There’s a great contrast here in this story, and I’m sure it’s why it’s told at this point, right in the middle of this account of the division of the land. It’s the contrast between Caleb, who followed the Lord wholeheartedly to the very end and took the land that he’d been promised so many years b
The second thing that we see in Joshua 14 comes out in this word, "wholeheartedly," which is repeated there three times (vv. 8, 9, 14). That's the same idea that is involved in Deuteronomy 6:5, which Jesus quoted when He was asked what was the first and greatest of all the commandments. He said, "It
Now it’s worth asking at this point what the secret of this man’s greatness was. In fact, it was no great secret. Caleb had total faith in God, and he gave himself to God utterly. It’s not hard to see his faith. That comes out very simply in this matter of the spies’ initial report. You know, it’s t
Now when Numbers 13 begins to tell us about the work of the spies, it doesn't give us very much detail as to how they went about their work. We don't know, for example, whether they toured around in a body or whether they divided up. We might suspect that they divided up so as not to attract too muc
The magnificent old man to which I am referring here in Joshua 14 is Caleb, who was Joshua’s companion and fellow soldier during all these long years of the conquest of Canaan. It’s often the case that in the presence of an outstanding leader, other people are overlooked. And it’s not because the ot
There’s also personal holiness. That’s not something that just falls upon us like a mantle. That’s something that is achieved by small decisions day by day. You have to enter into holiness step by step, act by act, obedience by obedience. Another possession are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Accordin
In the previous studies when we were looking at the battles in the south and the north, we took time to look at some of the great characteristics of Joshua. This is certainly a point where we can look at his character and say that if anything characterized this man in a complimentary way, it was cer
Once Joshua had made settlement of the frontier areas, he moved into the center of the land and began the second stage of the distribution, which we have in chapters 18 and 19. There are seven tribes remaining. Because Benjamin was a very small tribe, he gave Benjamin a relatively small territory. E
Now you have to think about that geographically. Israel has three frontiers. They’re protected, of course, on the west by the Mediterranean. So the frontiers they have to defend are to the north, south, and east. From the north is where most of the invasions of the land came later in Israel’s histo
The book of Joshua is divided into two main parts. The first part, chapters 1 through 12, tells about the conquest of the land of Canaan. And the second section, chapters 13 through 24, deals with the settlement of the land. As we come now to chapter 13, we are beginning the chapters that tell about
Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, "Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." What He is saying is that if you really are a justified man or woman, if His righteousness really has been imputed to you, if you have
Yesterday, we listed the first thing we must do if we are to fulfill Joshua 11:15, which is to truly believe on Jesus Christ by following him as a faithful disciple. The second thing is this. In Matthew 28, at the very end of that chapter where we have the Great Commission, we’re told that if we bel
In some ways, at least as his story is told to us, Joshua was not a spectacular individual. At least he did not have a lot of spectacular experiences. There were miracles, of course, but basically, Joshua was a soldier. He was told what to do, and he did it. His strength was found in that, and that
In our study of the southern campaign I talked about Joshua’s leadership characteristics. This story of the northern campaign reminds us of the importance of spiritual leadership. The same principles that he put into practice in his military campaigns are principles that you and I need to put into o
We already looked in some detail at the southern campaign. The northern one is given in even less detail than the southern one, although it is similar in many respects. Like the southern campaign, the one in the north is also waged against a coalition of kings who gathered together to try and repuls
This leads to the fifth characteristic, which is that Joshua obeyed the Lord completely. This was the most striking of his characteristics. If you go back to the very beginning of the book, you’ll recognize that in the first words of God to him, this is what he was encouraged to do: “Be careful to o
Growing in the Christian life is no mystery. Christians have known what it is in all ages. It's studying the Word of God. It's praying. It's fellowshipping with Christian people. It's worshipping. It's working for God. It's witnessing. It's testifying. Those are the things through which you grow. An
I think this is a good point to look back over this campaign and its details and see what it teaches us about the characteristics of strong leadership, which Joshua showed. There probably are other things that can be said about Joshua on the basis of other texts. But just looking at this one campaig
Now our story picks up at that point. The routed armies were led by five kings. These five kings were apparently together directing the military operations. And when they saw the battle go against them and recognized that they were in great personal danger themselves, they hid in the cave near the t
In the middle of Joshua 10 there’s an interesting change in the nature of the narrative that describes the Israelite conquest of Canaan. Up to this point in the story, there have only been three real battles. There was the attack on Jericho and the destruction of that city; the attack on Ai and its
The second lesson is that we ought to expect great days of victory in our service of God. We don’t see them every day. There ought to be periods of great victory in our lives where, because God has given us a task to do and we believe that He’s going to be faithful to us in helping us accomplish tha
I don’t think these words are poetical. I think they refer to a real event. I don’t know whether God actually stopped the sun and the moon, though He could have. I incline to the view that the impression is that this is what happened, that the day was longer, that light prevailed for a long period o
Yesterday we concluded our study by mentioning the first explanation for the miracle of the sun and moon standing still. The second explanation is that the sun and moon appeared to actually stop because the earth itself actually stopped. Now as I say, anybody who believes in an omnipotent God in the
By this time, the battle had gone on for some time. The sun was passing through the sky and perhaps was soon to set over the Mediterranean to his right. He must have recognized as soon as he looked up and saw the sun that he didn't have enough time to achieve the kind of victory that the military si
