Lecture 27.docx

Let's come to the book of Joshua, the first of the former prophets. And as we come to Joshua, it's interesting, even the Hebrew tradition titles this book by the main human character and not by the first phrase as we've seen in the Torah. So this is not, this is not after the death of Moses. The tit...

Let's come to the book of Joshua, the first of the former prophets. And as we come to Joshua, it's interesting, even the Hebrew tradition titles this book by the main human character and not by the first phrase as we've seen in the Torah. So this is not, this is not after the death of Moses. The title given to it is the Asherah, the main character. And of course it's interesting that this term means the Lord is salvation, transliterated into the Greek or translated into the Greek. What does the Lord of salvation in Greek comes out as or the same word that is used for Jesus the Lord of salvation when we get to the New Testament. And right there dropping down to the history of interpretation, you can imagine with this book being titled in the Septuagint basically Jesus, the Lord of salvation, with the same name that the gospel writers gave to the human name Greek for Jesus, the Lord of salvation. You can see very, very early in Christian interpretation where Joshua was viewed as a type of Christ and what happens in the book of Joshua. Of Joshua being a conqueror and delivering Israel from the Canaanites, being a warrior, being a conqueror, being a savior, being a deliverer, fulfilling Moses calling as a culminating redemptive act that began in Egypt. You can see how within the Christian tradition there was almost a sense in which this book was not studied for its historical or canonical role in the Old Testament but very, very quickly Christian preaching, Christian studies started to look at this book as a type of what God has done for the church in Jesus. And that tradition certainly continues in contemporary evangelical preaching. You can still go to bookstores and find books that look at Joshua from almost a merely typological standpoint. And so that is an early channel within the history of the interpretation of this book. And as that typological approach has somewhat died out, Joshua now becomes merely studied in Sunday school classes for history that very little preaching of Joshua is done in our evangelical churches today. It's like we set aside Jesus as the type and Joshua is gone. No one preaches from it anymore. So we're going to have to talk a little bit at the end. If you're not going to be strictly typological, how are you going to preach Joshua? Well, let's discuss Joshua and then we'll talk about how that might come to pass. So right away we see a transition even in the Hebrew tradition as they name the books. Obviously this book is named after its main human character. Same thing was going to be true with Judges. And of course Samuel is the first of the major characters and then Kings because the book of Kings is going to be the Kings of Israel and Judah. So these become the title in the Hebrew just as we have them in the English. Interestingly it's going to be the Septuagint and the Volgate that are going to change when we get to Samuel the Kings. But we'll wait till we get there. Now what about the date of events? Well, right again the narrative is slowed down. This is 24 chapters basically about one generation. And the events are from the death of Moses which took place in 1406 BC to the death of the elders associated with Joshua. So Joshua's death as far as the Old Testament is concerned, both in Joshua and Judges, is not in and of itself the termination of the second generation of Israel. The termination of the second generation of Israel is going to be the elders who served with Joshua. It is when they died, Joshua 2431 and is going to be reiterated in Judges chapter 2. It said, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua. You got to remember Joshua is a generation older than his elders. Joshua is an old man, you know, as the book of Joshua begins. He and Caleb and their families are the only two who survived the wilderness. Everybody else dies because of the rebellion. And we can take a look at Caleb talking about how many years ago that the land had been promised to him, you know, by the Lord and that he himself was in his 80s. Now you got to realize that Joshua and Caleb are significantly older than those who have been born in the wilderness, that the elders who survived him, you know, the leaders were basically between 40 to 60 years of age. They're the ones who have come to maturity in the wilderness. And Joshua is a generation beyond them. So the second generation, Joshua really is not, you know, I mean he's a first generation leftover, can I put it that way, who leaves the second generation. And so it's not just Joshua but the elders who served with him, who survived, who prolonged their days after the death of Joshua that had known the deeds the Lord had done for Israel, particularly those deeds related to what had taken place in the wilderness. And in judges that is the generation that did not teach their children. And so the third generation is not going to serve Yahweh in the same way. So when did that generation, you know, pass away? All right, assuming that the elders associated with Joshua were between, you know, 40 to 60 years of age as the conquest begins, I'm going to give them, you know, the the three score and ten of Psalm 90 and maybe some by strength given by Yahweh made it to 80. So I'm going to say most of those elders probably passed away between 70 to 80 years of age and so I'm going to come right around 40 years after the conquest itself and say that probably the last of those