Barry Metz 07/09/17

Joshua’s Farewell SpeechJoshua 23

Often times, one’s last words are not very meaningful. Karl Marx, the Prussian born economist, atheist, socialist, and revolutionary is said to have told his “housekeeper, sitting at his bedside eager to record his last pearls for posterity….and we bend forward to listen….. ‘Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.’”1

Well we come to some of Joshua’s last words this morning in Joshua 23--admittedly Joshua will speak words in Joshua 24 but it seems to me that Joshua 23 is his farewell speech. And Joshua is no fool--Marx said last words are for fools who haven’t said enough--Joshua is no fool. He’s a wise old man with plenty to say, meaningful words for his original audience and meaningful words for you and me.

Let me give you an overview of what we’ll do this morning. First we’ll look at Joshua’s speech in Joshua 23. Then I’ve invited Kaitlin deGraffenried, Keith Sullens and Birne Wiley to share their reflections on God’s faithfulness over the course of their lives. And I want to reassure you up front that we’re not calling what they share their ‘farewell speeches.’ But I am praying that we will all be stirred by what they share. And after they share, we’ll close our time by taking the Lord’s Supper together reflecting on Jesus’s faithfulness as our Savior.

If you have your bibles, follow along as I read the entire chapter, Joshua 23.

23 A long time afterward, when the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, 2 Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. 3 And you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the LORD your God who has fought for you. 4 Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5 The LORD your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the LORD your God promised you. 6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day. 9 For the LORD has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. 10 One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you, just as he promised you. 11 Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your 

1 Jackman, Joshua People of God’s Purpose

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God. 12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you. 

14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.” 

Don’t you think that the audience was very quiet when Joshua came to a close?

Here is a possible outline of Joshua’s speech which may help us put a handle on it

I Introduction, vs. 1-2II. Remembering and Exhortation2, Part 1, vs. 3-8III. Remembering and Exhortation, Part 2, vs. 9-13IV. Final Warning, vs. 14-16

I want to highlight one thing we’ll see in the speech up front. The intensity of the exhortations and warnings increases as we move through the speech. What am I talking about? Well the first exhortation, part of Roman numeral II , verses 6-8 specifically simply urges Israel to steer clear of the Canaanites and their gods left in the land. The second exhortation, part of Roman numeral III, verses 12-13 specifically, actually warns of potential disaster: snares and traps, and whips and thorns. The final warning, Roman numeral IV turns up the heat all the way: “If

2 These words suggested by Hubbard, NIV Application Commentary

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Israel disobeys, Joshua stresses, their future will be as ‘bad’ as their past was ‘good’”3 So we’ll point the escalation of warning as we move along.

Verses 1-2 set the scene for us. A long time has passed. ‘It’s believed that as many as 25 years have passed ‘since the major battles for Canaan ceased and the land allotment began.’4

Joshua is not just old, he is very old. We know that he died at the age of 1105 so he’s probably close to that age as he delivers this speech. Verse 2 Joshua summoned all Israel--it’s elders and heads, its judges and officers.

Let me share one author’s attempt to capture the drama of the scene:

All of Israel’s key leaders sit up front facing Joshua, thousands of Israelites behind them. Everyone has arrived from all over Canaan to hear the very man who allotted each of them their inheritances. A hush falls across the crowd as Joshua, white-haired, slightly stooped, and assisted by an aide, ascends a temporary platform or large stone to be seen and heard. All eyes are on him, all ears ready to hear what the grand old man, the one to whom they owe so much, has to say.6

Well in verses 3-4, Joshua urges them to remember…. They’d seen God help them win many battles. They’d seen God fight for them. Many of them were there when the walls came a tumbling down at Jericho.7 Many of them were there when the sun stood still in the Valley of Aijalon. They saw the cities of northern Canaan conquered. They saw, one by one, the cities of southern Canaan conquered. You’ve seen all that the LORD your God had done to all these nations for your sake for it is Yahweh your God who has fought for you.

Remember…remember…God has been faithful to fight your battles. Remember!

Some of you looking back can remember how God helped you with a difficulty, how he got you out of a tight spot, or how he completely fought a battle for you. Remember! Joshua tells us sitting here many years later.

In verse 4, Joshua reminds his audience he had given them all their inheritances--some received inheritances that were still chock full of Canaanites AND others received inheritances where the Canaanites were completely wiped out.

