I hope that a lot of times I think like you do. That would make this all the more followable. So I read chapter 22 and thought to myself, why is this here? The eastern tribes return to their portion of land and build an alter. That makes the rest of the israelites angry, so they mount up to go to war against them.
But wait! It was a all just a misunderstanding.
Never mind Reuben, Gad, and half tribe of Manasseh, we still love you. You’re doing great!
Why is this here? Is it to remind us not to jump to conclusions too quickly? Maybe, but most likely not (although that is a great lesson!). People smarter than me tell me that this is here because it would tell people years later why there was an alter there. I saw a picture last night of an alter that was dug up and cleared off and dates from before Abraham. Why was it there? What was sacrificed on it? What god was it for?
See, this passage answers that question for coming generations and gives a little instruction. Maybe you would see this and say, “Oh, previous generations worshipped here instead of Jerusalem. This wasn’t knocked down, so it must be okay to worship here.”. If you didn’t know this story, you might assume that, but with this story in here, we know that even though this alter is here is is only still here as a reminder that you are in a part of the land that is ruled by the living God, the God of Israel.
Was this really that important? Well, do you remember when Jesus had a discussion about worship with a Samaritan woman? Jesus was asking her about her family situation when she brought up the idea of worship and questioned where God was to be worshipped, on this mountain or that one (John 4:19-20). Where God was to be worshipped was super important back in that day because most gods were thought to be territorial. Now, we know that God is bigger, but we still carry over notions that are as silly as this story might seem to us. We worry about what we wear to church, who we invite to church, and believe it or not, we still have issues about where we really learn about God or worship. I’ve heard of friends who have held bible studies in bars. That might ruffle a few feathers in some places! But God is there too.
Anyhow, Joshua says goodbye, reminds the people of God’s faithfulness, and then challenges the people to serve the Lord.
“Don’t worry, Joshua, we will.”
“No you won’t. Get real. You’ve been carrying Egyptian gods with you this whole time.”
“No really! We promise! We will serve God!”
I’ve heard before that one of the methods of persuasion is to get people to commit to something little and say it out loud. There are a couple reasons for this: (1) they will most likely do it because no one wants to go to bed at night knowing they are a liar; and (2) they will most likely do the big thing you ask them to do next because they also was to be people of integrity and consistency. They know if they refuse the big thing you will ask them why they were willing to do the small thing, but they can’t do the big thing.
Joshua is trying to persuade them (I suppose he is also using reverse psychology which can also be effective in persuasion). It’s working on you too isn’t it.
“I don’t know about all of you, but me and my house are going to serve the God who performs miracles, brings us into the promised land, and defeats all of our enemies. You can choose who you want to serve, but we choose God.”
Who was going to choose a different god after that speech? He got them to do the little thing, to say they will follow. But then he gives them that big thing to do: get rid of those gods you brought with you out of Egypt. In other words, if you want to be consistent, you can’t have it both ways, and you want to be consistent, don’t you?
Final question: often times we think about following God requires doing all sorts of extra good things on top of the other stuff we do. Like, in addition to work, taking care of the kids, spending time with your spouse, fixing stuff around the house, we should mentor a Jr. High student. Don’t get me wrong, that would be great, but is this passage telling us something different? If those people are going to live up to their commitment to serve the Lord, Joshua doesn’t tell them to add things to their to-do lists, he tells them to throw stuff out. Maybe God is already in our hearts, we just have all kinds of things blocking that blood from flowing all over our bodies. Jesus says that anyone who believes in him will find themselves with living water flowing from within them (John 7:38) by which he meant the Spirit. God says that as part of the new covenant, God will put the Spirit within us. Maybe we have a gushing well of water, a river of living water flowing within us, but it has been choked and dammed up by the concerns of this world. Maybe what we have to do is get rid of some things, throw the other gods out of our lives, so that we can serve the Lord, the Mighty One.
Any thoughts?
Grace and peace,
Pastor Dave