Today, we set out on the second segment of our journey on God’s Route 66. This segment will be quite historical. These five historical books that we are going to survey today trace Israel’s transformation from a band of twelve wandering nomadic tribes to a powerful united nation. Also during this transformation Israel’s government will change from a theocracy with God as ruler to a monarchy with various men assuming the role of king. Like last week we have a tremendous amount of material to cover. When our journey concluded last week Moses had just died and the Israelites were on the border of the Promised Land. So let’s begin in the book of Joshua and learn about the man who will succeed Moses as the leader of Israel.
I. Joshua a book of conquest.
A. The book of Joshua presents itself as a historical record, and it is in the section normally referred to as the historical books.
1. The Book of Joshua occurs at a strategic place in the Old Testament canon. The book forms a bridge between the Pentateuch and that which follows.
2. The Book of Joshua is a kind of climax of all which had gone before.
a. The land promise made to Abram almost seven centuries earlier was now fulfilled.
b. Israel’s earlier failure to enter the land (Numbers 14:39–35) was now reversed.
c. The glorious vision of faith set forth by Moses in his closing speeches (Deuteronomy 26–33) now became the venture of faith.
3. Jewish tradition ascribes the authorship of the sixth book in the Old Testament to Joshua himself. No solid reasons have been put forth for categorically rejecting this view.
4. The Book of Joshua deals with one very important stage in the fulfillment of God’s great plan to provide salvation for the whole world. The people of Israel had to be settled in the Promised Land to prepare for the coming of another Joshua; Jesus Christ, who was to live and die in that same land as Savior, not only of Israel, but of the entire human race.
5. Joshua showed great strength and courage as he led the conquest of Canaan.
B. The book of Joshua can be divided using a very simple outline.
1. Chapters 1-5 provide us with an account of the invasion of the land.
2. Chapters 6-12 provide us with the account of the different campaigns fought in conquering the land.
3. Chapters 13-22 provide us with the details concerning the distribution of the land.
4. Chapters 23-24 provide us with the account of Joshua commissioning the people.
C. Some final thoughts in regard to the book of Joshua.
1. While the book emphasizes God’s fulfillment to bring Israel into the land of promise, the Israelites fail to follow through with God’s expectations in purging the land of its inhabitants.
2. It is this failure that becomes the focus to one degree or another through the remainder of the Hebrew Bible.
3. The New Testament book of Hebrews picks up on this theme, pointing out that even though Joshua (“Yahweh is salvation”) brought Israel into the land, there remained another promise that was greater. The leader into that greater promise would be Jesus
II. Judges a book of compromise.
A. The book of Judges paints a dismal picture of Israel’s history, especially after the fairly glowing and optimistic successes narrated in Joshua.
1. The united tribal effort to conquer Canaan lasted seven plus years. Once Joshua had broken the back of Canaanite resistance, he assigned the tribes to their territories within the land. The individual tribes were required to eliminate any remaining enclaves of Canaanites within their borders.
2. Gradually, however, conquest gave way to toleration, accommodation and assimilation. Israel departed from the Lord. God then sent against them a series of foreign invaders.
3. The Book of Judges demonstrates the terrible consequences of disobedience to God. The path to destruction is clearly marked in the book. Disregard for God’s command to drive out the Canaanites led to toleration, compromise, intermarriage and outright disobedience.
4. Israel lost their distinctiveness as God’s Holy people and fell under God’s discipline.
B. Each time Israel felt God’s discipline they cried out to God and He sent them a deliver known as a judge.
1. The Book of Judges consists of a central core of narratives which focus on Israel’s sin, servitude, supplication and salvation over the course of some three centuries.
2. Judges states seven times that Israel did evil in the eyes of God and that five times Israel cried out to the Lord.
3. The book of Judges is a dismal account of some of Israel’s darkest days tracing how their disobedience ended in horror and disgrace.
4. We need to understand that Moses in Deuteronomy is warning Israel of what will happen if they fail to follow the Lord and that the books of Joshua through 2 Kings narrate how the warnings unfolded.
5. Rather than being written after the fact, Deuteronomy predicts what would happen and serves as the thesis by which to read the narratives of the Historical Books.
