Joshua 1:1-9 Sermon Correction

Israel and their proper mourning of Moses

Good evening,

I am writing this to the congregation of Covenant Reformed Church and any visitors we had on June 16th, 2024. After having preached Joshua 1:1-9, Aaron inquired with me about something I stated about Israel and their mourning of Moses: in my sermon I made an incorrect statement about how it was surprising Israel moved so quickly from the death of a patriarch such as Moses into taking the land without a proper period of mourning. The reason that I believe I made this error was my focus on Joshua 1:1-2- this text focuses in on the movement from the death of Moses into the fulfillment of the promise of God without mentioning anything specific about the people’s response to the death of Moses. Interestingly enough, the prior sermon I preached on the context of the book of Joshua looked specifically at the ending chapters of the book of Deuteronomy; had I remembered properly my study of the Scriptures, I would have recalled the following:

Deuteronomy 34:8 (LSB): So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

Here are some important truths about Scripture that anyone called to preach or teach must take great heed over:

Hebrews 4:12 (LSB): For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

James 3:1 (LSB): Do not, many of you, become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment.

In my desire to communicate what the book of Joshua was saying, I went too far and misrepresented the Israelites as it related to their response to the death of Moses- they mourned for a very reasonable thirty days. That being said, I want to clarify what I should have said as it relates to Joshua: the book of Joshua is a book about the conquest of the land of Canaan, and God’s fulfilling His promise to Israel of giving them the land there. The focus of the book of Joshua in the first two verses is that, because the conditions of the Israelites entering into the land have been met (Moses and the older generation of Israel dying in the wilderness), we see God calling His people to to go and take the land He has given to them. In other words, the flow of the first few verses of this book is focused on God moving forward with His covenant promise of giving them the land, and I didn’t temper that truth with the reality of the people’s mourning at the end of Deuteronomy.

I thank God for my co-laborer, Aaron, who brought this to my attention. I don’t really know how I ended up twisting the reality from the end of Deuteronomy into the opposite of what actually is recorded- I have to assume that I misunderstood my own notes and then ran with an incorrect idea, which was, to my shame, preached by me from the pulpit. I want to thank the congregation of Covenant Reformed Church and her guests for graciously bearing with this obvious error which was literally in front of my face on the page to the left of Joshua 1. There is no such thing as perfect preaching, and this will not be the last time I misspeak; however, this was an obvious mistake that should not have been communicated by me to the congregation. With a little more double checking of my content, the error could have been avoided. Moving forward, I will endeavor to be more careful with the content of my preaching to make sure I properly communicate Scripture and its truth for the glory of God and the good of Christ’s bride. I am thankful to serve a gracious and longsuffering God.