Scripture

“For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land. You were to destroy the altars. You disobeyed my command. Why did you do this?”

Observation

The angel of the Lord meets with the people of Israel at Bokim. He confronts them about their failure to destroy the altars of the pagan gods. Because of this, the Lord will no longer drive out the people living in the land. The Israelites weep on hearing this judgement .

Joshua sends the people away, each tribe to take the land allocated to them. The Israelites continue to serve the Lord throughout Joshua’s life.

Joshua dies at the age of 110.

Application

The Lord commanded Israel to kill the people living in the land, to make no covenants with them, and to destroy their altars. They failed to obey these important commandments.

Israel was meant to be a holy nation, dedicated to the Lord. In order to do this, they must not tolerate worship of any other god other than the Lord.

When we read the Old Testament, we see there is constant temptation for them to turn away from the Lord to worship other gods, particularly Baal and Ashtoreth. At times, child sacrifices were made to these false gods.

The church is also meant to be holy and dedicated to the Lord. We must not worship the idols that the world wants us to follow. Some denominations have walked away from the gospel of Jesus Christ to worship other gods such as the social gospel and marxism.

I need to keep my heart pure and set apart for the Lord. It is a daily battle, ensuring that the gods of this world are not enticing me to worship them.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, you are the Way the Truth and the Life. There is no other God but you. Amen.