STUDY THEME: JOSHUA: A MODEL OF OBEDIENCE. 9-2-01

“AFFIRMING GOD’S WORTHINESS.”

NUMBERS 13: 1-2; 14:5-9, 26-30, 36-38.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO NUMBERS 13.

Today’s lesson is the first in a series of five based on the Book of Joshua. Our study theme is “Joshua: Model of Obedience.” We will explore the relationship between faith and obedience.

Joshua was a remarkable man. He was an aide to Moses. He was later chosen to lead the Israelites following the death of Moses. Just as Moses was suited to his calling, Joshua was suited to his. For one thing, Joshua was a military leader. But most important of all, he was a man of faith, courage, and obedience to the Lord. Something is said of Joshua that is said of very few leaders. The Lord used Joshua’s faith and obedience to influence not only the people of his generation but also those of the next generation.

In this five-session unit on Joshua the biblical content will be passages about Joshua, and these will be studied to explore the importance of the kind of faith that is expressed in obedience to God. Based on passages from the Book of Numbers and the Book of Joshua, these lessons will focus on Joshua as a biblical role model of the obedient life

It is not easy to live a life dedicated to God when one’s culture seems totally different. This is a challenge to Christians in our own day and age! The culture of America has changed tremendously in my life-time. We face new challenges and Christians need to be strengthened and informed in how to live for God in the midst of difficult circumstances. I have prayed that from these five lessons we will receive help in trusting God enough to obey Him on all circumstances because He is worthy of our trust and obedience.

Joshua exemplified obedience, trust, faith, and service in a time when it was very difficult to incarnate those qualities. Only Joshua and a few others stood faithful to God when most of the people disobeyed, turned and refused to follow God. After the death of Moses, Joshua had to lead his people into a very dangerous religious situation—the immoral religion of the Canaanite people. We can learn much from him for godly living.

1. PLEASE READ NUMBERS 13: 1-2

Joshua, the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim was nearly 40 years old when he shared in the hurried triumph of the Exodus. He is first mentioned in Ex. 17:9 when some two months after the Israelites had left Egypt and had come to a place called Rephidim, in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula on the way to Mt. Sinai. Here they were attacked by a tribe of Amalakites, fierce desert nomads. Moses sent for Joshua, told him to pick a number of men and lead the defense, which he did successfully. In Ex. 24: 13 he is referred to as “The Servant of Moses.” His tribe called him Hoshea, which signifies “A Prayer for Salvation”, But Moses changed it to Joshua which means “He Will Save” in answer to that prayer. Joshua is the same name as Jesus, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Joshua was a type.

After receiving the Ten Commandments and constructing the tabernacle at Sinai, Israel continued their journey northwards from Mt. Sinai toward the Promised Land and came to rest at the oasis at Kadesh Barnea in the Desert of Paran about 11 days later. Here they were at the southern edge if their destination, the Land of Canaan. Israel’s arrival at Kadesh Barnea was a decisive time for the people whom God had delivered from slavery in Egypt and with whom He had entered into a covenant.

We come now to one of the great, though tragic, hours in Israel’s history, when having been delivered form Egypt, and having received the Law at Sinai, she should have proceeded to the entrance to the Promise land which was only 11 days away. They failed because they did not believe the promise of God.

It was here that God instructed Moses to send spies into Canaan. He commanded him to “send some men to explore or search out the Promised Land. God described Canaan as the land I am giving to Israel. This was the same promise God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. At Kadesh Barnea the Israelites had the opportunity to claim that promise.

According to Deut. 1:22-23 the people had first requested the spies be sent out after Moses challenged them to take the land. So in Numbers 13:1 The Lord affirmed the people’s desire and commanded Moses to send the spies. Of course the Lord already knew the tragic results of this desire on the part of the people. In vs. 2 the spies were specifically called to explore the land that God had promised Israel. This exploration did give valuable information to Moses for the conquest of the land.

The Lord instructed Moses to choose leaders, one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to serve as spies. The leaders were men of high rank, or heads among the people. God told Moses to choose spies from each tribe whom the people knew and trusted. These men would represent all of Israel. Caleb was chosen to represent the tribe of Judah. Joshua would represent his tribe of Ephraim. It is interesting that the leaders named in vs. 3 were different than those mentioned in Numbers Ch. 1,2,7 and 10. Presumably the ones named in these previous chapters were older men. Younger men would be called on to make the 40 day exploration.

