Joshua's and My Thoughts - Joshua 24: 1-13

Joshua knows that he’s about to die, so after talking to “all the people of Israel” he calls just the elders of the tribes to him and tells them what God told him to say. He reminds them that their ancestors worshipped “other gods” on the other side of the Euphrates. TB makes an interesting note on the term “other gods” which is sometimes translated as “false gods,” he says that the literal translation is “non-gods” meaning, “non-entities.” This means that they don’t exist, so for a world where everyone believes in a bunch of gods and they have their main “boss” god, for Him to say “none of those other gods are real,” would have been a big blow to the understanding of the people. TB says that the main problem with ancient Israel accepting the almighty God at that time was because the prevailing belief among all people was that there were tons of gods that had very specific natural elements and that were contained to one specific geographic region. That’s why Jacob and Joseph died, they wanted to be taken back to the land of Canaan, because they wanted to go back to the land of their God, because they believed in the God of Israel but thought that he was stuck in Canaan and couldn’t get to Egypt to help them. That’s why Joshua here is walking the elders through all the different places that their God had provided miracles for them, he’s trying to get them to understand that this one God had power in all these places, which was unheard of at the time. TB does also note however, that it took several generations and hundreds of years before the people fully accepted this.

I want to note one thing about verse 4, verse 4 says, “I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.” I saw a video on Instagram the other day that really stuck with me that said Jacob had two sons and even though Esau was the first born, Jacob ended up with the calling to carry on the covenant. Esau was not the son chosen to carry that anointing, but he was still blessed abundantly, God gave Esau all that Jacob his father had but then blessed him with land, animals, gold, servants, family, children, wives, all the things that people think make life great, and they do. But what happened to Jacob who was given the higher calling? He was sent into servitude for over 20 years, he had constant conflict in his family, his children fought, and he thought that Joseph died. His children went into slavery in Egypt for 400 years, they had to be miraculously delivered. The whole point was that Esau was blessed abundantly, but Jacob suffered, because he was chosen for a higher calling. It was through that suffering that he was made ready to fulfill the job that God had for him to do.

This is something that I’ve been thinking about recently, about how trials and tribulations are tools used by God to prepare us for the callings he has for our lives, the jobs that he has for us to do. And like I’ve been thinking recently, that to inflect pain or suffering beyond what is required to teach the lesson is cruel, and because God’s not cruel, we can believe that any hardship that we endure is done closely monitored only to the level that we need, then we will be delivered and that there is no other way to achieve that level necessary. Meaning that I have to believe that there is no other way. And I’ve struggled a lot with comparing my burdens with that of others and thinking that I have it so much worse because I’m bad and need to be taught more. Like “I’m suffering through things most others aren’t because I’m not learning the lesson, or because I’m more rebellious than them or because I’m more disobedient than them.” At this point, I have to assume that more suffering CAN be caused by someone unwilling or refusing to learn the first time, but I don’t think that’s always or even usually the case. Sometimes the level of suffering is meant to teach a lesson that can’t be learned any other way, to prepare you for something that God has planned for you that you could not be prepared for any other way, because if there was an easier way but God refused to use it and made you suffer unnecessarily, then He’d be cruel, and He’s not. There literally is no other way, and that’s God’s promise.

Jacob’s children went down to Egypt, so God sent Moses and Aaron, “and I plagued Egypt… and afterward I brought you out.” Another fun IG note that I saw and liked and that was of Moses’ name meaning “to draw out” given to him by Pharoah’s daughter because she drew him out of the water, but that it had a double meaning because later God used Moses to draw His people out of Egypt. I thought that was cool. In another vein from that same video, I know this is kind of off topic, but they were talking about how God aligns things in your life that you couldn’t even imagine and the guy used the example of Moses’ mom putting him into the river and sending him away to save his life and noted that at that exact same moment, Pharoah’s daughter went to the river to bathe. There is no way that that is a coincidence, God made arrangements for Moses’ mom to send him into the river at the exact moment that would have made it possible for Pharoah’s daughter to take him out of it. He controlled river currents, what if one their way to the river, the mom thought she saw some Egyptian soldiers so they hid, or what if Pharoah’s daughter usually went at a later time but for some reason decided to go earlier. What circumstances did God have to inspire so that that exact moment happened? When thinking about this incident, I imagine how Moses’ mom felt putting her precious baby boy that she loved and wanted so much, putting him into a basket into a crocodile infested, enormous river. How she must have cried, how her heart must have broken, her anxiety must have been crushing.

I bet never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that only a few hours later, Miriam would come back to her telling her that not only was the baby safe and adopted by the royal family, but that she was going to get to nurse that baby, care for him, and be paid to do it. She probably couldn’t have even fathomed an outcome like that, but yet that’s what God arranged for her and for Moses. Another video I saw talked about the character of Pharoah’s daughter and how God must have prepared her in order for her to have compassion on Moses as a baby in the water and save him, knowing that he was a condemned baby. But another reason why she would have had to be spiritually prepared by God is because for most of his life, she acted as his mother. The acting mother of one of the greatest prophets of all time had to be a certain type of person in order for Moses to grow and progress and to develop the characteristic necessary for him to be used by God. Anyway, that is just some of my thoughts on this video that I saw about Moses. God making arrangements for his people that they couldn’t even imagine for themselves is something we’ll talk about later in verse 13, so the theme fits in a couple of different ways.

