Good morning, everybody. Go ahead and make your way in and grab your seat if you can. If you don't have a handout, I'd recommend you find one. Mr. Grant has some up here, and he can bring one to you. Also, for those of you who are new to this class, we do have a booklet of different charts that we're using to kind of help us track through the Old Testament. I have two, so we can borrow those this time and we'll get some more printed for next time if you're joining this class for the first time. So if you don't have one of these, maybe let's just see. The first two to raise their hand can get one. Who needs one? You all want one? We'll get some more printed for next time. Well, as I said, good morning, everybody. Over the next two lessons, we're going to be looking at the next two books in the Old Testament. Today will be the book of Joshua. And next week, we're going to have Sandy from Zambia. He's going to come, and he's actually going to teach our Sunday school class. So he's an elder at Chopo's church there in Kitwe, Zambia. And he's going to be with us that next weekend. So go ahead and plan on coming. to hear about the work of what the Lord's doing there in Kitway, Zambia next week during Sunday school. So that will be a sweet time. He's a really fun guy, funny, energetic. I think you'll really like him. So Sandy will be here next Sunday during the Sunday school hour to present to us about the work that's going on there in Zambia. And then the week after that, we will be looking at the book of Judges. So this week, the book of Joshua. Two weeks from now, the book of Judges. So the book of Moses, okay, the first five books, we've completed those. And now we've journeyed through the Torah, or the Pentateuch if you prefer. And now we're all the way to the historical books, or if you look in your handout here, the very top part, it has kind of the order that we're flowing. We're actually following the order that Jesus would have recognized in terms of how the Old Testament was laid out. And so we're now moving into what was commonly called the former prophets. The former prophets. So what are the former prophets? That's Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Okay, so that's gonna be where we're gonna be for the next few months. Today, as I've already mentioned, studying the book of Joshua. Let's go ahead and pray and we'll begin our time. Father, we thank you for this morning that we can gather and study your word. I pray that you'd be with us, instruct us, help us to see and delight in wonderful things that are contained in your word this morning, we pray. In Christ's name, amen. All right, so as we move past the Pentateuch and into the former prophets, being Joshua through Kings, we take a major step forward in our kingdom timeline. And that's where this handout will come in handy. Go ahead and look at the very front page. And you know, really for the past few months, we've been kind of hanging out there under the N title there. We're now moving forward to the G. So what does G stand for? Well, it stands for government in the promised land. Government in the promised land. And it's in this section that we will see conquest in the land and the kingdom established, and we will see a kind of re-entrance into paradise as the Israelites have a home, they have land, and they have rest. And at the end of this section, we'll see really another fall due to Israel's sin and rebellion as they lose that which they have achieved. But before we look in detail at the Book of Joshua and Judges, let's start by looking at some context. The Book of Joshua was written predominantly by Joshua himself within the first 15 years of the 14th century BC. Okay, this is approximately 500 years after Abraham was promised that his offspring would inherit the land. Okay, so 500 years. So I want you to think just briefly. Think just briefly about our history as a country. Think about how long ago World War II feels like, right? Feels like an age ago, right? Think about before that, World War I. Before that, the Civil War. Before that, the founding of this country. Okay, we think about all these events, they feel like a very long time away, but all of those things happened less than 500 years, which is what the people of Israel were waiting for as they were entering the promised land. So 500 years is a long time, and we see in that that God truly is faithful. Trying to figure out how I had this last week. That was much more helpful than how I'm doing it today. Maybe this is better. Like I'm wrestling all my stuff. So 500 years is a long time, and this just highlights once again God's faithfulness. He made a promise to Abraham, and over time we see him bring it to completion. At the start of this book, as you might remember, the nation of Israel is outside the land of Canaan, eastward over the Jordan River. But by the end of the book, they will have taken and occupied the land. On the back of your handout, you'll see a map that shows the order of their conquest and really all the land that they had to take. Back to the front of your handout, we can summarize, and this is not in your notes, so you might want to write this down. If we were to summarize the book of Joshua with a single word, I think a good word would be the idea of conquest. So conquest, you might write that there next to, in that blank space on your front page. It's a book about, Joshua's about conquest. The Israelites enter the land, they take the land, they possess the land, and they come to rest. And Darushi, the textbook that we're using to formulate some of this class, said this, those who read Joshua