Joshua

Joshua Chapter 1

Joshua 1:1 And it cometh to pass after the death of Moses, servant of Jehovah, that Jehovah speaketh unto Joshua son of Nun, minister of Moses, saying,
2 Moses my servant is dead, and now, rise, pass over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.
3 Every place on which the sole of your foot treadeth, to you I have given it, as I have spoken unto Moses.
4 From this wilderness and Lebanon, and unto the great river, the river Phrath, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great Sea--the going in of the sun--is your border.

The first map shows the journey from Egypt to the Jordan river where they were to cross.

The second map shows what the boundaries were promised to the children of Israel and which they will one day receive again in the Lord's timing.

I realize the world today do not recognize these old boundaries but want Israel to give up land for peace but we really have no authority to make such demands. We can try but we can't fight against God and His promises to Abraham and to Israel. God's will is going to be done whether or not we agree with it. Doesn't matter what the United States presidents or anyone else decrees, God's will can't be opposed.

At this point in time, Moses died. His place of burial is kept secret, probably because God didn't want any worship to be toward Moses or any other human being like pagan nations did. Our worship to to be for God only. Any other worship has demonic spirits that accompany the false worship and will bring souls into bondage and lead to all kinds of sin. If God would have allowed them to build a tomb and such, they would have used it as a place of worship to this day.

God did not allow Moses to enter that promise land but Moses will have a place in the final eternal Promise land in the future. For now in the study of this book, Joshua is the leader chosen to take the children of Israel into the Promise land.

Of all the children of Israel only Joshua and Caleb were left of all the original people that left Egypt. All the others died in the wilderness because of their unbelief in God. The children of the original pilgrims went with Joshua and Caleb into the Promised Land if they were under the age of 20 when the sin of rebellion and unbelief invaded the camp of Israel 40 years previous.

Unbelief leads to all other sins. Sin starts with lack of faith in God. Joshua and Caleb believed God when they and 10 others spied out the land of Canaan and came back with a report of what they saw. The report of the 10 spies that was fearful was frightening to those that heard them tell of what they saw. To them the Canaanites looked like giants compared to the Israelites. Only Joshua and Caleb believed that through the power of God, they could defeat the wicked nations of the Canaanites and take the land God gave them.

So that no one think Israel was acting by greed or just wanted to steal someone's land, it was not so. God will allow one nation to conquer another if the nation gives itself over to wickedness. The heathen nations practiced idolatry. That of course would grieve the heart of God but that is not why Israel was allowed to defeat those nations. Along with idolatry are evil spirits that control and use the false religion to get the people to do horrible things to the innocent people among them. The evil is so bad that it gets into their offspring.

We can read of times when the evil was so bad, they had to wipe out everyone and other places where the evil was bad but not too bad that they could not save women and children. Child sacrifice, torture, murder, harlotry was all done to appease the false gods and idols. God gave these nations time to turn around and repent years ago when Abraham first came but they got worse. God didn't allow Israel to go in until the iniquity got to the point of no return.

We see God telling Abraham about the future bondage to Egypt, their coming out of Egypt and then God sending them to the Promise land but they could not go in until the iniquity of the Amorites was complete.

Genesis 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

God is a just God and we must not use the bible to condemn because we really don't understand how evil the people had gotten before God sent the flood, before He destroyed Canaan or any other nation. If we knew then we would see God was justified. All we have to do is read about the Holocaust that happened during World War 2 to realize how evil people can become.

God didn't even make a full end of Germany at that time so we see that their evil was not as bad as the evil in the land of Canaan or else God would have wiped Germany out. To us the Holocaust seems the worse that could ever happen but it wasn't as bad as in history or else Germany would not exist today. I'm not down playing that. That was inexcusable in this latter day of what we call civilization. To have happened in this modern time in a place like Germany was beyond our understanding. It was evil. Most of the Germans though had no control over what those in authority did. Perhaps most of them disagreed with Hitler's policies.

Joshua 1:5 No man doth station himself before thee all days of thy life; as I have been with Moses, I am with thee, I do not fail thee, nor forsake thee;

God was going to be with Joshua as He was with Moses and authority is now given to Joshua to lead the people to the Promised Land. What a task to have. This is a responsibility, not a title. It is not a place of exaltation above others, it is a responsibility placed on him by the Lord. We do need godly leadership in all areas of life, from countries, cities and our local assemblies. They are meant to keep the flock safe from wolves that would prey upon them with false teaching. It is never given so that we can hold great parties and honor them for earning titles.

