Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Of all the rest of the verses in Joshua that reference heart/hearts, one refers to hardened hearts; the rest refer to hearts devoted to God.
And...I'll be honest, given the current world events, I kinda feel like I need to treat that one verse with kid gloves; folks who are not convinced of the origin and authority of scripture could have a knee-jerk reaction to the content. So I am providing some context, but I can't quote the whole preceding two chapters about the battles....
Joshua waged war against these kings for a long time. Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses. -- Josh. 11: 18-20 (all references today from the NIV 84).
There are references in Scripture to the reasons why God commanded the Israelites to be merciless; I'm not going to chase that rabbit right now but if you are curious, look up the sin of the Amorites, and also look up the references to the practices of the people who occupied the land before the Israelites returned...particularly where God promises to send judgement upon the Israelites should they adopt those practices. Conquering/ invading nations was one way God visited judgment upon disobedient and rebellious nations...even Israel/ Judah were subject to that judgement because they fell into the heinous idolatry of the day. But it's a long and heavy topic and I'm looking at hearts so...I will also recommend going back and re-reading the posts about the hardening of Pharoah's heart from earlier in the study for a more detailed look at just what leads to a heart being hardened.
But...what is the protection against a hardened heart that brings judgment? A fully devoted heart.
[Joshua speaking to the people] "But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and serve him with all your heart and all your soul." - Josh. 22:5
[Joshua speaking to the people] "Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed." -- Josh. 23:14
[from Joshua's last address to the people] - "Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." -- Josh. 24:23
I think it's interesting that Joshua reminds them that they know in their heart and soul what God has done for them...they have experienced it themselves. They saw the Jordan run dry, they felt the ground shake when the walls of Jericho fell, they utterly defeated alliances of armies that far outnumbered them. They had also seen the ground open up and swallow rebellion, watched Aaron stand between the living and the dead to make atonement to stop a deadly plague, and they knew the sting of defeat because of greed and rebellion in the camp. God kept ALL of his promises.
But the ultimate reminder from Joshua's last words to the people he led...fully commit your heart to your God.
[I didn't include the Strong's numbers in the verses as I have been doing...it seems distracting when I re-read past posts. But I still feel like I should still include them, so we'll try footnotes, lol. Josh. 11:20 uses H 3820, while the other three references are all H 3824, both of which we've looked at before..in fact, H 3820 is listed as a form of H 3824.]
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