The Promised Land Part 1

NOTE: the following is my manuscript and will be different than the sermon recording.

Today, we begin a journey with the Israelites into the land that was promised to them many centuries prior to their arrival at the border of Canaan.

Two years ago, we studied the first five books of the Bible. The purpose of that series was to learn the origin story of God’s people, the Israelites. And, as is the primary aim of the entire Bible, we learned about the character of God and his intentions for creation.

From Genesis 1-11, we see the creation of everything. God made all things good, including humanity, men and women made in the very image of God and called to act creatively and lovingly just the same as God.

But, humanity failed to do this. Instead, they took what God gave them and more. They took what was not given to them because they thought it would complete them. They thought that they could be more than image-bearers. They could be gods themselves. 

This led to violence. Perfect peace was replaced with striving, fear, hatred, jealousy, domination, and death. It got so bad that God started over with one faithful man and his family. Noah would be like a new Adam. Restarting humanity and creation. Though it would not yet be renewed and restored to perfect peace, it would allow God to set into motion a plan. 

Abram, who was one of the descendants of Noah’s son, Shem, was called by God to be the vessel of this plan. His family was called out of their homeland. God led them to a land called Canaan. Genesis 12:7 says the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord there. But, the land was not yet ready for Abram’s family to take possession. 

Genesis 15:12–16 says, “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years, but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.’” 

For hundreds of years, this family were a nomadic people. They moved from place-to-place, until they ended up in Egypt during a terrible famine. Abraham’s grandson Jacob, also called Israel, and his family lived in Egypt during the famine. The Lord sustained this family, gave them favour, and caused them to grow larger in number. After several generations, out of fear, the ruler of Egypt enslaved the Israelites, just as was spoken by the Lord to Abram in his dream. A few hundred years later, the Lord called Moses to lead the people out of slavery and bring them to the land promised to Abraham’s descendants. 

Moses obeyed the Lord and the Israelites were liberated from their oppressors. After a dramatic exodus, the people were brought to a mountain called Sinai, where the Lord would give them instructions.

These were people who knew nothing except slavery. Although they knew of the God of their ancestors, the God named Yahweh, they were ruled by people who worshipped other gods and did not know Yahweh. The world at that time was entirely polytheistic, meaning they believed in and worshipped many gods. The descendants of Abraham were no different. So, Yahweh’s instructions at Mount Sinai told them how to live as his people, how to worship him exclusively, and ultimately how to be the vessel of Yahweh’s plan to restore all of creation to its original design. 

Exodus 19:3–6 “Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”” 

They got off to a rough start when they grew impatient while Moses was up on the mountain receiving instructions from Yahweh, and they decided to seek the guidance of a different god that they made out of gold. 

They repented and rededicated themselves to the exclusive worship of Yahweh. But this would be just the first of many rebellious acts during a long and difficult journey before they would arrive at the land promised to them.

Due to their lack of trust in Yahweh early in their journey toward Canaan, the generation that was rescued from Egypt would not live see the land. Rather, their children would be the ones to possess it. So, Yahweh kept them from arriving at the land until everyone in that generation had died. All except for two: Caleb and Joshua. (Numbers 14:26-31)

These two trusted Yahweh when no one else did. They were confident that he would remove the people from the land deliver it into their hands. 

When the last of the generation had died, Yahweh handed leadership over from Moses to Joshua. Deuteronomy ends this way: 

Deuteronomy 34:9–12 “Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him, and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses. Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.” 

Then, the book of Joshua begins:

Joshua 1:1–9 “After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant, saying, ‘My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall lead this people to possess the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’” 

The story of the Bible began in Paradise. God making all things good. When the ones responsible for keeping his creation good decided to take what was not given to them, it started a pattern of violence that we have seen all through history. Taking what has not been given to us. 

God chose a group of people called the Israelites to move creation back toward peace and goodness. As we have seen through the story of Israel’s beginnings, and as we will see in the story of Israel’s possession of the Promised Land, this movement toward peace and goodness is not a straight line. It involves many rebellions. And many calls to repentance. But through the whole story is a God called Yahweh who always forgives. He is always faithful. 

He has not given up on Paradise. He still wants his creation to be a place of perfect peace and goodness. So as we come now to The Promised Land, the main question is this: what kind of people can actually embody God’s peace and goodness? 

We will learn how to answer that question as we become familiar with God as revealed in Scripture. And in the story of Joshua and Judges, he is known as a covenant-keeper who stays faithful in the midst of human unfaithfulness. 

