Oct. 19, 2025

Saints & Sinners

Joshua - Strong & Courageous

Primary Text: Numbers 27:18-22                  

1)  Successor to Moses

Numbers 27:18-22:  So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him.  Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence.  Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him.”…  Moses did as the Lord commanded him. 

Deuteronomy 31:1-2, 7-8:  Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you.  The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’…  Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.  The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

DQ 1) How difficult was Joshua’s leadership role?  Why?

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2)  The Land Promised 

Joshua 1:2-6:  “Moses my servant is dead.  Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.  I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses….  No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.  As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.  Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.”

DQ 2) God promised to be with Joshua to take the land across the Jordan, but He also commanded him to “be strong and courageous!”  Why? 

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3)  Jericho 

Joshua 5:13-15:  Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.  Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”  “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”  Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”  The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.”  And Joshua did so. 

Joshua 6:1-5, 24-25:  Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the 

Israelites.  No one went out and no one came in.  Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.  March around the city once with all the armed men.  Do this for six days.  Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark.  On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.  When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”…  Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.  But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day. 

DQ 3) What did the conquest of Jericho demonstrate to the Israelites? 

DQ 4) Why were Rahab and her family spared when Jericho was overtaken? 

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4)  The Tabernacle

Acts 7:45-49:  Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them.  It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.  But it was Solomon who built the house for him.  “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men.  As the prophet says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord.’” 

DQ 5) What role did the Tabernacle serve in the life of the nation of Israel? 

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5)  As For My Household

Joshua 24:1, 14-15:  Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem.  He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God….  “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness.  Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 

DQ 6) Why was Joshua’s declaration: “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” profound in his time and still important today?

DQ 7) Does your household first and foremost serve the Lord?

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