Joshua 24: The covenant at Shechem and the death of Joshua.

In the beginning of this final chapter, Joshua recounts God’s work for Israel in great detail, spanning the time before Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, the Israelites’ time as slaves in Egypt, and the exodus through the wilderness for many years, culminating with crossing the Jordan and taking Jericho.

Joshua then told the people of Israel that they were to choose whom they would serve: the gods of their fathers, or the Lord God of Israel. The people strongly affirmed that they would follow the Lord and be faithful to Him. They repeated this several times. Then Joshua told them that they were witnesses of their choice, and he renewed the covenant with them there, at Shechem. To mark the covenant, Joshua took a large stone and set it up as a witness to remind the Israelites of what they had sworn that day.

And after all of this, Joshua died, and was buried within his inheritance at Timnath Serah. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and continued to serve the Lord for some time after. And also Eleazar, the chief priest of Israel, died.

The bones of Joseph, which had been carried by Israel since they left slavery in Egypt, were then given their final resting place at Shechem in a plot of land originally bought by the family of Joseph.

The spiritual meaning of this chapter is all about commitment and devotion in our relationship with the Lord. Joshua’s review of events at the beginning is a reminder that the Lord leads us through life, with all its trials and blessings (see Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Hell 18). In the work of regeneration, a high state of peace and of the Lord’s presence in us is followed by a state where we are in temptation and under attack from hell. In contrast, a state of temptation in which we stand firm and depend on the Lord leads to a state of trust, confidence, and the return of the Lord’s peace (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 933[2]).

Our spiritual life involves many repeated choices. This is why it is significant that the Israelites repeated their promise to serve the Lord so many times. We may feel that our decision to follow the Lord is a final one, but the reality is that we uphold (or refute) this decision in our actions each and every day. We will need to choose time and time again, even though we believe we would always choose the Lord (see Swedenborg’s work, Divine Providence 321[5]).

A covenant is a formal agreement. Biblical covenants are between people and the Lord. The Lord will always honor his part in the covenant, and we are to ensure that we will honor our part. Spiritually, the covenant is about the empowerment in declaring our commitment to the Lord. ‘This I will do.’ There is no longer any uncertainty or vagueness about our commitment to God. It has been sealed (Arcana Caelestia 1038).

The fact that Joshua commemorates the covenant with a stone also has important spiritual significance for us. A stone represents the strength and durability of truth when it becomes a permanent factor in our life. Committing to follow the Lord’s truths gives us a sturdy foundation in life.

When a story in the Bible mentions death, it always reflects the changing of some state in us. When Joshua and Eleazar the priest die, it is like moving on from a state which has served us well into a new and different state. In our regeneration, the Lord wants us to keep exploring new thoughts and decisions, so that we are always progressing and never complacent (Arcana Caelestia 1382).

The mention of Joseph’s bones at the very end of the chapter is also very significant. These bones of Joseph stand for the continuity of the Lord’s truth, wisdom and providence with us and for us. They also stand for the preservation of all that happens in a person’s life. All of these events make us the people we are, and will always keep shaping our spirit (Arcana Caelestia 6592).

933. 'Cold and heat' means the state of the person who is being regenerated, which, as regards reception of faith and charity, resembles cold and heat, 'cold' meaning when faith and charity do not exist, 'heat' however when they do. This is clear from the meaning of 'cold and heat' in the Word where the two apply either to a person who is to be regenerated, or to one who has been regenerated, or to the Church. This matter is also clear from the train of thought, that is to say, from what comes before and after, for the subject is the Church. The previous verse dealt with the fact that man would no longer be able to destroy himself in that way, the present verse with the fact that some Church will always be emergent. First of all the situation when the Church comes into being is described, that is, when a person is being regenerated so that he may become the Church, and then the character of the now regenerate person is described. In this way the entire state of the member of the Church is dealt with.

[2] The state of a person when he is being regenerated resembles 'cold and heat', that is, a point when faith and charity do not exist and then when they do. This does not become readily clear to anyone except from experience, and indeed through reflecting on experience. Now because those who are being regenerated are few, and of these, few if any reflect, or are capable of reflecting, on the state of their regeneration, let a brief consideration be given to the subject. When someone is being regenerated he is receiving life from the Lord, for he cannot be said to have been living prior to that. The life that belongs to the world and to the body is not life; celestial and spiritual life alone is life. Through regeneration a person receives life itself from the Lord, and because he had no life previously he alternates between no life and life itself, that is, between no faith and charity and some faith and charity. Here no faith and charity is meant by 'cold', some faith and charity by 'heat'.

[3] The implications of this are as follows: Every time a person is engrossed in his own bodily and worldly interests faith and charity do not exist, that is, it is a period of 'cold'. For at such times it is bodily and worldly interests that are active, consequently things which are his own. And as long as a person is engrossed in these he is absent or far removed from faith and charity, with the result that he does not even think about celestial and spiritual things. The reason is that it is by no means possible with anyone for heavenly interests and bodily to exist side by side, for his will has been utterly corrupted. When however the bodily interests in a person and those of his will are inactive and quiescent, the Lord acts by way of his internal man and at that point faith and charity are present with him, which here is called 'heat'. When he reverts to the body he is again living in 'cold', and when the body, or what belongs to the body, is quiescent and so to speak non-existent, he is living in 'heat'. These two states come and go in turn. Man's condition is such that with him celestial and spiritual things cannot co-exist with his bodily and worldly interests, but come and go in turn. This is the experience of everyone who is to be regenerated, and it continues for as long as his state is one of being regenerated. For in no other way can a person be regenerated, that is, from being a dead man become one who is alive, the reason being, as has been stated, that his will is utterly corrupted and therefore completely separated from the new will he receives from the Lord, a will which is the Lord's and not the person's own. From these considerations it now becomes clear what 'cold and heat' means here.

[4] The truth of this every regenerate person can know from experience. That is to say, when engrossed in bodily and worldly interests he is absent and far removed from things of an internal nature, and as a result he not only gives no thought to them, but also feels so to speak cold at even the thought of them. But when bodily and worldly interests are quiescent faith and charity are present with him. Experience can also teach that these states alternate with each other. This is why when bodily and worldly interests start to abound and seek to have dominion, he enters into distress and temptation, which persist until he has been brought back into that kind of state where the external man is conformable and subservient to the internal. The external man can never be subservient until it is quiescent and so to speak non-existent. The final descendants of the Most Ancient Church were unable to be regenerated, because, as has been stated, things of the understanding and those of the will with them constituted one single mind. Consequently things of the understanding were inseparable from those of their will, and so they were incapable of being engrossed by turns in celestial and spiritual interests and then in bodily and worldly. For them it was continual cold as regards heavenly things, and continual heat as regards evil desires, and so with them no alternation was possible.