rightly gain hope for the day when complete, perfect peace will be realized throughout the entire world. So you might even say in this sense, the book of Joshua, it even has a kind of an eschatological focus, where perfect peace will be realized throughout the entire world. The book of Judges picks up right where Joshua leaves off, so we're gonna talk briefly about Judges, but we'll come to that in a few weeks from now. Israel has taken the land, but in Judges, the question is whether or not they'll be able to keep it. God's people come under pressure from a number of surrounding nations, and the events told in Judges take place over roughly around 350 years, from the time that Joshua died until the time of Israel's first king. We're not sure who wrote the Book of Judges, but we do believe it was written shortly after the last events recorded in Joshua, somewhere around the late 11th century BC. I'm sorry, Judges, yeah. So let's start by previewing some major themes in these two books. If you turn, I think this is in your handout. Yeah, so go ahead and turn the page and we'll get there in just a moment. But as we think about some major themes in these two books, there's really a few big ideas I want us to become familiar with. As you might expect, the concept or the theme of land is a big idea in both books. Joshua is all about taking it, and Judges is going to be all about keeping it. Very closely related to that is the idea of rest. Land and rest, these concepts are very, very closely related. Rest is the goal for God's people. Joshua ends positively in this manner with God's enemies at bay and God's people enjoying fellowship with him. Judges, however, is almost the reverse. The people start with rest at the beginning of the book of Judges, and then over the course of the rest of the book, they lose it. So land, rest, and trust. The two books are also about trust. In Joshua, God's people must trust in Joshua, their saving leader, if they are to take the land and enjoy rest in it. Similarly, in Judges, it will become clear that God's people need to trust a Savior if they're going to keep what God has given them. So land, rest, and trust. Three of the main themes that we're gonna really focus on in this lesson, but also the one whenever we turn to the book of Judges. I'd like to give you a single sentence for a theme of a book, and that's gonna be, this is the theme for the book of Joshua. Trusting a faithful Savior to lead God's people to land and rest. That's the sentence that's blocked out there in your handout. trusting a faithful Savior to lead God's people to land and rest. So with this theme in mind, let's start into Joshua with an overview of the whole book. The book of Joshua divides neatly into four chronological sections, or four periods of trust for the Israelites. As we quickly run through these sections, you can flip in your Bibles and watch the chapter headings as we follow along. This is also in your book. It's under the title that says Overview. So turn in your Bible to the book of Joshua, and then look in chapter 1, and we'll just kind of flip through, and I'll give you some highlights as we look at the whole layout of the book. Chapters 1 through 5, we discover that the Israelites must trust God as they enter the promised land. Must trust God as they enter the promised land. The Israelites start off in chapter 1 confidently trusting God in the plains of Moab, but they must depend on God as they spout the land, which is found in chapter 2. And then finally, as they cross the Jordan in an Exodus-like fashion, right, they do that in chapters three and four. Next, in chapters six through 13, we discover this trust must extend to war as they began to take the promised land. So enter the promised land, one through five, take the promised land, verses six through 13. In chapter 6, the walls of Jericho famously fall at a trumpet's blast. After that, the Israelites march south through the land, conquering nation after nation. And then in chapter 11, the people move north and defeat all the northern Canaanite tribes. Chapter 12 ends this section by reviewing the land that is taken. That's what's illustrated on the back of your handout with that map back there. With the land taken, it's time to divide the promised land. So we enter the promised land, they take the promised land, then they divide the promised land. And this is chapters 13 through 21. The land is to be shared by the 12 tribes. It's reviewed in chapters 13 through 14. And then the dividing up goes all the way from chapter 15 to chapter 21. So really a lot of the narrative of the book of Joshua is them dividing off the land amongst the different tribes of the people of Israel. And finally, as the book of Joshua comes to its conclusion in chapters 22 through 24, we see the need for Israel to remain faithful as they, as it's in your notes, receive promised rest. This morning as I was reviewing this, I think maybe a better sentence, maybe you can jot this down under that point, is rest in the promised land. So we start enter the promised land, take the promised land, divide the promised land, and receive the promised land, or maybe better, rest in the promised land. And so these last three chapters, God's people reflect on how they are to enjoy rest. That is, rest from war, from their wanderings, and from their enemies. Does anyone have any questions up to this point? Because we're about to start looking at some actual text to build some of this stuff out. So the book of Joshua is about, what's the one word? Conquest, very good, okay. And they are to enter the promised land, take