A Savior foreshadowed

A Savior foreshadowed

This week is a real challenge. I feel like I threw you all into the deep end.”

My friend’s text message, sent with a squinchy-faced emoji, indicated our study of the Book of Joshua was about to get a lot more challenging. She had guided our Friday morning Bible study through the first few chapters fairly easily. We heard Joshua’s charge to be strong and courageous. We marched around Jericho blowing our trumpets. Now, though, we were approaching pages and pages of unfamiliar people and places. We trudged through the hard-to-pronounce cities and endless land allotments for each of the tribes of Israel. We clung to the small bits of story in those chapters, thirsty for any snippet of conflict or dialogue amid a very long geography lesson.

Blessedly, what started to emerge from the shadows of ancient history was a picture of the deliverance that would one day come—first, as God brought the Israelites safely into the promised land and later, when he would provide the spiritual saving they needed far more.

Near the end of the book, once the initial battles were over and the land conquered, Joshua charged the people to stay close to the God who had brought them to the promised land.

Joshua, whose own name means “to save or deliver” in Hebrew, said he and his family would serve the Lord. But, he warned, Israel would inevitably fall short in worshiping only the one true God (Joshua 24:19). Even in victory, near the end of his life, Joshua knew the people will need another, better deliverer.

Nearly 1,500 years later, another Yeshua (an early version of the name Jesus) would arrive, bringing better, lasting deliverance. The Book of Joshua, like the rest of the Old Testament, sets the stage for Immanuel by reminding us of our need for salvation.

At the end of our study, our leader asked each group member to choose another Bible book to read on our own. Half of us chose Judges, the next book in the Old Testament. At first blush, it’s a strange place to spend Christmas. But Israel’s repeated slide back into the idolatry they never fully left is a timely reminder of the gift we celebrate this season.

Jesus, the better Savior, come to earth to deliver us from the judgment we undoubtedly deserve. Immanuel, born to rescue a people prone to wander.

Meredith Day Flynn is a wife and mother of two living in Springfield. She writes on the intersection of faith, family, and current culture.