Joshua

The week of spring break was VERY relaxing.
With no internet access I didn't have a chance to post and several have asked so we'll do a little catching up today.

Reading through the book of Joshua is a cool story...until you get to the end where they're dividing up the land...that bit is tedious.

A couple of the highlights that struck me:

• Joshua 1:6-9, as the people are getting ready to enter the land he says , THREE TIMES, "be strong and courageous"...you think maybe he was remembering his last trip into the land forty years prior when he came back with 10 out of 12 guys who were neither strong nor courageous?
• Joshua 2:1 he sends out spies to check out the land, "So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there." This always cracks me up...the first place the spies go. Perhaps the correct translation was that he told them to "go and check out the lay of the land"? (Sorry, couldn't resist the bad pun.)
• Joshua 3 they cross the Jordan "on dry ground". They exited Egypt through the Red Sea and now enter the promised land through the Jordan both times "on dry ground". How cool is it that God provides the same symbol from one generation to the next.
• Joshua 7 Achan's failure. God's displays what looks like harsh justice in response to Achan's direct disobedience. Something He also did in response to the golden calf in Exodus. Once again His message, and His method are consistent.
• Joshua 8:26 the attack on Ai. Joshua is told by God, (vs. 18)"Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city." and then we read in vs 26: For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. Perhaps he was recalling the time he went out to battle the Amalekites in Exodus 17. When Moses stood on the top of the hill with his staff in his hands? Ex 17:11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning...
• Joshua 14:10 Caleb claims his inheritence. I love this bit where Caleb comes back and recounts that he was forty when they spied out the land, that 45 years have passed since then and that he has come to claim his piece of the land.

I could further go into the setting up of the twelve stones of remembrance when the people cross the Jordan, the pile of stones over the body of the king of Ai, the alter of uncut stone on Mount Ebal, the alter built by the eastern tribes on he borders of Canaan, the stone under the oak at Shechem.

This whole book is about two things:
1. Remember who God is and what he has done
and as a result
2. Be strong and courageous

It might have been simpler to write just that, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as interesting.