the promised land, divide the promised land, and then rest in the promised land. All right, so with that overview in mind, let's return to our theme sentence in the book of Joshua. Trusting a faithful savior to lead God's people to land and rest. So there's four ideas which flow out of that sentence that I want us to focus on this morning. And this is on the third page of your handout if you're taking notes. The first, as you're gonna see from the handout, is trusting as God's people. Trusting as God's people. So go ahead and turn with me to chapter 1, and let's read verses 5 through 6. So Joshua chapter 1, 5 through 6. And I'm going to have Mr. J. Keith read those to me, because my highlighter is purple, and he is wearing a almost purple shirt. At least from here it looks purple. So Joshua 1, 5, and 6. No one will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. All right, so this address being given to Joshua, obviously. So here the people are. God's people are on the edge of the promised land, and he calls them to be strong and courageous. Now is this just pure, unbridled self-confidence? No, obviously. It's confidence that the same God who was with Moses will be with His promised people once again. Their confidence is in Him, not in their own strength or in their own selves, but their identity with their covenant Lord. This idea of trusting in the fact that they are God's people, that's what He wanted them to trust, that they are His people. And it's further emphasized when the men are circumcised in chapter 5 of Joshua, marking them out from the other nations. So this, remember, circumcision was given a sign that these are a people set apart from the nations. And in chapter 5, he had all these men born in the wilderness that had not been circumcised, and they come to this point when they essentially re-covenant, right, with the Lord by having all the men be circumcised. It's reiterated in chapter 8, when the people renew their covenant with God. They are His people, and that's where their confidence should be derived from. Now, it's not that the people earn this right. In fact, both of these events happened before a single battle is fought, right? They haven't waged any kind of war up to this point, and yet these things are already given. They are reminded of their status as God's people. and that gives them confidence that they can take the land. The second theme I want to draw out in this section is the fact that while the Israelites are to trust in God, they do that by trusting in God's faithful Savior. Okay, so who is this in the book of Joshua? Who is it? I know that y'all want to say Jesus, but yeah, someone said Joshua, and that's exactly right, Joshua. Okay, maybe seems odd to call Joshua a form of a savior, but that's really how he was, in the sense that he was delivering the people and leading the people, and we can work that out a little bit as we continue. So did you notice that the first verse that we looked at how closely the nation's success is tied up with Joshua's faithfulness and leadership? Okay, that's one connection there. The nation's success is tied up with Joshua's faithfulness and leadership. The people are gods, but it is Joshua who will lead them into the land. He must meditate on God's word day and night and be careful to do everything in it. We read that in verse 8 of chapter 1. And it is because of this that God's people must trust Him. And wonderfully, guess what? They actually do it, right? They really do. Look down with me to verses 16 and 17, still in chapter 1. It says this. I'm going to have Jake, if you wouldn't mind reading 1, 16, and 17. Joshua saying, all that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we needed Moses in all things, so we will need you. May the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. Okay, so the people say, all that you have commanded us we will do, right? The people once again, you see this again and again through the Old Testament, people recommitting, right? And they do that here as well. And so because Joshua and the Israelites do trust and obey, Joshua is able to lead them into the land. Indeed, but in contrast to Moses and all the disobedience that went on in the desert, this new generation of God's people, they actually obey Joshua. They trust him as a savior who would obey the Lord. Now, if you wanna jump ahead and think about some new covenant parallels for us, they shouldn't be all that difficult for us to make. Joshua, just like Moses, is prefiguring the coming of God's ultimately faithful Savior, right? Jesus Christ perfectly obeys God's law, so he's the one who brings us into the promised land of eternal rest if we trust and obey him. So the main theme of the book of Joshua And the third theme, which flows out of our theme sentence, is the need to trust God for the land, trust God for land. Okay, so land being a major theme in the book of Joshua, trust God for the land. This is a huge point, as you might imagine. Now, just to clarify the significance of the land, it's a major concept for us to grasp, because Canaan, is more than just a physical piece of property. It points backwards to what the Garden of Eden was, and it points forward to what the new heavens and the new earth are going to be for God's people. And if you remember from the very beginning of our time looking at this study, A helpful way to summarize the story of redemption is God's people and God's place under God's rule. And that really does describe the kind of heavenly rest that we all long for and the land promise here or the taking of the land points to in the book of Joshua. To