3 Hubbard4 Dodson, page 343 We know that Caleb was 85 when he got his inheritance. If Joshua was close to Caleb’s age and now close to death, 110 years old, then close to 25 years have passed.5 Joshua 24:296 Hubbard, R. L., Jr. (2009). Joshua (p. 517). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.7 Joshua 6

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Having challenged them to remember, verses 3-4, Joshua reminded them, verse 5, that they could count on God in the future, they could count on God to help them fight their future battles. The God who was faithful in the past, he would be faithful in the present, and would be faithful in the future. Yahweh your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight.  And you shall possess their land, just as Yahweh your God promised you.    God will dispossess them, and then you possess their land! Just as the Lord promised you! Do you remember what the last verse of Joshua chapter 21 was? Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

When we say God is faithful we mean that he will keep all of his promises to us. In fact all of God’s promises find their yes in Jesus Christ8 And our lives are completely hidden in Him.9

In verse 6 we come to the exhortation. So again we have the challenge to remember and then the exhortation. 6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left,

Joshua urges the people to be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the Law…Now as you hear those words in verse 6, perhaps you’re recalling that God himself had challenged Joshua with those very same words back in Joshua chapter 1.

So the Lord challenged Joshua in chapter 1 to be strong in obeying the scriptures. And Joshua here in our text is passing that challenge along. (By the way….if any of you are beginning to write your ‘farewell speech’, this challenge from Joshua 1:7-8 and Joshua 23:6 would be a good one to include!)

I had the privilege of joining the Pendergasts for Betty Lou Pendergast’s 90th birthday party on Friday night;Betty Lou is George’s mother. There were four generations at the party. And it had been a long time since I had been in a room with four generations. And as I was studying yesterday, I just began to reflect on how moving it would be to record on video the four

8 1 Cor. 1:209 Col. 3:3

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generations passing that challenge down….Betty to George, George to Keon, Keon to Katy and then some day Katy to her children….I guess would be five generations….6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left,

The law is pictured as a path to walk straight on, not veering to the right or to the left. Success comes when we are strong to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the Law so that we walk the narrow path.

To obey God we must have strength of resolve, strength of character, strength of spirit.10

One author writes…“The command to be strong drives us away from ourselves to the only (true) source of our strength, the Lord himself. The command to be strong drives us to our knees to pray for strength. It drives us to scripture to find the encouragement for strength. It draws us together to encourage one another to be strong in the Lord.”11

Moving along… In verse 7, Joshua paints the outcome of a life lived in obedience to the scriptures….7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day.

Joshua briefly highlights 5 life situations when Israelites might relate to their Canaanite friends and neighbors….

First,. ….Not mixing with the nations remaining among them …this had to do with their casual associations, their rubbing shoulders in the day in and day out interactions of life, “day to day contacts that might tempt the Israelites to become like the Canaanites just to get along.”12

Second…not making mention of the names of their gods.  To mention was to cause to remember. It involved acknowledging the name of a foreign god.13 There is that scene in the book of Ruth--Ruth chapter 2--where Boaz arrived at his harvest field near Bethlehem and greeted his workers, “Yahweh be with you” to which his workers responded, “Yahweh bless you.”  “So (the question is) what God (or gods) would be invoked when a Canaanite greeted or said goodbye to an Israelite somewhere in Canaan?”14

10 Dodson, page 35011 Dodson, page 35012 Hubbard13 Hubbard14 Hubbard

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“Baal be with you!”… Would the Israelite feel the need to accommodate his neighbor to get along? “Same back at you neighbor….Baal be with you too!”

Third…or swearing by them… the idea here is the ‘ordinary common agreements that two people would typically seal with an oath--since parties typically called on deities to enforce oaths. Which God would they use in their oaths?

Fourth and fifth …or serving them or bowing down to them.. just flat out worshipping them.

In contrast to falling into idolatry, verse 8, they were to cling to Yahweh just as they had up to the day of Joshua’s farewell speech….

“The verb to cling in the Old Testament is at the root of the modern Hebrew word for glue.”15 When you glue two pieces of wood together, you join them with the intent that they will stay together and nothing will get between them.16 That’s a picture of what our God wants for us.

“To cling firmly to God is to embrace him so tightly--to observe such exclusive loyalty to him--as to leave not even the smallest crack for other gods between the two of you.”17

So here’s the question--“Are (you and I) clinging to the Lord or are (we) letting other people and other things intrude into the relationship and divert (our) devotion (to Him)?”18

What would it look like to meet someone who was clinging to God like these verses exhort us to do? What would we see in their lives? What would we hear from their lips? “Yep that’s a clinger” we would say.

So that’s verses 3-8.

15 Dodson,page 35116 Dodson, page 35117 Hubbard18 Dodson, page 351

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On our outline we’ve just covered Roman numeral II:“Remembering and Exhortation, Part 1”. As we come to verse 9-13 we’ll again do some more remembering and then Joshua will give another exhortation/warning. And we’ll see how his warning is ratcheted up a notch.

