Wednesday 11 September 2024
"... And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God." (v. 18)
Background
Yesterday’s verses from Joshua 24 are now past, the text changes speakers and mood. Joshua is talking to the people. He sounds like and seems to undertake the work of a lawyer seeking a good verdict for his client/people. In verse 14 Joshua seeks two actions: firstly the people enter a proper relationship with Yahweh (God) and secondly they relinquish any claims others might have over them.
Joshua is asking the people to respond to God’s loyalty and dedication to them by offering loyalty and dedication to God. He claims the people have worshipped other gods while crying to Yahweh (God) only when they’ve really needed him.
Verse 15 sees Joshua spell out the alternatives facing Israel with a call to choose whom they will serve. Joshua asks Israel to make a choice unlike its neighbours, and note how, even amid choosing, Israel’s freedom is protected.
Take a look at God’s history and decide whether it is superior to all other claims of the time. Joshua’s family already having chosen Yahweh shows the people they have a leader to show them the way. He is a leader moving ahead of his people and making the commitment first, inviting others to follow.
The backstory includes thinking about how, in the scriptural record, God gets saddled with responsibility for the violence done as our ancestors marched towards what they believed they were entitled to. The high ideals for a new kind of community in a new land were compromised by the way the land was acquired through conquest and displacement. Within the people of Israel there was conflict and posturing at every turn.
Personally, I don’t like thinking about how easy it is for this often-conquered people to tell the story from the perspective of the conqueror without acknowledging the voices of the conquered.
To Ponder:
- Do you read verse 14, as I have, that Joshua is saying Israel has never yet worshipped Yahweh (God) properly? What’s behind your answer?
- Thinking about the world today, what narrative needs addressing, challenging or affirming as we tell each other the stories of our lives?
Prayer
Almighty God, I pray for compassion for those who are under siege this day, whose lives are in peril through action or word. Teach me how to respond to situations with love and seek the road to peace more often than the road to conflict. Amen.
Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Mark Cheetham
Mark is Superintendent Minister of the Salisbury Circuit and Minister at Salisbury Methodist Church.