Monday 02 September 2013

Background

The first twelve chapters of Joshua describe how Israel tookover the land of Canaan, with the first five chapters beingpreparation for that. Although there are similarities with otherancient Near Eastern battle reports, which are told in ways thatboost the king's political credibility, the book of Joshua tellsits stories to promote God's grace and faithfulness to priorpromises. In neither case does strict historical accuracy of thekind we would expect of modern reporting appear to be a priorityfor the writers.

The opening verses make links to the book of Deuteronomy, whichtells how Joshua was appointed successor to Moses (Deuteronomy 31:23; 34:9) who had led the people out of Egypt andfor many years as desert nomads. Today's passage can be describedas Joshua's formal commissioning ceremony by God. It containsrousing words of encouragement (to be "strong and courageous" -repeated three times in verses 6, 7 and 9), a mission description(to cross the Jordan river and possess the land - verse 11), and apromise of support ("I will be with you" (v. 5)).

Further connection to Moses and all that has gone before isestablished by the command in verses 7-8 to observe the law ofMoses. Long before the final editing of this book that would havebeen understood as referring to the whole teaching about Godportrayed in the five preceding books (ie "the book of the law" (v.8)), and not just those things we would more narrowly define aslaws. The reason that the law is to be in Joshua's "mouth" isbecause meditation in the ancient world involved reading aloud evenwhen alone (cf Acts 8:30).

Verse 4 is one description of the extent of the promised land.No two descriptions are identical, nor in the event did the bordersever become fixed for long. The Hittite kingdom mentioned herelasted from 1550 to 900 BC and at its height rivalled Egypt inmilitary prowess.

To Ponder

• By way of appreciating the extent to which Joshua's mission isfounded on God's actions count the number of past or future actionsof God in verses 2-6.  If God is taking responsibility for thewhole strategy how would you summarise the role of Joshua?

• In Romans 7:6 the apostle Paul says of Christians,"Now we are discharged from the law". In what sense therefore, ifany, do God's instructions to Joshua to "act in accordance with allthat is written" in the books from Genesis to Deuteronomy serve asGod's Word to us?

• How do verses 3-4 help or hinder the politics of modern Israeland the Palestinian nation?