Choose This Day

An old man stands under a great oak tree. In front of him, as far as he can see, are the people he has led for years. He has one more thing to say. And it isn't a speech. It's a question.

Joshua is very old now, close to the end of a long life. The wars are over. The tribes of Israel have settled in their own towns, farming their own fields. So Joshua calls them all together at Shechem: the elders, the leaders, the judges, the officers, everyone. Shechem is an old place, full of memories. It's where God first promised this land to Abraham, long ago. And here, Joshua speaks for God.

He tells them their own story. “Long ago, your ancestors lived beyond the great river and served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham and led him through this land. I gave him Isaac, and Isaac had Jacob and Esau. Jacob's family went down to Egypt. I sent Moses and Aaron. I brought you out. When the Egyptians chased you to the sea, I put darkness between you and them and brought the sea down on them. You saw it with your own eyes.” On it goes: the wilderness, the battles east of the Jordan, the prophet Balaam who came to curse and could only bless, the walls of Jericho.

Then comes the line that should make them look around in wonder. “I gave you a land you did not work for, and cities you did not build, and you live in them. You eat from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.” Everything they have is a gift. Not one bit of their story began with them.

And so Joshua comes to the point. “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt. But if serving the Lord seems wrong to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. The gods your ancestors served, or the gods of the people whose land you're living in.” He pauses. “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” The crowd answers at once. “Far be it from us to leave the Lord to serve other gods! He brought us out of Egypt. We will serve the Lord.”

Now Joshua says something surprising. “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God, a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. If you leave the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you, after he has done you good.” He wants them to understand that this isn't an easy yes, said in the excitement of a big meeting. But they insist. “No! We will serve the Lord.” “Then you are witnesses against yourselves,” says Joshua. “We are witnesses.” “Then throw away the foreign gods among you, and turn your hearts to the Lord.” “We will serve the Lord our God, and obey his voice.”

That day Joshua made a covenant with the people. He wrote the words in the book of the law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak by the holy place. “This stone has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness, in case you deny your God.” Then he sent everyone home. Not long after, Joshua died, and they buried him in his own land. They also buried the bones of Joseph at Shechem, carried all the way from Egypt. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and of the elders who outlived him.

Many scholars have noticed that this chapter follows the shape of covenant treaties from the ancient Near East. Those treaties often opened by naming the great king, then told the history of what he had done for the weaker party, then set out what was required, and finished with witnesses and a written record. Joshua 24 has all of those pieces: the history, the call to serve only the Lord, the witnesses, the words written in a book, and even a standing stone. Israel would have recognised it at once as a solemn, binding agreement.

Choose This Day. You'll find it in Joshua chapter 24. Joshua didn't make the choice for them. He told them what God had done, told them what he had decided, and asked them to decide too. So here's the question to carry with you. If someone asked you today whom you serve, what would your answer be?