"Occupy until I come" Jesus said in His parable in Luke 19:13 (KJV). Baxter details the meaning of that for the Christian in his final survey of Joshua. Spiritual principles are eternal principles and universal principles that span the ages. When we use these principles, they help with any job we are doing in line with multiplying and filling the earth with His glory.

NOTE: – For this present study read again chapters 13 to 24

THE BOOK OF JOSHUA

PART 3: OCCUPYING THE LAND (13-24)

This final group of chapters is rich with matters of interest, yet it can yield but a thin harvest to a casual reading; for since it deals mainly with names and places and boundary lines, it requires to be studied with map in hand. A detailed geographical tracing-out is rather beyond our present treatment of the book; but there are two or three guiding factors which we ought to note carefully.

First: it requires little imagination to see that the division of the land among the nine and, a half tribes and the Levites was no simple task, but a complicated one which demanded careful direction and considerable time.

Second: The dividing of the land was by “casting lots before the Lord” (18:6) – a way of doing which would commend itself because of its impartiality, while at the same time it left the sovereign Lord Himself to settle the tribes in the areas best suited to them. The same blend of impartiality and sovereignty is seen in the administration of spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit in the Church of Christ.

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administration, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another divers kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues, but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will” (1 Cor 12:4-11).

Third: we should mark well the principle which governed Israel’s occupation of the land, because the same principle operates in our own appropriation of the inheritance in Christ. This principle is seen if we bring together two seemingly contradictory verses. In chapter 11:23 we read: “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses.” Yet now in chapter 13:1, God says: “there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” These two statements in reality are not contradictory but complementary. They are two aspects of the one situation, and both are true. There was a real sense in which “the whole land” had been taken; and there was a real sense in which “very much land” yet – remained to be taken. The decisive blow had been struck. The key cities had been sacked. All opposing alliances had been crushed. Any remaining foes were well within the power of Israel’s individual tribes to destroy. It only remained for them now to see to it that there was a pressing home of that initial victory to the last detail.

It is the same with ourselves. The decisive blow has been struck at sin and Satan and the powers of darkness by our heavenly Captain; and thereby the entire inheritance of “all blessings in the heavenlies in Christ” is ours; but we must now apply that victory, carrying it through the whole realm of our thought and life, and pressing it home to the last detail. Especially in our prayer-life should there be a pressing forward in the power of this decisive victory. The powers of darkness can never recover from the mortal blow inflicted on them at Calvary; and even though, through the apostasy of the organized Church, they have found increasing opportunity to rally sufficiently for the waging of bitter warfare against God’s spiritual Israel, they still quail before the believer who presses forward in the power of the Cross.

Yes, “the whole land” is taken, yet there remains “very much land” to be possessed. It has been aptly observed that there is a difference between the “inheritance” and the “possession.” The “inheritance” is the whole land given by God, whereas the “possession” is only that part of it which is appropriated by faith. The ideal is for the possession to measure up to the full inheritance. Our inheritance in Christ is what He is to us potentially. Our possession in Christ is what He is to us actually, according to the measure of our appropriation by faith.

And now let us glance quickly at the chapters in this section. The key passage is chapter 21:43-45.

“And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give unto their fathers, and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that He sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them: The Lord gave all their enemies into their hand.

“There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel. All came to pass.”

Note the three things which God gave to Israel –

“All came to pass” – and thus was Jehovah’s faithfulness amply exhibited. Israel at last was realizing the promised inheritance, the promised rest, the promised victory.

The chapters in this final section of Joshua run thus:

Joshua 13-19 – The Dividing of Canaan.

Joshua 20 – The Cities of Refuge.

Joshua 21 – The Portion of Levi.

Joshua 22 – The Altar of Witness.

Joshua 23-24 – The Farewell of Joshua.

Chapters 13-19 – The Dividing of Canaan.

In these chapters we have the distribution of the land among the tribes. First, in chapter 13, the settlement of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh in Gilead is homologated. In chapter 14 staunch old Caleb is planted in Hebron. In chapters 15 to 17 we see the areas committed to Judah, Ephraim, and the remaining half of the Manasseh tribe. Then in chapters 18 and 19 comes the setting up of the Tabernacle at Shiloh, followed by the allotments to the remaining seven tribes. Following out our spiritual interpretation of the book, we see in these chapters the appropriation of faith.

Chapter 20 – The Cities of Refuge.

Here we have the six “Cities of Refuge” – Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron, on the west of the Jordan; and Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan on the east. These six were among the forty-eight cities given to the Levites (Num 35:6,7). Their purpose is clearly explained in Num 35 and in this present chapter. They were a merciful provision to protect those who had committed certain wrongs unintendingly or by mistake. Many a man of sincere intent and godly faith might have perished but for the horns of the altars in those cities of refuge.