They are never to lord over the flock and dominate someone’s personal conscience like telling them who to marry and such. This is a responsibility given to them to care for the people not dominate them. We do have to have law and order and proper authority but we are never to turn into tyrants and abusers.

Joshua 1:6 be strong and courageous, for thou--thou dost cause this people to inherit the land which I have sworn to their fathers to give to them.
7 Only, be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded thee; thou dost not turn aside from it right or left, so that thou dost act wisely in every place whither thou goest;
8 the book of this law doth not depart out of thy mouth, and thou hast meditated in it by day and by night, so that thou dost observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then thou dost cause thy way to prosper, and then thou dost act wisely.

In order to live by the law of God, they had to study it and meditate upon it, allowing it to become part of their spirit and in the depth of their soul. They had to learn the spirit of the law rather than just the letter of the law. The law had to be enforced or else people would return to the fleshly ways of the world around them. If they wanted God to prosper them in the way and keep them safe, they needed to walk in obedience and love.

I’m not referring to financial prosperity here but their spiritual relationship with God and their safety from wicked nations that surrounded them. Without the presence of God, they would have had no strength in themselves to fight enemies that would threaten them. This is true in real life and in the spiritual realm. If we don’t have God’s spirit within us, we have no power to resist evil. Without God in our country protecting us, we would have no power over evil countries that would desire our demise. Joshua knew that.

Joshua 1:9 `Have not I commanded thee? be strong and courageous; be not terrified nor affrighted, for with thee is Jehovah thy God in every place whither thou goest.'

Even though Joshua and Caleb were not fearful and had faith in God to bring them into the land of Canaan earning them the right to enter in the land even though all others except the children died off, they probably had moments when the great responsibility given them might have seemed overwhelming. God here encourages Joshua with the promise that He would be with them.

Joshua 1:10 And Joshua commandeth the authorities of the people, saying,
11 `Pass over into the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, Prepare for yourselves provision, for within three days ye are passing over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God is giving to you to possess it.'

God was practical. He knew they had need of food and other things and told them to provide the victuals or provisions to last three days. It pays to have God one our side, and to walk with Him and never be in the dark is greatly needed. We need Him.

Joshua 1:12 And to the Reubenite, and to the Gadite, and to the half of the tribe of Manasseh, hath Joshua spoken, saying,
13 `Remember the word which Moses, servant of Jehovah, commanded you, saying, Jehovah your God is giving rest to you, and He hath given to you this land;
14 your wives, your infants, and your substance, abide in the land which Moses hath given to you beyond the Jordan, and ye pass over by fifties, before your brethren, all the mighty ones of valour, and have helped them,
15 till that Jehovah giveth rest to your brethren as to yourselves, and they have possessed, even they, the land which Jehovah your God is giving to them; then ye have turned back to the land of your possession, and have possessed it, which Moses, servant of Jehovah, hath given to you beyond the Jordan, at the sun-rising.'
16 And they answer Joshua, saying, `All that thou hast commanded us we do; and unto every place whither thou dost send us, we go;
17 according to all that we hearkened unto Moses in , so we hearken unto thee; surely Jehovah thy God is with thee as He hath been with Moses.

The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh decided to remain on the west side of Jordan and rest there. The story is in Numbers 32. Yet in spite of this, they promised Moses that they would leave their wives and children and cross over and fight with their other tribes before returning to their own land.

They built sheepfolds for the cattle and fenced cites for the little ones and now is the time that they armed themselves to keep their promise to fight with their brethren.

Joshua 1:18 Any man who doth provoke thy mouth, and doth not hear thy words, in all that thou dost command him, is put to death; only, be strong and courageous.'

I know most of us do not like the death penalty but in a military like in the days of Joshua they had to have it or else they could not have accomplished what they set out to do. If people decided they didn’t want to obey and keep their promise to fight and help their brethren for instance, Israel would have been too weak to finish what they started. In order to have a strong military they have to have discipline and strong leadership.

A weak military will not be able to stand against enemies for very long. Just like when we are spiritually weak we can’t stand up against the enemy of our souls. We need God, We need salvation that comes to us when we turn from sins and turn to Christ by faith and we need the Holy Spirit abiding within us to keep us from evil. DC

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