Lesson Eleven - Joshua and Judges
And the Angel of HaShem said to Manoah,"Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to HaShem." (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of HaShem.) Then Manoah said to the Angel of HaShem, "What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?" And the Angel of HaShem said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is peli [wonderous, unknowable]?" So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to HaShem. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on - it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar- the Angel of HaShem ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. When the Angel of HaShem appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of HaShem. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen G-d!" But his wife said to him, “If HaShem had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time.
Judges 13:16-23
Introduction
- These are the first two books listed in the “Prophets” section of TaNaKh. These are a part of the “Early Prophets,” as are 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings.
- The Prophets are about the “Call of Redemption” – specifically the message of repentance.
- Repentance [teshuvah] seen in the biblical model is not a one time event like the “summer camp” experience. When effectual, it is seen as ongoing and persistent both for individuals and the nation.
- The message of repentance is the message of redemption. It is like HaShem saying, “Come back my beloved. Remember Whose you are. If you will not come back, I will hedge you with thorns and thistles until you remember your Husband. I know that eventually you will return to Me.”
- The Prophets are absolutely proof that the Covenant-keeping G-d still is 100% in covenant with His people Israel.
Joshua
- Deuteronomy set the stage for Joshua. Deuteronomy is the instruction given to Israel on the wrong side of the Jordan. Joshua is played out on the right side of the Jordan.
- Moshe’s successor, Yehoshua [Joshua] is a picture of the Messiah. “Yeshua” is merely a shortened variation of “Yehoshua.”
- Joshua 1:1-10: The challenge – to do what HaShem had commanded, to take the Land.
- Joshua 2:1: like Joshua and Caleb, two faithful spies were sent to observe the Land.
- Joshua 2:8-21; 5:25: Rahab, the righteous gentile joined to ISrael by faith.
- Joshua faithfully leads Israel in the nearly obedient conquest of the Land. The failure of incomplete conquest occurs after Joshua is gone.
- Joshua 24: The history of Israel to date. Redemption and the Land are intertwined. The physical does matter.
Judges
- As good as the book of Joshua appears for Israel, the opposite might be said about Judges. The ups and downs in Judges serve as mini-examples of the sin/repentance prophesied of in Deuteronomy.
- Judges 1:21ff; 2:1-4: All but Judah did not drive out the Canaanites – so the Angel of HaShem asks them why, and links the Land to their redemption from Egypt.
- Judges 2: The repeated pattern in Judges is this:
- The people would forget Whose their were and would sin
- G-d would send a Judged to redeem them from oppression
- The people would repent and obey as long as the Judge lived
- When the Judge died, they repeated the cycle
- The main theme of Judges is that G-d is faithful, even when Israel is not. The redemption concept is seen in the Judges bringing freedom from oppression and the subsequent repentance as long as the Judge lived.
Summary
- Joshua pictures Messiah in faithfully leading the people to their inheritance. The Land is always connected to redemption. When Joshua died, the people alternated between repentance and sin – as soon as they were in trouble, G-d sent a redeemer and the people would repent – and as soon as the redeemer died, the people would fall back into sin.
- Messiah is still alive. We have a Redeemer Who faithfully leads, and who invites us to live persistent lives of repentance.