Day 68. Joshua 22-24

As we come to the end of the Book of Joshua, we return to the familiar themes of faithfulness and memory. When he sends them back to their lands on the eastern side of the Jordan, the aged Joshua reminds the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh to "take good care to observe the commandment and instruction that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded [them], to love the LORD [their] God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, and to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all [their] heart and with all [their] soul" (2:5).
No sooner did those eastern tribes return to their places across the Jordan but an alarming development took place. They built an altar "of great size" on their side of the river (22:10). For early Israel the centralization of worship represented faithfulness to the covenant, whereas decentralization and localization of worship signaled rebellion and apostasy. The western tribes interpreted this altar as a sign of secession, and they sent a delegation to threaten war.
This act of rebellion against the LORD represented a danger to the whole community, they said in what amounted to an ultimatum. The sin of apostasy the altar represented will have disastrous consequences for the entire people (22:20); sin is a corporate matter and not a purely individual one. The eastern tribes must return to worship in the tabernacle or face the threat of civil war (22:19).
But the eastern tribes protest that they have built their altar not as a place of sacrifice to undermine tabernacle worship, but an affirmation of the covenant. The altar is intended to remind future generations living on the far side of the Jordan of their oneness with the Chosen People (22:26). It is not an act of separation; it is a "witness" (22:28) to Israel's history and a testimony to the great acts God has done on their behalf. So the altar is called by those tribes "Witness," because "it is a witness between [the people] that the LORD is God" (22:34).
(That is the function of these heaps of stones that we often find Israel erecting in places significant to its history—they serve as a reminder of the past and a visible connection to what happened there, much in the way that a monument or a statue on a Civil War battlefield would to us. This, incidentally, is the source of the later Jewish practice of leaving small rocks in heaps in cemeteries and at other significant spots to honor to the dead and to represent the endurance of memory.)
The western tribes accept this explanation and crisis is avoided. The Israelite confederacy is preserved without civil war.
Now the aged Joshua, aware that he is about to die, follows the example of Moses in delivering a good-bye sermon, exhorting the people about the greatest danger arising from Israel's establishment in the Promised Land—intermarriage with the surviving Canaanite people who live there (23:12). Joshua warns that intermarriage with pagan folk will certainly lead to moral weakness and ultimate destruction, and, echoing the words of Moses, he condemns any accommodation to pagan culture and mixing of any kind (23:6).
Now in the final act of his leadership, Joshua gathers the tribes at Shechem to renew that covenant. The covenant renewal ceremony begins with a rehearsal of the history of Israel from the time of Abraham to the present moment (24:2 and following), with a special emphasis upon what God has done for them. Then the people are called act faithfully in response to the LORD's faithfulness (24:14 and following). The recitation ends with the call to make a decision—"Choose this day whom you will serve" (24:15).
There is a strong suggestion in verses 14 and 23 of chapter 24 that at least some of the people have divided their allegiance and are worshipping the pagan gods of Canaanites as well as the LORD.
Joshua challenges them to make a final choice—"You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God" (24:19). They are not holy; how can they approach a holy God? "He is a jealous God," Joshua warns them. "He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins." He questions their seriousness and their commitment to reform themselves. But the people signify their willingness to start over. "We will serve the LORD" (24:21), they say. So Joshua calls them to witness against themselves; if they fail in their promise they will be called to account (24:22). And a stone of witness is erected as a silent reminder to the covenant remade (24:27).
Finally, the book ends with the death of Joshua and of Eleazar, the high priest. They are the last representatives of the generation that remembered the exodus from Egypt and wilderness wandering. Joshua is a transitional figure. Now at his death the scene changes and different actors take the main parts. The era of judges is about to begin.