We wonder why they would not take God’s word that it was a good land, and that He would, without fail, put them in possession of it. They could not trust the pillar of cloud and fire to show them the way to it, but had a better opinion of their own politics than of God’s wisdom. How absurd was it for them to send to spy out a land which God himself had spied out for them; to inquire the way into it when God Himself had under taken to show them the way!

In vs. 2 they had the assurance of the Word of God. In this Vs. God told Moses that He had already given the title deed of Canaan to the people of Israel. It was their land, all they had to do was march in and take it. They were in the will of God for it already had been determined by the Lord that these people were to dwell in this land. It was God’s perfect will that they march into Canaan and claim what God had already provided for them.

In Romans 8:28 God has already promised us that every situation in life is for our good and for His glory. These men of Anak did not take God by surprise. He knew they were going to be there from before the foundation of the earth and He had already implemented a plan whereby they would be defeated. All Israel had to do was place their faith in the Lord and go forward on their faith and the victory was assured. As we face the giants of life, there are two things we can be assured of: That God will stand by His Word and His people. No issue is greater in power than our God. The success of our lives is determined by the choices we make.

The spies were gone 40 days. Numbers 13:3 –14:5 tells the outcome of their trip. They scouted the country of Canaan as far as Syria and back. On the way back, at the Valley of Eshcol, a rich valley north of Hebron they cut off a branch with a cluster of grapes on it so large that it had to be suspended on a rod and born by two men. Ten of the spies described a populated land with fortified cities. Some very large obstacles were blocking their way—Giants! They were already defeated, disillusioned, and discouraged.

In the Promised Land lived many different groups of people. Each of these groups controlled various cities in different parts of the Promised Land. And though they were related to others in the area, each city was ruled by its own King. But while these Kings ruled over the individual cities and sere independent of the other city Kings---they all reported to the Pharaoh in Egypt. Canaan was a land controlled by the Egyptians. The land was rich in natural resources. It was indeed “A Land That Flowed With Milk and Honey.” And not only was it rich in natural resources, it was the center of all major trade routes throughout the middle east, both by land and by sea.

The unanimous report of the spies was that it is a rich and wonderful place. But the 10 spies added, “It is inhabited by powerful people in fortified cities, surrounded by tall walls an deep moats. And we even saw the Anakim giants there.” As the adverse report was being given the people were giving way to great fear. It as then that Caleb stilled the people before Moses and along with Joshua gave the minority report. It was more effective for Caleb to do this since Joshua was so closely associated with Moses that he would not be so readily accepted as an independent witness. The next day when the opposition had become widespread both men exerted themselves to the utmost in the attempt to stem the fears.

Caleb and Joshua had a different report: “We must march in immediately and take it. We are certainly able to conquer it. It’s ours for the taking.” They wanted to obey God.

2. PLEASE READ NUMBERS 14: 5-10

I think that Joshua and Caleb were surprised by the pessimism of the other ten men. After all, that wasn’t one of the options God left them. In Vs. 8 they focused on God’s power and resources, saying “He will bring us into this land and give it to us.” Their confidence was in doing God’s will. Joshua and Caleb tell them the people in the land are the ones who should be afraid, not us.

Numbers 14:10-25 gives Israel’s response to the pleading from Caleb and Joshua. The other 10 shouted them down saying,” No, it’s impossible, we can’t They are too strong for us. The land will devour us, and besides we’re only like grasshoppers to them.” They focused on themselves and their own inadequate resources and power to possess the land. Thus they limited God’s power and doubted his faithfulness.

With this bad report the Israelites began to wail and cry and curse and shout turning treasonous. “We might as well go back to slavery in Egypt.” Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb tried to plead with them, to reason with them, to persuade them that God was on their side, and the victory was there for the taking—but this only prompted the people to threaten to stone them.

But the sad ending to this chapter in the history of Israel is that they chose to listen to the ten spies with grasshopper faith. And they suffered the consequences for it.

All of this negativity made God upset so He came down among them, and threatened to wipe them all out, to “slaughter” them, and make another nation of Moses’ descendants. Moses appealed to God’s love and His sense of honor (reminding God that if the Egyptians were to hear about the death of the Israelites—and they surely would--then they would only laugh at the weakness of God and His inability to protect and keep His people.”