Thus we have here the Divine recognition of the difference between sins and mistakes. The holiest of men are fallible, and can make mistakes; but mistakes are not sins, and they therefore do not disqualify us for the faith-life or deprive us of our inheritance in Christ. The little girl who lovingly but ruinously put her mother’s shoes in the oven to warm on a wintry night had made a mistake, but had not committed a sin! A man may have a perfect heart without having a perfect head. Sanctification can dwell with a defective memory. Let us be quick to perceive such distinctions and compatibilities.

Even when we are “in the land” we may do many things that are wrong without realizing they are wrong. In strict justice the law of God cannot but pursue us as guilty. Yet there is provision made for this in the blood of Christ. Mistakes, inadvertences, “sins of ignorance,” unintentional wrongs, are provided for in the Atonement – Christ Himself is our “City of Refuge”; and by holding to Him we are protected and covered, so that the maintaining of the faith-life in our spiritual Canaan is made possible. See in this the protection of faith.

Chapter 21 – The Portion of Levi.

Here is the portion of the Levites in the land; forty-eight goodly cities with their suburbs. This distribution of the Levites through the tribes is of obvious significance. “They permeated the whole land with the hallowing influence of Shiloh. What a halo of sacred interest must have gathered round the man whose lot it was to enter into the Tabernacle of God and burn incense at the solemn hour of prayer! Then multiply this a thousand fold, and consider what a wide and wholesome effect must have been produced throughout the country, especially when Levi fulfilled the lofty possibilities of this high calling. Moreover, the teaching of the Law was a special prerogative of the Levites, who appear to have travelled through their apportioned districts. They taught Jacob His judgments, and Israel His law; as well as put incense and whole burnt-offering on the altar. They caused the people to discern between the unclean and the clean, and in a controversy stood to judge. They acted as the messengers of the Lord of Hosts” (Deut 33:10).

The distribution of the Levites was the Lord’s provision for the preservation of Israel’s faith in the land. They had entered by faith. They had overcome by faith. That faith must now be maintained in the place of blessing by the teaching of God’s word. Maintained faith was the condition of maintained blessing. Faith’s food is God’s word. So is it always.

Chapter 22 – The Altar of Witness.

A schismatic altar in Israel! Had not the book of the Covenant emphatically declared that there should be but the one national altar of sacrifice before the Tabernacle – at Shiloh? What then of this “great altar” erected by Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh hard by the Jordan? Is it to be wondered at that the other tribes, shocked and angered, gathered together against them?

But a new complexion is given to the apparent breach when the builders of the altar explain that it is meant to be not an altar of sacrifice but of witness – a witness to the unity of the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan with the rest of Israel.

How many there are who, like these two and a half tribes, want to feel quite sure that they have their part with God’s Israel, yet are content to live just outside the land!

No doubt this altar “Ed” was well meant; but was it not needless if the Divine command were obeyed that three times each year all the males of Israel should appear before the Lord, in Shiloh?

Was it not also presumptuous? No pattern for its shape had been given of God, and no direction for its construction. Nor, apparently, had the counsel of the Lord been as much as thought of!

Now here is a noteworthy lesson concerning the unity of faith. Had Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh settled west of the Jordan with the other tribes, in the promised place of blessing, no such artificial monument of their oneness with Israel would have been required. True unity is not outward but inward. It is not achieved, nor even preserved, by external memorials. It consists in a oneness of inward and spiritual experience. The trend among the various denominations in the organized Church of today is to seek an imposing outward union by the formulation of a common creed and the inclusion of all sections in some single visible body with impressive proportions and social prestige. This is the building of a modern “altar Ed.” It is the confusing of unity with mere uniformity.

The only true unity is that of a common inward life, a common spiritual experience, and a common heart-loyalty. Those who are really living “in the land,” in the enjoyment of that spiritual Canaan which is in Christ, are conscious of their spiritual oneness with all the elect of God in Christ, whatever outward denominational differentiations may exist between them.

Speaking of this true unity, the late Dr. F.B. Meyer, in a fine passage, says: “Coming from all points of the compass, fired by the same hopes, suppliants at the same meeting-place, reliant upon the same blood, the common attraction establishes an organic unity like that of the tree, the multiplicity of whose parts is subsidiary to the one life-force; or like that of the body, the variety of whose members is subordinate to the one animating soul.

“The nearer we get to Christ, the more clearly we discern our unity with all who belong to Him. We learn to think less of points of divergence, and more about those of agreement. We find that the idiosyncrasies by which each believer is fitted for his specific work do not materially affect those depths of the inner life which in all saints abut on the nature of the living Saviour. As the scattered sheep browse their way up towards a common summit, they converge on each other, and there is one flock, as there is one Shepherd.