Look at verse 9 and 109 For the LORD has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. 10 One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.

Again Joshua urges his audience to remember what God did to bring them to this place--how he drove out strong nations, how he fought for them, and how he took on incredible odds on their behalf, just as he promised. He wants them to remember how invincible they were when God was on their side.

Well verses 11-13 are the exhortation or warning…11 Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. 

“You have been invincible.” Joshua says. And what’s at the heart of your invincibility? A flourishing, exuberant, mushrooming, thriving, clinging, love for God.

Have you and I come to see that everything in our lives go best when God is first? ….that everything goes better when we love God first. ….that everything falls into place when we love God first. ….that everything comes up roses when we stop taking second things and giving them first place in our lives.

What battle needs your attention most?

Take your eyes off of your spouse.Take your eyes off of your childrenTake your eyes off of your workTurn your eyes first on Yahweh your God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.Be very careful to love the LORD your God.  ….loving God is our first priority all the time.

12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations…..notice that word cling here in verse 12 and we’re talking about clinging to the Canaanites left in the land… you see faithfulness is all about clinging….who are you clinging to?.... if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the LORD your God will no 

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longer drive out these nations before you….in other words you will no longer be invincible, you will no longer have Gods help, you will no longer sense that God is fighting your battles…. but they …the remnant of these nations or the nations themselves…shall be a snare and a trap for you...

What do the words snare and trap communicate? Snares and traps surprise us, they catch the unsuspecting, don’t they? The coming disaster will be a complete surprise19... Snares and traps are often inescapable and ultimately fatal too….But there’s more…. they will not just be a snare and a trap for Israel, they will also be a whip on your sides….whips beat the unwilling into submission20, whips punish….. and thorns in your eyes…incredible pain, shooting pain…., until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you.

As I said, this warning is ratcheted up a notch from the first one, isn’t it? Yes. And what’s Joshua’s root concern? That the Israelites will intermarry with the Canaanites. Faithfulness boils down to this: To whom will you cling?

The New Testament shares a similar concern. A person who does not believe the same promises and embrace the same hope will lead you away from God and cause you untold suffering.

We come to Roman numeral IV. A Final Warning and Joshua returns where he began… ‘to his age’ 14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth…life is like a road that one enters at birth and travels on until he dies…the way of all the earth… and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you…that’s a pretty inclusive statement isn’t it? ….inside, all of you know that God has been faithful…. that not one word has failed (literally fallen to the ground) of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has fallen to the ground.

Could the same be said about God’s faithfulness to us? That not one of Gods promises has failed? I think so. I can’t imagine that anyone will arrive in heaven with this idea in their minds….”There’s a promise that God made to me that he didn’t fulfill.” No all of his promises find their yes in Jesus.

Verse 15 But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you…just as God has been faithful to bring upon them good because of their obedience, he will be just as faithful to bring upon them evil for their disobedience…. 16 if you transgress the covenant of the LORD 19 Hubbard20 Dodson

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your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.” 

“If Israel disobeys, Joshua argues, their future will be as ‘bad’ as their past was ‘good’”21

Nothing so hurts and infuriates God as when his people leave him and take up with other ‘lovers’.22

-----------------

I’ve asked Kaitlin deGraffenried, Keith Sullens, and Birne Wiley to share a little life with us this morning. Specifically I asked them to reflect on two questions--“How has God been faithful to me?” And “At this stage in my life, what motivates me to be faithful?”

Let me set up their time with a quote from a commentary that I came across…

But Joshua 23 presumes that life is like a road on which one enters at birth and travels until death. However long or short the journey, every stage is a whole new experience because one travels this road only once and only in one direction—forward. The inexorable advance of aging ensures that. A young traveler can only imagine what the road is like at age forty or seventy because he or she has never traveled that part of it before. The only way to learn about what the road ahead is like is to listen to travelers who have passed there.23

____________

Kaitlin deGraffenried

Keith Sullins

Birne Wiley

_____________

Clearly the faithfulness of Jesus Christ our Savior should motivate us to faithfulness. Though he was in the form of God (Phil. 2 tells us), he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to point of death even death on a cross.

21 Hubbard22 Hubbard23 Hubbard, R. L., Jr. (2009). Joshua (pp. 530–531). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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In view of Christ’s death, the writer of Hebrews urges us to lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the founder and perfector of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

Well our Savior died and he was raised from the dead and now he sits at the right hand of God interceding for us. His throne is a throne of grace that we can confidently draw near to receive mercy and grace to help in time of need.

Would the men come forward?

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (ESV) 

Pass out the bread

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Pass out the juice

 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 

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