June 5 • Bible Study Guide 1
God's Promises Fulfilled
Bible Background • JOSHUA 1:1-6; 11-12
Printed Text • JOSHUA 1:1-6; 11:16-19, 21-23 | Devotional Reading • ACTS 26:1-7
Aim for Change
By the end of the lesson, we will: IDENTIFY scriptural support that God keeps His promises; FEEL blessed that God stands behind His promises; and PRAISE God that His promises are true.
In Focus
Mary and John were madly in love. They had gone through marital counseling, and their pastor had explained in detail each promise they would pledge to each other in their wedding vows. The couple assured the pastor that they fully understood the promises they were making and were prepared to honor them for a lifetime. Finally, their wedding day arrived. As all the invited guests looked on, in the presence of God, John and Mary announced their intention to love, honor, cherish, and to remain physically, emotionally, and mentally faithful to each other in any circumstance and under all conditions as long as they both lived.
For the first few years, everything was fine. However, after a while, the little things John once found cute about Mary began to grate on his nerves. His complaints to her soon became put-downs and later hurtful verbal abuse. During pastoral counseling, John realized that through his verbal abuse he had broken his promise to love, honor, and cherish Mary.
Broken promises are a fact of human life. In today's lesson, we will see how Joshua's absolute faith in the faithfulness of God to honor His promises led to the conquest of the Holy Land.
Keep in Mind
"As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses" (Joshua 11:15).
Focal Verses
KJVJoshua 1:1b That the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
11:16 So Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same;
17 Even from the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them.
18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.
19 There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle.
21 And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.
22 There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.
23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.
NLTJoshua 1:1b The LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant. He said,
2 "Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them.
3 I promise you what I promised Moses: 'Wherever you set foot you will be on land I have given you—
4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.'
5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.
6 Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them."
11:16 So Joshua conquered the entire region—the hill country, the entire Negev, the whole area around the town of Goshen, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley, the mountains of Israel, and the Galilean foothills.
17 The Israelite territory now extended all the way from Mount Halak, which leads up to Seir in the south, as far north as Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon in the valley of Lebanon. Joshua killed all the kings of those territories,
18 waging for a long time to accomplish this.
19 No one in this region made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites of Gibeon. All the others were defeated.
21 During this period Joshua destroyed all the descendants of Anak, who lived in the hill country of Hebron, Debir, Anab, and the entire hill country of Judah and Israel. He killed them all and completely destroyed their towns.
22 None of the descendants of Anak were left in all the land of Israel, though some still remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
23 So Joshua took control of the entire land, just as the LORD had instructed Moses. He gave it to the people of Israel as their special possession, dividing the land among the tribes. So the land finally had rest from war.
The People, Places, and Times
The Promised Land. Around 2000 B.C., the Lord called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans, showed him the land of Canaan, and said, "I will give this land to your descendants" (Genesis 12:7, NLT). Later, He told Abraham, "You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) After four generations your descendants will return here to this land" (15:13-16a, NLT).
God sent Moses, the great deliverer, to lead the people out of Egyptian bondage into a land "flowing with milk and honey." After the death of Moses, God commanded Joshua to take all the territory specified by Moses, "from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites" (Joshua 1:4, NLT).
We don't know the exact boundaries of the Promised Land. God revealed to Abraham that his descendants would receive the land of Canaan, but He originally promised them a much greater area than that. When Abraham and his nephew Lot separated, God told Abraham, "'Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west. I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession'" (Genesis 13:14-15, NLT).
Background
When the Lord told Moses that he would see the Promised Land but die before entering it, Moses' first thoughts were not about himself. Instead, he thought about the welfare of the people he would leave behind. He was concerned that the LORD's people would be "like sheep without a shepherd" (Numbers 27:17, NLT). Moses asked God to choose a successor who would lead the Israelites both in the battles to come and in their obedience to God's commands. God chose Joshua, whom Moses had appointed as leader of the army and who had served as Moses' close personal assistant since the time the Israelites were still at Mount Sinai (Exodus 17:8-13; 24:12-13).
The Lord instructed Moses to lay his hand on Joshua and present him to Eleazar, the high priest, in front of the entire Israelite community and then commission him to lead the people. He was also to transfer some of his current authority to Joshua so that the people would learn to obey him (Numbers 27:22-23).
Later, after leading the Israelites to the plain of Moab, directly east of the Jordan River, Moses, who was about 120 years old, realized that the time of his death was nearing. He called the congregation together and reaffirmed that it would be Joshua and not he who would lead them across the Jordan River to take possession of the land God had promised them.
At-A-Glance
- The Promises Made (Joshua 1:1b-6)
- The Promises Fulfilled (11:16-19, 21-23)
In Depth
1. The Promises Made (Joshua 1:1b-6)
"Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun" (Joshua 1:1). The opening words of the book of Joshua describe a period of transition. It marks not only a change in leadership but a change in purpose. The people would change from Moses to Joshua and also from wanderers to warriors. This change would not only be difficult for the fledging nation, but also for Joshua. The death of Moses was a heavy blow to the Israelites. He was the one who had led them out of the oppressive Egyptian bondage. When the Israelites were thirsty, God used Moses to cause water to flow from a stone. When the Israelites were hungry, God answered Moses' prayers and sent quail and bread from heaven. For almost 40 years, Moses had served as the Israelite's leader and legislator. He alone spoke faceto-face with God on their behalf. But now he was dead!
Israel was still encamped on the plains of Moab, directly east of the Jordan River, at the very edge of the Promised Land. For 30 days they mourned Moses, their beloved leader, but now it was time to inherit the land God had promised to Abraham and their forefathers hundreds of years earlier (Genesis 15:7-21). Joshua, the new leader of the Israelites, had been commissioned by Moses before his death (Numbers 27:22-23), and he was now being ordained by God.
The Lord commanded Joshua to prepare himself and the people to cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land. He makes three promises to His new leader: (1) A promise of land, "'Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you'" (Joshua 1:3, NLT); (2) A promise of victory, "No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live" (from 1:5, NLT); and (3) A promise of presence, "For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you" (1:5b, NLT).
A promise of land: "'Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you'" (Joshua 1:3, NLT). Joshua was going to experience the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham and repeated to his sons Isaac and Jacob. He would lead the people into the land that had been promised to Moses. The Israelites would occupy the land from the great river to the great sea. The area described is roughly the same area God promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:18-20).
A promise of victory: "No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live" (1:5a, NLT). God promised Joshua victory over anybody and everybody who came against him.Thispromisewasnotlimitedtothetaking of the Promised Land, but was extended for as long as Joshua lived. However, this promise came with a warning. The people who lived in the land were protected by powerful armies and fortified cities. The battles would be hard fought. As it was in Canaan, the Christian life is a life of conflict with enemies who must be confronted and overcome. Although the outcome of our battle is assured, we must be prepared for conflict if we are to claim the kingdom's earthly promise of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17, NLT).
A promise of presence: "For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you" (from Joshua 1:5, NLT). These words call our attention to one of the great truths of the Bible. Israel would get into the land of promise the same way they got out of the land of bondage. They trusted in the power of the Lord to free them and the presence of the Lord to guide them. Likewise, Christians enter into the life of Christ the same way we were delivered from the wrath of God, by trusting in the power of the blood to free us from sin and the presence of the Lord to lead us and guide us through our lives.
2. The Promises Fulfilled (11:16-19, 21- 23)
After Joshua's victories over the city-states of Jericho and Ai, word spread throughout the hill country and down the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The kings in the southern region of the Promised Land joined together to defend themselves against the Israelite invaders. However, the people of Gibeon rejected the military coalition and tricked the Israelites into signing a peace treaty with them (Joshua 9:1-26). When the other five kings of the coalition heard about the treaty, they were enraged and gathered their armies to attack Gibeon. The Gibeonites immediately sent word to Joshua to come to their aid.
Just as He had at Jericho (6:1-5) and again at Ai (8:1-3), God assured Joshua that He would deliver the opposing armies into his hands and that their victory was guaranteed (10:8). At God's word, Joshua assembled the Israelite army and marched all night from their camp at Gilgal to Gibeon. Joshua led a surprise attack on the coalition forces. Just as God had promised, the Israelites routed the much larger army and went on to subdue all the remaining cities in the southern area of the Promised Land.
Joshua then led the Israelites to capture the royal cities in the area. They took the spoils for themselves, including the livestock, and they killed all the people. In doing this, they obeyed God's command to them through Moses, leaving nothing undone. This was the end of the major battles Israel needed to fight. They had overcome the greatest armies from the greatest cities. They followed their initial conquests by a long period of war against the surrounding cities and their kings. Then finally after a long and exhausting campaign, "Joshua took control of the entire land, just as the LORD had instructed Moses. He gave it to the people of Israel as their special possession dividing the land among the tribes. So the land finally had rest from war" (v. 23, NLT).
Search the Scriptures
- What event occasioned the Lord to speak to Joshua (Joshua 1:2)?
- How much of the land on the other side of the Jordan did God promise to Joshua and the Israelites (v. 3)?
Discuss the Meaning
If the kingdom of God is promised to believers and the manifestation of the kingdom within believers is righteousness (goodness), peace, and joy, why are so many Christians miserable and troubled?
Lesson in Our Society
One of the biggest problems facing Black people in urban settings is increasing gun violence and disregard for human life. Based on God's promise to Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14, how can the Black church as a spiritual community confront and defeat this enemy that dehumanizes, demoralizes, and destroys our children?
Make It Happen
Many people that we know are facing insurmountable problems that have robbed them of their peace and joy. When Joshua was confronted with these circumstances, he first looked to God and then went to war. Over the next week, identify someone who is on the verge of being overcome by the circumstances they are facing. Ask God what you can do to help them and sit silently, allowing God to speak to your heart. Then get up and go to war, doing exactly what He put in your heart to do. You may not be able to win the war, but you may help win a battle.
Follow the Spirit