elders associated with Joshua was dead by 1375 BC. Now you realize how how precise my exegesis is, I'm just going on what a generation, you know, would be of those elders and how old those younger elders would have been. Is there anything in the text that says the dates that the other the events of Joshua come to an end right around 1375 that's when the final elder died? No, it's an Essex assumption. All right, so and you're going to see you're going to see the the dating of the events of a Joshua going through the death of the elders you're going to see anywhere from 1390 to about 1360 in different books. So there's no passage we can point to and say there, there strictly you can, you know, make a chronological determination. So it's about, it's a rounded number of around 1375 BC with with Joshua himself probably dying closer to about 1390 BC. Dies at 110, didn't quite make the 120 of Moses but hey got many more years than David and Solomon. It'll be right around well 70 and Solomon right in the latter 60s. Now as we go through the the text and it's going to be true of all of the former prophets. The text is going to talk about certain things continuing to this day. What are the significant ones in Joshua's? Joshua 1563 talking about the Jebusite inhabitants of Jerusalem. The sons of Judah could not drive them out. Now significantly and when we get to Judges chapter one, the you know the second generation is going to win a victory over the king of Jerusalem but beyond that we see that the the Judahites do not follow up. They don't drive the inhabitants out of the city. The king might be dead but the king might be dead. So the text is going to be but the inhabitants remain and so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day. Now most would use this as as as possibly giving us some idea of the date of authorship that is sometime between the death of Joshua and David's actually taking of the the city. But it might also be reflective of the of of the material that the author is using. That it could be that he is later than the actual capture of Jerusalem because when we get to when we get to kings we're going to find out that certain things you know continue to this day that that are beyond the actual you know collapse of of Jerusalem. And so seeing this as a catch phrase in all four of these books we can't say that necessarily that that phrase to this day gives us some indication of when these books might have been written. They might have been written later but using material that that the Holy Spirit has made available to them. But what it does what it does remind us of is the fact that the material in this book used by these authors on the direction of the Holy Spirit probably goes back to eyewitness testimony. That he is getting material from the actual participants in the events themselves. Now how he uses it and shapes it that is under the direction of the the Holy Spirit. But this this little reminder that that okay maybe even the documents that are being used you know speak about realities that continued and were part of those documents and the the author continues to to use it. But be aware of it and take a look as you go through the former prophets of of the different things that are spoken still to be taking place to the very day when at least the the record of the events within the narrative have have transpired. As far as the history of interpretation you might want to read in this exact order dictionary of the theological interpretation of the Bible. McConville gives a a very good one page summary of the history of interpretation going back to first Judaism and then Christianity and the Christian tradition and then he comes into the some of the critical condition discussion exotuke tetratuke and the new literary approach and then you get to Butler and Butler goes much more in detail and of course goes much more in detail in the more contemporary critical discussion particularly the historical critical versus the the new literary approach to Joshua and then it has also you want to read after that because he concentrates upon more of the contemporary discussion as far as the history of interpretation. And I'll check and add to the notes as the ancient commentary on Christian scripture and see if the Reformation volume is out as well and so as you can have these notes at the end of the course I'll add those volumes and of course ultimately if you're watching by by computer I'll add those as they become available for your continuing reading on what those who've come before have said about Joshua. All right with that as a backdrop let's come to the themes of the book and I'll go through these fairly quickly because once again this is not where the the discussion really is that is that controversial anyone who reads the book of Joshua you see these basic themes and the first basic theme of the book you can't get away from it is the land. The word land as I point out is used 106 times in the book. In fact as you note almost every chapter includes the term it's not in chapter 16 it's not in chapter 20 or 22 23 but certainly even if the term is not there as you read you realize the context of every chapter of this book is dealing with the land is it's dealing with something about the conquest about the about the apportionments of at the end what it means for Israel to to possess and have that land. I also at this point I think it is it is important to note that there's really not a great deal of debates in fact it is this observation that becomes in many ways the the crucial interpretive discussion point of the book and that is because the text speaks about the land in part because it's not the land of the because the text speaks about