Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. – Joshua 24:2

Today's Scripture Reading (February 28, 2022): Joshua 24

I find family history amazing. When I have time, which doesn't seem to be very often recently, I love to spend time in my family tree, meeting some of the people who live there. I know that my family name is Irish and that I descend from a man named Peter Mullen who appeared in Poughkeepsie, New York, during the middle years of the 1700s. Where he came from is unknown, but he emigrated from the United States to Canada sometime late in that century. When he arrived in the Americas, or if he was born in the New World, remains a mystery that I have been unable to solve. Also hanging out in my family tree is a Captain of the Dutch Navy who fought in the Dutch civil war in the 1600s and then moved to New Amsterdam, New York, in the middle of that century. But maybe one of the most interesting ancestors hanging out in my family tree is a gentleman named William Atte Wode, who was born sometime prior to 1300 C.E. and who likely died with his son Geoffrey in the Battle of Crecy in 1346 C.E. Sir William Atte Wode was the Captain of the Guard at the Palace of Westminster during the reign of Edward III of England. But when you discuss my heritage, I am Irish, English, Dutch and German, with a few other European nationalities thrown into the mix. But the reality is that my ancestors were in the United States long before the United States was a country, and likewise in Canada long before Canada learned to walk on its own. As a result, I am more of a person of the New World than I am one of the Old.

As Joshua calls the nation together, he wants to remind them of the story of their roots, starting with Abraham. It is Sir William that comes to mind as I begin to read this historical record from Joshua because Sir William is 700 years into my past, just as Abraham was 700 years into Joshua's past. But the passing of seven centuries did not make Abraham any less important for Israel. Abraham was significant, and Abraham's life was where the nation had started. Israel was a promise God had made first to Abraham 700 years earlier, then to Isaac, and finally to Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel. God had called Abraham out of a nation that had served other gods, just as Joshua's Israel was called to do the same. Joshua lived in a different world than Abraham had, yet that hadn't diminished the importance of Israel's patriarch.

Joshua wants Israel to understand that God had led Israel over the past 700 years. And Israel needed to know that he would continue to be their guide in the years that lay ahead. Through all that had happened over the past 700 years, God had been the constant. And he would be the constant in the next 700 years and the 700 years that would follow after that. And although Joshua didn't know it, it would be at that time that God would send his Messiah into the world, reminding all of us that God would remain the constant that we all need in our lives.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 17