“It is the supreme vision of the Bible, granted to the most eminent saints, that though the new Jerusalem comprehends the names of the tribes of Israel and of the Apostles of the Lamb, is garnished by jewels of many hues, and has gates facing in an directions, it yet is one, ‘the Bride, the Lamb’s wife.’ What wonder, then, that the world, and sometimes the professing Church, supposes that the Lord’s prayer is not fulfilled, and that the unity has yet to be made? The unity is made; but only the spiritual with spiritual discernment can detect its symmetry.”

We cannot make spiritual unity. The unity of the sanctified in Christ is a spiritual reality wrought by the Holy Spirit Himself. The secret, of Christian unity lies in our being west of Jordan – with the baptismal burial, of that Jordan flood passed through, and the experience of the Spirit’s fulness entered into. Give us back that Canaan experience of spiritual fulness which came at Pentecost, and then the overflowing consciousness of spiritual unity among Christ’s own will submerge all artificial barriers. Israel’s true unity lay in a common life and a common experience of God which found concentrated expression in that one altar of sacrifice at Shiloh. Even so, the true unity of the Lord’s own today lies in – and is only realized according to their common experience of life in Christ, finding its vital centre in the Cross and person of the Redeemer. Let this twenty-second chapter of Joshua, then, speak to us its message on the true unity of faith.

Chapters 23-24 – The Farewell of Joshua.

Finally, we have the parting counsels of the now aged Joshua. We must not linger over the touching scene. The faithful leader’s words unveil the concern of his heart for the privileged nation. For some years now, Israel had been enjoying the rest and plenty of Canaan. What of the future? All depended on whether or not Israel would continue faithful to the covenant. Joshua’s words do not conceal his apprehensiveness. Seven times he refers to the idolatrous nations still left in Canaan. He knew the snare they would be to Israel; and he therefore prescribed three safeguards.

First, there must be brave adherence to God’s word (Josh 23:6).

Second, there must be a vigilantly continued separation from the Canaanite nations (Josh 23:7).

And, there must be a cleaving to the Lord with real and fervent love (Josh 23:8-11).

This is the gist of these closing chapters; and these are the three indispensable conditions (just as truly today as in Joshua’s day) for a continuing in the experience of the “fulness of blessing.” There must be (1) a living close to the word of God; (2) a consistent separation from all known wrong; (3) a cleaving to God with the best love of the heart. Truly, in the words of 1 John 5:3, “His commandments are not grievous,” and they who fulfil them find indeed a Canaan of spiritual, blessing, of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, of heavenly fellowship and treasure, which this world can neither give nor take away.

In these last two chapters, then, the emphasis is upon the need and the way of continuance. Thus, in this third part of the Book of Joshua, we have:

Joshua 13-19 Partition of Canaan – faith rewarded.

Joshua 20 The Cities of Refuge – faith protected.

Joshua 21 The Levite’s Portion – faith preserved.

Joshua 22 The Altar of Witness – faith unifying.

Joshua 23-24 Farewell of Joshua – faith continuing.

And now it may be helpful to see the whole book set out in analysis, with special reference to its spiritual message which we have traced through the chapters.

Questions & Notes

FIND OUT THE WEAK SPOTS!

Click on the “Explore the Book - Joshua” tag below to see all the posts in this series. To go to the start of this series click here.

I've come to the conclusion of my study on Joshua. One final lesson through Baxter's commentary tomorrow and that will be it. Today, Baxter gives a good summary of the ground we've covered.

NOTE: – For this third study in the book of Joshua re-read the first twelve chapters.

They on the heights are not the souls
Who never erred nor went astray,

Who trod unswerving to their goals
Along a smooth, rose-bordered way.

Nay, those who stand where first comes dawn,
Are those who stumbled – but went on.

THE PARTS

We ought now to glance over the three main parts of the book. Even in their broad features we shall find much to profit us. First we see Israel entering (1-5), then overcoming (6-12), and then occupying (13-24).

PART I. ENTERING THE LAND (1-5)

The five chapters of part one run in an orderly sequence thus

Chapter

1 – Joshua charged.
2 – Jericho spied.
3 – Jordan crossed.
4 – Memorials raised.
5 – Gilgal occupied.

If we bear in mind that the key idea in Joshua is the victory of faith, we shall quickly see how eloquent these chapters are.

Chapter 1 – Joshua charged.

