When we started this study on Joshua, it was kind of overwhelming. How can you tell what you're supposed to focus on as you read? How can you tell what's important to the author?
Usually what biblical authors do near the start of their books is give you some help in this. They'll highlight specific themes, or raise questions for you think about as you begin reading.
This was what AJ (author of Joshua) did in Joshua 1. He deliberately set up his book in a way that makes us focus on three questions as we read. It's been a while since we've intentionally looked at these, so let's just recap.
The three questions were these:
(1) Will Yahweh prove his power, and faithfulness, to his people?
(2) Will Joshua and the people be strong and brave?
(3) Will the people obey Yahweh and his servant Joshua in all that they command?
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Let's just unpack each of these a little as a reminder to ourselves:
(1) Will Yahweh prove his power, and faithfulness, to Joshua and to his people?
The book of Joshua began with Yahweh making 7 promises to Joshua. Let's read verses 1-6.
And then, after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh,
Yahweh said to Joshua son of Nun, the one serving Moses, saying,
"Moses my servant died,
and so then, rise!, cross! over this Jordan-- you and all this people to the land
that I am giving to them--to the sons of Israel.
(1) Every place that the sole of your feet walks on it, to you I give
just as I spoke to Moses.
(2) From the desert and this Lebanon and up to the great river--the river of Euphrates--, all the land of the Hittites and up to the great sea, the great setting of the sun shall be your territory.
(3) No man shall stand before you all the days of your life.
(4) Just as I have lived with Moses, I shall be with you.
(5) I shall not abandon you,
(6) and I shall not reject you.
Be strong
and be brave
(7) because you shall give this people the land
that I swore to your fathers to give to them.
These are great promises. There's a reason so many Christians know and memorize parts of these verses-- we find ourselves wanting to claim these promises for ourselves.
The question is, can Joshua trust these promises? Will Yahweh keep his word? Will Yahweh be with Joshua just as He was with Moses?
Our gut instinct as readers is to assume that Yahweh will prove trustworthy. Maybe, this question doesn't even occur to you. But in the moment, in real life, trusting God and his promises is far more scary than when we read about it in the Bible.
If you're Joshua, you don't get to see how your story ends. You can't cheat to Joshua 24. All you see is an enormous task in front of you. And if you're an Israelite, you've seen evidence of Yahweh's power through Moses.
And you know Joshua was picked to be Moses' successor. But you maybe wonder-- will Yahweh keep his promises to Joshua? Will Yahweh be with Joshua, just as He was with Moses? Or is serving Joshua going to be like being on the JV team?
These are legitimate questions at this point in the book. And the tribes feel the force of these concerns. That's why, when they commit to obeying Joshua, they diplomatically make their commitment conditional through two "only" statements. Let's read Joshua 1:16-18:
(16) "All that you have commanded us we will do,
while all (=everywhere) that you send us we will go.
(17) As all (=everything) that we listened to Moses, in the same way we will listen to you.
Only, may Yahweh your God be with you,
just as He was with Moses.
(18) All (=every) man that rebels against your mouth, and doesn't obey your word in all that you command shall be put to death.
Only, be strong and be brave."
The tribes will follow Joshua, but they will not follow to their death. They will follow to victory. They will follow and obey if Yahweh is with Joshua. They will follow and obey if Joshua is strong and brave.
So as we read through Joshua, we found ourselves wondering, will Yahweh prove faithful? Will Yahweh keep his promises? When the tribes make their commitment conditional on Yahweh's faithfulness, what that does to us as readers, is make us focus on the question of Yahweh's reliability.
(2) Will Joshua and the people be strong and brave?
Christians like to claim the promises made to Joshua in 1:1-6, while completely ignoring the context-- ignoring the cost. I think this is half the appeal-- the promises we read look guaranteed, apart from anything that Joshua/we might do. But this is only true if we are careful to stop reading at the end of verse 6. But if we keep reading, and understand how the "only" works at the beginning of verse 7, the entire thing reads differently.
Yahweh made promises to Joshua. But these promises are conditional. So we aren't allowed to simply read the promises, and claim them, without understanding how verse 7 is attached:
Let's start in verse 4, and keep reading:
No man will stand before you all the days of your life.
Just as I have lived with Moses, I will be with you.
I will not abandon you,
and I will not reject you.
(6) Be strong
and be brave
because you who will give this people the land
that I swore to your fathers to give to them.
And here comes the limitation, or qualification, of the promises:
(7) Only, be strong and be very brave,
to keep to do according to all the instruction
that Moses my servant commanded you.
(8) This scroll of the instruction must not depart from your mouth,
and you must mutter over it day and night.
in order that you may keep to do everything written in it
because then you will be successful in your roads/ways,
and then you will prosper.
