Don’t Settle for Less Than God’s Best — Joshua 1:10–18 (Session 3)

In this verse-by-verse study of Joshua 1:10–18, Reasoning Through the Bible continues through Joshua chapter 1 by focusing on the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. These tribes agreed to help Israel conquer the land, but they chose to settle on the east side of the Jordan rather than fully enter the land God had promised. This session explores why that decision matters and how it pictures the danger of settling for less than God’s best. 

This study examines the background from Numbers 32, the promises those tribes made to Moses and Joshua, and the spiritual lesson behind their choice. The discussion shows how believers today can do something similar by stopping short of full obedience, staying on the edges of Christian life, or separating themselves from the fellowship and accountability of God’s people. 

A major emphasis in this session is the risk of spiritual drift. When people remain on the edge, separated from the larger body of believers, they often begin to compromise, deviate, and settle into “good enough” spirituality. The episode also offers pastoral encouragement about reaching out to drifting believers with concern, not condemnation, and reminds listeners that God’s repeated promises still stand even when His people forget them. 

Topics in this episode include:

•  Joshua 1 explained 
•  Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe of Manasseh 
•  settling for less than God’s best 
•  danger of spiritual separation 
•  staying with God’s people 
•  drifting and compromise 
•  concern for wandering believers 
•  God’s repeated promises 
•  almost in the land 

Reasoning Through the Bible is a verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry committed to careful exposition, biblical context, and faithful application.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:18

Okay

Continuing the Joshua Study

Speaker 1 0:19

and we're back for this session . We've been going through the book of Joshua . We've had an introduction in our first session and a little bit of background that Glenn has provided for us , and in our last session we went through the first eight nine verses of Joshua . So this time we're going to go through the last half of Joshua 1 , verses 10 through 18 . Glenn , do you want to read them ? Yeah , I'll read it .

Speaker 2 0:44

This is Joshua 1 , starting in verse 10 . Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people , saying pass through the midst of the camp and command the people , saying prepare provisions for yourselves for within three days you are to cross this Jordan to go into possess the land which the Lord , your God , is giving you to possess it . To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh , joshua said Remember the word which Moses , the servant of the Lord , commanded you saying the Lord , your God , gives you rest and will give you this land . Your wives , your little ones and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan , and you shall cross before your brothers in a battle array , all your valiant warriors , and shall help them until the Lord gives your brothers rest , as he gives you , and they also possess the land which the Lord , your God , is giving them , and you shall return to your own land and possess that which Moses , the servant of the Lord , gave you beyond the Jordan , towards the sunrise .

Speaker 2 1:47

And they answered Joshua , saying All that you have commanded us we will do and wherever you send us we will go . Just as we obeyed Moses in all things , so we will obey you Only . May the Lord , your God , be with you as he was with Moses . God be with you as he was with Moses . Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words and all that you command him shall be put to death . Only be strong and courageous .

Speaker 1 2:11

So one thing is that in the last session we talked about those tribes that had settled on the east side , the tribes that are here in verse 12 .

Speaker 2 2:20

Same tribes . So let's start back and go through it . Verses 10 and 11 , Joshua tells the leaders to get ready to cross the Jordan River as God had commanded them , and in verse 12 , talks about these two and a half tribes . So what's the story there ? What's the background to this ? It talks about beyond the Jordan and their little ones and their wives staying behind

Commands to Cross the Jordan

Speaker 2 2:43

. Tell me that story . What was that ?

Speaker 1 2:44

Jordan and their little ones and their wives staying behind and tell me that story . What was that ? They had gone and conquered that land , or had battles on that land on the east side of the Jordan . It wasn't the land itself that had been promised . It wasn't that promised land . It wasn't the land that the spies had gone into . It was on the east side of the Jordan and as they had gone up they had taken that . And so these three tribes decided that that was good enough for them and that they were going to go ahead and settle there .

Speaker 2 3:11

Think of the idea of what's happened here . Remember the big picture of the story Israel had been slaves in Egypt and God brings them out of the land of Egypt and gets ready to go in . And they doubted God . So he has them wander the wilderness for 40 years , in the wilderness , the desert , for 40 years . And so when they start to get up close to the promised land , the land that God describes as flowing with milk and honey this is God's best they get almost up to it and they say , oh , wait a minute , this is good enough out here , this is good enough . We don't want to go into the promised land . This looks pretty good , right here , we'll stay here . Think of it You're almost up to the land flowing with milk and honey . You're almost up to the land that we've been promising for all these years . And no thanks , I'll stay out here . Thank you very much . Why would they ?