see this land parallelism fleshed out, turn with me to a fascinating text in chapter 5, verses 13 through 15. So this is chapter 5, 13 through 15. And as you turn there, let me quickly set some context for you. God's people, they have just crossed the Jordan, and God's people are about to enter God's place for the first time. So this is chapter 5, 13 through 15. So however, this is not an easy task. Now you'll remember, how Eden ended in chapter 3. So go all the way back to our, I think, our second time that we had this study, Genesis chapter 3, with an angel with a flashing sword was, and he was barring entrance into the place of Eden. So this is after the fall, an angel is established with a sword that would bar entrance back into the people of, back into Eden from Adam and Eve and the people that God had made, right? barred entrance to the place of Eden forever. So what does Joshua see as he nears God's promised place? That's the question. Here's verse 13 through 15. When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you of us, or for our adversaries? And he said, no, but I am a commander in the army of the Lord. Now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take off your sandals from your feet for the place that you are standing is holy. And so Joshua did. So what stories from the Pentateuch does this make you think of? What was that? Burning bush. That's what I thought of too. That's in Exodus chapter 3, verse 5, when Moses sees the bush on fire, approaches it, and hears the voice of God saying, take off your sandals, the place you are standing is holy ground. As he gets ready to commission Moses, right? What else? We just mentioned it. Angel of the Lord, barring entrance, but now there as a kind of servant to help Joshua and the people of God take the land. So whenever you see turns of phrases like that, it's just important to think, is the author picking up on previous revelation to help make a point? And I think this is one of those places where he is. So the land of Canaan is holy ground, and it reminds us that God is there, and because of sin, there is no right for sinful people to be in it. That's why the angel of the Lord met them at Canaan. But now, just as promised in Exodus 23, there is an angel of the Lord. But this time, the angel doesn't bar the way into God's place. Instead, he actually helps God's people to take the land. Now the people trust God for the land. God sends his angel ahead of them. And well, no surprise, guess what? They actually will take it. Okay, God's very much on their side in this deal. Joshua 21, go ahead and flip ahead. Joshua 21, 43 through 45. This is a very central text, so definitely highlight it or underline it or circle it, whatever you do in your Bible, if you write in your Bible. Joshua 21, 43 through 45. I'm gonna have Mr. Lundstrom read 43 through 45, if that's okay. This gives us a peak, really a peak in redemption history up to this point. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, but the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed. Okay, that verse 45 is just so amazing. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass. So not a single word has failed. The people are in possession of God's place safely with Him. But we can't help but be disturbed, right, by the bloody and brutal chapters that happen between the angel's arrival in chapter 5 and the wonderfully fulfilled promise in chapter 21. There's a lot of text there that we have to deal with, and it is truly a bloody and brutal section of Scripture. Really, it's much of what Joshua is about, is them doing conquest? How would you say that? Conquering, thank you. Them conquering these heathen nations. Go ahead and turn back to chapter 6, verse 21. This is speaking of Jericho, 621. Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword. Speaking of the northern cities of Canaan, in chapter 11, verse 20, it says this, for it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy, but be destroyed, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. So what are we to make of such violence? I don't imagine that this is really a hard, apologetically thing for us to wrap our minds around, because we've been studying these types of things for a long time. But there are people out there that this kind of thing is a huge stumbling block for them in regards to the Christian faith. So maybe think about this in terms of If you're talking with someone who sees this as a stumbling block for their own trust in the God of the Bible, so how would you answer those types of concerns would be maybe a good question for us to think about. And maybe you're one that struggles with this yourself personally, and that's totally fine. We can work on that. Now we can't spend obviously too much time here, but I do want to make a few comments I think will offer you some help. So first, let's think back to Genesis chapter 3. Okay, we've already made reference to it once in this lesson, but we're going to make reference to it again. So here, if you remember, Adam and Eve had rebelled against God and are receiving their just punishment for their sin. But in the midst of it, listen to what God says to the serpent. One of these really central verses in all of Scripture. