Bible Study - Joshua Part 2

Character Study on Joshua Introduction The book of Joshua does not start with Joshua’s birth but rather with his leadership; it is a history of his reign and government. The book of Joshua is essentially the story of how God commissioned his people to serve as his army to take Canaan in His name out of the hands of idolatrous Canaanites and to take over the land fulfilling the pledge made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Gen 15:13, 16, 18; 17:8). The book of Joshua is about the establishment of God’s people. Joshua was God’s chosen servant to bring Moses’ work to completion and establish Israel in the Promised Land. God promised Joshua that he would possess Canaan and He will not leave him nor forsake him. Joshua is thought to be a type of Jesus; the name ‘Joshua’ is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek name ‘Jesus’. In Zech 3:8 Zechariah said that the high priest, Joshua, was symbolic of the Messiah. The book is widely believed to have been written by Joshua himself with the exception of the last few chapters.

Part Two Obedience – A man of faith Joshua was a man of great faith; God had singled him out to Moses saying that Joshua was ‘a man in whom is the spirit (Numbers 27:18). The book of Joshua starts by giving Joshua what would turn out to be the secret to his success. In Joshua 1:8, the bible says ‘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.’ In the 1st chapter, God told Joshua to be strong and courageous. In order to be courageous, Joshua’s strength had to come from the promises and commands of God. The only way that Joshua would be able to defeat his enemies was if he carefully obeyed Gods words. Obedience requires full commitment; to obey God means that you make a conscious choice about who and what you worship. Joshua’s repeated obedience to God showed a deep level of faith in God. When you have faith, you are not afraid and in his actions, Joshua showed that he certainly was not afraid. Joshua did not shy away from following Gods commandments when it came to circumcising the males, even though he knew that the timing was not ideal (Jos 5). It was a deep level of faith that allowed Joshua to obey W/C 7th December, 2009

God’s command to march round the walls of Jericho despite the possible embarrassment (Jos 6). And there had to be a very high level of confidence in God to command the sun to stand still (Jos 10); in fact some of the things that Joshua did (in obedience to God) were so ridiculous that he either had such deep faith or was borderline lunatic! Disobedience did however creep in and in Jos 9:14 we see that by leaving God out of the equation, Joshua was deceived (Jos 9:22). However because of God’s mercies and faithfulness, every promise He made to Joshua was fulfilled (Jos 23:14) Military might and numerical superiority are all well and good but Joshua learnt that victory comes through faith in God and obedience to his word.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER: 1. Why do you think that God repeatedly told Joshua to be strong? (Jos 1:6,7,9) 2. Joshua 6:1, 2 - What can we learn about the conditions and demands of conquering strongholds by faith? Would your faith survive the challenge? 3. What led to the defeat in Ai? Could we be defeated in similar way? What action is necessary to regain victory? (Jos 8:30-35) 4. What things led to the disobedience in Jos 9? See Deut 7:1-6 for background. 5. Isaiah 55: 8 - How do you feel when things don’t seem to be going in the direction you expect them to despite the fact that you are certain you have heard from God concerning the situation?

GROUP PRAYER: 1. Pray for faith – an unwavering faith (Heb 11:6) 2. Pray that you will always seek the counsel of God (Prov 16:3, Jos 9: 14) 3. Pray for grace to return to God when you falter (Is 1:18, 1 John 1:9)

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES: 1. Obedience – Deut 28:1, 1 Sam 15:22, Jos 22:5, Jn 14:15 2. Faith needs action - Jos 3:1-4, James 2:17 3. Have faith – Matt 17:20, Luke 17:5, Heb 11

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Did you know? • Joshua 6:2-4 - God requires our trust in order to stop us from getting in the way of His answers to our prayers. We need to give God time to answer and not take matters into own hands. • Joshua 6:20 – Even though God had given them the city v2, they still had to take it. • Joshua 6:22-25, Matt 1:5, 6 – Faith and humility will take you far. • Joshua 7:12 - Sin robs us of blessings. The presence of sin means the absence of God’s presence. The presence of God is our power against the enemy. God dealt with Israel as one body, all were accountable. • Joshua 13:1, 6 – Partial conquest is not enough; this is a lifelong pursuit of God’s will. Taking half of a cancerous tumour out doesn’t address the problem (v13)!

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