Lesson Guide:

"The book of Joshua contains some disturbing scenes. Serious questions are raised by the concept of a divine or holy war portraying a group of people with a God-given mandate to destroy another group."

Context:

United Nations:


Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of GenocideArticle II:


In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:


Killing members of the group;


Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;


Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to ...

Israel's crossing of the Jordan in Lesson 3 was a miraculous success: We have tried to imagine the logistics of getting thousands of people of all ages, across a swollen river, together with their animals But, in last week's lesson, God accomplished all of that. And this miracle had another effect: It turned out to be psychological warfare, highly successful.

Text:

Joshua 5


1 "When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they ...

Question:

Nowadays the Jordan River has almost ceased to exist. What was so special about crossing this river in the time of Joshua?


It was spring, when seasonal rains, plus melting snow from Mt. Hermon, put the river at flood stage. Many of the well-known fords were now covered by deep water, swift and dangerous.

Questions:

Had the two spies returning from Jericho experienced any special trouble in crossing the Jordan from west to east?


None was recorded.


So, what could be the problem in crossing from east to west?


The spies were strong young men. The people of Israel were composed of men, women, and ...

"Grace is simply receiving what we don’t deserve."

Question:

Or perhaps is "grace" the usual, natural behavior of a gracious person?"Is it a difficult struggle for God to be gracious?

Question:

Do we get to decide who "deserves" grace?And should we decide that in this case, grace is "deserved," is it still "grace?"

Question:

Was God also using psychological warfare?

Question:

If so, was God's psychology proving effective? Joshua wanted to find out:


Joshua 2


1 Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, “Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.”

Question: Why "especially ...

We have recently studied the book of Exodus:

Question:As God led Israel's escape through the Red Sea, how many battles did Moses have to win against the Egyptians?

Question:How did Moses respond to an unprovoked attack by Amalekites?

Question:On this urgent occasion did Moses ask for specific guidance from God?

Question:And did this impromptu battle give Israel lasting protection from raids by Amalekites or from other brigands?

Question:On later occasions God would send a destroying angel, or rain down hailstones. He might create auditory hallucinations, produce blindness, plague enemies with "terror," or maybe afflict them with stinging insects.

So, was it necessary for God's untrained ...

Key Verses: Exodus 35-40

Key Questions


Why does the text emphasize Sabbath again—right before the Tabernacle is built? What does this teach about how we balance action and rest?

Why is the spinning of yarn by women mentioned specifically? What might this tell us about valuing unseen or domestic labor as spiritual (35:25-26)? What is the significance of all the careful repetition and detail (in all of these chapters)? How do these descriptions help reframe “tedious” tasks as acts of worship?

The expression “as the Lord commanded Moses” appear seven times in both chapters 39 and 40. What could this convey about the ...

Key Verses: Exodus 32

Key Questions


What is more devastating—the loss of the land or the loss of God’s presence? How does this speak to what we truly value in our spiritual lives?

Why does Moses ask to see God’s glory—and why does God only reveal God’s “back”? What does this reveal about the limits of human understanding and God’s self-disclosure?

What does it say about God that God chooses to rewrite the covenant rather than cancel it? How do we experience “rewriting” moments in our relationship with God?

Why is God so emphatic about avoiding assimilation into Canaanite religious life? How do we ...

Key Verses: Exodus 32

Key Questions


Why do the people make a calf? What does this say about how fear and impatience can cause us to recreate false security from our past, even if it enslaved us?

Why does Moses break the tablets? Does this act serve as protest, lament, or judgment?

How do we wrestle with the Levites’ violence in the name of loyalty to God? Where is the line between righteous indignation and spiritual extremism?

What does it mean that Moses offers to be erased for the people’s sake? How does this point to sacrificial love as the core of godly leadership?

What ...

Key Verses: Exodus 24-31

Key Questions


What are some of the possible connections between the Sanctuary and the creation of the world (and the Garden of Eden)? What is the author trying to convey with these parallels?

How is God’s desire to to dwell with the people different from Pharaoh’s rule? What does it mean that God chooses to dwell in a movable tent instead of a fixed temple (and why are these things established in the desert)? How might this shape our understanding of church, presence, and holiness?

Why was the Sanctuary to be built exclusively on the basis of voluntary offerings ...

Key Verses: Exodus 21-23

Key Questions


Why is God so insistent on protecting the widow, orphan, and foreigner? How does your community embody—or fail to embody—this kind of Divine concern?

How do these laws about Hebrew servants attempt to limit power and restore dignity? How do we engage critically with texts that still regulate servitude?

What do these laws of restitution teach us about making things right? What would a system rooted in restoration, not punishment, look like today?

How does Sabbath rest for land and laborers reflect God’s concern for all creation? What systems today deny that kind of rest—and how might we ...