The emphasis in this chapter is upon the fact that Joshua’s assumption of leadership originated in a commission from God Himself. It was grounded in the word of God (see verse 9). The going up into Canaan, also, was based upon a clear Divine authorization (verses 2-5). This is ever the beginning of things where faith is concerned – that God has spoken. True faith is therefore far removed from mere credulousness. It refuses to act on the basis of mere human reasoning: but once it is satisfied that God has spoken, it asks nothing more, for there can be no higher authority than that, and no higher reason than to obey. Here then, in chapter 1, we have the warrant of faith, namely, the word of God. True faith always works on the principle denoted in Heb 13:5,6 – “HE hath said … so we may say.”

Chapter 2 – Jericho spied.

Having received such Divine assurance of invincibility (as in Joshua 1:5-6), Joshua might easily have felt it needless to exercise cautiousness or to resort to military strategy. But this second chapter shows us that the reaction of true faith is in fact the opposite of any such carelessness. Joshua sends the two spies to Jericho; and there was good reason for his doing so, as we shall see later, for Jericho was a key city. True faith does not despise the use of means. There is a wide difference between believing and presuming. To make the promises of God an excuse for not taking reasonable precaution is to tempt God, as our Lord Jesus Himself has taught us. When the deceiver urged the Master to cast Himself from the temple tower because God had promised supernatural preservation, the Master replied: “It is written again: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” In this 2nd chapter of Joshua we have the prudence of faith.

Chapter 3 – Jordan crossed.

The crossing of “this Jordan” was a major crisis of faith. The same crisis had come to the former generation of Israel some forty years earlier under somewhat different circumstances, and they had failed in their reaction to it. It was bound to repeat itself to the new generation. To be “brought out” of Egypt was one thing; but it was another thing altogether to “go over this Jordon” and thus become committed, without possibility of retreat, to the struggle against the powers of Canaan in their seemingly impregnable fastnesses, with their chariots of iron, and their large armies among which were the renowned giants. To do this was to commit themselves to a course which had been condemned by ten out of the twelve spies who had reported on the land forty years before! To the natural eye it was to hazard everything on the chance of battle, to have no retreat, and to run the risk of losing everything.

The same crisis comes in one way or another to all the redeemed – that intense crisis of the soul in which we are forced to the supreme choice whether there shall be an utter once-for-all abandon of ourselves to the will of God, so that henceforth God is absolutely first in the soul’s love and life, or whether we shall take what seems to be the easier way, that is, of continuing in the Christian life, but with a reservation in our love to God. It is one thing to take Christ as Saviour from the guilt of our sin. It is another thing to make Him absolute Master of our will and life. It is one thing to be brought out from the Egypt of our unregenerate life and to join God’s redeemed Israel. It is another thing altogether to bury all our self-born aims and desires in Jordan’s swift-flowing flood, and to pass through to that higher life where no desires or purposes are tolerated but those of our blessed Lord Himself. It was one thing for Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldees and go out in faith at God’s behest. It was another thing – a far bigger and costlier and sublimer thing for him to climb Moriah and lift the knife to slay his beloved Isaac. Yet the crisis must be. There was no other way of decisively determining whether God was to be supreme in the life and love of the soul. There was no need for further testing after that; and God said: “By Myself have I sworn, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea shore.” Abraham’s Moriah and Israel’s Jordan are the same crisis under different names. There is an Isaac to be sacrificed, a Jordan to be crossed, in the history of every redeemed soul. Abraham yielded his Isaac. Israel crossed the Jordan. What of you and me? This is faith’s major crisis; and this is what we have in this third chapter of Joshua – the crisis of faith.

Chapter 4 – Memorials raised.

A faith that goes all the way with God leaves many a beautiful “Ebenezer” in its wake. The Jordan memorial stones were faith’s witness to the power and faithfulness of God. There were two of these cairns or monumental piles-one on the west bank of the river, at Gilgal (Joshua 4:3), and the other in the river itself (Joshua 4:9), each consisting of twelve great stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The pile on the Canaan side of the Jordan witnessed to the faithfulness of God in His bringing Israel at last into the land promised to their fathers. The pile in the river itself witnessed to the power of God in holding back the swollen flood and cleaving a pathway across the river bed for the great host. In this fourth chapter, then, we have the witness of faith.

Those two memorial piles are symbolic. They witness to God’s bringing His people right through the river and into the place of blessing. That preposition “through” really comprises the two ideas of “in” and “out” both in one. There must be both a going into and a coming out of to make the meaning of “through.” Now the two memorial heaps in this fourth chapter of Joshua bear witness both to the going into and the coming out of the Jordan. Israel actually went down into that river basin; otherwise, how explain that submerged pillar of great stones amid stream? Israel actually came out on Canaan’s side; hence that erection at Gilgal. Here is symbolic witness to a great truth: ever does a soul go down into that other Jordan – the death and burial of “selfism” – to find itself deserted. As surely as there is the “into” there is the “out of.” God brings the now sanctified soul right through to the resurrection ground of “the heavenlies” in Christ.