III. Ruth a book of love.
A. The setting for the Book of Ruth is the period when the Judges ruled Israel.
1. No specific Judge, however, is named. Jewish tradition suggested the Judge was Ibzan (1105–1098 B.C.)
2. During the chaos and anarchy of Judges (Ruth 1:1), Ruth presents a relatively serene portrait of rural life.
3. The author apparently wished to illustrate that even though the days of the Judges were morally and religiously dark, yet some within Israel were faithful to God and to his law.
B. If you were to outline the book of Ruth you would find love, godliness and grace neatly tucked away in every section.
1. Chapter 1 details a difficult choice made by Ruth.
2. Chapter 2 tells us of Ruth’s occupation.
3. Chapter 3 tells us of Ruth’s taking the initiative on the basis of faith.
4. Chapter 4 shows us how Ruth’s faithfulness was rewarded.
C. The book of Ruth begins with tragedy but has quite the happy ending.
1. The women of Bethlehem considered Naomi blessed, not only because of the newborn child, but because she had a daughter-in-law who loved her “more than seven sons.”
2. The child hereafter would be recognized as the son of Naomi as well as the son of Ruth. Certainly the neighbor women recognized this to be the case. They even were given the honor of naming the boy. They chose the name Obed, one who serves. Obed became the father of Jesse, and the grandfather of David.
3. The concluding genealogy indicates the purpose and meaning of the entire Book of Ruth. The author aims to demonstrate that David came from solid Israelite stock even though he had Moabite blood in his veins.
IV. 1 & 2 Samuel books of tragedy, triumphs and trials.
A. Originally the six monarchy historical books—the two Samuels, the two Kings, and the two Chronicles—were but three books.
1. The division of the original works came when these books were translated into the Septuagint (Greek) version late in the third century B.C.
a. The Hebrew language of the Biblical period did not write symbols for vowel sounds in words.
b. When the Hebrew was translated into the Greek language the vowel letters virtually doubled the size of the scroll, to make things more manageable they were divided into two separate scrolls.
2. Combined, the books of 1 & 2 Samuel cover about 140 years. The opening event, the birth of Samuel, can be assigned to the year 1110 B.C. The closing event, the death of David, probably occurred in 971 B.C.
3. Eli’s ineffective judgeship of forty years (1 Samuel 4:18) paralleled the forty years of Philistine oppression. During those years of Samson’s exploits and Eli’s decline, a young boy was growing to manhood at the tabernacle in Shiloh. His name was Samuel. The opening chapters of 1 Samuel give the details of his birth and boyhood, his call to prophetic office, and his moral and spiritual influence on Israel.
4. Samuel was the last of the Judges and the first of a new line of prophets. He was the instrument through whom God founded the monarchy in Israel. He anointed Saul and David, the first two kings.
5. The people presented Samuel with three reasons for desiring a king.
a. Samuel was too old to continue ruling.
b. Samuel’s sons were unfit to replace him.
c. They wanted to be like the other nations around them.
B. An important fact that we see is that where Saul failed as king, David succeeded in every way.
1. David unified the nation and obtained a royal capital.
2. David subdued all his enemies and made Israel into a military power.
3. David extended Israel’s boundaries from 6,000 to 60,000 square miles.
4. David brought dignity and respect to the nation’s throne as well as helping to establish a national sense of pride.
5. David established trade routes and brought Israel into a great age of prosperity.
C. Grace is quite visible throughout these two books, in fact it is visible throughout this whole segment of our journey.
1. Despite Israel’s continued unfaithfulness, God was constantly delivering them and restoring them.
2. David risked everything when he had the affair with Bathsheba.
3. Despite David’s failures and the ensuing consequences, his reign is referred to again and again as the model for other kings to follow.
4. David is referred to in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament character.
Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received nothing but refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farm hand?" the farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows." Enraged by the old man’s response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, and he returned to bed to also sleep while the wind blew. The Moral of The Story Is This! : When you’re prepared, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We secure ourselves against the storms of life by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and by grounding ourselves firmly in the Word of God.
