Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: The Lord tells Joshua to be strong and courageous and that He will be with him just as He was with Moses, Joshua sends two spies to spy out the land, a prostitute named Rahab and her family are saved because she believes in God and helps the spies, and Israel crosses the Jordan as on dry ground.
After Moses dies, the Lord speaks to Joshua and says, "Moses, my servant is dead. Therefore, arise, go over the Jordan, you and all the people to the land I am giving them... Every place which the sole of your foot treads upon I have given you." He tells him, "No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life," and "as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and of good courage." (This command He makes twice.) He also tells him to observe all the law Moses commanded and not to turn from it to the right or the left so that he may prosper wherever he goes. Also, He says, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you must meditate on it day and night so that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. Then you will make your way prosperous and have good success. Have I not commanded you to be strong and of good courage? Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Then, Joshua commands the officers to tell the people to get ready with provisions, because in three days, they will cross the Jordan to go into the land. The people say that they will heed Joshua just as they did with Moses (barely) and that whoever does not, must be put to death. They also tell him to be strong and courageous. Joshua sends two spies to view the land, and they enter Jericho and lodge in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. The king of Jericho was told of them, so he sends guards to Rahab and tells her to bring out the men, but she hides them and tells the guards that they left her house when it was dark and that she doesn't know where they are. However, she had hidden them on the roof. After the guards leave the city and shut the gate, she goes on the roof and tells the men that she knows the Lord is giving them the land and that the terror of Israel has fallen on her people, because they heard how God let them pass through the Red Sea and how they defeated the Amorites, that their hearts feared when they heard these things. She acknowledges that their God "is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." She begs them to swear by the Lord to show kindness to her father's house and spare them and save them from death. They say "our lives for yours," and that they will deal kindly and truly with her once God has given them the land. She lets them down by a rope through the window, as her house is on to the city wall. She tells them to hurry to the mountain and hide three days and then go their way. They promise to keep their oath as long as she binds a scarlet cord they give her in her window and brings all her household to her own home. Also, she cannot tell their business; she agrees. The men return to Joshua and report what has happened (and it's a better report than last time!)
Joshua rises early in the morning, and they go to the Jordan to lodge before crossing. The people are to follow the ark at a distance and not come near it. Joshua tells the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow, the Lord will do wonders among you." He tells the priests to take the ark and cross before the people. The Lord tells Joshua that He will exalt him in the sight of all Israel so they know that as He was with Moses, so He is with him. So Joshua tells the people to look and see how the ark will cross before them and what God will do. As soon as the feet of the priests enter the Jordan, the waters will be cut off and stand as a heap. So the priests will stand firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan as the people are crossing, and the people will cross on dry ground.
Then, the Lord speaks to Joshua and tells him tell the priests to take twelve stones from the place where they stood in the Jordan as a sign (memorial) to tell their children afterward the story of God's faithfulness, and that they are to set them up on the other side of the camp to remain forever. And about 40,000 men prepared for war crossed over the Jordan. And because of this, the people feared Joshua as they feared Moses. Joshua commands the priests to come up from the midst of the Jordan where they are standing as the people are crossing, and once they touch the other side, the waters return to their place. And Joshua sets up the twelve stones in Gilgal, the place where they camp, and he and commands all Israel to tell their children how God dried up the waters for them just as He did with the Red Sea, when their children ask them what the stones mean, so "that all the people of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that [they] may fear the Lord [their] God forever."
Thoughts/Discussion Questions:
All throughout the Bible, we see that God saved people who had faith in Him. He saved them, i.e. made them safe and sound and whole. If Jesus died for everyone's sins, then that also means retrospectively- anyone during any time who believe in the one, true God. Where else can you see Jesus in the old testament? He is everywhere!