Moses is dead and now his successor Joshua must step up and lead the Israelites. And he's thrown right in at the deep end, because God comes to him and tells him to prepare the people because at long last it is time for them to cross over the Jordan and take possession of the land He is giving them, and he will lead them. God also exhorts him to follow the Law carefully, meditating on it day and night, presumably because Joshua is to be the people's spiritual leader as well as their guide. It's one heck of a first assignment. Joshua must have been terrified and feeling totally overwhelmed. We can tell this because three times in the course of four verses, God tells tell him to "be strong and courageous". And then He tells him not to be afraid or discouraged. God's really trying hard to encourage him here. But they're not just empty words. God gives him reason to be confident, as He promises that He will be with him wherever he goes. Often we can feel like Joshua, but God doesn't send us out alone and unprepared. Just as He went with Joshua, so He will come with us and strengthen us so that we need not be afraid.
Joshua clearly feels a little better after this pep talk because he gets to work, commanding the officers to tell the people to be ready in three days, and calling on the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh to fulfil their promise and fight with their brothers before returning and settling on the east of the Jordan. And the people listen, telling him that they will obey him as they obeyed Moses. That may not have been hugely encouraging as they weren't always totally obedient - Moses had a lot of grumbling to out up with - but at least they recognised Joshua as leader and he had them on side for now.
Joshua's next step is to send out two spies to investigate the land, especially the walled city of Jericho. When these two men arrive in Jericho, they enter the house of a woman named Rahab. The king soon hears of their presence and so Rahab hides them and smuggles them out of the city, even lying to the king's men to keep them from getting caught. She does this, she says, because she recognises that their God is the God of heaven and earth, and that He has given the land to the Israelites. God reveals Himself even where He is not known, and belief can be found in the midst of great unbelief. She also says the the people of the city are afraid of the Israelites because they know what God did to the Egyptians and the Amorites. In return for protecting them, she asks they spare her and her family. The spies agree to this, and tell her to tie a scarlet cord in her window so that when the Israelite army arrives, they will know that house is protected.
The main text of the Bible refers to Rahab as a prostitute, and that is how she is most often known. People talk of "Rahab the prostitute" as though that were here name, or as if her entire being could be summed up by her profession. But are we really defined by our work? Or is there more to us than a job title? And Rahab is not just known by that one word, she is also judged by it. People talk about Rahab and say that "even a prostitute" recognised God. Phrases like that are meant to challenge our preconceptions, but they can only do so by relying on stereotypes. We are only amazed by the faith of a prostitute if we believe that prostitutes are less capable of or prone to spiritual awareness, but that is both ridiculous and insulting. Ideas like this aren't preconcetptions, they're misconceptions, and we must do away with them altogether. But then consider this for a moment, a note in my Bible suggests that Rahab may in fact have been an innkeeper. Would that make her faith any less remarkable? Or the risk she took in protecting the Israelites any less admirable? No, it wouldn't. Or at least it shouldn't. Rahab risked her life for what she believed was right, and that's what makes her a great woman, and would make her a great woman whatever she did for a living.
Anyway, the spies escape Jericho with Rahab's help, and return to the Israelite camp full of confidence. "The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands" they say, "all the people are melting in fear because of us". With this reassurance, the Israelites set out once more, and camp on the banks of the River Jordan. They stay there for a couple of days and then on the third day, the officers go through the camp and tell the people to follow the Ark. Joshua also speaks to the people, telling them "consecrate yourselves because tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you". Are we ever so sure that God will do amazing things that we actually prepare ourselves for it? Maybe not, but we should be. It's not presumptuous to expect something that has been promised.
So the next day, God tells Joshua to tell the priests to take up the ark and walk into the Jordan, then the flow of the river will stop so that the people can cross on dry land. We are told that the Jordan was in flood at the time, so it must have been a terrifying prospect, but the priests faithfully did as they were commanded. And their faith was rewarded because as soon as they stepped into the river, "the water from upstream stopped flowing [and] piled up in a heap a great distance away" so that the people could cross in safety. Of course it's reminiscent of the crossing of the sea of reeds, but it is not any less incredible for having happened before. We should expect God to do amazing things, but we should never become complacent about them. Every work of God is a wonder and a miracle, and we should celebrate every single time.
I also think it's really significant that the priests had to step into the river before it stopped flowing. It was God that stopped the waters, but it also took some effort on the priests' part. They needed to step out in faith and show their willingness to trust and obey Him. In the same way, if we want to see miracles, we're going to have to do something about it. We have to believe that He can and will do wondrous things, but we also have to be willing to let God use us to do His work. We have a part to play, and that's both a privilege and a responsibility.
God tells Joshua to choose one man from each tribe to collect one stone each from the river bed, then Joshua calls the priests up out of the river and the waters flow as before. The people move on and set up camp at Gilgal, on the eastern border of Jericho, where they build an altar from the twelves stones collected from the river bed. Joshua tells the people that when future generations ask what the stones mean, they must tell them the story of how God stopped the waters so that Israel could cross on dry ground, and to show to all the earth that He is mighty. Again, the people must remember what God has done for them.
God is very definite in forbidding the making of idols and yet on numerous occasions He tells the people to build altars. So what's the difference? Well, an idol is worshipped as a god or the embodiment of a god, and as such it is a distraction from the one true God. But an altar is a reminder of God, intended to focus attention on Him and encourage praise and thanksgiving. The Israelites didn't worship their altars, they only worshipped at them, and that's the crucial difference. There's nothing wrong with using an object - a cross or prayer beads, for example - as an aid to worship. It it only when that object becomes the focus and recipient of our worship that it becomes a problem.
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