Chapter12: Joshua's Farewell: Choose
THE MAJOR CAMPAIGNS of conquest were over. The land had been divided and the cities of refuge established. “And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers” (Josh. 23:1-2).
What would Joshua say to the people at such a time? What was his word as they were about to continue without his leadership? He began like this:
I am old and stricken in age: and ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you. Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward. And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you. (Josh. 23:2-5)
Joshua gave a promise for the future that was rooted in a space-time past. He did not ask the people to make a Kierkegaardian leap of faith. This stress on God’s action in history recurs throughout his farewell:
And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. . . . And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season. . . . For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. (Josh. 23:14; 24:7, 17)
Joshua appealed to what some of the people had seen themselves. The former generation had died, but some who heard Joshua’s farewell had been children when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. He reminded them of the historical realities on which their faith rested. Biblical faith is rooted in what may be seen by the eye and heard by the ear. The difference between Greek and Hebrew thinking is not that the Greeks were rationalists while the Hebrews were existentialists. Quite the contrary. The Jews insisted on a tougher reality than the Greeks. They demanded not only that which was reasonable, but also that which was rooted in space and time.
This emphasis continues in the New Testament, which insists, for instance, that the first eleven chapters of Genesis describe actual history. Every New Testament reference to these chapters in Genesis indicates that the event mentioned was space-time history. The New Testament also assumes that that history is stated in ordinary literary forms. Scripture never suddenly confronts us with a heavenly language that carries us into a contentless religious experience.
Believers have been given good and sufficient reasons for believing. This was not only true in Joshua’s days; it has been true throughout God’s redemptive program. When John explains why he wrote his Gospel, he says that “many other signs [space-time proofs] truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book” (John 20:30). “Space-time proofs” is exactly what the Greek word means in the terminology of our own day. John’s statement parallels what Joshua said. What happened at the Red Sea was done in the Israelites’ presence. Jesus’ actions, recorded in John’s Gospel, were done in the presence of the disciples. These space-time proofs were written, John continues, “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). So whether it is in Joshua’s exhortation or through the cry of John’s Gospel, the Bible claims that there are good and sufficient reasons for faith that may be considered and acted upon.
Joshua was saying to the people as he was about to leave them, “Remember the past! Remember these things that are rooted in history and open to reason!”
REMEMBER THE STANDARD
The promises for the future were not, however, unconditional. Joshua confronted the people with a set of categories within which they had to live if the promises were to come to pass: “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left” (Josh. 23:6). This hearkens back to Joshua 1 and its emphasis upon the book: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Josh. 1:8). The statement God made to Joshua at the beginning of his leadership, Joshua passed on to the people at the end of his life—namely, “live within the categories of the book, and you will be blessed.”
At the end of Joshua’s life we see once more the growth of the canon: “And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God” (Josh. 24:26). Moses’ books were accepted as normative at the time of his death; and by the time Joshua died, he had written another book and added it to the canon, which was the authority for God’s people. These facts are in complete contrast to the new theology with its focus on con-tentless, existential experience. God gave the people a set of moral categories in verbalized form, categories that God himself declared to be absolute. Joshua said, “This is the standard! If you depart from it, the conditional portions of the promise will come to an end.” God himself gave a written, objective, propositional authority by which to judge in moral matters.
Joshua contrasted what would happen if the people lived within these categories with what would happen if they did not:
One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God. Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. (Josh. 23:10-13)
This passage carries us back to Ebal and Gerizim, where Joshua “read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers among them” (Josh. 8:34-35). These commands, considered simple and straightforward enough for everyone—young or old, Israelite or non-Israelite—to understand highlighted the conditional aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant. So at the end of his life Joshua was insisting, as he had practiced, that the blessings depended upon whether or not the people kept God’s commands. Once we depart from this mentality, we are on totally shifting sand. God’s Word, the Bible, is a rock, something solid and immovable. It gives us moral absolutes rather than situational, relativistic ethics.
AN UNGODLY HERITAGE
Joshua gathered all the tribes at Shechem, one of the cities of refuge. He began by reminding them, “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood [that is, the Euphrates River] in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods” (Josh. 24:2). We know that Ur and Haran were centers of moon worship. Joshua was telling the people, “Your past heritage is a people that were not God’s people.”
Ezekiel likewise points this out: “Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity are of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite” (Ezek. 16:3). No compliment to a Jew certainly! Nevertheless, Ezekiel told the people, “That’s what you were. The only reason you are something else is that God in his grace reached down and did something with you.”
God does not allow Christians either to go on in pride. He constantly reminds us of our heritage—a heritage of those who have turned aside from him. In Ephesians Paul says to believers, “In time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:2-3). Who does he say we were? He says to us, “Remember, at one time Satan was your god and your father. This is who you were.”
