Gospel and Truth Part 2

The book of Joshua Part 1

We are very pleased to introduce to you the first ever guest blogger on Thetruvine! He will be covering the book of Joshua in a multi part series. You should keep a close eye out for these posts as they come from a published author. This is very exciting and we cannot wait to see how all of you respond.

Without further ado, here is Matt Davenport.

About Me

Matt (M.R.) Davenport was born in a small town in Northern California. He's traveled the U.S. a lot since then. He is the "middle" child. "And therefore, have the issues of such." As he points out.

He served in the US Army as a Military Policeman. It was, at the time, his aspiration to be a full time California Highway Patrolman. But life got in the way.

He met and married his first wife shortly after leaving the service. They had three children together. Mercedes first while living in Missouri. Then Caleb came along after they returned to California. Then Jacob. He loves his kids.

Separation (and eventually divorce) from his first wife was a devastating time. For both him and their children. He blames no one for it but himself. Details of what led up to their parting of ways will often be referenced in his blogs.

In 2016 Matt moved from Missouri to Oregon where he now resides. A long string of what can only be described as "supernatural" events led him to meet another lady named Nancy. Their romance budded and grew for a year and a half and they were married in April of 2018.

From the time he was in school, he has been a writer. And often fantasized about writing a book. "It wasn't until I met Nancy that God led me to being able to accomplish it. Now it cannot be turned off and I write constantly."

With his first book (Crazy Amazing Love: 31 Pieces of Love) published, the biggest hurdle was accomplished. Writing the second one (Ketchwood: Curse of the Everstone) came much easier.

The first was a teaching book about how amazing God's love is for mankind.

This was named for, and grew out, of a blog he began at the "clear direction" of the Holy Spirit. It is the first of a series he is developing based upon the different aspects of God's created attributes that He puts in us. Love being the first and most important, next will be Joy, then Faith, Hope, Grace, Peace, Mercy, Blessings, Trust, Truth, Holiness, and, finally, Salvation. Twelve in all. Each will be titled under the cover of "Crazy Amazing Love: 31 Pieces of..." 

The 31 came along as the original book was to be a 31 Day Devotional. But with prayerful advice from others, it was agreed that the chapters were too long for a simple devotional and it was renamed and re-purposed.

One of the issues Matt faced early on in writing was that he fought to remain in-genre. As most writers do so, his mind could not. And would not. So, he did not. One of his heroes of the faith was C.S. Lewis. "He said and did so much for the Christian writer. He wrote teaching books, novels of fantasy and allegory, and more. I guess I saw that God has blessed me in that arena as well. I figured if he did it, I can too. As long as God gets the glory." Matt has worked in many fields in his life. He has been a truck driver, pastor, police officer, pizza delivery driver, office administrator, short order cook, and more. Being a dad is one of his favorite things of all. He currently lives in Albany, Oregon. Where, he says, "A revival is about to break out. God loves our city and He is going to save it!"

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The Book of Joshua

Study One

Joshua is mentioned about 200 times in scripture (mostly within his own book). Only twice in the New testament. Acts 7:45 he is referenced in passing during Stephens great oration prior to his being stoned to death. And then the name is spoken of again in Hebrews 4:8. Candor depends upon your translation for it is actually Jesus being imputed there.

By most standards and deductions, Joshua, himself, wrote the Book that bears his name. Thomas Nelson Bibles has facilitated this using seven basic principles. If you wish to know them, check out their website (thomasnelsonbibles.com) or type “who wrote the book of Joshua” in Google and it will be on the first page. Since the point of the author is not the point of our study, I won’t go into it any further than that. He wrote his own book.

That said, we are reminded that all scripture itself was given by inspiration of God. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) And I remind you that I generally use the New King James Version. But I might use the NIV. Or the Message. Or even, God forbid, the New Living Translation. The truth is God gave us a message. Sometimes, it’s easier to understand what He is saying by way of someone else’s interpretation. Don’t pass out if it’s not your favorite version!

Our story begins as Joshua is taking the reins from Moses. Recall, if you will, that Moses had lost his temper (Numbers 20) and struck the rock that God had told him to speak to, in order that water would come forth to replenish God’s People. He was mad because of the sin of the Israelites. Which was an ongoing difficulty.

You may also recall the first we hear of Joshua was in Exodus 17 where Moses commands him to choose some men and go out to fight Amalek. But as recorded in Numbers (a later Book), we see that Joshua had been among the 12 Leaders sent into Canaan earlier to spy it out. He and Caleb were the only ones to return with a positive notion about the “Promised Land.” This is covered in Numbers 13 and 14.

So in the first chapter of Joshua, we pick up as Moses has died and Joshua, to whom is given the title “Moses’ assistant” (the King James refers to him as Moses’ Minister – a little more dignified, but the same Hebrew word, sharath, meaning to serve), hears from the Lord to take the people over Jordan.

We won’t get too far here because this is more than just mere words and stories in a book. This is far greater than a man taking control from another and leading the People into a great destiny. Much of what happens along the way is food for you and I. It is not enough to have the simple book knowledge and the memorization's of the path that this man blazed. It is not enough to say to one’s self, “I have read the Bible.” It is not enough to look at this as a notch on your ever quivering belt of Christian experiences.

No. Indeed, it is imperative that we gain the spiritual meanings, references, allegories, and underlying “nuggets” that God truly intends for us to garner. Otherwise, it is just a story in a book of books. And, per chance that be what it is for you, my strongest advice is to plunge into it like you would into the deep end of the pool from the high dive on a sultry, sweaty summer day! Give rapt attention to this as we proceed for much of this is no plain account, but a plan that God laid out for you from the beginning of time. A plan that will take you from reading the simplest of narratives to a full life altering realization that you may indeed never recover from. So we hopest!

Shall we begin?

Joshua 1 - The initial paragraph speaks, as we mentioned, of the handing off of the leadership to Joshua from Moses; as Moses dies, and God does the handing off. God tells his servant, Joshua, to begin by leading the Children of Israel across the Jordan. Remember, we speak of here of over one million people. Which is very difficult for us to comprehend. The numbers are not exact, but it would be somewhat equivalent to leading the entire city of San Diego, California, forward as one massive group. A daunting task.

We tend to become familiar with our central character and lose sight of the overall picture. Which is just that: THE BIG PICTURE! As we read in the previous accounts of scripture, Joshua had a special relationship with Moses. God had plans to place him in a position of authority from the beginning. In fact, he had even joined Moses as he scaled the “Mountain of God,” Mount Sinai. (Exodus 24) So we see, Joshua didn’t just show up and God said, “Take over.” In fact, we often do not realize the age of Joshua at this point. But then, we fail to realize the age of many of the men of the Bible. We tend to picture them as Hollywood would do so. As inaccurate as that is, it remains not the point, nonetheless.

To keep this within a readable length, we will close here. When we come back in the next study, we will break down more of the conversation between God and Joshua. Much of which can be a lesson to us directly. We struggle with the Old Testament not being pertinent to our day to day life. We often focus on the teachings of the Apostles in the New testament. Which, to be sure, is a grand thing to apply to our lives. But there is much in the Old “Covenant” that still applies to us today.

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