But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)Although not nearly as complete as we usually assume, this is effectively the end of the campaign for Canaan. The tribes assemble and receive from Joshua a challenge to make a commitment. Serve the Lord, or don't serve the Lord, but don't try to have it both ways.
Have you ever stepped from a dock into a rowboat, or from the boat to the dock? That's no time to be indecisive. If you pause too long between those two worlds - one foot in the boat and the other on the dock - disaster is almost guaranteed. You've got to make a choice, and commit.
The first commandment insisted that God's people should put God first. Maybe Joshua knew that they couldn't have it both ways, and that vacillating between Yahweh and foreign gods was every bit as deadly as rejecting Yahweh completely. Remember, this is the Deuteronomic history, in which Israel's failures to keep the first commandment are tallied up, very possibly to explain to an exiled people why the unthinkable has happened - why Jerusalem has been destroyed and Israel taken into captivity.
Have you made a commitment?
I begin to think the entire Old Testament so far could be summed up "Be nice! And don't worship idols!"
ReplyDeleteInteresting, the altar itself being given a name indicating it is to be a witness between themselves and the Lord... reminds me of the 'in remembrance' saying on our own table/altar in the church.
Wow - we've finished Joshua!