Agere Sequitur Esse

Joshua

Book of Joshua

Notes.. .

. ..Introduction. By Joshua and Phinehas to give the history of Israel’s conquest for the promised land. People include Joshua, Rahab, Acan, Phinehas, and Eleazar. Places include Jericho, Ai, Mount Ebal, Mount Ephraim, Gibeon, Gilgal, Shilo, and Shechem.
. ..Themes. Success, Faith, Guidance, Leadership, and Conquest.
. ..Outline. “When the book of Joshua was written, the Israelites were living in Canaan, which the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Canaan was called the place of Israel’s rest. God gave Israel a period of success and prosperity. As Israel enjoyed its rest and inheritance in fellowship with God in Canaan, God wanted to keep alive the memories of what He had done for His people in the past and to direct their hopes towards greater things yet to come. (William Seay 2019, L4 06:37–07:15).
. ..Application. “As God was present during Joshua’s days under the symbol of the ark of the covenant so God is even more effectively present with His people through Christ and the holy Spirit and will lead them into the blessed historical event (Seay 2019, L4 20:10–20:29).
. ..Timeline. Entrance into and conquest of promised land in 1410. The land was apportioned in 1400. The exhortation of the people to covenant loyalty in 1390.

Introduction. 3:05 – The purpose was to give the history of Israel’s conquest for the promised land. Except for the ending which might have been written by the high priest, Phinehas, the author was Joshua. The key people are Joshua, Rahab, Acan, Phinehas, and Eleazar. The key places are Jericho, Ai, Mount Ebal, Mount Ephraim, Gibeon, Gilgal, Shilo, and Shechem.

Themes. 4:18 – There are five major theological themes. (i) Success. God gave success to the Israelites when they obeyed His master plan; not when they followed their own desires. Victory came when they trusted Him rather than their military power, money, or mental capabilities. (ii) Faith. The Israelites demonstrated their faith by trusting God daily; to save and to guide them. By noticing how God’s fulfillment of His promises were enacted in the past they provoked strong confidence that He would be faithful in the future. (iii) Guidance. God gave instructions to Israel for every aspect of their lives. His law guided them daily in their living and His specific marching orders gave them victory in battle. (iv) Leadership. Joshua was an example of an excellent leader. He was confident in God’s strength, courageous in the face of opposition, and willing to seek God’s advice. (v) Conquest. God commanded His people to conquer the Canaanites and take all their land. Completing this mission would help fulfill God’s promise to Abraham and brought judgement on the Hebrew people living in Canaan. Unfortunately, Israel never finished the job.

Outline. 6:28 – When the book of Joshua was written, the Israelites were living in Canaan, which the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Canaan was called the place of Israel’s rest. God gave Israel a period of success and prosperity. As Israel enjoyed its rest and inheritance in fellowship with God in Canaan, God wanted to keep alive the memories of what He had done for His people in the past and to direct their hopes towards greater things yet to come. Past events in Israel made it clear that the people were prone to forget God’s saving acts on their behalf. God wanted to prevent future generations from forgetting. The book of Joshua itself enjoined parents to keep their memories alive among their children. The same concern prompted Joshua to write the details of the ceremony (Josh. 24:1–27).

Israel’s history after Joshua proved how much the people needed a constant reminder of what God had done on their behalf. Israel repeatedly disobeyed God and suffered the consequences; invasion and depravity at the hands of its enemies. At such desperate moments, Israel could remember the past and pleaded for God’s honor. In better times, the believing community would use past events as a theme for thanksgiving and praise. Stories of success and prosperity also served as a foundation for warning and admonition. God’s used the lengthy story of Acan’s transgression and subsequent punishment to teach that the holy land in which God let them live required allegiance on the part of the people.

The final aspects of the book’s theological setting are its views regarding the future of God’s people. The future orientation is best received in light of God’s promise to Abraham that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This promise pointed towards Jesus Christ. It also looked backwards to the first promise God ever gave to sinful mankind concerning the woman’s offspring who would crush the serpent with her heel. For these reasons, it was necessary for Israel to keep its eyes trained on the future. The initial enjoyment of the inheritance in Canaan should not blind them to the greater glory that was still to come. The already initial fulfillment of God’s promise should be coupled with the “not yet” of future blessing. This is why the book, while stressing on one hand the complete fulfillment of God’s promise also speaks of land not yet possesses on the other. It is also the reason why the land boundaries are given in their widest possible extent; and extent to which the kingdom hardly ever attained. Joshua is a pragmatic book. A book with cause for future fulfillment. At a future time, the inheritance would be even more fully possessed. Aliens as well as the native Israelites would have a part in it.

A divine truth we seek to discover cannot be abstracted from the times in which the book was written. God reveals His redemptive acts in phases. Properly understood, Joshua is not without meaning today. The theological themes are to read in light of the richness of God’s revelation in Christ and in the brightness of the future hope. In the time of Joshua, Israel was more richly blessed than at the time of their forefather Abraham who only possessed Canaan in the form of a promise. He had to purchase a grave in the land in order to bury his wife. The people of Joshua’s day learned about faithfulness to fulfill His promise. Even Israel’s sin did not prevent God’s faithful fulfillment. Nevertheless, the greater blessing in which God gave Israel under Joshua pales in comparison in which Jesus, the second Joshua, gave to His people under the new covenant and in comparison to the city Four Square on which gates will be written the names of the 12 tribes.

