Scripture Study: Joshua 8:24-35

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Ai, Bible, Bible Study, Book of the Law, Jeremiah, Joshua, Scripture Saturday

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²⁴ When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword. ²⁵ And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. ²⁶ But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction. ²⁷ Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the Lord that he commanded Joshua.

Verses 24-27: Two words can sum up this military victory: total annihilation. According to verse 25, the only casualties would appear to be on the side of Ai. There might be some wounded among the Israelites, but the camp would be in great spirits after this lopsided victory. Joshua kept his javelin raised until every last inhabitant of Ai had been defeated, following through on what led them to their early success. It could have been tempting to lower his arm, after all things were going great. At some point things would have progressed to where it was a guaranteed victory for the Israelites. Yet he persevered, and as a result all of his men were spared on that day. We should be more like Joshua in this aspect. When we need God, we are eager to turn toward Him and throw our dependence upon Him to carry us out of disaster. Yet there comes a point, every time, where it seems that things are recalibrating to a sense of normality again. Where we are confident that we can retake the reins and navigate things on our own again, placing God back into the passenger seat. Are you letting God lead your life, through the good times as well as the bad, or is He where you turn when something isn’t going right? God has plans for you, yet how can they come into effect if you are the one steering the ship? Relinquish control and let God display the great things He can work through you.

²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day. ²⁹ And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.

Verses 28-29: Just like Jericho before it, Ai became ruins in the aftermath of the battle. This was a very visual way to remember that if God is for us, then who can stand against us? Time and time again throughout history men and nations have gone to war believing God on their side, and we can see in this book exactly what happens when God is firmly on one side of the battle.

Joshua Renews the Covenant

³⁰ At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, ³¹ just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. ³² And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. ³³ And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. ³⁴ And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵ There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

Verses 30-35: What an impressive display of thanksgiving shown by the Israelites. After the battle, instead of looking ahead to the next task or celebrating with drinking and feasting, Joshua and the Israelites build an altar for god, offer Him sacrifices, and have the entire Book of the Law read. How often do we prioritize other things above the reading of Scripture? How often do we stick to the same passages or books in the Bible, choosing to stay where we’re comfortable rather than venturing into some of the more challenging books? You don’t have to be like Joshua and read all the Books of the Law aloud in one session, but could there be merit to reading the first five books of Genesis aloud to our families? Consider this a challenge: select a book of the Bible you haven’t read in a long time (or, in some cases, ever) and read through it. Take it one section or subheading at a time and march through at a slow, yet steady, pace. I will be visiting Jeremiah starting tomorrow, the major prophet book I enjoyed the least and have avoided since my first reading of the Bible. What book will you be venturing through?

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Scripture Saturday: Joshua 8:10-23

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Ai, Bible Study, Christian, Joshua, Patience, Scripture Saturday

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¹⁰ Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ¹¹ And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. ¹² He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. ¹³ So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley.

Verses 10-13: It took an entire day to muster and maneuver his troops to where they needed to be for the attack on Ai. They key here, though, is that Joshua executed his plans to take the city. Sometimes the best plans require some time to get them rolling into action, such as this one and the plan God had to conquer Jericho (remember, they marched around the city for seven days before a single skirmish was fought). If the plan calls for time, don’t get impatient. It would have been quicker to simply launch an attack on Ai, but it would not have held the same results. In today’s society we have so much information available at our fingertips. The answers to our questions are often a Google search away. We can access songs and movies with the click of a few buttons. We can order groceries at home and have them delivered, or at the very least brought out to our car. We can buy things on Amazon and have them arrive in two days, guaranteed. Drive thrus, frozen meals, and many other things center around doing things faster. Remember that God has laid plans for you, and that He does not operate on the same scale of time as we do. Remain patient in all things, seeking God’s counsel through prayer and reading through the Bible.

¹⁴ And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵ And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. ¹⁶ So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.

Verses 14-17: Here we see the King of Ai falling into the trap laid by Joshua. Confidence can be a great thing, but in some situations it can lead to a downfall. The King of Ai was confident that his men would defeat Joshua and the Israelites, just as they had done before. He never stopped to consider that there might be more than meets the eye in this second confrontation. He assumed it would play out just like the first one, and so he emptied his city of all the fighting men to chase after the Israelites. In their eagerness to crush the Israelites again, they left their own city open and defenseless. The higher our confidence level rises, the more likely we are to take risky gambles because we’re sure of the outcome. We need to make sure that we leave ourselves defended in case things don’t work out the way we expect, or we might find ourselves in a situation similar to where the King of Ai is going to find himself.

