Joshua 1 – 2
Tonight we will begin digging in a little deeper into the
book of Joshua but before we get into the verses I want to talk about the man
Joshua.
Joshua
There are several things
that we can learn about Joshua from the scriptures. First of all we know that he was born in
Numbers 14:28
"Say to them, 'As I live,' says the LORD, 'just as you have spoken in My
hearing, so I will do to you: 29
'The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this
wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from
twenty years old and above. 30
'Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by
no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.
From this we can know
that Joshua was included in the 20 and above and he would have died in the
wilderness to if had not put his faith in God and told the people that
they could conquer the promise land. We
also learn that Joshua was a leader early on.
Numbers 13:1 And the
LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2
"Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children
of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a
leader among them."
Notice the spies that
were to be sent out were to be someone that was already a leader among their
tribe. The first time we see Joshua mentioned in found in verse 8
Numbers 13:8 from the
tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;
Notice Joshua original name was Hoshea (o-shay-ah) and he was the son of Nun. Sometimes when little kids hear his father’s name they will ask the question do mean he didn’t have a father. Now notice,
Numbers
Moses
changes his name. It is interesting to me how God has given new names to some
of those who he was going to work through. For instance you might remember how
Abram and Sari had there names changed to Abraham and Sarah. Although Moses
gave Joshua his new name I personally believe God told Moses to give it to him
and to me this shows God already had plans of working through Joshua at a
latter time. At that is exactly what happens as Joshua would replace Moses and
be the new leader of the Children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 34:9 Now
Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his
hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the LORD had
commanded Moses.
He we see the beginning
of Joshua role as the new leader for God’s people. Joshua turned out to be a
great leader throughout his entire life and was always a faithful servant to
God. Under his leadership and with God being on his side, in one six year
period he conquered 6 nations and 31 Kings
for God almighty. He passed this
earth at the ripe of 110. Joshua truly was a great man because he put so much
face and trust in God. As Christians we would do good to emulate Joshua’s
commitment to Lord. Now that we have learned about the man lets now begin to
dig into this book of conquest.
Joshua 1:1 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: 2 "Moses My servant is dead.
Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land
which I am giving to them -- the children of
He we see God is now
talking to Joshua and commanding him to go over the
Joshua 1:5
"No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your
life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you
nor forsake you.
I love what God tells
Joshua here and each of us should take great comfort from what is said because
God has made the same promise to us today. But I want to point out that this is
a conditional statement because God will only help you and be with you if you
are obeying his commands. If Joshua had turned his back on God I can promise you that he would not have been able
to stand against his enemies. Another thing I want to point out is that
God never fails on his part and he will never forsake us it always us
that forsakes him. There is a great need for us to remember that when God is on
our side all things are possible and with his help we can overcome our true enemy sin.
6
"Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an
inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 "Only be strong and very
courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My
servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left,
that you may prosper wherever you go. 8
"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. 9
"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."
Her God is reemphasizing
what I just said. He tells Joshua how imperative it is for him
to follow his commands and observe all of them. As I pointed out last week in the overview verse
8 shows us that their success would be based upon how well they followed all of
God’s commands. We also see how God
really encourages Joshua to be strong and of good courage. As Christians we to
should be encouraged by Gods word and have great confidence know that God is with us wherever we go.
Joshua 1:10 Then
Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 "Pass through the camp and
command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within
three days you will cross over this
After 40 long years of
wandering in the wilderness because their parents lacked faith in God now they
were just 3 days a way of beginning
their journey into the promise land.
Joshua then reminds the
tribes of the commitment they made to Moses to conquer the
16
So they answered Joshua, saying, "All that you command us we will do, and
wherever you send us we will go. 17
"Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the LORD
your God be with you, as He was with Moses.
18 "Whoever rebels against your command and does not
heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be
strong and of good courage."
These men give their
promise to stand by Joshua and follow his orders and if anyone fails to follow
his orders they will be put to death.
Just as these men were ready to follow Joshua we need to be ready to follow
Jesus where every he leads us and if we don’t follow his instructions we will
become spiritually dead.
Romans
Lets us always try to be
good soldiers of Christ and do our best to let God’s word direct our footsteps.
Joshua 2:1 Now
Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly,
saying, "Go, view the land, especially
The first thing I find
interesting is that Joshua only sends out 2 spies and they only talk to him. I
can’t help but think that Joshua had
learned a lesson from what happened when 12 spies were sent out the first time
and how 10 of the spies corrupted all of the children of
1. Why was Rahab willing
to protect these 2 spies? The answer is found in following verses.
Joshua 2:8 Now
before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men: "I
know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on
us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of
you. 10 "For we have
heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out
of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on
the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 "And as soon as we heard these
things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in
anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above
and on earth beneath. 12
"Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have shown you
kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a
true token, 13 "and
spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have,
and deliver our lives from death."
You see Rahab and the
people of
The 2nd
question is was it ok for Rahab to lie to protect these men of God in this
situation? I would say absolutely not. First of all we must realize that the
only thing Rahab knew was that the
Children of Israel had a powerful God and I don’t think she would have known
what God thought about lying. Rahab lived in a very immoral place and it wasn’t
a big deal for her to lie about these men. I certainly do not believe that God
used Rahab’s lie to save these men because God could have easily of saved these
by many other meas. Besides all this Titus 1:2 tells us that God cannot lie
and because God cannot lie he certainly would not use a lie to protect his
people.
James 2:25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? Rahab is only commended for her faith in receiving the spies and for sending the out another way. Not once is she commended for her lie. John makes it clear in Rev 21:8 that liars will be cast into hell. So the answer to question is no Rahab was not justified in lying in this situation just as we will not be justified in lying in certain situations. Now lets take a look at the 2 spies response to Rahab’s request.
Joshua
These men agree to spare
their lives and Rahab lets them down the wall with her rope. That was the only
way out of the city because the Gates were closed. She even gives them
instructions on how to avoid getting caught.
Joshua 2:17 So the
men said to her: "We will be blameless of this oath of yours which
you have made us swear, 18
"unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet
cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your
father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own
home. 19 "So it shall be
that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his
blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever
is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is
laid on him. 20 "And if
you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you
made us swear." 21 Then
she said, "According to your words, so be it." And she sent
them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.
Now last week I made a
small mistake I said that there were 2 things that Rahab had to do in order to
save her family. One was tying the rope to the window and other was her family
had to remain in the house. Well there was also a 3rd thing they had
to do and that was not to tell anyone of
their business. So they had to abide by all 3 of these rules unless they
wanted to die when the came to defeat
Joshua 2: 22
They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the
pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did
not find them. 23 So
the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they
came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. 24 And they said to Joshua,
"Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all
the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us."
These spies followed
Rahabs advice and managed to keep from being captured. They returned back to
camp and gave Joshua the news. The news they gave was encouraging because they
knew that when people are already scared of you that they wont be difficult to
defeat. Half of winning a battle his having the right mind set. With this in
mind we need to realize that the devil does not have any power over us and we
can easily defeat him.
James 4:7 Therefore
submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Through
Jesus Christ with the right mind set we can and we will defeat our enemy the
devil and all the sin that he represents.