JOSHUA

Now we move from The Pentateuch (Torah) to what many scholars refer to as the Deuteronomic History or The Historical books. The introduction to this old testament section in The New Jerusalem Bible indicates: "The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings form one great history, telling the story of Israel from the settlement in Palestine until the Babylonian exile. The materials on which the author draws vary enormously, from folk-tales, through cycles of stories about Elijah and Elisha, to court records of the kings. But the final editor is concerned above all with one viewpoint: fidelity to Yahweh brings prosperity, while desertion of him brings punishment. Throughout these 600 years Israel again and again deserts the covenant and needs to be drawn back to its duty.
-- The New Jerusalem Bible. New York : Doubleday, 1985, Jos

“This first book of the deuteronomic history (The Book of Joshua} begins by recounting the conquest of the Promised Land. (The New Jerusalem Bible. New York : Doubleday, 1985, Jos) In the first twelve chapters of Joshua the Promised Land is entered. Then in chapters 13–21 we see the land divided. The book concludes with the final message of Joshua to his people .The great theme of Joshua is possession. --McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary: History of Israel (Joshua/Judges). electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1991 (Thru the Bible Commentary 10), S. 13

Here we will find many of the Bible stories we learned as children in Sunday School. Such wonderful and meaningful stories they are. John MacArthur in his introduction to Joshua says: “This is the first of the 12 historical books, and it gained its name from the exploits of Joshua, the understudy whom Moses prayed for and commissioned as a leader in Israel (Nu 27:12–23). “Joshua” means “Jehovah saves,” or “the Lord is salvation,” and corresponds to the NT name “Jesus.” God delivered Israel in Joshua’s day when He was personally present as the saving Commander who fought on Israel’s behalf (5:14–6:2;10:42; 23:3, 5; Ac 7:45).
--MacArthur, John: The MacArthur Study Bible : New American Standard Bible. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006

So let us prayerfully and studiously proceed with The Book o Joshua. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in thy sight, O Jehovah, my rock, and my redeemer.
--Psalms 19:14 (ASV)

Some Final Thoughts on Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy is one of the most often quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament. There is much there of great significance. Moses is a larger than life figure who demonstrates again how God can take a reluctant ordinary man and turn him into a great person carrying out God’s work.

A term that has appeared often in Deuteronomy and had bothered me for years is “fear of the Lord”. The connotation here is a negative one but really what is meant is as indicated in the glossary of The Disciples Study Bible: “No single English word conveys every aspect of the word fear in this phrase. The meaning includes worshipful submission, reverential awe, and obedient respect to the covenant-keeping God of Israel.”

Thus we have finished the five books of the Penteteuch (Torah). And " Then, leaving the Plains of Moab, Moses went up Mount Nebo, the peak of Pisgah opposite Jericho, and Yahweh showed him the whole country: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 the whole of Naphtali, the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, the whole country of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3 the Negeb, and the region of the Valley of Jericho, city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 Yahweh said to him, ‘This is the country which I promised on oath to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: I shall give it to your descendants. I have allowed you to see it for yourself, but you will not cross into it.’ 5 There in the country of Moab, Moses, servant of Yahweh, died as Yahweh decreed; 6 he * buried him in the valley, in the country of Moab, opposite Beth-Peor; but to this day no one has ever found his grave. 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye undimmed, his vigour unimpaired. ” The New Jerusalem Bible. New York : Doubleday, 1985, S. Dt 34:1-7

J. Vernon McGee has this intriguing note: “Why was his sepulchre unknown? Because of the fact that Moses was to be raised from the dead and brought into the Promised Land. You will remember that when the Lord Jesus was transfigured on the mount, both Moses and Elijah appeared with Him and spoke about His approaching death. So, you see, Moses did get to the Promised Land eventually. The Law could not bring Moses into the land, but the Lord Jesus Christ brought him in. McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary: The Law (Deuteronomy). electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1991 (Thru the Bible Commentary 09), S. 207

THE FIFTH BOOK OF THE PENTATEUCH

DEUTERONOMY

Before we get too far into Deuteronomy, let me apologize for my misquoting the las reading in numbers, I know that there are only 36 chapters in Numbers and hence the final reading as stated 33 – 46 is incorrect. I hope is still looking for the “missing chapters”. I realize that I am a poor proof reader. Again I am sorry, I hope it doesn’t happen again.

