Scripture Study: Joshua 6:15-27

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Bible Study, Hiel of Bethel, Jericho, Joshua, Rahab, Scripture Study

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¹⁵ On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶ And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. ¹⁷ And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

Verses 15-17: Not only has Joshua remained faithful to the commands of the Lord, however unorthodox they might have seemed, but he is also remaining faithful to the promise his men made to Rahab regarding her family. The emotions of all the Israelites were undoubtedly high at this time, having camped around Jericho for about a week. They were eager to conquer and begin to fulfill what God had promised them. Joshua tempers those emotions, first by proclaiming God has given them the city, second by letting them know the city and all within it will be devoted to the Lord, and third by reminding them of the one place that has sanctuary from the invasion. As we go through life we often need the help of others, directly or indirectly, in order to accomplish our goals and the plans that God has for our lives. And in the moment when we obtain that desire, it can be easy to focus on that moment and forget to thank those who helped get us there. Be like Joshua and remember where the help came from, both from God and from those who helped along the way. Something as small as providing thanks and recognition can bless someone far beyond what you will ever know.

¹⁸ But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. ¹⁹ But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” ²⁰ So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. ²¹ Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

Verses 18-21: Common practice throughout history is to loot the spoils of the conquest of an area. Food, drink, and monetary possessions were up for grabs and a great incentive for the soldiers to put their lives on the line. But this conquest of Jericho is different; everything within the city is to be devoted to the Lord. And not just in any manner, it is to be destroyed except for the gold and silver (which were placed in the treasury of the Lord). All people and all animals within, with the exception of Rahab and her family, were slaughtered. This seems harsh, after all isn’t the God we know a loving God? These are parts of the Bible that we, as Christians, ought to wrestle with rather than react. A reaction would be to simply ignore the fact that everyone there died. Another would be to throw the Bible aside and proclaim that you cannot believe in a god who would do such a thing. Yet we can see only an infinitesimal glimmer of what transpired. Perhaps God, in His all-knowing wisdom, foresaw that this land would lead to the complete destruction of the Israelites if even one was allowed to win. Perhaps God knew that if everything was destroyed in Jericho, it would ultimately save more lives over the course of the military campaign. We will never know the answer. We can only speculate. But the more a person wrestles with these passages, considering possible reasons that align with the traits of God, the more developed and mature our faith becomes and the better apologists we will be able to become.

²² But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” ²³ So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴ And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. ²⁵ But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Verses 22-25: Not only did Rahab receive life through her actions, she was also welcomed in among the Israelites. And God had a great plan for Rahab, which can be seen in completion when you look at the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. From a prostitute in a city that God had promised for total destruction to being a link in the chain that led to the coming of Christ. What great honor was bestowed upon Rahab, a woman who probably never imagined great things would ever come out of her life. She never lived to see this happen, nor do we know of any promises given to her about it, but I have to believe that Rahab has been rejoicing in Heaven ever since she first found out that the Son of God would be born from her line. Think of those people who have touched your life over the years without ever knowing it. Even a complete stranger possesses the power to completely change a person’s day, and changing one day for the better could transform them for life. You don’t have to actively preach the Gospel to every person you meet. But every person should be able to see the Gospel being lived out through you and your interactions.

²⁶ Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.

“At the cost of his firstborn shall he
    lay its foundation,
and at the cost of his youngest son
    shall he set up its gates.”

²⁷ So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

Verses 26-27: Joshua lays down a curse on whoever would dare to rebuild Jericho, that it would cost him both his firstborn and youngest son in the completion of this feat. And Jericho remained in ruins until a man named Hiel of Bethel decided to rebuild it during the reign of King Ahab (See 1 Kings 16:34). And, sure enough, Joshua’s declaration came true regarding to cost to rebuild Jericho. But why would this curse be laid, and why would God honor it? It was a city whose whole destruction was dedicated to God, and it was through God that the walls came crashing down to give the Israelites the victory. We see that the Lord was with Joshua and God’s fame spread through the entire land. It is not clear whether it was Joshua’s fame or God’s fame spreading, but we can be certain that if the former, it also brought about the latter. Time and time again we have seen Joshua follow God’s commands faithfully, and constantly reminding the Israelites of God and His promises to them. A successful military campaign at Jericho would be unlikely to change that.

