The Call to Choose

The Call to Choose (Joshua 23-24)

Beginnings and endings of narratives are always important. Joshua 1 begins with the assurance of God’s victory and a call to obedience and strength. Chapter 24 closes the book with a rehearsal of the history of the Israelites and God’s overwhelming efforts to secure their future. Speaking for God, Joshua says, “I have given you a land for which you did not labor and cities which you did not build, and you are dwelling in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant” (24:13). Joshua provides these examples of God’s provision for the Israelites as evidence that they should choose to worship YHWH alone. Again, readers must ask, Whom does the text support? How does the text generate and affirm assumptions of justified violence, and at whose expense? These kinds of questions will help readers become more skilled at reading for the missing or overlooked voices of the conquered and disempowered, even as they hear the voices in the text that celebrate God’s faithfulness to the Israelites…