Whether studying the Old Testament or the New, we are reminded that we are not where we are because of a long, wise, and godly heritage. We come from rebellion. Individually, we are children of wrath. After we are Christians, we must look at others who are still under God’s wrath and always say, “I am essentially what you are. If I am in a different place, it is not because I am intrinsically better than you, but simply because God has done something in my life.” There is no place for pride.
THREE SETS OF GODS
In reminding the Israelites of their ungodly heritage, Joshua spoke of three sets of false gods and called upon the people to choose against them:
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: And I gave unto Esau Mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea. And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you. (Josh. 24:2-8)
Interestingly, the three sets of gods were related to three different waters. On the other side of the Euphrates were the gods of the Sumerian and Babylonian culture. On the other side of the Red Sea were the gods of ancient Egypt. On both sides of the river Jordan were the gods of the Amorites.
Now therefore [Joshua challenged] fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt, and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Josh. 24:14-15)
“Choose,” he said, “between the Sumerian gods, the Egyptian gods, the Amorite gods—and the Lord. Choose!”
Joshua’s own choice was emphatic: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The English uses a future tense here, but the Hebrew tense has a fuller meaning. It expresses continuous action. It involves the future, but it also can point to the past. Joshua was undoubtedly affirming, “I have chosen, and I will choose.”
His words were not just an empty boast because the people standing in front of him knew his past choices. Not long after the crossing of the Red Sea, Joshua had stood as the general against the Amalekites. When the people worshiped the golden calf, Joshua by choice did not identify with them. When the spies entered the land, he had stood with Caleb against his own people when they were wrong. He chose to affirm that God’s word was valid and that they could conquer the land. When God’s leader, Moses, died outside the promised land, Joshua knew it was because God had clearly told Moses to do one thing and Moses had done another. Joshua saw the result of Moses’ bad choice.
This was the character of Joshua. He chose, and he chose, and he chose, and he kept right on choosing. He understood the dynamics of choice—once-for-all choice and existential choice as well. Thus this word to the people was not an affirmation puffed up on the spur of the moment. It was deeply embedded in Joshua’s comprehension of what is required of a person made in the image of God—one called upon to obey God, not like a machine or an animal but by choice.
The people responded positively to Joshua’s challenge:
God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; for the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: Therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God. (Josh. 24:16-18)
Because of what the people had seen in the past, they made the same choice as Joshua. Yet their choice was in one respect different. Joshua’s choice was rooted in a series of continuous choices. These people had been like a weathervane. Consequently, Joshua warned them not to choose lightly:
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. (Josh. 24:19-24)
Despite Joshua’s warning, the people continued to insist. So Joshua stressed that their choice (which was, of course, the right choice) had to be total and have practical repercussions in their lives.
THE EXTENSION OF THE COVENANT
In response to the people’s affirmation, the covenant was extended another step: “So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem” (Josh. 24:25). This covenant was a part of the ongoing covenant. You will remember, it had been established immediately after the Fall and was continued in the times of Noah, Abraham, and Moses. At the end of Joshua’s life it was again extended. This extension of the covenant was related to the book: “And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God” (Josh. 24:26-27).
Notice Joshua put up a stone as a testimony. Now, in addition to the stones at Gilgal and the altar on Ebal, another memorial in stone was established. In years to come the children of coming generations would be able to walk through the land and be reminded of what had occurred in that place and of the promises their fathers had made to God.
Sometime after the covenant was extended, Joshua died.
And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in Mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel. (Josh. 24:29-31)
The faithfulness of Joshua’s generation is also extolled in the book of Judges, but it is followed by a shift: “And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel. . . . And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel” (Judg. 2:7, 10).
We come to a group of people who did not imitate Joshua’s continual choice. The children of Israel remembered for a time the choice they had made at Joshua’s farewell, but they then forgot it. And thus came the confusion, the sorrow, and the total lawlessness of the period of the judges.
We are seeing exactly the same shift in our own generation. Those of us from the Reformation countries have experienced a Christian consensus. (This does not mean that every individual was a Christian, but that society was strongly influenced by Christian values.) But my generation and the generations immediately preceding my generation made a bad choice, and so we now live in a post-Christian world. The choices of faith have been set aside and forgotten, and accordingly the confusion, sorrow, and lawlessness of the time of the judges is occurring in our generation. If you are a member of the younger generation, you are a recipient of the consequences of this bad choice. This is who you are. To understand yourself, you must understand that you have grown up in a post-Christian world.
CHOICES
The element of personal choice stands out as a key theme in the book of Joshua. In chapter 2 we saw that the captain of the host of the Lord stood before Joshua, and Joshua had to choose. The people of God had the opportunity to follow their own wisdom, but Joshua made a different decision for them. He fell down and said, “It’s your leadership.” And he removed his shoes in the presence of the one who had now come as the captain of the host of the Lord.
