Which way: Life or Death? Overview; Deuteronomy 30; Joshua

1 Kings 16:29 ^NASB “Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.”

We begin one of the most interesting, dramatic sections of the Scripture. It begins with the prophet Elijah at the end of I Kings and then progresses to the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings. Elisha and Elijah form a period of time in Israel’s history that is the second most active time of miracles in the Scripture. There was the period of miracles at the time of the exodus, then there is this explosion of miracles during the time of Elisha and Elijah, and the third instance is during the time that the Lord Jesus Christ was carrying out His earthly ministry in the first century. So this is a significant time in Israel’s history and it is also, as we can see, a focal point within the narrative of I & II Kings, both of which should be viewed as one entity. From 1 Kings 16:29 up to the death of Elisha in 2 Kings 13 is a little more than nineteen chapters and they focus on Elijah and Elisha. This shows the most material, the largest focus, is on Elijah and Elisha. That is the centre piece of what the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate.

As we have seen in the past, the first section of 1 Kings deals with Solomon’s reign, the key person for the first eleven chapters. Then when we get into the second section we are dealing with the division of the kingdom in chapters 12-14, and then we have the reigns of various kings in chapters 15 and 16, up to 16:28. But that really serves as a transition. When we think about what happens and what is stated between chapters 12 and 16 it all focuses our attention on what is going to happen once Elijah comes on the scene. Ahab dies in chapter 22 and is succeeded by his son, Ahaziah. Then we get into 2 Kings where the first two chapters are still Elijah, but starting in chapter three the mantle is passed from Elijah to Elisha, and Elisha begins to be the focus as Elijah is taken to heaven. There are several kings mentioned in this period, most of whom are mentioned after chapter thirteen. Then from chapters 13-17 things rapidly deteriorate. It is chapters 14-17 that deal with the fall of Israel, so things speed up again as we move through the various kings from the death of Elisha to the fall of the northern kingdom and the Assyrian invasion. The last part, from chapter 18 through chapter 25 (seven chapters, must less than in the Elijah-Elisha section) deal with the single kingdom from Hezekiah from the fall of Judah in 586.

The section that we are going to be looking at with Elijah and Elisha is where we are going to be looking at nine kings, although one of them, Ahaziah, is only on the throne for about a year or less. He is, again, an evil king and he is removed under divine discipline.

As we get into this section we will see that chapters 17-20 will focus on Elijah’s conflict with Ahab. That is at the human level, but what is going on behind the scenes is really the conflict between truth and error, between good and evil, between Yahweh and the incursion of one of the most evil religious systems in all of history—the Baal worship, the fertility worship, the ancient world’s version of the health and wealth prosperity gospel. Today we have it in a little more sanitised form. That is the focal point, and what we will see is how divine viewpoint challenges human viewpoint. Elijah represents divine viewpoint, and it is fascinating to watch how he challenges human viewpoint in this setting—the way he uses sarcasm and ridicule; he belittles the priests of Baal and the priests of the Asherah; he belittled the false system. He was not politically correct at all and if we as Christians were to be as demeaning toward Islam or Judaism or New Age mysticism or secular humanism as Elijah was, we would be regarded as the most horrible people in the world. In chapters 21-22 we see the characteristics of evil in Ahab’s reign as the focus shifts back to Ahab’s reign, and we have that interesting scene that occurs in chapter 22 with the battle against the Syrians. Chapter 21 gives one characteristic. The real issue here is power and there are a lot of parallels to what is going on in our country today. It is not about truth. When we look at politics it is not about doing what is right for most politicians; not about truth, not about applying some sort of external objective standard and really seeking what is good for people. They just want to say the things that sound good, and once we get away from objective truth some thing has to go into its vacuum. It is going to be emotion, money, power, or maybe one or two other things. That is what we see happening here.

In chapter 21 Ahab wants the vineyard of Naboth and so he is going to use the power of his position in order to confiscate the land. Chapter 22 deals, again, with power as Ahab and Jehoshaphat want to go and fight against the king of Syria. Then we come to 2 Kings chapter one where we see the conclusion of God’s punishment on the house of Ahab with the death of his son Ahaziah. In chapter two Elijah is taken to heaven and replaced by Elisha. In chapter three Jehoram is going to come to the throne in the north. He will put aside the Baal worship but is going to stick with the idolatry of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. He is going to get involved in some of the attacks against Moab. Then there is divine judgment on Samaria in terms of defeat by the Syrians, but at the last minute God is going to deliver them in chapter seven. It is not the right time for the fifth cycle of discipline. Chapter eight talks about the Shunamite woman and the restoration of her land, and in that chapter there is also insight into the continued consequences of Baalism and the fertility cult in the southern kingdom.

