Entering the Promised Land

Joshua 1:1-9; 23:1-5

GOLDEN TEXT: “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.”—Joshua 1:9

JOSHUA the new leader and successor of Moses, was faced with more than the ordinarily difficult task of taking over the duties which had been well done by another. Moses, who is given the distinction of having been the meekest man in all the earth, tried painstakingly to impress upon the Israelites that he had been their leader because God had commanded him to be such and that he hadn’t taken the commission upon himself. (Num. 12:3; Deut. 34:9) Moses made it plain to them that as God had led them through his instrumentality, He would also lead them through his successor, Joshua.

The choice of Joshua by Moses is seen to have been a good one; for in doing so, he was merely carrying forward the purpose of God for His chosen people; and God sanctioned and blessed the leadership of Joshua. The name Joshua means Jehovah is salvation and is the same as Jesus.

Proper leadership has always been an. essential means of encouragement and stimulus to the children of God. From time to time God has raised up leaders of His people. While the Lord’s people of this Gospel age are not to put their trust in leaders, but in the Lord Himself, yet when the proper leadership is recognized, it proves a blessing on the principle that those who honor a true servant of God, are, in a sense, honoring God; for God has called them, as He did Moses and Joshua, for that purpose.

Joshua, it will be remembered, was one of the two spies who, forty years before this, reported to the Israelites that in their opinion, they could at once possess the Promised Land if they entered it in the strength of the Lord. Caleb was the other one. During those forty intervening years all the other Israelites who were twenty years old or more when they left Egypt, had died. In a sense, therefore, Joshua became the leader of a new generation of Israelites.

Three times in the first section of today’s lesson God bids Joshua to be courageous, not in his own strength, but because of the assurance of divine guidance and strength. Joshua was evidently a man of great faith and confidence in the Lord. Forty years before this, he believed that God would give them the promised land if the Israelites would have faith to enter in. He had maintained that confidence. Forty years of wandering in the wilderness had not weakened his faith. Those were hard years, but withal the blessing of the Lord upon those who put their whole trust in Him was rich and abiding. There was a sweetness in God’s providences which more than compensated for the hardships by which their faith was tested.

The faith of God’s people in every age has been tested by what, to human wisdom, may seem like delays in the fulfillment of His promises. Those who have believed God have ever lived on the eve of expectancy, not because God has deceived them, but because they have measured God’s plan by the reed of their own short span of life, whereas His thoughts encompass eternity. God promised Canaan to the children of Abraham, and they shall yet possess that land and live in it forever. Joshua will be among the faithful to enter into that inheritance; but he did not, as the successor of Moses, live to see all that he hoped God would accomplish for Israel under his leadership.

The end of our lesson takes us over to the closing scenes of Joshua’s long and eventful career. He is now “old and stricken in age.” While Joshua had not seen the land fully conquered under his leadership, his faith and courage were undaunted. He does not show the slightest inclination to murmur against the Lord, but still trusts Him fully, and spends his waning strength to encourage the Israelites to continue putting their trust in God. He called together the judges, the elders and the various officers of the people, reminded them of what God had wrought on their behalf, and what He would continue to do for them if they trusted and obeyed Him fully. There was still land to be possessed, and they could possess it if they co-operated with God who would fight their battles for them.

God reminded Joshua of the importance of adhering faithfully to the precepts of the law. Had all the Israelites been as faithful as Joshua in this respect, the victory of that nation would have been vastly different from what it was.

But God’s purpose in them has not failed. The land is yet to be theirs, and in the happy, happy day of their full regathering, they will learn to know and trust and serve their God with pure hearts fervently.—Jer. 31:31-34

QUESTIONS:

How do we know that Joshua was a man of courage because of his faith in the Lord?

Did Joshua live to see the complete fulfillment of what God promised concerning the land of Canaan?

When will Israel possess the promised land and abide in it forever?

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