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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. We used church candy for our new church plant the Garden, and the response blew me and my team away. At our new church plant the Garden, we ran simple invite ads through none other than church candy. And hundreds of people responded. Seriously. People who had never even heard of us, who had never met me or heard me preach. They saw an ad on Facebook or Instagram. They showed up to a launch party or launch team training. Some of them have joined our team. Here's the best part. A good amount of them have started giving and tithing, which means the ads have paid for themselves. Our church plant is growing, and it's because we chose the right partner. We didn't have to figure out marketing strategies or spend hours tinkering with ad settings. Church candy handled it all and it worked. You might not be planting a church, but if you're a pastor who wants to see more new faces on Sunday. And by the way, I've never met a pastor who doesn't want to see more new faces on Sunday. It's time to check them out. How about you go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a discovery call, Let their team show you what's possible when the right people hear about your church family. Welcome to day 135. Super, super excited that we get to dive into a brand new book of the Bible. We are in the book of Joshua today. Yo, God's been talking about bringing these people into the promised land since Abraham, okay? Since Genesis. So climactic, climactic moment that we are going to walk through as we get through this book. If you have not done the reading, go do the reading. We are reading Joshua chapters 1, 2, and 3 today for day 135. If you have not done the reading, make sure you do the reading. If you have done the reading, like always, my job is to give you some context clues, give you some nerdy nuggets, give you a timeless truth, and I'm just grateful that you would choose to spend some time with your boy walking through the Bible. Hey, let's conquer some land. Okay? We're going to walk into the promise. It's going to be great. All right. Context, Joshua. A lot of people will say that Joshua is split into three parts. I'm going to challenge that just a little bit. I'm going to tweak that just a little bit. I actually think Joshua can be split into four parts. And I'll kind of give you that breakdown. The first part of the book of Joshua is Joshua. Chapters one to five. This is what we would call preparation for conquest. The people are crossing the plains of Moab, they're going to cross the Jordan river, but we're not going to actually get the first battle, which is Jericho, until chapter six. Okay, chapter six to 12, just those short chapters. Six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, seven short chapters, which is going to be the conquest of the land. So one of the big themes is definitely going to be that the people of Israel are participating in this conquest, but it is God that is actually winning this victories. Just because God is providing supernatural power doesn't mean that you and I are not participating with him. And it doesn't mean that it's not a process. So those seven chapters, I mean, you're just going to see supernatural military strength. And when Israel sins against the Lord and doesn't obey God, they don't have the natural power or the natural strength to conquer the Canaanites who are actually living in the land. So chapters one through five is gonna be preparation to actually take the land. Chapter 612 is conquest. And Joshua functions a little bit like the book of Exodus. Remember in the book of Exodus how once we get to chapter 15, I mean, the children of Israel are kind of free. But like, that's where movies that talk about the Exodus story kind of end. But the book of Exodus has a whole construction of the tabernacle, like instructions about the tabernacle. Like there's a whole bunch of stuff that happens in the book of Exodus that kind of falls into the. This is kind of boring. The narrative is over. And it can kind of like trick us into believing that we've read the whole book when we really haven't. Okay, so the climactic moment of Exodus is not chapter 15, it's all the way in. I believe it's chapter 40, where the spirit of the Lord, the presence of God, fills the tabernacle. Same can happen with the book of Joshua. Joshua's 24 chapters long, but most people stop reading at chapter 12 because chapter 13 to chapter 22 are all land allotments. Okay. It's Joshua telling people what part of the land belongs to them. Okay, so he's got to do that with. There are 12 tribes, but two of the tribes are not going to get land. And we'll talk about that later. So he's got to do that with essentially 10 tribes. You got to just kind of tell them, like, where their land is. So it's like, hey, from that tree to that brook, you know, all