“Y’hoshua said to the people, ‘You can’t serve Adonai; because he is a holy God, a jealous God, and he will not forgive your crimes and sins’.”-Joshua 24:19
Yesterday, we were discussing the following monumental question Joshua posed to the people…
“If you don’t want to serve the God of Israel,
then whom WILL you serve?”
We also talked about how that was kind of a strange question to ask a people who had already been redeemed.
Think about it for a second.
If this very same question was posed to whatever church or synagogue you’re currently attending, what answer would your congregation give?
Probably the same one the ancient Israelites gave to Joshua when they replied…
“…..far be it from us that we would
abandon Adonai to serve other gods….”
In fact, you may be wondering how in the world my congregation’s answer would be any different than how the Israelites responded to Joshua.
However, look at how Joshua responds to the people.
He says…
“You can’t serve Adonai”.
Why?
“because he is a holy God,
a jealous God,
and he will not forgive
your crimes and sins”.
Joshua then carries his answer to the following conclusion….
“If you abandon Adonai and serve foreign gods,
he will turn, doing you harm and destroying you
after he has done you good.”
I don’t know if you realize it, but we’ve just encountered one of the most head-turning and shocking verses to be found anywhere in the Tanakh.
I hope you’re catching the gravity of what Joshua just expressed here.
At this covenant renewal ceremony, the people have just vowed to obey God and keep His commandments.
But Joshua has just rejected their vow.
What’s going on here?
Or perhaps the more important question to ask is what important theological principle is being revealed here?
Professors and scholars have provided a variety of reasons behind Joshua’s response to the people.
But none of them are really quite satisfactory.
The problem with a lot of modern academia is the simple context of the Scriptures is just flat-out ignored.
And instead allegorical or philosophical answers are provided.
Some scholars have even gone so far as to say this verse was inserted at a later time and that it shouldn’t even be in the Scriptures.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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