the land in two significantly different ways. It talks first about the fact that the land is conquered in fact it speaks in three summary statements as as though all of the land had been conquered and so you come to to chapter 11 chapter 11 verse 16 thus Joshua took all the land the hill country the Negev the land of Goshen the lowland Araba the hill country of Israel and this lowland from Mount Halak all the way to the foot of Mount Harmon he captured all their kings struck them down and put them to death again in 1123 so Joshua took the whole land according to all the Lord had spoken to Moses and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their division by their tribes thus the land had rest from war and again at the end of the distribution in chapter 21 verses 43 to 45 so the Lord gave Israel all the land which he had sworn to give to their fathers they possessed it and lived in it and the Lord gave them rest on every side according to all these sworn to the fathers and no one of all their enemies stood before them the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed all came to pass the land is conquered all of it the kings have been defeated put to death there's rest on every side God has fulfilled the promises that he gave to the fathers he is in some way brought a fulfillment of the promise that was made to Abraham now even before the the northern conquest you even have a statement leading up to what's in chapter 11 and chapter 10 verse 40 speaking again about how God gave Israel the land now as far as the conquest of the land is concerned it's it is a a very abbreviated narrative this is a chart which comes from chart Walton's chart book chronological and background charts of the old testament and he speaks about the the three movements that are seen through four key battles that are recorded in the book of joshua the first two deal with what he calls securing the central corridor four first in chapter six the battle of Jericho and the conquest of Jericho and then the the taking of ai in chapter eight right now on pastry 11 new american standard mccarthy study bible you you have a a map and the dotted line is the the central campaign they cross over the jordan and they're at gilgal about five miles to the northeast of Jericho it is from there that they circle the city for the seven days god gives it into their hand they destroy it and by having Jericho then they're available to be able to move into the the highlands which is what they do by taking ai and there is a debate on exactly where ai is you can read about that in in merrill bethel ai being in the same general vicinity and by marching up and taking ai then they have established basically the central corridor now they're able to march south and they're able to march north from their strategic location although interestingly before any more battles that having secured the central corridor they go about 20 miles north of ai to to shakim at the end of chapter eight and have their covenant ceremony as moses had commanded them in deuteronomy chapter 27 so so basically at this point they secure the the center then after the center is secure the second campaign we have in chapter 10 is against the southern coalition and this is where god sovereignly brings a number of kings in the coalition that seek to fight israel in open battle by was interesting jericho is destroyed ai is controlled destroyed but these these kings are are are their armies are captured the kings are killed with battle that takes place in open war and again in the same map dr mccarthur again shows how they come from gilgal because of chapter nine they have ended into a covenant with the gibyanites the inhabitants of gibyan and because of that this coalition of the southern kings joins to attack gibyan and the gibyanites call for their allies the israelis the israelites come joshua marches the army and the army confronts the coalition and of course beginning in the highlands they defeat and the armies retreat and of course israel chases them into the into the chevilla and into the southern lands and of course not only takes the kings but also then has these cities open to them as well and then after the southern campaign we have the northern campaign and once again the canonites do a wonderful job of of allying themselves and and seeking to bring their armies together to withstand israel and so we have the the northern coalition led by jayvon king of hazor which included many cities of the north and and now joshua's able to march once again the army from gilgal and meet this coalition of forces and the defeat them and chase them and and put them to death and the the coalition that had been led by the king of hazor that here is the third city that is destroyed which is azor so as far as the record of joshua is concerned only three cities were were destroyed now the kings the armies that they led of the other cities are defeated the armies are destroyed which at that point means that israel could enter into those cities and and take up habitation of them but of course were already been reminded that we've seen that they did not do so concerning jerusalem and and they needed to do so because the tax is very clear that even though the land was conquered there was much land that remained to be inhabited now let me just go back and say one more thing about the conquest uh the conquest took approximately seven years as again we take a look in chapter 14 when moses had promised hebron caleb and when he actually received it and more battles were fought by joshua and the army of israel than what is given in the text the text is highly selective just two key military operations that secure the central corridor one