Lesson Guide, Introduction:

“Shechem was the place where Abraham had built an altar upon his arrival in the land, and where God first gave him the promise of the land (Gen. 12:7). Now, when the promises given to Abraham have been fulfilled, Israel renews the covenant with God at the very place where the first promise had first been given….


“Israel’s existence as a nation is not the merit of any of its ancestors but the exclusive work of God’s grace. The fact that the Israelites are settled in the land is not a ground for boasting but the very reason why they should serve God….

Lesson Guide:

“The lessons of the past must be appropriated by each new generation.”

Questions:

How can you best appropriate a lesson that was learned by someone else?

Do we expect that each new generation will think exactly as their parents thought?

Did all past generations think the same?

Is it possible for each new generation to think the same as all past generations?

Lesson Guide:

“What are ways in which we can, as a church, have a better sense of corporate responsibility; that is, grasp the idea that what we do impacts everyone in the church?”

Questions:

Should our church, as a corporate body, recognize that among its 23 million members, many variations exist?


Should such recognition be considered a threat? An opportunity?


How can any prescribed standard, program, routine, or manual serve so many different individuals?

Lesson Guide:

“What does it mean to serve the Lord in sincerity and in truth?”

Question:

Should sincerity include recognition of unwelcome or unpopular truths?


Is it possible for a truth to be unwelcome?


If truth is true, does its popularity matter?

Lesson Guide:

“To fear God is a constant awareness of the magnitude of His demands, a recognition that He is not only our heavenly Father but also our Divine King.”

Questions:

How and how often did Jesus portray God as Divine King?


How and how often did Jesus describe God as Heavenly Father?


How and where shall we place our own emphasis?

Lesson Guide:

“While ‘fear’ describes the inner attitude that must characterize an Israelite, the practical outcome of reverence to God is service.”

Questions:

If you are a manager, or have observed good management—


Which method would likely lead to better service?


Fear of authority?


Or

Teamwork in support of shared goals?

Lesson Guide:

“As a true and faithful leader, Joshua respects the free will of his people and wishes that Israel would serve the Lord out of free choice rather than compulsion.”

Questions:

As a true and faithful leader, does God respect the free will of his people?


Does God wish that we would serve him out of free choice rather than from compulsion?


If we serve God from a sense of compulsion, rather than from free choice, can God ever address us as “good and faithful servants?”

Lesson Guide:

“Israel is free to say ‘no’ to Yahweh after their divine election, but that would be nonsensical and absurd.”

Question:

Does our God grant us freedom to be nonsensical and absurd?

Lesson Guide:

“Israel can say ‘yes’ to God, and continue to live, or they can turn their backs on Him and cease to exist.”

Questions:

What is the mechanism here?

If Israel, or you, or I, choose to turn away from God, how will God respond?

God: “Since you turn away from me, justice demands that I blot you out of existence?”

Or

There is only one Creator, only one source of life.

Should I freely choose to separate myself from my only source of life, what would be the natural consequence of that irresponsible choice?

Text: Exodus 19:

8 And all the people responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.”

Text: Joshua 1:

16 They answered Joshua, “We will do whatever you command us, and we will go wherever you send us.


17 We will obey you just as we obeyed Moses. And may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.”

Question:

And should any fail to obey, what did the people suggest as minimum penalty?

Text: Joshua 1:

18 “Anyone who rebels against your orders and does not obey your words and everything you command will be put to death.”

Background:

Idolatry was embedded in Jacob’s (Israel’s) long family history.

Text: Genesis 31:

Laban to Jacob:

30 “But why have you stolen my gods?”

Jacob to Laban:

32 “But as for your gods, see if you can find them, and let the person who has taken them die! And if you find anything else that belongs to you, identify it before all these relatives of ours, and I will give it back!”

But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household idols.

Text: Joshua 24:

14 “So, fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone.

15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

Background:

Now, hundreds of years after Jacob and his immediate family, his descendants are confident that they are now enlightened, impervious to the failings of their ancestors.

Text: Joshua 24:

16 The people replied, “We would never abandon the Lord and serve other gods.

17 For the Lord our God is the one who rescued us and our ancestors from slavery in the land of Egypt. He performed mighty miracles before our very eyes. As we traveled through the wilderness among our enemies, he preserved us.

18 It was the Lord who drove out the Amorites and the other nations living here in the land. So, we, too, will serve the Lord, for he alone is our God.”

Summary:

Reassured by the people’s confident response, Joshua congratulated his nation for their faithful allegiance to the only true God.


No?


No!

Text: Joshua 24:

19 Then Joshua warned the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.

Question:

Had Joshua been closely associated with Moses, when God offered clear assurance of his forgiveness?

Text: Exodus 34:

6 The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,

“Yahweh! The Lord!
      The God of compassion and mercy!
I am slow to anger
      and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
7
I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.
      I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin….

Text: Isaiah 55:

6
Seek the Lord while you can find him.
      Call on him now while he is near.

7
Let the wicked change their ways
      and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
      Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

Question:

Might everyone have felt better and done better, if Isaiah had arrived hundreds of years sooner?

Questions:

Are we grateful that we live long after Joshua?


Are we grateful for the apostle Paul, who wrote thus to his contemporaries?