(9) Did I not command you be strong and be brave?
Don't tremble, and don't be terrified,
because with you Yahweh your God is, in everywhere that you are walking."
When Yahweh promises to be with Joshua, and give him constant victory, this is not an unconditional promise. Joshua has a responsibility to be brave-- both in attacking these cities, and in keeping Yahweh's commands. He has to keep all of the instruction Moses gave him.
All of Yahweh's promises to Joshua have this condition/limitation attached to them. And we saw at Ai, with Achan, what happens when Joshua and Israel aren't careful to obey.
So the question we found ourselves wondering in chapter 1 is, Will Joshua prove faithful? Will he be brave? Will he be careful to obey Yahweh in everything?
(3) Will the people obey Yahweh and his servant Joshua in all that they command?
When the people reply to Joshua in 1:16, their vows of obedience are beautiful. They're great:
(16) "All that you have commanded us we will do,
while all (=everywhere) that you send us we will go.
(17) As all (=everything) that we listened to Moses, in the same way we will listen to you.
Only, may Yahweh your God be with you,
just as He was with Moses.
(18) All (=every) man that rebels against your mouth, and doesn't obey your word in all that you command shall be put to death.
Only, be strong and be brave."
But their commitment has two conditions/limitations. They will obey, so long as Yahweh is with Joshua. They will obey, so long as Joshua is strong and brave. These qualifications make us wonder just how committed the people really are. Will they stick it out, or not?
So at the start of the book of Joshua, all of this felt a little like a house of cards. Everything sounds really good, but it's fragile. We are pretty sure Yahweh will prove to be faithful, but Yahweh and Israel seem really concerned about Joshua's courage. And Israel's commitment to Yahweh and Joshua is no sure thing, despite their great pledge.
And it's the fragility of all of this that drives the narrative. We found ourselves freaking out about the prostitute Rahab in chapter 2, but Yahweh kept the spies safe, and he used what happened to them as an encouragement to Israel. We freaked out about Achan, but Israel purged the evil from among the people, and Yahweh forgave them. We worried about Joshua, if he would be strong and brave after the crushing defeat at Ai-- but God encouraged him, and promised him that the second attack would go great.
What we've seen, over and over in the book, is Yahweh's faithfulness to his people in the face of impossible odds.
And we've also seen, over and over, the obedience and courage of Joshua and the people.
By the end of chapter 21, and into chapter 22, we have our answer to these three questions. We saw that Yahweh was faithful and kept his promises. We saw Joshua being strong and brave, even in his darkest hour (Joshua 8:1-3). And saw the people obey in everything, with the one exception of Ai.
But sometimes when we read a book, we kind of forget what we are reading, and why. We forget to focus. And so what AJ does at this point in his book, is help us here by giving us a summary, reminding us of what we were supposed to be focusing on as we read his book.
Let's read Joshua 21:43-45:
(21:43) And Yahweh gave to Israel all the land that he had sworn to give to their fathers,
and they took possession of it,
and they settled in it,
(44) and Yahweh gave rest to them from all around,
as all that he had sworn to their fathers,
and a man didn't stand before them from all their enemies.
All their enemies Yahweh gave into their hand.
(45) A word didn't fall from all the good things
that Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel.
All happened.
So was Yahweh faithful? Did Yahweh keep his promises? Absolutely. We have seen Yahweh's power, and his commitment to his people over and over in the book of Joshua. Every single one of his promises came to pass. Yahweh is good. Yahweh can be trusted. We have the answer to our first big question-- Yahweh is faithful.
This brings us to chapter 22. We tend to read this separately because of the white space and the new chapter number, but we are supposed to read this together:
(22:1) At that same time, Joshua was calling to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half tribe of Menasheh,
(2) and he said to them,
"You kept all that he commanded you-- Moses, the servant of Yahweh,
and you heeded my voice in all that I commanded you.
(3) You didn't forsake your brothers these many days, up to this day,
and you kept the obligation of the command of Yahweh your Elohim/God,
(4) and now, Yahweh has given rest to your brothers just as he spoke to them,
and so then, turn and walk to your tents-- to the land of your possession
that Moses the servant of Yahweh gave to you beyond the Jordan.
The people kept their word. They heeded Joshua's voice, just as they had heeded Moses.' They didn't abandon their brothers; they kept their covenant obligation. And so we have our answer to the third question:
(3) Will the people obey Yahweh and his servant Joshua in all that they command?
Yes. We've seen the people's faithfulness over and over. The one time when we were scared it would all fall apart-- when they were defeated at Ai-- the people stuck it out. And so Joshua praises them for their commitment, and tells them that they can now take possession of the land. They've done their job; they kept their obligation to their "brothers."
