Troublesome Topic: More Witnesses of the Former Covenant
Lesson 12 of 12The heavens and the earth were also made to be witnesses to this covenant relationship.
Deuteronomy 30:19
Translation
Today I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Therefore, choose life so you may live, both you and your descendants.
Paraphrase
This very day I call upon heaven and earth to witness the choice you will make, for I have set before you
the options of living a full and meaningful life or living a life full of death and suffering, of living a life full of blessings or living a life characterized by the curses of the covenant. Choose the way of life, so you can live, and remember that your choice will affect your descendants as well as yourself.
The Israelites needed to look no further than the creation around them (heaven and earth) to see reminders of God’s character and qualities. Also, if they remembered that everything God has made is taking note of their choices, they may think twice before doing the wrong thing. These would serve as reminders that they were being watched. In one way it is true that nature is watching what we are doing, because, in certain ways, nature is affected by the negative consequences of our actions.
There were several other witnesses God used to motivate His people toward faithfulness to His covenant. Some of those were the song of Moses (Deut. 31:19),
Go to footnote numberand the book of the law itself (Deut. 31:26).
Go to footnote numberUnder Joshua’s leadership, the people themselves were made witnesses to their own commitments. Joshua told the people the following:
If you are looking for good reminders of what God is like you need look no further than the creation that surrounds us. We can see in nature the miracle of new life, the cycle of life and death and be reminded to choose life. These would serve as reminders that they were being watched. If they remembered that everything God has made is taking note of their choices, they may think twice before doing the wrong thing. In one way it is true that nature is watching what we are doing, because, in certain ways, nature is affected by the negative consequences of our actions.
Joshua 24:14
Translation
“And now, fear
YHVH (read Adonai) and serve Him completely
and truthfully, and remove
Go to footnote numberthe gods your fathers served on the other side of the river,
Go to footnote numberand in EGYPT and serve
Go to footnote numberYHVH (read Adonai)!
Paraphrase
“Therefore, be careful to act appropriately in your relationship with THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD, and serve Him with full devotion that is unimpaired by anything negative, and serve him with honesty, not just pretending to serve Him, and remove from your presence the false gods your fathers served on the other side of the Euphrates river, and in THE PLACE THAT IS BOUND BY SIN, and serve only THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD.
Joshua 24:15
Translation
But if it seems wrong or unpleasant
Go to footnote numberin your sight to serve
YHVH
Go to footnote number(read Adonai) then, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your fathers served that were on the other side of the river,
Go to footnote numberor the gods of the AMORITES
Go to footnote numberin whose land you dwell,
Go to footnote numberbut I and my family
Go to footnote numberwill serve YHVH (read Adonai)!
Paraphrase
But if,
for whatever reason,
you don’t want to serve
THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD, then make a clear choice today which deity you will commit yourself to, be it the gods Abram’s people worshipped in Mesopotamia, on the other side of the Euphrates River,
or the gods of the MOUNTAIN DWELLERS
who proved useless in protecting their people from our God, evidenced by the fact that you now have all their land, their houses and their stuff!
But I, together with the family I lead, will only serve THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD.
Joshua 24:16
Translation
But the people responded
Go to footnote numberand said, “Far be it from us to desert YHVH (read Adonai) to serve other gods.”
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
But the people shouted their response saying, “There’s no way we will ever forsake THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD in order to serve other gods.”
They then stated their reason, which was that the God of their fathers was the one that brought them out of slavery in Egypt. So they got it. At that point in time, they had a proper understanding of things, and appear to have been committed to following the God of the Bible. But Joshua could not accept the words of this people at face value. He knew them too well. So he spoke to them again, this time more harshly.
Joshua 24:19
Translation
But JOSHUA said to the people, “You are not able to serve YHVH (read Adonai) for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God, He will not bear
Go to footnote numberyour rebellious transgressions
Go to footnote numberand your sins.
Paraphrase
But THE SAVIOR said to the people, “You are incapable of serving THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD for He is
very different from us; He does not put up with disloyalty, and He will not tolerate for long your rebellious wickedness or your offenses.
Joshua 24:20
Translation
If you forsake
Go to footnote numberYHVH (read Adonai) and serve
foreign gods, He will turn and do you harm
and utterly destroy
Go to footnote numberyou after He has done good to you.
Paraphrase
If you forsake THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD and serve foreign gods, He will change the way He has been acting toward you and do harm to you;
He might annihilate you even though He has been good to you in the past.
Joshua 24:21
Translation
But the people said to JOHSUA, “No, rather we will serve YHVH (read Adonai).”
Paraphrase
But the people said to THE SAVIOR, “No, we won’t do that; we will serve THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD.”
Joshua 24:22
Translation
So JOSHUA said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen YHVH (read Adonai) for yourselves to serve Him.” Then the people said, “We are witnesses.”
Paraphrase
So THE SAVIOR said
to the people, “You are
witnesses against yourselves, pledged to remind each other that you have chosen THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD as your God of choice, to follow Him faithfully.” The people responded, “Yes, we are witnesses.”