Text: Philippians 4:

13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Comment:

But alas, Joshua can offer no such comfort. He must depend on the language of compliance and threats:

Text: Joshua 24:

20 “If you abandon the Lord and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you.”

Comment:

So, who tries to comfort whom?

Text: Joshua 24:

21 But the people answered Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!”

Comment:

Having given his sermon, his warning, and his call for commitment, is Joshua pleased with his congregation’s vocal choice?

Text: Joshua 24:

22 “You are a witness to your own decision,” Joshua said. “You have chosen to serve the Lord.”


”Yes,” they replied, “we are witnesses to what we have said.”

Question:

Is Joshua comforted by the success of his altar call? Should he have made this appeal on the first night, or the last night, of his evangelistic series?

Text: Joshua 24:

23 “All right then,” Joshua said, “destroy the idols among you, and turn your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

Question:

Joshua please sir, the people have already made their public commitment to God. Why are you back to preaching against idols?

Modern idols?

How do we invest our abilities, our health, our money, our time?
Could any such commitments become idols?

Text: Joshua 24:

24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God. We will obey him alone.”

Question:

Don’t we wish that we could know the mind of Joshua, to maybe understand why he is so reluctant to accept and celebrate the commitment of his congregation?


Could we?

Lesson Guide:

“Joshua knows the instability of the first generation, who promised to obey God in similar terms (Exod. 19:8, Exod. 24:3, Deut. 5:27), yet who forgot their promises while the words were still on their lips (Exodus 32).”

Questions:

If the goal is to banish foreign gods, what are more effective methods?

To smash and burn more idols?

To “repent and be baptized,” and to seek “forgiveness of sins?“

To come to know God as represented by Jesus, who did assure us, “Your sins are forgiven.” But Jesus more often offered friendship, saying things like

“Come unto me.”

“I will give you rest.”

“Peace, be still.”

“Would you be made whole?”

Lesson Guide:

“The covenant is about a living relationship with the Lord, which cannot be fully expressed by mere regulations.”

Questions:

When our church plans for and spends much money on large meetings, do we thus improve living relationships?


Do we write and vote ever more regulations?

Lesson Guide:

“Forgiveness of sins is not an inalienable right of humanity but a miracle of God’s grace.”

Questions:

Is it hard to accept good news about a gracious God?

What is our most urgent inner desire?

To be forgiven?

Would we rather—

believe that it is hard for God to forgive?

realize that God delights to forgive?

Questions:

If God is less like a stern judge, and more like a gracious father, what might we request of Him?

To be saved?

To be healed?

Lesson Guide:

“Israel’s religion was never intended to be legalistic; rather it was to be a constant conversation in faith and love with a holy and merciful Savior.”

Comment:

But Israel’s religious practice was prescribed, in detail, in books such as Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Very rarely was motive questioned or considered.

Questions:

How and where did such books teach Israel about a holy and merciful Savior?

Did something go wrong in the method?

How might Israel have done better?

How might we do better?

Question:

If Jesus had appeared in person, to Joshua and his contemporaries, would they have given Jesus a better, or a worse reception than he received when he arrived “in the fullness of time?”

Text: Luke 5:

20 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

21 But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?

23 Is it easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?

24 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

25 And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.

26 Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”

Questions:

If the above healing event were to occur in one of our congregations, where would you be most comfortable?

As a close friend of the paralyzed man?

As the photographer recording the video?

As the speaker, finding your sermon interrupted by a surprise healing?

As a member of the board of elders, asked to investigate this disturbance in a service of divine worship.

As the physician who was asked to review the paralyzed man’s medical record, and give a report of your examination?

As the conference president, trying to deal with stridently differing opinions about what happened, and what to make of this event?

Questions:

Is it possible for all people accept all truth at all times?


Is God wise to lead his people no farther and no faster than they are ready to be led?

Questions:

Do you wish that you could observe the interactions of Joshua and his people?

Would you rather be a full participant, or an unseen observer?

Are we able to learn some things about God that Joshua could not know?

Text: Numbers 13:

16 Moses called Hoshea (“salvation”), son of Nun, by the name Joshua (“YHWH is salvation”).

Questions:

We have learned that although they were separated by hundreds of years, Joshua of ancient Israel and Jesus of Nazareth had the same given name.

Does this similarity imply that Israel’s leader Joshua knew anything about the future coming of Jesus of Nazareth?

Is it OK to look for similarities between these two historical characters?

Must any two people share some similarities?

Should we be surprised at their many differences?

Did one man named Jesus make any predictions about the other man named Jesus?

Is it all right if you are fascinated by the ideas of “type” and “antitype?”

Is it all right if you are bored by long discussions about “type” and “antitype?”

Questions:

Suppose that in God’s future kingdom of peace and light, you become aware of a scheduled public conversation between Joshua and Paul, or between Joshua and Jesus—


Would you be delighted to hear and compare their differing viewpoints?


And if their understandings should differ, would you feel compelled to decide who was right and who was wrong?


If, in your own congregation, there were three individuals who thought rather like—

1. 1. Joshua and
   2. Jesus or
   3. Paul

Would you welcome all three to the same meeting?

And after their panel discussion, would you try to judge who was the winner, and who lost?

Text: 1 Corinthians 13:

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.


12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.


All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.


13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

© 2025 R. Wresch, M.D.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.