TUESDAY
Today let’s move ahead to the conquest of Canaan after the wilderness wandering time in Israel’s history. First, when Moses commissions Joshua to be his successor and lead the people into the Promised Land he implores Joshua and all of Israel to have courage because God will go with them and fight for them.
Deuteronomy 31:6–8 (NIV)
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Then, the Lord himself commands Joshua to have courage:
Deuteronomy 31:23 (NIV) 23 The Lord gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you.”
Joshua 1:1–9 (NIV)
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Then as we continue reading in the book of Joshua, we see God constantly fighting for the people of Israel in the conquest of Canaan. After a battle with the Amorites where the Lord caused the sun to stand still in the sky, delaying nighttime, we read:
Joshua 10:14 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!
If we fast forward to the end of the book and the end of Joshua’s life we see him recognizing the reality that God had fought for Israel and will continue to fight for Israel.
Joshua 23:1–5 1 After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man, 2 summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old. 3 You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you. 4 Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you.
Joshua 23:10 "One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised."
I put all of these together simply to help us see the connection between courage and God fighting for his people in the conquest narrative. Time and time again, Joshua and the people of Israel are told to have courage and faith, trusting that God is with them and he will fight for them in the battles for the Promised Land. As it was for the people of Israel at the Red Sea, I’m sure it was difficult to have courage and trust in the Lord when they saw no possible positive outcomes as they got ready to invade the promised land.
I get it, this may seem like a strange imperative. God fighting for us tends to give us the implication that we ought to sit back and do nothing and allow God to fight for us. That sounds like the opposite of a situation that requires courage. Yet we see these two ideas linked together time and time again in the conquest narrative. So, there is clearly something to it. Tomorrow we will look at a specific story from Joshua that helps us to see why courage is required.
*It’s also worth noting, as we did last week, that being still and waiting on the Lord doesn’t mean doing nothing. It means obedience. Our obedience must flow from our surrender.