Year 1, Day 208: Joshua 23

Farewell Address

Joshua begins his farewell address here in this chapter.  I cannot help but notice that his message demonstrates tunnel-vision {that’s not a criticism}.  Essentially, this chapter can be summarized into a single message: “Diverge from the Lord at your own peril.”

Joshua is preeminently concerned about the future spirituality of the Hebrew people.  Yes, Joshua is dying.  Yes, Joshua has done a bunch of great things in his life.  Yes, Joshua was a great leader for the people.  Yes, the Hebrew people have come out of the wicked generation and they have come forth into a new spirituality in the Promised Land.  But none of that is what Joshua really focuses on beyond the first 5 verses of this passage.  Joshua looks forward.  Joshua warns.  Joshua is concerned.

Compare Joshua 23:6-8 with Joshua 1:6-9.  {I wanted to say Joshua 1:6-8 just because of the parallelism formed with the verse numbers, but verse 9 is just too good to leave out for a simple game of parallelism.}

• Be strong and courageous
• Do not depart from the Law of Moses, turning to the right or to the left
• Cling to the Lord / Meditate day and night

The parallels in the passage are extremely similar.  Joshua learned the lesson the Lord taught to him in chapter 1 and he now passes on the lesson in a commissioning of the people.  But there is a mixture of promise and warning in these words.  Follow the Lord and the Lord will provide.  Don’t follow the Lord and … well … you will get what your heart desires.  You will get what you deserve if you do not follow the Lord.

The Way of the Gentiles

I really like Joshua 23:12-13, although we must be careful with these verses.  Joshua tells the Hebrew people that if they turn to the ways of the Gentiles then the Gentiles will become a snare unto them.  I think this is a great message for us to hear today.  We live in a culture where the yeast (influence) of the world is everywhere.  We voluntarily bring the influence of the world into our homes on our TVs and our computers.  We bring it into our homes with our books and our CDs (or kindles and mp3 players for the technologically “really up-to-date”).  We bring it in on our clothing and even pictured on the food we buy.  The world’s influence is everywhere around us.

If we are not careful, we find ourselves “believing that there is a God” but no longer “believing God.”  Another way of saying this is that if we are not careful we slip from “knowing God” to “knowing about God.”  If you will allow me one more comparison we fall out of “following God’s ways for life” and fall into “following what we think and define for ourselves what are God’s ways for life.”  It is so hard to stay the course that God has set before us because the influence of the world is everywhere.  The influence of the world adheres to everything as if it was sticky tar.  And we all know how hard tar is to remove from just about anything.

I have a great analogy to this.  Ever watch Mythbusters?  I do.  It’s a great show – although not without its own worldly influence, I might add.  But they did a particular episode on the transmission of germs from a runny nose.  Adam (one of the two main guys) had a tube installed beside his nose that slowly dripped a sterile clear substance about the same speed as a person’s nose would run if they were sick.  Although the substance was clear, it fluoresced underneath fluorescent lighting.  Adam did the experiment several times.  The first time he wiped his nose with his hand - whenever necessary – while hosting a dinner party (shaking people’s hands, pouring them drinks, etc).  Then they revealed all the hands of the invited guests underneath fluorescent light.  (Yeah, it was gross just how much of the “runny nose” got everywhere)  For the record, if I am remembering the experiment correctly they also did the experiment with Adam wiping his nose in a hankie (somewhat better results) or with the inside of his elbow (best results, but still gross).

My point in taking us down this TV-memory lane is that hanging around people with sin in their life (the runny nose, if you will) will contaminate us whether we see it coming or not.  And actually, it’s the times when we don’t see it coming that are the most dangerous!  This is precisely Joshua’s point in our reading today.  Joshua says that if we are not vigilant, we will slowly lose our hold on our spirituality and slip back into the influence of the world.  Trust me.  I know from experience.  He’s got a point.

Spiritual Balance

However, this line of thinking must be balanced with Matthew 10:16-18, Matthew 12:15-21, Matthew 28:18-20 and other similar passages.  Jesus Christ is the light of the whole world – even the Gentiles.  Furthermore, we are called to go among them and proclaim Jesus to them!  So we should not wall ourselves up and remove any interaction or influence from them.  Rather, we must “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees” – or the world.  We must go among them while being vigilant to not bring their ways of living among our spirituality.  It is a tall order, to be sure.  But it is what we are called to do.

The Joshua of the Hebrew Scriptures warns us to beware of the world.  The Joshua of the New Testament (Jesus) likewise warns us to beware but still tells us to go.  We have a job to do, folks.  So let’s get to it.  But let’s do it with a watchful eye so that we do not turn from the Lord’s ways either to the right or to the left.

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