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Okay, that's the curse that God declares to the serpent. Interesting phrases there. So the ultimate enemy of mankind is the serpent, that is Satan, the one who tempts man to ruin God's land, the one who will keep striking at the woman's offspring. But that Genesis passage also promises a time when there will be a final removal of this enemy from the land. A time when Satan's head will be crushed by man. And in Joshua we have a glorious little snapshot of that enemy-less land and victory for God's people. Turn to chapter 10, verse 24 through 26. So remember, we're trying to make sense of just the brutal destruction of all these pagan nations that set themselves against God and against Israel. This is chapter 10, verses 24 through 26. I'm gonna have Jennifer Bishop, would you mind reading verses 24 through 26, please? And Joshua said to them, ìDo not be afraid or dismayed. Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.î And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death. So did you all hear any echoes or any kind of callbacks to maybe that text there in Genesis chapter 3? What do you see that maybe can draw a connecting point for us? Anything? I hear muttering over there. Yeah, their heel on their necks, and I don't know, I need to look at the actual translation, but the one that I copied said, heel on the necks, feet on the heads. So there's probably some different plays on words and how the Hebrew's operating there. But just to show that this is a kind of, you know, not of course a full fulfillment of what was promised in Genesis chapter three, but there's a kind of progression or a partial fulfillment of what Israel's doing as they're taking the land, that they're ridding the land of the seed of the serpent as it exists in this place. This is God's land, and part of what Israel will do is they will come in and they will put their heel, as it was, on the head of the seed of the serpent in this place. So kind of an interesting point. Another way to think about it, it's important to say that God is not condoning holy war here, or he's telling Christians right today that we should engage in any kind of Middle Eastern crusades. Rather, Joshua's military campaign is to be understood as a unique event that was commanded by God at this particular time in redemptive history. At the time of Joshua, the physical land then was deemed holy. It was therefore for God's holy people, a people who were to be righteous, who were to be just, and who were to be loving and kind. It wasn't for the Canaanites. who according to Deuteronomy chapter 9 and Genesis chapter 15 were a wicked people with whom God had been extremely patient for all these centuries, right? As we've kind of already alluded to, we've talked about it a little bit earlier in today's lesson, really the physical land loses its significance once Jesus arrives. God's people today are not an ethnic national people. They are from all corners of the earth with one citizenship, a heavenly one. I thought this was a helpful quote from our textbook that we're using. It says this, under the Mosaic covenant, God committed to give Israel the land and they enjoyed and they controlled it according to their obedience. In our day, the new covenant neither promises us a share in that land or is restricted to ethnic Israelites. The new covenant includes Gentiles who also share in God's blessing by entering into his non-physical spiritual kingdom through adoption as God's children. Though we are also promised the earth in some fashion, think about what Jesus says in Matthew 5, our ultimate inheritance is kept in heaven. Okay, 1 Peter 1, right? And will climax with eternal fellowship with the triune God and the new heavens and the new earth. For now, obedient believers can enjoy God's rest as we lovingly fellowship in a new community of believers. And ultimately, we will enjoy dwelling with God face to face in the new Jerusalem. Okay, so there's a lot in that quote. If you want me to send it to you, come ask me for it afterwards. But it was a long quote that really packs a lot of themes, including a lot of scripture references for you to think about. So if you want that, come find me afterwards. It's not in your notes. So how should we think about these horrific events in these chapters? Well, Deuteronomy 9.4 tells us that the Canaanites were being judged for their wickedness, for their idolatry, for their cruelty, for their child sacrifice, among other things, which really should be quite sobering for us because it means that this one-time military campaign of complete destruction in Joshua is simply foreshadowing something else. the one-time certain and terrible judgment that we will face when Jesus, that all will face when Jesus returns. Okay, so this is one of those examples where you read about God's destruction and judgment upon these pagan nations, okay, and we see that there's going to be an escalation of that when Jesus returns and he brings judgment to all. And that will be a very sad day for many indeed. So we shouldn't somehow think that we're any better than the Canaanites, that we're any better than they were. And we ought to remember that the conquest of Canaan pales in comparison to that great and awful day of reckoning coming for everyone. So we should be all the more thankful for our salvation in Jesus Christ, salvation from certain judgment. So as we close, Joshua, we'll give some time for some questions in just a moment. I want to look at one more aspect of our sentence there. That final word in your sentence overview, which is rest, rest, trusting God for rest. So if you turn back to Joshua 21 verses 43 through 44 again, I'm gonna read it. Joshua 21, 43 through 44. Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it, and they were settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. There it was in verse 44. And the Lord gave them rest. on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers." So notice here in these climactic verses how much is made of this idea of rest. In verse 43 it says that God gave them the land, and in verse 44 it says He gave them rest. So these two, land and rest, are just about nearly synonymous realities. Paralleled in this text, they travel together. But of course, we know that their rest was tenuous, right? It was, in a sense, temporary. It was guaranteed only so long as the people kept their end of the covenant, which, as we know, they would not do. Hebrews 4 picks up the idea of the promised land and rest and explains that this tenuous rest pointed ahead to a perfect rest of unshakable fellowship with God. Go ahead and turn to Hebrews 4, verse 8. the author of Hebrews, making reference to this very book, this very event that we've been studying this morning of the taking of the land. This is what Hebrews chapter four says in verse eight. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. So as we read through the book of Joshua, take all that longing for rest that we all have and apply it, that we see in Joshua and that we all have within our own hearts, and apply it to your own life. Long with these people for rest from your works as you trust the perfect work of Jesus Christ in your place. As Jesus said in Matthew 28, I'm sorry, 1128, come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. So that is the book of Joshua. We see taking of the land, entering the land, taking the land, dividing the land, resting in the land, and we've reviewed the key themes of trusting a faithful Savior to lead God's people to land and rest. And hopefully you've seen the way that the Lord was faithful to bring them in. and to give them the land and for them to essentially have this promise rest. And then as we turn to the book of Judges next, we'll see how they essentially progressively lose it, right? And even in that, we know that we have a Savior who secures it for us and it will not be lost for us. So that's good news indeed. Does anyone have any questions or comments that they'd like to make? That's a good question. Why does Jericho not exist anymore? So interestingly, yeah, obviously the city was destroyed, right? Do you remember how it was destroyed, Caitlin? Yeah, the Bible story when you were little. They marched around it, blew the trumpets, and it collapsed, right? So they actually do think they know where this historical place is. And it's a pile of rubble. a very old pile of rubble. So you can look at pictures and they have a general idea of where they think that Jericho was. So very good question. The walls fell down. God was with them to help them take the land and their first stop was Jericho. Only God. That's right. Only God. Any other questions? Yes, sir? Right. Kill these people, right. Right. Right. Right. Instrument to do so. right mm-hmm Complete, right. Yeah, ripe for the plucking, so to speak. Right. Right. Right, right. And it highlights, too, the fact that God is patient with wickedness in many cases. I mean, they lived, the Canaanites, they lived long enough to multiply and become these relatively large tribal states in these areas. So they lived, they were given long enough to do that. Whereas, you know, really, because of their wickedness and because they were God's creatures, they of course didn't, they weren't entitled to a single day, right? And yet the Lord gave that to them until their appointed time for him to bring judgment down upon them. It's exactly right. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. That's right. Yes. That's right. That's good. Any other questions or comments? Right. Right. Yeah. There really is this cycle that happens again and again with Israel. I mean, it's just, we've been reading Joshua and Judges, and now we're in Kings with my kids, and just seeing this, you know, this kind of spiral where they kind of recommit, and then it's just the same cycle over and over again. And you have to wonder, is there ever going to be one who will break this cycle, you know? And praise be to God, there is, right? Yes, sir, John. Oh, yes, sir. I was going to say, this is a fulfillment of God. It's kind of a no-brainer. We want to consider whatever we can. Yeah. Right. Yeah, that's an interesting point. Anything else? We have one minute. So simple yes or no question is all that's going to be allowed. Well, thank you all for being good students. That was a lot of content to get through, as always. So the way this curriculum was designed, Joshua and Judges was one lesson. So if you think, why is it going through a whole book in one lesson? It's because this was actually supposed to be two books in one lesson, and we divided it in half to give us a little more time to chew on it, think about it, take notes. So hopefully you find it helpful to go at a little bit of a slower pace. But let's go and pray, and then we can be done. Heavenly Father, we are thankful for what you have done in history, what you did with your people, Israel, to bring them to a place, Father. All these things, Father, are pointing to greater realities that we experience in Christ. And Father, we're just amazed by that. We're amazed at what you did then, and Father, what you did in Christ, and Father, what you're going to do when he returns. So we're thankful. Help us to be good students of your word, properly dividing it. and tracing, Father, the story that you've laid out for us in Scripture. Thank you for all the eager students who are coming week after week to walk through the Old Testament. I pray that you continue to bless our study. I pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.