Beginning in chapters 9 & 10 things come to a resolution. Jehu is called by God to come in and wipe out the house of Ahab, and in that process he is going to cleanse the north of the Baalism. But he won’t go that far. He will end it but won’t go as far as to get rid of the idolatry. Jezebel is killed in chapter 9 in fulfilment of the prophecy of Elijah earlier. Chapter 10 is the judgment on the house of Ahab related Athaliah, and her plots and conspiracies become the focal point of chapter eleven as she seeks to wipe out the seed of David. Then in chapter twelve we see God’s faithfulness to Joash and a whole revival takes place there. In chapter 13 we come back to Elisha and his death. There are a lot of interesting events and people and circumstances that go on in the 18^th and 19^th chapters that cover the ministry of Elijah and Elisha.

In order to get a perspective on this we will look at two passages from the Law in Deuteronomy. To understand the role of the prophet we have to understand what is laid down in that legal contract of the Mosaic Law. In Deuteronomy chapters 28 & 29 Moses rehearses the blessings God has promised Israel through obedience and the cursings or the judgments that God is going to bring upon them if they are disobedient. Chapter 30 describes their renewal of the covenant with God. This is the conquest generation, different from their parents of the exodus generation, and so they renew their contract. It is reviewed for them—what the consequences are for obedience, the consequences for disobedience—and then there is the covenant renewal ceremony in chapter 29. Then in chapter 30 Moses begins to conclude this whole sermon. (Deuteronomy is actually Moses’ final parting message to the nation) In the first ten verses of chapter 30 he reminds them and again summarizes what will take place if they are obedient.

Deuteronomy 30:1 ^NASB “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call {them} to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you.” So in this chapter there is a recognition that at some time in the future there will have been some disobedience so that God will have scattered them among all of the nations. In verses 1-10 Moses emphasises that God is going to be faithful to the Law and he will bring them back from being scattered among the nations.

Then in vv. 11-14 he puts the focus on the Word. Deuteronomy 30:11 ^NASB “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. [12] It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ [13] Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ The point that he is making is that the truth that they need isn’t far off; it is right here. [14] “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.” They have been given it; they have all that they need. It is sufficient and they don’t need to look somewhere else, they have it.

The final challenge: Deuteronomy 30:15 ^NASB “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity.” The issue is volition in human history. He makes that point so clear here. He sets up these contrasts between life and death, good and evil. What have we seen as we have gone through these chapters in 1 Kings? That Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord—with idolatry. Where does evil lead? It leads to death and destruction. What happened in the reigns of Jeroboam and his son in the northern kingdom? His son is killed within a year. Baasha comes in and then his son lasts about a year and is assassinated, and when he is replaced there is a civil war in the north, and so on. So there is just chaos, political chaos and instability. It is the working out of the curses of Deuteronomy chapters 28 & 29.

Deuteronomy 30:16 ^NASB “in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.” Those three terms—commandments, statutes and judgments—refer to all of the different mandates in the Mosaic Law. But the key issue is “to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways.” So it moves from loving the Lord to obedience. There is this integral relationship between loving God and obeying Him. Jesus said thee same thing in the upper room discourse: “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”

Deuteronomy 30:17 ^NASB “But if your heart turns away and you will not obey [if you are not walking in His ways; if you reject doctrine], but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, [18] I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong {your} days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.” So what is the contrast? On the one hand it is life and on the other hand it is death. On the one hand it is good, on the other hand it is evil; on the one hand it is loving Yahweh and on the other hand it is turning to other gods. Those are the only options anyone has ever had in history; it is one or the other, there is no neutral ground. Every decision we make in life ultimately comes back to choosing one or the other, and we have to be consistent. “[If] you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them…” This is what sets the pattern for Israel’s history from this point in history (about 1405 BC) all the way to their rejection of Christ, and it is the same choice that believers have today. It is either a choice for life, which means focusing solely and exclusively on God and making doctrine the highest priority in life, or it is focusing on one’s own gods, whatever they are, whether they are going to be manufactured out of wood or stone or metal or whether they are going to be manufactured out of the details of life in one’s own head—making idols out of financial success, prosperity, friends, social life, whatever it may be. Any of these are elevated to the status of deity once we take God out of the centre of focus of our thinking.

