ban onworshipping anywhere except at one central shrine (22:12). in a tribal assembly it wasdecided to send the priest Phinehas, accompanied by ten tribal representatives, toinvestigate the situation. They were tools that the shrine was “a witness between us andyou...that we do perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offeringsand sacrifices”(22:27). Satisfied about the purpose of the altar, the tribal representativesreturned and the planned attack was averted ( 22:30- 34). A recognition that Joshua’s conquest was not complete appears in Joshua’s farewelladdress to the Israelite leaders. God had given them the land from the Jordan to the “Greatseas to the west”, and he would enable them to conquer the people who still occupied theland provided Israel was faithful to the law as given to Moses (23:1- 13). The climax of the book of Joshua is the covenant-renewal ceremony described inJoshua 24:1-28. The site of the ceremony was Schechum. An altar was built, sacrifices wereoffered, a copy of the law was written and read to the people, and a ceremony of blessingand cursing was carried out, half of the Levites standing on Mount Gerizam and the otherhalf standing on Mount Ebal (8:33). The important men of Israel gathered at the sanctuary (24:1). Joshua recounted God’scall of the patriarchs- how he brought the people out of Egypt through the leadership ofMoses and Aaron and how he brought them into the land of Canaan (24:2- 13). Afterreminding them of the Lord’s blessing, he called on them to accept the obligations of thecovenant. Joshua 24:14 indicates that not all of the people present were descendants ofthose who came from Egypt, for he spoke of those who were worshipping “the gods whichyour fathers served...beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose lands youdwell.” Furthermore, the Gibeonites were non-Israelite peo...
