Bible Studies

THE BOOK OF JOSHUA

by Henry Jaegers
03/09/19
Free to Share
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

JOSHUA

Joshua’s name means Savor and significantly He is the Savior to lead Israel onto Victory as Jesus leads His followers into victory.

Moses has died, and a new page in the life of God's people has begun. The promises that Israel failed to claim from God are now about to take place. In the land, when Moses led the Israelites, they battled often with sword, spear, and shields to defeat the enemy. Their weapons were carnal and for the time were allowed by God to accomplish his purposes. But now in the book of Joshua we see a whole new strategy employed by God. Armed with the promises of God they venture forth in faith crossing over the Jordan River, defeating the armies of Jericho and are on their way to inherit the blessing. Now they are to see God at work and no more will they have to trust in their own resources to get things done.

The book of Joshua is a message that God is a God of war against sin and unrighteousness. He is a holy God and according to this virtue sin cannot be tolerated or stand in his presence. God is not dependent upon the strength of a man but he shows throughout this book through various methods that he uses, that he is on their side as long as righteousness and truth prevail in the camp.

The book of Joshua is the book that tells of God's people receiving the promise of  God and entering into the land that he promised to give them. They have finally learned that the God who is operating on their behalf can be trusted and the true victory that is accomplished is the victory that comes through faith.

During these 50 or so years, the people learned what they failed to see on the other side of Jordan. The victory was theirs through faith in God. But there were standards also that God had employed for his people to live by. At Ai, Israel learned a hard lesson of how the sin of one person could have a drastic effect on experiencing the power of God at work. God's holiness had been violated and drastic measures needed to be used to prevent further damage. The sin had to be dealt with before progress could be made. Israel learned through this defeat of how serious a problem sin and disobedience are.

The key to Joshua's success is found at the outset when God instructed him to carefully meditate on the law of God day and night and through this, he would find great success and blessing (Joshua 1:8). If we are to follow the ways of God it is important that we are thoroughly instructed and make the knowledge of God the most important part of our life and this can only be done through meditating on the word of God done regularly. God’s leaders must be instructed in God’s ways.

At the end of his life Joshua proclaimed as well that after all of this, his determination for him and his family is that they would serve the Lord and never forget that he always keeps his word.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Read 1:1-10 and discuss the words 0f encouragement found in these verses.

1. In these verses, what priority does God place on the word of God?

2. What is the difference between the Memorization of God’s word and meditating upon God’s word?

3.   Read Psalm1:2-4 and discuss the promise of blessing attached to meditating upon God’s word.

4.   In Deuteronomy 28, A covenant was made with Israel. Read the content and discuss the seriousness of breaking this covenant. Later we find Israel doing so In Jeremiah chapter 11.

5.   In Josh 2: 9, Discuss the promise of Rahab. In Matthew 1:5 Discuss the blessing of God to her.

6.   Discuss the unusual battle plan employed by God against Jericho in 6:

7.   Discuss the oath given By Joshes in 6: 28

8.   In Chapter 7, what happened at Ai” How was the problem corrected and what lessons were learned from the defeat?

9.   After the land was distributed and the battles won, what words of the challenge were given in 24: 14-24?