If you are following the chronological chart, it gives the approximate date as 1,400 B.C. when Israel crosses the Jordan River into the Promised Land. For the next fifty years Joshua and the new generation of Israel are conquering the land. Then there is a period of 350 years during the time of the Judges.
This map shows the tribal territories as the nation settled into their new home.
If you’ve read Joshua you’ll know that the greatest ‘miracle’ recorded is when Joshua told his ‘son’ to stand still and he obeyed him!
TWELVE HISTORICAL BOOKS
The twelve Books from Joshua through Esther contain God’s Story of the Israelites from the time they entered the land of Canaan to the time the Old Testament ends, a period of one thousand years. It was about 1400 B.C. when Israel crossed the Jordan, and Old Testament history closes shortly before 400 B.C. It is not history in the ordinary sense that we find in these Books. What they record is rather the dealings of God with Israel as His chosen people and the development of His redemptive purpose through their national life. They show us how the Law, which was given to Israel at Sinai, was manifested in the national life of the nation.
Israel’s special function among the nations as the Lord’s covenant people was to bear witness to Him as the true God. It was in order to fulfill this purpose that Israel was placed in the land of Canaan, which was on the cross-roads of the ancient world. There the people were to live out their national life in the midst of the nations, not by developing a civilization of their own as the other nations were left to do, but by carrying out the will of God as revealed in the Law given to them at Mount Sinai and in the social and economic system that was based upon it.
These twelve historical Books fall into three progressive groups, according to the three successive eras through which Israel passed during the thousand years which they cover:
- Age of conquest and settlement of Canaan (1400-1100 B.C.): Joshua, Judges, and Ruth cover this age. Israel was ‘directly’ under theocratic rule.
- Age of the monarchy (1100-600 B.C.): Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles deal with the rise of the one kingdom of Israel, and with its decline and fall after it was divided.
- Age of scattering and restoration of the faithful (600-400 B.C.): Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther record Israel’s passing into the age of Gentile (foreign) rule.
Here is another way of viewing the events of the twelve historical Books:
- Joshua
- Judges – Ruth occurs
- 1 Samuel
- 2 Samuel – 1 Chronicles occurs
- 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Ezra – 2 Chronicles occurs
- Esther – during Ezra
- Nehemiah – close of Old Testament history
The ‘lower level’ focuses on individual narratives within the other two levels. This looks at such stories as how Abraham’s son, Isaac, was required to find a wife from his own people; Moses’ in Egypt, and then in Midian, where God called him to lead the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage; and these narratives continue in the Historical Books. Individual narratives give you insight into God’s relationship with His creation and His people.
Narratives
The Bible has more of the type of literature called ‘narrative’ (story) than it does any other literary type. The Old Testament makes up three-quarters of the size of the Bible, and over forty percent is narrative. The Historical Old Testament Books are largely or entirely narrative material, along with three of the Books of the Pentateuch we have already ‘lived’ through – Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers.
As you read and think through the Historical Books of the Old Testament, be aware of the different levels of God’s Story:
The ‘upper level’ is where the whole plan of God is being worked out through His creation. This looks at the beginning events of creation, the fall of humanity into sin, and the need for deliverance. This is often referred to as ‘redemptive history’.
The main aspects of the ‘middle level’ focuses on Israel. This looks at God’s call of Abraham, the development of his family through the patriarchs, the bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt, God’s deliverance from bondage, and the conquest of the Promised Land of Canaan. It also looks at Israel’s disbelief and disloyalty to their God, but more importantly Yahweh’s perseverance.
The ‘lower level’ focuses on individual narratives within the other two levels. This looks at such stories as how Abraham’s son, Isaac, was required to find a wife from his own people; Moses’ in Egypt, and then in Midian, where God called him to lead the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage; and these narratives continue in the Historical Books. Individual narratives give you insight into God’s relationship with His creation and His people.
God is behind every story as the leading ‘character’. These stories are not filled with hidden meanings, even though some aspects of narratives are not readily understood. Not all stories describe every detail, leaving us with unanswered questions about some of the issues. Rather than be frustrated with what the story does not describe, we should learn what is important in each story. Any details we need to know to better appreciate an individual story will become apparent as the story develops at another level. Stories do not always teach directly, but teach us more about God by how He uses His creation and relates to different individuals, families, and nations.
