The Bible Recap - Day 088 (Joshua 22-24) - Year 5

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Today we wrapped up our seventh book of the Bible. Can you believe it? We're a quarter of the way through the Bible. I learned so much in the past 88 days and I can't wait to see what he teaches me about himself in the next 277 days we have left. Even though this is my tenth trip through the Bible, I still learn something new every single day, and I hope you do too. Yesterday, God finished divvying up the land for all the tribes in the cities of

Starting point is 00:00:37 Refuge. Today, now that the land has been sufficiently conquered, the 2.5-trange Jordan tribes have fulfilled their promise to fight for the land among the other tribes. Joshua affirms them, reminds them to be loyal only to Yahweh, then he blesses them and sends them east across the Jordan River to their homes. On the way there, the 2.5 tribes decide to build an altar on the west side of the Jordan River, and it's huge. When the western tribes hear about it, they're ready to fight. You can't just go building altars wherever you want. Yahweh said he would establish a central location for worship, and this seems to be

Starting point is 00:01:14 in direct defiance of his words. They send a delegation headed up by Phineas, the son of Elias or the High Priest, whom you may remember as the one who stabbed the two people in numbers 25., it was probably fairly alarming to have him show up because he does not play around when it comes to sin. The Western delegation accuses the trans-Jordan tribes of turning away from God, and they're afraid God will sin judgment on all of Israel because of it. They want an explanation, and they even offer the trans-Jordan tribes a really gracious option for repentance.

Starting point is 00:01:45 Come live with us on the western side of the Jordan River instead of turning away from God. But as soon as the trans Jordan tribes have a chance to talk, they clear things up pretty quickly. They aren't rebelling against God or setting up an altar for worship. They're doing this as a monument of the relationship between them and the western tribes, connecting them. They're afraid that in the years to come, the western tribes will relationship between them and the Western tribes connecting them. They're afraid that in the years to come,

Starting point is 00:02:06 the Western tribes will disown them and their children. So they want something to serve as a witness for this relationship, a way to help them stay connected to something far away, establishing that they are worshippers of Yahweh too. The Western tribes are reasonable and they're satisfied with this explanation. So they head back home, very relieved, I'm sure. The last thing they want is to lose the land they finally just got settled into.

Starting point is 00:02:30 After a lot of time passes, when Joshua is nearing 110 years old, he calls all the leaders of Israel and tells them he's about to die. He reminds them that God is the one who has accomplished these good things for them, and he also reminds them that there is still work to be done. They still need to drive out the lingering canonites in the land. Moses was very nervous about the Israelites turning away from God to worship pagan gods, and he spent a lot of time in the final chapters of Deuteronomy warning the Israelites about it.

Starting point is 00:02:58 And here, Joshua leans on the same concerns, and he reminds them that God has equipped them with all they need to obey him. They can drive out the people, because God has promised them that land, so they need to do that. Joshua warns them against idolatry and intermarriage with those who don't worship Yahweh. If they fail to honor God in this, they broken the covenant, and he will take the land away from them. He reminds them of all the good that God has done to them, but also of all the harm that will come to them if they turn away from him.

Starting point is 00:03:29 Then Joshua walks them through a summary of where they've come from, starting with Abraham's father, Tara. They all started out worshiping other gods. There was no such thing as an Israelite until God invented it. And God grew their numbers, rescued them, blessed them, bought for them,

Starting point is 00:03:43 and fulfilled his promise to them. Joshua lays out an indirect question. You can serve Yahweh, or you can serve these other gods, which is it going to be. And the people respond with a hearty promise that they will follow Yahweh. Then Joshua reminds them that they really aren't capable of keeping that promise on their own,

Starting point is 00:04:01 but they respond that they'll totally do it. He tells them to incline their hearts toward God, and he makes a covenant with them that day and sets up a stone witness of the covenant, and he sends them home. The book ends with three quick notes. First, Joshua dies and is buried in the Promised Land, and we see that Israel follows Yahweh while the elders that live during Joshua's time were alive. That sounds promising, but far from it. Second, those bones of Joseph, the ones that sat in Egypt for a few hundred years,

Starting point is 00:04:32 which they've been lugging around the wilderness for forty years, and all throughout the promised land during their battles, they finally find a resting place. In a land Joseph's father Jacob bought hundreds of years earlier, and wouldn't you know it? It was the plot of land that got a portion for the tribes of Joseph. Full circle. We've been waiting for this since Genesis 50. Finally, Aileas are the high priest dies. His son, Thineus, is mentioned in this passage,

Starting point is 00:04:58 and since we know that the priesthood is handed down generationally, we know Thineus is primed to be the next high priest. But with the current leader and high priest both dying on the same page, this definitely signals the end of an era for the Israelites. What was your God shot today? I was blown away by God's goodness to his people. For the first time since God called Abraham back in Genesis 12, they are living in at least partial fulfillment of all three of the promises he made to them. They become a great nation, Most times, since God called Abraham back in Genesis 12, they are living in at least partial fulfillment of all three of the promises he made to them.

Starting point is 00:05:28 They become a great nation, they have a blessed relationship with Yahweh, and they're living in the promised land. Joshua himself said it best in 2314. He said, You know in your hearts and souls all of you that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you, not one of them has failed. God has not failed. He wasn't failing them in the desert

Starting point is 00:05:56 when these things hadn't yet been fulfilled and he isn't failing them now. He isn't failing them and he isn't failing you. He's failed proof and he's where the joy is. Tomorrow we start the book of Judges and as usual we've included a link to a short animated video in the show notes to prepare you for what you're about to read. If you've got seven minutes to spare, please check that out before you start Judges Chapter 1 tomorrow because it will really set you up for success.

Starting point is 00:06:27 Israel is my second home, and I wanted to help everyone see just how stunning it is. So I spent five weeks there with an incredible photographer named Rich Fandewater. In 2021, while the country was still shut down to tourists, and we gathered an amazing collection of really unique photos, some of which will probably never be possible again since we were able to take the mob of the country was empty. We put them together for you in my new book, Israel, Beauty, Light,

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The Bible Recap - Day 088 (Joshua 22-24) - Year 5

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