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    Within days of Moses’ death, it was clear that the God of Moses was now the God of Joshua. God renewed his promise and assured Joshua of his presence, even sending a heavenly messenger to Joshua — the commander of the Lord’s armies who would go with Joshua into battle.

    God was about to repossess the land and populate it with his people. In giving Israel their promised homeland, God also brought judgment on the evil ingrained in the Canaanite culture. The Canaanite worship of Baal and his lover, Ashtoreth — gods of fertility — connected sex and public lewdness with crop yields. The entire population had grown so corrupt that God ordered his new nation to destroy the Canaanites and any memory of them from the face of the earth, thereby providing his people with vacant farms and cities ready for possession while protecting them from the enticement of the Canaanites’ idol worship.

“The LORD has forced many great and powerful nations to leave ahead of you. No nation has been able to defeat you. With his help, one Israelite could defeat a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, as he promised to do. So you must be careful to love the LORD your God. If you turn away from the way of the LORD and become friends with these people who are not part of Israel and marry them, the LORD your God will not help you defeat your enemies... You know and fully believe that the LORD has done great things for you. You know that he has not failed to keep any of his promises. Every good promise that the LORD your God made has come true, and in the same way, his other promises will come true.” JOSHUA 23:9-15

    As the news of the Israelites’ sensational entrance into Canaan spread from city to city, the residents of Canaan grew more fearful. They had heard of the mighty God of these people and of his unrivaled power, and they were about to see his power for themselves. For six days the Israelites paraded around Jericho’s walls, blowing trumpets but speechless. Then on the seventh day, God’s people paraded around the walls seven times, and at the end of the last round, the trumpets blared, the people shouted, and God shook the city walls apart from top to bottom, destroying it and the protection it provided. Joshua’s soldiers then climbed over the fallen stones, destroying everything in the city and claiming the victory for God.

    Under God’s command, Joshua led Israel on an unprecedented victory march through the land. However, after capturing and claiming the principal cities of thirty-one different kingdoms, Israel stopped. The task was not completed, but Joshua was old and tired. With God’s help the people divided the land among the twelve tribes of Jacob, and from that day forward Canaan was known as Israel. But in spite of God’s disapproval, some of the Canaanites and their false gods remained to haunt the Israelites for centuries.

    The task of extending the borders of Israel was given to the various family territories, but it never happened, and just as God had warned, his people were soon contaminated with all the evils of idolatry. After Joshua died, the people forgot their mighty Warrior God and did whatever they pleased and worshiped any god they pleased.

Reflection: Since the Garden of Eden, God has instructed his people to focus on his majesty and his holiness, not on their desires. Yet, on earth we have a choice. We can choose self-focused religions, which in actuality make man into a god. Or we can devote our lives to the oniy God beyond us, the only God who fills the yearning in our souls.

    Like Israel, we are in awe of the supernatural displays of God’s power and yet find it difficult to grow close to an invisible God. We are attracted to his power, because we too want power, but we opt for something less vulnerable than loving him and trusting him. After a while we become our own gods, doing what seems right in our own eyes. How tragic to spend a lifetime serving a god who is no wiser, stronger, better, or forgiving than we are.