the way to that, you know, that's your land, okay? And it's just. It's just geography. And without a map, it can be a little difficult. I'm going to try to make it as entertaining as humanly possible. But from chapter 13 to chapter 22, we get what a lot of people would consider to be a bit of a boring part of the book of Joshua. And then we got the last two chapters, Joshua, chapter 23 to chapter 24, which is gonna be kind of like Joshua's farewell address. This is gonna function a lot like Moses's farewell address in the book of Deuteronomy. And we're gonna see tons of parallels through the book of Joshua between Moses and Joshua. So that's context. Okay? Also another, like, just piece of context. The Torah is over, okay? The first five books of Moses are over. And Joshua is now going to start the next big movement of the Bible, which are called the former prophets. Now, in a Christian Bible, these are going to be in a collection of, like, historical books. That's what Christians would call this. But in the Jewish canon, these are not considered historical books. They're actually considered the former prophets. Okay? Joshua, Judges, King, Samuel, and Kings would be considered the former prophets. And then what we would call the major prophets are going to be the latter prophets. So, man, I don't want to get too much in the weeds, but the way that Jews. The way that the Jewish people actually see this makes a whole lot more sense, because prophets, the role of a prophet is not to foretell. It's not to tell the future. The role of a prophet is to call you back to the covenant. So these books are rooted in Deuteronomy. They're rooted in the covenant that Yahweh's established with Israel, okay? And they're telling the story or they're telling the history of. Of whether or not Israel has been faithful to the covenant or whether or not they have gone against the covenant. Okay? So where Christians or Westerners see history, the people of Israel don't see history. They see that these stories are standing as a witness either for or against the people, to keep record of whether or not the people have obeyed the covenant. Because the role of the prophets are to call people back to the Covenant, Okay? The role of a prophet is not to foretell. It's to forth tell, which means not to tell the future, but to tell the truth. And where does Israel find its source of truth? In the covenant, in the law, in the first five books of Moses, in the Torah, in the instruction for how to live life and how to find wisdom. So the Jewish community is not going to see these books as history. They're gonna see these as the former prophets. Okay, so the book of Joshua starts with the word and. Okay? And so does the book of Judges, Samuel, and Kings. All of these books also A book being 1st Samuel and 1 Kings or 1st Samuel and 2 Samuel or 1st Kings and 2 Kings is a modern creation. Okay? Originally, this is just the scroll of Samuel and the scroll of Kings. So we have turned these books into two. We just kind of split them in half. But these. These scrolls are originally just one. So I'm just gonna kind of talk about them as four, even though I know that there's a part one and a part two to Samuel and a part one and a part two to Kings. Okay, so for the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, these would fit into what we would call the former prophets. And they all start with the word and because they're showing a continuation in the story. Okay. The Torah actually does this as well. You can't see this in English, but when you read these books in their original languages, this stuff becomes really, really, really apparent. All right, let's actually, like, let's dive in. Let's get some nerdy nuggets. Okay? There's something that you're gonna notice. Maybe you noticed it, maybe you didn't. When you start reading the Bible, okay. When you start reading the Bible in Genesis and Adam and Eve are kicked out of the Garden of Eden, they are kicked out. They're expelled east out of the garden. Okay? East. There's a flaming sword and a cherubim set at the gates of Eden that are on the east side of Eden, okay? So they are expelled to the east. The next story is the story of Cain. In Genesis, chapter 4, 16 says that Cain is gonna be scattered even further from the presence of God, and he continues moving east. Then we get to the tower of Babel. Genesis chapter 11, verse 2 says that the people of Babel are building this tower in the east, okay? So eastward progression signifies progression away from the presence of God. So it's actually not progression. It's the opposite of progression. Okay? Civilization is moving further and further and further away from Eden, away from God's ideal, away from God's presence. This is also going to happen with lot. Genesis, chapter 13, verse 10 to 11. It's going to say that he sees the land of Sodom and Gomorrah to the east. He sees land in the