The book of the law

Book club for October 2019 – Joshua

First thing in Chapter 1, for me, was the phrase, the "book of the law” in verse 8. It seems this refers to the Torah or first five books of the Bible, including all of Moses' rules and regulations, though definition varies with scholarship. In my consecutive reading of the Bible I have been wading through the Exodus listing of all those seemingly interminable laws; interminable and somewhat pedantic to my thought. Though I seem to remember that Mrs. Eddy says that every thing in the Bible can have a spiritual truth embedded in it. Sorry, I don't have a quote to hand on that one.

It would seem that the people were not able to do what Joshua 1:8 demands of them, namely, not let the "book of the law depart out of [their] mouth[s]", and, "meditate therein day and night, that [they might] observe to do according to all that is written therein". They were assured that they would be "prosperous" and "success[ful]" if they obeyed this rule. But, in II Kings 22:8, we find that some time in the future, under the reign of Josiah, Hilkiah finds the book of the law. It had languished some place – forgotten and not lived by.

(One of my favourite Bible stories is connected to this reference to the “book of the law”: Nehemiah 8:1-12.)

I seem to have happened here on a matter that may require in-depth study to get straight. Suffice it to say perhaps, that the Israelites didn't always obey the book of the law, and it had to be re-discovered over and over.

In verse 6, Joshua tells the people that they must "be strong and of a good courage". He reiterates the idea three more times. Perhaps he thought it was important! It is still good teaching for us as students of Christian Science.

Joyce Voysey