Great encouragement, instruction and promises

"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inheirit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be succcessful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD you God will be with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:6 - 9; also 1:18b and 10:25)

Boiled down, God is commanding Israel (and why not us?) to be...

• Strong
• Courageous...very courageous
• Careful to obey all the law
• Steady (turn not right nor left)
• Constantly reading and thinking about God's word and Law
• Aware God will be with you everywhere

...to be successful and prosperous everywhere. With all the forces standing in the way of prosperity (corruption, taxes, economic tidal waves, terrorism) reading this made me realize that God truly can overcome anything...the biggest obstacle personal fear and disobedience.

Permanent Piles of rock

In a number of places, someone is killed and rocks are piled over them which "are there to this day". After reading this the third time it occurred to me that this is meant to be a lasting reminder. Similarly, after Jericho is destroyed there is a permanent curse upon anyone whoever tries to rebuild Jericho in Joshua 6:26.

Violence

We see a lot of battles, and it is God's will to destroy everyone...women, children and livestock. In Joshua 11:20 we find out that "it was the LORD Himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses".

If I didn't believe in God, I might think that God's commands were just rationalizations to justify an unbelievably successful and brutal military campaign. Later we see Israel getting into all kinds of trouble when they absorb the practices of foreigners - and this gets fixed at the cost of turbulent politics and ultimately complete defeat and exile.

Achan and sin

"But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted [pludered] things; Achan...took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel" (Joshua 7:1) This struck me - God is angry at Israel as a whole because of one of its members. As far as God is concerned it was the Israelites, not just Achan, that had acted unfaithfully. And about 36 Israelites die for this mistake in a failed battle with Ai which "the hearts of the people melted and became like water" (7:5). Sin needs to be rooted out for victory. God says "You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove [the stolen 'devoted things']" (7:13b). And it has to be completely removed: "Then Joshua, together with all Israel..." (unity of purpose?) "...too Achan..., the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor...Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger"

-- MattWalsh - 25 May 2004