Sunday School Lesson 5: A Renewed Covenant, Joshua 24:18-27, October 4, 2026
Key Text: Joshua said: Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord (Joshua 24:14).
The commitment to love God and “the love of neighbor” were to mark God’s people as His own distinctive possession before and after the conquest of Canaan (the promised land). As the people of Israel followed God’s laws, holy living, poverty, injustice, and all the social ills which warp human society could be dealt with compassionately. There was no central government or administrative bodies, but “obedience was to God,” a theocracy and a period of “rest.” Elders had responsibilities in local communities and they served as judges of persons who had killed someone. They conducted inquests, heard family problems, settled matrimonial disputes, and they settled cases of controversy at the gate of the city. If a case could not be settled, it was sent to the central sanctuary at Shiloh. There before the tabernacle of the Lord, a court of priests and lay judges made a final and binding determination. But soon Israel did not continue in an obedient relationship with God. The society broke down and social injustice, poverty, unrest, conflict, fear, and pain all followed.
After the conquest of the land, the allotment of the territories, and the establishment of the refuge and Levitical cities, Joshua summoned the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh (from Bashan) to Shiloh to bless them and divide the spoils among “the needier brethren”, to commission them to their land of inheritance, and to charge them concerning their continued responsibilities to God. Although their military commitments were ended, their spiritual commitments would never end. When the two and one-half tribes arrived at the banks of the Jordan, they erected “a great altar,” large and visible in all directions to express solidarity with their brethren in Canaan and pledged themselves and “the generations after” them to worship and fear the Lord. But, when the altar came to the attention of the other tribes, “the whole congregation gathered at Shiloh, to go to war” believing that the altar was to a strange god or the apostasy of the two- and one-half tribe would bring the judgment of God on all. Without attempting to find the truth, the brethren made a determination to eliminate those they had misjudged. Fortunately, wiser counsels prevailed, which consisted of the son of the priest and ten chiefs. Disagreements and conflicts involving institutions with different hopes, different languages, and different customs should be settled in the area of conference and not in the arena of armed conflict.
Joshua waxed old and he felt the need to call Israel to a convocation and say farewell to his beloved people. He starts with a grand review of Israel’s history: Abraham’s father, Terah, served “other gods.” Then Abraham was taken by God from there where subsequently Isaac, Jacob, and Esau were born. When the descendants of Jacob went down into Egypt, God called Moses to bring them through the Red Sea unto the land of the Amorites. And, even though Israel made a heart commitment to serve the Lord, Joshua challenged it when he said, “Ye cannot serve the Lord” because “Yahweh is a jealous God.” Joshua’s statement is a doctrine which means self-righteousness does not win justification. So, he encouraged Israel to deepen their determination to make a heart covenant to serve God repeating, “but we will serve the Lord.” Joshua chiseled a covenant in stone (like the tablets of the Mosaic law) under an oak as a “witness unto us.” Then Joshua permitted the people to depart to their homes. AMEN!
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