Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

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Anger
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(1) And then, after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh,
Yahweh said to Joshua son of Nun, the one serving Moses, saying,
"Moses my servant died,
and so then, rise!, cross! over this Jordan-- you and all this people to the land
that I am giving to them--to the sons of Israel.
Moses was, overall, a great leader for Israel.
He was a faithful servant of Yahweh; He was a faithful servant of Israel.
But in Numbers 20, he sinned against Yahweh in how he brought water out from a rock.
And Yahweh made a promise to Moses, then, that because Moses sinned, he wouldn't personally get to enter the promised land.
And Yahweh keeps his promises.
He is a God of his word.
So when we read Yahweh's words to Joshua in verse 1, we understand them in light of Numbers 20.
Our book starts on a very sober note.
Israel couldn't cross over until Moses had died.
God expects obedience.
In verse 2, Yahweh gives Joshua two commands.
Get up! Cross the river!
The Jordan isn't a really impressive river, to look at.
It's not a big deal.
But the Jordan River marks the boundary of the promised land.
And that makes it a big deal.
This command marks Yahweh beginning to fulfill his promise to give the land.
Now Yahweh is a patient, kind, and gracious God.
And Yahweh knows that He is asking a lot of Joshua.
And so Yahweh doesn't simply command Joshua to rise and cross the Jordan River, and leave it at that.
He also gives Joshua five promises to encourage him in verses 3-5:
(3) Every place that the sole of your feet walks on it, to you I gave
just as I spoke to Moses.
(4) It is from the desert and this Lebanon and up to the great river--the river of Euphrates--, all the land of the Hittites and up to the great sea, the great setting of the sun that will be your territory.
No man will stand before you all the days of your life.
Just as I have lived with Moses, I will be with you.
I will not abandon you,
and I will not reject you.
So here are the five promises:
1) Imagine someone walking.
Every single step they take, they are touching a new piece of the ground.
Every step Joshua takes, marks a piece of the promised land that Yahweh is giving to Joshua.
(take a step, that piece, take a step, that piece).
2) Yahweh's second promise is that as long as Joshua lives, no one will be able to defeat Joshua in battle.
He says this: "No man will stand before you all the days of your life."
There's going to be lots of wars in Joshua.
Lots of fighting.
Lots of killing.
Imagine yourself holding a sword, as part of an army, and you are lining up in battle against your enemy.
Or you are trying to attack a fortified city that's ready for you.
How do you know that you will be the one to win? How do you know that you will be the one who lives?
Yahweh promises Joshua, "No man will stand before you all the days of your life."
As long as you live, you will always be victorious.
3) Yahweh's third promise is this: "Just as I have lived with Moses, I will be with you."
Joshua was Moses' servant.
Joshua saw, first hand, what it meant that Yahweh was with Moses (Deut.
3:21).
If you know that God has promised to be with you, and you've seen him do miraculous, amazing things, there's really no reason to be scared.
4-5) Yahweh's fourth and fifth promises are that he won't abandon Joshua or reject him.
He won't bring Joshua halfway into the promised land, and then abandon him.
Yahweh won't leave him in the middle of a battle.
Yahweh will be with Joshua.
End of story.
So Yahweh has given Joshua two commands-- Rise!, and cross!, and given him 5 promises.
He now gives Joshua 2 more commands in verse 6.
(6) Be strong
and be brave
because you will give this people the land
that I swore to your fathers to give to them.
"Be strong."
"Be brave."
Why? Joshua has to be brave, because it is Joshua who will give the people the land.
Everything depends on Joshua.
There is no one else.
And at the end of the day, when Yahweh points a finger at you, and says, "This is your job; it's you who will do this," what can you say?
What can you do?
You may not like it; you may wish someone else was doing it.
But you'll be strong, and you'll be brave.
Verses 7-8 introduce a wrinkle to all this:
(7) Only, be strong and be brave exceedingly,
to keep to do according to all the instruction
that Moses my servant commanded you.
(8) This scroll of the instruction must not depart from your mouth,
and you must mutter over it day and night.
in order that you may keep to do everything written in it
because it is then that you will be successful in your roads/ways,
and it is then that you will prosper.
Verse 7 begins with Yahweh saying "only."
The way that "only" works in Hebrew, is that it places a qualification, or limitation, or condition, on something that was just said.
Yahweh has given Joshua five great promises.
But these promises have a condition attached to them.
Joshua has to be strong and exceedingly brave, to keep all of Moses' instructions.
I understand the need to be strong, and be brave, if I'm holding a sword and attacking a fortified city.
I know men aren't supposed to admit to something like this, but I'd want to wet my pants.
But here, in verse 7, being strong and being brave is connected to obeying the commands Yahweh gave Moses.
Why does it take strength, and bravery, to trust and obey Yahweh?
How can this be harder, and more important, than attacking cities? Joshua is commanded to be exceedingly strong, and exceedingly brave.
When Yahweh talks about the instruction Moses gave--your Bibles probably translate it as the law of Moses-- this is basically the book of Deuteronomy.
At the heart of Deuteronomy is the establishment of a covenant relationship between Yahweh and Israel.
We know about covenants, probably, from weddings.
When a man and woman want to get married, they are joined to each other through a marriage covenant.
They made a solemn promise to be faithful to each other, as long as they both live.
Yahweh and Israel made a covenant after Yahweh freed Israel from Egypt.
Yahweh promised to bless Israel, to multiply them, to give them the land, and to protect them from enemies.
This is what it means for Yahweh to be faithful.
Israel promised to serve Yahweh alone.
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