Chapter 5 – Gilgal occupied.

Here we see the sealing and chastening of faith. Strange as it might seem, the first experience in the land of blessing is one of pain, though the pain is soon over. Before ever the covenant people draw the sword against the foe, God draws the knife upon them. Israel has at last crossed the dividing line, and is now entering in a new way into the purposes of God. Therefore, that which has been neglected during the forty years’ wandering now becomes imperative. Circumcision is re-enjoined, as the seal of the covenant between God and Israel. Israel’s sons were to carry in their very persons this mark of their separatedness. Moreover, although much of the symbolic and typical meaning of things in the Israelite economy must have been unperceived by the Israelites themselves, they were left in no doubt as to the moral and spiritual significance of circumcision. Moses himself had exhorted them: “Circumcise therefore your heart, and be no more stiff-necked” (Deut 10:16). “The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart … to love the Lord thy God” (Deut 30:6). Passages like Col 2:11-13 make the New Testament interpretation quite clear. It is that “putting off” of “the flesh,” that sharp pruning of the natural desires, which accompanies God’s chastening in the soul.

Yes, Jordan must be followed by Gilgal. Even the Jordan by itself is not enough. The Israelites must carry Gilgal’s abiding mark of their fuller separation. Even so with ourselves, that soul-crisis of death and burial to selfism, of which Jordan is the type, must be perpetuated by that continuous denial of “the flesh” of which circumcision speaks. This may mean a pang at first; but it is soon over, for God’s deeper work in us when we come through the crisis-burial of Jordan strikes a fundamental blow at inbred sin, and so renews the desires of the heart that the first sharp pang of “daily dying” to “the flesh” is quickly lost in the thrill of new fellowship with God on the resurrection ground of “entire sanctification.”

Following Israel’s circumcision at Gilgal comes the Passover Feast, speaking of this new fellowship with God in the place of blessing (verse 10). Then comes the change-over of Israel’s diet from the manna to the produce of Canaan (Joshua 5:12). Both the manna in the wilderness and the corn of Canaan typify Christ; but Christ will be the one or the other to us according to where we are spiritually. He can only be to us as the rich produce of Canaan when we have crossed the Jordan and come into the place of complete separation to Himself.

So then, in these first five chapters we have

Chapter
1. Joshua charged – the warrant of faith.
2. Jericho spied – the prudence of faith.
3. Jordan crossed – the crisis of faith.
4. Memorials raised – the witness of faith.
5. Gilgal occupied – the pruning of faith.

PART 2. OVERCOMING THE LAND (6-12)

In this second group of chapters we see faith’s warfare and victory. Israel is now in the place of blessing, and goes forth “conquering and to conquer” in the might of the invisible Captain. Vital spiritual lessons are pictured in these chapters.

Chapter
6. – The Fall of Jericho.
7. – The Sin of Achan.
8. – The Sack of Ai.
9. – The Guile of Gibeon.
10-12. – The Route of the kings.

Chapter 6 – The Fall of Jericho.

This remarkable chapter sets forth in graphic type the principles by which faith works and wars and waits and wins. Faith’s first rule of action is to ascertain the will and word of God. Faith’s second rule of action is to obey that will and word implicitly. Faith’s final rule of action is to reckon on that word, and count the thing as good as done, giving glory to God in anticipation – as the Israelites gave their mighty shout of victory before the walls of Jericho had actually fallen. Faith’s principles of action, therefore, cut right across those of natural reason.

We note four things about the procedure of faith in the conquest of Jericho: (1) the seeming folly of it, (2) the inner wisdom of it, (3) the deeper meaning of it, (4) the utter triumph of it. As for the seeming folly of it, nothing could seem more useless to the natural eye than that harmless winding round and round the city walls to the blowing of rams’ horns. As for the inner wisdom of it, nothing could really be wiser than to do just what God Himself had directed, however strange it might seem. As for the deeper meaning of it, nothing could be more significant than the fact that here we see God and man in co-operation for the pulling down of a Satanic stronghold. As for the utter triumph of it, nothing could be more marked, for with one fell blow the city was laid low, without a single Israelite casualty. Here is triumph indeed. This is the emphasis in this sixth chapter – the triumph of faith.

Chapter 7 – The Sin of Achan.

