March
18th Joshua
6
C. Jericho & Ai
The battle of Jericho
1: Now Jericho was
straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out,
and none came in. 2:
And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand
Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3:
And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about
the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. 4:
And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams'
horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and
the priests shall blow with the trumpets. 5:
And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the
ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people
shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall
down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before
him. 6:
And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them,
Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven
trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD. 7:
And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let
him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD. 8:
And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the
seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on
before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the
covenant of the LORD followed them. 9:
And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the
trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on,
and blowing with the trumpets. 10:
And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor
make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of
your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout. 11:
So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and
they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. 12:
And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark
of the LORD. 13:
And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the
ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and
the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark
of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. 14:
And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into
the camp: so they did six days. 15:
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about
the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner
seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
16:
And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with
the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath
given you the city. 17:
And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to
the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with
her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18:
And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye
make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and
make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19:
But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are
consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the
LORD. 20:
So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it
came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the
people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so
that 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, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of
the sword. 22:
But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country,
Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all
that she hath, as ye sware unto her. 23:
And the young men that were spies went in, and brought Rahab, and her
father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and
they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of
Israel. 24:
And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the
silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put
into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25:
And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household,
and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day;
because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26:
And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man
before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he
shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his
youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. 27:
So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all
the country.
Joshua
7 The sin of Achan
1:
But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed
thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of
Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the
anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. 2:
And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on
the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view
the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3:
And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the
people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite
Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but
few. 4:
So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and
they fled before the men of Ai. 5:
And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they
chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them
in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and
became as water. 6:
And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face
before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of
Israel, and put dust upon their heads. 7:
And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought
this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites,
to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the
other side Jordan! 8:
O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before
their enemies! 9:
For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of
it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth:
and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? 10:
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus
upon thy face? 11:
Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which
I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and
have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even
among their own stuff. 12:
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their
enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they
were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy
the accursed from among you. 13:
Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to
morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed
thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before
thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
14:
In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your
tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall
come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD
shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD
shall take shall come man by man. 15:
And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall
be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath
transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought
folly in Israel. 16:
So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their
tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: 17:
And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the
Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and
Zabdi was taken: 18:
And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi,
the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
19:
And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the
LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now
what thou hast done; hide it not from me. 20:
And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the
LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 21:
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two
hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels
weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid
in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. 22:
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold,
it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23:
And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them
unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out
before the LORD. 24:
And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and
the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and
his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his
tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of
Achor. 25:
And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble
thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them
with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26:
And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the
LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of
that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
Joshua
8 The battle of Ai
1:
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed:
take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I
have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his
city, and his land: 2:
And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and
her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye
take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city
behind it. 3:
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and
Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them
away by night. 4:
And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against
the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be
ye all ready: 5:
And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the
city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at
the first, that we will flee before them, 6:
(For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the
city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first:
therefore we will flee before them. 7:
Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for
the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. 8:
And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the
city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do.
See, I have commanded you. 9:
Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and
abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua
lodged that night among the people. 10:
And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and
went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11:
And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went
up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north
side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai. 12:
And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush
between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. 13:
And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the
north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city,
Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. 14:
And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and
rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to
battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain;
but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind
the city. 15:
And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them,
and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16:
And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue
after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from
the city. 17:
And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after
Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel. 18:
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy
hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua
stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city. 19:
And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon
as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and
took it, and hasted and set the city on fire. 20:
And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the
smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to
flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness
turned back upon the pursuers. 21:
And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the
city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned
again, and slew the men of Ai. 22:
And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in
the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and
they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape. 23:
And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. 24:
And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the
inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased
them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until
they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and
smote it with the edge of the sword. 25:
And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women,
were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. 26:
For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the
spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27:
Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey
unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he
commanded Joshua. 28:
And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation
unto this day. 29:
And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as
the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase
down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the
city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto
this day.
D.
