“Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. ‘Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.”
In our February issue we looked at one of Joshua’s farewell sermon in chapter 23. It seems clear that one of the major themes or reasons for writing this history (the book of Joshua) was to remind the people of the covenant that the sovereign God had made with his people. The covenantal promise was for a specific land where they would be a ‘display’ of God’s covenantal love as well as a distinct people who were to preserve the ‘seed’ which one day would birth the Savior. The other part of the covenant was for these people to worship only ‘the Lord your God, which He commanded you …’ (Joshua 23:16). Joshua reminded them again that if they ‘were to serve other gods and bow down to them’ they would be ‘cut off’ from the land. Though Joshua did not say here we know from other scripture that the promised line of believers (which would bring the Messiah) would endure because of the covenant and obviously not because the people of Israel were particularly obedient!
Chapter 24 starts with what appears to be another sermon. The word, ‘then’ in the first verse suggests that this is a separate sermon with a similar intent – to encourage and remind the people of what the Lord has done for them (grace) and their responsibility (obedience) going forward as a nation and as individuals. Chapter 24 starts with Joshua calling the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel to meet him in Shechem. This location was meaningful because Shechem was where Abram (Abraham) first received the promise of the land (Genesis 12:6-7) and where Jacob had returned safely from his long exile from the land which was also promised to him (Genesis 33:18-20; 28:13). Everyone present at this meeting felt the strength of this memory and the power of God’s promise fulfilled. Dale Ralph Davis says about the location, “Surely our writer wants us to note the significance of the location; it is a way of recognizing the faithfulness of God. It is his way of saying that time does not invalidate Yahweh’s promises”
In this second speech Joshua is again reminding the people of what God has done in saving them be recounting their history. Joshua starts his sermon with a review of their history starting with Abram who lived beyond the river. Why did God call Abraham and his descendants to be His people? The answer is not that Abram was a great guy or that God looked down through time and saw that we would be nice people who were smarter or better than the nations around us. Joshua states clearly that Abram served other gods. “From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods” (verse2). Abraham was born an idolater and with no merit whatsoever. He participated in pagan worship and was enslaved in sin. He was a full blooded son of Adam who was lost just like all sons and daughters of Adam are lost. This is a message that the Jews have always struggled with – the notion that they were in some way superior to the nations around them because of God’s election. But we cannot be too harsh with them because we also are tempted to think too highly of ourselves. I am certain that when we first believed through faith we understood that it was grace alone that caused us to recognize our need for Christ. But afterward, in small and tentative steps, we may begin to see ourselves as better than those sinners who surround us. And in some sense, if we are truly converted, we do become ‘better’ since the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification is promised to believers. Because of the merit of Christ we begin to live lives of increased holiness. Joshua comment about Abraham’s calling are meant to remind those ancient Israelites and us today of this amazing truth – all we are and all we hope to be are wrapped up in the sovereign calling of God. For Abraham, it was the future work of the Messiah that saved him and gave him hope. For us, it is the life, death, and resurrection of Christ that saves us and gives us hope. Not our citizenship in the USA, not our good jobs, not our good works, none of these things give us lasting hope. Our hope is in Christ alone for life and for sanctification.
We know that Abraham was listed in the hall of faith (Hebrews 11:8-10) and believers are called, ‘sons of Abraham’ (Romans 4:16; Galatians 3:7). So it is good to honor Abraham but this chapter in Joshua is a reminder that he was a man not at all unlike us. The same Holy Spirit that delivered us, delivered Abraham from ‘serving other gods.’ Verse 3 says, “Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River.” The Lord did not ask him, the Lord did not wait for him to decide to follow – the Lord took Abraham.
There is a mythology that has been built up around Abraham as simply a good and wise fatherly figure who decides to move to Canaan because he wanted to obey God. Partially, I think that well-meaning parents and teachers, who rightly desire children to be good little boys and girls, have taught the patriarchs as if they were mere paragons of virtue that should be imitated. For example, Abraham trusted God so he was willing to sacrifice his own son in order to be obedient. True enough, but not the whole story if we imply that Abraham was only a great moral example of faith. At some point we need our children to recognize that he was hopelessly lost until the Lord ‘took’ him from darkness, ‘beyond the river’ and brought him into the light.
I am not trying to deconstruct our heroes of the faith but Joshua give us a good reminder that glory is due to our gracious God and not to be given to the works of men. What is on display here is a gracious God who delights in saving weak and undeserving sinners. Let us be careful, when we teach our children about these great men of faith, not to overlook the grace of God through the working of the Holy Spirit that made (makes) faith possible. Robin