Speaker 1 4:07

do such . There's a reason why people , groups and nations settle around rivers it's the water , so they can have fertile land and have farming and everything . Obviously , a river has two sides , but I think it's also a picture of settling for something that's good enough for the human aspect , but it's not what God actually has for them fully .

Speaker 2 4:30

Exactly . They settled for less than God's best . It's okay , I'm sure the land was much better than the middle of the desert , right ? So , oh , this is pretty good . But God says , wait a minute , I've got something even better . And they say no thanks , so it's settling for less than God's best . The agreement they made back in Numbers chapter 32 is where this story happened Numbers 32 , they had settled for less than God's best and Moses had asked them to promise and say when we get into the land , will you at least send the men in with the weapons and help us conquer the land , and then you can go back . So that's what they're talking about here in the last half of Joshua 1 . The problem gets even worse for these people . They agree to go into God's best and help conquer it and then go out of it again and it also says there , the half tribe

The Eastern Tribes' Promise

Speaker 2 5:23

of Manasseh .

Speaker 1 5:24

A little bit of a pause , a little bit of history again . And it also says there , the half tribe of Manasseh . A little bit of a pause , a little bit of history there . So you'd said in our history in the first part that Jacob's name had been changed to Israel and he had 12 sons . Well , one of the sons that he had was Joseph . He was sold into the slavery in Egypt and that's how God had prepared them to be able to survive the famine that was there . But it also led to their slavery in Egypt . Well , Joseph is not one of the tribes that are here , but Manasseh and Ephraim were his two sons , with Manasseh being the oldest . So the half tribe that says here is because Manasseh occupied that on the east side of the Jordan and the other half did have a portion on the west side . So that's why we have this half tribe of Manasseh talking about and it's also why we don't see Joseph mentioned . As far as the land , Joseph is represented through Manasseh and Ephraim .

Speaker 2 6:16

So they get almost up to God's best , even agree to go help conquer it , but then they want to settle for less than God's promised land . Now , nobody today would ever do that in Christian life today . Would they Settle for less than what God's best is ? And I say that again a little bit facetious . We do this all the time . It's easy to point fingers at them . Way back then we do the same thing . There's things that God says this is the best for you and we say , oh , that's okay , I'll settle for less .

Speaker 1 6:50

This is good enough .

Speaker 2 6:51

How many times have I been guilty of going into a church and seeing ministries out there that I would probably benefit other people and myself and I don't get involved and I just sort of sit and say , oh , this is okay , just being on the edge of the group here ? How many opportunities have we lost by not jumping into God's work and God's ministry and getting the benefit out of it ?

Speaker 1 7:16

And just going to the worship service , not getting involved in the small group where you actually learn a little bit more about God's Word . And it's good enough just to go to the worship service and hear the preacher . It's good enough just to go on Sunday and to that morning service and hear the preacher . I don't need to study God's Word during the week or go through His Word or study the word on his own . It's good enough just to go to the church every Sunday .

Speaker 2 7:48

When , really , if we would jump into these things with both feet and just trust God to take care of our needs and the times that I've done that , that's been the most rewarding .

Speaker 2 7:58

There's a little bit of a hint here of a problem . And look all the way down at verse 18 . What's the hint of a problem ? And look all the way down at verse 18 . What's the hint of a problem ? Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words and what , all that you command him shall be put to death . So here's a little hint . Okay , someone might not do all that God commanded them . Of course this happens . So this tribe , think of it . They are physically separate , but by the time the book of Joshua ends , these people are going to be on the other side of the Jordan , the east side , and then the promised land is on the west side . So that's where the bulk of Israel is , is on the west side . They're on the east , physically separated by this river . A distance there on the east , physically separated by

Settling for Less Than God's Best

Speaker 2 8:45

this river , a distance . What happens to Christians when we physically separate ourselves from the rest of the body of Christ ?

Speaker 1 8:51

What do we end up doing ? We're out there on our own , we get strayed and we start looking to that left or right as far as distractions .

