Disclaimer: Please forgive any typographical, grammatical, and/or content errors in the following notes. They are not meant to be an exact transcription, but rather a helpful guide for those who appreciate the written word along with the spoken word. If you have any questions on what was taught, feel free to reach out on our ‘Contact Us’ page.
Scripture Focus: Overview of the Pentateuch before we study Joshua
Before we dive into Joshua 1, we need to understand what came before in the historical-redemptive narrative of the Word of God that pertains to our study of Joshua…
Very High Level Overview of the Pentateuch (First Five Books of the Bible)
- Genesis
- The creation narrative tells how God made us in His image for a purpose and He desires to have relationship with us.
- The fall of man occurs and we are now separated from the presence of God. Day 2 in creation was the only day that was not called “good” because God’s dwelling place, heaven, was separated from man’s dwelling place, earth. The entire bible from Day 2 to Revelation 21 when God’s dwelling place is unified with man’s is about fixing what happened on Day 2. God will make covenant with his people and continue to keep covenant and work them out. A theme we will see in Joshua.
- Adamic Covenant – God’s promise that the offspring of Eve will crush the head of the serpent even though the serpent will bruise/pierce his heel. This is called the protoevangelium or ‘First Gospel.’
- Noahic Covenant – After mass sin and corruption of men in the image of God, God floods the earth and promises he will not flood the earth again.
- Abrahamic Covenant – Abraham would be the father of a great nation, receive a promised land, and all the people of the world would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring. This is an unconditional promise. Walking in blessing and keeping the Promised Land were conditional upon faithful obedience. This is a theme we will see in Joshua. These covenants are passed down through Isaac and Jacob, who is renamed Israel, and the Israelites are born through his sons.
- Joseph is one of the sons who brings the family to Egypt to save them from famine, where they settle, grow numerous, and fall into a 400 year period of captivity.
- Exodus
- Moses was trained for 40 years in Egypt. He murders an Egyptian and flees to the wilderness where he meets God and learns he will do things in God’s strength, not his own – another major theme of Joshua.
- Moses returns to Egypt and 10 plagues (associated with 10 Egyptian gods) are meted out to show God’s supremacy over all and Pharaoh releases the Israelites.
- The Lord delivers his people through the Red Sea into the wilderness to Mount Sinai.
- Mosaic Covenant – God gives his divine Law for the people to follow.
- The first time we see Joshua’s name mentioned in Scripture he is commanding the Israelites in a battle against the Amalekites (Ex.17). Joshua is at least 20 years old (the required age of a fighting man of Israel), more than likely he was more mature to command the army. He was Moses’ assistant from which he received discipleship, training, and a season of preparation in community – a major theme in the book of Joshua.
- Leviticus
- Aside on Covenant and Law – A covenant is a legally binding contractual statement that must be followed up by action. This Law is not meant to save but to show the people how desperately they need God. Praise God we now have a covenant that fulfills the Mosaic covenant (Jesus fulfills the Law), Adamic covenant, and part of the Abrahamic covenant. The Noahic covenant is still in effect. This New Covenant is salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone! In God’s Law there are two types of Law: 1) Apodictic – commands, e.g. Do not murder. 2) Casuistic – by case, the majority of law in the bible meant to explain and extrapolate upon apodictic, e.g. If someone does this, then do this. There are three types of law in the bible: 1) Moral – summed up in ‘love God, love others’ 2) Ceremonial – how to be clean before God 3) Civil – how to rule. Jesus has totally fulfilled ceremonial and civil law and praise God we are not bound to uphold those laws any longer. Insofar as we are in submission to Christ, we are in submission to those laws. We are bound to the moral law. Jesus has not fully completed every promise yet – He is coming again to do that!!!
- Numbers
- Joshua is probably in his 40s by now like his contemporary, Caleb, the only other faithful spy from Numbers 13. Read Numbers 13-14. For time’s sake, we will not fully exposit, but please take some time diving deeper if you would like and trust the Holy Spirit to lead you into truth.
- Hosea (“salvation”), is renamed Joshua (Yeshua “the Lord is salvation”, Jesus is Yeshua hamashiach “Messiah”), by Moses
- The spies spend 40 days walking the land – the equivalent of us walking to Pittsburgh and back. They bring back good fruit and report of strong cities and people. The Israelites want to return to Egypt and stone Caleb, Joshua, Moses, and Aaron. The glory of the Lord saves them and Moses intercedes for the people’s lives and that generation is spared to wander in the wilderness.
- 40 years of wandering including…
- Numbers 20 – Account of Moses striking the rock at Meribah where he disobeyed and learned that he would be prevented from entering the Promised Land.
- Deuteronomy
- The words of Moses to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land.
- In Deuteronomy 31 Joshua is named Moses’ successor and the congregation witnesses the laying of hands and the succession plan.
Just like the Isarelites we can be a people who walk in fear, lack of faith, and grumbling at various times. But praise God for his grace and mercy through his son Jesus Christ who is the true fulfillment of all God’s promises. Praise God for his Spirit who seals us and indwells us so we do not need to fear being led to the promised land and having to turn around. Turning around is an impossibility for those who trust in Jesus. We have a future, hope, home, and a rest to look forward to! Our goal is to walk faithfully and obediently with Jesus as the Spirit transforms us.
Key themes from the entirety of Scripture revealed as God tests his people that we’ll be focusing on in the book of Joshua:
- God is covenantal and his word can be trusted.
- God is looking for humble faithfulness from his people.
- God blesses us with his presence and his purposes.
Main themes directly from Joshua that we’ll be exploring:
- Walk in His presence – God is faithful and relational. He calls us to trust his promises. There is nothing greater than walking in his presence and promises.
- Walk in active faith – We are to trust and obey, wait and move, listen and watch, and then do. God does not snap his fingers to make everything alright. He expects his children to actively walk out their salvation in fear and trembling as he is the one who wills and works in us for his good pleasure.
- Walk in holiness – a separate, different, unique people called out to live in the world but not of the world
- Walk in community – be disciples, make disciples, love one another and spur one another on. There is a theme of belonging and place throughout the book of Joshua.
- Walk in His rest – We must learn not to strive in our own power, even in the midst of fighting battles and wars on God’s behalf.