I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 23-24.

Like Moses before him, when Joshua knew he was about to die he summoned the people of Israel and gave them a speech recounting what God had done for them.  I want to note that Joshua tells us that Abraham’s father worshiped other gods when he lived beyond the Euphrates.  This raises questions about my idea that Terah left Ur because of the idolatry there.

However, the most important part of Joshua’s speech was towards the end where he tells the people of Israel that they must choose today whom they will serve.  Joshua gives them three choices. They can serve God.  They can serve the gods which their ancestors worshiped when they lived “beyond the Euphrates”.  Or they can worship the gods which the people of the land they were now living worshiped.  After giving them this choice, Joshua males one of the great statements of faith, “as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”  While this was certainly a rhetorical device to encourage the people to make the right decision, it was still a brave statement.  Joshua was saying, “I am calling on you as a people to choose what religion you will follow.  As a nation we cannot survive unless we all follow the same gods, or God.  However, if you choose some faith other than the worship of God, know that I and my family will not go along with you.”  We should follow Joshua’s example.  We need to point out to the people around us that if they do not choose to all worship the same gods, or God, they will not survive as a nation.  Along with that we need to make a statement that no matter what gods they choose to follow, we will serve God and teach out family to do likewise.

Finally, I want to return to something I had mentioned earlier.  I know of people who believe that the Bible is a source of great wisdom but do not truly believe in God’s power.  They look at the Old Testament and say that the ancient Israelites were polytheist, which is true.  However, they go on to say that the idea of monotheism is only a late development in what we now call the Jewish religion.  This passage shows that the latter part is not true.  Joshua makes his speech and his call for a choice because the Israelites were worshiping many gods (were polytheists), but he calls them to give up those other gods because worshiping other gods is incompatible with worshiping God.  The religion which Joshua preached, and Moses before him, was monotheistic.  The failure of the Children of Israel to practice monotheism does not change that.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 21-22.

Once all of the tribes except for the Levites had their allotment of land, the Levites came to Joshua, Eleazar, and the other leaders to request their towns.  According to the plan laid out by Moses they were to have towns and cities among the lands of the other tribes.  The Levites ended up distributed among the rest of the tribes.  At no point does it spell this out, but it seems to me that the Levites were to focus on passing down the stories which the Israelites had received from their ancestors and teach them, and God’s commands, to the rest of the Israelites.  They were to work with the priests as a kind of junior clergy.

Now that all of the tribes were settled (more or less, as we learn later), the warriors from the tribes east of the Jordan returned home. This is actually noteworthy as it had been at least five years since the tribes first crossed the Jordan. Before I get to my main point, it seems likely that the warriors from the tribes east of the Jordan only spent the fighting season west of the Jordan during this period, returning home for the off season. I am unsure which part pf the year they would have spent in battle. Various factors would have had an impact on that: weather, planting time, harvest time, etc.. My main point, however, is that when the eastern tribes returned home with no plans to return for battle the following year (or season), they built an altar on the western banks of the Jordan River. The rest of the tribes believed that they intended to make this a place of worship in conflict with the one at Shiloh. This was contrary to the clear instructions which Moses had given them regarding a central place of worship. So, they gathered to make war against the eastern tribes. But first they sent a delegation to the eastern tribes for an explanation of the altar. The leaders of the eastern tribes explained that it was intended as a monument, much like the one Joshua had built with river stones after the Israelites first crossed the Jordan. The important thing about this story is that the western tribes did not go to war based on their understanding of what the eastern tribes had done. They first sent a delegation for an explanation, and the eastern tribes did not take offense that the western tribes misunderstood their action. There is a lesson here for us, when we believe that others have done us wrong, we should first approach them and find out what they meant by their actions. And when others approach us because they misunderstood our motivation, we should not take offense. Rather we should explain our goals in doing what we did, acknowledging their right to be concerned if they thought we were doing wrong.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 18-20.

It appears from today’s passage that over the course of Joshua’s life only the tribes east of the Jordan, Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh actually began to settle down.  The other seven tribes apparently continued a nomadic lifestyle.  Here at the end of his life, Joshua instructed them to make a survey of the remaining land not already claimed by Judah or Ephraim and Manasseh.  I am not sure of its significance, but we are told that Benjamin was given the land between Judah and Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh), while Simeon was given land surrounded by lands settled by Judah.  We see here how the portion of Manasseh which settled west of the Jordan became absorbed into Ephraim and that Simeon would become absorbed into Judah.   We also see how Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon settled in the lands which had been part of the alliance of southern kings which Joshua conquered and the other tribes settled in the lands which had part of the alliance of northern kings.  This foreshadows the eventual divide into two kingdoms. 

There are two other, somewhat related things of importance in this passage.  First, it begins by telling us that the Israelites set up the Tabernacle at Shiloh as the central point for worship.  This was a more or less central location.  It also both reflects and contributed to the somewhat dominant role which the tribe of Ephraim played in the pre-kingdom era of Israel.  The other thing which was related here is that Joshua actually set up the cities of refuge as Moses had instructed the Israelites to do.  The importance of this is that it shows that at least some of the system of justice laid out in the Law of Moses was implemented.  The later portions ofthe Old Testament suggest that the system of justice (including Sabbath and Jubilee Years) laid out in the Law of Moses was never fully implemented, but this shows us that the early Israelites at least made a try at doing so.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 12-14.

The passage begins by listing the conquests which Israel had made during Joshua’s lifetime.  I find it interesting that the passage gives the borders of the land which the Israelites took control of east of the Jordan River, but only lists the kings which they defeated west of the Jordan.  East of the Jordan the passage describes the borders of the land they controlled after defeating the kings whom they defeated, while west of the Jordan it describes the area in which the kings they defeated lived.  Then the passage describes the unconquered land which they were to include when dividing the land up among the tribes.  The passage tells us that this was the state of things when Joshua was forced to acknowledge that old age meant that he would no longer lead Israel to further conquest.

So, with this state of affairs, Joshua, Eleazar the priest, and leaders from the tribes divided the land among the tribes.  The division was done in such a way that all of the tribes were satisfied that it was appropriate and fair.  In the middle of this, Caleb, who was a contemporary of Joshua, comes forward and asks for his allotment.  Caleb declares that he is 85 years old, but still able to fight.  From this we see that we should not have the same expectations for everyone.  Joshua, about whom I will repeat that he was a contemporary of Caleb, needed to recognize that he could no longer lead the Israelites in war and would soon die.  Caleb, on the other hand, was still prepared to go out and serve God by conquering the land which would belong to his descendants.  Each of us needs to judge to what God is calling us based on our own situation, not by comparing ourselves to others.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 8-9.

When the Gibeonites came to the Israelites seeking a treaty, the leaders did what they thought was due diligence.  They looked at the food the Gibeonites had brought with them and at their other supplies.  All showed significant age, suggesting that the Gibeonites had come from a great distance.  So, the Israelites made a treaty with them, despite God’s command not to make a treaty with anyone living in the land.   Reading this story I can think of several things which they could have done to avoid making this mistake.  But that misses the point. The Israelites trusted in their own judgement and failed to seek God’s guidance.  No matter how sure we are of our own judgement on an issue, we should seek God’s guidance through prayer.  How God will deliver that guidance will vary from situation to situation.  Perhaps He will give us an insight, perhaps He will have someone give us advice, or perhaps something else, but we should always seek His guidance.