Victory in the south Joshua reads the Law on Mt Ebal
30:
Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
31:
As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as
it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole
stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered
thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace
offerings. 32:
And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which
he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. 33:
And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges,
stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the
Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the
stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against
mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the
servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the
people of Israel. 34:
And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and
cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
35:
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read
not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the
little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
In todays Bible
reading we have a record of the two must import battles of the
invasion of Canaan, Jericho and Ai. Between these two victories we
have the sad incident of the sin of Achan. Then from ch 8 onward we
have the ongoing development of the campains of Joshua beginning with
the reading of the Law on Mt Ebal. Coming back to the battle of
Jericho the city was besieged – nobody went in or out. Then the
Lord appeared to Joshua to give him the battle plan. This was
probably the most strange battle plan ever put forward. First the
Lord assured Joshua that the enemy has been contained and delivered
into his hand. It’s interesting that in the battles of Joshua he
was extraordinarily faithful to follow exactly the plan that the Lord
put forward. It is true that after the battle of Jericho the sin of
Achan caused the next battle to falter. But this was as a result of a
secret sin that Joshua was compleely unaware of. Joshua dealt with
this problem and then turned an initial reversal into a complete
victory at Ai. One immediately sees the use of the number seven
appearing. The children of Israel will walk around the city for seven
days. Seven men will carry before the Ark of the Covenant seven rams
horns blowing on them. And on the seventh day the people will
encircle the city seven times and when they hear the seven rams horns
they will give a great shout and the wall of the city will fall down
flat. The city being completely surrounds will be attack straight
forward from every side. Suffice to say that the battle went on
exacty as planned and the whole city was taken but Joshua told the
two spies to rescue Rahad the harlot and her household. Joshua gave
strict instructions that everyone was to be put to the sword and that
all the precious things were devoted to the Lord. They were to be
brought into the treasury. (Archaeologists say that the city was
built on stone but with a timber palisade. If this is true then it
would explain how ‘the wall’ could fall ‘flat’. We also read
that the city was burnt with fire which incicates at lot of timber.)
Rahab’s parents, brothers and the extended family initially, were
outside the camp. Only later were they brought into the nation of
Israel. Then Joshua cursed the man who would rebuild city, He said
he will lay the foundation on the death of his firstborn and the
death of his youngest son the gates of the city. Then we have a great
big BUT. But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the
cursed things, because Achan took something that was devoted to the
Lord to himself. He stole from the Lord. The anger of the Lord was
kindeled against the Whole nation yet it was unknown until they faced
defeat in battle. Joshua sent a small force to view the country
around Ai. The report was that they city was small and that a few
thousand would easily conquer it. But they had a shock when 36 men
were killed by the inhabitants of Ai. Joshua tore his clothes and
fell on his face before the Ark of the Covenant until the evening.
Then Joshua spoke to the Lord and tells the Lord all his fears. The
LORD spoke to him saying, Get up – Israel has sinned!! The secret
of Israel’s success was not stratedgy but their relationship with
their God. And when Israel sins their God will not be with them. The
sin of Achan was discovered and confessed and the judgment of God
came upon him and all his family. They took him to the valley of
Achor and stoned him there and burnt him and builded over him a great
pile of stones which remain to this day – says the writer and so
the sin of Achan was removed and the people were restored, to the
Lord their God. It’s interesting as an aside that The NT Church
also had exactly the same issue right at the start concerning those
things that were devoted to the Lord but held back. The same judgment
fell on Anianas and Saphirra as on Achan. The next battle was for the
city of AI. The LORD spoke to Joshua to encourage him and giv him the
battle plan. This battle plan according to Vicount BL Montgommery was
the great tactical battle of all history. Having all the features of
a master plan. Surprise, secrecy, resisting enemy counterattack,
feint, control and resulted in total victory. Ai was to be totally
destroyed but the cattle was to be spoil this time. The first thing
was that 30,000 (Ten times as many as in the previous encounter)
mighty men of valour were sent at night to the rear of the city to
lie in wait. Then the children of Israel approached the city in the
open plain. When the people of the city saw them they came out of the
city to chase them leaving nooe in the city. The children of Israel
were to retreat into the open plain (leading them to the chosen
ground of battle) Then the mighty men who lay in wait entered the
city and burnt it. At the same time another small force of 5,000
blocked the western route to prevent another enemy from coming to the
rescue of AI. Then Joshua perfomed one of the most amazing military
feats of history he turned the retreating force around to face the
enemy and at that moment the mighty men came out of the city to close
in on the men of Ai in a pincer movement. The men of Ai were
completely exposed and attacked on both sides and fell in battle at
the very place of Joshua’s chosing. 12,000 died of Ai that day and
the king who was captured alive was hung on a tree and after he was
dead they cut him down and buried him under a huge pile of stones
which remained to this day - The writer’s day. Then Joshua moved up
into the central highlands of Canaan. But first he gathered all the
people and read the law to them. And he did this in Mt Ebal. Which
was in Samaria near to Sycar. Mt Ebal lookes out south over a valley
with Mt Gerizim on the other side. Joshua built an altar of stones
and offered burnt and peace offerings. And he wrote the law on the
stones there. All the law was read including the blessings and the
curses. We see from the battle of Jericho that the people of God are
able to have an outstanding victory over huge obstacles if they only
walk with God. At the battle of Ai we see that it’s possible to
turn defeat into victory. It is accomplished by a might work done in
the secret place and weekness displayed in public.
- What happened at the battle of Jericho?
- What happened at AI?
- How did Joshua deal with sin and how did they finally conquer AI?
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