Bible in a Year: Joshua

Monday - Please read Joshua 1-2

As the Book of Joshua opens, Moses has been dead for 30 days. God speaks to Joshua and tells him to be strong and courageous. Joshua sends out spies into the land in order to determine how best to begin the campaign of conquest. The spies go to the home of Rahab a questionable lady of the night. While there, Rahab promises to help them because of her faith in God.

Do what?

How does this gentile woman with a checkered past even know about God?

This is one of the starkest examples of God’s grace that we find in the Old Testament. Rahab believed in God, but she had no knowledge of the laws, or moral compass that the laws brought. She had this vague notion of an ever-present, omnipotent God, but had no way to define what it was she believed. She had led a dubious life. But she knew that God was great. When the Israelites came to her home that night, they talked about this great God and she knew she wanted to be a part of God’s plan.

Rahab knew exactly the same things about God and the Israelites that all of Jericho and the king of Jericho knew. She just chose to believe.

Because of that belief, that faith in a God she didn’t know, God did something amazing. We’re told in Joshua chapter 6 that Rahab and her family were given a spot outside of the encampment of the Israelites after the fall of Jericho. The lesson here is that no matter your past, God doesn’t just accept you, God redefines you.

Rahab was known as a prostitute and a Gentile. God redefined her. Matthew 1:1-5 “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: . . . Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.”

No longer is she an outsider, a woman with a past. Because of God’s grace, she is now known as the mother of Boaz (yes the Boaz from Ruth). And the great great great grandmother of Jesus.

Now that’s a story about grace!

Tuesday - Please read Joshua 3-12

Joshua was charged to do two things. The first was to conquer the Promised Land. The second is to divide it up between the twelve tribes. Every step of the way, God was with the people. For 40 years, Israel had been a laughing stock among the nations. The nations had mocked Israel and God with their worship of the idol Baal. Baal was supposed to be the god of rain, hail, and floods, the great god of storms. But through God’s providence, the Jordan river stopped flowing during flood season, and great hailstones demolished the enemy. The sun and moon were worshipped as gods and yet God made them stand still. As the Apostle Paul said, “when God is with us, nothing can stand against us.”

After God had utterly defeated the worshippers of Baal, God then kept long held promises. Moses had foretold of the day when the Hebrews would stand in the heart of the Promised Land and once again renew the covenant they had made long ago at the giving of the Ten Commandments.

I remember when I was a child seeing a video of the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima. Seeing that video or the iconic photograph of the flag raising still send chills down my arms. It’s a moment of patriotism that will never be forgotten.

A similar moment happened in Joshua Chapter 8. It’s when the Hebrews finally felt confident to call the Promised Land their home. Instead of flags, they used an altar and two stone replicas of the Ten Commandments. We read about it in Joshua 8:30-32.

Wednesday Please read Joshua 13-17

The second charge Joshua had was to divide the land. Most of the military forces that could oppose them were defeated, but the lands was not by any means conquered. There were still hundreds of small tribes all throughout Israel. It would be up to the independent tribes to conquer their territories. The division of the land is an important point in Israel’s history. In this division we see where the stage is set for the future books of the Bible. For the tribes that conquered their territory we see success, both spiritually and economically. For those that did not, we see a slide into idol worship. This section is divided into three major parts. The first talks about the land that was conquered by Joshua. The next is the territory conquered by Caleb and the last are individual cities that were given to the Levites, the priests.

Thursday - Please read Joshua 18-23

If you didn’t get enough land division yesterday in the Bible readings, then today won’t disappoint. Yep, even more. But this time, it’s a bit different. In the middle of dividing up the land, an important thing is happening. God is giving the opportunity to be generous and thankful. Each of the tribes in every region were given a city assigned to the priests, the Levites. It was in these cities that offerings could be made. God could be preached and holiness could be exhibited.

In these cities, a positive, moral, and spiritual influence would be close to each person in Israel. They were also a stark reminder that God’s grace was never far away to those in need.

Friday - Please read Joshua 24

And now, we come full circle. Throughout the Book of Joshua, we see where the land is a part of Hebrew theology. Now you get to see the significance. It was at a city called Shechem that God first spoke to Abraham when he entered the Promised Land. Jacob buried his idols and turned to God at Shechem. And as the book closes, we see where the bones of Joseph, who died in Egypt a hundred years ago, are buried at Shechem. And at Shechem, the Hebrews renew their covenant with God when Joshua reads the Law of Moses and recounts the might acts of God’s grace throughout their history. The place where it all began way back in Genesis is now where the Hebrews make the solemn vow that God is their God and they are God’s people.