The Biblical story of Joshua seems to be telling us several things. The background of the enmity between the tribal and religious groups in that part of the world runs deep andg oes back centuries. Joshua was the epitome of what a true leader should be: trustworthy, thoughtful in his decisions, and prayerful. He trusted and obeyed God without hesitation. Joshua’s followers didn’t question his decisions, even when they must have seemed surprising, because they had compete confidence in him. One lesson we might learn from this study is to choose leaders wisely and trust their judgment. We can have a little better understanding of the present turmoil in the Middle East by studying these background stories from the book of Joshua.
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January 5, 2010 at 9:17 pm |
I am a little behind schedule, so I just finished lesson 3. A couple of thoughts struck me as I was reading the lesson. First, I can’t imagine the courage and faith it must have taken to cross the Jordan. A wall of water could be pretty intimidating. I think that the average person would have had to not only trust Joshua’s leadership, but have a strong faith in God and be well versed in the history of her people. The other thought I had was that it may have been difficult to give up the manna (its predictability in particular) and adjust to finding your own food again. It sounds so wonderful, however it would have been a gigantic change.
It was enlightening to think about the power of tradition and symbolism in strengthening the faith of these people and helping them to know that the direction was coming from God.