I just finished reading through the Old Testament book of Joshua. This book traces Israel’s conquest of and settlement in the promised land under the leadership of Moses’ successor Joshua, and God has much to say about the Gospel to us through it. These are just two themes I took away from my reading of it.
The “Problem” of Holy War is Solved by the Story of Rahab
The first half of Joshua tells the story of Israel’s conquest of all the people who lived in the land which God has promised to give to them. Verses like this one can be hard to swallow:
“So Joshua struck the whole land . . . He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded” (10:40).
How could God destroy all that breathed? Couldn’t they have spared the women and children? Wasn’t there another way for Israel to take the land? Theologians call all of this “the problem of holy war,” and have come up with numerous answers to these questions. However, the book of Joshua gives a solution to the problem in the story of Rahab.
Rahab was a prostitute in the city of Jericho. She, like everyone else in that city, had lived a life of sin and would soon fall under God’s punishment through Israel’s conquest. However, Rahab risks her own life to hide Israelite spies because she believes that Israel’s God is the true God. She places her faith in the Lord, and when Jericho is devoted to destruction, Rahab is saved! Hebrews 11:31 even lists Rahab as an example of saving faith!
What the story of Rahab shows us is that God saved all who had faith in Him. Though the stories of the conquest can be hard to swallow, we know that ultimately God will judge sinners with eternal punishment. And just as Rahab was saved, so also any sinner will be saved by putting their faith in God.
Israel was Saved from Egypt, but not from Sin
The last chapter of Joshua is one of the most helpful chapters in the Old Testament for understanding the story of the Bible. In it, Joshua rehearses Israel’s “salvation-history” from the time of Abraham to their own day. He reminds Israel of all that God had done to save them from Egypt so that they could be His own people. And he says, “Therefore, worship God alone!” Essentially, Joshua says, “Respond to God’s salvation by worshiping Him as God!”
The people respond and say, “Yes! We will worship God alone!” And then Joshua drops this bombshell: “You can’t.” He tells them that they are not able to worship God, and that God in his holiness and jealousy will punish them for their sins. They insist that they will worship God, and Joshua sets up an altar to be a witness against them when they sin.
This final chapter of Joshua moves the story-line of the Bible along by making us feel our need for a much greater, deeper salvation than the Exodus. God’s people need a new Exodus. They need to be saved not from physical slavery to others, but from spiritual slavery to themselves. They need a greater Moses; they need a greater Joshua. They need someone who will come and conquer the one thing that keeps them from worshiping God – their sin. In this way, the book of Joshua calls us: “Be on the lookout for that true and better Savior who is Jesus Christ!”
I encourage you to take an hour and read through this entire book, and pray that as you do you will come to know Christ as the true and better Joshua who conquers our sin by “being conquered” in our place on the cross.