READ IT! - Introduction to Joshua 17-24

Readings for this week

Monday: Joshua 17
Tuesday: Joshua 18
Wednesday: Joshua 19
Thursday: Joshua 20
Friday: Joshua 21
Saturday: Joshua 22
Sunday: Joshua 23

Introduction to Joshua 17-24

Chapter 17

Joshua continues to divvy up the land until all tribes received an allotment. Inheritances determined by “lot.” There was a lot for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh and a lot for the rest of Manasseh. Manasseh did not drive out the Canaanites.

Chapter 18

Joshua sent surveyors from the remaining tribes and then divided the land. Benjamin's lot was from Kiriath-jearim to the Salt Sea.

Chapter 19

Simeon's lot was within Judah's. There were lots for Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Dan. The Israelites gave Joshua a city.

Chapter 20

The LORD said to Joshua, "Appoint the cities of refuge." So they set apart Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Ramoth and Golan.

Chapter 21

The Israelites gave cities and pasture lands to the special priestly tribe of Levi. So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had promised to their fathers.

Chapter 22

Reuben, Gad and Manasseh went back to their land and built an altar. This became a controversy, and a civil war nearly erupted, but they reassured Phinehas the priest that they had not turned from the LORD, and war was avoided.

Chapter 23

Joshua summoned Israel in order to give his farewell address, and he said, “…it was the LORD your God who fought for you.”

Conditional Message...

Stress on Obedience:

“Be careful to obey everything in the Law of Moses…”
“Do not associate with these nations that remain among you…”
“Do not serve their gods.”
“Hold fast to the LORD…”

Warnings about Disobedience:

Nations will remain... 

“If you ally yourselves with them or intermarry with them, God will not drive them out.”
“They will be a snare for you until you perish from the land.”

Expulsion from the land...

“if you violate the Covenant…the LORD’s anger will burn against you and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”

Chapter 24

Joshua performs a ceremony to have the Covenant Renewed at Shechem. First, God’s saving action is emphasized:

“Your ancestors worshiped other gods, but I brought Abraham out of their land.”
“I gave Abraham his son Isaac.”
“I gave land to Jacob and Esau.”
“I rescued Israel from Egypt.”
“I destroyed your enemies.”
“I made Balaam bless you when he tried to curse you.”
“I gave you land you did not plant and cities you did not build.”

Then a command is given to choose:

“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Then a declaration is given to serve Yahweh:

“We will serve the LORD!”
“We are witnesses against ourselves if we do not!”

Then there is the recording of the Covenant:

Joshua recorded this event in “The Book of the Law of God.”
He set up a large stone under an oak tree and said the stone would be a witness against them if they were untrue to their God.

The end of the book of Joshua says that after he had spoken all of these things, he died at the age of 110. He was buried in Ephraim, the land of his inheritance. The text also says that the Israelites buried Joseph’s bones, which they had brought up out of Egypt, at Shechem. This text says that Jacob had bought this land from the sons of Shechem’s father Hamor… which is a bit different than the gruesome version we read in Genesis. Eleazar the priest also died and was buried at Gibeah in the hill country of Ephraim.