The book of Joshua describes the conquest of the land, following on from where Deuteronomy left off. The precise author and date is uncertain, but it is highly likely that whoever wrote it relied heavily on sources direct from Joshua, and it may even have been Joshua himself who wrote much of it.
This is a book of conquest. Godless nations had occupied the land, now they were being ejected. As I mentioned on several occasions when writing on Deuteronomy, we need to remember that these other nations did not follow nice quaint religions. Their religions involved child sacrifice, gross sexual immorality and other detestable practices. Israel's occupation of the land was dependent upon her adherence to the law of God.
It is worth remembering that Israel should have been at this point some forty years earlier, she was not because of her sin. Yet the promised occupation was still about to take place. We all do things wrong in life, miss opportunities. Now we should not take this lightly, but we need to be fully aware that our lives and our futures are determined by the grace of God. There is no past failure that blocks us off from God's grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment