Transcript
A (0:00)
Foreign.
B (0:05)
Hey, this is Shelby and Scott. You're listening to A Year in the Bible With Daily Grace. And today is our final day in the book of Joshua. We've said it multiple times throughout this book. This is the book of highs, and this is a book of lows. But we are wrapping it up today. So we want to talk about these final few chapters of Joshua, chapters 22 through 24, and then also just kind of our overall takeaways from Joshua as a whole. Let's start with chapters 22 through 24. What's happening in these chapters, Scott?
A (0:33)
So, all right. I just, I love how chapter 21 ends on this beautiful note about God's been faithful to keep his promises, how the Israelites are now at rest in the land. And then in chapter 22, you have this, like, near civil war breakout among the tribes. It's just very, very jarring. But, you know, to really appreciate what's happening in these chapters, again, we've said it so many times in Deuteronomy and in Joshua, but there's just been a huge emphasis throughout this section of scripture on Israel being faithful to God when they're in the land. And these last three chapters are functioning pretty much along the same lines. Like, if there's a thread that unites these last chapters, it's the importance of obedience now that they're settling into the land. And that's why the western tribes freak out, though, at the Eastern tribes when they construct this tabernacle. And they're like, what are you doing? You can only sacrifice at one altar, which at this point is in the city of Shiloh. But as the eastern tribes explained, this altar was actually a reminder to them that the only altar they could sacrifice at would be at Shiloh. So this is not an altar for them to make sacrifices on. And this scene is actually really. This is another funny moment to me in scripture because of how just quickly the tension is resolved. This scene is like the chief men give this super long speech about how stupid the Eastern tribes are to build this altar. They remind them of all these moments in their past when people rebelled against God and what happened, happened to them. Eastern tribes are like, yeah, we, we know. That's what this all search is supposed to remind us of. And the other people are just like, oh, okay, cool. And they go home. It's just like, all right, well, that was, that was quick. Hey, at least they're. At least they're concerned about being faithful to the Lord.
B (2:15)
Yeah, exactly. That was kind of my takeaway from that. Is you have, like, both the Eastern and Western tribes. They're showing some concern for faithfulness and obedience to God, as they're now just, like, dwelling in the land that they have been allotted. So I guess we can take that as a hopeful sign.