major military operation that gives israel control of the south one major military action that led to their taking of the the north and so the land is secured but take a look at joshua chapter 12 this is where we have the summary of the kings he begins by speaking in verses one to six of cyan and hog the kings are already defeated on the east side of the jordan and then again beginning in verse seven he starts to bring a summary of all of the kings who had been defeated on the west side of the jordan and you get to verse 13 up until this point beginning with jericho all the way through debiah all right he's mentioned kings of cities that have have played a role in the narrative that have have played a role in the narrative chapter 6 chapter 8 chapter 10 that's the king of the beer he mentions the king of gator and verse 14 the king of hormone and guess what you can look through the previous chapters of joshua no king of gator no king of hormone is mentioned and continuing on after this you have nine more kings in this list and they show up nowhere in the conquest narratives so the question comes well when were they killed and the answer is i don't know he doesn't include them as part of either one of the two confederations maybe they were silent parts maybe they were there but not mentioned by name or and i think probably this is a better understanding more battles were fought than are recorded in the book look there were more military exploits why these particular four because they're the four most significant the four most important and as we saw from the map if you if you understand the importance of these four campaigns that by these victories basically the rest of the land was open to them but even before we get to chapter 13 we need to realize that there were more skirmishes more battles and this even makes what we're going to look at next as far as israel is concerned and with their failure to conquer point three even more sinful because the cities were there to be taken to be inhabited to have the rest of the inhabitants dispossessed and israel taking over and they didn't now having the summary of the kings in chapter 12 gives us some idea that all right the the resistance had been crushed had been crushed but the canonites had not been completely dispossessed in fact notice how chapter 13 begins the lord coming to joshua and telling him he's old advanced in years and verse one very much of the land remains to be possessed conquered yes possessed no in fact this is the land that remains the reason the philistine the gergashites and more places to the west verse three to the south teaming this land from from the and to the east verse five along with verse six all the inhabitants of the hill country from lebanon all the sadonians along the coast i will drive them out before the sons of israel only allotted to israel for an inheritance as i have commanded you that's why they have control of the land they can allot it because they can control it but it still needs to be possessed and therefore a portion of this land for inheritance so nine tribes and the half tribe of manasseh the unified action is complete now it's up to the individual tribes to complete the quote unquote conquest and possess the land by the way all nine and a half tribes when you take a look at what remain all nine and a half tribes have some areas that they they need to to secure they need to defeat their the remnants of the the canaanites that remain and so come to possess the land as a whole and so chapter 17 will talk about land that remained you know to to be possessed and 17 17 and 18 when his own tribe ephraim comes along with manasseh we have a lot of people we need more land no you don't need more land you need to you need to get you need to you need to drive out the inhabitants of land you got the same thing in chapter 18 and and so there's land land that still remains to be taken even as joshua calls the leaders in chapter 23 verse 4 see i have apportioned to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes with all the nations which i have cut off from jordan even the great sea toward the setting of the sun and the lord your god he shall thrust them out from before you and shall drive them from before you you shall possess their land just as the lord your god promised you now these are just observations but of course they they are the foundation of a very important interpretive discussion which we'll come back to and that is well did they take the land or not did god give them the land or not did god fulfill his promises or not and the answer is yes we'll talk about how to work together when we get to the interpretive issues but this land is set before them and we don't have to get to judges although it's going to be a sorry refrain in judges chapter one but already in joshua 15 63 16 10 17 12 and 13 we've already read they failed to drive them out they failed to drive them out they failed to drive them out they failed to take possession of the land so that failure was already in the first the second generation of israel and so here is the land yes the land is conquered the land is taken the land is given they dwell in the land yes they do but not all the land as land that remains and joshua is already stating that the tribes did not drive out they did not complete the conquest stating that the tribes did not drive out they did not complete the conquest failure to defeat the canaanites now two things seen in joshua and again repeated in judges chapter one the rationalization was but they got better they got better ornaments than we did they have land they have chariots we don't and by the way why kill them when they can work for us joshua chapter 9 notice how