Rest. It has been a long road for Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land. But now at the close of the book of Joshua they finally enjoy the rest God promised them long ago (see Deuteronomy 12:10). Joshua, now old and near death, addresses Israel one last time. He reminds them of God’s amazing faithfulness in rescuing them from Egypt and giving them a good land to enjoy. God has done what he promised Abraham. Joshua reminds—but he also warns. He warns them that their covenant with God, entered into under Moses at Mount Sinai, came with both blessings (which they now enjoy) and potential curses. Joshua warns the people that if they fail to live faithfully to the covenant God will one day drive them out of the land he has just given them. Joshua gives Israel a final choice and they gladly renew their covenant with God.

As we go into the book of Judges, we are left with the question: can Israel remain faithful? Or, as Joshua hints, will they fail to keep covenant?

The book of Judges has told a tragic story of Israel’s downward spiral into idolatry, sin, rape, violence and civil war. Saul is the last judge of Israel. Still oppressed by the Philistines, Saul calls Israel to repent and return to the Lord, to rid themselves of their foreign gods. As throughout Judges, when Israel repents God gives them victory over their enemies and there is momentary peace under Samuel. As Samuel ages, the people come and demand that God give them a king. Samuel is heart-broken, and warns them that a king will only oppress them. But Israel rejects God’s call on their lives and wants to be just like the other nations, so they demand again that God give them a king. 1 Samuel tells the story of the last judge, the first king, Saul, and the young, future king, David.

This passage raises a question that haunts all that follows: will Israel’s kings lead them to greater faithfulness or faithlessness? Will Israel end up looking just like the other nations?

The book of Deuteronomy records a covenant renewal between God and Israel, led by Moses as Israel are about to enter the Promised Land. The form of Deuteronomy is similar to that of many ancient treaty-covenant documents. Deuteronomy 28-30 contains the blessings and curses typical of such documents, where the consequences of obeying or disobeying the covenant are laid out.

Moses encourages Israel with the incredible blessings God offers if they keep covenant, but warns of the terrible curses associated with breaking covenant. Chief among these curses is the threat of exile. Israel renews their covenant with God and Moses adds his personal plea for them to remain faithful. Sadly, Moses predicts that Israel will indeed turn from God and suffer the curses outlined, even exile. But he ends with hope, saying even in exile God will hear them if they cry out to him and repent. God will have compassion and rescue them, once again, from captivity. Moses finally implores Israel to choose life not death, blessing not curses.

This passage hangs over much of the rest of the Old Testament: will Israel live in blessing or curses? Will the prediction of exile come true?

After many years wandering in the desert, Israel finally enters the Promised Land, fulfilling God’s long ago promise to Abraham. Joshua is presented as a new Moses, Israel’s appointed leader. As Israel cross over the Jordan River the waters part, a new exodus, a sign to them and the surrounding nations that God is with them. On the plains outside Jericho all the men are circumcised, renewing the covenant. Things look hopeful – Israel are looking like the nation God called them to be. A strange man who names himself “commander of the army of the Lord” visits Joshua. As with Moses before the burning bush, Joshua is commanded to remove his sandals as he is on holy ground: God is with Israel. But will they remain faithful?

God had commanded Israel to drive the nations out of the Promised Land, but in the book of Judges we see Israel’s failure to obey. After the death of Joshua, Israel begins a downward spiral. First, they worship other gods. This is a temptation Israel face their whole history in the Land, and it begins right in the beginning. Indeed, this is one reason God commanded them to drive out the nations. Second, God hands Israel over to her enemies. Three, God raises up a deliverer (a “judge”) to rescue them. But Israel soon abandons God again, and the cycle begins all over again. The first judge is Othniel.

Will Israel ever fully obey their covenant with God? Can the people of God be faithful to God? Can they be different to the surrounding nations in order to bless the nations?

This is one of the most shocking stories in all of Scripture. Israel was called to be different from the other nations, to shape their life around God’s commands. But here we see Israel brutal, violent and murderous; no better—if not worse—than the surrounding nations. Consider, would the Levite have been better to stay the night among the foreign Jebusites? The book of Judges ends with Israel almost torn apart by civil war—instead of going to war against the surrounding nations, they now go to war against themselves (note Judges 1:1-2 versus 20:18). God’s people look little like the nation he desired—and we wonder, how can they ever be the blessing to the world God called them to be?

The book of 1 Samuel tells the story of the last judge and the first king of Israel. In the days of Samuel even the priesthood is corrupt, but God raises up Samuel to be a judge and prophet. Still threatened by the Philistines, Israel treat the Ark of the Covenant as a military totem, a simple guarantee of victory, not the holy place of God’s presence. But God is not a totem and shows this by allowing himself to be captured by the Philistines. What follows is a comic scene, as God, though “captured”, shows himself superior to the gods of his captors. The memory of the Exodus is explicably invoked by the Philistines to explain God’s actions. The Ark is eventually returned to Israel and they learn a hard lesson about the holiness of their God.

‘Eden’ means desire, and in the Biblical narrative it is often aligned with the picture of the Promised Land, the home that God promised to Abraham, and to which Israel was journeying in the Exodus. The duality of blessing and cursing – of land and people – which becomes so prominent during Israel’s time in Canaan (between Exodus and Exile) is clearly prefigured by the first chapters of Genesis.