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Scripture Study: Joshua 2:15-24

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Bible Study, Jericho, Joshua, Rahab, Scripture Saturday

Welcome back to the fourth week of our study of Joshua. There has been a lot of great stuff covered so far, and we haven’t even gotten to the first conquest in the book. Today’s study will see how the two Israelites respond to Rehab’s request for them to keep her and her family safe, as well as how Joshua reacts to the news that the people of Jericho are terrified of the Israelites due to hearing what God has already done on their behalf.

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¹⁵ Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. ¹⁶ And she said^[d] to them, “Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.” ¹⁷ The men said to her, “We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear. ¹⁸ Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. ¹⁹ Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. ²⁰ But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear.” ²¹ And she said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

²² They departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing. ²³ Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them. ²⁴ And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.”

Verses 15-16: Rahab suggests that the men hide in the hills for three days before making the trek back to the Israelite camp. While the impulse might be to trust that God would protect them, after all he promised no men would be able to stand against Joshua, they make the wise decision to heed the sense of this plan. After all, it is easier to sneak past men who are no longer looking for you. Even though Joshua had commanded the Israelites to be ready to move within three days, the delay of the return of these spies would not be detrimental to the cause. Sometimes we read a promise from God, or pray to God, and look for the immediate answer to appear in our lives. However, we cannot control the circumstances. Perhaps the reason for a delayed answer is similar to the reason why the spies must wait three days: right now isn’t the most opportune time to make that happen in your life. Perhaps waiting a few weeks, months, or years might be when the best possible time arrives to fulfill that promise or prayer. And maybe our case is one similar to Abraham and others, where it may be a promise fulfilled for our future generations rather than ourselves. That does not mean we should stop trusting God or praying about this to Him. While we can see only a few threads in the pattern, God can see the entire quilt and how it all fits together in the end.

Verses 17-21: The Israelite spies promise to uphold their end of the bargain that Rahab desired. Yet it was not simply a promise to protect her and her family, but something that required both action and obedience on the part of Rahab and her family. If they did not follow through on the commands, then the Israelites would not be held accountable for what might happen to those who disobeyed. This makes sense, as they do not know who Rahab’s family members are and certainly could not pass around pictures to everyone in the Israelite army. This command has a striking parallel with the Passover that occurred in Egypt where the Israelites had to mark their doorframes with blood and remain inside in order to get passed over from the plague of the first born (See Exodus 11). Many times the same things are required of us by God. He may make a promise or give us a command and expect action and obedience on our end to see it fulfilled. Just because God has promised to give us something in our lives does not mean we should wait with passive faith that He will come through apart from anything we do. Sometimes it requires us to step out in faith and meet Him part of the way in order to have that blessing in our lives. Instead of testing God to see if he will make something happen, He might be testing you to see if your desire is strong enough to take the first steps without Him. And often times, when we look back, we’ll find He was right there with us even when we thought those first steps were taken alone. God will fulfill His promises. Can you be bold enough to move forward with enough trust that they will come true, even if you don’t see how it is possible?

Verses 22-24: The men follow through on Rahab’s suggested plan of action and arrive safely back with Joshua and the Israelite army. Imagine the boost in morale for both Joshua and the commanders of his army when they hear the report that God has truly given them the land and the people of Jericho will “melt away before them” (Joshua 2:24). Small steps of obedience in Joshua’s life have led to this moment. He has followed God faithfully, being one of two men allowed to leave the wilderness and enter the promised land (Caleb being the other) because of his choices and actions. In Chapter 1 God spoke to Joshua and promised him the conquest of these lands and the report from the spies is serving as confirmation that this promise is about to be upheld. This sets the stage for the next chapter’s events, which we’ll begin to see next week. In a pattern that is often repeated in this book, so long as Joshua and his men are obedient they will find that God is more than willing to fulfill His end of the arrangement. Do not hesitate to chase a dream or a passion because you aren’t sure if God is able to help you achieve it. You may just need to take the initiative and God will surprise you along the way.

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Scripture Study: Joshua 2:1-14

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Bible Study, faith, Government, Joshua, prayer, Rahab, scripture

Welcome to the third installment in the scripture Study. While Joshua is not actively moving into the promised land yet, we do see some action happening in this segment which covers the well-known story of Rahab and how she hides the two men that Joshua sends to spy out the land of Jericho. If you missed the previous installments you can check out part one (Joshua 1:1-9) and part two (Joshua 1:10-18) by following those links.

