Outline of Joshua

Outline

The book of Joshua divides logically in the middle, with the first half focusing on Israel’s conquest of the land of Canaan and the second half on the distribution of the conquered territories among the Israelite tribes. Better, however, is an analysis of the book as four sections, each characterized by a key Hebrew word. The sound similarities between the Hebrew words yield the following pattern:

{abar Cross the Jordan into the land (chs. 1–5)
laqakh Take the land (chs. 6–12)
khalaq Divide the land (chs. 13–21)
{abad Serve the Lord in the land (chs. 22–24)

I. Crossing into the Land (1:1–5:15)

A. Joshua’s charge (1:1–18)

Setting the stage for Joshua

The book of Joshua begins as the people of Israel complete their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Moses has just passed away, and Joshua, who was his right-hand man, has become the new leader. He is poised to lead the people in an assault against the pagan inhabitants of Canaan, the land that God has promised to the people of Israel.

The Promised Land symbolizes spiritual consciousness, the realization of spiritual riches and supply promised to us by God, which we are to enter into and possess. In Hebrew the name Joshua is identical to Jesus, and both are derived from the word Jehovah, meaning I AM THAT I AM. Jesus, our Way-shower, is our Joshua leading us into the promised land of spiritual consciousness.

As you read, try to see this metaphysical meaning embedded in the story of conquest.

Reading for October

by Allen Watson

REVISION: I goofed! The capture of Jericho takes place in Chapter 6 of Joshua! To include that, we need to read the first six chapters. I don't think we have any chance of covering six chapters in 1.5 hours next Sunday, but we can pick one or two of the chapters to concentrate on, with the rest as background.

POSTED EARLIER

The reason I have posted a version of five chapters of Joshua (see the entry below), instead of just the two chapters originally assigned for our October meeting, is that on reading over those two chapters, I feel they don't cover some of the most interesting parts of the story, like the actual crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and the conquest of Jericho, whose "walls came tumbling down," as the song goes. So, I am recommending that everyone read over all five of the first chapters.

Contemporary language version of Joshua 1 to 5

Here is the text of Joshua, Chapters 1 to 5, from THE MESSAGE, a modern-language translation of the Bible.

After the death of Moses the servant of GOD, GOD spoke to Joshua, Moses' assistant: (Joshua 1:1)

Outline of Balaam's story

• V. Israel in the Plains of Moab (22:1–36:13)
• A. Balak, Balaam, and Israel (22:1–24:25)
• 1. Balak summons Balaam (22:1–6)
  
2. Balaam turns down Balak’s first invitation (22:7–14)
• 3. Balaam accepts Balak’s second invitation (22:15–21)
  
4. The donkey and the angel (22:22–35)
• 5. Balak greets Balaam (22:36–40)
  
• 6. Balaam blesses Israel three times (22:41–24:14)
• a. The first blessing (22:41–23:12)
  
• b. The second blessing (23:13–30)
  
• c. The third blessing (24:1–14)
• 7. Balaam’s final oracle (24:15–19)
  
• 8. Three cryptic predictions (24:20–25)
• B. Apostasy at Peor (25:1–18)
  

Balaam's donkey

Since all the Bible is the story of the evolution of our consciousness, and everything and everyone in the Bible can be interpreted as some aspect of our consciousness or state of mind—what might the donkey in Balaam's story represent?

Here is a summary of the story concerning the donkey from a couple of Bible dictionaries:

Fillmore's comments on Balaam

This gives the basic metaphysical interpretation of the person, Balaam. There is a lot of detail in his story we can interpret, and plenty in the way of application.

Subscribing to this blog

by Allen Watson

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The Story of Absalom and David

The Story of Absalom and David (II Samuel 13-19)

This particular study has nothing to do with the passages we plan to study in the group, but since I had it, I thought I’d share it with you all. It’s something I did during my recent trip to Unity Village. It’s a story that reads like a soap opera. It has everything: lust, rape, vengeance, family feuds, murder, revolution, war, and great tragedy.

Revised schedule for passages to study

by Allen Watson

Due to the Portland week-long SEE classes August 9-13, and the involvement in that event by several of our group members and leaders, we skipped the August 8 gathering of the Metaphysical Bible Study Group. We will be studying the passage that was assigned for Aug 8 in our next meeting, on September 12, at 8:45 AM as usual. The revised schedule for future meetings follows:

Date of Meeting	Bible Reference	Topic
September 12, 2010 Numbers 22 – 24 Balaam, the donkey and the angel October 10, 2010 Joshua 1 – 2 Crossing into the Promised Land November 14, 2010 Joshua 6 The Battle of Jericho December 12, 2010 Matthew 1:18 - 2:23; Luke 2:1 - 40  The birth of Jesus January 9, 2011 Judges 6-8  Gideon Re-posting of upcoming passages.