The Rock That Heard
by Eric Engelmann
All content © 2023 Static Force, LLC
When are we?
About 1375 BC. Before Jesus, Daniel, and David. After Noah, Abraham and Moses. This is the end of Joshua's life.
Where are we?
We're at Shechem. We've been here in a previous episode. We viewed Abram entering the promised land. He built an altar here about 700 years ago. That altar was in response to how the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”
There are plenty of rocks near Shechem. Jacob later came here and built another altar. He also buried the family idols here under the oak near Shechem.
Joshua will be doing the same thing Jacob did. He will be telling the people to forsake their idols.
There's an interesting picture of a large stone resting upon buried idols in this passage.
Scripture
Joshua 24
Listen for "foreign gods" and "witness". In this context "witness" is a legal term containing evidence.
Verse 14 “Therefore, fear the Lord and worship him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship the Lord.
NOTE: That was the first reminder to forsake idols. Here comes the second.
Verse 22 Joshua then told the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you yourselves have chosen to worship the Lord.”
“We are witnesses,” they said.
23 “Then get rid of the foreign gods that are among you and turn your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
Note: Joshua is saying it's in the peoples' power to turn their hearts to the Lord.
Verse 24 So the people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and obey him.”
25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people at Shechem and established a statute and ordinance for them.
26 Joshua recorded these things in the book of the law of God; he also took a large stone and set it up there under the oak at the sanctuary of the Lord.
27 And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone—it will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the Lord said to us, and it will be a witness against you, so that you will not deny your God.”
28 Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.
That's the end of the passage.
The stone that was set up may have been on top of the place where Jacob buried idols.
This could be a picture of the idols being crushed under a stone -- a real reminder that idols do not win. It's also a picture that we can rule over our impulses and serve the Most High.
Today’s Unpaid Plug
The Ezra Project.
https://ezraproject.com/ . It's a site that teaches Biblical Greek. I liked their article on Petra, Petros and Lithos: Identifying Rocks.
In the future
The Apostle James will write in the New Testament that if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking in a mirror who goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he is.
Forgetting the witness is a good summary of the upcoming history of Israel. It will forget its promise to exclude foreign gods.
Further in the future, people will not turn their hearts toward the Lord. John will write in Revelation that they will say to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb."
By the grace of the Messiah, may we turn our hearts to the Lord and live to enjoy life and future episodes.
All content © 2023 Static Force, LLC