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The Book of Joshua

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The Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua David W. Gooding A Myrtlefield House Transcript www.myrtlefieldhouse.com Contents Introduction 1. (1) The Promised Inheritance and the Covenant 3 2. (2) The Judgment of God on Jericho 11 The First Phase of the Conquest 3. (1) Bringing Israel into their Inheritance 20 4. (2) Establishing the Law of God in Canaan—Part 1 31 5. (3) Establishing the Law of God in Canaan—Part 2 40 6. (4) Putting Down all Rule and Authority 48 The Second Phase of the Conquest 7. (1) Setting up the Tent of Meeting at Shiloh 59 8. (2) Provision for Maintaining God’s Service and for the Salvation of those in Danger 71 9. (3) Uninterrupted Service of the Lord 79 Appendixes (Handouts) 1. The Book of Joshua—Table of Contents 86 2. The Conquest of Canaan—Phase I 87 3. Similarities between Joshua 5–8 and the New Testament 88 David Gooding has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. © The Myrtlefield Trust, 2016 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Sometimes Dr Gooding gives his own translations or paraphrases. This text has been edited from a transcript of nine talks given by David Gooding at Ahoghill Gospel Hall, Ahoghill, Co Antrim, N. Ireland during October 1989. It is made available for you to read or print out for personal or church use. However, you may not publish it either in print or electronic form. Published by The Myrtlefield Trust 180 Mountsandel Road Coleraine, N. Ireland BT52 1TB w: www.myrtlefieldhouse.com e: [email protected] Myrtlefield catalogue no: jos.005/bh 1 Introduction (1) The Promised Inheritance and the Covenant The book of Joshua is an exceedingly old book, written some three thousand years ago, yet it has power to speak to our hearts directly because we cannot read it without it reminding us of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ himself: ‘For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on’ (Heb 4:8). The promised inheritance In the Greek it says, ‘If Jesus had given them rest.’ Therefore the Authorised Version translators of that verse translated it, ‘If Jesus had given them rest.’ When Joshua brought the Israelites into the promised land, if he had given them complete rest God would not have spoken of another rest. In the first place, the name of our Lord Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua, so the early Christians very soon learned that the book of Joshua and his exploits remind us of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus. Then of course we may go deeper. For it is not merely a name, it is what Joshua did for the people of his time that so vividly reminds us of what our blessed Lord has done for us. Under God, Joshua was the man who brought Israel into their God-given inheritance, the promised land flowing with milk and honey. When we read it our hearts will immediately jump the centuries and think of our Joshua who has done similarly for us and brought us into our God-given inheritance. We shall be moved to give thanks to the Father, who has qualified us—who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light (see Col 1:12). So as we read about Joshua bringing the Israelites into their land we shall not begrudge them one blade of grass in their country, or one little pot of honey. We shall say, ‘Yes, thank God for that; but we have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for (us)”’ (1 Pet 1:4). God has made us fit already through Jesus Christ our Lord; he has qualified us for our share in the inheritance of the saints in light. What do we mean when we think of this term, inheritance? It is mentioned very frequently in the New Testament, but of course it is taken from the Old, in particular from these stories that tell how God promised Canaan to the Israelites as their inheritance. When they got into the land the surveyors went round and measured out the farms. The land was divided up and given to each of the Israelites for their enjoyment. So the term was taken from the Old Testament and endures in the New. The Book of Joshua Page | 4 As the centuries went by and the Israelites pondered the tremendous blessing that God had given them in their inheritance, they went beyond the literal land of Canaan—beyond the grass and the cows and the milk and the honey. Listen, for instance, to the psalmist David, ‘The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance’ (Ps 16:5–6). What does he mean, ‘The lines have fallen for me’? He’s thinking of the ancient story—when Israel went into the land, eventually they described the land and wrote it down in a book. Lots were cast and each citizen received his bit of land. Some of the citizens thought it was marvellous, because they got rich countryside. Some of them weren’t so pleased, as they got bits that were difficult to farm. Some were very content and some were not so content. As the centuries went by, the great prophets and psalmists thought not only of the physical inheritance that God had given them, they began to think of the great spiritual inheritance they enjoyed even in that far off day. The psalmist says, ‘It’s the Lord who gave me this three acres and a cow! The Lord himself is behind the inheritance that is the portion of my cup. I can honestly and sincerely say that in the bit that’s been measured out for me, ‘the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.’ If we went no further than that, we’ve been moved, haven’t we, to think of a wonderful thing. The infinite God has not only brought us into an inheritance and qualified us to enjoy it, but he has given to each one of us our particular share of that inheritance. You have an experience of the Lord in common with me; and then you have your own experience of the Lord that is totally peculiar to you. As you think of the glorious inheritance that Christ has given you in God, I wonder can you honestly say, ‘Thank God, the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a beautiful inheritance’? If we want to know more of what our inheritance means to us as Christians, we could start by considering the earnest of our inheritance. The New Testament uses that term more than once. Not only do we have an ‘inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for [us]’ (1 Pet 1:4), but God has already given us a part payment, an earnest (Eph 1:13–14). Already now we have some of the joys that we shall have in full one day. The great earnest of our inheritance is the Holy Spirit of God himself (2 Cor 5:5). We have the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. I have no need to remind you of all that that means and what the blessed Holy Spirit has done within us, regenerating us, giving us the very life of God already, introducing us into peace with God. We ‘have access in one Spirit to the Father’ (Eph 2:18), moving in our hearts that deep sense of assurance as he pours out the love of God in our hearts, leading us to cry in genuine reality, ‘Abba, Father.’ Already sensing and knowing that God is our Father, we are children of God; and if children of God then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord (see Rom 8:14–17). The very terminology is based on these ancient parts of the Old Testament and the book of Joshua in particular. Not only is our inheritance concerned with spiritual blessings. Paul reminds us that the bodies in which we dwell are but fragile tents, blown about with the winds, dilapidated and coming down. It is but a temporary accommodation. ‘For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’ (2 Cor 5:1). The Book of Joshua Page | 5 We long, therefore, to ‘be away from the body and at home with the Lord’ (v. 8). This is not escapism. It isn’t the word and attitude of somebody for whom life has been too much and he’s glad to escape it. ‘The thing that has made heaven real to us,’ said Paul, ‘and the certainty that we shall have an eternal building—our bodies suited to our glorified personalities—is that God has already given us an earnest of it, the Holy Spirit in our hearts’ (1:22). Enough then, to show the vast blessing that our inheritance in Christ gives us. If we would see the relevance of the story of Joshua to our experience, however, we must first of all study it in its ancient historical context.
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