God rejected the old generation of the children of Israel, but He promised to lead their children into the good land of Canaan. After the new generation of the children of Israel passed through forty years of trials and tests in the wilderness, God gave them a renewed training through Moses when they reached the Jordan River. Moses trained them through a review of the past (Deut. 1—4), a rehearsal of the law (chs. 5—26), a warning (chs. 27—28), the enactment of the covenant (chs. 29—30), along with some other words, so that they might be prepared and fit to inherit the promised good land as God’s blessing to them. In his review of the past, Moses pointed out God’s leading and the people’s failure. With a view toward the future, he expected that the people would know the love and government of God and their real condition. They needed to know that God is loving and righteous in dealing with them. They also needed to know that they were a failure so that they would condemn themselves, humble themselves, and have no trust in themselves and so that they could respond to God’s love in a way that would fit His governmental administration. Thus, they could be in the good land, having a prolonged enjoyment of its blessing.
After the new generation, the second generation, of the children of Israel received this renewed training, everything was ready (Josh. 1). The children of Israel had been chosen, called, redeemed, saved, trained, and prepared by God. Thus, they were qualified to go forward with Him to cross over the Jordan River and take the good land, which typifies the rich, all-inclusive Christ. Under the leadership of Joshua they crossed the Jordan River by faith to enter into the good land of Canaan.
To take, possess, and enjoy the land of Canaan after entering into it, the children of Israel had to fight the enemies who had usurped the land. Beginning with the city of Jericho, they fought battle after battle, city after city, until eventually they took the whole land of Canaan. In his lifetime Joshua did not cut off all the enemies from the good land. After his death, in the age of the judges, a period of approximately four hundred and fifty years, the children of Israel were unable to completely dispossess and utterly destroy the seven tribes remaining in the good land. This fighting lasted until the time of David. During David’s reign all the enemies in the land were fully subdued (1 Chron. 22:18).
Whenever the children of Israel defeated their enemies, they took possession of the land for their use, and they settled down and lived in the good land, laboring on it and enjoying its rich produce for their rest and satisfaction.
After the children of Israel entered into the good land, the people of God did not have the adequate place and time to build the temple for God because of incessant fightings and rebellions. After David subdued the enemies in the land, the kingdom of God was brought in. Then Solomon built the temple as God’s dwelling place upon the foundation of peace brought in by his father David.
Although the children of Israel established the kingdom of God and built the temple for God in the good land, they were unfaithful to God; the people and their kings forsook God and His word and turned to the worship of idols. Although God sent prophets to warn them, they still did not obey. Eventually, they suffered the fall of their nation and were taken into captivity.
The children of Israel transgressed against the covenant which God made with them, forsaking God as the fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13) and not loving Jehovah their God with all their heart and soul. They forsook the law which God set before them and did not listen to His voice (9:13). This was the main factor of the degradation of God’s people. Because they forsook God and His word, they turned away to burn incense to other gods and worship the works of their own hands. They took idols as their God and committed spiritual fornication. They committed fornication on every high mountain and under every flourishing tree, and they committed adultery with stones and trees so that even the land became polluted (3:6-9).
The children of Israel forsook God and were rejected by God. First, the northern kingdom of Israel was captured by Assyria and Egypt. Instead of taking this as a warning to repent to God, the kingdom of Judah also did things that were evil in the sight of Jehovah. Hence, Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Chaldea, to be taken as captives to Babylon. Thus, the holy land was usurped, the holy temple was burned, and the holy city was torn down. The children of Israel became a subjugated people in the Gentile lands, suffering all kinds of hardship and mistreatment until the days ordained by God for their punishment were fulfilled.
According to the word spoken by Jeremiah, God would visit the children of Israel and bring them back to their land after seventy years were fulfilled (25:12; 29:10). They became captives in the Gentile lands for seventy years until the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, when God began to bring them back to the God-promised good land enjoyed by their fathers.
Their return occurred at three different times. The first return was under the leadership of Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, of the royal family; he was appointed the governor. The second return was under the leadership of Ezra, a descendant of Aaron, of the priestly order. The third return was under Nehemiah, an ordinary person, a commoner.
After the children of Israel returned to their own land, under the leadership of Zerubbabel they rebuilt the temple on its original foundation (Ezra 3:1-4, 8). Furthermore, they recovered their worship, service, and enjoyment of God through Ezra (Neh. 8:1-3, 13-17; 13:15-22). Then they rebuilt the holy city through Nehemiah (2:17-18; 6:15) to restore the government of the kingdom. However, the kingship was never restored so that they had to govern themselves under the dominion of the nations.