Shownotes Transcript
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've 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.
Yesterday, God finished divvying up the land for all the tribes in the cities of refuge. Today, now that the land has been sufficiently conquered, the 2.5 trans-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 in direct defiance of his words. They send a delegation headed up by Phineas, the son of Eleazar 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 Transjordan tribes of turning away from God, and they're afraid God will send judgment on all of Israel because of it. They want an explanation, and they even offer the Transjordan tribes a really gracious option for repentance: "Come live with us on the western side of the Jordan River instead of turning away from God." But as soon as the Transjordan 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 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 worshipers 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. 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 Canaanites 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.
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've 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.
Then Joshua walks them through a summary of where they've come from, starting with Abraham's father, Terah. 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, 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. 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. Then 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 who lived 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, which they've been lugging around the wilderness for 40 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 God apportioned for the tribes of Joseph. Full circle. We've been waiting for this since Genesis 50.
Finally, Eleazar the high priest dies. His son Phinehas is mentioned in this passage, and since we know that the priesthood is handed down generationally, we know Phinehas 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, they have a blessed relationship with Yahweh, and they're living in the promised land. Joshua himself said it best in 2314. He said, 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 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 fail-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 one tomorrow, because it will really set you up for success.
When we read about idols in scripture, doesn't it sometimes feel easy to just brush past it as something only wicked ancient people did? And yet, our culture is full of idolatry. And I'm not just talking about golden cows or false gods made of wood. I'm talking about things like money, relationships, your home, or anything that takes up more space in your heart than your love for God.
We've built out a resource with more info on how to identify idolatry in your own heart. And as scary as that may sound, we think it will actually help set you free. And it is free. So we'd love to share it with you. If you want to get this TBR resource, all you have to do is go to thebiblerecap.com forward slash idols and submit your email address. That's thebiblerecap.com forward slash idols or click the link in the show notes.