But the people's obedience is not completed with the taking of the land. And Joshua here qualifies his statement. They can go, and settle in their land. Only... verse 5:
(5) Only, very much keep to do the command(ment) and the Torah
that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you
by loving Yahweh your Elohim/God,
by walking in all his ways/roads,
and by keeping his command(ment)s,
and by clinging to him,
and by serving him with all your mind and with all your inner being,
If you're ever tempted to think of the OT as being legalistic, think of Joshua 22:5. This is a great summary of what Yahweh wants (in the Mosaic covenant).
(1) Love Yahweh your God.
We tend to think of "love" as a purely emotion word. And we sometimes sing songs that talk about loving God, as though it's all about feelings. "Love" can be an emotion word, but it's more than that in the OT.
This word "love" is used to describe the relationship between a king and cities outside of his kingdom that he rules over (his vassals). The king makes promises to protect them, and vassals commit to "loving" the king. They will serve him alone; they won't make treaties with anyone else. Ideally, the vassals will want to "love" the king. Ideally, the king will be the type of leader they "love" to serve. But "love" is about commitment to a particular king, within a covenant relationship. Love is about faithfulness to your king/lord (Hosea).
(2) Walk in his ways (cf. Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
(Deut 30:15) See! I have set before your you today life, and the good, and death, and disaster.
(16) What I am commanding you today [is]
to love Yahweh your God/Elohim,
to walk in his ways/roads,
and to keep his commandments and statutes and his exercising of authority,
so that you will live,
and you will be numerous,
and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land
where you are going there to take possession of it,
and if your mind turns aside,
and you don't listen,
and you are lured away,
and you bow down to other elohim/gods,
and you serve them,
(18) I declare to you today that you shall surely perish.
You shall surely not lengthen days on the land
which you are crossing the Jordan to go there to take possession of it.
(19) I invoke witness against you today, the heaven and the earth.
The life and the death I have set before you.
The blessing and the curse,
and you shall choose the life so that you shall live-- you and your offspring,
by loving Yahweh your Elohim/God
by listening to his voice
and by clinging to him,
for He is your life and the length of your days to live on the land that Yahweh swore to your fathers-- to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give to them.
There is a path that that Yahweh wants everyone to walk on in life. This path is one of total commitment to Yahweh. This path is narrow; it's easy to step off and be lured away. But you can't do this. Yahweh's path is the path of life. It's the path of blessing. And stepping off of it, is choosing death. It's choosing the curse.
(3) Keep his commands.
I'm not sure how many different ways I can say this, but I'll mix it up as much as I have to, for it to hit you the way it should. Obedience isn't optional (1 John 2:3-4; Matthew 7:24-29). God expects his people to obey. You can't live however you want. We, as people living under the new covenant, in the power of the Holy Spirit, don't "keep" the Mosaic covenant/commandments. But we "fulfill" them (Romans 8:1, 4). We still have to obey God. The main difference between us and Israel, is that we are given the Holy Spirit, who leads us (Galatians 5:18), who walks with us (Galatians 5:25), who has fellowship with us (2 Corinthians 13:14), and enables us to obey (Galatians 5:16).
(4) Cling to him.
This is the word used for a man joining a woman to become husband and wife. You cleave to each other. You adhere to them. This is how you are supposed to live with God-- you cling to Him (John 15:4). It's really easy to live a "Christian" life, keeping God at an arm's length. Not really relying on God. Not cultivating a relationship with Him and with His Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14). Cling to Yahweh.
(5) Serve him with all your mind and with all your inner being.
The "heart" in the OT is the source of intellect. When you serve God, you can't serve God as double-minded. You can't serve him and serve yourself. You can't serve him and serve the world. God expects you to be single-minded, to serve him with your entire being.
Verse 6ff.:
(6) And Joshua blessed them,
and he sent them away,
and they went to their tents,
(7) while to the half tribe of Menashah, Moses gave in the Bashan,
while to the other half Joshua gave with their brothers from beyond the Jordan to the west,
and, what's more , when Joshua sent them away to their tents and he blessed them, (8) he said to them, saying,
"With much wealth return to your tents, and with very much livestock, with silver and gold, and with bronze and with iron and with very much clothing.
Divide the loot of your enemies with your brothers,"
(9) and they returned,
and the sons of Reuben and the sons of God and the half tribe of Menashah walked from with the sons of Israel from Shiloh that [was] in the land of Canaan to walk to the land of the Gilead-- to the land of their possession that they acquired of it by the mouth of Yahweh through the hand of Moses.
What I'd like to do now, is bless you, and send you away to go walk with your God this week. Remember that God is faithful. He can be trusted. And He wants you to serve him alone. Cling to him this week.
[Blessing]
