The Bible Recap - Day 088 (Joshua 22-24) - Year 6

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

SHOW NOTES: - Head to our Start Page for all you need to begin! - Join the RECAPtains - Check out the TBR Store - Show credits - Walking with Jesus Easter Series FROM TODAY’S RECAP: - Numbers 25:7-15 - Genesis 50:25 - Genesis 12 - Video: Judges Overview - Sign up to receive the TBR Resource: Identifying Idols in Your Heart* *Email will be sent out on the last day of each month BIBLE READING & LISTENING: Follow along on the Bible App, or to listen to the Bible, try Dwell! SOCIALS: The Bible Recap: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | TikTok D-Group: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X TLC: Instagram | Facebook D-GROUP: D-Group is brought to you by the same team that brings you The Bible Recap. TBR is where we read the Bible, and D-Group is where we study the Bible. D-Group is an international network of Bible study groups that meet weekly in homes, churches, and online. Find or start one near you today! DISCLAIMER: The Bible Recap, Tara-Leigh Cobble, and affiliates are not a church, pastor, spiritual authority, or counseling service. Listeners and viewers consume this content on a voluntary basis and assume all responsibility for the resulting consequences and impact.

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. Even though this is my 10th trip through the Bible, I still learn something new every single day, and I hope you do too. 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 Eliezer 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 worshippers 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, fought 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 that 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, Eliezer the high priest dies. His son, Thinneas, is mentioned in this passage, and since we know that the priesthood is handed down generationally, we know Thinneas 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 23, 14. 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 you read about idols in Scripture start Judges Chapter 1 tomorrow because it will really set you up for success. When you read about idols in Scripture, it can be easy to just brush past it as something silly that ancient people did.

And yet, our culture is full of idolatry. I'm not just talking about golden cows or false gods made of wood. I'm talking about money, relationships, your home, or anything that distracts your heart from your love for God. We've built out a PDF 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. So we'd love to share it with you. We've included this resource in our monthly newsletter, The News Cap, and we'll send that to you on the last day of the month. If you want to get this resource for free, all you have to do is go to thebiblerecap.com forward slash idols and submit your email address

for the news cap. That's thebiblerecap.com forward slash idols. Keep an eye out for this resource in the news cap coming to your inbox on the last day of the month. This Easter, I've partnered with the world's biggest small group to guide you through the final days of Jesus' life. The Walking with Jesus series will help you understand the significance of each day of Holy Week, and it'll reveal new things to you about the foundation of our faith.

Click the link in the show notes to dig deeper into Easter with me today.