Joshua easily falls into two parts:
- Conquest of the Land (1-12)
- Distribution of the Land (13-24)
The Book of Joshua covers a period of 50 years (1422-1372 B.C.). It records the astounding fulfillment of the Lord’s promises under Joshua to give the land of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham, the people of Israel.
Joshua 21:45 summarizes the theme of the Book: ‘Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.’ Joshua is first mentioned in God’s Story in Exodus 17:9, without a word of introduction, as the captain of Israel in the fight against Amalek. His next appearance is in Exodus 24:13 at Sinai as Moses’ assistant. He continued to act in this capacity throughout the forty years in the wilderness (Exodus 33:11; Numbers 11:28; Joshua 1:1). He represented his own tribe, Ephraim, among the twelve spies (Numbers 13:8, 16). At the end of the forty years, he was appointed as Moses’ successor by the command of the Lord.
Around 2,000 B.C., the Lord called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans, showed him the land of Canaan, and said, “To your descendants I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7). Later He told him, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age” (Genesis 15:13-15).
The first part of this promise was fulfilled when Jacob led his whole family from famine-stricken Canaan to Egypt to join his son Joseph, who had been sold into slavery there but whom God raised up to become prime minister. A temporary journey in search of relief turned into four hundred years of bondage for the Israelites. Yet Jacob’s family still believed that a day would come when God would fulfill His promise and lead Israel into the Promised Land. At the close of Genesis, Joseph is so confident of the reliability of God’s word that he can say, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here” (Genesis 50:24-25).
The Book of Joshua opens with a reference to Moses. Deuteronomy 34:5, 9 records: ‘So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab… Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him…’ Joshua 1:1 reads: ‘After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying…’
God prepared Joshua under Moses to become a great general. He possessed the qualities of leadership and enjoyed the respect of the people. Nevertheless, his real greatness consisted in this, that he, like Moses, was Jehovah’s servant: ‘Joshua… the servant of the Lord’ (Joshua 24:29). The real commander-in-chief who led Israel into Canaan was “prince of the host of Jehovah” introduced in Joshua 5:14.
Understand Joshua’s call in light of Moses’ prediction of Israel’s rebellion in Deuteronomy 31:24-29: “I know your rebellion and your stiff neck… after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you…” In spite of the prophecy concerning the stiff-necked Israelites, the Lord spoke to Joshua, using “you” and “your” 14 times in Joshua 1:5-9:
“…I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage… you shall divide as an inheritance the land… Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses… do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper... This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” God preserves a man of faith amidst a rebellious nation.
Sharing:
- What do you know about Joshua?
- Joshua is about God’s faithfulness (see Joshua 21:45).
- He was Moses’ assistant, a military man, a scout (spy – who gave a ‘minority report’), not a newcomer so that Israel knew him, a man of integrity, a servant of the Lord, and he was an older man respected by the new generation. His character had been growing for a long time. The younger generation of Israel may have had a hard time relating to Joshua as an older man. God made sure they knew the truth about this man! Even though Joshua was a military commander, his title was that of a ‘servant’ of the Lord. It is better to be a servant of God than a leader of men. The story is not about Joshua but of God’s ways with Joshua.
- Knowing what he knew about Israel, Joshua needed assurance from the Lord that he was being taken care of through God’s presence.
- When Joshua encountered the ‘commander of the army of the Lord’ he saw a man holding a sword, and not some shining ‘knight’. God seems to show Himself in ordinary ways like this. Think of how He wrestled with Jacob; and how he ate with Abraham. There’s no indication that Joshua was surprised. He knew that he was not the one leading the people. His response was worship, which indicates that he understood who this was. He was told to remove his shoes, like Moses at the burning bush. All of these encounters with God show us that He wants to meet us in ordinary ways.
- God’s relationship with ones like Joshua is not through ‘osmosis’; as with the patriarchs, it passes from one generation to the next. “I am with you”, one at a time as the relationship is passed down.
- The Lord spoke to Joshua after the death of Moses (Joshua 1:1). Joshua continued with the Lord after Moses left. His character has been established.
