Every Promise of Your Word

Every Promise of Your Word – The Gospel According to Joshua: a book review. The author is Rhett P. Dodson and published by The Banner of Truth Trust – hardcover 370 pages.

Rhett Dodson is the Senior Pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church in Hudson, Ohio. You can read a short Bio HERE. You can also watch a Banner of Truth video interview of Dodson talking about how and why he came to write the book.

According to the Preface, it was as a teenager when Dodson first read Joshua. But it wasn’t until seminary that he studied it in “earnest.” His initial analysis of the text (and later as a doctoral student) led him to conclude that it had an obvious overarching theme, from which five subthemes emerged. The main theme was that “God was faithful to give Israel the land he had promised to Abraham.” The five subthemes are:

1) The covenant was the foundation
2) The presence of God was the key
3) Warfare was the means
4) Sin was the impediment
5) Inheritance was the fulfillment

Dodson’s book originated from a series of expositional sermons. Its aim is to provide an expository commentary with footnotes and resources, with different readers in mind. One can read it from the historical perspective, and it provides guidance for the modern Christian. In other words, the lessons in Joshua are relevant for Christians today – hence the subtitle The Gospel According to Joshua.

Many of the chapter titles (see below) show Dodson’s intent to draw themes from Joshua for the Christian. For example: Authority and Obedience; Rooftop Revival; Today’s Choice etc. But even where the title doesn’t obviously anticipate the sermon, readers can be assured of profitable nuggets.

Although he recognizes types and shadows etc, Dodson doesn’t sanitize culturally controversial issues. His chapter Little Babies Too was one of the finest treatments of the genocide accusations against God that I have read. I found it more satisfactory than Copan and Flannagan’s Did God Really Command Genocide? Dodson takes sin and God’s wrath seriously. He writes:

When the Lord returns to deal with his enemies, his holy war against sin will make Joshua’s conquest look like the proverbial Sunday School picnic. Those who wish to describe the God of Joshua as a moral monster must deal with Jesus the Conqueror. The God of Joshua and Jesus are the same God. They possess the same holiness and intolerance of sin. Is it any worse for the Lord to use the army of Israel to judge his enemies than it is to judge them directly? (Page 140)

His faithfulness to the text is also reflected in his treatment of miracles. In The Day the Sun Stood Still (The longest day) he deals with four common views of the miraculous phenomenon. Again I found his input the most satisfactory. His approach to miracles is similar to the one Christian Professor Danny Faulkner takes (The Created Cosmos). Dodson points to Genesis 1:

‘In the beginning God’, anything is possible. If we believe in God, then the only God worth believing in is the one who has created all things by the word of his power and who, by the same powerful word, rules over all his creation (Page 207).

I was able to use his two chapters on “Special Cities” in a recent article. The topic of Sanctuary Cities has been recently applied in a modern context by Social Justice Christians. But does the modern concept really parallel what God intended in the Old Testament? These Special Cities weren’t set up to protect criminals from Justice. The protected individuals were not guilty of premeditated murder. He writes that:

The Lord protected both the manslayer, from a penalty he did not deserve, and the avenger from wrongfully exacting punishment…The Lord values life, and we should too. (Page 292)

I have two negatives regarding this book.

The first is the author’s position on God’s future promises to Israel. His appeal to Philip Hughes and O. Palmer Robertson etc infers that Israel’s promises have ultimate fulfillment in the new heaven and earth (in Christ & the church). There is a sense in which it is true, but we mustn’t discard the particular land promises. The same hermeneutics applied to Joshua also apply to Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah etc (See Jer 31:31-17, 33:19-25; Amos 9:14-15; Matt 19:28; Acts 1:6-7). These passages plainly point to national Israel living in the land which God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

For an in-depth treatment of God’s literal commitment to Israel’s kingdom promises, see Dr Michael Vlach’s He Will Reign Forever (forthcoming book review.)

My second issue is two-fold. At $30, the book may not sell well. Banner of Truth ought to consider publishing a paperback edition. Every Promise of Your Word also runs the risk of being a forgotten gem because it isn’t strongly marketed. That would be a pity.

Despite my disagreement with the author on the first point, Christians will greatly benefit from reading this book. I will be going back to it often. It is that good. Regarding certain non-critical differences, he writes:

…if we are united in the Christ, the eternal Son of God who became man, and if we rely upon what he accomplished on the cross for our salvation, then we are truly one in the Saviour. (pp 339-340)

This was obviously a labor of love. Dr. Rhett Dodson has served God well, and I am thankful to him.

Contents

Preface

1) Every Promise of Your Word! (1:1-2)
2) Never Alone (1:1-9)
3) Authority and Obedience (1:10-18)
4) Rooftop Revival (2:21-24)
5) Time to Go (3:1-17
6) A Sermon in Stones (4:1-24)
7) The Art of Spiritual Warfare (5L1-12)
8) The Lord’s Commander (5:1-12)
9) Jehovah Fought the Battle of Jericho (7:1-26)
10) Little babies Too? (6:15-21)
11) Achan Lost the Battle of Jericho (7:1-26)
12) Ambush at Ai (8:1-29)
13) Covenant Renewal (8:30-35)
14) Obligated by Oath (9:1-27)
15) The Day the Sun Stood Still (10:1-15)
16) The Lord is a Man of War (10:16-43)
17) Canaan’s Last stand (11:1-15)
18) Our Great Saviour (11:16-23)
19) King of Kings (12:1-24)
20) Inherit the Land (13:1- a9:51)
21) Whole-hearted! (14:6-15)
22) Special Cities – Gospel Truths: A Place of Refuge (20:1-9)
23) Special Cities – Gospel Truths: The Lord will Provide (21:1-42)
24) No Falling Words (21:43-45)
25) We Are God’s People (21:43-45)
26) Faithful Living in an Unfaithful World (23:1-16)
27) Today’s Choice (24:1-33)

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