his failure with the gibyanites comes back to talk to to haunt israel even after the death of joshua by the way the the good outlives you you're a good influence and joshua led them in conquests and they have that land for generation after generation but they also have canaanite servants which is a negative legacy of joshua and be reminded gentlemen that in god's economy when you obey you leave a positive legacy when you disobey you leave a negative legacy so the good and the failure that you do in your life will live after you just as it did for joshua and abraham and moses and david and obviously others within the biblical text we see it here with with joshua now at the very beginning god says you to take possession and taking possession means that those who have possession need to be dispossessed and so this verbal root becomes a major term within the other book of joshua so this is not just a matter of of military campaigns and defeats it is these military defeats are going to become the foundation of a possession and you take the cities you take the land you take it over i give you their possessions you their possessions you dispossess them now let's go back to deuteronomy chapter seven everything that was canaanitic they the towns with their with their buildings with the city walls with the fields the planted fields even the crops that could be taken from what the canaanites had done all of this was to be taken by israel they were to completely dispossess their possession meant the complete loss of everything of the canaanites but two things israel was not to maintain that their possession did not include two things and what were those two things deuteronomy chapter seven verse two it did not include the people themselves the lord your god shall deliver them before you and you shall defeat them you shall smite them and you shall take possession of them you shall utterly destroy them you shall devote them completely to the lord which is is you are to completely kill them you shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them and verse five now if they would have obeyed verse two they wouldn't have have to worry about verses three and four about intermarrying with the canaanites but since they didn't he gives that moses speaks about that and don't intermarry with them either but first five not only the people were to be destroyed but so were their religious paraphernalia you shall tear down their altars smash their sacred pillars hewn down their asherim and burn their graven images with fire everything that they have devoted to the worship of their gods is to be completely destroyed they the worshippers are to be destroyed and all their worshipping paraphernalia to be destroyed as well because god knew that if the worshippers and the worship equipment was left it would become a snare to israel and so their possession meant the complete dispossession but again you get everything that's left except the people and accept their religious paraphernalia everything else is yours you can eat their food you can live in their homes you can inhabit their cities it's all yours you can do these two things and of course basically we see in in josh with the beginning of this process but again we need to realize that that possession texas very very clear they didn't completely possess all that god had given to them which means they didn't completely dispossess the canaanites and so you're ready for the book of judges because this this military disobedience we could put it that way their failure to dispossess and possess all led to their release religious failure of idolatry now notice how key the torah is we already looked at joshua 1 it was to guide joshua it was to guide the people chapter 8 it was to be the continuing guide that instructed the people the leaders chapter 23 and the leaders and the people in chapter 24 and again this is a reminder of what we saw particularly in moses exhortation in deuteronomy chapters 12 to 25 if they would take this to heart and follow his his instruction if they would follow the statutes if they would follow the ordinances the judgments that god gave and follow them completely then god would grant them long life and success in the land the vital importance of the law and the vital importance therefore of obedience to that instruction because the way they obeyed yahweh was obeying the instruction he gave in the law as opposed to disobedience and again joshua is a blend of both although they the strong point is the obedience beginning in chapter 1 verse 17 just as we obeyed moses in all things so we will obey you have you read the same torah i've read well when we get to the second generation numbers 26 to 36 remember that what god said they obeyed they obeyed they obeyed outwardly there has been a greater obedience on the part of the second generation than obviously their father is the first generation who died in the wilderness and so this is the second generation saying just as we obeyed moses in all things so will obey you all right so there is on on the part of israel a a profession that they will obey the lord they will obey joshua as joshua follows the lord and they implore they encourage joshua to have that kind of obedience and they will follow and they do and they follow him through the jordan they allow their whole army to be incapacitated in chapter five they follow joshua in the strategy yalway gives to him in chapter six to take jericho now i don't know as they were marching around jericho does this seem like a very good military strategy to you shut up this is what joshua said just keep walking walking walking seven times in the seventh day blow the trumpet walls come down pretty successful military