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Wednesday 10/28/26
Thru the Bible: Old Testament Review – Joshua Part 2
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Thru the Bible: Old Testament Review – Joshua Part 2
Joshua Part 2
Unless otherwise noted, I am largely sticking with the ESV, though I will sometimes float between the Holman, the NET and the NKJV for sake of clarity or familiarity.
Now you remember that God told Israel that when they entered the Promised Land, there were 7 nations they were to destroy. God had given them hundreds of years to repent, seek Him and turn to Him – over 400 years just since He gave His promise to Abraham to give him that land.
They were the:
- Hittites
- Girgashites
- Amorites
- Canaanites (specific subgroup/tribe)
- Perizzites
- Hivites
The first two lands within Canaan that we run into in the book of Joshua are Jericho and Ai were individual fortified city-states (or local settlements) and are called by those names. There are some clues as to which of the 7 nations they belonged to, but nothing 100% definitive since the language surrounding them is sometimes very general. A good speculation is that Jericho was that part of Canaan that lived by the sea and along the Jordan and the city-state of Ai (pronounced ‘I’ or ‘eye’) was possibly comprised of Amorites in particular.
Chapter 3:
- The Jordan heaps up as the rest flows downstream as soon as the priests stepped into the Jordan. Everyone crossed on dry ground then the priests finished crossing the Jordan and the waters flowed again. The priests were the Kohathites.
- An elder from each tribe picks up a stone from the middle of the Jordan to make a memorial in their first camp in the Promised Land which was Gilgal – which means “rolled away”.
Chapter 4:
- The whole second generation were circumcised since their parents did not obey the commands.
- They celebrated Passover in Gilgal and on that day the manna stopped which was a type of the gifts by which God ministers to, speaks to and imparts grace to His people, but for now all of this is in part, but when Jesus returns and we are perfected what has been rationed out to us in part, will be replaced with perfect knowledge.
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13,
“(31) But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
(1) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
(2) And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and
if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
(3) If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(4) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant (5) or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; (6) it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
(7) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
(8) Love never ends.
As for prophecies, they will pass away;
as for tongues, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will pass away.
(9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part, (10) but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
(11) When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
(12) For now we see in a mirror dimly, but THEN face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
(13) So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Chapter 6:
Joshua 6:1-5,
“(1) Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. (2) And the LORD said to Joshua:
“See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.
(3) You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.
(4) And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark.
But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
(5) It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”
- What happened is all the men of war which according to Joshua 4:13 were about 40,000 men. They would walk around the city once a day for 6 days with the Ark of the Covenant in the lead. The circumference of the city is estimated to be about ½ a mile. On the 7th day they marched around it 7 times – blew the trumpet and took the city.
- Fall down flat or collapse in its place. While I do not think archeology has been able to verify that it essentially crumbled in place, what they did find is that in falling the stones appear to have tumbled outward which provided a ramp of stones leading into the city. This does at least support that every man was able to enter the city from where they were standing – straight before them.
- Additionally, we have been able to confirm that the city had been destroyed with an intense fire.
This was the command of God regarding Jericho:
“(17) Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
(18) And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
(19) But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.”
(20) So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat.
Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. (21) And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
(22) But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country,
“Go into the harlot’s house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.”
(23) And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel.” – Joshua 6:17-23
- Joshua 6:27, “So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.”
Chapter 7:
- Israel’s first act of disobedience
- Israel gets cocky – Defeated at Ai, Joshua mourns and complains, God confronts him, Israel needed to repent.
Joshua 7:1-5,
“(1) But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel.
(2) Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying,
“Go up and spy out the country.”
So the men went up and spied out Ai. (3) And they returned to Joshua and said to him,
“Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.”
(4) So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. (5) And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.”
Now the reason I am taking time with this is because it teaches several lessons which are largely captured in the fact that assumptions, pride and not consulting God are not wise.
Presumption and taking for granted were all over this incident!
Joshua knew God’s command regarding taking the Promised Land, and so you might wonder what was the need in consulting God – Joshua already had his general marching orders?
Well, 1st off, what we do, we do WITH God not simply FOR Him. Notice how I pointed out that God gave Joshua specific instructions on how to take Jericho, and primary among them was that the Ark of the Presence was to go before them on the shoulders (or on the authority) of the priests. So God, literally went before all the men of war in their circuits of the city all 7 days.
Here in Ai, Joshua didn’t even consult the Lord and the Ark was not taken with them.
So the first lesson is that assumptions are not wise. Coupled together with this lesson is the realization that God will not always stop you from doing something stupid.
At its core this was an issue of relationship.
If Joshua had included God in the rejoicing they did over the city by offering a freewill thanksgiving offering, they would at that time have realized God was not pleased with them. But they simply went from their first victory right into another battle without thanking God, worshipping God, honoring God or consulting Him.
Joshua simply sent men to spy out Ai. He heard their testimony about the size and capabilities of the city and issued a command to send about 3,000 of their 40,000 men of war to take the city.
NOTE: Now here Archeology has both helped and hindered investigation. Jericho was the largest known city of the ancient world in that area. Using the general rule of thumb regarding city population back then of 200 people per acre, it is assumed that Jericho only had about 1,200-2,000 occupants in the upper city. However the walls were thick and very likely contained hundreds of homes. Furthermore, Ai was clearly smaller than Jericho since the men who spied it out assumed they only needed a few thousand men to conquer it and yet in Joshua 8:25 all who were killed in Ai when they actually took the city were about 12,000. So either Jericho was MUCH higher in population than is typically assumed or the translation of 12,000 is not restricted to the actual city alone but its outlying territory which could easily accommodate this figure.