The book of Joshua described Canaan as salvation and blessing as the rest promised by Moses. God gave Joshua and his generation rest from war with their enemies. Hundreds of years after Joshua, King David possessed their rest even more fully. He finally evicted the Jebusites from their stronghold; something Judah, under Joshua, had been unable to do. Nevertheless, David’s rest remained incomplete. He desired to be the Lord’s temple as a symbol of God’s rest among His people but was not permitted to do so. David’s son, Solomon, finally enjoyed the rest necessary to build the temple. Today, we look for a future rest which God will give His people. Jesus who is greater than Solomon and Joshua, will lead His people even more fully into their rest than ever before.

The book of Joshua does not contain the story of victory in land possession. It also had admonitions, warnings, and punishments. Modern Christians must be warned by the punishments for disobedience Akan and his family received. Such warnings are now more urgent and such punishment more severe than Akan and his contemporaries received. To go against God’s covenant now after all the rich ministries of Jesus, the apostles, and the church’s proclamation that have spread through the earth is obviously a far more serious offense in God’s eyes than stealing part of Jericho’s booty which God had reserved exclusively for Himself. Though we may shutter at the judgment OT offenders received, it is well to keep in mind Jesus’ words concerning those who did not repent when witnessing His miracles. Even the postman of Sodom and Gomorrah will look comparatively mild when placed next to those who today, after Jesus’ birth and ministry, fail to heed the call of the covenant God. Thus, God calls His people to review and renew covenant commitments made to Him.

The God depicted in Joshua was faithful to the promises He made when entering into the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The promise of the land was one of the recurring elements in that covenant. Through faith in Christ, Christians have become heirs of this same covenant in its NT form and have become Abraham’s descendants. Joshua’s message concerning God’s covenant of faithfulness applies to new testament believers as much it to Israel of old.

But the covenant was not only one of promise, it also contained an element of curse. Both the blessing and the curse of the covenant were read at Mount Ebal. At its very core, the covenant was of grace and not of works. God gave Israel the promised land despite Israel’s disobedience in the desert. Nevertheless, Acan experienced the covenant curse when he and Israel violated the covenant. God caused Israel to be defeated before its foes. Acan, with his who family, was put to death.

The Canaanites who were destroyed by Israel, were not in Abraham’s covenant. To them applied the covenant God made with Noah and all his descendants after the flood. In this covenant, God promised that the world would not be destroyed by a great flood. The seasons would continue until the end of time. God sent His rain and sunshine on both the just and unjust; and thus, whereby witnesses to His power before all nations. For 400 years Canaanites and Amorites received God’s natural blessing, but they failed to obey the God who gave them the rain and sunshine. Instead, they ascribed all this to their idol gods like Baal. Thus, they did nothing else but fill up the measure of their guilt. When Israel stood at Canaan’s border, the Canaanites’ sin had reached its full measure. God’s patience ran out. In Abraham’s days, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. This destruction was accomplished through the use of catastrophic natural forces. The destruction of the Canaanites under Joshua was accomplished both by supernatural and natural means. The armies of Israel. Still, God showed mercy to Rahab because she showed mercy to God’s people. Her name occurs among Jesus’ ancestors. Other inhabitants of Canaan, the Gibeonites were also allowed to live. The rest if the Canaanites repeatedly tried to exterminate the Israelite forces. This effort sealed their doom.

Today, there is still a battle between those who are God’s people and those who are not. The NT speaks of a need for Christians to wear armor in Ephesians. Christ taught His followers to pray that God’s Kingdom may come. Because not all people obey God, this prayer means that in the final coming of the Kingdom, some will be defeated. Even though the nature of this warfare has changed in comparison to Joshua’s days there should be no doubt about its present reality. The victorious outcome of this battle is assured for God’s people. Just as heaven rejoices over one sinner that repents so there is joy in heaven when God’s enemies are finally overcome. The book of Joshua is filled with assurances that God is victorious over those who oppose Him. For this reason, the book of Joshua can truly be a book for all time until Jesus comes again.

Application. 20:00 – As God was present during Joshua’s days under the symbol of the ark of the covenant so God is even more effectively present with His people through Christ and the holy Spirit and will lead them into the blessed historical event. As Gave Israel its promised inheritance so He will give to His NT people that outshines that of Israel for the meek will inherit the earth. As God demanded loyalty and obedience to what He had commanded during Joshua’s time, so He demands the same of His people today with a greater urgency than ever before. As the Levitical tribe had God for its special inheritance so God’s royal priesthood today may claim God as its possessor in a manner Aaron and the Levites could never attain. As God rescued Rahab we had shown special kindness to God who had shown special kindness to God’s people in critical times so will He today who favors God’s call and promote Him against great odds. As a united people of God entering into their divinely given rest also God’s people today may march shoulder-to-shoulder to the rest that God has prepared for them.

Timeline. 21:55 – The entrance into the promised land in c. 1410 BC. Conquest of the promised land in c. 1410. The apportionment of the promised land in c. 1400. Joshua exhorts the people to covenant loyalty and the promised land in c. 1390.

Ref.

Seay, William. 2019. Old Testament Theology [MP3]. Andersonville Theological Seminary (ATS). Camilla, GA: ATS