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Joshua, God Keeps His Promise

At the end of the Pentateuch Israel is left in an interesting situation. Moses is dead. The original Israelites who left Egypt, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, have all perished while wandering in the wilderness. So far only one of the promises that God made to Abraham has come true; that he would be the father of a great nation.

As the book of Joshua begins, Israel stands on the cusp of witnessing God fulfill another promise. God had promised Abraham that his descendants would have a land of their own, the land of Canaan. Now Israel waits on the east side of the Jordan river, ready to invade and take what God has promised them.

Background

The book of Joshua does not explicitly mention who wrote it, and neither does the rest of the Bible. It does make mention of Joshua writing things down (8:32 and 24:26) which has led to the tradition that Joshua is indeed the author. 

The book of Joshua is the first of the historical books, so called because they record the history of Israel. This means that Joshua through Esther are historical accounts about things that actually happened. What it says is what it means. The Pentateuch has some of this as well, but there are also law codes and an entire book that's a speech. The historical books are universally historical in nature and little else.

Themes

The book of Joshua is a victim of what I like to call "flannel-graphing". We love teaching stories like the "Battle of Jericho" to kids, but we never get any farther. We "flannel-graph" the stories; meaning we look at them only at a little kid's level and never move beyond that. This is something we do throughout the Bible, particularly the Old Testament. We talk about these fun stories to kids and that is the last we ever hear about them. Often times the real story is much more thought provoking or mature than we realize.

Take the Battle of Jericho. We talk about how the Israelites had to march around the walls six times, but on the seventh day they marched seven times. Then the Israelites yelled and blew their trumpets and the walls came tumbling down! Often times that is where we stop, at a kid's level. Now this is just fine for young children. It teaches them that God was faithful to his promises. But as we mature in our faith we must be willing to reexamine these stories and read them again.

The Battle of Jericho is a story that has given many people pause. In it God orders the destruction of an entire city along with all of its inhabitants. He specifically orders that all the people be destroyed. This happens several other times in the book of Joshua with various cities. This is because in God's eyes sin is such a serious issue. That is one of the major themes of Joshua; sin is serious. When Achan sins against God by keeping some of the treasures from Jericho to himself, he is stoned (7:25). Sin is serious.

The other big theme that threads throughout the book is once again God's faithfulness to Israel. He never fails them and never goes back on his promises to them. 

Theological Point

God keeps his promises. While sin is definitely portrayed as a serious problem, it's really in Judges that we see what this means. In Joshua the focus is on how God delivered the land of Canaan into Israel's hands. Without God the Israelites would have been unable to do it. With God they were victorious.

The book also makes us think about who God is. It shows us the authority and sovereignty of God over all creation, including human life. This is something we don't necessarily like to think about, but needs to be reaffirmed.

Conclusion

I hope this brief overview of the book of Joshua has been beneficial. I pray that you will read this book and let it challenge you. Next week we will look specifically at the Conquest, one of the more uncomfortable things to talk about. I don't have all the answers, but I trust God. Next week, as we talk more about God ordering the deaths of so many, we must remember that God is so much bigger than we can comprehend. He is so much more than us and his authority is absolute.

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