almost always wrong so i just edit as i'm reading it you know i mean this is i don't know why we're talking about this but you know other than this abraham thing but yeah what i always do is i read that i'm like

okay it says that every buddy was evil and that all the thoughts of their heart were like continuously wicked all the time seems very all very universal yeah yeah and then it says but noah found favor in the in the eyes of god and i'm like that sounds like a dude that straight tripped into some grace he just found it like i mean like he just stumbles upon it like it doesn't say he like earned it or he was good or anything just like there he there he was being an being an evil wretch and just stumbled right into some mercy yeah yeah oh that's exactly what happened yeah so watch watch those children bible stories and abraham's the same way i mean we would love to think of abraham came out the womb and was zealous for the pure unadulterated

worship of god but uh this is not the case didn't happen that way no god god took him it says verse three took him from that and in the rest of the verses all the way through 13 so about 2 through 13 is joshua summarizing the history from genesis 11 all the way to the present day so he reaches back i don't know 700 years or whatever it is from the days of abraham and he tells a story uh more or less he says god god took abraham and then he gave abraham isaac who had jacob and esau and then goes on to talk about moses and aaron and he recounts everything that god did for them so this is joshua's way of kind of setting the stage so he's telling his israelites hey look all the way back to the beginning of abraham's life and just trace exactly what god did for

your forefathers as well as for you he brought abraham out from idolatry he gave him isaac and from isaac came these descendants and then these descendants ended up in egypt and god brought us out and he gave us this land so he's he's setting this all up joshua is by recounting this salvation history so then he ends up by saying in verse 13 that he's brought them here He's given them a land that they didn't work for. They gave them cities they didn't build. And he gave them vineyards and olive groves that they didn't plant. So everything that God has done for them is pure gift.

And what does God say in response to this? Verse 14. So fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth and put away the gods, which your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. so this is where we have once more all this has happened and we we still know that the israelites at least some of them are holding on to to their idols and then we after that we have this this uh this famous section so this is verse 14 i mean 15 if it is disagreeable in your sight literally if it's evil in your sight if it's disagreeable or evil in your sight to serve the lord choose for

yourselves today whom you will serve now this is probably the most famous verse in joshua listen carefully you probably got this on a plaque on your wall well you got the second half of it second half you never you never have never have if it is evil in your sight to serve the lord choose this day whom you will serve and what people don't notice this this is extremely significant so he gives them two choices listen he says choose for yourself today him you'll serve. And here are the two choices. The gods whom your father served, who were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you're living. Those are your two choices. So if you're going to make a choice, okay, if you don't want to serve God, here are your two choices.

You can choose. You can choose on the other side of the Jordan, or you can choose on this side of the Jordan. Idol's way over there. I mean, if it's like evil, disagreeable to you to serve God, well here's a couple choices you can serve the gods that are way over there or you serve the gods who are over here so that's it that's the as far as choice goes the choice is all about idolatry yeah but then joshua follows that up by saying but as for me my house we will serve the lord he didn't say it was his choice to serve the lord that that i think is what's most significant here he didn't say he didn't go on to say but as for me and my house we have chosen to serve the lord well this is the thing that's what i'm talking about like this middle section is always

cut out so like always you hear this verse quoted choose this day whom you will serve as for me in my house we will serve the lord and you're like this is not what it says not what it says um the only this is it can be boiled down to this when you choose who you will serve your only options are idols that's exact that's exactly right yeah that's it like you will always choose idols put that on your plaque yeah yeah we probably insulted lots of people right now but yeah i mean it's important you can't like leave out parts of the verse and expect to really get what it's saying so this isn't joshua saying choose yahweh he's saying if you're going to choose well your only options are idols yeah i mean some of this is like look man if you're not

going to get rid of your idols like then go all in yeah none of this half yahweh half bail business limping limping between the two two alternatives like elijah says yeah i mean if you don't want to serve god okay well you got lots of idols to choose from yep you know but don't go jumping from bed to bed yeah you're you're exactly right he doesn't say but we choose yahweh he just makes a declarative statement that this is what this is what is yeah this is what is all right so uh the people respond uh in 16 and following oh no no no no listen far be it from us to serve anybody but anybody but the lord uh i mean he's he's done all this for us far be it from us to serve anybody but the lord our god yeah very very far be it from them yeah far be it from any of us

after being just told that they're supposed to put away their idols and then joshua uh and what i think is one of the more more humorous verses says to the people they've just you know claimed full allegiance to god and joshua says nope you will not be able to serve the lord for he is a holy god he's a jealous god and he will not forgive your transgressions this is joshua saying uh nope not gonna be able to do that you're not gonna be able to serve the lord through god because he's holy and he's jealous and i've just told you to put away your idols this is like a very in your in your in your face moment no this is great i mean like far be it from us no man we're all in on yahweh no no you're not no you're not going to be able to do that not that's not one of the

options i gave you yeah so he goes on if uh if you forsake him and uh then he will turn and do the harm to you and consume you after he's done good to you so if uh if if you don't serve him here's here's what's going to happen and the people uh go on to you know claim no we're gonna we're gonna serve god so joshua says all right well you have witnessed against yourself that this is what you're this is what you're gonna do calls them to put away their foreign gods and he makes a covenant with them that day, and they set up this stone in verse 26 and put it under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. So this stone is going to serve as a reminder to Israel that they will serve the Lord their God and serve him only. So that's the end of that section. The book ends, and we

in the podcast with this, that Joshua died at the age of 110. He didn't quite make it to the age of Moses, but close, 110 years old. They buried him. And it says, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua. And it says they also, we had to pick up the story from way back, that they buried the bones of Joseph. Remember, they carried the bones of Joseph with them when they left Egypt. And they finally buried those at Shechem, same place where we've been, in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought. So the bones of Joseph are finally laid to rest. And the book ends with Eleazar, the son of Aaron, so the one who had replaced his father as high priest, he dies, and he's buried at Gibeah of Phinehas, his son,

in the hill country of Ephraim. So this is all the setup for what is coming next in the book of Judges, where we're going to hear what happens after the death of Joshua. It is a kind of a big deal with the death of Joshua because there won't be another figure like Joshua until Israel demands a king.

I mean, there won't be this sort of unanimous leader that all the tribes are around and this is God's man. uh not in the same way uh not and really not until david i mean you'll you'll have saul but uh but really until david the closest we yeah the closest we get before the king before king saul is samuel yeah uh but but he's of course he's not he's not a joshua but as far as like being somewhat of a centralizing leader yeah uh and then but even you know even saul he's mainly just followed by his own tribe, by the Benjaminites. So it's not until David where we

have a true union of all the tribes under one definitive strong leader. So we have a long time, long time gap between this particular leader's death and the rising of a new leader. Yeah. Yeah. So it really is sort of a closing of an era. Obviously there is a difference also between someone like joshua and david in the sense that well david's a king so right and i guess we'll we'll get there eventually we will we gotta we gotta get through judges first we do we're gonna get through the the freak show that is judges and uh that that's gonna be exciting guys uh so we will see you uh next week chad all right see you then Thank you for watching.