Joshua, Part 4
Way back in Genesis 3:15, after man sinned and lost his direct fellowship with his Maker, God promised to send a Redeemer Who would restore that fellowship. He would come as a human. He would come through Seth (not any other of Adam’s children), then through Noah, then through Shem (not Japheth or Ham), then through Abraham, who became the father of the Jewish people, the people God selected to be the ones through whom the promised Messiah would descend. This is what the Old Testament is about—the Christ, the Savior of mankind, is coming. Keep an eye out for Him. The Old Testament provided many clues about Him (like when and where He would be born), and we will discuss them in subsequent articles.
God promised Abraham that, not only would his descendants be multiplied exponentially, but that they would be given a land to live on—the land of Canaan. Through a long, rather torturous, but fascinating path, God began to fulfill the land promise through Joshua. The Jews would have their own homeland, and their own law, to guide them, protect them, and keep them as a united peoples until the Messiah came into the world—the Savior of ALL mankind—through their lineage. The Jewish people were going to provide the greatest service to mankind of any nation in history. If only they had been humble enough to be servants of humanity and willingly play the role God graciously gave them. But they weren’t. And still aren’t.
But they began to conquer, occupy, and divide up that promised land under Joshua.
There were, of course, many different peoples living in the land of Canaan when Joshua and the children of Israel arrived. Many skeptics find reason to condemn God for allowing the Israelites to obliterate these tribes—especially their women and children—although it’s ok when we do it to Nazis or Japanese barbarians, or maybe to Jews in Israel who protect themselves from Hamas invasions. But there has never been anything consistent or non-hypocritical about skepticism and the Left. God had told Abraham that those Canaanite peoples were so wicked that they needed His judgment (Genesis 15:16), and He made the same thing plain in Deuteronomy 9:4:
"Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out before you, saying, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land'; but [it is] because of the wickedness of these nations [that] the LORD is driving them out from before you.”
So, He tells them again—these wicked peoples were due His judgment and the Israelites were His tools in accomplishing that. (Read my “The Story of the Bible, Part 16” for further elucidation on this point.) The children of Israel conquered the land under their great leader Joshua. God fulfilled His promise to Abraham: “Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (Joshua 21:45).
Christ is coming...