Alas, there is a swift lapse which, though it is soon put right, is not without cost. It is not that Israel’s faith breaks down; but a secret compromise temporarily disables it. The men of Israel turn their backs on the foe; and thirty-six of them fall. In all the seven years’ war this was the one loss. The cause of the failure is carefully exposed so that the lesson may be clearly learned. The electric wire of fellowship between God and Israel had been cut by “a trespass in the accursed thing”; and the current of power therefore ceased to flow. Israel’s first inclination was to attribute blame to God instead of looking within. But anon the ugly deed was forced into the open; confession was made, and judgment executed upon it. Achan’s smuggled loot was of little material value; but the taking of it was of deep spiritual seriousness. It was a grievous compromise with that which was forbidden. It must have been a sorrow to Jehovah to inflict the Ai reverse upon His people; yet Israel must learn by necessary pain that both for their own sake and the sake of Jehovah’s holy name sin must be judged and put away. Any defeat which we sustain in the land of blessing is due entirely to some such failure within ourselves. It need never be; and our great Captain grieves over it more than we do ourselves. We must learn the lesson of this seventh chapter – that parley with sin, or permitted compromise, cuts the vital cord of communion and disables faith.

Chapter 8 – The Sack of Ai.

In this chapter we see faith re-empowered and going forth in renewed triumph. Sin confessed and judged and put away restores the cord of communion, and the Divine power begins to flow again. The invisible Captain of Jehovah’s host now says to Joshua: “Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai and his people and his city and his land.” – The remainder of the chapter speaks for itself. It is the picture-lesson of faith re-empowered after self-judgment.

Chapter 9 – The League with Gibeon.

Here behold the wiles of Satan. The Gibeonites, realizing that they could not stand against such a power as that which operated through Israel, resorted to a trick of deception. A group of them, forlornly attired as wearied travelers from a distant land, came to the camp of Israel, saying: “From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of Jehovah thy God; for we have heard the fame of Him and all that He did in Egypt … therefore now make ye a league with us.” So clever was the disguise, so reasonable the story, so reverential the reference to Jehovah, so pitiable their plight, that Israel’s compassion overflowed. Believing that these men were not of the Canaanites who were under the curse, and with whom no leagues were to be made, Israel made a covenant with Gibeon. Three days later the trickery was exposed.

NOTE: – the most significant thing in this incident is that Israel “asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord” (Joshua 9:14). We need not only the power of the Spirit against giants, but the wisdom of the Spirit against serpent! Satan is far easier to strike down as a son of Anak in warrior’s armor than as a disguised Gibeonite in some pity-evoking beggar’s attire. Satan’s subtle wiles are more dangerous than his open assaults. He is more dangerous as “an angel of light” than as “a roaring lion.” The league with these Canaanites held evil possibilities. It imperiled Israel’s faith. It was not made because of any breakdown of Israel’s faith at the time; but faith had been thrown off guard. Here in this ninth chapter is faith endangered by the failure to refer everything to God.

Chapters 10-12 – The Rout of all Foes.

Joshua’s plan of campaign here becomes clear. In first striking at Jericho and Ai, he had driven a wedge into the centre of Canaan. Now, in chapter 10 he forks south, and then in chapter 11 he strikes up north. Thus we have the central campaign (6-9), the southern campaign (10), the northern campaign (11); while chapter 12 completes the account by giving a summary of all the kings and major cities which fell before the sword of Israel. Inter-tribal quarrels between the peoples of Canaan were shelved in the presence of the one foe common to all Israel. Those who had been each other’s deadly foes now quickly made common cause against the awe-inspiring invader. Military alliances were hastily struck, and united resistance was offered. But it was all of no avail. The most formidable coalitions were no match for that supernatural power which operated through Israel. Down they went one after another – cities, kings, giants, confederacies, until it could be written:

“So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses, – and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes.” (Joshua 11:23).

We group chapters 10-12 together because whereas the overthrow of Jericho and Ai and the league with Gibeon are depicted in fuller detail, the campaigns in these further three chapters are more summarily described. And what do they show us in a spiritual sense? They shew us faith all-victorious. Enemies are vanquished. Israel is victor. Canaan is won. And “this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

Click on the “Explore the Book - Joshua” tag below to see all the posts in this series. To go to the start of this series click here.

Baxter seeks to lift our lives to a higher plane in his second lesson on Joshua.  He overlays the Book of Joshua with a snippet of the Book of Ephesians so we may be encouraged by its spiritual purpose as a type – a prefigurement of what was to come.  

1 Thess 5:23-24 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

NOTE: – For this second study in the book of Joshua read the whole book through again, checking off what we have said about the three main divisions of the book, and its three main characteristics typically.

There is a Canaan rich and blest,
Which all in Christ may know,
By consecrated saints possessed
While here on earth below.

There is a vict’ry over sin,
A rest from inward strife,
A richer sense of Christ within,
A more abundant life.

‘Tis here that peace and love abound,
And purest joys excel,
And heavenly fellowship is found
A lovely place to dwell!

Oh, this is Beulah Land indeed,
Where heaven itself is nigh;
Where all our emptiness and need
Is lost in full supply!