When Joshua stated that the people were witnesses against themselves, it was intended that, having pledged together to uphold and follow the stipulations God had laid out, they would remind one another of their commitments and hold each other accountable. On one hand, we should not need outside motivators and watchdogs to keep us accountable. On the other hand, it seems that we humans are very weak-willed and benefit greatly from knowing we are accountable to others. So, while it should not be necessary, accountability is a very positive thing, and even God utilized it to motivate His people.
If you are reading the short or medium length versions of this study on covenants, the next lesson is: Tithing Taught Faith and Trust
If you are reading the full version of this study on covenants, the next lesson is: How Should I Approach God?
Footnotes
1: Dt 31:19
“Therefore, write down [a copy of] this song for yourselves and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it in their mouths so that this song will be a witness for me against the sons of Israel.”
2: Dt 31:26
“Take this book of the Law and put it beside the Ark of the Covenant of YHVH your Elohim, so that from there it may serve as a witness against you.”
3: "remove":
This word usually means “depart from,” which means you are moving yourself away from something; but in this case the verb is in a form that is causative, to cause something to depart from you; in this form it carries the meaning of “remove”. The Israelites were to throw away the idols that were in their homes or on the high places, but they were also to remove themselves from such practices.
4
The words “the river” usually referred to the Euphrates River. Thus it is a reference to the gods served by the people from whom Abram was taken when God called him to move to Palestine.
5
While the text does not say “serve only YHVH,” it is strongly implied by the command to get rid of all other gods.
6
“wrong or unpleasant” carries both a moral sense and a personal preference idea. It can mean any of the following: “bad, wrong, evil” or “unpleasant, disagreeable.” I believe that, whenever double meanings were appropriate, the ancient Israelites understood both meanings to be intended. Here Joshua is leaving the door open; whatever their motivation for choosing other gods may be, that does not matter, “just make a clear choice.”
7
We could repackage what Joshua was saying like this, “If, after all that God has done for you, you choose to abandon Him, well, He is giving you that choice. But think about who you are abandoning. He proved He has more power than all the gods of Egypt combined; He proved He can keep you alive in the desert where there is no food or water; He proved He can keep your clothes and shoes from wearing out for forty years; He proved he can help you defeat enemies that are better prepared and more experienced in battle than you are; He proved He has control over the elements of nature such as the behavior of water; and He proved that He keeps His promises. Now if you think He has failed you, or if you think the price He asks of you is too high, you have the freedom to make this choice, and you can indeed turn your back on YHVH and walk away from him (but you would be stupid to do so).”
8
The meaning of “the river”: Throughout Scripture the phrase “the river,” without any other name or indicator, always refers to the Euphrates River. Why is it mentioned here? Abram’s family and relatives appear to have been worshippers of the deities that were common in their part of Mesopotamia. We don’t know for sure about Abram himself, but it seems that his family did so. There were apparently a few among the Israelites that still clung to those beliefs and they justified it by saying they were following the ways of their ancestors. That is mentioned specifically by Joshua to counter such attempts at justifying that brand of idolatry.
9
The meaning of the name “Amorites”: The word seems to mean “mountain dwellers,” “those who live on the heights,” from a root word which means “a prominence, a height” also “to make prominent by proclaiming it publicly,” or simply “to utter or speak.” In the one Hebrew verb form it meant “to be proud or boastful.” Therefore, at its simplest level it meant “mountain dwellers, or dwellers of the heights,” while at its more complex level it could possibly mean “Loud-mouth, arrogant dwellers of the heights.”
10
By mentioning the Amorites and adding “in whose land you dwell,” he was poking them, mocking them for even considering such a thing. Today we would say it something like this: “If you accept the gracious gift of land from the God who is capable of taking it from them and giving it to you, but then turn against Him to serve the gods who were unable to protect their people from us, that would be a special kind of stupid.”
11
Joshua was committed to personally following the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and also to being a good leader for his family. The alternative options he just finished laying out before them were not options at all for him and his family.
12
“responded” can mean “respond, answer, speak, shout, sing, or testify as a witness.” The word itself does not give any indication about the intensity of what is spoken, nor does the grammar utilized here contain an intensive verb form, but their actual words demonstrate a high degree of intensity. Therefore, in the translation column I have kept it as a simple response, while in the paraphrase column I describe it as an intense response.
13
This is the word Elohim. In this case it is not a proper name, rather it is just what the word would normally be, “gods.”
14
“bear” comes from a root word meaning “to lift, to rise up, to bear, or to carry.” It is sometimes used of “forgiveness” in the sense of “carry away,” but in this context the idea of “to bear” seems most fitting because “bearing” has the sense of “putting up with.”
15
“rebellious transgressions” is usually translated simply as “transgression.” However, it comes from a root word meaning “to revolt, or to rebel.” Therefore I have inserted the idea of rebellion to make clear how it differs from the next word used – “sins.”
16
“forsake” has a primary meaning of “leave.”
17
“utterly destroy” basically means “an end, or completion;” it also means “to bring to an end, thus destroy, annihilate, or exterminate.” It is a very strong word.