Living in the Promised Land: A study in the book of Joshua
A 24-week series given in 2021
By Bob Mendelsohn
Jews for Jesus, Sydney
Lesson One (Joshua Chapter 1)
26 February 2021
To view this online as a video:
Lesson One: A funeral and a promise: Leadership in the Land
A. Introduction
1. Greetings
Shalom to each of you here on the Zoom call and those who will watch this class lecture on YouTube later. For the first 25 minutes I will teach this section of the Bible then we will let everyone on the call into a conversation for questions and answers for the last half hour. This will include comments about all the themes or ideas that I will bring up. Further discussion happens even deeper in our D-Groups that happen over the next week and maybe some of you will conduct a D-Group on Shabbat. I want to ask you to consider whom you want to invite to join us here or in your home groups later.
For those watching on YouTube please read the next Bible chapter before you watch the rest of this. Today we are discussing Joshua chapter 1. Go ahead and press pause, read the chapter, then press play on your machine and re-join us. Thanks. Welcome back.
2. Overview
[For those online, see this book overview from The Bible Project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqJlFF_eU )
B. Today’s study: A funeral and a promise: Leadership in the Land
1. Divine Marching Orders (.1-9)
The book begins with the death of Moses. This is a tragedy from word 1. Moses was the main man of the Jewish religion for the last 40 years. He was God’s deliverer for our people out of the hands of Pharaoh and the slavery in which we had lived for centuries. He had been our leader through the wilderness, and as the Torah ended, he died and was buried somewhere on Mt Nebo.
Moses, my servant is dead. Not the way to begin a happy book. Not the way to state a book of Guaranteeing Promises. Hey, guys, be sure I’m with you, like I was with Moses. Only, Moses isn’t here any longer.
Wait you say, how can I trust God who has now abandoned us? He left Moses on Nebo to die alone. He doesn’t even want us to sit shiva for him. Get up, march on, in 3 days… let’s go.
Promises? This is as bad as an electioneering candidate who makes promises that will never happen. And he knows they won’t happen. God says, I promise and then he lets Moses die? What kind of promise keeper is he?
All good questions. The promise of the Land was given to and through Moses, but didn’t oiriginat with Moses. It originated in Abraham’s day 500 years earlier. Did Abraham see the Land? Did Isaac receive the promises? Did Jacob or any of the 3 million in Egypt? No, but God is still faithful. The promises were made to Abraham ON BEHALF of his children who would conquer in the days of Joshua. The promises are real and true and able to be believed, not on the basis of the human spokesman, but on the basis of the character of God who speaks those promises.
11 times in chapter 1, Moses is mentioned. He’s still a pivotal character!
Look at the promises given in this hapter alone:
Verse 2: Promise of the land reiterated
Verse 3: I have given you the land wherever you step
Verse 6: I swore their fathers to give this land. The promise will NOW be fulfilled.
Verse 5: Beyond the land, now, Joshua, I will be with you
Verse 5: you are invincible. No man will be able to stand against you (successfully)
Wow, how do you read those promises. How do you read any promise of God?
Consider these….and add some of your own that speak directly to you…
- Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
- 1 Chronicles 16:34 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
- Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
- James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
- 2 Samuel 7:28 Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.
- Psalm 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
- Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
- Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.
- Psalm 84:11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favour and honour; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
- Matthew 6:31-33 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
- 2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
- Psalm 34:10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
- Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Make your own list and see if God is the one to trust or if it’s dependent on you to fulfill these promises.
We are talking in this series about God who makes and keeps promises. Most notably the Land of Promise, but by application, listen and learn, live in the hope of God’s fulfillment. Amen?
God is faithful! It’s not because we believe that he will be faithful; he’s faithful and thus we believe him.
2. Commands to Joshua then the people (6-9)
With the promises, God also gave these words to Joshua. They are commands. No matter what, whether promise or command, these are words of God. God gives you ‘his word’ and you can count on him to fulfill and strengthen us to fulfill.
God expects us to trust him, to believe him. He didn’t make robots. He wants us to have a role in the fulfillment of his words. God has spoken to his people, Hallelujah! And his words are words of wisdom, hallelujah!
Three times God says (and one time the people say) to Joshua to be strong and courageous. One time he adds “me’od” to the Chazak v’ematz. Your strength comes not from yourself, or even from ‘your faith’ but rather from the God in whom you trust.
.7 Do all Torah, don’t go off the beaten path. Be orthodox. Go straight. I believe this is during his military campaigning, rather than the way many think of this as Joshua was to set up religious academies of learning and study. I don’t see that anywhere here, and certainly not in the rest of the book. I don’t mind if someone says Joshua is charged to keep Torah, but I don’t think that’s what God is encouraging. He’s on a military march to conquer the land of promise for Jehovah!
Wherever he steps, and the people step, that will be the territory for Jehovah.
