Roadmap for the soul - Judaism, the bible and the tabernacle

So... Moses has now died.
And after an appropriate period of mourning, Joshua prepares to lead Israel into the promised land ---

Joshua 3:1 "Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over."

Eventually ---

Joshua 3:6 "...Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people."

Shortly thereafter ---

Joshua 3:16 "... the people crossed over opposite Jericho."

Israel is now in the promised land!

And guess what?

Virtually immediately after entering the land, the 'warfare' begins, just as Moses had warned them...
This is documented in the book of Joshua, chapter 6.

In the interest of keeping things short here, I will just summarize the book of Joshua by saying that overall, God allows Israel to experience many victories as they move through the land under Joshua's leadership. As it says here ---

Joshua 11:16-17 "...Joshua took all this land; the mountain country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, and the Jordan plain - the mountains of Israel and its lowlands, (v.17) from Mount Halak and the ascent to Seir, even as far as Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon..."

Eventually though, Joshua grows old and dies. 51

After Joshua's death, Israel enters a period of spiritual decline... Once again, Israel's lack of commitment to God's authority leads to problems and they end up experiencing a repetitive cycle (documented in the book of Judges), which goes something like this ---

Israel goes astray...

Israel experiences the consequences...

Israel repents (or 'turns from' their sin) and cries out to God...

Israel experiences 'restoration'...

Israel then begins the whole cycle over again.

Israel experiences this cycle for many years. But even so, Israel intermittently enjoys a number of 'good' years... Some of her best years seem to occur under the reign of King Solomon. 52

But even during Solomon's reign, there are signs of spiritual trouble. 53And shortly after Solomon's death, things take a turn for the worse....

At the risk of being overly simplistic, and in the interest of keeping our focus relatively narrow,
I will just summarize the books of 2 Kings through Malachi, as follows:

	As a result of internal strife, the 12 tribes of Israel eventually become divided... into "Northern" and "Southern" 'kingdoms'. 54
	Both groups continue on a path of spiritual decline...
	As a result, both groups end up being taken captive by other nations... 55
	After a time, the people are allowed to return to their land... 56 (Sadly though, the majority of people aren't even interested in returning... Out of the estimated 2 to 3 million people who went into captivity, only around 50,000 choose to return).
	After a relatively brief attempt to reestablish God's kingdom, a long period of struggle and decline begins yet again...
	Although God repeatedly warns the people (through a succession of prophets) about the consequences , they continue to turn their backs on Him.
	This results in their being taken captive by a succession of other nations.

So then... What does all of this really mean?

Well... first and foremost, it means ---

And remember...
the tabernacle's symbolism has long predicted that this would be the case...

It has indicated all along that "everlasting possession" of its two rooms would not be attained through the Law and the accompanying priesthood and sacrifices. 57As seen earlier, this was evident in the fact that although the priesthood was allowed daily access to the tabernacle, they were also required to regularly leave it and return to the 'outer court' for repeated 'cleansing'.

Israel's failure to take "everlasting possession" of the land
can thus be seen as yet another testimony to the accuracy of the tabernacle's symbolism.

And now we come to a very important question ---

Why would God tell Israel that the promised land was to be their "everlasting possession"
and then allow them to fail in their attempt to take possession of it?

Well... basically because God wants Israel to understand a couple of things...

For one thing, God wants Israel to realize that ---

This brings us to the other point.
As mentioned above ---

In other words, Israel's failure to take "everlasting possession" of the land is intended to help them recognize the inadequacies of the Law and its sacrifices... God wants Israel to eventually realize that (just as the tabernacle's symbolism has long indicated) those things are not the actual fulfillment of His rescue plan... They are only a 'type' or 'shadow' 58 (i.e. 'hint) of the way in which "everlasting" relationship with God will be restored.

In other words, Israel is being shown that they should watch for something else...
For something that is similar to the Law and its sacrifices... but is somehow more.

Clearly, 'something more' is going to be necessary before Israel can be granted "everlasting" access to the Most Holy Place and its 'promise' of 'everlasting relationship with God' (as represented by the 'stone tablets' within). Likewise,'something more' is going to be required before Israel can be established as God's 'everlasting kingdom' here on earth (as represented by the holy place).

So then...
What is it going to take?

Well... basically... as you will see ---
Since Israel cannot enter into the tabernacle and take "everlasting" possession of the 'promise' within the Most Holy Place
God is going to bring the 'promise' out to Israel.

And He is going to do this in quite an amazing way...

Remember Isaac?
As the progenitor of those to whom God promised "everlasting" relationship,
we saw that Isaac's 'miraculous birth' essentially hinted that those who would inherit 'the promise',
would likewise be descended from a 'miraculous birth' somehow...

And sure enough...
a 'miraculous birth' is exactly what we come to next...

NEXT CHAPTER

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