In the following verses it seems that God relented—somewhat. But he dealt with the 10 spies who gave the adverse report.

3. PLEASE READ NUMBERS 14: 26-29, 36-37

God’s words to Moses and Aaron in Vs. 26-29 were strong words of accusation and judgment. He asked how long His people would grumble or murmur against Him. God called His people a wicked community and grumbling Israelites. In the verses preceding these, God accused Israel of treating Him with “contempt” and refusing to “believe” in Him. He also charged that Israel “disobeyed” Him and “tested” Him “ten times,” thus treating Him with “contempt”. God expected obedience but received disobedience

What was God’s response? With an oat h (As surely as I live), He decreed He would do to the Israelites the very things they had asked for. In the people’s rejection of God’s command and Caleb’s encouragement to them to enter Canaan, they said, “If only we had died…in this desert!” Consequently, everyone twenty years old or more who had grumbled (or complained) against God would die in the desert. They had to wander in the desert 40 years only wondering what it could have been like to have obeyed God and enjoyed the Land He promised them.

God had expected obedience from Israel. He also had expected and honest report from the spies. However, 20 of them gave a bad report, causing the whole community to grumble against Moses. The words translated “bad report” in vs.36 refers to a false report, to an evil report because of unbelief. The report of the 10 spies was not only unfavorable and bad, but it also was false and therefore evil.

The spies did not factor in God’s presence with Israel. Israel and the 10 spies failed to consider that God Himself would protect and empower them in order to achieve His purpose in history. The Israelites were not convinced they could trust God’s faithfulness and therefore obey Him against such great odds they believed they faced in trying to conquer Canaan. God judged the 10 spies by striking them down with a plague that killed them. Not one of them ever lived in the Promised Land.

4. PLEASE READ NUMBERS 14: 30, 38

The sad ending to this chapter in the history of Israel is that they chose to listen to the ten spies with grasshopper faith. And they suffered the consequences for it. Both groups of spies saw the same things but drew different conclusions. They both saw that what God said was true about the land. It was awesome. The ten measured the difficulties against themselves. The two measured the difficulties against God. They put the obstacles into proper perspective—conquerable with God.

In contrast to the devastating consequences suffered by those who rebelled against the Lord, the two men who trusted God to keep His promises enjoyed the rewards of faithfulness. Not one of you will enter the land…except Caleb son Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. The Lord reminded Israel that He had sworn with uplifted hand to make Canaan Israel’s home. To swear with uplifted hand was to say something in a forceful and solemn way, something similar to the way a person in a court of law lifts the right hand and “swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Three outcomes were as sure as the Lord Himself: (1.) no one who disobeyed the Lord would enter the Promised Land; (2.) those 20 and under would enter; and (3.) the two men who obeyed would enter the land because of their faithfulness.

In Num. 14:24 the Lord had described Caleb as a man with a “different spirit” who followed the Lord “wholeheartedly”. We may safely conclude that the Lord had similar regard for Joshua. The faithful obedience of these two men in the face of strong opposition pleased the Lord This reward would be realized about 40 years later when Joshua led Israel into the Land of Promise. This blessing, like many of God’s rewards, would not be received immediately, but it would come. Meanwhile, Caleb and Joshua lived in hope and confidence during the long years of wandering in the wilderness. Sometimes, God does not keep us from turmoil but gives us peace in the midst of our trouble.

In Vs. 38 another blessing was realized immediately. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua, son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived. Since Joshua and Caleb did not die in the plague that killed the other 10 spies and since they did not die along with those aged 20 and above in the wilderness, these two became the oldest men to enter Canaan 40 years later. God rewarded their obedience with immediate and long-range blessings that affirmed His worthiness. At age 85 we find Caleb asking the privilege of taking Hebron as Moses had promised it to him years before. To possess it he would have to conquer the Canaanites that occupied it. Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land and died at the age of 110 years.

NEXT SUNDAY IN NUMBERS 27 AND JOSHUA 1 WE FIND GOD CHOOSING JOSHUA AS HE NE3W LEADER OF ISRAEL. THE QUESTION IS “WHAT KIND OF LEADER DOES GOD WANT US TO FOLLOW? A.V. DAUGHERTY 9-2-01.

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