Year 1, Week 26, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 26, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Joshua 24, Judges 1.

Today’s reading is a transition from the close of Joshua to the start of Judges. The chapters in today’s reading, while from different books, overlap in what is covered. Joshua 24 concludes the final words of Joshua. Joshua recalls what the LORD had done for Israel while charging them to formally renew their covenant with the LORD. Judges 1 opens with the acknowledgement of Joshua’s death as the need for continued possession of the Land continues. In fact, while there is a distinction between the conquest of the Land and tribal possession of the Land, Judges 1 opens in a manner similar to Joshua 1. Judges opens with the inquiry: “After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the LORD, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” (Judges 1:1). Joshua opened with a similar situation: “After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel” (Joshua 1:1-2). However, the difference, and it will prove to be a significant difference, is that the conquest was led by Joshua. Now, with the opening of Judges, there is not the same clarity of who will lead. In fact, the issue of Israel’s next leader will be a pressing concern as the Book of Judges unfolds. This issue concludes the Book: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was that the very idolatry that Joshua warned Israel about would be the very thing that led to Israel’s demise during the period of the Judges: “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them” (Psalm 135:15-18). Israel’s relationship with worshipping idols went all the way back to their Patriarch: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods” (Joshua 24:2). The choosing of Abraham to be the father of the nation Israel was unearned. The LORD chose an idolater and went to work blessing His people with unmerited favor. And yet, while that favor was not contingent upon neither Abraham’s nor Israel’s merit, such favor provided the appropriate means and motivation to be done with idolatry: “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel” (Joshua 24:23).

Israel promised Joshua that they said they would put away their gods and serve only the LORD. But Joshua provokingly declared: “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 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” (Joshua 24:19-20). While this may not sound like a very encouraging thing to say to a people who say they are willing, I would suggest that its intention was to provoke Israel to plead to the LORD for mercy. Joshua’s prickly sounding words echo Moses’ words concerning Israel’s inability: “But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). We will not have to venture too far into Judges to learn just how accurate Joshua and Moses were.

As Joshua had warned, the Book of Judges will demonstrate. That the issue that Israel will need to most earnestly fight against, will not be the lingering enemies in the Land, who proves to be difficult to remove; but the lingering desire for idolatry in their hearts. The simple assertion of, “The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey”, will be anything but simple to apply. Judges, which at times, flashes back to tribal battles found in Joshua, opens with a brief note of optimism at the tribe of Judah achieves some measure of success in their possessing the Land; but, for the most part, the tribes are unable to take possession of their land allotment, as Judges 1 ends with at least seven of the tribes failing to take possession of their land. In fact, some of the tribes became subjugated and oppressed: “The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain. The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor” (Judges 1:34-35). These tragedies of subjugation and oppression become the realities defining Israel’s experience in the Promised Land. Any yet, the Book of Judges will show that the underlying causes of their enslavement will be their idolatry. While the LORD will raise up a series of Judges to help Israel rise above their bondage, the Book of Judges will begin making that case for Israel’s need for a faithful king, who could lead the nation in the ways of faithfulness. As Judges 1 alludes to the success of the tribe of Judah to take possession of their land, be on the lookout for a king who would come from Judah to lead the nation.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe