Joshua: Introduction (3)

For He remembered His holy promise,
And Abraham His servant.
He brought out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with gladness.
He gave them the lands of the Gentiles,
And they inherited the labor of the nations,
That they might observe His statutes
And keep His laws.
Praise the LORD! Psalm 105.42-45

Reflect and discuss.
1.  God’s covenant unfolds in stages throughout Scripture. Two of those stages are recalled in our verses for today. What are they? How do these covenant stages differ? How are they the same?

2.  God blessed His people under Joshua by giving them the lands and wealth of the Canaanite nations. Why did He do that?

Think about it.
The Scriptures tell the story of God’s plan to bring glory to Himself by saving and blessing a people of His own choosing. To accomplish this great plan, God entered into a covenant relationship with all creation, but especially with the people He had chosen to redeem, ultimately through the work of Jesus Christ.

In the Scriptures, this covenant unfolds in stages. Each stage features some different components, but each stage is identifiable as fitting within God’s overarching covenant by the appearance of similar themes and motifs: God promises to bless His people, but they must obey Him (for He is all-wise and all-good), or they will come under His loving discipline.

It’s important to understand the place, of whatever we’re reading or studying in Scripture, within the covenant framework of God. Psalm 105 may have been written around the time of Joshua, since it ends abruptly with the people having inherited the lands of the Gentiles. Our verses indicate that, in bringing the people into the land, God was looking back to the promises He had made to Abraham (Gen. 12.1-3) and the law He had given to Moses, while at the same time He was looking forward to Israel’s obedience in the land of promise, and beyond that, to God’s promised rest under the new covenant and our Lord Jesus Christ.

God, of course, sees all of time, and everything in it, in one comprehensive glance. And all of time holds together and unfolds in stages within the framework of the covenant God has made with all creation, and especially with His chosen people.

The book of Joshua thus brings forward two periods of God’s covenant-making with His people and shows us the unity of God’s covenant throughout Scripture. First, God’s covenant with Moses is mentioned. God brought His people into the land so that they would keep the Law He had given them, because that Law would be their very life (Lev. 18.1-5). Second, God gave them the lands of the Gentiles because this was part of what He had promised to Abraham (Gen. 12.1-3). 

Joshua thus marks an important stage in the unfolding of God’s covenant, for we can learn from this book the blessings and obligations of God’s covenant as these develop through every stage of the unfolding of the covenant within the Word of God.

Meditate and discuss.
1.  The Hebrew word remember means something like, “to attend to continuously.” God hadn’t forgotten His covenant with Abraham. Under Joshua, He was merely continuing to unfold it. Explain.

2.  Verse 43 recalls Exodus 15. Why should God’s “chosen ones” rejoice with such gladness? How does their rejoicing instruct us?

3.  God chose His people, promised to bless them, saved them from Egypt, and gave them His Law. Then, having sustained them through forty rebellious years in the wilderness, He brought them to the land where He promised to bless them abundantly (Deut. 28.1-14). What was the role of the Law of God in this? Was it to save Israel? Or was it to bless them whom He had already saved? Explain. What should we, who live within the framework of the new covenant, learn from this?

“From this heavenly treasury he gives rain to his earth ‘to bless all the works of your hands.’ The rain is this: ‘the utterance’ of the law, which falls like dew upon the soul that is fecund and fertile with good works, so that it may possess the moisture of grace.” Ambrose of Milan (333-397 AD)

Your grace has come to me, Lord, through the saving work of Jesus, and I thank You. But Your Law is also a means of grace to me, so that I might…

Pray Psalm 105.8-11, 26-45.
Meditate on as much as you know of God’s covenant – both its promises and commandments – from Adam to Jesus. Thank Him for rememberingthat precious covenant so that you could enter fully into it through Jesus.

Psalm 105.8-11, 26-45 (Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
He will His covenant faithfully guard – His oath, the promise of His Word. 
That which He to our fathers swore, He will perform forevermore! 

He brought His people from Egypt alive, and made their joy and song revive. 
He made the nations’ land their own, and all the wealth that they had known.

To them He granted the promised land, the portion of His gracious hand. 
Though they were few, and wandered far, He kept them close within His heart. 

So let us all in our Savior confide, and in His holy Law abide. 
Let us observe His glorious Word, and praise our sovereign, faithful Lord!

T. M. Moore

Where does the book of Joshua fit in the ongoing story of God’s covenant? Our workbook, God’s Covenant, can help you discover the place in God’s work of redemption not only of Joshua but of all the books of the Bible. God’s Covenant is a valuable resource to guide you in all your studies in God’s Word. To order your copy, click here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.