Question, Moses..Joshua

[Charlotte408]

Ok, so, I’m reading the bible. Really, really reading it…front to back…trying not to skip any parts…never gotten thru the whole thing before and its taken me like a WEEK just to get through ‘Numbers’ agonizes

It can be so frekn confusing…this land then that land and this son of that son of this father…and oooOOOooo…

Okay, so as of right now I’m at Joshua, who from what I’ve gathered took over for Moses…Moses got the slaves out of Egypt…parted the waters, they went thru wilderness for something like 35 years, all the original people who left Egypt have died, so now its their decendents…

They start taking over land after land as God tells them…Moses dies…Joshua becomes the ‘leader’ so to say…They cross the Jordan (another lake or river)…Josh sends out 2 spies, who a harlot hides…eventually they take down Jericho…

OK so my question is…LOL (there were MANY but they all kinda blurred together)

When Moses was leading the people thru the wilderness, and then they cleared out all these nations- Moses says, as per the Lord in, I think its starts at Deuteronomy 2…

“and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall UTTERLY DESTROY them. You shall make NO covenant with them and show no mercy to them”

and…it goes on, more in depth, ending with -

"You shall consume ALL the peoples whom the Lord your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor should you serve their gods for that would be a SNARE to you’’

And then it goes on to say that, its not their righteousness that has delivered these nations unto them, but rather these nations wickedness that has delivered the nation to these people…

But THEN- Moses dies, and Joshua kinda picks up where he left off, right? God speaks to Joshua, and Joshua is now in command. Well, these 2 spies go and search out the land, and a harlot hides them, and they make a deal, that if she ties a scarlet ribbon in her window, that when they return to conquer Jericho, they will spare her and her household.

My question is, if God already told Moses to UTTERLY destroy these nations, because they were WICKED nations, and to UTTERLY take em’ out, I mean He goes as far as to say dont spare women and children, and that they will only try teach their gods etc etc…then where do these two ‘spies’ 1.) get the authority to make this covenant with her and 2.) Why does God let them and/or Joshua get away with it??

Also, another quick question-

Joshua 13-15- WHO is this man that approaches Joshua??? And what is the point of those 3 verses?

 

[Charlotte408]

Great…no takers…



This is exactly why I dont get far…I need like… a bible study…or…just someone hella smart that’ll lemme pick their brain on this stuff…

 

[AnneElliot]

You wait around 5 hours and then give up? lol, not everyone is online all the time.

I’m no Scripture scholar, but I’ll give your questions a go…

My question is, if God already told Moses to UTTERLY destroy these nations, because they were WICKED nations, and to UTTERLY take em’ out, I mean He goes as far as to say dont spare women and children, and that they will only try teach their gods etc etc…then where do these two ‘spies’ 1.) get the authority to make this covenant with her and 2.) Why does God let them and/or Joshua get away with it??

The spies make a covenant with Rahab, the harlot… not with the entire people of her village. God’s prohibition against making a covenant was to protect the Israelites, who have a nasty habit of turning away from God the second the see other nations worshiping other gods, from turning away from their covenant with Him. Rahab, on the other hand, joins the Israelites after this… you’ll notice in the NT that she’s one of the three women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus (she is the father of Boaz who is the great-grandfather of King David). Rahab has had a conversion of sorts… when she’s first talking to the spies she acknowledges what God has done for Israel in Eygpt (they’ve all heard about what happened, and they are terrified). Instead of fighting or giving the spies up to the city, Rahab protects the spies in return for her life (she’s saving her own skin, and the skins of her family members) but apparently adopts the ways of the Israelites and goes on to become the great-great-grandmother of King David in the bloodline of Jesus.

Joshua 13-15- WHO is this man that approaches Joshua??? And what is the point of those 3 verses?

I’m assuming you mean Joshua 5:13-15? The “commander of the army of the Lord”? Some sources would say Michael the Archangel, but others identify this mysterious man as Jesus. Many of the commentaries (Catholics ones) that I’ve come across mention both, but underscore that this is a sign that Joshua is continuing the mission of Moses (i.e., you are supposed to be reminded of the burning bush).

Again, I’m no scholar, but I hope this helps.