Wednesday, January 14th

Yesterday you read Joshua 1:1-9, what did you discover?

I want you to take some time again, and read the passage. What do you notice differently?

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 “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 successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; 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. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I want to unpack a few things for you, part of it is to create a greater discovery point, potentially piecing greater things together.

First off, Joshua is the first book after the Torah. The Torah, which Jesus refers to throughout, is the first five books of the OT, (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) and Joshua starts a series of books referred to as the “former prophets”. Which means they are historical in nature, but they share some prophecy, which we actually see in the first part of this passage.

Second, as we look at verse 1-2, we see that Moses has died and it picks up right where Deuteronomy left off, with the death of Moses. It gives us context that they are about to cross the Jordan River and enter the promised land. On Sunday, both services, people asked why Moses didn’t get the chance to enter the Promised Land. I mentioned about Moses disobedience, which the consequence was not entering the Promised Land. If you want to read more about it, check out Numbers 20:1-13.

Verses 3-5 are a repeat to God’s promise to Moses and then Joshua, depending on your Bible, you may have a note to Deuteronomy 11:24-25 and 31:1-8 (which you could pencil in your Bible if you wanted to) this is the original promise given, which is showing God’s faithfulness, that he does do what he says.

Verses. 7-8- Notice how God is challenging Joshua to obey the commands, the Torah, then notice the word in vs 8, meditate. Meditate on the word, day and night. This is another verse where we have a connecting verse, Psalm 1:2-3, you can pencil that in. Which affirms the passage and gives us hope, that when we meditate on the Word, we are like a tree planted by streams of water that are fruitful.

Vs. 9- God repeats again, be strong and courageous, don’t be afraid, don’t be discouraged, I am with you. Whenever we see repetition within a passage it should get our attention. God wanted to make it clear to Joshua, to be strong and courageous either to reinforce His presence or the fact that he knew Joshua was timid or fearful and was speaking directly to him.

One other “nerdy nugget” as Pastor Manny Arango says. Joshua’s name was actually Hoshea, which means salvation. Moses changed his name to Joshua which means, “the Lord saves” or “the Lord gives victory”. Quite appropriate for the passage. Let’s take it one step further. In the Greek, Jesus’ name is Joshua, and we see that in Matthew 1:21. The story of Joshua in the OT, bringing the people of Israel into the promised land is a foreshadowing to how Jesus is going to do that for all of humanity. From Moses to Joshua, creation, fall, redemption to Jesus to you.

All of this gives us context for the passage, to study and understand the information given but now we need to move from information to formation.

How do we take what is in this passage and allow it to be formed in us? What do you need to hear about the context then and there (exegesis) and apply it to your hear and now (hermeneutics)?