God went before Israel and enabled them to take possession of the land. But, they did not take possession in the way other nations did in those days. The purposes of God includes the movement toward peace and his aim was not domination but liberation. One of my goals in the next few months is for you to be able to reconcile the violent stories of Joshua with the nonviolent nature of God as portrayed by Jesus Christ. This will require a commitment on your part to embrace curiosity and a humble posture. It will possibly even require you to rewrite some of the narratives you have come to believe about the God of the Old Testament.

At the end of Joshua in 21:43–45, we read that “the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to their ancestors that he would give them, and having taken possession of it, they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors; not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” 

During the period of the judges, Israel repeatedly abandoned the Lord to serve other gods. God’s anger burned against the nation, delivering them into the hands of neighbouring nations. Yet this judgment was never final. When Israel cried out to them, God raised up judges as deliverers, and he remained present with them, moved to compassion by their suffering.

We will see throughout this portion of Scripture a God who is all at once powerful, faithful, just, and patient. He demands holiness and cannot be corrupted by unholiness. He wants an embodied presence on earth, among his creation, and through Israel he makes this incrementally possible. 

The question again is this: what kind of people can actually embody God’s peace and goodness?

The kind of people who are committed above everything else to unwavering covenant loyalty to Yahweh. To keep themselves holy by rejecting the religious practices of their neighbours. And to submit themselves to Yahweh’s instruction rather than trusting in their own understanding or human wisdom. 

We can see this most concisely in Deuteronomy 6:1–9. Toward the end of his life, Moses was providing final instruction for Israel before he handed his leadership over to Joshua and as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. 

Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that Yahweh your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear Yahweh your God all the days of your life and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 

Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. 

Hear, O Israel: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 

Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

As we come to the story of Israel possessing the land promised to them, we need to not forget the sort of people God expected them to be. If we forget that the purpose of Israel was to be a blessing to the world and to be a vessel for God’s reconciliation and renewal plan, we can turn the stories of battle and conquest into moral instruction or justification for military action.

Every empire and nation that has ever claimed God’s blessing of Israel for themselves has read Joshua this way, commonly using the battle of Jericho as a sort of prophetic message for God’s favour for their own military plans. Yet, there is nothing in the Scriptures, even in the story of Joshua and the possession of the Promised Land, that justifies military conquest. 

The story of Israel possessing the Promised Land through military activity does not tell us about how God’s power works. 

The story describes the how power worked in the Ancient Near East. And when you read it slowly and carefully enough, you will see that God’s plan was not conquest but transformation. His instructions for the Israelites as they made their way through the land were entirely different than any other military campaign. In human terms, it was a bad strategy. 

We will see in Joshua that the purpose of possessing the land of Canaan was not to conquer its inhabitants. The purpose was to establish a nation through which God would be made known to the world. In order for that to happen, the land needed to be cleared of idolatry. 

This was the purpose of possessing the land. It was a one-time event. Not a pattern to be followed. Just as Israel was a vessel for God’s blessing, so was the land of Canaan. It was a means to an end. The ultimate goal is the complete renewal of all creation. Israel and the Promised Land is a step in the process. It was not the final project.

Similarly, the instructions God gives in Joshua to kill people is not the full or complete expression of God’s character. It’s actually a very limited expression and very often misunderstood because it is plucked from the larger story and because “it’s in the Bible” it is used to justify behaviour and decisions. 

So, when you hear national leaders who claim to have a God-given mandate involving military action, do not turn to Joshua alone for wisdom and discernment. Do not base your judgment on the few stories of conquest. 

One of my aims through this series is for us to gain wisdom in understanding and reconciling difficult passages that contain what seem to be contradictory behaviour and instruction. 

On the one hand, God is known to us through Jesus who did not use violence or military strength to establish his kingdom. On the other hand, we see God giving instruction to Israel to kill every man, woman, and child in a given city.

And what I want to suggest is that we do not need to choose which of these is the right description of our God. What we need to do is gain wisdom in understanding what the Scriptures are saying and what they are not saying.

As we enter the story of Israel possessing the Promised Land, we will constantly come back to the central question of this series: what sort of people can bring the kingdom of God to earth? 

Alongside the stories of violence and conquest we will see stories of compassion, inclusion, and impartiality. We will see God’s character through the stories and his desire for a vessel worthy of his presence. And by the time we get to the end of Judges, we will see how God responds to the complete failure of the Israelites to accomplish God’s purposes for the Promised Land. 

If you choose to read through the books of Joshua and Judges over the course of this sermon series, and I encourage you to do so, keep these two things in mind as you read:

First, read to simply be familiar with the story. This needs to be our default posture whenever we read the Bible. We jump too quickly to application. Before we do anything, if we do anything, with what we find in the Bible, we need to be familiar with it. 

Second, as you read, ask God to help you know him better. Who is Yahweh?