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.

Verse 18: How remarkably familiar this command must have seemed to Joshua. After all, Joshua led a battle during the wilderness campaign where the victory hinged on Moses having his arms raised. It doesn’t seem like that was the requirement in this instance, but it is almost certain that Joshua would have made that connection at first and complied with haste.

¹⁹ And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire. ²⁰ So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. ²¹ And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. ²² And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped. ²³ But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.

Verses 19-23: The obedience of the Israelites has led to victory over Ai at last. The overconfidence of the King of Ai led to the destruction his his city and his people, and soon he will be paying the consequence himself. Yet had Joshua not been patient enough to see the smoke, there is a chance things might not have played out so smoothly. Ai may have fled back into their city and discovered the ambush, or they may have fought with greater ferocity. This passage leads the reader to understand that the men of Ai sought to flee but had no where to run to. They were broken and disheartened by the smoke, which allowed Joshua and his men to destroy them all.

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Scripture Study: Joshua 8:1-9

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Ai, Bible Study, Biblical Manhood, Braveheart, Joshua, Leadership, Scripture Saturday

8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. ² And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

Verses 1-2: God once again speaks to Joshua, giving him the same reassurances that were passed along back in Chapter 1 as they came into the Promised Land. The Israelites are once again back in God’s good graces after the sacrifice of Achan, and now God will continue to uphold his original promise. The city of Ai is to go the same route as Jericho, with one major exception: they can keep the spoils and livestock. Yet the really important thing to note is how God tells them to conquer the city. You might expect Joshua to want to repeat the last conquest miracle and march around Ai until its walls crumble and its citizens are trembling in fear. Yet that isn’t how God works, He gives them a new way to accomplish the same thing. How many times do we wait and wait for a repeated miracle to come about in the same way as before? Or for a prayer to be answered in the same manner? When God’s hand touches our lives in some way, it can be easy to fall into the belief that it will happen again in the same way. Yet that isn’t necessarily how God operates. Don’t get so stuck in the same routine, waiting for God’s guidance to reappear in the same way, that you miss the other ways in which He may be reaching out to you. Sometimes God works in direct ways, other times it is a gentle prodding on our inner selves.

³ So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night.

Verse 3: Men of valor. Men who have great courage in the face of danger. Those men are hard to find these days in a world where manhood itself is constantly undermined and under attack. Joshua himself is a great example of a man who extols the traits of biblical manhood. One of the best verses that encapsulates that manhood, who those men of valor would be, is found in 1 Corinthians: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14). In a society where so many are misguided in terms of what it means to be a man, it is more important than ever for men to meet, to study what God defines as manhood, to study men from the Bible and throughout history who exemplified those traits, and to instill those values in their children and grandchildren.

⁴ And he commanded them, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. ⁵ And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, we shall flee before them. ⁶ And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them. ⁷ Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand. ⁸ And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.”

Verses 4-8: There are some excellent tactical decisions here, taking advantage of the previous encounter with Ai. He is splitting off 30,000 men from his force to wait in ambush behind the city which, obviously, must be walled in some manner. Joshua and his main army plan to pull the force out of the threshold of Ai, allowing the 30,000 to sweep in afterwards and sack the city itself. But notice Joshua’s words here: “for the Lord your God will give it into your hand”. The victory over Ai will not be because of Joshua’s planning, nor the might of any of the men. Joshua is keeping himself, and his warriors, centered on the truth that God is in control and God is the one who both gives and takes away. They had just received a convincing illustration of that truth with the previous attack on Ai, and now the time is approaching where God will enable them to win. Without God, though, they would likely be sent fleeing for a second time.

⁹ So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.

Verse 9: Joshua’s decision that night to spend his time among the people is something every leader should learn from. It is his chance to boost the morale of those who will be doing the difficult job of providing that military distraction against Ai. Many movies and shows give us the visual of a commander being in his own massive tent, surrounded by a few loyal leaders and a brood of hardly-clothed women. The more effective leader would be among the fighting men, talking to them and boosting their confidence on the eve of a battle. Much like William Wallace in Braveheart, he would be giving stirring speeches to groups of men, reminding them of what they are fighting for and why they are possibly laying down their lives. People want to follow the person who inspires them, not the person who is a distant force commanding them from the shadows. Relationships matter, especially when it comes time to ask for someone to give that extra 10% on your behalf. Even if you aren’t in a leadership position, forming those connections will make it far more likely that a person will go the extra mile to assist you when you need that help.

