As we ease into our reading of the History Section of the Old Testament, I want to share part of Eugene Peterson’s introduction as it appears in The Message Bible:

The twelve biblical books stretching from Joshua to Esther are conventionally designated “the history books.” But the word “history” doesn’t tell the whole story, for this is history attentive to the conditions in which people have encountered and experienced God.

…

For biblical people, God is not an idea for philosophers to discuss or a force for priests to manipulate. God is not a part of creation that can be studied and observed and managed. God is a person—a person to be worshiped or defied, believed or rejected, loved or hated, in time and place. That is why these books immerse us in dates and events, in persons and circumstances—in history. God meets us in the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences that make up the stuff of our daily lives. – from The Message, Introduction to The History Books

“God meets us in the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences that make up the stuff of our daily lives.” And that’s the way the book of Joshua starts, very matter-of-factly:

After the death of Moses the servant of GOD, GOD spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant… (Joshua 1.1, MSG)

And what God said goes through verse 9. We’ll take a look at it tomorrow.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets… (Hebrews. 1.1, ESV)

The word of God is a living Word, and each time I turn to it with an open heart, I find there the living truth. I find there a human being who was born and grew up surrounded by other men and women, who worked and played, and who always did what the Father wanted done. Followers of Christ have discerned him—found him waiting—in the Scriptures for nearly two millennia. – Excerpted from Always Discerning by Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ, quoted in The Ewellogy, April 23, 2022.