Hey Bible Readers! I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble and
I'm your host for The Bible Recap. [Music] Today we wrapped up
our seventh book of the Bible! Can you believe it?
We're a quarter of the way through the Bible! I have learned so much in the past 88 days, and I can't wait to see what He teaches me
about Himself in the next 277 days we have left. Even though this represents
my tenth trip through the Bible, I still learn something new
every single day, and I hope you do too. Yesterday, God finished dividing up
the land for all the tribes and the cities of refuge. Today, now that the land
has been sufficiently conquered, the 2.5 Transjordan tribes have fulfilled
their promise to fight for the land among the other tribes. Joshua affirms them,
reminds them to be loyal only to Yahweh, then he blesses them and sends
them east across the Jordan River to their homes. On the way there, the 2.5 tribes decide to build
an altar on the west side of the Jordan River, and it's huge. When the Western Tribes
hear about it, they're ready to fight. You can't just go building altars wherever you want. Yahweh said He would
establish a central location for worship, and this seems to be
in direct defiance of His words. They send a delegation headed up
by Phineas, the son of Eleazar the High Priest, whom you may remember as the one
who stabbed the two people in Numbers 25. It was probably fairly
alarming to have him show up, because he does not
play around when it comes to sin. The western delegation accuses the
Transjordan tribes of turning away from God, and they're afraid God will
send judgment on all of Israel because of it. They want an explanation, and they even offer
the Transjordan tribes a really gracious option for repentance - come live with us on the western side
of the Jordan River instead of turning away from God. But as soon as the Transjordan tribes have
a chance to talk, they clear things up pretty quickly. They aren't rebelling against God
or setting up an altar for worship. They're doing this as a monument of the relationship between them and the Western Tribes, connecting them. They're afraid that in the years to come,
the Western Tribes will disown them and their children, so they want something to serve as a witness for this relationship - a way of helping them
stay connected to something far away, establishing that
they're worshipers of Yahweh too. The Western Tribes are reasonable,
and they're satisfied with this explanation, so they head back home, very relieved, I'm sure. The last thing they want is
to lose the land they finally just got settled into. After a lot of time passes,
when Joshua is nearing 110 years old, he calls all the leaders of Israel
and tells them he's about to die. He reminds them that God is the One
who has accomplished these good things for them, and he also reminds them
that there is still work to be done - they still need to drive out
the lingering Canaanites in the land. Moses was very nervous about the
Israelites turning away from God to worship pagan gods, and he spent a lot of time in the final chapters
of Deuteronomy warning the Israelites about it. And here Joshua leans on the same concerns. And he reminds them that God has
equipped them with all they need to obey Him; they can drive out the people,
because God has promised them that land, so they need to do that! Joshua warns them against idolatry and
intermarriage with those who don't worship Yahweh. If they fail to honor God
in this, they've broken the covenant, and He will take the land away from them. He reminds them of all
the good that God has done to them, but also of all the harm that will
come upon them if they turn away from Him. Then Joshua walks them through
a summary of where they've come from, starting with Abraham's father Terah. They all started out worshiping other gods - there was no such thing
as an Israelite until God invented it. And God grew their numbers,
rescued them, blessed them, fought for them,
and fulfilled His promise to them. Joshua lays out an indirect question: You can serve Yahweh or you can serve these other gods - which is it going to be? And the people respond with a
hearty promise that they will follow Yahweh. Then, Joshua reminds them that they really
aren't capable of keeping that promise on their own, but they respond that they'll totally do it. He tells them to Incline their hearts toward God, and he makes a covenant with them that day, and sets up a stone witness of the covenant, then he sends them home. The book ends with three quick notes: First, Joshua dies and is buried in the Promised Land. And we see that Israel follows Yahweh while
the elders that lived during Joshua's time were alive. That sounds promising, but far from it. Second, those bones of Joseph -
the ones that sat in Egypt for a few hundred years, which they had been lugging
around in the wilderness for forty years and all throughout
the Promised Land during their battles - they finally get a resting place in the land
Joseph's father Jacob bought hundreds of years earlier. And wouldn't you know it, it was on the plot of land
that God apportioned for the tribes of Joseph. Full circle. We've been waiting for this since Genesis 50. Third and finally, Eleazar the High Priest dies. His son Phineas is mentioned in this passage, and since we know that
the priesthood is handed down generationally, we know that Phineas is
primed to be the next high priest. But with the current leader and
high priest both dying on the same page, this definitely signals the
end of an era for the Israelites. What was your GOD SHOT today? I was blown away by
God's goodness to His people. For the first time since
God called Abraham back in Genesis 12, they're living in at least partial fulfillment
of all three of the promises He made to them: they've become a great nation, they have a blessed relationship with Yahweh, and they are living in the Promised Land. Joshua himself says it best in 23:14. He said, "You know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things
that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass
for you; not one of them has failed." God has not failed. He wasn't failing them in the desert
when these things hadn't yet been fulfilled, and He isn't failing them now. He isn't failing them,
and He isn't failing you. He's failproof, and He's where the joy is! Did you know we have The Bible Recap
in book form - in a few forms, actually? We've got it in hardback, and we have
a deluxe edition, and we even have it in Spanish. And we have so many other
resources, in addition to the main book to help you dig deeper into God's word. You can find out more by clicking
the "Books" link at thebiblerecap.com. [Music]