These first chapters of Joshua are epic, there's no other word for it. It's a movie waiting to be made (wait, what do you mean, people have already made it into movies?). You get the heroic monologue of Joshua's commissioning by the Lord. There's a comedic chase scene with Rahab misdirecting the spycatchers "Quick, hide under these palms. Hi officers, are you looking for spies? Follow them that way, out the gate, yep, keep going". I want some impressive special effects to recreate the drying up of the Jordan river. Circumcision, not so photogenic, move along quickly. Then the dramatic appearance of the commander of the army of the Lord. And more epic Helms-Deep-scale siege and battle scenes, with victory at Jericho, a crushing defeat at Ai before coming back with a decisive victory. In the middle you get the suspense building choosing of the transgressors, like every good reality TV show. "The next tribe to be chosen is... (insert dramatic pause and heartbeat music here)... Judah."
Film tropes aside, there are several threads (including one literal scarlet one) weaving through these chapters. I plan pick up on some of these in future posts. One is leadership; another is the repeated phrase "Be strong and courageous". A third is consecration, and along with that questions about the destructiveness of God.
The theme I want to explore here is Remembering. There are several events which mimic events in Israel's history. Even though Israel as a nation is only just getting started, God really wants to ingrain his work in the minds of his people. God parted the waters of the Red Sea to lead his people out of Egypt, and here again he parts the waters, this time of the River Jordan to lead his people into the Promised Land. Rahab tied a scarlet cord over her door to protect herself and her family from death, which to my mind echoes the blood of the Passover Lamb, spread over doors to save firstborns from being struck down by the Lord (Exodus 12). The Israelites celebrate Passover, and circumcise all the men as they have before.
This unfolding story was a fundamental part of Israel's identity as a people, as God's people. Almost all those people who had walked the exodus had since died in the wilderness. So their story needed to be told, or it will be forgotten. Joshua leads the people in creating the memorial to God's work, past and present, set in stone (so to speak) for the future.They gather stones to serve as a reminder that "the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth will know that the hand of the Lord is mighty" (Joshua 4:23-24).
The History books as a whole are about remembering. Because these stories of God at work were remembered, through rocks, through recitations, and through writing them down, today we too get to remember God's work throughout history. We can (Joshua 4:24) know that God is mighty, and fear the Lord our God forever.
Thinking about an application, I realised that I know very little about how God has been working in recent generations, such as before I was born. So I'm asking some older Christians to share a story of God at work in their generation, and I'll see what encouragement comes from that. This is one way we can remember what God is still doing.
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