Joshua

The book of Joshua picks up after Moses has died in Deuteronomy, and Joshua becomes his successor to lead Gods people into the land and driving out the inhabitants. It covers a pretty long time period as the Israelies have to drive out many different people, then divides the conquered land among the different tribes. When Joshua dies {at the conclusion of the book} most of the inhabitants have been driven from the land, and Joseph's bones have finally been laid to rest in the land God had promised him many generations ago.

A few things that really stood out to me in this book:

In the very first chapter God tells his people to "be strong and courageous" 3 different times in 3 verses{vs.6-9}. , This was just another reminder to me of how fickle our nature is...These people have just experienced 40 years of daily miracles in the wilderness, they know that God is on there side, and yet He has to remind them 3 times in as many sentences to be strong and courageous as they take over the land that God had promised them. But, how true is this of me? How often have I seen and experienced God's favor, power, or mercy, in one area of my life, but then doubted him to take care of another area of my life? Also in these verses He tells them to meditate day and night over everything in the book of instruction Moses had written, then they would prosper and succeed in all they did. Again God is urging His people to constantly remember His covenant with them. God {obviously} knows what will happen in Judges and through out the old testament, to that His people will forget about their covenant, and turn to other gods.

Joshua is the home of another famous children's bible story, when Joshua marched around the walls of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down. {Love that Veggie Tale episode!}

The instructions God had given His people had been to make no treaty with any of the people in the land they were taking over, but in chapter 9 they do just this. Some of the people in the land had heard about the overwhelming victory of the people of Israel, and feared for themselves. So one group sent a group of ambassadors all dressed in old, dirty, worn out clothes with moldy bread and broken wine skins. They came to the Israelites and said they were from a far of land, {see how old our food and worn our clothes are} and wanted to make a treaty with them. The key in this chapter is that Gods people did not consult Him before they made this treaty, and in the end were deceived. Because a treaty, a commitment, your word, actually meant something in those days, the Israelite people were bound to honor this treaty which means this group of people were allowed to stay in the land. This ends up playing a huge part in Israels future broken covenant with God. My self reflection on this... how many decision do I enter in to with out consulting God, with out praying about it first?

The final chapter is basically Joshua's final words to the people, and a renewing of the covenant. It's a reminder of what they have been through, and they are told "choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house we will serve the lord" {vs. 15}, and Israel chooses to serve God.

Learned: Joshua was a book full of foreshadowing, cliff hangers, and beautiful resolution, all the makings of a great book.