Ethan: Welcome to Immerse: the daily bible reading experience.
Day 100 and 63
Introduction to Kingdoms.
The Bible's opening books, Genesis to Samuel King's together
constitute Israel's primary history.
This opening story covers the events from God's creation of the world
and his intentions for humanity.
To the account of Israel's covenant failure and forced exile from the
Promised Land, the first five books beginnings, take us to the point when
God's people have been freed from slavery in Egypt and are about to enter the
land promised to their ancestor Abraham.
The story continues in the next four books.
Joshua Judges, Ruth and Samuel Kings, as Israel enters the land and is
commissioned to be God's light to the nations, it is God's plan for his
new people to inhabit a new place.
The template for showing all people what it means to follow God
and help the world to flourish.
These books are written in narrative form and have a prophetic viewpoint,
always calling Israel to be faithful to the Lord their high king.
As these books begin, God's people are living under God's three earlier covenants
made with Noah, Abraham, and Moses.
The story moves ahead with a description of the events
surrounding the fourth covenant.
This covenant is with David Israel's second king, and promises a lasting
dynasty of kings descended from him.
Originally, the Israelites didn't have a human king because
God himself was their king.
Once Abraham's descendants grew into a nation, God sent Moses to be
their liberator and leader, freeing them from slavery in Egypt and
guiding them to the land of Canaan.
But Moses was a prophet, not a king.
A new leader named Joshua then leads Israel into the Promised Land.
He defeats their enemies and divides the land among the 12 tribes,
but Joshua wasn't a king either.
In the years that follow as described in the Book of Judges, God raises
up a series of leaders called judges to rescue the Israelites.
Whenever their disobedience results in their falling under foreign control,
the Israelites see themselves as a nation consisting of 12 tribes.
And the tradition of tribal leadership is strong, but still this period shows
that while they have no king, all the people did whatever seemed right in
their own eyes, leading to disastrous consequences for the whole nation.
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses foresees that the people will want a king.
When they do, the king will be required to make himself a copy of the law and
read it daily, as long as he lives.
Enabling him to lead the people into covenant faithfulness as the period
of the judges comes to a close.
The times certainly seems right for a king like this to exert a
central authority over Israel and restrain the rampant lawlessness.
So when Samuel, the last of the judges is growing old, the Israelites
ask him to appoint a king for them.
God sees this as a rejection of himself as their king, but he relents and tells
Samuel to anoint a man named Saul.
Saul eventually proves stubborn self-willed and disobedient.
So the Lord tells Samuel to anoint David to replace Saul as king.
After much intrigue and danger, David finally comes to the throne.
He makes grave mistakes himself, but God still knows David as a man after
his own heart because he deeply loves and respects God and his covenant.
David's faithfulness to the Lord serves as the standard by which
all of his successors are measured in the Long Book of Samuel Kings.
Which begins with the stories of Samuel, Saul and David, and then traces the whole
future course of the Israelite kingdom.
However, because the kings turn away from the Lord and worship, other gods
violence and oppression are introduced, and the kingdom splits in two.
Both kingdoms are later conquered by foreign empires, and the
Israelites are forced into exile.
At this point, God's plan appears to be deeply threatened.
His chosen people have failed to fulfill their commitments in the covenant
relationship and are therefore losing their temple, their king, and their land.
Just as Adam and Eve were exiled from the garden of God at the beginning
of the story, so now Israel is exiled from God's new Eden, the Promised land.
The tension in the overall story rises here to fever Pitch.
Abraham's descendants are supposed to be the means by which God
will bless and restore the world.
But now all seems lost.
Only one thread is left.
God's new covenant with King David promises that God will not
abandon David's family and kingdom.
Whatever work God will yet do through Israel for the sake of the world,
he will do through this royal line.
Immersed in Joshua.
The story of how the tribes of Israel became a kingdom begins with
the conquest of the land of Canaan.
God promised he would give this land to Abraham's descendants, and Moses
brought them right to its border.
But Moses' successor Joshua, actually leads Israel into the
land, defeating the city kingdoms.
That rule there, the book of Joshua describes how he did this.
Throughout the land, there are walled cities each ruled by its own king.
As long as these fortified royal cities remain in hostile hands, the Israelites
will be under constant threat, the biggest threat of all looms immediately
before them as they enter Canaan.
Jericho is an imposing fortress that controls the Fords of the Jordan River.
If the Israelites managed to cross over but then can't defeat Jericho, the river
will become a barrier trapping them where their enemies can destroy them.
The task is daunting, but God promises.
Joshua, I will be with you as I was with Moses.
I will not fail you or abandon you.
Be strong and courageous for you are the one who will lead these people to possess
all the land I swore to their ancestors.
I would give them The book of Joshua has three major sections.
Most of it is in the form of a narrative.
But at various places, there are important lists, including records
of defeated cities and kings and of land allotments for Israel's tribes.
The book opens with a description of how God prepares Joshua and the people
for entry into the land and then guides them across the Jordan River.
It begins with God commissioning and encouraging Joshua in his task.
While also urging Joshua and the people to continually meditate on the
instructions God has given to Moses.
Joshua sends spies into Canaan and then leads the people into
the land crossing the Jordan River on dry ground in their new land.
They celebrate their Freedom Festival, Passover, and for the first time
eat food from the land of promise.
Next, Israel invades the central region of Canaan and then spreads out to both
the northern and southern regions.
Key to this section is the realization that God himself is
fighting for Israel, thus keeping his promises to Israel's ancestors.
The warfare Joshua conducts is brutal, but in the context of the story, The
nations are removed from Canaan because they had become utterly corrupt.
Just as Israel itself will be brutally removed in the future for its own
detestable practices, these events must be read within the context of
God's ongoing story of redemption, especially in light of God's supreme
revelation later in Israel's Messiah.
Once the land has been conquered.
The second section explains how Joshua divides it among the tribes.
We may wonder why there is such a detailed description of the
allocation of the land, but this gets at the heart of the covenant.
God's intention has always been for his people to thrive in the
physical place he set apart for them.
Israel's conquest of the Promised Land reflects God's overall objective to
reclaim the entire creation as our good home and his glorious temple.
The final section of the book focuses on Joshua's leading the people
in a covenant renewal ceremony.
The leaders of the various tribes and clans gather at Shechem and
are challenged to serve God alone.
Obey the law of Moses and fully claim their inheritance from the Lord.
Choose today whom you will serve.
Joshua challenges them.
As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.
The people aware of their story and recognizing that they are to
continue living it out, respond.
We would never abandon the Lord and serve other gods.
We too will serve the Lord for He alone is our God at the end of Joshua's life.
The people have received God's gift of land as promised, and are poised to
fulfill their calling as agents in God's mission to all nations, the Lord has
kept his promises to Abraham and Moses.
Now, Abraham's family must step up to become God's covenant
people for the sake of the world.
This concludes today's immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.