-

Now let’s dig into Deuteronomy. There are many approaches to this final (fifth) book of the Penteteuch (Torah). I like to think of it simply as Moses farewell sermon, but that is perhaps an over-simplification. We’ll now see how other commentators look at this important book:

The Disciples Study Bible:
Moses performed one last task for God. He preached three sermons seeking to answer the people’s questions. In the first (1:6-4:43) he recounted the wondrous acts the Lord had performed on behalf of His people. In the second (4:44-28:68) he reiterated and expanded upon the Law of Yahweh (God). In the third (29:1-30:20) he led the new generation to renew the covenant which had been enacted earlier at Horeb. The covenant was that formal agreement that reflected the intimate relationship between God and His people. This covenant relationship was as vital for a people entering a new land as it was for the nation wandering in the wilderness. Deuteronomy defines that covenant relationship between God and His people.

-Disciple’s Study Bible, Copyright © 1988 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, TN. All rights reserved.

Further:

The Book of Deuteronomy gave the foundation and motivation for the new generation of God’s people to appropriate and live in the land of promise by focusing on these themes:

1. the nature and character of God,

2. the covenant relationship,

3. the response of God’s people in faith,

4. the concept of sin and its effects.

-Disciple’s Study Bible, Copyright © 1988 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, TN. All rights reserved.

John MacArthur in The MacArthur Bible Handbook:
The English title “Deuteronomy” comes from the incorrect translation in the Greek Septuagint (LXX) of “copy of this law” in 17:18 as “second law,” which was later translated again as Deuteronomium in the Latin version (Vulgate). The original Hebrew title of the book is translated “These are the words,” from the first two Hebrew words of the book. This Hebrew title is a better description of the book since it is not a “second law,” but rather the record of Moses’ words of explanation concerning the law. Deuteronomy completes the five-part literary unit called the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.

-MacArthur, John: The MacArthur Bible Handbook. Nashville, Tenn. : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003, S. 49

John MacArthur in The MacArthur Bible Handbook:
The majority of the book is comprised of farewell speeches that the 120-year-old Moses gave to Israel, beginning on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after the Exodus from Egypt (1:3). These speeches can be dated Jan.–Feb., 1405 B.C. In the last few weeks of Moses’ life, he committed these speeches to writing and gave them to the priests and elders for the coming generations of Israel (31:9, 24–26).
-MacArthur, John: The MacArthur Bible Handbook. Nashville, Tenn. : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003, S. 49

J. Vernon McGee in Thru The Bible Commentary:
The theme of Deuteronomy may surprise you. The great theme is Love and Obey. You may not have realized that the love of God was mentioned that far back in the Bible, but the word love occurs twenty–two times. The Lord Jesus was not attempting to give something that was brand new when He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Deuteronomy teaches that obedience is man’s response to God’s love. This is not the gospel, but the great principle of it is here. And let’s understand one thing: the Law is good. Although I emphasize and overemphasize the fact that God cannot save us by Law, that does not imply that the Law is not good. Of course the Law is good. Do you know where the trouble lies? The trouble is with you and me. Therefore God must save us only by His grace



The Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testament:

“Deuteronomy is one of the greatest books of the Old Testament. Its influence on the domestic and personal religion of all ages has not been surpassed by any other book in the Bible. It is quoted over eighty times in the New Testament and thus it belongs to a small group of four Old Testament books [Genesis, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Isaiah] to which the early Christians made frequent reference.” .
—J. A. Thompson

Our Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by Satan for forty days and nights in the wilderness. Three of these temptations are specifically recounted in the Gospels for our spiritual benefit. Not only did Christ use the OT “sword of the Spirit” three times, but each time He used the same part of the “blade”—Deuteronomy! It is likely that this book was one of Jesus’ favorites—and it should be one of ours as well. Deuteronomy has been sadly neglected in many quarters, perhaps due to its somewhat inappropriate title in English, which is from the Greek Septuagint. Its meaning, “Second Law,” has given some the false idea that the book is merely a recapitulation of material already presented in Exodus through Numbers. God never repeats just to repeat—there is always a different emphasis or new details. So also with Deuteronomy, a marvelous book worthy of careful study.
 --MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Dt 1:1

Now as we move on let us remember that after forty years of wandering in the wilderness the children of Israel are poised to enter the promised land without Moses. As Rev McGee says “ a marvelous book worthy of careful study”/.