maneuver but then a can sin when god says in chapter 17 all israel sent that is disobedience chapter nine even here the text talks about the the fact 914 so the men of israel took some of their provisions and did not ask for the counsel of the lord chapter six seven was overt disobedience seven was overt disobedience they did what they were commanded not to do here they do what they should not have done because they failed to inquire of yahweh hey we can handle ourselves these guys look like they've been on a long journey they fell for the deceit because they did not inquire of the lord and then we've seen the calamity 15 16 17 they did not obey they did not follow through chapter 22 the folly of the construction of the altar by the two and a half tribes joshua speaking about the fact that if you don't obey then god is not going to fulfill his promise to give you the whole land chapter 24 and we've already spoken of that but let's take a look at the verse this is where not just the leaders chapter 23 but now all the people are gathered he gathered all the tribes along with their leaders and they presented themselves before the lord and and here is where joshua calls the the people to put away their gods 24 14 put away the gods which your father served beyond the river and in egypt and serve the lord why we implied is this they have brought the gods the terra theme the terra theme of rachel genesis the idols they took with them into egypt and brought out of egypt they haven't destroyed them they have just hit them so put them away get rid of them serve the lord verse 16 far be it from us that we should forsake the lord to serve other gods the lord brought us out of egypt verse 17 the law drove out before us the peoples verse 18 therefore at the end of verse 18 we also will serve the lord for he is god then joshua said the people you will not be able to serve the lord for he's a holy god he is a jealous god he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins if you forsake the lord and serve foreign gods then he will turn and do harm and consume you after he has done good to you and the people said after joshua said you will not listen no we will serve the lord so joshua says your witness is against yourself now therefore again verse 23 put away the foreign gods which are in your midst and incline your hearts to the lord the god of israel and the people said we will serve the lord our god and we will obey his voice and there was an entering the covenant now this is a covenant that we will we will follow through what we have said joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of god he took a large stone he he is a second moza this point you said you'd obey i write it down it will be held now as witness i write it down it will be held now as witness against you which is exactly what took place so this also is an additional covenant so the covenant made at sinai second generation it's interesting they didn't respond to the covenant made on the plains of moab so there's a covenant made here at chequem and they will fail to obey and yet they enter that covenant even when joshua says you won't you can't we will and by the way the rest of the former prophets as they didn't like moses joshua's words ring true now with that and he was talking here in chapter 24 how we see a similarity between uh moses and joshua this is true throughout the book that the author has once again so given his narrative that you can't read the narrative without remembering moses now go back to exodus chapter three exodus chapter three verse eight when the lord commissions moses notice what he says i've come down to deliver them from the power of the egyptians and bring them up from that land and to a good and spacious land to a land flowing with milk and honey therefore i'll send you to pharaoh you may bring my people the sons of israel out of egypt but out of egypt only to go where to take the land of cana promise to the fathers moses doesn't take the people in deuteronomy 3 deuteronomy 31 why because of his disobedience but he is to set aside numbers 27 deuteronomy 3 deuteronomy 31 joshua and joshua basically completes the work that had been mandated for moses that moses didn't complete because of his failure because of his sin and there's almost a sense as you go through joshua you can tell me be continue to be reminded that you know this should have been moses because what joshua says what joshua does is just like moses so joshua was like moses he had the presence of yalway just as as moses had the presence of yalway and obeyed just as moses has obeyed he was set apart before the people just as moses had the obey just as moses has obeyed he was set apart before the people just as moses in fact that is specifically stated 37 414 and then you have a lot of specific examples moses was encountered the burning bush and told what take off your sandals for your standing on holy ground joshua's confronted by the captain of the lord's host and joshua chapter five and told what take off your sandals the ground you're standing on is holy ground you should have heard pretty good echo of moses there what about going through the jordan the waters being being put up in a heap and israel marching through on dry ground what does that remind you of the crossing of the sea of reeds exodus chapter 14 both in a sea both pray for sinning people both write the law on stones on stones yalway listened to both of their voices both their enemies hearts were hardened they would resist the lord so the lord could bring them to complete in total judgments so these are just some of the echoes that just remind us that basically joshua is completing the task that originally began with moses it's