A third parallel about these cities is that they were open to aliens as well as to Jews. It's easy to apply that. The way to salvation—the way to life through Christ—is open to anyone. It's open to you, no matter who you may be. You may say, “Well, I’m too old. I’ve lived a whole life and I’m now fi
But even though it is not an exact parallel between the refuge that these cities gave and that which is found in Christ, there are still wonderful and quite instructive parallels. First, we’re told in Deuteronomy 19 that roads were to be built to these cities. That’s interesting, isn’t it? You’d exp
Yesterday we talked about the first important thing from the creation of these cities of refuge, which was the great value on human life, rooted in God’s revealed law. The second thing about them is also quite interesting, and it’s based on what’s mentioned here in Joshua 20:9 about who was welcome
Now what makes these cities of refuge so important? Well in order to understand why they were important, you have to understand something about the way in which justice was practiced in this society. If somebody would kill another person, whether accidentally or intentionally, the family of the one
And yet, there were special cities even among all these other cities. They’re described in Joshua 20 and 21. Chapter 21 tells about the towns that were given to the Levites. The Levites, the priests, didn't have any land of their own; they were not given a tribal territory. Instead, God scattered th
There’s a great contrast here in this story, and I’m sure it’s why it’s told at this point, right in the middle of this account of the division of the land. It’s the contrast between Caleb, who followed the Lord wholeheartedly to the very end and took the land that he’d been promised so many years b
The second thing that we see in Joshua 14 comes out in this word, "wholeheartedly," which is repeated there three times (vv. 8, 9, 14). That's the same idea that is involved in Deuteronomy 6:5, which Jesus quoted when He was asked what was the first and greatest of all the commandments. He said, "It
Now it’s worth asking at this point what the secret of this man’s greatness was. In fact, it was no great secret. Caleb had total faith in God, and he gave himself to God utterly. It’s not hard to see his faith. That comes out very simply in this matter of the spies’ initial report. You know, it’s t
Now when Numbers 13 begins to tell us about the work of the spies, it doesn't give us very much detail as to how they went about their work. We don't know, for example, whether they toured around in a body or whether they divided up. We might suspect that they divided up so as not to attract too muc
The magnificent old man to which I am referring here in Joshua 14 is Caleb, who was Joshua’s companion and fellow soldier during all these long years of the conquest of Canaan. It’s often the case that in the presence of an outstanding leader, other people are overlooked. And it’s not because the ot
There’s also personal holiness. That’s not something that just falls upon us like a mantle. That’s something that is achieved by small decisions day by day. You have to enter into holiness step by step, act by act, obedience by obedience. Another possession are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Accordin
In the previous studies when we were looking at the battles in the south and the north, we took time to look at some of the great characteristics of Joshua. This is certainly a point where we can look at his character and say that if anything characterized this man in a complimentary way, it was cer
Once Joshua had made settlement of the frontier areas, he moved into the center of the land and began the second stage of the distribution, which we have in chapters 18 and 19. There are seven tribes remaining. Because Benjamin was a very small tribe, he gave Benjamin a relatively small territory. E
Now you have to think about that geographically. Israel has three frontiers. They’re protected, of course, on the west by the Mediterranean. So the frontiers they have to defend are to the north, south, and east. From the north is where most of the invasions of the land came later in Israel’s histo
The book of Joshua is divided into two main parts. The first part, chapters 1 through 12, tells about the conquest of the land of Canaan. And the second section, chapters 13 through 24, deals with the settlement of the land. As we come now to chapter 13, we are beginning the chapters that tell about
Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, "Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." What He is saying is that if you really are a justified man or woman, if His righteousness really has been imputed to you, if you have
Yesterday, we listed the first thing we must do if we are to fulfill Joshua 11:15, which is to truly believe on Jesus Christ by following him as a faithful disciple. The second thing is this. In Matthew 28, at the very end of that chapter where we have the Great Commission, we’re told that if we bel
In some ways, at least as his story is told to us, Joshua was not a spectacular individual. At least he did not have a lot of spectacular experiences. There were miracles, of course, but basically, Joshua was a soldier. He was told what to do, and he did it. His strength was found in that, and that
In our study of the southern campaign I talked about Joshua’s leadership characteristics. This story of the northern campaign reminds us of the importance of spiritual leadership. The same principles that he put into practice in his military campaigns are principles that you and I need to put into o
We already looked in some detail at the southern campaign. The northern one is given in even less detail than the southern one, although it is similar in many respects. Like the southern campaign, the one in the north is also waged against a coalition of kings who gathered together to try and repuls
This leads to the fifth characteristic, which is that Joshua obeyed the Lord completely. This was the most striking of his characteristics. If you go back to the very beginning of the book, you’ll recognize that in the first words of God to him, this is what he was encouraged to do: “Be careful to o
Growing in the Christian life is no mystery. Christians have known what it is in all ages. It's studying the Word of God. It's praying. It's fellowshipping with Christian people. It's worshipping. It's working for God. It's witnessing. It's testifying. Those are the things through which you grow. An
I think this is a good point to look back over this campaign and its details and see what it teaches us about the characteristics of strong leadership, which Joshua showed. There probably are other things that can be said about Joshua on the basis of other texts. But just looking at this one campaig
Now our story picks up at that point. The routed armies were led by five kings. These five kings were apparently together directing the military operations. And when they saw the battle go against them and recognized that they were in great personal danger themselves, they hid in the cave near the t
