Faithfully Following the Shepherd - Joshua 1:10-18

Sermon Series: Great Leader, Exceptional Follower

In professional sports there can sometimes be some confusion about who the players play for.  Let’s take professional basketball for example.  Ultimately the players are supposed to be playing for the team owner – he’s the one who is employing the players and he’s the one who is paying the players.  But the reality is that the team owner spends very little time with the players.  It’s another individual, the team coach, who spends his time with the players and is responsible for giving them direction and helping them work together as a team.  In a good scenario the players will have a sense of loyalty to both the owner and the coach.  The coach, who is also an employee, will lead as the owner has prescribed and the players will buy into both the owner and the coach that the owner has hired.  But because the owner spends little time with the players and because the owners can sometimes become preoccupied with the business side of the game, players will often become more loyal to the coach who gets to know them on a more personal level, than the owner.  This can sometimes cause problems among a team, especially if a coach who is popular with the players is fired.  If the players have chosen to be loyal to the coach instead of the owner then they may stop trying as hard or may demand a trade from the owner.  But this isn’t the way it is supposed to work.  Even if one coach doesn’t work out and has to be let go and a new coach is brought in, the players who are employed by the owner are to show their loyalty to the new coach.

We have talked a lot about God-appointed shepherds the last few weeks and talked specifically about both Moses and Joshua as God’s appointed shepherds over His people.  Because Moses was both a human and a sinner, there was no way that he could continue on indefinitely as God’s appointed shepherd.  Moses, like everyone else, would experience the reality of death.  So it became necessary for God to appoint a new shepherd over His people and the last two weeks we saw that God chose Joshua to fill that role.  But with the change in leadership one question that is always uncertain is how those under leadership will respond?  Will they remain loyal to their former shepherd or will they ultimately remain loyal to God and follow the direction of the newly appointed shepherd?  Moses was an outstanding leader!  But could the Israelites really entrust themselves to a new and potentially lesser leader?

God’s people in the OT had a need for a shepherd – that was certain.  But with the realities of sin and death they had to have an understanding that a change of shepherds would be a reality.  So the people needed to commit to God first and foremost and then commit themselves to the shepherd that He had placed over them.  They needed to be faithfully following the shepherd that God had appointed over them, regardless of who it was.  So as we consider the text this morning one of the questions that we want to try to answer is, “What does a God-appointed shepherd deserve from those who are under His care?”  And I’m going to try to present the case that in Joshua 1:10-18 we will see three things that a God-appointed shepherd deserves from those who are under His care. 

Over the first few weeks of our series examining the life of Joshua, we’ve seen a great importance placed on the role of ‘shepherd’ over God’s people.  In our second week, as we examined the passage in Numbers 27 where we saw that Joshua would follow Moses as the shepherd of God’s people, we learned that the shepherd of God’s people was to (1) uphold the holiness of God in a sinful world, and (2) lead a sinful people to follow God and carry out all of His plans.  Moses had failed to do that, disqualifying himself from entering the promise land, and in that passage transferred some of his power to Joshua so that Joshua might take on the role of ‘shepherd’ of God’s people.  Then last week as we examined God’s commission to Joshua we saw that there were two parts of God’s commission.  The first was God’s plan, which was to give His people their inheritance.  The second part of God’s commission to Joshua was God’s call, which was for Joshua to be strong and courageous and to follow all that God had commanded through the Law.  Joshua had to do that because, as the newly appointed shepherd, God had declared that through His faithful obedience and exceptional following that Joshua would cause God’s people to inherit their inheritance – the land.  Over the course of those two weeks we noted how incredibly important the role of shepherd was and continues to be and we have rejoiced that God has provided for us a shepherd in Jesus, who has carried out perfectly the role of ‘good’ Shepherd for God’s people.  As Shepherd of God’s people Jesus has, and continues to, perfectly uphold the holiness of God in a sinful world.  As Shepherd of God’s people Jesus has, and continues to, perfectly lead a sinful people to follow God and carry out all of His plans.  And as Shepherd of God’s people, Jesus lived a perfect life and in great strength and courage endured all of God’s plan for Him – including dying on the cross and rising again – so that God’s people might have their promised inheritance – God, Himself.   Having taken note of all these things we will see this week what transpires as Joshua begins his shepherding duties.  

Verses 10 and 11 of Joshua 1 begin with Joshua’s first command, which verse 10 says that he makes to “the officers of the people.”  The “officers of the people” were not military leaders for the Israelites – they were spiritual leaders.  Consider what Numbers 11:16-17 says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.  And I will come down and talk with you there.  And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.”  Numbers 11 and some other passages in the book of Deuteronomy tell us that these officers were men who possessed the Spirit and who had been faithful to assist Moses, who at the time was God’s appointed shepherd over His people.  Listen to that description again – these officers were men who posses the Spirit and who had been faithful to assist Moses, who at the time was God’s appointed shepherd over His people.  These men were men who, unlike most of the Israelite nation, were men who were faithfully following the shepherd whom God had appointed.