The Book of Numbers - A Start

NUMBERS – The Fourth Book of the Pentateuch

May the words of my mouth always find favour, and the whispering of my heart, in your presence, Yahweh, my rock, my redeemer.
                                                   Psalm 19:14 New Jerusalem Bible

Folks we have made it through what many folks consider the most “boring” book in the Bible, but I don’t think it is all smooth sailing from here, For instance the placement of the tribes in the book of Numbers which we are starting is not the easiest reading. John MacArthur in The MacArthur Book Handbook (2003, Thomas Nelson Publishers) indicates:

The English title “Numbers” comes from the Greek (LXX) and Latin Vulgate versions, the ancient translations compiled by Bible scholars. The ancient Greek title given was arithmoi, from which we get the English word arithmetic. Latin translators later gave the book the title numeri, which English has borrowed as its general word numbers. This designation is based on the numberings that are a major focus of chaps. 1–4 and 26. The most common Hebrew title comes from the fifth word in the Hebrew text of 1:1, “in the wilderness [of].” This name is much more descriptive of the total contents of the book, which recount the history of Israel during almost thirty-nine years of wandering in the wilderness. Another Hebrew title, favored by some early church Fathers, is based on the first word of the Hebrew text of 1:1, “and He spoke.” This designation emphasizes that the book records the Word of God to Israel.

The instruction for Moses, Aaron, and the tribal leaders to carry out a census of the available militia took place 13 months after the exodus from Egypt, placing the context in about 1440 or 1275 B.C., depending upon the dating of the exodus event—Apologetics Study Bible, The

Thus the book of Numbers begins with God instructed that a census be conducted. It should be noted that this census excludes certain groups namely anyone under the age of 20, women and notably Levites.

Numbers 2:33-34 tells us: 32 These are the Israelites, counted according to their families. All those in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550. 33 The Levites, however, were not counted along with the other Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses
                                                                    Num 2:32-33 (NIV)

So we can extrapolate that the total number of Israelites moving into the wilderness was somewhere in the vicinity of 1.5 million. That is a significant number. Now let us see how the journey progresses.
 
The New Jerusalem Bible. 1985 (Ps 19:14). New York: Doubleday.

MacArthur, J. (2003). The MacArthur Bible handbook. "Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc."--T.p. verso.; Includes index. (41). Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Leviticus and On-going Questions

February – Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua


Here we are in February 2010 having completed our first month of Read Through The Bible in 2010. During that first month we have read very familiar passages from Genesis and Exodus and less familiar and more difficult passages in Leviticus as we move into February. I have heard it said of Read through the Bible programs that if you can make it through Leviticus you can make it through the entire Bible. Folks we have nearly made it and while it was not easy there are things we have learned.

J. Vernon McGee, a commentator of a few years ago says: ‘The book opens and closes at the same geographical spot, Mount Sinai, where God gave the Law. You will remember that Exodus concluded with the construction of the tabernacle according to God’s instructions and then the filling of the tabernacle with the glory of the Lord. Leviticus continues by giving the order and rules of worship in the tabernacle. Leviticus is the great book on worship.’ Since that is part of our mission as Christians and Gods children this is an important book for us.

Rev. Quinn Caldwell, Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston (Pastor Jennifer’s former position) recently commented in a devotional that he had found that when the words just did not come that prayer always seemed to help. I found this to be most helpful in my last post and was about to forget here.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
                                      -Psalms 19:14 NIV

Having almost read through three of the five books of the Pentateuch, we have covered many familiar and sustaining accounts. As I previously indicated, every time I read a Bible passage I discover something new or something I had not noticed before. This time is no exception. There are of course more questions:

Were the days in the creation account 24 hour days?

Were Adam and Eve real or metaphorical characters?

