Joshua 23-24: The Settled Land

Joshua 23: Joshua Exhorts the People
Joshua 24: The Tribes Renew the Covenant / Death of Joshua and Eleazar

With the end of Joshua comes the end of a narrative that began way, way back in Bereshit (Genesis), the first book of the Hebrew bible. The promise of land and progeny that was made to Abraham has finally been fulfilled. And at the end of the chapter, in the penultimate verse, a plotline is ended that I completely forgot about. But you're going to have to read to the end of the post to find out what it is.

Today's scenes take place "a long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years" (Josh. 23.1). We can feel the Joshua narrative starting to wind down. True, not all the land has been conquered. But Joshua's speech exhorting the people serves as a succinct summary of the events of the book that bears his name.

Joshua Exhorts the People: Joshua 23
The land is at rest and Joshua is old. He therefore starts to tidy up matters before he goes, starting with a recap of battle and ending (in the next chapter) in a renewal of the covenant.

YHWH Sabaoth, God portrayed as mighty warrior, is invoked four times throughout Joshua's exhortation, reminding the people that Israel's victory would not have been possible without God, because it is God that drove out the mighty nations before them.

And yet not all the nations have been cleared out. They still remain in the land and threaten to tempt the Israelites into apostasy. Israel receives a strong warning not to intermarry or fall into their ways, and if they remain faithful to God then God will continue to force these people out of the land. In the meantime, these people are given to Israel as part of a package deal; they are included with Israel's inheritance of land.

The biblical author tries to balance two contradictory ideas. There is the ancient myth (as in story, not falsehood) of Israel's might, which serves as a basis for Israel's divine right to the promised land. This is where the story of conquering all the tribes of the land comes from. This must be counterbalanced with the reality that the Israelites coexisted with foreign nations and had in fact done so for a long time. The way the biblical author solves this problem is by having God essentially say: "Here is what I promised you. It is not exactly as I promised you because I have not removed all your enemies yet. However, if you continue to obey me, these people will one day be gone and you alone (with the Gibeonites, perhaps shall inhabit the land." The conditionality of this agreement is especially important, because it is the tension between God and humankind that comprises the biblical story. If you want a twist in the biblical plot, just look for people disobeying the Lord's commands.

Joshua then switches gears into his own personal reflection, which then flares out to embrace all the people of Israel and remind them to follow the covenant of the Lord:

And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one thing has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you; all have come to pass for you, not one of them has failed. But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the bad things, until he has destroyed you from this good land that the Lord your God has given you. If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he enjoined on you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land that he has given to you.
(Josh. 23.14-16)

The next logical step is to renew the covenant Joshua just invoked.

The Tribes Renew the Covenant: Joshua 24.1-28
Joshua gathers all of Israel to Shechem in order to recount (speaking through the words of the Lord) their collective history. Actually, if you're interested in a Clif Notes version of the biblical narrative up until this point, Joshua 24 would be an excellent place to look.

It goes down like this: Abraham is taken from beyond the River Jordan into Canaan. The Lord give him Isaac. The Lord gives Isaac two sons: Esau, who inhabits the hill country, and Jacob, who goes with his children down to Egypt. The Israelites (though they are not referred to as such here) are brought out of Egypt, where God has worked many miracles. The Israelites are pursued, and cry out to the Lord at the Red Sea. The Lord protects the people and helps them cross the sea. The Israelites live in the wilderness for a long time. They then conquer the Amorites and are blessed - not cursed - by Balaam. After crossign the Jordan, the Lord conquers a number of people on behalf of the Israelites. The land they have received is exceptional:

I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and oliveyards that you did not plant.
(Josh. 24.13)

For all this, the Israelites are commanded to revere and serve the Lord, not the gods that their ancestors served beyond the river before Abraham, nor the gods of the Amorites.

The people respond that they will serve the lord, recounting very succinctly the history that the Lord just spoke through Joshua. Joshua warns that the Lord is holy and jealous, and will not forgive transgressions: "If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good" (Josh. 24.20). A second time the people promise to serve the Lord.

Joshua then tells the people that they are all witnesses among themselves. They agree. He tells them that they must put away all their foreign gods and "incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel." To this too they agree. The Israelites have devoted themselves to the Lord.

Joshua then makes a covenant with the people, writing the words he spoke in the book of the law of God. He erects a stone under the oak tree in the sanctuary of the Lord. The stone serves as a second witness against the people if they deal falsely with God.

Death of Joshua and Eleazar: Joshua 24.29-33
Joshua dies and is buried. The author recounts that Israel was faithful to God all the days of his leadership, and all the days of the elders that outlived him.

Here ends a plot line that began a very long time ago: The bones of Joseph, which he wanted to be buried in the promised land, are finally laid to rest at Shechem on a piece of land that Jacob bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

Finally, Eleazar son of Aaron dies and is buried.

After the death of the old generation comes a new generation, which will be explored tomorrow as we begin our study of the book of Judges.