In Joshua 1 we see the newly appointed shepherd approaching these men and giving them his first command to “pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’”  Joshua’s command is an interesting one as we continue to consider the Israelites promised inheritance.  Last week we pointed out a couple of important notes concerning God’s promised inheritance to His people.  We noted last week that the inheritance was certain.  While the Israelites had not actually taken physical possession of their inheritance, God had already given them the land.  It was God’s land to give and He had deeded the land to the people, so it was theirs in a legal sense.  But it was also something that He was still giving to the people because they had yet to take physical possession of the land and dwell within it.  So the inheritance was certain!   But we also noted that it was not the responsibility of the Israelites themselves to acquire their inheritance!  God wasn’t waiting to see how each of them performed before He made the determination of who would and who wouldn’t acquire the promised inheritance.  God said that the acquisition of the inheritance was based on one individual alone – their shepherd, Joshua.  If Joshua was strong and courageous and was resolved to follow all that God had commanded, not turning from those commands to the right or to the left, then Joshua would be successful in causing God’s people to acquire the land.  So we know that the inheritance is certain and we know that the inheritance will be acquired because of Joshua’s obedience, but we also note here in verse 11 that the Israelites still have an important role to play – they must “take possession of the land.”  While the gift may be certain and paid for, the Israelites themselves are responsible for taking what has been given to them.  So Joshua’s first command to those who had been faithful to assist Moses is to go through the nation’s camp and tell the people to make preparations to do their part – to take possession of what had already been given to them.

In verses 12 through 15 Joshua lays out a set of instructions for a second group of people, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.  These were 2.5 tribes of the 12 tribes of Israel and according to Numbers 32 they were already recipients of God’s prescribed inheritance for them.  We learn in Numbers 32 that the tribes of Reuben and Gad had a huge amount of livestock – more than any of the other tribes of Israel – and that after conquering some of the kings and nations to the east of the Jordan river, they discerned that the land they had conquered there was good for raising such a massive amount of livestock.  So they said to Moses, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan” (Num. 32:5).  After hearing the request Moses got really upset.  He assumed that the reason that these tribes were asking for this land was because they were afraid to go into the land which God had promised and afraid to fight the nations which were dwelling there.  Moses compares them to the 10 spies who came back from spying out the promise land and said that them not entering the promise land would discourage their brothers and cause the whole nation to fall into disbelief once again.  And if that happened, God would once again become angry with the Israelite nation and continue to cause them to wander in the wilderness.  But that wasn’t the case at all!  These generations of Reubenites and Gadites fully believed that God would deliver the promise land and the people dwelling within it over to Israel.  They say to Moses in Num. 32:16-17, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place.”  After hearing this, Moses says to the Reubenites and the Gadites, that if they will do as they have said then the land they have already conquered, the land east of the Jordan River, will become “your possession before the Lord” (Num. 32:22).  Then Moses tells them, “Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.”  To which the people of Reuben and the people of Gad responded, “Your servants will do as my lord commands.  Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead, but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord orders” (Num. 32:24-27).  These two tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh had faithfully committed themselves to Moses and his orders to go before their brothers and to help them take possession of God’s promised land west the Jordan River, ultimately because they had great faith and belief in God and what He had promised.  Their belief in the fact that God would deliver that land to their brothers was so strong that they were willing to not simply go in and fight with their brothers, they were willing to go in and lead the way!  And in Numbers 32 we see these 2.5 tribes acting on their faith in God by committing themselves to faithfully follow their God-appointed shepherd.  When Joshua approaches these believing and faithful 2.5 tribes in verses 12 through 15 of Joshua 1, he reminds them of their commitment to and promise to Moses, so that they might make preparations to lead their brothers to take possession of their inheritance.

The two groups that Joshua approaches in verses 10 through 15 represent groups who were godly men, committed to faith and belief in God and committed to faithfully following the shepherd which God had placed over them.  The officers were the spiritual leaders who had been faithful to assist Moses (the first thing a God-appointed shepherd deserves from those under his care), and the 2.5 tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh were tribes who had been faithful to commit to Moses (the second thing a God-appointed shepherd deserves from those under his care).  Now Joshua, the newly appointed shepherd over God’s people, comes and makes his first requests to these groups and we hear their response in verses 16 through 18.  “And they answered Joshua, ‘All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.  Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you.  Only may the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses!  Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death.  Only be strong and courageous.’”  With the death of Moses having taken place these men were faced with a choice – would they deny the leadership of Joshua and do their own thing?  Would they follow Joshua’s lead as long as they were comfortable with his decision making?  Or would they recognize Joshua as God’s appointed shepherd over them and commit to following Joshua just as they had with Moses?  The text says they chose the latter.  The officers of the Israelites and the 2.5 tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh chose to recognize Joshua as their God-appointed shepherd.  And in choosing to recognize Joshua as their God-appointed shepherd, they were committing themselves to faithful obedience to him.  Joshua was God’s representative for them, so they were going to be faithful to follow (the third thing a God-appointed shepherd deserves from those under his care) Joshua in the same way which they were committed to following God, Himself.  They say to Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.”  They even suggest a punishment (in verse 18) for those who would act in disobedience to Joshua’s words – that they would be put to death.  So in a sense, the faithful and believing Israelites were just as committed to following their God-appointed shepherd as they were to following God, Himself.  They were willing to commit to exceptional following of both God and the God-appointed shepherd.  And they were ready to take possession of the land which God had given them as their inheritance.

Small Group Questions for Discussion