Joshua does not consult God, does not send the Ark before them, only sends less than 8% of their men of war and they loose.
Then Joshua, unlike Moses, complained to God a lot like the 1st generation did asking why God had brought them here just to let them be defeated.
It is instructive to read this account…
Joshua 7:6-13,
“(6) Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. (7)
And Joshua said,
“Alas, O Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!
(8) O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! (9) For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth.
And what will you do for Your great name?”
Now again it is imperative that you do not lose sight of one of God’s primary and clearly stated agendas with all this land being given to the Israelites. It was to make His name famous and His power known – so that mankind would fear Him. God’s design was redemptive even in judgment. Joshua remembered this and made mention of it as he spoke to God.
“(10) The LORD said to Joshua,
“Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? (11) Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.
(12) Therefore (That is why) the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, UNLESS you destroy the devoted things from among you.
(13) Get up! Consecrate the people and say,
‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel,
“There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”
You do not convert the world by the people of God compromising in their walk. In order for a testimony to mean ANYTHING, in order for a witness to carry power, it must be lived and experienced by those who bear testimony.
The power behind the preaching of the gospel is a life that has been changed. This has always been true!
Joshua 7:16-26,
“(16) So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken.
(17) And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken.
And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken.
(18) And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
(19) Then Joshua said to Achan,
“My son, give glory to the LORD God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
(20) And Achan answered Joshua,
“Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did:
(21) when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
(22) So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. (23) And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the LORD.
(24) And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.
(25) And Joshua said,
“Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today.”
And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. (26) And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day.
Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.”
Now this is the place where many get offended, but it is a truth that needs to be understood. Not everything in scripture explains everything that happened in every place. If it were to have done this the Bible would be literally 100’s of times larger than it is and no one would really need to seek God and study His words, since all the truth regarding every incident would be right there in the text. But we already have a frame of reference for a judgment like this in the sons of Korah from Numbers 16 and 26.
If you remember Korah challenged the authority of Moses and Aaron and led a rebellion against them which many followed. We are told that the result was God having Moses warn everyone to step away from Korah and his tents and to not touch anything that belonged to these wicked men or they would be swept away with them. We are given NO details about how, when or under what circumstances the sons of Korah separated from their father, but we do know from the account in Numbers 26:11 that the sons of Korah did not die with their father. Clearly they stepped away at Moses’ word – that much is clear or they would have died with their father – while the families of the co-conspirators (Dathan and Abiram) stood defiantly at the entrances of their tents and perished with Korah.
Their survival is a powerful, real-time application of a core biblical principle we covered in Deuteronomy 24 and Ezekiel 18 – parents will not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents; each person will die for their own sin.
Remember the proverb in Israel which God put a stop to? We talked about it way back in March of 2023 – God sets the record straight.
Ezekiel 18:1-4,
“(1) The word of the LORD came to me:
(2) “What do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel: The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?
(3) As I live”–this is the declaration of the Lord GOD–“you will no longer use this proverb in Israel.
(4) Look, every life belongs to Me. The life of the father is like the life of the son–both belong to Me. The person who sins is the one who will die.”
Because the sons did not actively participate or agree with Korah’s prideful rebellion, God’s justice did not touch them, drawing a sharp generational distinction.
So what can we safely conclude happened here? Like Dathan and Abiram, the family of Achor were complicit with the rebellion, the idolatry, the greed, the disobedience and the lies of their father and died as a result.
It is through very shoddy and shallow reading of passages in scripture – never followed up with investigation of the counsel of scripture at large that many offenses against God and the Bible take place.
So the sins here were many.
Idolatry, disobedience, lying, pride, presumption, ingratitude, doing apart from God rather than with Him, not consulting God, assuming success is a THING God gives rather than a reality of His abiding presence, making it about the acquisition of things rather than relationship with Him.
Chapter 8:
- Joshua leads them in victory with Ai.
- Joshua renews the covenant with them again fulfilling the command of Moses regarding the division of the tribes and the reading of the law with a focus upon the blessings and curses on the mountains of Gerizim and Ebal.
The interesting thing about this is that the biblical narrative gives FAR more descriptive power to Moses’ command, than it does to Joshua’s fulfillment of the command.
Deuteronomy spans across multiple chapters mapping out the fine details (Deuteronomy 11:26–32, Deuteronomy 27:1–26, and the massive list of corresponding blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 28), whereas Joshua 8:30–35 wraps up the historical fulfillment in just six concise verses.
While not a pivotal issue, it is interesting to note that this verbose predictive account versus the actual account is pretty standard fare in the Torah. The construction parameters for the Tabernacle in Exodus follow the exact same pattern.
In Deuteronomy, the command was to divide the tribes across the two mountains.
The division line was interesting in that Moses specifically had ALL of the tribes who came from Jacob and his two wives on Mount Ebal which corresponded to the blessings of obedience to the Law. On Mount Gerizim which corresponded to the curses associated with disobedience and rebellion to the Law were to be assembled all of Jacob’s sons born to him by the handmaidens of his legitimate wives.
We will see something similar when we get Joshua 24. These two mountains are symbolically rich and were probably the very thing which prompted Paul to use the offspring of Sarah and Hagar as representing the children of promise (represented by Jerusalem) who are free as opposed to the children of the flesh which are in bondange (represented as Mount Sinai). (See Gal. 4)
Next week we will pick up with chapter 9 where the Gibeonites trick Joshua and Israel into a peace treaty.