Lord slay all subtle love of sin,
Our doubt and fear remove;
Oh help us now to enter in,
And all Thy blessing prove!

J.S.B.

Joshua And Ephesians

Already, in our study of the Pentateuch, we have noted the correspondence between Deuteronomy and The Acts of the Apostles, and the connection between Leviticus and Hebrews. There is also a remarkable parallel between the Book of Joshua and the epistle to the Ephesians. The epistle to the Ephesians is distinctively the epistle of the “heavenly places in Christ” (Eph 1:3). The book of Joshua, as we have pointed out, is in type that fuller Christian life in which we really “possess our possessions” in Christ, enter into heart-rest, and experience fulness of “joy and peace in believing.” That Ephesian phrase, “heavenly places,” or more literally, “the heavenlies,” denotes the sphere of this higher and fuller life. It indicates a union of life and mind and will with the risen Christ, a union with Him in nature, relationships, and purposes, a union with Him in death to sin and to the flesh and to the world, a union with Him in service and suffering and desire, a union with Him in His resurrection and ascension, which lifts the believer to a level where there is a fulness of light and love and power and spiritual understanding unknown to others. This is life on the highest plane. This is the true place of the believer’s present life in Christ. Seldom is it entered right away at conversion. Alas, how many believers seem never to enter it at all! Yet this indeed is God’s provision; this is our inheritance in Christ Jesus; and young Christians should early be pointed to it.

Now in Joshua we see Israel entering and possessing the earthly inheritance given in Abraham. In Ephesians we see the Church entering and possessing the heavenly inheritance given in Christ.

The correspondence, however, is not merely general. There is a five-fold parallel, marked by the five occurrences of that expression, “the heavenlies,” in Ephesians. The five references are Eph 1:3,20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12. Trace the parallel briefly then between the land of Canaan in the book of Joshua, and “the heavenlies” in the epistle to the Ephesians.

1. Each was the predestined inheritance of a chosen people.

Away back, five hundred years before Joshua led the people over Jordan, God had said to Abram: “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever” (Gen 13:14,15). And when, at length He brought Israel up from Egypt He said: “The Lord shall bring thee into the land…which He sware unto thy fathers to give thee” (Ex 13:5).

Even so, turning to the first occurrence of that phrase, “the heavenlies,” in Ephesians, we find that here we have the predestined inheritance of the Church, in Christ.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings IN THE HEAVENLIES in Christ, according as He hath CHOSEN US IN HIM before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph 1:3,4).

With our eye on these two verses from Ephesians, let us note the contrastive parallel. Israel was blessed with all material blessings in earthly places in Abraham. The Church is “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ.” Note also, that to enjoy this fulness of material blessings Israel must be in the land. Similarly, to enjoy the fulness of spiritual blessings in Christ we must be “in the heavenlies.” The reason why we miss them is because we are not in the place where God bestows them.

2. Each was opened up by a Divinely ordained leader.

In the case of Israel all was put into the hands of Joshua. It was said to him: “Unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them” (Josh 1:6); and, “Thou shalt cause them to inherit it” (Deut 31:7). Joshua was thus the appointed administrator of the Israelite settlement in Canaan; and we are told that at the end of the seven-years’ war “Joshua took the whole land … and gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes” (Josh 11:23).

Even so, turning to the second occurrence of that phrase, “the heavenlies,” in Ephesians, we find that the Church’s inheritance is opened up by the Lord Jesus.

“That ye may know … what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand IN THE HEAVENLIES … and gave Him to be the HEAD OVER ALL THINGS TO THE CHURCH” (Eph 1:18-22).

Thus is Joshua a beautiful type of Christ as the trustee and representative of His people. It is the ascended Saviour who divides the goodly inheritance, and allots it to His believing people as by faith they plant their feet upon the promises.

3. Each was a gift of grace to be received by faith.

Canaan was given to Israel in Abraham, not in Moses the man of the Law. By the Law Israel could never have become entitled to Canaan. Moses was not privileged even to lead the people in. Nor can the Law ever lead us into God’s promised rest for our souls in Christ. Hence, Moses must die, and Joshua must take his place; and Joshua must open up the inheritance. The very first words of this book of Joshua are significantly in harmony with this – “Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying: Moses my servant is dead; now THEREFORE arise, and go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I give them, even to the children of Israel” (1:1,2).

So is it with the spiritual Canaan which is ours in Christ, as the third occurrence of the expression, “the heavenlies,” in Ephesians, shows.

“Even when we were dead in sins (God) hath quickened us together with, Christ (by GRACE are Ye saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together IN THE HEAVENLIES EVEN LIES in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His GRACE in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by GRACE are ye saved, through FAITH; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:5-8).

