Is Love in the Heart?

In light of God’s faithfulness to Israel and of Israel’s own tendency to idolatry, Joshua’s advice to his people is simple: “ ‘Take careful heed to yourselves.’ ” They should stand guard over their souls, looking always for one key factor: love for God. Such love is commanded repeatedly in the book of Deuteronomy (6:5; 10:12–13; 11:13), but the context of each of these passages has to do not with some warm feeling toward God but with obedience to His law. In short, loving God involves doing what He commands. Therefore, Joshua is telling the Israelites to take the measure of their willingness to obey God’s law. They should ask themselves whether they delight to obey Him or whether His commands seem burdensome. If the latter, they may be susceptible to the ways of the Canaanites or may have slipped into them already.

If the Israelites allow themselves to slip slowly into deeper involvement with their pagan neighbors, Joshua warns, they will not be able to count on God’s help to secure their lands. He outlines how it might happen. They might begin to “cling” to the Canaanites, perhaps engaging in commerce with them, making contracts, and so forth. Then would come intermarriage. The end result would be the loss of all distinctiveness. But if the Israelites let this happen, Joshua promises that the cost will be heavy. The Canaanites will be “ ‘snares and traps’ ” for mem, embroiling them in all sorts of sins. Further, they will be “ ‘scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes’ ”; they will take advantage of the Israelites to gain some measure of revenge for the conquest. “Whatever pretenses of friendship they might make, a Canaanite, unless proselyted to the faith and worship of the true God, would in every age hate the very name and sight of an Israelite,” Matthew Henry writes. The unthinkable might even come to pass—Israel might be exterminated from the Land of Promise.

In his review of the law, Moses said he was setting before Israel the alternatives of “ ‘life and good, death and evil’ ” (Deut. 30:15). Joshua says much the same as he closes this exhortation. He reminds the Israelites that they have seen good; they know that God has been faithful. But if they violate the covenant, they will as surely see “ ‘harmful things,’ ” for God will not hesitate to give vent to His anger. Joshua’s message is unmistakable: Israel must love God by obeying Him.