Many commentators believe that Moses wrote the entire Peneteuch while “critical” commentators say how could he write of his own death?

Just three of the many questions, just the beginning, there will be many more.

One of our group has been struck by the willingness of many of the patriarchs to place there women (wives, daughters) into prostitution. How is this? Perhaps we begin with a definition as used in the Bible:

PROSTITUTION — the act or practice of promiscuous sexual relations, especially for money. Several words are used for a woman who engages in illicit sexual activity for pay, including HARLOT, whore, and prostitute.


One type of harlot was the temple prostitute, who performed sexual acts at a heathen temple (Hos. 4:12–14). Both male and female cult prostitutes presided at these temples. Whenever Judah was ruled by a righteous king, this king sought to remove the temple prostitutes from the land (2 Kin. 23:4–14).


Jerusalem is pictured as playing the part of a harlot. But instead of being paid for her services, she paid others (Ezek. 16:15–59)! Those who worshiped idols were also referred to in a symbolic way as harlots (Judg. 2:17).2
Now that was interesting but since Abraham, Issac and Lot did not place their ladies into
Prostitution for monetary profit, it really doesn’t apply.



Let us look in the same place for women:

WOMAN — a female adult. However, the word “woman” is sometimes used in the Bible to refer to a weak and helpless man (Is. 3:12; 19:16).


In order to understand the Old Testament view of woman, one must turn to the Book of Genesis. When God created mankind, He created both “male and female” (Gen. 1:27; 5:2). Both were created in God’s image and both were given the responsibility of exercising authority over God’s creation. The man was created before the woman. Because the man needed companionship and a helper, God caused the man to sleep. From him He created a woman, “a helper comparable to him” (Gen. 2:18, 20). Man is incomplete without woman. Because she is called a “helper” does not imply that she is inferior to man. The same Hebrew word translated as helper is used of God in His relationship to Israel (Ps. 33:20; 70:5).


The culture that developed around the Israelites in ancient times did not always have this perspective of woman. Certain Old Testament passages tend to reflect an attitude that woman was little more than a thing and that a woman should be entirely subordinate to a man. This tendency became pronounced before the coming of Christ. One of the Jewish prayers that dated from that era declared, “I thank Thee that I am not a woman.”


Jesus lived and taught a better way—the way of love. He invited women to accompany Him and His disciples on their journeys (Luke 8:1–3). He talked with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well and led her to a conversion experience (John 4). Jesus did not think it strange that Mary sat at His feet, assuming the role of a disciple; in fact, He suggested to Martha that she should do likewise (Luke 10:38–42). Although the Jews segregated the women in both Temple and synagogue, the early church did not separate the congregation by sex (Acts 12:1–17; 1 Cor. 11:2–16).


The apostle Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). Within the writings of Paul, however, other statements restrict women from participating in church leadership as freely as men. Women were to keep silent in church; they were to be submissive to the male leaders (1 Cor. 14:34–35; 1 Tim. 2:11–12).


How does one reconcile these two seemingly opposing views? In Galatians Paul was stating a general principle that men and women were equal, just as the slaves are equal to their masters in the sight of God. However, Paul did not require or teach that the slaveholder had to release his slaves. In the same manner, Paul requested the women to be submissive to their husbands—to preserve order within the church and to be a witness to outsiders.


Some of the finest leaders in Israel were women, in spite of the fact that the culture was male-dominated. Military victories were sometimes won because of the courage of one woman (Judges 4–5; 9:54; Esth. 4:16). God revealed His Word through Prophetesses (Judg. 4:4; Luke 2:36; Acts 21:9). God used Priscilla and her husband Aquila to explain “the way of God more accurately” to Apollos the preacher (Acts 18:26). The heroes of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 include Sarah (v. 11), Moses’ mother (v. 23), and Rahab the harlot (v. 31).

It becomes obvious that this is not an easy issue. These patriarchs seemed to have placed their wives in these situations to protect themselves. Remembering that women were thought of as property by this culture will perhaps help us to better understand. This issue will not go away.

The next posting will relate to Numbers.
_________________________________________________________________________________
2 & 3 Youngblood, Ronald F. ; Bruce, F. F. ; Harrison, R. K. ; Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1995