Joshua
When Israel finally crossed over the Jordan River (on dry
land) and entered Canaan and celebrated their first
Passover in the promised land. God spoke to Joshua and made
him a strong leader.
Josh 1:5-6 ". . . as I was with Moses, so I will be with
you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. "Be strong and
of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an
inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give
them."
Read More
The sins of the Canaanites were at the boiling point and
Joshua was to completely destroy them lest Israel inherit
their evil ways. Some of the abominations happening in
the land were temple prostitution, father and son
committing sexual acts with the same prostitute, child
sacrifice, homosexuality, idolatry, and on and on. God
spoke about their evil ways throughout the entire Old
Testament.
Lev 18:25-30 `For the land is defiled; therefore I visit
the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land
vomits out its inhabitants. `You shall therefore keep My
statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of
these abominations, either any of your own nation or any
stranger who dwells among you `for all these abominations
the men of the land have done, who were before you, and
thus the land is defiled), `lest the land vomit you out
also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations
that were before you.
`For whoever commits any of these abominations, the
persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their
people. `Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that
you do not commit any of these abominable customs which
were committed before you, and that you do not defile
yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God."
Read More
The inhabitants of Canaan were terrified. The first city
they conquered was Jericho. It was a miracle, when the
trumpets were blown, the walls fell.
Josh 6:20 "So the people shouted when the priests blew the
trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound
of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout,
that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into
the city, every man straight before him, and they took the
city."
Read More
Under Joshua, the Israelites conquered the entire country
(Josh 21). The only defeat was at Ai, where an Israelite
named Achan disobeyed God`s orders. In 7 years they
defeated 31 kings in the land. Joshua divided the land
among the 12 tribes of Israel as God directed.
Read More
Joshua was a great leader but he made 2 fatal mistakes.
First, he failed to completely defeat the Canaanites
(especially the Philistines, Amalekites, and Midianites),
and second, he failed to wipe out completely the filthy and
idolatrous fertility cults of the land. Joshua`s failure to
cut this cancer completely out of society resulted in
disastrous times for about the next 400 years of Hebrew
history.
Read More