Speaker 2 8:58

And because we're not around other believers , we tend to come up with our own interpretations . We're just not as diligent , and they're hinting here that anybody that doesn't follow all that God's Word says shall be put to death . Later in the book , when they actually start to actually separate , they make some promise again , but what ends up happening ? A little foreshadowing of what happens down the road . What do these people do ? One of the first things they do is they start a different worship , and there's an argument . We'll get to that when we get to it later in the book .

Speaker 1 9:36

Well , one thing here in verse 17 , there's a little bit of quirks that are here that are played out , Glenn , In the first part of 17, . They say just as we obeyed Moses in all things .

Speaker 2 9:47

Did they really obey Moses in all things ?

Speaker 1 9:49

No , no , of course they didn't , they didn't obey him in all things . And then they say anyone who rebels your command , may the Lord , your God , be with you , as he was with Moses . So they're putting a little bit of a condition in there . But then they also say shall be put to death . So the question is are they really serious about what they're saying ? Are they really going to put people to death because they don't the commandments and things like that ?

Speaker 2 10:16

And they repeat a promise towards the end of the book but , like you just pointed out , in verse 17, . In a sense , they're telling the truth . They say we're going to obey you just like we obeyed Moses , which is partially what they ended up obeying Moses .

Speaker 1 10:37

And also anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words , and everything shall be put to death . Well , they end up when they're not obeying God's word and doing the things of God and they go after other idols and things like that . They end up having consequences of that and there's quite a bit of Israel lights that are put to death .

Speaker 2 10:52

Now there's a very interesting account of these people . After they do this Again , what's happening here is they're about to cross the Jordan and they're about to go in and help conquer the land . And then , once that happens , they're going back across the Jordan and they're going to live physically separated from the larger body of Israel . And we're going to see , even early on , they're going to start to deviate . There's already a tendency to disobey , but now they're physically separated , they're going to start to deviate . Well , the same tribe , the Gadites .

Speaker 2 11:24

Over in the New Testament , in Matthew , chapter 8 , starting in verse 28 , there's a story of Jesus who gets in a boat and he crosses the water and there's a storm . But when he gets to the other side , to the land of the Gadarenes is what it says and it just keeps on going . Well , if you don't remember , all the way back here in Joshua , it's the same people , the Gadites , the tribe of Gad . They stayed on the other side . So in Matthew 8 , jesus crosses the other side , he goes to them . And what does he find ? When he gets to the other side , what does he immediately meet ? Coming out of the tombs , there's two demon-possessed men , two demon-possessed men . They start talking to Jesus , knowing who he is . And Jesus casts out the demons . Into what Pigs ? And there was a herd of pigs nearby . He casts out the demons into the pigs . And what do the pigs do ? Ran over the cliff and killed themselves . Right , they ran off the cliff and killed themselves . Well , the people that were there come out to Jesus . And what do they say to them ?

Speaker 1 12:34

What are you doing ? Taking away our , killing all our pigs ?

Speaker 2 12:37

It says they begged him to leave . So think of it . Here's the big picture . This people , the tribe of Gad , got up to almost up to God's best and settled for less than God's best . They settled for good enough . They settled for good enough . They settled for almost saved . Remember the king that was talking to Paul ? You almost persuade me . The promised land was a picture of salvation . They get almost up to the full Christianity but they say we're going to stay over here . And because they're physically separated from the larger body of God's followers , they start to deviate . And first it's just a little bit about the worship style . And by the time time goes by , down to the time of Jesus , what do they got ? They're raising pigs . Were they supposed to be raising pigs ?

Speaker 1 13:31

No , they're supposed to be staying away from them .

Speaker 2 13:33

No , that was an illegal animal according to the law of Moses and they had demons running

The Danger of Spiritual Separation

Speaker 2 13:38

around . Well , here comes God and Jesus crossing over to them . They didn't go to Jesus , he had to go to them . And when he gets there in about 10 minutes , what happens ? The demons are gone and the pigs are gone .

