Joshua
24:1-13 And
Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long
ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and
of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from
beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his
offspring many. I gave him Isaac. And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. And I
gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went
down to Egypt. And I sent Moses and
Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterward I
brought you out.
Eighteen times in these
verses Joshua recounts what God has done for Israel from its inception. “I
took…I gave…I sent…I plagued…I did…I brought…I gave…I destroyed…I delivered…”
The words of “the Lord, the God of Israel” clearly explain to the people
gathered before Joshua that He had made their very existence that day possible.
From the first promise spoken to Abraham through the conquest of the Promised
Land, the Lord God of Israel had fulfilled every promise to His people.
Joshua has described God’s
gracious acts of election, creating a people through salvation history. To the
seeing-eye, God is the one who is bound to protect those to whom He has
promised protection. He provided for them throughout their history. God is
personally committed to Israel. His love for them motivates his actions and
demands a similar response from those who are the objects of his love. His love
for Israel is so grate the he wants their undivided love in return.
Salvation history is not
dependent upon a reward for the proper behavior of God’s people. God chose to
act in his own freedom in the hope that the people he delivered from bondage
would freely respond by choosing to serve Him. God’s words are a call to
discipleship, a call to hear and a call to obey in faithfulness. It is a call
to loyalty to the Lord, the God of Israel. Salvation history is the instrument
for decision making by the child of God.