east, and he moves in that direction. So anytime people are moving in the direction of the east, the Bible is gonna set this direction up as away from Eden, okay? People are moving away from God, away from his garden, away from his presence, away from his ideal. This is going to. This is a massive theme, okay? Until Joshua stands on the east side of the Jordan river and attempts to conquer the land going back west. Now, I know for, like, modern readers, this you don't get it, but I get goosebumps when. When I begin to realize, oh, the Bible's been building, this tension of people have been moving east, east, east, east, east, east, away from God, away from God, away from God, away from God. And now all of a sudden, the Bible tells us that they're camped on the east side of the Jordan, and in order to take the land or conquer the land, they have to move west. This is the first time that people have moved west since Genesis, chapter three. Therefore, Canaan, the land of Canaan, is actually getting painted as a new Eden. I'm pretty sure we talked about this in the book of Deuteronomy, that the Tabernacle is seen as a new Eden and the land is seen as a new Eden. Now, if you remember this, at the gates of the Garden of Eden are Cherubim, okay? This is angels. Way back in Genesis, okay? When Jacob is fleeing his brother who wants to kill him, Esau, because he tricked him out of the blessing and the birthright. As he's leaving the land of Canaan, he encounters an angel. He encounters an angel in a vision. He sees angels ascending and descending as he's leaving now, as he's coming back into the land. Years and years and years later, he's at the same point and he encounters angels again, but this time he wrestles the angel. So this is the Bible's way of telling us he's at the gates of Eden, okay? Because there's angels as he leaves and angels as he comes, okay? And there's Cherubim where at the gates of Eden. This is. This is what makes me love the Bible, but this is also what makes modern readers of scripture hate the Bible, okay? Because this is kind of the way that the Bible is going to communicate. The Bible shows more than it tells family. The wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold. Literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble, or you can go to a Books A Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. So, as Joshua is getting ready to enter the land that is portrayed as a new Eden, what does Joshua encounter? The army. The leader of the army of the host of heaven. That's right. He encounters an angel, which is the Bible's way of telling us we are at the gates of Eden. Not literally. Okay. But on a figurative level, at a symbolic level, at a spiritual level. And how do we know that it's Eden is. Because there's a word that's going to get used over and over and over and over and over again that's straight out of Genesis, chapter one and two. And that word is rest. Okay? That the land of Canaan represents rest for God's people. And the theme of rest comes right out of the first chapters of the book of Genesis. Also, the last way that we know that this is that the people are entering some kind of Eden like land is that the land has both fruit and. And chaos, which both of those elements are elements that we would find in Eden. Eden has fruit, the tree of life, tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and all the other trees that were given to Adam and Eve as fruit, as sustenance, but also chaos. There's a chaos dragon in the garden of Eden. There's a serpent in the garden of Eden. There's a chaos creature in the garden. All right, let's talk about Rahab, and then I'll give you a timeless truth. And so a couple of things that we're supposed to see now, I need you to remember that for the last, like, two books of the Bible, okay, numbers and Deuteronomy, there's like a big, big, big, big rule. You're not supposed to make any treaties with anybody in the land. When you go in. It's a big rule for the people of Israel. Don't make treaties. However, the spies, two spies go into the land also. Let's throw out another nugget. Moses sent 12 spies and 10 of them sucked. And so Joshua just sends two. He's like, if, if, if, if Moses sent 12 and 10 of y' all was trash, and only two of y' all was good. Let's just send two spies. Let's not do the whole 12 spy thing again. We just. If 10 of y' all was trashed and y' all 10 ain't gone, we don't need 10. We don't need these 10. We just need two. And he has better outcomes. So good job. Good job, Joshua. Also, I think this is a moment where Joshua is choosing to obey the word of God over tradition. The word of the Lord in Deuteronomy is going to say, don't let anything be established on anything other than two witnesses. Okay? So the two spies, he sends out two witnesses. Tradition would have said, send in 12. But what we get from the law is to the word of two witnesses can be