F.B. Meyer aptly says: “the law of God can never bring the soul of man into the land of promise, not because there is any defect in it, but because of human infirmity and sin. It is the presence of this evil law in our members which makes obedience to the law of God impossible, filling us with disappointment and unrest, ceaseless striving and perpetual failure. We must therefore leave the Law, as an outward rule of life, behind us, in that lonely valley over against Bethpeor, that the Divine Joshua may lead us into the land of promise. Not by vows or resolution or covenants of consecration signed by blood fresh-drawn from the veins; not by external rites or by ascetic abstinence from good and healthy things; not by days of fasting and nights of prayer; not even by obedience to the voice of conscience or the inner light, though attention to these is of prime importance – by none of these shall we enter the land of blessedness. They all become forms of legalism, when practised with a view to obtaining the full rest and victory of Christian experience. Valuable many of them unquestionably are, when the river is crossed and the land is entered; but they will not of themselves unlock its gates or roll back its guardian river.” No; in the words of Eph 2:8, it must be “by grace, through faith.”

The Old Covenant rest-day was the seventh. The New Covenant rest-day is the first. Under the Old Covenant we must work the six days up to the rest. Under the New Covenant we work down from it – from a perpetual rest already possessed in Christ.

4. Each is the sphere of a striking Divine revelation.

Israel’s entering and possessing of Canaan was intended to be a revelation of the true God to the nations of that day – “That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God forever” (Josh 4:24). “All people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee” (Deut 28:10). Israel’s yet future regathering to Canaan will consummate that revelation. See Isa 11:11,12; Jer 23:5-8, and other passages in the Old Testament prophets.

Isaiah 11:11-12 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. 12 And He will lift up a standard for the nations And assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.

Jeremiah 23:5-8 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’ 7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

Parallel with this, we find the fourth Ephesian reference to “the heavenlies” telling us that the Church is a wonderful revelation of God to the powers of the spirit-realm. Paul goes on to say, in chapter 3

“Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unreachable riches of Christ, – and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ: the intent that now UNTO THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS IN THE HEAVENLIES MIGHT BE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD” (Eph 3:8-10)

The crowning revelation of the Divine wisdom and power through Israel in Canaan, as we have said, will be in the restoration yet to be. Even so the consummating display of the Divine wisdom and purpose through the Church, to the spirit powers in “the heavenlies,” will be effected by the second coming of Christ, when the completed Church will be manifested with Christ in His glory.

5. Each is described as a scene of conflict.

In the earthly Canaan there were the giant sons of Anak, and cities “walled up to heaven.” There were the Hittites and Girgashites and Amorites and Canaanites and Perizzites, and Hivites and Jebusites, who held the land with strongholds and iron chariots – seven nations “greater and mightier” than Israel. They were exceedingly evil nations, and they had to be dispossessed and destroyed. Therefore must Israel wield the sword against them, though not with any doubt as to the final issue, for God was with Israel; and if they would but remain true to Him none should be able to stand against them. Conflict was inevitable, but defeat was impossible, for there was an alliance invincible.

So is it with that spiritual Canaan which is ours in “the heavenlies.” We turn to Ephesians again and find these words in the last occurrence of that phrase “the heavenlies”

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness IN THE HEAVENLIES” (Eph 6:12).

Thank God, as no power could withstand Joshua and Israel, so no power in the spirit-realm can withstand the power of Christ, for He has defeated Satan, and is now “far above all principality and power and might and dominion” (Eph 1:21). In Him victory is ours. In Him our prayer-life may become a victorious spiritual warfare which shall be effectual to the pulling down of Satanic strongholds, the casting down of imaginations which oppose themselves to God, and the releasing of regenerating forces among men. When we are truly abiding-in Him, and are “reigning in life by One, Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:17) in “the heavenlies,” all foes are beneath our feet, and we enter into the meaning of that word in Ps 2:4, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.”

These, then, are the five points of parallel between the earthly inheritance opened up through Joshua, and the spiritual inheritance opened up to us Christian believers in Christ. Perhaps a recapitulation will help to fix them in memory.

1. Each was the predestined inheritance of a chosen people.

2. Each was opened up by a Divinely ordained leader.

3. Each was a gift of Divine grace to be received by faith.

4. Each is the sphere of a striking Divine revelation.

5. Each is described as a scene of conflict.

This parallel between Canaan, in Joshua, and “the heavenlies,” in Ephesians, is as instructive as it is striking, and well merits a fuller consideration than we can give to it here. God grant that we ourselves may live in the goodly land, and “possess our possessions,” to the joy of our own hearts and the glory of God!

Click on the “Explore the Book - Joshua” tag below to see all the posts in this series. To go to the start of this series click here.