Deuteronomy 30:19 ^NASB “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today…” This isn’t calling upon an impersonal heaven, the stars in the heavens, and he is not calling upon just the ground, the earth, to witness, because how can a star or raw dirt witness anything? What he is talking about is the domains. He is using a figure of speech, and remember that according to the Mosaic Law everything has to be confirmed by two witnesses. So one of the witnesses is the intelligent beings whose abode is heaven—the angels. Then there is another group of intelligent, rational beings on the earth which is mankind. These make up the two basic witness groups that are involved in the angelic conflict. “…that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, [20] by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” What is that? That is the Abrahamic covenant which is the basis for the Mosaic covenant. Everything is structured within these legal contracts.

In Joshua 24 Joshua is addressing the same generation about two years later, after the conquest. Moses addressed the conquest generation just prior to the conquest; Joshua is addressing them after they have defeated most of the major cities and forces of the Canaanites in the land. He gathers them together at Shechem where they are going to have another covenant renewal ceremony. Joshua starts in v.2 reminding them of their heritage. Joshua 24:2 ^NASB Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, {namely,} Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.’”

Then his last words to the nation: Joshua 24:14 ^NASB “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.” Notice he is not going to back off either. He is not going to give them some nice little option to make up their own mind, not wanting to pressure them or put them in a negative situation. God is not that way either. He says we can choose against Him but that is the path of death and negative consequences. There is no neutral creation; we are either for God or against Him. [15] “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” He is making the point that they need to make a decision between God or the gods. That is the same decision that goes all the way down through history. Joshua makes it very clear that there has to be this choice between God and between all the other false systems, between divine viewpoint in the Scriptures and all of the other systems of thought. There are only two options here. There can be lots of variations of human viewpoint but there is only divine viewpoint and human viewpoint.

Joshua 24:16 ^NASB “The people answered and said, ‘Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; [17] for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.” Then Joshua concludes in verse 19: “Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. [20] If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.” He is talking about the fact that eventually the people will reach a point where God will execute judgment and discipline upon them as He had promised in the Law.

The point that we see in both of these sections is that the central issue that is going to face Israel is going to be whether or not they are going to be consistently obedient to the Word and are going to make the worship of God—which means learning the Law and applying the Law, walking consistently in obedience to the Law—their focal point as individuals and as a nation. The result of that is going to be life, good and blessing. But it only comes when they do what God says to do. On the other hand, their choice is to serve other gods, whether they are idols of the mind, physical idols, worshiping one’s own desires, whatever it may, and the path there always leads to death and destruction and judgment. Both of these passages, Deuteronomy 30 and Joshua 24, are set within the context of a legal ceremony where there is this covenant renewal. So the nation again and again and again has renewed and reaffirmed this covenant with God and it is well established. They are legally bound to obey God.

What happens when they start disobeying God? God is going to send someone who will prosecute the people in a legal sense and will bring to their consciousness an awareness of how they have violated God’s Word, violated the contract, and just exactly what the penalty would be. It is all very legal; it is all set within this courtroom situation. So we kind ourselves in 1 Kings with the northern kingdom having deteriorated to a point where not only have they been following for at least 50 years the idolatry beginning with Jeroboam and the two golden calves but to where Ahab is taking them to an even worse situation. He is going to introduce Baalism and he does that through his marriage. Omri his father probably worked a deal with the king of the Phoenicians to marry his daughter to his son in order to seal a treaty between the two groups. The trouble was that the king was not only a political head but also the religious head, and the king of Tyre was the high priest of Baalism. Baal worship is basically centred around fertility and there is this integral relationship between the king and the religion because the king is the one who was supposed to protect the people and to provide for the people and provide for their prosperity. Things aren’t any different today. As soon as we see economic collapse on the horizon we want the President to solve the problem. We want the government to solve the problem thinking that the government is the solution. This is exactly the way they were in the ancient world: that somehow the head of state had power over the forces in creation. So there is this subtle attempt to deify the political process.

Elijah is one of the three most revered men in the Old Testament—Abraham, Moses and Elijah. He is prophesied to come as the predecessor to the Messiah. We need to ask what is so significant about Elijah. Why is Elijah so special? We read in James 5:17 ^NASB “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.” The point that we ought to focus on is the first phrase: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.” That means there wasn’t anything special about Elijah in terms of he didn’t have quite the sin nature that we have, he is just like us. The only thing that made him different was the doctrine he had in his soul, and volition. We have more in terms of our own spiritual life and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit than Elijah ever had. Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets but he would be least in the kingdom compared to church age believers. Church age believers have been given more. Elijah is a source of tremendous lessons for us in terms of the spiritual life, in terms of confronting a pagan culture surrounding us, and also in terms of failure.

Illustrations