trusted. So I think this is a moment where Joshua is choosing the law of God, the wisdom of God, the word of God, over the tradition of Moses or the tradition of man. So Rahab is going to be promised safety, which means that when God says, go into the land, annihilate all the Canaanites, kill all the Canaanites, destroy all the Canaanites, don't make any treaties. I know this is going to hurt some people's ears and hearts, but God isn't speaking literally. And what I mean by that is that there's always an exception. And Rahab becomes the exception. God always says, in the middle of law, there's grace. In the middle of me giving you a law, there's always grace. And Rahab repents, wants to be a part of the people of God. And Hebrews chapter 11 is gonna say, by faith becomes a part of Israel, not by the works of the law, but by faith. So anytime people wanna paint the Old Testament to be legalistic, I always push back, because that's actually just not what the Bible is saying. Rahab is a picture of what Paul is gonna say later on in the New Testament. Paul's gonna say, just cause you're ethnically Jewish, doesn't make you true Israel. That there's a difference between Israel and true Israel, and that it's not circumcision of the flesh that makes you a part of Israel. It's circumcision of the heart. And Rahab is going to prove that although she's not ethnically Jewish, she has faith in the God of the Jewish people. And since she has faith in Yahweh, she's grafted in, which means Rahab is not. They're not making a treaty with a Canaanite because by believing in the God of the Jewish people, Rahab becomes Jewish. So they're not making a treaty with a Canaanite. It's not the ethnicity that's the issue. It's idolatry that's the issue. God doesn't want his people making treaties with Canaanites because Canaanites are idol worshipers, and he doesn't want those idols to become a snare for God's people. But Rahab is turning her back to idolatry and prostitution and wanting to covenant to love Yahweh. And here's what the spies say. Whoever's in your house will be safe. I need you to see two things. Number one, this is collective salvation as opposed to individual salvation, which is really, really helpful. Because God doesn't say, well, your cousin, your aunt, your dad, and you, y' all are good. He says, whoever's in the house, which means I have to make a decision to be a part of God's house. If I'm a part of the house, I'm in and I'm saved. I'm saved because I've chosen to be a part of the community. In the west, we see individual election. So individual, you are individually elected. You're individually elected. And actually Jesus says, are you in Christ? Are you in me? Are you going to remain in me? And are my words going to remain in you? If you choose to be in the house, you're good. This is also a call back to Exodus. Remember, Rahab has to put a scarlet cord at her house to mark her house as the one marked for salvation. And there was blood, scarlet blood marked on the doorposts of the homes to mark them for salvation, so that the death angel did not kill anything in the house because the death had already occurred. So massive picture for salvation. There's a whole thing with the Jordan River. We'll get into that tomorrow, maybe. Here's a timeless truth. Yahweh is going to say to Joshua, be strong and courageous. I've always found this interesting, that being strong and courageous just seems ridiculous because most people have to get strong. Maybe you could be courageous at the drop of a dime if you're not. But most people have to go through a process to get strong. Right? If you can't lift 200 pounds, then you can't lift 200 pounds. You can't be strong and then lift it. So the Bible doesn't say to get strong. It says to be strong, which means strength is not connected to my strength, but strength is connected to obedience. So three times God is gonna say, be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous. And God is gonna then say, obey, Obey. I can always be strong. Cause I can always obey. So my strength is not connected to anything natural. My strength is connected to supernatural strength that I'm eligible to receive when I'm obedient to God. And that's our timeless truth for the day. I gave you a context clue, I gave you a ton of nerdy nuggets, and I gave you a timeless truth. And I hope that you can meditate on that today and it'll add value to you. I hope you don't just hear my voice, but hopefully you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. If you're on a streak, do not break it. And if you're not on a streak, hey, we're in a new book of the Bible. This is a great time to start a streak. All you need is two days and you'll be on a streak. Hey, I'll see you right here tomorrow as we continue our march through conquering the book of Joshua. I love you guys. So proud. See you tomorrow. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.