almost like moses slash joshua as israel's deliver israel's conqueror that joshua is the divine designate to complete the work that began with moses now as far as the purpose of joshua's concern all right not too much debate this is a statement of the lord giving the land of canaan to the seed of israel and of course what is echoing through the book of joshua is the abrahamic promise and israel dwells in that part of the land according to their faithful obedience to yalway so it's about god's gift of the land and yes it is god being the righteous giver of the land that gives as much for israel to enjoy as israel was obedient to dwell in and enjoy now the literary structure and you're going to notice that my structure is a little different than the structure that is given by by rooker in the world and the the word i see the narrative is basically being twofold that that in chapters one through twelve we see the taking of the land 1118 joshua waged war a long time with all these kings and got hard in their hearts that he might destroy them and verse 23 we've already read so joshua took the whole land it's the first 12 chapters and joshua gave it for an inheritance to israel according to their division by their tribes that was the first twelve chapters and joshua gave it for an inheritance to israel according to their tribes that's chapters 13 through 21 so i guess you might say i'm seeing 1123 as the divine structural outline for the book taking the land and then distributing the land and then at the end we have three chapters to talk about what is necessary for israel to do to retain the land and of course that is to obey yahweh and to obey yahweh completely now this is if i can put this way the more traditional outline rooker gives you what what many exegesis expositors are now following as far as the structure of the book and let me go to the the next page because he speaks about these four key verbs the verb to cross the verb to take the verb to divide and the verb to serve and you'll notice the the the verb to cross a bar and serve a bod are soundalikes and the same thing with lakha and halakh again they are soundalikes and this has been viewed as as as okay here are the four key terms to to cross to take to divide to serve and the result is to break the book into into five basic four basic parts the entrance the conquest the division and then the final exhortations to serve the lord now to show you how close this is i would i would say traditionally well yeah all the first 12 chapters are taking the land and to take the land israel first had to enter the land an entrance which is complete in chapter five verse 12 the manna ceases israel is dwelling on the land dwelling in the land at least rook and i agree that there is a division between five 12 and 13 that really the battle of jericho starts in 513 i guess this is where the strategy was given by yalvai as joshua submits himself to his command so 513 all the way through chapter 12 is the conquest of the land and again jericho ai and azor the the three major cities that are destroyed and it's interesting the coalition but no statement about jerusalem's destruction but the the leader of the southern confederacy was the king of jerusalem so here are your four major cities jericho ai jerusalem and azor three of which are are raised by the israelites one that's allowed to remain standing and interestingly that is the city that only david is going to take and he's going to take not by destroying the city but by going into the water shaft and taking the city and he doesn't have to rebuild the city because the city is is so there's no destruction of jerusalem ever stated as far as the old testament is concerned the king is defeated the king is killed but the city is not destroyed and maybe that's the reason why the jebus isis is still there until david can take it over because god had determined that this was the city that was to be that central location where his name was to dwell it's interesting that that when you see in the middle section of the book the middle division of the book the land being apportioned the land being distributed the tribes there's an introduction that there's remaining land that israel needs to possess and dwell and yet a reminder that god had given rest and god had given the land even though the apportionment means that now israel is to is to march in and finally dwell in what god had given to them so there's a introduction and conclusion to the distribution of the land in chapters 13 to 21 and then in retaining the land three challenges concerning the land concluding with three burials in the land by the way the burial of joshua the burial of eliezer but in between the burial of the bones of joseph that israel brought with them from egypt remember genesis 50 when you leave take my bones they took the bones and they buried them in the land just as joseph had requested and then you have the download where you can take and see this basic outline then this structure given to you and an outline as far as the contents of the book are concerned and again just the two major narrative divisions of chapters 1 to 12 and 13 to 21 and then the appendix and get used to that because you're going to see the same structure in a lot of these books here's a narrative followed by the appendices at the end it's one of the hallmarks of these former prophets all right any any questions before we take another break am i incorrect probably am but was there not an allowance for them to make a treaty hadn't moses said something about the making a treaty with a distant country yes yes that's in the deuteronomy chapter 20 and so their responsibility was to make sure they really were people from a far