Events In the life of Joshua

4. Moses and Joshua

4-1 Moses And Us || 4-1-1 Moses Our Example || 4-1-2 Moses And " The reproach of Christ" || 4-1-3 Moses And Paul || 4-2 Moses: The Path Of Growth || 4-2-1 Events In The Life Of Moses || 4-2-2 The Spiritual Growth Of Moses || 4-3 The Death Of Moses || 4-3-1 Themes Of Moses In Deuteronomy || 4-3-2 The Song Of Moses || 4-3-3 The Death Of Moses || 4-4 Moses As A Type Of Christ || 4-5 Moses Not Entering The Land || 4-6 Moses In The Gospel Of John || 4-7 Moses And Amalek || 4-8-1 God Manifestation In Moses || 4-8-2 The Hand Of God || 4-9 Joshua: The Jagged Graph || 4-9-1 Events In The Life Of Joshua || 4-9-2 Legalistic Obedience? || 4-9-3 Peer Pressure || 4-9-4 Joshua Our Example || 4-10 Joshua: Potential Messiah? || 4-11 Joshua And The Name of God

Joshua: The Jagged Graph

4-9-1 Events In The Life Of Joshua

Moses was a hard act to follow. Joshua is someone I can identify with in that he had great potential which he never totally lived up to; although he was himself sound enough in his basic faith and, we can assume, will be in the Kingdom. Indeed, it seems he could have been a Messiah figure, leading Israel into the true Kingdom of God. This is developed at more length in the section ‘Joshua: Potential Messiah?’. And yet Joshua did not give them “the rest” which it seems he could have. The following key events in the life of Joshua can be given a spirituality score out of, say, 10. They reveal a jagged graph, similar to that of all God’s children.

Event in the life of Joshua

Spirituality score out of 10

The repeated encouragement to be strong and of a good courage and not be fearful (Dt. 31:23; Josh. 1:6,7,8,18). What does this imply about Joshua?

4:3-8- strict obedience to Divine commands?

4:21 Quoting / alluding to Moses- as Joshua often does

5:13,14 Is this a rebuke of Joshua, wanting to boil everything down to black and white, wanting to see God as either personally for him or against him; when the essence is to seek to discern and do God’s will.

5:15 the command to remove his shoe from holy ground. This is evidently reminiscent of the command to Moses in a similar situation. Shouldn’t Joshua have perceived this, seeing his life was so clearly framed after that of Moses?

6:26 Was this unnecessarily extreme?

7:3-5 Shouldn’t Joshua have led them into battle in person (1:5); he did the second time they attacked Ai (8:15)

7:7,8- he lost faith in the promise of 1:5-7,9

7:10,11,13 He is being reminded not to just see himself as part of a community, but to remember his personal relationship with God, and not to have such a low self image

7:19 He correctly perceives that repentance is a giving of glory to God’s Name

8:1 dismayed- he lost faith in 1:3,9

8:5,6 Fleeing before their enemies was perhaps a recognition of the truth of Dt. 28:25

8:26 Given the similarities with the battle against Amalek, were his arms held up in fervent prayer? This is a common association with upholden arms. Moses held his hand up, and Joshua led the army into battle, succeeding because Moses had his hands held up in prayer (Ex. 17:10). Now, Joshua is the one holding his hands up in prayer, whilst Israel are in battle. Lesson: We go through experiences which later repeat; and we are in the position of those who had before prayed for us, and are expected to replicate their examples.8:31,35- exact obedience

9:14-18 Too influenced by his ‘committee’?

9:26 Integrity?

10:8 Lack of faith in 1:5?

10:12 Amazing faith in prayer; he commanded things to happen, so sure of the prayer being heard.

11:6,14- lack of faith in 1:9?

11:15,23 Strict obedience to commands

13:1; 16:10; 18:3; 23:4 Much land was still not possessed; does 11:23 therefore imply that the land had been possessed only in the perceptions of Israel? How responsible was Joshua for this?

17:16-18 He saw their potential?

19:50 Spiritual ambition

21:43,44 The Lord gave them the land, i.e. potentially, but they failed to possess it. Is this therefore an implied criticism of Joshua, or of Israel?

22:2-4 This seems an over positive view of Israel, an exaggeration of their true spiritual position- cp. 23:4; 24:14,23. Or is this rooted in his love for them, not seeing iniquity in Jacob? Moses had told the Reubenites and Gadites that they could return to their possessions when “the Lord have given rest unto your brethren, and they also possess the land” (Dt. 3:20). But Joshua tells them to go to their possessions simply because their brethren were now at “rest” (Josh. 22:4). He significantly omits the proviso that their brethren must also possess the land- because much of the land wasn’t possessed. Was this Joshua getting slack, thinking that the main thing was that people were living in peace, even though they weren’t possessing the Kingdom? Or is it a loving concession to human weakness? Indeed, the conditions of Dt. 3:20 were in their turn an easier form, a concession to, the terms of the initial agreement in Num. 32:20-32.

23:7 Don’t even make mention of their gods- alluded to in Eph. 5:3

23:9,14 Too positive? Saw things as achieved that hadn’t been- Jud. 1:1. He seems to have tried to perceive the promises, which were conditional upon obedience, as having been fulfilled fully when they hadn’t been. Solomon made the same mistake.

24:14 Compare his earlier over positive statements. Now it seems he came to a final sense of realism about sin, obedience and Israel’s failure

24:15 As for me…we will serve. He realized that Israel, whom he had seen as so obedient, actually weren’t serving God at all

24:19,23 A final realism as to the real nature of sin, and the ultimate demands which God makes upon human life in practice.

And plotting these as a graph gives the following:

A few things come out of these considerations: