Title Remember the Promise of Shechem
Contents
Remember the promise of Shechem
(Jos 24:14-18)
Joshua is the successor of Moses, the greatest figure in Israel's history. Moses is the author of the Exodus. His achievements are unparalleled in terms of politics, military and religion. However, without Joshua, his achievements might have been lost. Although Moses accomplished the Exodus, he did not achieve the ultimate goal of entering Canaan. He died with Canaan before his eyes. With Joshua as his successor, he asked for the mission of conquering Canaan. Joshua made it happen. Like Moses who parted the Red Sea, he stopped the Jordan River and captured Jericho and Ai. And he even finished distributing the land of Canaan to each tribe. Before his death, he gathered the representatives of the tribes together at Shechem and made a will. One of the passages is the text of today's sermon.
1. Shechem was the place where many events took place in the history of Israel. 1) The place where Abraham entered the land of Canaan and first built an altar and called on the name of Jehovah God (Genesis 12:6), 2) The place where the sons of Jacob plundered the people of Shechem (Genesis 34), 3 ) Jacob buried foreign gods and earrings under an oak tree near Shechem. (Gen. 35:4) 4) Rehoboam succeeded Solomon as king in Shechem, but the kingdom was divided by refusing the request of the northern tribes (1 Kings 12). ) With this historical background in mind, Joshua's will has a strong meaning.
2. Joshua asks the tribal representatives to either serve Jehovah alone or serve other gods. “Put away the gods that your ancestors worshiped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord only” (Joshua 24:14). This was also the case in Joshua's time.
In order to understand the text more accurately, it is necessary to know the historical background in which the text was written. It is a document that was written much later than the historical facts dealt with in the text. According to Old Testament scholars, this text was written in the Babylonian captivity. During the Babylonian captivity, faith in Jehovah God was threatened rather than deepened. Considering the Japanese colonial rule, this is natural logic. At first, intellectuals and religious people who took the lead in the anti-Japanese and anti-Japanese movements turned to builiness as the years passed. During the exile, Jews also became fascinated by the Babylonian Marduk beliefs, married foreign nationals, and formed partnerships with them. The unity of the tribes of South and North Korea is meaningless, and the tendency to settle for only reality has grown stronger. Some would have wished that the Babylonian period would continue. Those who wrote the text toward them demanded that they choose through the mouth of Joshua. Is it Jehovah God or a foreign god?