country in other words that they're non-canonized they're people that are not under the band yeah so uh so chapter 20 is very very clear even if a you know even if a canine city surrenders you're still to demolish it i may not demolish the city demolish them they surrender you're still to put them and their religious paraphernalia under the band city is yours the crops are yours in fact don't be destructive if they're willing to you know if they're willing basically they give up accept their surrender you know and take their and take their towns and take their take their fields that's god's gift to you uh but if they're not caninites then yes if they sue for peace then you can enter into a covenant with them now obviously implicit within those directives in deuteronomy chapter 20s and you'd better make sure they're not caninites now what is very very interesting is is the gimianites know deuteronomy 20 they know in some way that israel is able to make alliances with non-canonite peoples now the text gives us no insight into how the gibyanites knew that why the ruse why to why to make like they've made a long journey you know why the you know why the the the tatted clothes and the you know the dust all over their body they they want to make it look like they've come from a long ways so deuteronomy 20 you're not caninites we can enter you're suing us for peace sure well then do a covenant with you as always what was incumbent upon joshua and israel was to make sure this was really a non-canonite people and they didn't inquire of the lord they didn't ask counsel let's put it this way the gibyanites were the first hollywood actors pretty good ones oh we look close to hollywood that's why i brought that up i mean they they act and they well like a lot of you you've been taken in you snuckered by hollywood well they were snuckered by the gibyanites and and then when it becomes known all right that the the covenant has already been made and israel has to be a covenant keeping people i mean that's that's what the law calls them to that they are to be loyal to the covenant that he has made with them and so they can't show a covenant disloyalty because they're to show loyalty to covenants and so they have to honor that covenant and the gibyanites are very happy to be servants i'd rather be a live servant than a dead canine i guess the thing you just said about they are rebound to be covenant keeping people but even in this instance even in this instance right yes okay later on the prophets you know are going to bring this up you know about you know other areas too josh was going to talk about the the recobites in chapter 34 as being a great illustration for israel that their father have bound them by covenant not to drink such strong drink and how they would not they they you know even when you know joshua tried to tempt them you know and it was an object lesson see this was just a a covenant you know made by a father to his sons and yet they're loyal that covenant judah that should have been you you should be and have the same loyalty to yahweh your father they had to their human father and and ultimately that's the that's the same thing about amalekiah too about the divorce again you you are showing covenant treachery to the to the wife of your youth you've ended in the covenant with that woman and then you're putting her aside so so yes um uh this you know okay once a promise is bound by covenant oath then you are to follow you are to obey that's that's covenant loyalty and and gentlemen i guess the application is it's it's the fidelity in the small things which are to mirror the fidelity in the greater thing which is loyalty to yelway himself if you can't be loyal to your father you can't be loyal to your wife hey how are you ever going to be loyal to yahweh uh so and um i think the new test you know makes the same thing you know being faithful and little you know god will will will reward by allowing you to be faithful and much all right joseph i was uh just entering i was trying to figure out why they didn't go take the rest of the land and i was thinking maybe they were suffering a lot of casualties but never really talks about it yeah the only casualties they ever suffer were at a high yeah that was it because they were disobedient so that was okay again you got to go back to uh you know the deuteronomy chapter 28 all right this is the blessing of uh of the covenant so that uh you know chapter 28 talks about their success in in battle and so verse uh verse 7 of chapter 28 to do your army the lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated be smitten before you they shall come out against you one way they shall flee before you seven ways that's a that's a good little statement to follow the map in uh you know joshua chapter 10 and uh and uh and so this is this this is part of you know of their blessing is how god protects them in battle and um and i don't think it's just just an oversight that except for that initial skirmish at a high that there is no record of casualties because i don't think israel's army suffered casualties certainly never suffered any major casualties joshua should have been glad he didn't send the whole army to ai on the first attempt but there was just so small little you know battalion i mean why why worry the whole army if we can take jericho we can take ai really quickly and again this hubris there you know on the part of joshua i don't need the lord's help on this one this is a little briquet that's all it takes well the sin in the camp you need again you need yalway's direction you need yalway to take over same thing as chapter 9 you got to get counsel from the lord he's got to be in control he's got to take over