Sermon Tone Analysis

1. Be Strong and Very Courageous (Joshua 1)

As we begin our study of Joshua, we need to remind ourselves of two things -- the age we're studying and the events immediately preceding.

Bronze Age Values

First, we're in the Late Bronze Age and a kind of primitive society.

They're not affluent, rather, they must trust God to survive, and as they enter a region inhabited by other peoples, they must be willing to fight to take the Promised Land.

We in the West take peace for granted.

Only a small percentage of our populations have ever been in the army.

That's for someone else.

But in the Bronze Age, if you aren't willing to fight, then your family probably won't survive, especially if you're an immigrant, a newcomer in the land.

Bronze Age values are different from modern values.

So instead of judging them from the distance of the twenty-first century, try to judge them based on their history, their culture, and their values.

Forty Years in the Wilderness

Second, we need to understand their immediate history.

It has been forty years since Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt -- longer than any of them had ever imagined it would be.

Parents who had left Egypt have all died now -- except Joshua and Caleb.

Only their children remain.

The children remember some things, however.

In only two years, they had seen Israel cross the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army destroyed.

They had drunk water out of the rock, been sustained with manna, and received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.

For those two years, their parents had grumbled and rebelled, complained and cursed until they came to the southern boundary of the Promised Land.[3]

When they camped in Kadesh-Barnea -- a desert oasis at the very south of Canaan -- Moses had selected twelve men, one from each of the Twelve Tribes.

Two of these men we know from the Book of Joshua -- Joshua and Caleb.

The Twelve Spies were to provide reconnaissance of the land, probe for weaknesses, evaluate enemy positions, and develop strategies for conquest (Numbers 13-14).

On their return journey, the Twelve Spies carried a huge cluster of grapes on a pole between two of them as a sign of the fruitfulness of the land.

"We went into the land ... and it does flow with milk and honey!" they reported.

But ten of them were fearful:

Numbers 13:28 ““Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.”

These ten spread a bad report among the people, and their fear was infectious.

Their view is countered, however, by two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua.

Caleb boldly declares:

But the people are afraid.

The negativism and fear of the majority report have spread through all Israel.

The people begin to talk of stoning their leaders.

At that point, God intervenes.

Though He forgives the people their sins of unbelief and contempt against Him (Numbers 14:11), He swears that none of that generation would ever enter the land, only Caleb and Joshua.

The book of Joshua begins at the close of those forty years of wandering in the Wilderness of Zin around Kadesh-Barnea.

The generation of the parents has now all died.

Moses, too, passes on at the ripe old age of 120.

With his final strength, he climbs Mount Pisgah and surveys the Promised Land.

Then he dies, and Joshua is filled with his Spirit (Deuteronomy 34:9).

Moses has brought the people to -- literally -- the very edge of the Jordan.

It is Joshua's task to bring them across Jordan and lead them to conquer and occupy the very land Joshua had spied out as a young man 38 years previously.

By this time Joshua is perhaps 70 or 80 (we don't know for sure) and along with Caleb, one of the two oldest men of the entire nation.

Their contemporaries have all died.

Only their children remain.

Joshua is now the leader and feels the whole weight of responsibility upon him.

But Joshua's leadership doesn't begin here.

Joshua's Resume

Joshua is a member of one of the largest tribes of Israel, the tribe of Ephraim, and quickly rises to prominence.

His name originally is, "Hoshea" ("salvation") but Moses renames him "Joshua," which means, "Yahweh saves" (Numbers 13:16).

Joshua is doubtless already a leader in his tribe when God leads the people out of Egypt.

When the Amalekites attack the Israelites at Rephidim, before the people reach Mt.

Sinai, Moses calls on Joshua to be the military field commander to organize an army to repel them.

After that we see Joshua as Moses' aide or "servant."[4]

He accompanies Moses up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments (Exodus 24:13).

When Moses talks to God in the Tent of Meeting, Joshua is there, too.

We catch a little of Joshua's youthful zeal when God's Spirit falls on a couple of Israel's elders in the camp.

When representatives of the Twelve Tribes are selected to spy out the land, Joshua is chosen for the tribe of Ephraim and Caleb for the tribe of Judah.

Though ten of the spies give a bad report, Joshua and Caleb display their faith by encouraging the people to enter the land by faith in God's promises (Numbers 14:8-9).

Finally, it comes time for Moses to choose a successor.

Notice that the Spirit is already upon Joshua (Numbers 27:18).

But the commission and authority to command are now conferred by Moses.

Camped at Shittim

Prior to the book of Joshua, Israelite troops have conquered the Transjordan, that is, the lands east of the Jordan River, outlined in Deuteronomy 2:24-3:11.

At that time, three of the tribes asked for the land east of the Jordan for their tribal lands: Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

However, Moses had charged the leaders of these tribes that when it came time to conquer the land to the west of the Jordan, the fighting men of these tribes had to join the main army until the campaign was complete (Deuteronomy 3:12-20).

As we open the book of Joshua, the people of Israel are camped on the plains of Moab (Deuteronomy 34:8) at Shittim (which means "Acacia Trees," Joshua 2:1), where they have been for months, about seven miles east of the Jordan.

This is the last camping place before the Israelites cross Jordan.

At Shittim:

The Israelites commit immorality with Moabite and Midianite women (Numbers 25:1-9) at the instigation of Balaam.

Israel is numbered in a census (Numbers 26:1-4).

Joshua is invested with Moses' authority (Numbers 27:18-23).

Moses recites the history of the people and the laws of God (most of which are contained in the book of Deuteronomy).

Moses climbs to the top of Mt.

Pisgah to see (but not enter) the Promised Land, and then dies at the age of 120 (Deuteronomy 34:1-4).

Moses is buried nearby in Moab (Deuteronomy 34:5-8).

We've looked at Joshua's life prior to the Book of Joshua; now we turn to our text.

So long as Moses is alive, Joshua can serve under this great leader, awaiting his time.

But as we open the book of Joshua, Moses is dead, and Joshua is the sole leader.

The weight of the entire enterprise rests on his shoulders.

Have you ever felt fear?

Have you ever been overcome with the magnitude of what you have to do and wonder how you can ever do it?

That's what Joshua is feeling.

But God's words of command and encouragement help him deal with his fear.

God says to Joshua:

Wherever You Set Your Foot (1:3-4)

God's promise in the third verse is fascinating.

God recalls to Joshua's mind the general promise that Moses had announced to the whole people:

What does this mean?

It means that where Joshua and the people actually, physically go, God will give it to them.

We see the promise fulfilled in Joshua where the people win battle after battle in campaigns in both the south and north of Canaan.

Where they actually go, God gives them the land.

But where they don't go, where they don't persist until they obtain the victory, the Canaanites continue to hide out and harass them.

Caleb also remembers this promise when he gets ready to attack the fortified city of Hebron at the age of 85:

This principle also applies in other realms of our life.

We want everything brought to us on a silver platter, but God tells us to go and claim it personally.

Then God will give it to us.

Spiritually, we want to grow.

How will we do that?

Passively?