- God spoke to Joshua, and not through a priest. We are required to have a personal relationship with God; we cannot depend on your parent’s relationship with God.
- In Numbers 13:16 he is known as Jehoshua (Hoshea, meaning ‘he will save'); now Moses calls him Joshua, which means ‘Yahweh saves’, or ‘Jehovah the Savior’.
Entry
When the people had crossed the Jordan, they camped in the land of Canaan on the tenth day of the first month, exactly forty years from the day preparations began for the first Passover (Exodus 12:3). ‘Gilgal’ means ‘rolling’. The Lord “rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you” (Joshua 5:9).
Sharing:
- The nations questioned the promise given to the Hebrews in Egypt. Why were they wandering around for 40 years as if they were lost?
- It could be that the previous generation was a reproach; that was now removed.
- The stories of God and His people were passed down and were very important to them. Genealogies were memorized.
Sharing:
- The new generation of Israel needed an outward sign and an inner change.
The ‘manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land’ (Joshua 5:12), just as God promised in Exodus 16:35! The Israelites were permitted to face hunger in the wilderness, in order to humble them, “that [God] might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Sharing:
- The manna came for Israel after they realized their hunger and need for God.
- God provided the manna every day so that the people could not forget their need.
- The ‘daily’ manna was a reminder of God’s salvation every day.
- The provision of manna was hinged on a promise (Exodus 16).
- You cannot live by bread alone! It humbles people to have to rely upon God.
Jericho was a special case. The city was an offering to God, a ‘firstfruit’ of the conquest. Ai and Hazor were also sacked. But again they were exceptional cases, perhaps as focal points of opposition.
The first city in Canaan fell before the ark of the Lord. The destruction of Jericho was an expression of the Lord’s declaration of His holy war! God was at the head of the army. No one knew this better than Joshua, after his encounter with the Commander of the army of the Lord (Joshua 5:14). Israel knew it, as the ark of God’s presence led the forces. And Israel’s enemies knew it, because previously their heart melted (Joshua 5:1). It was a war of nerves for the men of Jericho; day after day the encircling troops, the trumpet-blasts, the silent army, building up to the great climax of the seventh day. The army’s faith in God was demonstrated in their obedience to the Commander-in-chief’s instruction.
Sharing:
- Where do we see melted hearts? “In the chocolate shop!”
- We see them when people recognize God gives the victory.
- The method of capturing Jericho was to honor and glorify the God of Israel.
Rahab’s action in harboring the spies came not from fear, but because of her belief that Israel’s God is the ‘true’ God (Joshua 2). God never approves of her immorality. Her house was built on or into the city walls, with a flat roof on which produce could be spread out to dry – in this case flax, from which she would spin linen thread. This was a place the spies might go with no questions asked; and no doubt a good place to gain information. The Israelites kept their promise to her before Jericho was destroyed: “Go into the harlot’s house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her” (Joshua 6:22). By marrying Salmon she married into the tribe of Judah.
Sharing:
- Rahab is defined as a prostitute, but when confronted with the real God and showing some faith, her identity changes. If we put people into categories we hinder our relationship with them; we need to get the whole story. Rahab acted on what she knew, which demonstrated her simple faith. She didn’t have to know more to trust God. She had a ‘faith that works’ – what she knew she acted on. People say they need to know more about God to believe in Him – this was not the case for Rahab. The lie she told is never endorsed in Scripture; possibly because at that stage in her ‘journey of faith’ she did not know how to act differently.
- Rahab’s faith was demonstrated as the fear of the Lord traveled from Egypt to Canaan forty years after the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea.
Sharing:
- Joshua had given very specific requirements, yet Achan sinned by taking spoils of war. These things were not just taken, but they were taken from the Lord. Achan was not acting out of ignorance.
- God deals with sin by exposing it. We cannot separate our lives and have God on one side and our own vices on the other.
- ‘Sin in the camp’ continues to affect God’s people. One sin affects us all. It does not affect just ‘me’. For this reason we should deal with sin in our midst, but we have eased off in doing this. We think we’re too civilized and friendly to deal with sin. Look at how we handle God’s Word. We know that we are required to read and know God’s written Word, yet we treat this as optional. In this way we do each other a disfavor – we leave it for only some to read and know the Word.
