No 6

(Israel in the Promised Land)

God promised Abraham that his descendants would occupy land that was not theirs (Gen 15 :18) but would have to wait until the iniquity of the Amorites was full (Gen 15 :16). In previous studies we have seen that the Israelites stayed in Egypt all this time and Moses brought them out. However, when the time came to cross the Jordan river, the Bible says in Deut 34 :4 that Moses did not go : “I have caused thee to see it (the promised land) but thou shalt not go over thither”. Joshua was given the task of taking the Israelites into thePromised Land and the transfer of power from Moses was confirmed by God in the book of Joshua in chapter 1 : 1-5. There were two things that encouraged Joshua to take the job : God was with him (Jos 1 :5) and the people were with him (Jos 1 :17). The first large city that was to be taken was Jericho but not without intrigue and miraculous power. The Bible says in Jos 2 that two men were sent to Jericho to spy on the city and they stayed in a harlot’s house (Rahab) until it was safe to return to the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan river. Joshua ordered the people to get ready to cross the Jordan river and that the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, would walk ahead of the people. When the soles of the priests’ feet touched the water of the Jordan, it opened up and the people were able to cross the river on dry land (Jos 3 :17). Twelve stones (one for each tribe) were taken from the dry river bed and placed on the other side of the Jordan as a memorial for the children of Israel forever (Jos 4 :7). The intrigue and the miraculous power continues and we are all familiar with taking of Jericho where the Israelites, by the power of God caused the walls of Jericho to fall. This was just the beginning and God wanted « to magnify Joshua in the sight of all Israel so that they would fear him as they did Moses, all the days of his life » Jos 4 :14. Campaign after campaign was won by the Israelites, by the power of God and the obedience of Joshua. In Joshua 24 :15, he summed up what he and his family had been doing all along and thought that every Israelite should do the same when he said, « as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord ». This is good advice, even for today.