6 Lessons from the Book of Joshua

 1. Morale and morality

The Book starts with the first time we see God give a person - Joshua - what we know as a pep talk. "Be strong and be of good courage", God tells Joshua. 

Joshua’s shyness/fear was understandable as Moses had left big shoes to fill: there had been no other prophet like Moses who saw God upfront and close, and took charge to lead a people of 600,000+ out from the captivity of the great Pharaoh and across a dry desert. So God literally had to go over to encourage Joshua. 

God assures Joshua He will be with him as He was with Moses. All Joshua needed to do was make sure He kept the Laws (Joshua 1:7). 

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success”.

2. Fresh miracles for the fresh crowd

After God tells Joshua to take up Moses’ position and continue leading the Israelites into the promised land, the manna - the daily bread that fell like rain and gave them constant food to eat in the wilderness for the 40 years of their sojourn - stops falling, signaling it is time to move. God parts the river Jordan for them to move into the region of Canaan. 

It’s interesting that when most folks refer to the parting of a body of water in the Bible, it’s usually the Red Sea. But God parted waters at least twice for His people in the Bible: the second one being the river Jordan. 

It’s also important to note that this generation of Israelites that crossed the parted river Jordan were not the same that witnessed the Red Sea split: that generation had died in the wilderness. Both partings were at least 40 years apart.

3. Took down the large Jericho, taken down by the small Ai

An unforgettable account in the book of Joshua is how quickly the Israelites fell from grace to grass. Jericho was known for its strong walls and the Israelites overcame them just by marching around the city 7 times and raising a loud shout. But right after that victory, they tried to capture a little town known as Ai and they were defeated. 

Two things of note:

I. Overconfidence: they didn’t enquire of God before attacking Ai: they just assumed it was a done deal after Jericho. This reminds us that the season right after a breakthrough is a delicate one and we must be mindful of this. Even in the midst of excitement of a long-awaited victory, we must stay watchful and prayerful. 

II. Consequences of harboring the accursed thing: the Israelites were defeated by Ai because Achan had stolen jewelry and clothing items from Jericho despite God telling them that nothing must be taken out of that city. After Achan was punished and the accursed items were destroyed, Israel was able to capture Ai. Not every item is for our possession, and carelessness in this regard can attract curses that are only lifted when the item is removed.

4. "Are you for us, or against us?"

The first part of the book (Chapters 1-12) focus on the conquests. Before all of that starts, Joshua has an encounter with an angel. He mistakes the angel for a human and goes up to challenge him, asking him "Are you for us, or against us?" The angel reveals that he is neither, but captain of the host of the LORD (Joshua 5:14). 

This account was a reminder for me that God has no allegiance to any because of nationality or ethnicity. He saved and upheld the Israelites because of the covenant He had made with their father Abraham. He is a promise-keeping God. If He has promised that He will uphold us, then we can rely on Him. We must not get caught up in thinking that He is good to us because of a marker of natural identity: being the right race, attending the right church, etc. It’s the covenant - the one that secured salvation by grace - that binds us to Him.

5. The Israelites settled - for less

God’s intent was that the Israelites take full control of the land. But they became complacent, and just subjugated the people in them instead of the wipeout God instructed. Unfortunately, those remaining people groups ended up being the thorns in their sides: influenced them to serve other gods which caused them to descend into sin.

6. “For if Joshua had given them rest…”

“Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remain with yet very much land to be possessed.” (Joshua 13:1) 

It appeared the Israelites were running on Joshua’s energy, and once he grew old most of the territorial takeover effort slowed down. Recall Joshua was not particularly young when Moses died: his generation died in the wilderness and he was saved out of that because he stood as one out of the 2 of 12 spies that brought a good report. So we end Joshua with the sense of partial completion, which is also reflected in a verse in Hebrews - Hebrews 4:8 “For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken later about another day”.

Other highlights from the Book of Joshua:

- The sun stands still (Joshua 10)

- The deception of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9)

- The cities of refuge (Joshua 20)

- The daughters of Zelophehad get their inheritance (Joshua 17)

- Three tribes raise an altar at Jordan (Joshua 22 - insightful account, pls read when you can)

Key takeaways:

A. Every generation has to rediscover God for itself. The faith of the previous generation can only sustain for so far. 

B. The “promised land” is not happiness - it’s holiness. The Israelites wanted ease - rest from battles. But the ease they sought could only come from consecration - dedicating themselves to God - and commitment to obeying God’s commands. And that’s why things deteriorated fast for them after they settled into the promised land, which leads us to the reason for judges and the next book - the Book of Judges.