Joshua 23-24 "The Covenant Renewed"



We have come to the conclusion of the book of Joshua.

It began "after the death of Moses"

when Joshua is commissioned by God to lead the people into the land:

"Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you."

It ends with the death of Joshua,

after God fulfilled all that he had promised.



In chapters 1-5 we heard of the crossing of the Jordan,

how God brought his people into the Land of Promise.

In chapters 6-12 we heard of the conquest of the land,

how God went before Israel-through Joshua-and delivered their enemies into their hands.

In chapters 13-21 we heard of the division of the inheritance,

how God gave to each tribe an inheritance in the land.



Joshua ends, then, with two stories.

The first, a story of how Israel nearly went to war against the eastern tribes,

because they built an altar.

But the altar, it turned out, was innocent-an altar of witness,

to remind Israel that the LORD, he is God.

Now we come to the final story-the conclusion of the book of Joshua.



There are two gatherings recounted in Joshua 23-24.

But these two gatherings are interrelated.

First, Joshua summons the elders and judges of Israel



1. Joshua and the Elders (23:1-16)

the prelude to this story is important:

"when the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies"

Joshua dies at the age of 110.

He was probably in his 30s-40s during the Exodus,

since he was already the commander of the army by Exodus 18.

He was then in his 70s-80s during the Conquest,

so now it is probably 30 years or so after the Conquest.

He speaks to a generation of elders that has seen with their eyes

the great works of the LORD:

"You have seen all that he LORD your God has done to all these nations

for your sake, for it is the LORD your God who has fought for you."

Joshua was the instrument of God,

the covenant mediator through whom Israel inherited the land.

But he understands full well that he is not the one who fought for Israel.

God himself is the one who delivered the nations into Israel's hand.

Joshua speaks to the elders and judges here.

Why the elders and judges?

Because now they are the ones who must lead.

There is something of a covenant succession here.

As Moses had appointed Joshua,

now Joshua is handing over the mantle,

but this time not to one man,

but to the ordinary rulers of the people.

In a similar manner, Jesus will appoint the apostles,

who will hand over their mantle,

not to one, but to all the elders of the church.

And Joshua reminds the elders of their motivation for faithful leadership:

"The LORD your God will push [your enemies] back before you

and drive them out of your sight.

And you shall possess their land, just as the LORD your God promised you."

As usual, the indicative precedes the imperative.

Because God will go before you,

Because God will destroy your enemies before you,

"Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do

all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses"

As Moses had spoken to him, so now Joshua speaks to the elders of Israel.

And he gives them certain specifics:

1) do not mix with the nations

Israel is to be separate from the nations

They are they holy people of God.

They must not serve other gods,

but they must "cling to the LORD your God."

"Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God."

You show love to God by being a distinctive people-

by being different from the nations,

and living according to his laws.

2) and particularly, do not intermarry with the nations.

Those who worship Yahweh have no business

intermarrying with those who worship other gods.

Missionary marriages are not acceptable.

(Of course, if the nations convert to Yahweh,

then they become Israelite! See Ruth)

As we saw last time,

Phineas admitted in 22:17 that Israel had not cleansed itself

entirely from the sin of Peor (intermarriage).

This would be a continual problem throughout Israel's history.

Samson will fall in love with a Philistine woman.

Solomon will marry foreign princesses.

And then Joshua speaks of the blessings and curses of the covenant:

They have seen the blessings of the covenant:

Israel's faithfulness has resulted in the blessings of the covenant:

not one word has failed of all the good things God promised

(Dt 28:1-14)

Their enemies fled before them.

They have received the bounty of Yahweh.

But Joshua warns that disobedience will result in God's curse:

(Verse 15-16)



We would do well to heed Joshua's warning.

Not one word has failed of all that God has promised.

God has given our great Joshua success,

and he has triumphed over his enemies and entered his rest.

Now we are called to live as a holy nation, a kingdom of priests.

And this starts with the elders.

2. The Covenant Renewed at Shechem (24:1-28)



But it includes the whole people of God as well.

After speaking with the elders,

Joshua calls all Israel together at Shechem.

This is where the tabernacle had been set up,

where the ark of the covenant was established.



a) the history of the covenant (24:1-13)

The call of Abraham (24:2-3)

Jacob and Esau (24:4)

Moses and Aaron (24:5)

The Red Sea (24:6-7)

The eastern conquest (24:8-10)

The western conquest (24:11-13)

This recitation of God's covenant faithfulness is designed to remind the people of God

what God has done for them.

And because of what God has done,

Israel is now called to live faithfully before God:



b) the renewal of the covenant (24:14-18)

Choose whom you will serve (24:14-15)

Suggests that there is still some problems.

Some are still attached to the gods of Egypt and Canaan.

But Joshua mocks the gods:

Did the gods of the Amorites deliver them?

Did the gods of the East give you such an inheritance?

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

And the people respond on cue:

(Vv16-18)

They understand that they serve God because of what he has done.



Some theologians have suggested that we should love God purely for his own sake.

They suggest that it shouldn't matter whether God has done anything for us,

we should love him because of who he is.

This idea of disinterested benevolence is far from the biblical idea of covenant.

You cannot separate who God is from what he has done.

We love him because he loved us first.



c) the witnesses of the covenant (24:19-28)

But Joshua is not content with this profession of covenant loyalty.

(Verse 19-20)

Why does Joshua do this?

Because there must be witnesses to the covenant.

1-you are witnesses against yourselves

But then he took a stone and set it up as a pillar.



2-the stone is a witness against us

"for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us:"



The eastern tribes had established "Ed"-the altar of witness.

Now Joshua sets up another "Ed"-the stone of witness,

as a witness that Israel is a witness against themselves.

The function of the witness is to testify if the people go astray.

I told the story last week of Robert and Marian Hall who established the Ed Scholarship

at Princeton Seminary, to witness against the seminary if it ever strayed.

The witnesses at Princeton are legion:

The Charles Hodge professorship, the pictures of the old faculty,

the buildings-most of which are named after orthodox professors.

3. The Deaths of Joshua and Eleazar (24:29-33)

Death of Joshua parallel with death of Moses

v32 Joseph's bones-Joseph the "quasi-firstborn"-a fitting conclusion to a book that is all about God's faithfulness, and the faithfulness of that generation (cf. v31)



Joseph buried at Shechem-in the south of Manasseh, near Ephraim-between Ebal and Gerizim!

Death of Eleazar (both Eleazar and Joshua are buried in Ephraim, next door to Joseph)