When Joshua received his commission from God to lead the
people Israel following the death of Moses, the Lord tells him,
Only be strong and very
courageous, being careful to do according to the Law that Moses my servant
commanded you. Do not turn from it to
the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you
go. This Book of the Law shall not
depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you
may be careful to do according to all that is written in it…[1]
Moses knew the LORD face to face and regularly met with him
in the Tent of Meeting, receiving direction and guidance in handling the people
Israel. In Exodus 33:11a we read, “Thus
the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” The
days of knowing the LORD face to face ended with the death of Moses. Joshua may have had some concerns regarding
how he was to lead the people Israel.
Would the LORD speak to him the same way he had spoken to Moses?
We know that Joshua was a man of deep,
abiding faith—a man who, along with Caleb, did not
fear entering into the
Promised Land when the other spies shrank away in fear at the prospect. He boldly proclaimed to his people, “If the
LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us…only do
not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they
are bread for us.”[2]
Joshua surely trusted that the LORD would present a means of communicating with
him how best to lead the people Israel.
God provided this means with the Book of the Law, written, at least in
part, by Moses.[3]
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| Joshua, successor to Moses |
The Torah became an identifier of the people of God
throughout the Old Testament. It set a
standard for how God’s people were to eat, live together, worship, and love. It
set them apart from the dominant pagan cultures and marked them as God’s chosen
people. When the people Israel drifted
away from their Torah-rooted identity as the chosen people of God, the LORD
sent prophet after prophet to call them back to himself through repentance and
obedience—to live a life rooted in what was presented in the Torah—in the Word
of God.
2 Kings 22 presents the story of Hilkiah, the high priest of
the temple, who presented the lost Book of the Law to King Josiah when it had
been found during renovations to the temple. King Josiah became so overcome
with grief, despair, and anger that he ripped his clothes. He then publicly
repented to the LORD and led
the people into a period of religious renewal, reform, and worship. Josiah’s actions were rooted in his love and
understanding of God found in the Word.
His grandfather Manasseh and father Amon were evil men who had
intentionally led the people away from God (2 Kings 21) —and the Torah. Josiah was touched by the Word in a positive
way, and, through his encounter with God’s Word, yearned for something
more. He desired this not only for
himself, but also for his people.
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| King Josiah receives the lost Book of the Law |
The Psalms are widely regarded as the prayer book/worship
book of the Bible. Psalm 1 is the
gateway to a Biblical understanding of prayer and worship.
In it we read, “Blessed is the man who walks
not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in
the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law
he meditates day and night.”[4] More simply, one cannot know how to know and
love God apart from meditating on, praying, and studying the Scriptures. It is that straightforward.
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| Psalm 1 |
In John 1:1-3 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made
that has been made.” Later, in the
fourth chapter of John, we read of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at
the well of Sychar. Jesus told her,
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of
the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in
him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” It is Jesus, the Living Word of God, who
gives this eternal refreshment. It is
the written Word that points to this truth-in-revelation of the Lord Jesus.
In Luke chapter 24 we read about the journey to Emmaus on
the very first Easter morning by two followers of Jesus. Jesus, in his
resurrected body approaches them and walks with them on their
journey. For some mysterious reason these disciples do
not recognize Jesus, yet they share with him their deep disappointment that he
had been handed over by some of their priests and had been crucified. They shared with Jesus that they had hoped
that he would be the one to redeem Israel.
They also told Jesus that some of the women of their group that very
morning had seen a vision from angels telling them that Jesus was alive! After hearing all of this, Jesus told them,
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had
spoken! Was it not necessary that the
Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”[5]
The Greek continues, “kai«
aÓrxa¿menoß aÓpo\ Mwu¨se÷wß kai« aÓpo\ pa¿ntwn tw◊n profhtw◊n diermh/neusen
aujtoi√ß e˙n pa¿saiß tai√ß grafai√ß ta» peri« e˚autouv.”[6] I translate this, “and from
the beginning, from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted/expanded
for them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Jesus turned to
the Scriptures, the Jewish Scriptures actually, to show these disciples the
truth of their revelation of him. Jesus, himself, is the greatest revelation of
God; the Scriptures bear witness to Jesus—God’s greatest revelation—the
promised Messiah—and so, are in themselves, authoritative.
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| The Walk to Emmaus |
In 2 Tim. 3:16-17 we find one of the strongest statements in
the New Testament regarding the divine importance and sufficiency for
Scripture. The Greek reads, “pa◊sa grafh\ qeo/pneustoß kai« wÓfe÷limoß
pro\ß didaskali÷an, pro\ß e˙legmo/n, pro\ß e˙pano/rqwsin, pro\ß paidei÷an th\n
e˙n dikaiosu/nhØ, iºna a‡rtioß hØ™ oJ
touv qeouv a‡nqrwpoß, pro\ß pa◊n e¶rgon aÓgaqo\n e˙xhrtisme÷noß.” which
I have translated as “every Writing/Scripture
[is] God-breathed, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction,
for instruction that [is] in righteousness,
that the man of God may be fitted —for every good work having been perfectly
completed.” God, in some mysterious way, through the power of the Holy
Spirit, inspired and directed the human authors in the writing of the Bible.
The Scriptures hold authority because they are divinely inspired, by the Holy
Spirit, revelation that point to the greatest self-revelation of God—Jesus of
Nazareth, the Christ.
[1] Joshua 1:7-8a.
Scripture citations, unless indicated otherwise, are all from the Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
[2]
Numbers 13:8-9.
[3] I am well aware of the arguments regarding Mosaic
authorship of the first five books of the Holy Bible. Even if Moses did not write word for word
every sentence in the Torah, he was surely actively involved in its composition
at some level. The texts that Moses
helped prepare were obviously available to Joshua at the time of his commissioning by
the LORD God to lead the people Israel.
[4] Psalm 1:1-2.
[5]
Luke 24:35-26.
[6]
Luke 24:27.
I have been blessed by reading your blogs. They have inspired much reflection!
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read these musings, Debbie!
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