In chapter 3 we considered the blessings to the Jews under the national portion of the Abrahamic Covenant. Under Joshua the people chose to enter the land (a complete contrast to the choice they made thirty-eight years before), and suddenly, after all the decades of waiting, the complex of the Abrahamic Covenant fell into place. We also saw that, as Romans 9—11 makes clear, the Jews’ whole history, from that time to this and into the future, rests on their choices. If they continued in disobedience and unbelief, they did not have God’s blessing. If they obeyed, they came into the blessing of the people of God.
Rahab and the Gibeonites (chapters 4 and 8) chose to come among the people of God and entered into the spiritual portion of the Abrahamic Covenant. Rahab the harlot became an ancestor of Jesus Christ. The Gibeonites, down to the time of David and beyond, worked close to the altar. All this because they had decided to step over from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the living God!
Chapter 5 concerned two kinds of memorials, the stones and the sacraments. The Israelites chose to cross the river Jordan, enter the land, and establish the stone memorials as God commanded. Joshua—foolishly from a human military point of view—observed the sacrament of circumcision. Then he observed the Passover. But we also saw that the external signs, like the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper today, mean nothing unless there is a choice to be in a proper relationship with God. These signs are not automatic.
In chapter 6 we saw Achan’s titanic choice. This one man decided to take silver and gold and the mantle of Shinar. He coveted within; then he acted. Soon he saw the terrible results of his choice. He himself died, but others died, too. His choice led to a temporary defeat for the whole people of God.
On Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim (chapter 7) a choice was set before the people: “Obey the propositional moral absolutes of God, and you’ll receive blessing within the covenant. If you don’t, the blessing will come to an end.”
In chapter 9 we saw how Caleb chose to stand against the rest of the Israelites. We saw how the people failed to take the totality of the land because they lacked faith. But Caleb went in and took the territory he had been promised. The faith he had exhibited through thirty-eight years of wandering plus seven years of conquest he continued to practice.
In chapter 10 we saw that the two and a half tribes that returned to the east side of Jordan chose to serve the true, living God. They even raised a great altar of testimony to show that they intended to continue to worship him properly even though they had left the west side of the river. The remaining tribes chose to practice both truth and love as they dealt with what they feared was rebellion.
The cities of refuge involved two sorts of choices (chapter 11). The first sort of choice was made by the man who chose to murder; the second was made by the innocent man who chose to flee to a city of refuge to escape the avenger of blood.
So we find throughout the entire book of Joshua an emphasis on choice—choice that makes a tremendous difference in his-tory—for individuals, for groups, for future generations. The Bible insists, “Don’t forget who you are. You are not a puppet or a machine. You do not obey a universal law of cause and effect in a closed system. Rather, you are made in the image of God, and, as such, you must choose, and choose rightly, at every point.” Adam chose wrongly, and we all bear the marks of his error. Abraham believed God, and his choice was counted to him for righteousness. Joshua chose rightly, too. For those of us today, the situation is the same. Whether Christian or non-Christian, we are called upon to make choices that will have significant results.
If you are not a Christian, remember that you face a choice that will make a total difference to you. God says to you concerning that choice:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. . . . He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:14-18, 36)
Your choice is not a piece of theater. You are not thistledown in the wind. There are good and sufficient reasons in history to know that this is the choice you should make, and you are called upon to make it. Choose once for all for justification.
If you are a Christian, having made the once-for-all choice that was involved in your justification, remember that your choices do not end. You do not enter a static situation. Paul gives this imperative: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). We must continually choose to live within the commands of God.
In Romans Paul describes himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:1). In Philippians he pictures both Timothy and himself as “the servants of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:1). Did Paul have to be a slave? No. A Roman slave could not escape, for he had a hard, heavy band of iron riveted around his neck. He could not remove it. Paul, by a continual act of choice, held the slave-band in place.
Joshua’s great call, “Choose! Choose!” is as meaningful to us today as to the people of God when Joshua was preparing to leave them. If you are a Christian, I urge you to continue to make this choice:
Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Josh. 24:14-15)
What are your gods of Ur? What are your gods of Egypt? What are your gods of the Amorites? What are your gods? What gods did you leave when you made the great first choice to become a Christian? God says, “You chose once for all to be a Christian. Fine. Continue to choose, continue to choose, continue to choose—moment by moment, existentially. You must continue to choose between the old gods and me, the living God.” And, as Joshua said, we must not choose lightly.
When the people affirmed their commitment to God, Joshua insisted, “Remember how you have chosen” (Josh. 24:22). Joshua affirmed, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Like Joshua, any Christian who wishes to be of any help to this poor, sinful world, especially to a confused generation like ours, must be one who continues to choose to serve the Lord in the here and now. Let us say as we face the choices of life: As for me and my house, by God’s grace, we will serve the Lord!