Joshua, Chapter 23 - Cling to God | Prophets of Israel

[music] >> Shalom, friends, and welcome back to the Prophets of Israel Daily, brought to you by the Land of Israel Network, our network. Our network that we established here on the Judean frontier. And if you want to be a part of it, there are all sorts of great ways to do that. Uh it's a blessing for us. It strengthens us, and please God it'll be a blessing for you and strengthen you as well. Check it out at the landofisrael.com and consider joining the family. Okay, so today we are entering Joshua chapter 23, and this chapter feels different. There are no battles, uh no enemies, no dramatic conquests here. Instead, we find Joshua as an old man looking back on his life. And even more more importantly, looking forward to the future of his people. Right? Because this is not just a farewell speech. This is a transmission. This is Joshua placing the future of Israel into the hands of the people. And I'll tell you, I was shocked at how emotional I got reading this. I mean, I was surprised I got emotional at all. You know, but I think the reason it affected me like it did was because of how immersed we are in this journey of the Prophets of Israel Daily. I mean, we're not just learning about Joshua anymore. We've been walking with him. You know, we started this entire journey with him, and I guess I just wasn't uh I wasn't ready to say goodbye. Uh cuz you know, you know, it feels like the end of an era. I mean, he was our last living connection to Mosha, to Sinai itself, and with him that first generation of revelation just sort of fades, you know, and the responsibility now rests fully on the shoulders of the nation. Uh starting then and continuing until this very day. Our shoulders, right here. Okay, so back to the text. Joshua gathers the leaders of Israel and begins by reminding them of what God has done. Not what they have done, but what God has done. Verse three. And he said to them, "You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations before you. For it is the Lord your God who has fought for you." And right there, that's the foundation. Because Joshua is reframing the entire story and removing any lingering doubt, if there could be any, of who has truly been running the show. "Yes," he says, "You fought. You showed courage. You stepped into the land, but never forget it was never really you. It was Hashem fighting for you since the very first moment." Ari, you know, it's just such a profound tension, and it speaks to us deeply in our lives cuz on one hand, Joshua is saying, "You did not do this. It was Hashem." But on the other hand, the children of Israel still had to fight. They still had to show up. They still had to risk their lives. They had to step into the unknown. And I think this reveals that when you peek under the illusion of nature, when you look behind the veil of this world, you can see the truth, which is that God fights for us. He fights through us, but he does not fight instead of us, almost ever. It always demands a partnership, which means that every victory in our lives is a manifestation of this mysterious partnership between our human effort, our hishtadlut, and then divine assistance, which is just the grace of God. And maybe the real question then is is it me? Is it God? That's not really what it's about, but rather am I making myself into a vessel that God can fight through me? Yeah, I really think you nailed it. You nailed it beautifully. It feels like that captures Joshua's entire message. Don't forget, Hashem is doing everything before you. Our role is to love him, to revere him, to walk in his ways, to keep his Torah, and when we do, we become vessels through which he channels blessing, not only into our lives, but into the entire world. Um you know, and then in verse six, Joshua drives the point home. He says, "V'atem chizku me'od lishmor v'la'asot et et kol hakkatuv b'sefer Torah zeh. Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the Torah of Moses. Be strong. Be strong not only in battle, but in faithfulness, because now the challenge, you know, changes. Up until now, the test was can you conquer the land? From now on, the test is can you live in the land in a way that keeps God's presence among you? And Joshua gets very specific. He warns them, verse seven, "Do not come among these nations, and do not mention the names of their gods." This is so deep because, you know, Joshua understands something that's just as true today as it was then. That the greatest threat to Israel, as we've realized again and again through this very book, is not external. It's internal. It's assimilation. It's influence. It's slowly absorbing the values of the surrounding cultures until you forget who you are. And then he reminds them again of the miraculous reality they've been living, of the nature-defying blessing that they will continue to receive if they follow in his ways. Verse 10. Ish echad mikem yirdof elef. One man will chase a thousand, for Hashem your God has been fighting for you, just as you were promised. This is not natural. This is not normal. This is what happens when a people are aligned with their purpose and with their God. The illusion of proportionality and the illusion of odds and the natural order begins to just melt away. But Joshua isn't painting a rainbow picture here or sugarcoating anything either. Right? Because just as God fulfills his promises for good, he also fulfills warnings. Verse 15. V'haya ka'asher ba'u aleichem kol hadavar hatov. And it shall be that just as all the good things have come upon you, so too the Lord will bring upon you all the bad things. This is a covenant. It's not a one-sided promise. It's a relationship, which means that our actions matter. They matter more than we could ever imagine. And and maybe out of the whole all the verses in this chapter, the deepest line of the entire chapter, we find in verse 11. V'ahaftem et Hashem Eloheichem. And you shall love the Lord your God. Because at the end of the day, this is not about fear. This is not even about obligation. This is about love. And I think if we step back and look at this whole chapter, Joshua is telling us something so relevant in our lives right now, that it's not enough to return to the land. It's not enough to build and plant and defend. The real question is, what kind of society are we building here? Are we a society rooted in Torah? Are we a society aligned with Hashem? Are we a society that can actually sustain his presence, that deserves his presence? Because while the battles may end, the mission never ends. And on a on a more personal level, I think that, you know, learning this chapter today in the hills of Judea in our generation, where we're living, it's impossible, at least for me, not to feel that this is playing out right now, at least as much as it was then. The same God who fought for Israel then is the same God guiding us now. The same God that made the sun stand still is shooting down intercontinental ballistic missiles out of the sky. Right? Ultimately, the same choice Joshua placed before the people is the same choice before us. Will we cling to Hashem, or will we just drift away? You know, Ari, what's so striking to me is that Joshua is speaking to the people of Israel that are already in the land. They're inheriting their plots. They've already made it. They've seen the miracles. They've fulfilled the dream. And still, right now, it's when it counts. This is when he's really worried about just drifting away, which means that when people drift away, it doesn't happen because you're far away. Drifting happens quietly, even when you're exactly where you're supposed to be. It happens in small compromises, in the slow loss of clarity, in moments where you just stop paying attention, you know? It's like this world is so filled with distractions. And so to cling isn't just a poetic idea. It's really an active choice every day, how we think and what we value, what we allow to shape us, the choices that we make. That's what King Solomon was saying in Proverbs, etz chayim hi lamachazikim bah. The Torah is a tree of life to those who grasp it. Because if you're not actively holding on, if you're not grasping with all of your strength and your focus, we will be swept away by the realities of this world. And that's what Joshua was talking about. Yeah, what more can I say than that, Jeremy? That's like a perfect way That's a perfect way to bring this this chapter to a close, because that's the point. You know, not just to live in the land, but to live with God in the land, to stay awake inside the blessing and remain aware of the deeper truth of of Hashem's constant presence in and his constant perpetual divine orchestration of every moment of our lives. Just that small thing. I mean, it's a huge deal, but that's our task. That's our mission. You know, at least to aspire to cling to Hashem, to aspire to cleave to God every day and every moment of our lives. Because the story didn't end with Joshua. It continues with us. So, b'ezrat Hashem, please God, we will live up to that mission with faith and with clarity [music] and with love. And I look forward to continuing tomorrow with you, Jeremy. Chazak u'amatz, my friends. [music]