OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS

Joshua 24  recounts Israel's covenant renewal with God at Shechem. Psalm 78 is a wisdom psalm that teaches by recounting history.

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25 - "Covenant Renewal at Shechem"
Setting.  The book of Joshua is about Israel's conquest of Canaan, and as such, it can be read as the completion of the story of salvation. The recounting of Israel's salvation history in vv. 4-13 (the section that has been eliminated in the lectionary reading) provides the outline of the story of salvation. God called the ancestors out of a larger cultural setting to be the people of God (vv. 3-4), God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt (vv. 5-7a), led them through the wilderness (vv. 7b -10), and finally gave them the land of Canaan through holy war (vv. 11-13). The covenant ceremony…