Gibeon was an important city about six miles north of Jerusalem. After hearing what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, the Gibeonites crafted a treaty with Israel. Joshua and his men ‘did not ask counsel of the Lord’ (Joshua 9:14), so Joshua made peace with Gibeon and three other cities involved in the treaty (Joshua 9:15).
War followed in the south until all their kings were killed:
‘he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded’ (Joshua 10:40). ‘The Lord God of Israel fought for Israel’ (Joshua 10:42), using the edge of the sword, hailstones, an extended day (how it actually happened is unknown, and speculation about it is useless), and hanging on trees (Joshua 10:26), to defeat the enemies.
Sharing:
- Every single relationship with the Lord that is recorded in the Bible has a failure. Joshua’s imperfection was in his failure to seek the Lord’s counsel about the Gibeonites. Even so, even in his mistake he kept the agreement he made with the enemy. We learned earlier in God’s Story that the principle in the law said an oath must be kept. Joshua went as far as possible in ‘cursing’ the deceiving Gibeonites; God would deal with their deceit according to His higher standard in time to come. When there is faith in man through an agreement and not faith in God, life gets complicated. The Gibeonites brought wood and water ‘to’ the Levites; they did not work near the altar with them (Joshua 9:27).
- When it says that Joshua conquered all the land, and destroyed all who breathed (Joshua 10:40), it does not mean every single person. It has to do with all those fighting in the battle. Joshua 10:37 qualifies it as ‘all that were in the land’, and not everyone living elsewhere.
Then the Israelites headed north from Gilead, to meet the enemy that was more powerful than that of the south, but not any more successful! The kings of the north gathered at the ‘Waters of Merom to fight against Israel’ (Joshua 11:5). ‘But the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel”’ (Joshua 11:6). In God’s holy war, within twenty-four hours there was victory! It was His right to ‘harden their hearts, that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, as the Lord had commanded Moses’ (Joshua 11:20). Deuteronomy 20:18 indicates that God knew their hearts: “…lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.”
After a long period of war, ‘then the land rested’ (Joshua 11:23). Joshua chapter 12 lists the thirty-one kings destroyed under Moses and Joshua. Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og of Bashan, were also considered as giants (Deuteronomy 2:11; 3:11).
Sharing:
- The original encounter with the king of Jerusalem was when Abram met the godly king Melchizedek; now the record shows Jerusalem’s king in a league with the ungodly Canaanites.
- It says that all the kings met together to fight against Israel (Joshua 11:5). They did not admit that they were fighting against the God of Israel!
- The Jebusites (inhabitants of Jerusalem) were not subdued (Joshua 15:63).
There are two allotments of the land. The first included:
- Eastern Tribes: The Lord commanded in Joshua 13:7: “…divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.” This is followed by a description of the territories which had been conquered east of the Jordan and were already given to the two and a half tribes. Reuben was given the southern section, Gad the central, and the half of Manasseh the northern.
- Sharing:
It was ‘partial obedience’ for the eastern tribes so that they would live surrounded by the enemies. They didn’t choose to live where God intended them to, so they were only protected ‘half way’. There is no thing as ‘half a sin’. God still protects in spite of the silliness of our decisions!
- Sharing:
- Inheritance of Judah: In the midst of the tribe of Judah came Caleb. He remained a man of unwavering faith (Numbers 13:30). At the age of 85 he was given the land that his feet once stood upon, just as the Lord had promised him through Moses (Joshua 14:9, see Numbers 14:23-24; Deuteronomy 1:36). He still exercised his faith in the Lord so that he had courage to drive out the Anakim giants from the land he was to possess (Joshua 14:12, 15:14). How great it was for him to be able to declare, “I wholly followed the Lord my God” (Joshua 14:8).o Sharing:
Caleb in his old age received the land he wanted. He had followed the Lord wholly – 101%. God fulfilled His promise to Caleb. What was promised by God was enough. - Inheritance of the Children of Joseph: After the territories had been allotted to the children of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, they came to Joshua expressing dissatisfaction, receiving from him a characteristic answer: “If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you” (Joshua 17:15). They protested! This is the first sign of the proud and arrogant spirit which the tribe of Ephraim so often manifested in their history. Each tribe had the task of driving out the Canaanites that still remained in its territory, and in every case they failed (Joshua 15:63; 16:10; 17:12-13).