Abraham (the wanderer or exile with no children) is promised a land, many descendants, and that through his descendants, God would bless the whole world. This is the great expectation that Israel has with them as they begin their Exodus and as they cross the Jordan River.

The Law, given by Moses, set up a way of life for Israel that was intended to be radically different from that of the surrounding nations. Festivals structured the year, and set up patterns of holiness, celebration, rest and remembrance. Life, rest and God’s other blessings were sacred, and the community was to protect the weak, poor and foreign from injustice.

The story of Ruth and Boaz is in many ways an illustration of the life Israel was called to live. Ruth, a poor, widowed Moabite, is welcomed into the blessing of Israel, and becomes part of God’s redemptive plan.

As the divided Kingdoms of Israel and Judah continued to decline, God sends prophet after prophet to warn of the consequences of the broken covenant. Ultimately, Israel’s unfaithfulness leads to Exile from the Promised Land.

The story of Naboth’s vineyard tells how far God’s Kings and his people had fallen from their original calling to a new way of life.

Israel’s prophets longed for a time when the nation (or what remained) would no longer be cursed and devastated by God, but would live again in the blessing of God in the Land.

The New Testament authors present Jesus as not merely a new Exodus from slavery to sin, but also the fullest expression of the blessing promised to Abraham. Through faith, the blessing of God is now extended, not just to the people of Israel, but to all humanity, and not merely the Promised Land, but now the whole Cosmos.

The book of Deuteronomy is made up of a series of addresses by Moses to the people of Israel on the plains of Moab. It offers to a new generation of Israelites another telling of the law Israel received at Mount Sinai and was recorded in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. Moses leads Israel in a covenant renewal before they enter the Promised Land. Deuteronomy ends with the death of Moses and the naming of Joshua as his successor.

Deuteronomy is a very important book for understanding the Old Testament. A great deal of what follows, including the history from Joshua through Kings, is influenced by the vision of the covenant, the call of Israel and the law that we find in Deuteronomy. Israel is held to account to the vision of its life we find in its pages. Deuteronomy can be seen as offering an ideal picture of what Israel was called to be—unified and elect, serving one God, their life shaped by the covenant. As with much of what follows in the story, Deuteronomy wrestles with the tension between the free gift of land and election given to Israel by God, and the conditionality of this gift based on the Israel’s faithfulness to the covenant. Israel is called to uncompromising loyalty to the one God, their Lord.

Deuteronomy should be read in light of the story so far. The descendants of Abraham were called to be a blessing to the world. The covenant at Sinai (see Exodus 19) had suggested that they would be this blessing if they lived their lives faithfully, according to God’s will. Deuteronomy gives a deeper picture of what God’s will is for Israel and influences all that follows.

The book of Joshua tells the story of Israel’s conquest and distribution of Canaan, the Promised Land. It begins with the calling of Joshua to lead Israel as a new Moses and ends with his death. In the pages of Joshua we read accounts of God’s amazing faithfulness as Israel, in fulfillment of the promises to Abraham, begin to conquer the land. But we also read of Israel’s continued lack of faithfulness to God, as they fail to keep covenant with him. As Moses warned in Deuteronomy, Israel at times looks just like the nations she was commanded to expel; the seeds of the Exile begin to be sown. The influence of the book of Deuteronomy is found throughout the book of Joshua; the history of Israel is read in light of Deuteronomy’s view of the world.

The first half of Joshua, chapters 1-12, focuses on the conquest of the land. Chapters 13-22 focus on the distribution of the land among the tribes of Israel and the book closes with a last speech by Joshua and a renewal of the covenant (Chapters 23-24). Throughout this story we find a tension between the holiness of God and the grace of God. Does Israel hold the land unconditionally, or is its enjoyment based on their faithfulness to the covenant?

The book of Deuteronomy ended with Moses transferring leadership to Joshua. At the end of Joshua, leadership is not transferred to anyone, setting the scene for the book of Judges where Israel suffers without a leader helping them to serve God.

The book of Judges tells the history of Israel’s early years in the land before the rise of the monarchy. It is a mostly tragic story. Israel lives out a dark downward spiral: they sin against God, who then judges them, allowing their oppression by their enemies. When Israel cries out to God, he rescues them by raising up a deliverer (a judge). These judges are themselves deeply flawed people. The peace the judges ensure never lasts long, as Israel inevitably turns again to foreign gods and the tragic cycle continues.

Themes of Israel’s election, their apostasy, and God’s holiness and long-suffering compassion drive the story forward. The question being explored is the nature of God’s relationship with Israel. As with Joshua, the view of the world we find in Deuteronomy is influential on the reading of Israel’s history we find in Judges.

The book of Judges ends with Israel not fully in possession of the land God had commanded them to conquer, crying for a king to lead them.

The book of 1 Samuel tells the history of Israel’s last judge, Samuel, her first king, Saul, and introduces us to the young king David. This history is a story of transition, from rule under God (at least theoretically) to rule under a king, the establishment of the Israelite monarchy. As with Joshua and Judges, Deuteronomy is influential on 1 Samuel—the early monarchy is judged against its vision of kingship.

As with the earlier books, profound tensions are at the heart of the narrative: can God fulfill his promise to Abraham? Can Israel be faithful to their covenant? But a new tension now enters the story: will the king help Israel be faithful, or lead her away from God? The early accounts of Saul’s reign leave us little hope of a positive answer, but the anointing of David suggests perhaps the story will take a different turn.