.8 Meditate on the Word. וְהָגִ֤יתָ בּוֹ֙ This speaks to me. And I use the imagery of a bagel and a bakery. If you read the Bible it’s like you are walking by the bakery and the aroma draws you. You know the good stuff is there, but you (so far) don’t have any benefit to it. Then when you memorize the Bible, you actually take the bagel into your mouth. It’s almost satisfying and certainly a delight to the taste buds, but again, you don’t have any real benefit from it yet. It’s only when you Hagita Bo (say it to yourself) meditate on it, that this is like swallowing the bagel and it goes into your system, you gain from it. The bagel becomes part of you. It IS you. Reading? Walking past the bakery. Memorizing? Tasting. Meditating on the Word? Swallowing it and it becomes you.
When? Yomam v’layla. יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה Day and night. Compare ‘evening and morning.’ That phrase refers to one day only. ‘Day and night’ refers to this day and the next day (which begins in the erev (evening)). So day and night could carry the meaning of ‘from now on’ or ‘continually.’
.9 Be strong, don’t fear, don’t be dismayed. We are in a battle for trusting God. We are not called to fulfill God’s promises. He can do that all by himself. Our battle and our battles are to trust him in all our circumstances.
Don’t confuse faith with presumption. What he says, he will do. He however will not always heal all people of all their woes. He will not prevent death from happening to his people. Don’t presume that nothing bad will occur. That no bad thing will happen to your mother or your child. That you will win the lottery and own a property on Nantucket or Surfers Paradise.
Those personal words you receive in your meditation on the Word, that’s how this works.
3. Chain of command settled (.10-11)
.10 All the officers are called in and get their marching orders. God speaks personally
Hobbs in his commentary on the book of 2 Kings chapter 2 says this, “A point of note in this chapter is an overt reminder of the traditions connected with Moses and Joshua (cf. Montgomery/Gehman, 354; Gray, 475.) The similarities are quite extensive between this narrative, the narrative of the crossing of the Reed Sea (Exod 14), and the narrative of the crossing of the Jordan (Josh 3). They are expounded in the comments below. The similarities extend beyond the use of common words. The relationship of Elijah to Elisha is like that of Moses to Joshua, and both successors are appointed in similar fashion (Num 27:18–23; 1 Kgs 19:15–21). Further, the location of the crossing of the Jordan is identical, and the cities of Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho are common to both. Whether this connection is due to the preservation of the Reed Sea traditions and the first crossing of the Jordan by the custodians of the shrine at Gilgal (so Gray, 475, following H.-J. Kraus, VT 1 [1951] 190–91), who later became the followers of the prophet, or whether it is a deliberate echo created by the writer is difficult to determine.”
4. Leadership lesson
The lesson of leadership is clear. Trust God. You are invincible because you are with Him! After the funeral, they take 30 days (Deut. 34) but they don’t (in Joshua) sit shiva. They get going because they have work to do. It’s time to take God at his word and to live in the assurance of that, and the realm of his kingdom.
Verse 4 says “from the wilderness to Lebanon all the way to the river Euphrates!” We Jews have never owned that entire piece of land. There YET remains a fulfillment of that promised land.
We need leaders who will take God at his word, who will believe it, who will meditate on it, who will speak it, and who will be strong and courageous.
Invitation
Dear friends, if you have never asked Yeshua to be your Saviour, today as we begin learning from Joshua, would you choose to believe the Lord of life? What does it mean to be strong and courageous in light of learning about Yeshua? Would you be willing to take a stand for him who took a stand and died on a Roman cross for you?
If you’d like to do that today, just now, join me as we pray.
Say something like this: “Father in Yeshua’s name, forgive me my sin, I was wrong to dismiss you and to disbelieve in you. I need your mercy. I deserve punishment but you are kind and merciful and I receive your grace. I repent. I receive Yeshua as my saviour and Lord. I will live because of my faith in Messiah Yeshua. Amen.
If you prayed that, please let us know of your profession by writing straightaway, won’t you? Bob@JewsforJesus.org.au We’d love to hear from you.
Conclusion
We are delighted you have joined us today. Please join us next week and learn with the others how you can stay on track in 2021 and beyond. I hope to see you next week as we continue our studies in Joshua. You will certainly see yourself in the readings and in the lessons. I plan to take 24 weeks to read and learn with you. That’s almost 6 months. Line by line. It will be worthwhile! Next week we will look at Rahab, a scarlet woman. And see what lessons we can draw for ourselves.
Hope to see you then… until then, Shabbat shalom!
Bibliography
Butler, Trent C., Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 7. Joshua. Word, Waco, 1983.
Davis, Dale Ralph, Joshua: No Falling Words, Christian Focus, Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland, 2019.
Meyer, F.B., Joshua and the Land of Promise, Christian Literature Crusade, Ft Washington PA, 1977.
Sanders, J. Oswald, Promised-Land Living, Moody Press, Chicago, 1984.
Weirsbe, Warren. Be Strong: Putting God's Power to Work in Your Life. David C. Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs, 2010.
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D-Groups for this week
1) Tuesday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse
2) Monday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White
(Contact our office for zoom details)
If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details. It’s time to step up. Ponder this—who will be in your D-Group?
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