Speaker 2 13:52

When God shows up into somebody's life , what happens ? Cleans house , cleans house , right , he'll clean up all the mess . And what did the people do ? God showed up and cleaned everything up and they came to him and said would you please leave ? So this is what happens when we get almost up to God's best . We get almost up to where God wants us , almost up to God's full blessings , and we say I'm just going to stay back here and I'm going to separate myself just a little bit from the body of Christ . I'm going to go to church on Christmas and Easter and I'm just going to kind of sit in the back row and I'm not really going to get involved and I'm not going to go to the Bible studies . And this is what happens . But what happens when we go fully into God's promised land ? What is the Christian life like when we jump in ? And even though I've got failures . I've got faults . We go into God's promised land and we hang around other Christians . We hang around other believers . Do we get less likely to deviate ?

Speaker 1 14:54

There's one other thing here noted that related to that . Once you become a Christian and many times we have stories of becoming a Christian and the first thing you want to do is tell people about it because you found this newfound freedom and the salvation and assurance of what's going to happen after you die . So you tell them , you try and help them clean house and what's the first thing that you die ? So you tell them you try and help them clean house and what's the first thing that they do ? Some people will come up who don't and they'll say do you mind just leaving and going away ? Quit peddling your stuff here , we don't want to have anything to do with it . Just go talk to other people or go somewhere else . Go ahead and leave . So you have that side of it as well in regards to lost people that don't want to hear the story and don't want their house to be clean .

Speaker 2 15:42

So , on the other side of it , though , what happens when we do hang around God's people ? We follow God's commands , meditate on his words , we don't forsake the assembling together of believers , and we are part of the body . What's the positive description of what can happen ? You ?

Speaker 1 15:59

don't become pig farmers , yeah yeah , you don't end up .

Speaker 2 16:03

you don't end up and pigs are dirty and messy and smelly . You don't end up with all that mess and we end up in a unified body that's working together , and we have some of the positive descriptions of how churches ought to be . I've been involved in both kinds of churches , and I'd much rather be in the second . Here's another question , though these people , these two and a half tribes , they get almost up to God's best , but settle for less than that . Can somebody like that be a Christian ? Hard question .

Speaker 1 16:32

It is a hard question .

Speaker 2 16:33

I kind of like hanging around God's people , but I'm just going to settle for almost . Can somebody like that truly be a Christian ? And some very heavyweight theologians for many centuries have wrestled with this question , so I'm sure we have a—I'm not going to answer it in the next two minutes here , but it's just an interesting question to talk about . How far do we have to get before a person's saved ? Can you and I make that call ?

Speaker 1 16:55

Well , I do think that it is an indication . If you don't want to be with other like-minded people , if you feel uncomfortable being with other like-minded Christian people or , as we noted before , studying His Word and doing things . It begs the question of why ? Why is it that it makes you uncomfortable ? Why is it that are you truly committed and being a Christian and having that full faith and full belief ? If you are , you should be happy . It's like a family being around other family members , and if you're uncomfortable being around your own family , that's kind of an odd position to be in .

Speaker 2 17:39

And that's a legitimate question . If somebody doesn't want to do Christian things , are they really a Christian ? One of the points I was trying to get to is I don't think we can fairly look at somebody and say that's a Christian , that's a not , because sometimes people fool you and it's hard to tell . So we're not capable . God is God can separate the sheep from the goats , but I can't . But what we can do is just like you said , it's a legitimate question . Do you want to hang around God's people or not ? Do you find it uncomfortable ? I've known people that if you ask them they'll say oh yeah , I'm a Christian . But

Evidence of Genuine Faith

Speaker 2 18:14

then you get to talking with them . I don't like going to church and I don't like studying God's Word , and I think it's a legit question . Truly , salvation really is faith as a mustard seed , but at the same time this should show some evidence of a regenerated life , some evidence of wanting to learn about God and be around godly things .

Speaker 1 18:33

Let me give a little bit of a word of encouragement here to people , in that what you mentioned , glenn , is correct . We can't tell the heart of a person . God can and that person can as well . And with my life , like I mentioned in an earlier session , I was saved at an early age but I strayed away from God and there were times whenever people would come up to me and other Christians and ask questions and stuff and I felt uncomfortable . But the reason why I was uncomfortable was because I wasn't doing what I should have been doing and I always had that God thing that were saying to me what you're doing is not right and you need to get back , and that eventually did bring me back into it . So a word of encouragement that as you talk with people , don't be afraid to ask them what are you doing ? You say that you're a Christian . Why aren't you doing this or why are you doing that ?