Moses and Aaron are mentioned but at no time is it even implied that they were the ones who delivered the people out of Egypt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen God mention Himself as many times as he does in verses 5-13. He says over and over again, “I did this for you, I delivered you, I gave you this,” it’s really interesting and it’s also interesting that He goes over the different geographic locations too but it makes sense if we consider it in the context that He’s trying to establish that He is the God of many different places to their understanding. God says that He plagued Egypt, He brought the Hebrews out, He saved them from the Egyptian pursuit, He “brought the sea upon them,” He gave the Amorites into their hands and “I destroyed them from before you.” God also brought up Balaam and Balak and that He delivered Israel from them as well. He also reminds them of all the people that fought against them after crossing the Jordan, “and I delivered them into your hand.” But he doesn’t stop there, he goes into detail of how he did it, “I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with they sword, not with thy bow.” I looked up what “hornet” could be referring to, Google says that the literal interpretation could be actual swarms of hornets that attacked the enemy armies, the metaphoric interpretation could mean “a plague, divine panic, or a debilitating terror that God placed in the hearts of the enemies to make them flee.” The other internet sources I’ve read seem torn on if it is literal of metaphoric, but we’ve seen in the scriptures that hearts melted in fear of the Israelites and their God, Rahab told the spies that everyone was terrified, so it could have been that. The word “hornet” has a footnote back to Exodus 23:26-27 which talks about God’s promise to send fear to the enemies but also uses the word “hornet” again saying, “And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.” So maybe actual hornets, that would be something, but effective.

All these victories God gave to Israel were done and “I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye swell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.” This is another example of God preparing a path for us that we couldn’t even imagine. If someone told me that I was going to get a promised land that was beautiful and fertile and have all types of amazing stuff there, I would think that it was great but I would still assume that I was going to have to till the soil and work to grow stuff but the Israelites were given homes and farms and food and water that they did not have to work for. God took Israel there knowing that they were to need a place to live and food to eat, and gave it to them, and I don’t imagine that Israel thought that it was going to work out that way. It’s interesting to look back at our own lives and the lives of others and think about all the times that God intervened for their good and things worked out that were miracles. We probably don’t even see most of them to be honest, I know I certainly don’t, and if I do see it, it’s way later when I reflect on stuff.

It’s like, again with Moses, when he fled Egypt after killing that Egyptian, he could have wandered in that desert literally anywhere, it’s a huge place, but it just so happened that he walked straight up to the camp of the only priesthood holder around and then married his daughter and was tutored by Jethro, a spiritual giant, for decades until he was ready to be used by God. What a coincidence! And like Ruth, could have gone anywhere, anywhere but she walked right up to Boaz’ field. Or the spies and Rahab or Alma running into Amulek first in Ammonihah. All those “coincidences,” but so much of history is hinged on those moments, there is not one single chance that God didn’t make those arrangements. I know in my own life how many times I’ve “accidentally” met someone or something happened or a friend of a friend had this connection, like just in the last couple of years the number of these “coincidences” are unreal. So it’s an interesting thought experiment to try to ferret these instances out and recognize what happened, what the outcome of that was, and in the case of the outcome being not what I wanted, then I have to accept that if God could have made miraculous arrangements for an outcome to go one way, but it just so happened that the miraculous arrangements lent to an outcome that I didn’t want, I have to recognize that this is obviously how God wants things to go then, and I have to accept that. Just like I would have accepted the outcome if God arranged it to work out how I wanted, I need to accept the outcome knowing that God could have done it my way but chose not to. I have to accept that He chose the outcome I didn’t want for a purpose, not to be cruel, but to bring about His will in the only way possible, as painful as that might be for me. If that makes sense.

Last the word “given” in verse 13 is cross referenced with Leviticus 18:24 which says, “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you.” I like the reminder that God didn’t destroy the Canaanites simply to give the land to Israel simply because they are special, but because those destroyed nations were so wicked that destruction was their only way to spiritual progress. That’s something to think about. How wicked do you have to be to where this life is no longer an option for you to progress spiritually? Knowing how merciful and longsuffering God is, how many chances He gives everyone, for Him to say, “physical destruction is the only way for you to progress spiritually now because of the depth of your wickedness.” It’s wild to think about. There’s also a reference in verse 8 with the word “destroyed” to 1 Nephi 17:32-35 where Nephi I think is teaching this same principle, that the Canaanites were destroyed due to their wickedness, not simply so that Israel could live there. I just like the reminder that this wasn’t mass slaughter for the sake of a “chosen” people, but also spiritual progression of the original inhabitants of that land.