The Call of Joshua: Historical Background, Textual Commentary

The Call of Joshua
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Historical Background
In the history of the Jewish people, there was the promise land that was promised to them by God. This is a history that begins with Abraham. When God spoke to Abraham, He asked Abraham to leave his homeland and go to the Promised Land. This means that Abraham had to leave his land and take his descendants to a promised land, the land of Canaan. This is generally referred to as the call of Abraham. This was a call of faith, where Abraham was to leave the land that he tilled and lived in and go to a place where he would be shown by the Lord.
In Genesis 12; 1-9 the bible says, Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
This was a land that was known as Israel and one that had been named after the grandson to Abraham, one of the descendants who were Jewish. The reason as to why the land is called the promised land, is that, this is a phrase that is repeated quite often in the bible especially in Genesis 12;7, 13;15, 15;18 and 17;8 and was a promise to Abraham and his descendants in all of these instances. The land was described as a good land in the Torah; as a land that was flowing with milk and honey. Although the land that was described in the bible did not fit in well with what is seen in the news, it is important to note that this is a land that has been for quite some time been abused by the various conquers, who were more than determined tomake sure that the land would be uninhabitable for the Jews. One of the evidential elements that can be established in light of the fact that the land was once very productive is it current state. Israel is one of the most productive lands today in the world, despite the fact that it is a desert in its own form. It actually more productive that some of the tropical and temperate lands in the world and providesenough food for the Jews and surplus to even export. For more than 3200 years since the conquest by Joshua, the Jews have lived on this land, despite the fact that the Jews were not always the majority on the land and that they did not have political control of the same. The fact that God had promised the land to the Jews has been enough for them. One of the subtle elements of the land of Israel is that, it is tied to Judaism in that much of the Jewish laws are tied to the land and have to be performed there.This is a land that has been considered quite holy and quite a number of the prayers and holidays are in the honor of the land. As such, this was and still is a land that has a lot of significance to the Jewish people.It is the homeland of the Jewish people one that they derive much of their religious significance and one that has massive significance in the general Christian, Jewish and Zionists faiths. Following the formation of the state of Israel and Palestine by the British and later the United Nations, the land has been highly contested between the two nations. However, it has always been the case as Israel always wins the protection of their and fulfilling the promise that the Lord gave to them at the time of Abraham. The Lord promised never to leave them and that has been the case for the longest time.
Theological application
The first nine verses of the book of Joshua are crucial to the entire book and the meaning that the book conveys to the Christians. These are verses that set the tone that is felt and conveyed throughout the entire book. The verses do not just bring about the coronation of the next leader of the Israelites but also expresses the promise that made to the Israelites many years at the time Abraham.The meaning that takes precedence is however the fact that, Joshua was called by God to lead the people of Israel to the promised land of Canaan.At the time, the people were still mourning the death of their leader Moses. For more than thirty days the people wept as quite a number had only known Moses as their leader and now he was dead, there was desperation for a people that had a vision of getting to the Promised Land with the help of Moses and now he was dead. The book open with God’s speech to Joshua instructing him to be next leader to the people of Israel.The element of the direct address was crucial to the way that Joshua would then be addressed by the future generations. It was a significant step from God, to show his people that, despite the fact that Moses had died, He had made the necessary effort to elect them a new leader to help them through the rest of the journey.
Of great importance is the fact that, no other leader before Joshua had ever received the instructions to regulate their behavior using the words that were written in the book of the laws. It was the duty of Abraham and his household to keep the God’s laws. In the case of Moses, he had actually acted in light of his divine commission by the Lord. Unlike Joshua, both Abraham and Moses used to receive their instructions directly from the Lord by the word of mouth.As such, from Joshua and all the leaders that came after him, they were supposed to follow the orders given in the book of the law. In essence, Joshua was more than a minister to Moses, as he was also a close and confidential agent and personally attended to him when he was alive. It is after the Lord spoke to him and commissioned him that he then became the executor of all the Moses had been writing about when he was alive. As such Joshua played many roles to Moses, both when he was a live and when he later died.
It was not by mistake that God chose Joshua as a successor to Moses, nor was it by mistake that Joshua would be the one to be the first of his successors to fulfill what Moses had been writing about. This is a concept that is actually introduced in the book of Exodus 17:9, where Moses says to Joshua to choose men and go out and fight with Amalek. Later in this passage, Joshua 1:14, the bible says, you should writ this as a memory in a book and it should be rehearsed in the ears of Joshua. This is an indication that the book was written for Joshua and he would come to fulfill the words written in the book. ...