March 22, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Numbers 36:1-Deuteronomy 1:46; Mark 14:53-72

Weekly Memory Verse: Hebrews 10:38

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

Joshua 1 (NASB95)
¹ Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, ² “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. ³ “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. ⁴ “From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. ⁵ “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. ⁶ “Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷ “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. ⁸ “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. ⁹ “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” ¹⁰ Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, ¹¹ “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, to possess it.’ ” ¹² To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, ¹³ “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God gives you rest and will give you this land.’ ¹⁴ “Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them, ¹⁵ until the Lord gives your brothers rest, as He gives you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to your own land, and possess that which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.” ¹⁶ They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ “Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. ¹⁸ “Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words in all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.”

Deuteronomy 34:1-9 (NASB95)
¹ Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, ² and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, ³ and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” ⁵ So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. ⁶ And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. ⁷ Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated. ⁸ So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end. ⁹ Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^[1]

Moses died at the end of the journey across the desert.  God buried him.  Joshua was designated to step in and take over the leadership of the nation.  The first thing that God does is to establish with Joshua the boundaries of the land that he is to take, and to validate the incredible mission that is ahead of him.

One of the key themes to the entire book of Joshua is mentioned four times in this chapter, "Be strong and courageous".  Notice though this term is not given out lightly, God re-affirms the reason that Joshua is to be strong and courageous.  First in verse 5, "Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you and will not fail you or forsake you."  Joshua needed this affirmation, and it probably helped to know that God was behind him and supporting his leadership. 

We can also cling to that affirmation, and cling to the same truth in our lives.  God will strengthen us more today than ever before because we stand forgiven through the blood of Jesus.    In verses 7-9 Joshua was encouraged to cling tightly to the Word of God and not to deviate from it. We can cling to this same truth.  I have heard Christians say that this does not apply to us because we are no longer under the law, and we are no longer required to follow the law.  I beg to differ in some respects because serving God is not being under the Law, and abiding by the word of God is not an example of living in bondage to the Law.  Rather this is a life that is a life of commitment, one dedicated to serving the Lord our God as we were called to do.  I have added Joshua 1:8 to the scripture memory list, and think that it is as applicable to our lives today as it was when God spoke it to Joshua.

Returning to the study, Joshua immediately took command and then approached the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh to remind them of their commitment to fight beside the rest of the Jews in the conquest of the Promised Land.  There was not a lot of trust going on here.  Perhaps Joshua felt that they would back out on their commitment since Moses had died.  It is interesting though that in their response they repeated the words that God had given to Joshua, "only be strong and courageous." 

I am going to close here, short study today.  I am looking forward to the study of Joshua, and hope that you are too.  The website died again today.  I became irritated with it's problems and called tech support.  With their help, it doesn't work at all, hopefully their fix will cure the problems.  If it doesn't I am going to be hunting a new server soon.

Father, as we consider Your word today, let us be bold enough to pray the same prayer, and to commit enough to hold to the same standard that Joshua did.

In Him,

Joe Turner.