Scripture Study: Joshua 7:1-9

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Achan, Ai, Bible Study, Christian, Gospel, Jesus, Joshua, prayer, Scripture Study

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But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

Verse 1: In the previous chapter we saw the command that everything in Jericho was to be given as a sacrifice to the Lord, whether to slaughter or as donations to the Lord’s treasury (See Joshua 6:17-19). And every man save one followed this command. There are times in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, where we see examples where one person’s disobedience can affect others. This is one of those examples, as we see God holds his anger toward all of Israel and not just Achan, and we also know that we all inherit sin from Adam and his choice back in the Garden of Eden. Yet on the other hand, there are examples in there of God’s love and mercy being poured out upon many through the actions and decisions of one. No greater example can be found than that of Jesus and his sacrifice upon the cross. We may not be able to control what people do in their lives, but we can work to be the best possible influences by living out the Gospel, sharing the Gospel with others, and praying for families, friends, and future generations of our children and grandchildren.

² Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. ³ And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.”

Verses 2-3: One of the major themes that I catch time and again throughout the book of Joshua is that of the unexpected happening. Rahab is an unexpected helper for the Israelites and becomes an unexpected contributor in the genealogy of Jesus. The Israelites cross the Jordan River in an unexpected manner that is similar, yet different, from the parting of the Red Sea. The Israelites conquer Jericho in an unexpected manner by marching for seven days and shouting and blowing trumpets. It is something we’ll continue to see moving forward. And here, once again, something unexpected is about to happen. Joshua’s spies note that Ai has only a few men who would be able to retaliate when they attack, so they advise Joshua to send only a small portion of their army to handle this threat. This is a strategy that makes perfect sense: why tire your entire force when a small band could do the job effectively? Yet, as we’re about to see, things will not go as expected for the Israelites.

⁴ So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, ⁵ and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

Verses 4-5: We can safely assume that the men of Ai numbered less than 3,000. After all, the spies would not recommend sending a force of equal, or lesser, strength to take Ai. Most likely the number would be around 1,500-2,000 to give a fair advantage in numbers to the Israelites. Yet they flee from the men of Ai after only 36 men died. That is only 1.2% of their force that traveled to take Ai. So what went wrong here? It had to have been something strong enough to make the men turn and flee even though they likely still outnumbered the men of Ai. The most likely guess would be that God turned their hearts toward flight and I’d like to think this was to spare them from losing more men in that failed attack. You would expect far more men to die before one side or the other would flee, barring something like divine intervention. And if this speculation holds true and God worked to make them flee so soon, it would be yet another example of God showing mercy even when he could hold his anger against them. This encounter is serving as a wake-up call to the Israelites to remind them that obedience is expected and, so long as they obey, God will deliver on His promise to give them the land. Without that obedience on their part, they can expect a long, arduous, bloody campaign through the land.

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?”

Verses 6-9: We can learn a few things from Joshua’s response to this unfortunate turn of events. First, he demonstrated active sorrow by tearing his clothing and having him and the elders put dust on their heads. This was about the equivalent of wearing sackcloth and putting ashes on the head, another common action seen in the Old Testament. Next, he seeks to understand God’s reasoning for bringing them this far just to destroy them. Instead of criticizing God for it, he mentions that they would have been content to remain on the other side of the Jordan River instead of facing this fate. Contentment can be a difficult thing to express, but it is often a right attitude to hold. Instead of being mad at God for withholding something we desire, we should remember the blessings in our lives that we already possess and try to be content with where we are and what we have. That thinking runs counter to some of the popular ideas of the Prosperity Gospel, but it is the right heart to have. Finally, Joshua turns the problem toward how God holds a stake in the results. Prayers to obtain that bigger, fancier house are typically man-centered and offer nothing in terms of glory to God. But in this case, Joshua points out that the defeat of the Israelites will lead to a lack of respect toward God’s power from the other nations. Bear in mind that Jericho’s hearts had melted prior to the Israelites’ arrival because they had heard of the things God had done for them. The opposite is about to happen here if God continues to forsake the Israelites. God made promises, and He will deliver on them. Prayers that align with His promises, or that will bring glory to His name, are a lot more likely to be answered than prayers that are wrapped solely around things of the world.

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