Speaker 2 19:32

Do it lovingly out of concern for them , not with an accusation .

Speaker 1 19:36

Not judgmental or anything , but if they are a Christian , they need that . They need that encouragement to come back , because you do have a little bit or some people would probably have a little bit of oh I've wandered now from God and I'm not doing what I should have done and now trying to get back involved in that family crowd . You want your family members to say come on back . You need to come on back and you need to be a part of the family again . So what you said we can't always tell whether they're a Christian or not , but I think if they claim to be a Christian , I think it's a legitimate question to ask them and say what are you doing ? Why are you doing this Again ?

Speaker 2 20:19

not a judgmental , but just out of concern . I've noticed that you hadn't really been part of things , and would you like to kind of join back or just kind of tell me what's going on ? As you said , I think people need that .

Speaker 1 20:31

Yes .

Speaker 2 20:31

How many times have we heard testimonies from people that said you know how ? Come you didn't come ask me sooner ?

Speaker 1 20:37

Exactly , and I've been needing somebody to invite me and ask me back , and I'm so glad that you did , because now I'm back with the family again .

Speaker 2 20:45

And now .

Speaker 1 20:45

I'm doing the things I need to do .

Speaker 2 20:47

So here in Joshua , the second half of chapter one , he also repeats some of the things that he said in the first . He's over and over repeating . Look at verse 15 , where he said the Lord is giving you the land . He says it over and over in this chapter . He says I'm going to be there with you . And I think it's needed here in chapter one because , as we're going to find , it gets some tough going through this book , I think sometimes they forget . So he says it over and over again . So the things that God tells us over and over again , I think it's important to recognize . So any other things from chapter one .

Speaker 1 21:26

No , I think we've covered it pretty well . There might be some things that come up that we can refer back to , but I think a key takeaway is what you just said . God has reiterates to them this land has been given to you . I told Moses that it was given to you . Moses turned around and told you I've told Joshua . Joshua is now telling you the land is yours .

Speaker 2 21:52

And it's still theirs today and I think it again . He said it so many times here . I think you have to go to school for a really long time before you can start to deny that God promised them

God's Repeated Promises

Speaker 2 22:05

this land forever .

Speaker 1 22:06

Do you think that Israel , could we say , and maybe we'll learn a little bit but could you say that possibly in Israel's history they've had a little bit of attention deficit disorder in regards to their strain from God ?

Speaker 2 22:20

Oh yeah , I mean just the wandering in the wilderness . The pattern is there really throughout the entire Old Testament and even in secular history Over and over again . There's a pattern throughout the Old Testament of Israel straying away from God and disobeying God and God bringing judgment on them . And the pain of the judgment makes them wake up and realize wait a minute , we haven't been following God . And they repent and return to God . When that happens , he blesses them , and when he blesses them , they kind of get a little bit complacent and start to forget and start to wander and they disobey again . And the cycle continues and it happens over and over .

Speaker 1 23:04

And the cycle continues , and it happens over and over and I want to say that , as we mentioned , as far as Israel , the nation's disobedience , we're not doing it in a condemning way , we're doing it in a reflective way .

Speaker 2 23:16

Oh , because it's a picture of mankind . It's a picture of you and I . It's a picture of everybody I ever knew in church . We're all like this . It's a picture of everybody I ever knew in church is . We're all like this . It's a picture of humanity . We're all . Sometimes we just need a good cold slap in the face . First thing in the morning , from God to hey , what are you doing ? Kind of get back and so thank God that he's done that in my life and in your life over the years is kind of wake up , what are you doing ? Why are you out here when you could be following me and getting the blessings ? And oh yeah , the times I've repented , those are the times that God showers His blessings , Absolutely . So that'll tie up chapter one and we'll get to chapter two next time .

Speaker 1 23:56

Yes , so I think again , we've talked through chapter one , we're going to move into chapter two . Any highlight you want to give us that you might have in regards to preparation ?

Speaker 2 24:07

Well , we're going to meet someone named Rahab and we're going to meet a couple of more spies , and there's some very interesting story there about going in and spying out the land and trusting God , because this woman , rahab , becomes a key part of the history of Jesus and in another great lesson for us about faith .

Speaker 1 24:29

All right , see you next time .