ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND

Joshua 1–3

DIMENSION ONE: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Answer these questions by reading Joshua 1

1. Who takes over the leadership of Israel when Moses dies? (Joshua 1:1-2)

2. What part of the land the Israelites are about to enter will God give to them? (Joshua 1:3)

3. What does the Lord promise to Joshua? (Joshua 1:5, 9)

4. What condition does God lay down for the success of the coming conquest? (Joshua 1:7)

5. What is Joshua to do with the Book of the Law? (Joshua 1:8)

6. What does Joshua order the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh to do? (Joshua 1:12-15)

7. How do these tribes respond to Joshua's command? (Joshua 1:16-17)

Answer these questions by reading Joshua 2

8. Where do the two spies go? (Joshua 2:1)

9. How does Rahab reply to the king of Jericho's command to turn over the two men? (Joshua 2:4-5)

10. Where are the two spies? (Joshua 2:6)

11. What does Rahab request of the two Israelite men? (Joshua 2:12-13)

12. How do the two men respond to Rahab's request? (Joshua 2:14)

13. What sign do the spies tell Rahab to display in order to save her family from death? (Joshua 2:18)

14. What do the spies report to Joshua? (Joshua 2:24)

Answer these questions by reading Joshua 3

15. What will lead the Israelites into the Promised Land? (Joshua 3:3)

16. How do the people prepare to cross the Jordan River? (Joshua 3:5)

17. Where does Joshua say the living God will be? (Joshua 3:10)

18. Joshua says the waters will stop flowing when? (Joshua 3:13)

19. What time of year does Israel cross the Jordan? (Joshua 3:15)

20. Where is the ark of the covenant while the people pass over the Jordan on dry ground? (Joshua 3:17)

DIMENSION TWO: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE MEAN?

* Joshua 1:1. In this verse, God speaks to Joshua for the first time. Joshua's name means "Yahweh is salvation," and appears elsewhere in the Bible in the forms Hosea and Jesus (see Matthew 1:21). Israelite names often contained faith statements about God. Joshua's name was one of the first to use the divine name revealed to Moses (see Exodus 3:14-15).

* Joshua 1:4. God tells Joshua that the Promised Land will include all the area found between the deserts to the east and south, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the Lebanon mountains to the northwest, and the Euphrates River to the northeast. While Israel never controlled all this land, it did approach these borders later under the reign of King David.

* Joshua 1:7-8. The "Book of the Law" refers to the Book of Deuteronomy. These verses continue the understanding that by following the written law the Israelites are guaranteed success.

* Joshua 1:12-18. Joshua tells the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh that they will receive territory east of the Jordan River (see Numbers 32; Deuteronomy 3:12-20). Still, they join with the other tribes to conquer the land west of the river. Joshua emphasizes that all Israel should be one people united in action under one God.

* Joshua 2:1. Shittim is an area about seven miles east of the Jordan River. Jericho stands about five miles west of the river and seven miles north of the Dead Sea. At Jericho is a spring capable of watering thousands of acres. Already in Joshua's day (about 1250–1225 BC), Jericho had been occupied off and on for almost seven thousand years.

The prostitute Rahab's name means "wide" or "broad." Apparently the men go to her place of business to escape detection. The idea of strangers visiting a prostitute is not unusual. However, their scheme does not work.

According to Matthew 1:5, Rahab is one of Jesus' ancestors.

* Joshua 2:2-5. Rahab tells the king's agents that the men were with her only briefly and that they left the city before dark. Ancient cities closed their gates at night so they could not be attacked and captured under the cover of darkness.

* Joshua 2:6. Rahab not only lies to the king's men; she also hides the Israelite spies under flax drying on her roof. Flax, used in making linen, is harvested in the spring.

* Joshua 2:9-11. Here Rahab gives an Israelite confession of faith. It shares much in common with similar confessions found in Deuteronomy (see Deuteronomy 26:5-10). A native of the land and a prostitute, she now places her trust in Yahweh, Israel's God.

Rahab's confession contains several important themes that we will find again in the holy war tradition in Joshua. These holy wars will be won, not by what Israel does, but by what God does. The people of Canaan will lose because God has already put the fear of Israel upon them, and they "melted in fear" (v. 11) before Israel. The statement on the Red Sea in verse 10 differs, interestingly, from the Exodus version. Rahab says God "dried up the water"; Exodus 14:21 states the waters were blown back and divided.

* Joshua 2:12-14. Rahab requests that the Israelites return the kind deed she has done for the spies. As she has hidden the spies and lied to her king to save their lives, she asks that they promise to save her and her family. This appeal looks forward to the element of Israel's wars that poses the most difficulty to modern readers: the total destruction of the defeated people. (The next lesson will deal more fully with this issue). Here, however, the Israelite spies promise to save her life.

* Joshua 2:15. Apparently, Rahab's house is built right into the city wall. She now performs a third kindness for the spies. She helps them escape the trap of the closed city.

* Joshua 2:18-21. The spies tell Rahab to mark her location with a scarlet cord. This sign will enable them to save her family from death. The color of the cord reminds us of the blood on the doorposts during the first Passover (see Exodus 12:13).

* Joshua 2:24. The spies do not report military information. Rather, they affirm that God has already accomplished the promise of land. The natives fear Israel and God. The land is already theirs.

* Joshua 3:3-4. The ark of the covenant (see Exodus 25:10-22) is the central symbol of God's presence in war. The ark is a sort of war throne from which Yahweh leads the people to victory (see Numbers 10:35-36). Yahweh's power literally radiates from this throne. Consequently, only Levites — specially chosen by God for the task — can touch the ark. Ordinary people must keep a...