Joshua 23:1-5 - Joshua's Last Words

Again, I would like to ask for special prayer this morning for my grandson Luke. He will be going back into surgery around 7:15am to replace the shunts and tubing that were taken out because of an infection. He has been in the PICU at Roanoke Memorial for a couple weeks now since that surgery. We have lost count, but I think this is about the 16th or 17th surgery on his little brain to relieve the pressure of the leaking brain fluid that appeared shortly after he was born two years ago. Your prayer has made a major difference in his little life and his recovery from these surgeries. Please continue to also pray for his mom and dad, Kimberly and Chris Shaffer. We will post an update later today. Thanks again for your support and prayers.   In our study of the Book of Joshua we have now come down to the last two chapters. In these chapters we have the last words of Joshua to the leadership of Israel. It always appears that the last words a person says before they die are the ones that are the most important. They usually say something that they want their family and friends to remember for a long time to come and to pass on to future generations. From these two chapters we can clearly see that this is the case with Joshua by what he says.   Joshua had lived a long full life. His long life started in Egyptian bondage and ended in a worship service in the Promised Land. In between those events God had used him to lead Israel in defeating the enemy, conquering the land, and claiming the promised inheritance. With the Apostle Paul, Joshua could sincerely say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7).   In Joshua 23:14, Joshua said that he was about to go "the way of all the earth". He knew he was about to die. This is the way you and I must go if the Lord doesn't return first. But at the end of a long and full life, Joshua's greatest concern wasn't himself. His greatest concern was his people and their relationship to the Lord. He didn't want to leave until he had challenged them once again to love the Lord and keep His commandments. His life's work would be in vain if they failed to keep the covenant and enjoy the blessings of the Promised Land.   He first called a meeting of the leaders of the nation (v. 2), either at Shiloh or at his home in Ephraim, and warned them what would happen if they deserted the Lord. Then he gathered "all the tribes of Israel to Shechem" (24:1) and gave a farewell address which reviewed the history of Israel, starting with Abraham, and challenged the people to love the Lord and serve Him alone. In these two addresses Joshua emphasized several things.   Having assembled the leaders of the nation, Joshua presented them with two scenarios: Obey the Lord, and He will bless you and keep you in the land; disobey Him, and He will judge you and remove you from the land. These were the terms of the covenant God had made with Israel at Mount Sinai, which Moses had repeated on the Plains of Moab, and which Israel had reaffirmed at Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim.   Joshua's emphasis was on possessing the land (v. 5) and enjoying its blessings (vv. 13, 15-16). While Israel had gained control of Canaan, there still remained territory to possess and pockets of resistance to overcome. (See 13:1-13; 15:63; 16:10; 17:12-13; 18:3; Judg. 1-2.) The task of the tribes wasn't finished! The great danger, of course, was that the people of Israel would gradually change their attitudes toward the pagan nations around them and start accepting their ways and imitating them.   Joshua’s last words are just as important to us today as they were to his nation over three thousand years ago. We are all just one step away from falling into temptation and losing fellowship with the Lord we love. May the LORD help us to stay alert and take heed to what Joshua said in these two chapters!   God bless!