True Freedom is Hard Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

(Lectionary for November 12, 2017)

According to the book of Joshua, the people of Israel, now led by Joshua after the mysterious death of Moses, has entered the land of promise, the land that later became Israel, has conquered and deposed all the indigenous folk who had lived there for hundreds of years, and now has assembled at Shechem to renew the covenant with YHWH, who has brought them all to this place of safety. As I said in last week’s lectionary post, all of that is myth, a brand of historical theology. There is precisely no genuine historical evidence for any of that actually happening. We know only that some escaped Egyptian slaves found their way to this land, entered it, and over the next two centuries or so intermingled with the settled people who were living there by means of land contracts, intermarriage, and the occasional regional conflict. Thus, what we are reading in Joshua 24 is a stylized tale of people about to become truly free in a new place. And we will be warned that true freedom is very hard to keep once it appears to have been gained.

Joshua first reminds all of those assembled of what YHWH has done for them, beginning with the call to Abraham and family from Haran in Mesopotamia to come to this very land. And then came Jacob, who went to Egypt with his family and lived there a long time. Then appeared Moses and Aaron who plagued the Egyptians, leading to the Israelite escape and the death of their Egyptian pursuers at the Sea of Reeds. Then this same YHWH brought them all through the wilderness and into the land, driving out all those who lived in the place, and defeating all their enemies, especially the “two kings of the Amorites,” (whoever they may have been!) by means of a “hornet” (NRSV), a completely corrupt Hebrew word of which we may never know its true meaning (Josh.24:2-12). Now come the crucial words of the tale: “it was not by your sword or bow” that any of this happened (Josh 24:12). “I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant” (Josh.24:13).

Ah, there is the rub! The crowd at Shechem that day was drunk with their vast victories over all those who previously lived in this land of milk and honey, and were naturally convinced the victory was theirs. No matter how high the tight end raises his eyes and fingers to the sky, it was he that made the great catch, he that is paid to do so, he who receives the joyous applause of the enraptured fans. It has always been very hard for anyone to include God—really– in the great things she/he has accomplished. After all, it is my talent, my education, my fluency that bring the plaudits pouring down on my less than humble head. When Joshua demands that Israel renew the covenant that they have made with YHWH, it was extremely difficult for them to be humble enough to do so.

That fact is made clear by their response to Joshua and his response to them. When Joshua demands that they “revere YHWH and serve YHWH alone in sincerity and faithfulness,” and to “put away the gods your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve YHWH,” and punctuates his demand with the most famous line in the tale, “as for me and my house we will serve YHWH,” the people are very quick to concur. “Far be it from us that we should forsake YHWH to serve other gods” (Josh.24:16). I mean, who would dream of worshipping other gods while we are standing here at Shechem, full of victory and joy and freedom? Of course we will serve YHWH; we would be idiots not to serve YHWH!

But Joshua immediately replies to what he perceives to be a vacuous response to his demands: “You cannot serve YHWH,” he shouts, “for YHWH is holy and zealous, and will not forgive your transgressions and sins” (Josh.24:19). Joshua speaks as if these raucous people have already broken the vow they have just made! You will not do what you say you will, he says, because he apparently knows what history has shown again and again: real freedom and genuine thankfulness are impossible to maintain for long. Too soon, people forget that they have been led in their victories. Too soon, people forget that they have much for which to be thankful. Too soon, people forget that they once were slaves, immigrants, marginalized among the nations. True freedom, claims Joshua, is based on memory, memory of what has been done for them, memory of who they once were, memory of what has brought them to Shechem.

We Americans, especially we white, privileged Americans, have very short memories. We have forgotten that many of us once were poor immigrants, desperately in need of help from others stronger and more established. The pilgrim story, some of which is myth, it must be granted, has the Native populations of New England feeding the starving British immigrants that so- called first Thanksgiving. Too soon, the strengthened colonials turn on the Natives and drive them off their land, pushing them further and further west until they are confined on reservations, poor and forgotten, while the former poor immigrants assume power and make the land their own.

We white, privileged Americans enslaved Africans, calling them chattel, claiming for centuries that they were inferior to us, and thus deserved to be enslaved, consigned to our service. Even today, arguments continue to rage about the causes of our terrible Civil War. There is finally no doubt at all that the root cause of the conflict was the defense of slavery by the southern states; any talk of “state’s rights” or “a failure to compromise” is nothing but a smokescreen for the desire for some to keep thousands enslaved forever.

If all who live in a land are to be free, that can mean only one thing: that all have access to that freedom, not just some at the expense of the others. There is finally no defense for any attempts to put oneself higher than anyone else. True freedom is very hard, because it makes it incumbent on all to open the doors of freedom for everyone. That is why Joshua, in that ancient tale, was suspicious of the people’s easy cries of following YHWH, because he knew all too well that they would not really be able to do so. To follow YHWH to freedom is hard, since YHWH is God of all, not just some, not just a chosen few. Until the “Hittites and Girgashites” taste freedom, along with the Israelites, there cannot be true freedom at all.