The book of Joshua is where the life of the nation as a whole begins in the Promised Land. Moses has died. It's time for a new leader, Joshua. Now Joshua, along with Caleb, is one of the two faithful spies who encouraged the nation to go into the land the first time. He's already been seen as leading the army of Israel against the Amalekites. He's a sort of protege of Moses. And now God tells Joshua in Joshua 1.5, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you. Yet there's two basic requirements that are going to be expected of Joshua as a leader. First off, he needs to be strong and courageous. Actually, we see those words three times. Verse 7 of chapter 1, only be thou strong and very courageous. And in verse 9, be strong and of a good courage. In verse 18, only be strong and of a good courage. One would think leading a couple of million people on a military campaign would require some strength and courage. And so God is encouraging this in Joshua. But God is Joshua's strength. And his courage is not in himself or his own bravery. actually in Yahweh. The second requirement is obedience to the Word of God. Now this is an important step in the progress of God's story of redemption. Look at what he says. He tells Joshua to be obedient to the Word of God and all the things that he does, and actually he calls this word the law which Moses his servant commanded, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night that you may observe to do according to all that's written therein. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success." Now, prior to this, God's people were to be obedient, but now they're to be obedient to His Word. In other words, The commands of God include timeless principles which are always to be obeyed, and beginning now, the people of God are to be people of the book, the Word of God. Now that book is in the process of development, and Joshua's own story is going to be included. But starting now, God's people can always hear God's voice through these written words. Speaking of written words, Let's look at the name of Joshua for just a moment, because I just find it interesting that he shares a name with someone you may know. When you translate names from one language to the next, you usually try to transliterate the sound and not necessarily the name's meaning. If you wonder what I mean, go find your Hispanic friend Jesus and see how he spells his name. You'll go, oh, that's Jesus. Well, so is Joshua, or maybe it's the other way around. The Old Testament name Joshua looks like this in Hebrew and it was probably pronounced something like Yahoshua or Yeshua and it gets translated into English as Joshua. The name means Yahweh saves or Yahweh is salvation. What a wonderful name. I mean, it becomes a common name in Israel. You can imagine this name Yahshua, Yeshua, is probably going to be pretty popular as a baby name through history. So when the Gospels open and Mary is to have this miraculous child, the angel says, you shall name him Yeshua. For he shall save his people from their sins. Remember this name means Yahweh is salvation. But because the New Testament is written in Greek, Yeshua looks like this. And it sounds more like Yeshu. And it gets translated into English as Jesus, but both of them are Yeshua. Yahweh is salvation. The only time they really get confused is in some Bible translations in Acts 7.45 or Hebrews 4.8. It will say Jesus, but really it's clearly talking about Joshua. Now, where I think this gets fun is when Joshua meets Jesus, or Yeshua meets Yeshua, if you rather. In Joshua 5, as the nation has entered into the land, it prepares for its first major battle at Jericho. Joshua wanders out of the camp by himself, and Joshua 5 verse 13 says it came to pass, When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went out unto him, and said unto him, are you for us or for our adversaries? So he looks over and he sees this figure standing there facing him, sword drawn. And Joshua, being strong and courageous, strides right over and asks, are you for us or are you for our enemies? Like those are the only two options, right? Instead, this figure says, when he says nay, But as a captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose the shoe off of thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy, and Joshua did so. Now I love the answer to that question, right? Are you on our side or the enemy's side? And this figure, sword drawn, says essentially neither. I'm leading God's army. Now implicit in that statement is a demand that you ask yourself, if that's the leader of God's army, the real question is whose side am I on? But there's really no need to try to make a big argument about this, but since it's my video, I'm going to tell you what I think. This is where Yeshua meets Yeshua, right? This captain of the host of the Lord seems to be a pre-incarnate appearance. of Christ himself. I say that because of the echo of Moses' experience in the burning bush. Take your shoes off your feet. This is the holy presence of God. Also because Joshua falls down and worships him. Scripture shows the Lord's angels won't accept Now, either way, the message is clear. Even though Israel's encamped and threatening Jericho, God's army has now entered the theater of battle, and God's going to win the day. I know we teach our kids to sing, you know, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, but that's basically opposed to everything the book is saying. The battle here belongs to the Lord, and if you want to see what it looks like when Israel fights for themselves, Keep reading into the story of Ai in Joshua 7, where this little village runs off the army of Israel, just drives them right off the battlefield because God's not with them. Joshua didn't fight the battle of Jericho. Now, if you wanted to sing, Yeshua fought the battle of Jericho, I probably wouldn't even bother arguing with that. Another parallel I can't resist making about Joshua and Jesus. In this book, Joshua enters the promised land, he passes victoriously through Jericho, redeems some of the dregs of society and Rahab the prostitute and her family, and then he continues right on down the road to conquer the promised land for a time. You can read in the Gospels, though, like in Mark 10, Luke 19, how at the end of his ministry, this better Yeshua, Jesus, passed into the area of Perea out east so that he also could cross the Jordan River and then passes victoriously through Jericho redeeming some of the dregs of society like this blind beggar Bartimaeus or a tax collector Zacchaeus. Then continues down the road on his way to conquer sin forever. Now, one last thing about the Book of Joshua, at least for now. Throughout the book, we find what I'll call covenant ceremonies. All of these, even though they're each a bit different, all of them serve as a call to the nation to remember and to live faithfully by God's covenant. So in Joshua 4, they They've duplicated the Red Sea crossing by crossing over the Jordan River on dry ground, and they build a monument of 12 stones as a reminder of God's faithfulness. In the next chapter, Joshua 5, all those men who had wandered in the wilderness and had not been circumcised, so now they do that as a symbol of their covenant obedience. In chapter 8, Following a command of Moses, the Israelites break up into two groups. One half goes up on this luscious tree-covered mountain of Gerizim, the other goes up on this barren, rocky Mount Ebal, and the blessings and the cursings of the law are read. And when the blessings are read, the Israelites up on Mount Gerizim would shout, Amen. And when the curses were read, those up on Mount Ebal would shout, Amen. What a visual reminder of the covenant. And the final ceremony comes in the form of some speeches from Joshua. Just like Moses before his death, Joshua takes the end of his life as an opportunity to encourage and admonish the nation. He urges them toward covenant obedience to Yahweh. In Joshua 24, he famously says, whether the gods which your father served, which were on the other side of the flood or the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. Yet Joshua, much like Moses, knows it's not going to be this easy for this rebellious symbol of humanity, these rebellious people. He even tells them they aren't capable of fulfilling the commitment that they've made. If you keep reading in verse 19, Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt and consume you after that he has done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the Lord. Well, we'll see. Right? Because at this point Joshua dies and no one is appointed as a new leader over Israel because they're to be a theocracy, a nation that is ruled by God. Unfortunately, the next book, the book of Judges, is going to show just how poorly they're going to do in following God.