"Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God." (Joshua 24:1) Scholars disagree on what the text means when it says "they presented themselves before God". Much of the time in the Scriptures, doing something "before God" or "in the Lord's presence" means being at the tabernacle (or later, at the temple). But we have been told that the tabernacle is at Shiloh at this time, although since the tabernacle was portable it could easily have been moved to Shechem for this solemn occasion. However, everything we do is within the sight of the Lord, and if we gather together in His name, go to Him in prayer, or meditate upon His word we are doing these things "before God" or "in the presence of the Lord". Marriage vows are another example of this; whether the ceremony is held in a house of worship or not, we understand that the Lord is witnessing our vows and we consider ourselves to be not only married in the eyes of man's law but married in the Lord's eyes as well. The assembly in Chapter 24 may or may not have been held in the presence of the tabernacle, which contained the ark of the covenant, but it can legitimately be said to have been held "before God" because it was held in His name and it was held in His honor.
Shechem is a very significant location because it is the place where the Lord promised Abraham, "To your offspring I will give this land," and it was at Shechem that Abraham built an altar to the Lord to commemorate the Lord's promise. (Genesis 12:6-7) It makes sense that Joshua would assemble the people at Shechem now that this promise has been fulfilled, for as Joshua said to the leadership of Israel in yesterday's passage, "You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed." (Joshua 23:14)
Joshua begins with Abraham and recounts the story of how God has fulfilled His promises. "Joshua said to all the people, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.'" (Joshua 24:2-4) Abraham was born into an idolatrous culture and probably engaged in idolatry himself until he answered the call of the Lord. I want to stop here and point out that the Lord calls everyone to worship and serve Him; not everyone answers the call. The Lord would have loved it if everyone from Abraham's hometown of Ur had turned to Him from useless idols, but we don't know whether anyone from Ur other than Abraham was willing to cast aside their pagan beliefs and place all their trust in the one true God. We just know that Abraham did place all his trust in the Lord and that because he trusted the Lord he became the father of a great nation.
You and I may never have bowed on our knees before a graven image but before we answered the Lord's call we could technically be said to have been living in idolatry because we were serving ourselves, weren't we? The one who serves his own desires has made a god of himself. We were serving the flesh and we were serving the powers of darkness when we lived in opposition to the Lord. As the Apostle Paul said, "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." (Ephesians 5:8a) Abraham was born into a culture of spiritual darkness but lined shined into his life when he answered the call of the Lord. You and I also were once living in spiritual darkness but the light of life shined into our hearts when we answered the call of the Lord.
Join us tomorrow as we continue on through Joshua's speech as he recounts the great things the Lord has done and as he appeals to the people to never turn from the God who keeps His promises.
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