State of the Union

Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord. --Jeremiah 9:23-24

Tonight the President of the United States delivers his seventh State of the Union address.  He will doubtless say that the Union is strong, but that we can be stronger; that we have done well, but there are things we can do better; that there are things in our history that we'd better not repeat, and there are things in our future for which we must prepare.  The opposition party will take the stage for rebuttal, to say our present is not so good as our past, to say the way we have gotten here was the wrong path to take, and that we'd better watch our steps or we'll hasten our demise.

As we finish our character study of Joshua, we find him hitting on many of the same themes.  When he was young, God used him mightily.  He was one of the 12 spies that went into the Promised Land, and one of only two who believed that God would give it to them.  During the next 40 years, Joshua was mentored by Moses, and when Moses died looking across the Jordan into the Promised Land, Joshua led the people in.  Under Joshua's leadership, the sons of Israel conquered many kings.  They followed the commands of God as heard by Joshua, and were successful in their campaign, many times without having to lift a finger.

Even so, they still had work to do.  "When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the Lord said to him, 'You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over'." (Joshua 13:1). Joshua began to assign sections of land to each of the tribes.  The sons of Levi, the priestly tribe, did not receive an allotment of land, for the other tribes were to pay tithes to the Levites for their service to the Lord.  But Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Israel, had two sons of his own.  Ephraim took the towns in the highlands, the ones that had already been vacated during the military campaigns.  Manasseh had some towns that were still occupied by their enemies.

Yet the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region.  However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out completely.  The people of Joseph said to Joshua, "Why have your given us only one allotment and one portion for an inheritance?  We are a numerous people and the Lord has blessed us abundantly." --Joshua 17:12-14

Joshua must have stood there shaking his head. He must have thought, "Oy!  These people.  Do I  have to do everything for them?"  If you have ever been in charge of a group trying to reach a goal but not quite making it, you know how he must have felt.

"If you are so numerous," Joshua answered, "and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites."  The people of Joseph replied, "The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have iron chariots, both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel."  But Joshua said to the house of Joseph--to Ephraim and Manasseh--"You are numerous and very powerful.  You will have not only one allotment, but the forested hill country as well.  Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have iron chariots, and though they are strong, you can drive them out." --Joshua 17:15-18

It appears that Joshua was having trouble getting his message to sink in with the sons of Joseph.  Back in chapter 11, the northern kings had been given into their hands, and the sons of Israel were ordered by God to hamstring the horses and to burn the chariots.  But now, the sons of Joseph were complaining because their foes had iron chariots.  Iron can't be burned, so they must somehow be superior to the chariots belonging to their earlier foes.  Or were these men afraid of chariots now that they only had one tribe to fight against instead of all twelve?

I am reminded of the movie, "Hoosiers".  When the basketball team from the tiny Indiana village advanced to the state championships, they entered the huge arena with awe and wonder.  There were more seats in that arena than they had ever seen in one place.  Why, their whole town could be swallowed up in just one section near the exit.  The wise coach, played by Gene Hackman, pulled a tape measure out of his jacket pocket.  He asked the team to measure the distance from the goal to the floor.  "It's just ten feet, Coach."  He smiled and told them that all of the other measurements were the same, as well--it was the same distance from the baseline to the foul line as their gym back home.  It was still basketball.  And though they were small, they were still very good at basketball.

Joshua was trying to convey the same message.  Unfortunately, the half-tribe of Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh did not get the message.  Beth Shan, one of the cities in the territory they had been given, was a fortified city that was not conquered by them.  In 1 Samuel 31:10, it says that King Saul, the first king of Israel to reign instead of God, was killed by the Philistines, and that his body was fastened to the wall at Beth Shan.

What is the message, then, for us? Ephraim and Manasseh knew that they had been blessed by God, because they were given many offspring, and were great in number.  Joshua was trying to get them to see that if God blessed them in this way, He would surely care for them: He would give them places to live, and raw materials to build new cities ("go up into the forest and clear the trees".)  But they either wanted to inhabit cities already built (laziness), or they were afraid that the Canaanites had tanks and large bore weaponry (iron chariots).  Either way, their disobedience to God limited God's blessing them in other ways, both militarily and territorially. How often do we do the same thing.  We hold on to God's blessing in one area, but fail to gain victory over what He wants for us, due to our own whining and laziness and fear.

As Joshua was approaching the age of 110, he summoned the people together, their elders, leaders, judges and officials, and said to them:

I am old and well advanced in years.  You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you....Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left.  Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them.  You must not serve them or bow down to them.  But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.  The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you.  One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as He promised.  So be very careful to love the Lord your God....Now I am about to go the way of all the earth.  You know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed.  Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.  But just as every good promise of the Lord your God has come true, so the Lord will bring on you all the evil He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.  If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the land He has given you."  --Joshua 23:2-16

 He went on to remind them of their history, and how God had blessed Abraham, their father.  He blessed Jacob in Egypt, but when they became oppressed by the Egyptians, He sent Moses and Aaron to bring them out.  He blessed them in their battle with the Amorites, east of the Jordan.  These were the people who hired Balaam to put a curse on them, but God spoke through Balaam's donkey to dissuade him from that purpose, and to reinforce God's blessing on them.  God made the walls of Jericho fall down before them; He made the kings of the southern regions fall before them, and the armies of the northern regions fell.

So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from the vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.  Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness.  Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. --Joshua 24:13-15

O, that we would have leaders today who would speak with such conviction.  We must not sacrifice faithfulness on the altar of diversity.  We can respect all people, but not buy in to their religions.  We must remember our history, and recognize how God has fought for us and given us victory.  But we must not return to the way we were before we knew God.  We must work for good, and not rest on our laurels.  We must give God the glory for what He has done in our lives; for if we boast in ourselves, we will surely fail.  We must build on the blessings that God has bestowed upon us, and not box up His gifts without using them to advance His kingdom.   We must make that choice, and make it today--will we serve God, or not?  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  That, my friends, is the state of the union.