The second allotment included:
- Central place of Worship: ‘Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there’ (Joshua 18:1). This was the central place of worship for all the tribes.
- Sharing:
The first thing to be done was to set up the tabernacle as a reminder that God was in their neighborhood.
- Sharing:
- Remaining Tribes: The land yet to be possessed was first surveyed by three men from each tribe and divided into seven portions. It was then distributed by lot among the seven remaining tribes: Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulon, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. A special inheritance was given to Joshua in the midst of Ephraim: ‘the children of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun’ (Joshua 19:49).
- Sharing:
It is interesting that Joshua did not become king; he was ‘just another Israelite!’
- Sharing:
- The Cities of Refuge: Cities were to be a refuge for the ‘slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally’ (Joshua 20:3), according to the law already given by Moses in Numbers 35:9-15.
- The Cities of the Levites: The Levites now applied for the cities that Moses had commanded to be given to them (Numbers 35:1-8). The Israelites gave twenty-three cities to the ‘Kohathites’, thirteen to the ‘Gershonites’, and twelve to the ‘Merarites’ (Joshua 21:1-7).
On two occasions in his old age Joshua called an assembly of Israel that he might exhort them to obedience and renew their covenant with the Lord before he died.
Not one thing had failed of all the good things which God had promised them and now he warns them before he leaves them of the evil that will come upon them if they turn away from the Lord: “When you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you” (Joshua 23:16).
The second assembly is gathered at Shechem. Joshua traces the history of Israel from the call of Abraham to the present moment. He puts it in the form of an address of the Lord to the people, declaring His dealings with them. As in Deuteronomy, the covenant pattern follows that of contemporary treaties.
Joshua 24:31 is an indication of the strength of this man’s influence for good: ‘Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.’
Sharing:
- Once again Israel was called to remember, which means to change and respond by doing. The point is that if you are going to do it, just do it – do it totally. Be honest about where you stand.
- Israel was told that if they fail to do all that the Lord commanded they would perish real fast.
- Joshua died at the age of 110 (like Joseph), giving evidence of a full life.
- Joshua 24:31 shows the effect Joshua had on his contemporaries. He had an influence on the lives of elders who outlived him, and had known the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. There was faithfulness among Joshua’s peers.
- Why did Joshua say to Israel, “You cannot serve the Lord?” (Joshua 24:19). We’ll leave the answer to this for our next lesson.
‘Moses passed through the Red Sea. Moses led Israel from bondage. Moses gave a vision of faith. Moses told of an inheritance. We see anticipation in Deuteronomy. | Joshua passed over Jordan. Joshua led Israel into blessing. Joshua led them into possession. We see realization in Joshua.’ |
Moses’ farewell (Deuteronomy) | Joshua’s farewell (Joshua) |
Be strong and of good courage (31:7). | Be very courageous (23:6). |
The Lord, He is the one who goes before you (31:8). | The Lord your God is He who fights for you (23:10). |
He will not leave nor forsake you (31:8). | You shall possess the land, as the Lord your God promised you (23:5). |
Read this law (31:11). | Keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses (23:6). |
Learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law (31:12). | Take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God (23:11). |
If your heart turns away so that you … are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them… you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess (30:17-18). | You shall not make mention of the name of their gods… you shall not serve them nor bow down to them. If you go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations… the Lord will no longer drive out these nations from before you… The Lord will bring upon you all harmful things (23:7, 12, 13, 15). |
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you (30:19). | You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him… This stone shall be a witness to us, lest you deny your God (24:22, 27). |
Choose life, that both you and your descendants may live (30:19). | As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (24:15). |
In preparation for our next session, read the Book of Judges. Select one of the ‘judges’ God used to deliver Israel from its enemies, and come prepared to share how God used that ‘judge’ to preserve the nation.
Thanks for the map, I‘m reading Joshua, the map helps.
ReplyDeleteBe blessed,
Daniel