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Rahab Hides the Spies

 And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. ² And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” ³ Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” ⁴ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. ⁵ And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” ⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. ⁷ So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.

⁸ Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof ⁹ and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. ¹¹ And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. ¹² Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign ¹³ that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” ¹⁴ And the men said to her, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”

Verse 1: Joshua sends out two men to scout out the land that has been promised prior to moving the Israelites across the Jordan River. While Joshua was promised the land and that he would be able to conquer all who stood against him (See Joshua 1:5-9) it was still good military wisdom to not walk in blindly. Joshua took the first steps by trusting God’s command to go into the land and ordering his people to be ready to move in three days (See Joshua 1:10-11) but he also took action to prepare for success. The easy thing would have been to write off anything that he would encounter because God promised it to him. Are there promises that God makes in the Bible that we just assume will come our way if we wait passively for them to arrive? Are we praying prayers with the hope that God will move the mountains in our lives without us having to take a single step to skirt around or climb over the mountains? Many times in the Bible we see that act of faith, the men and women taking the steps toward their goal, before God steps in and rewards their obedience.

Verses 2-5: A few notable things took place in these verses. First of all, the king of Jericho had an awareness of the spies that entered into their city. So he had a good network of information in his city, and it is easy to imagine that outsiders within a walled city might attract some attention. Second, it is likely that Rahab ran an inn or some other establishment and that these men would have been directed to her place. While Rahab is known as a prostitute, or harlot, it is very likely that this was a former offense and something that she likely repented of prior to the arrival of the spies. So while she was no longer committing that sin, she was still likely to be labeled as such by the community because men and women historically have a hard time forgiving and forgetting the sins of others, especially scandalous ones. Here Rahab has a direct order from her king to disclose the location of these two men and she opts to honor God rather than the king of Jericho, as will be seen in the following verses. While the Bible is clear that we should not bear false witness (See Exodus 20:16) and should honor and submit to our leaders (See 1 Peter 2:17, Matthew 22:21, Romans 13:7, 1 Peter 2:13), the gray area comes when the will of God and the will of our leaders are in opposition to each other. While Jesus told Pilate that he only had the authority to crucify Jesus because it was in alignment to God’s will (See John 19:11), we also see the Apostles in the New Testament going against orders from the Government (See Acts 5:17-42) stating “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Therefore we, as Christians, are clearly called to submit to our government so long as what we are being asked to do is in accordance to God’s commands. Daniel and his friends knew the difference when he was commanded to worship Nebuchadnezzar (See Daniel 3, 6) and Rahab understands the difference here. In choosing to disobey the king of Jericho, she is choosing instead to honor God and His chosen people.

Verses 9-11: Here we see Rahab confess to the two Israelite men that the whole kingdom of Jericho has heard of God’s works and are afraid of the Israelites. Many times God allows things to work out in an unexpected way, such as when he hardened the Pharaoh’s heart again and again, in order to bring greater glory to His own name. In today’s world it is easy to lust after fame and fortune, and a lot of emphasis is placed upon entertainment. People get paid millions of dollars to play sports or sing songs in front of crowds. People get paid thousands of dollars to come and speak to audiences in cities. The trap comes when we want these things to further our own name and our own causes rather than to bring glory to our God. We are people designed to do great and wonderful things. We are capable of doing even greater things than Jesus did during his time on this earth (See John 14:12). If we go in the name of God, with the intent of bringing the glory to Him rather than ourselves, who can stand against us? (See Romans 8:31)

Verses 12-14: Rahab pleads for merciful dealings and receives far more than she could have ever imagined in return. Jesus himself traced his descendants back through Rahab (See Matthew 1:5), one of the many testaments to how God uses the people that no one would ever expect. Here we see Rahab not only asking to have her own life spared, but also for her family members. While it commonly falls to the male of the household to be responsible for the care of the family, this here is a demonstration of the way every one of us should be praying. Pray for the care of our family, those under our own roof and those who live apart. Pray for those saved and for those who are not saved. An active prayer life, full of prayers for those who we love and care for, can bless them even if they never know it. For every unanswered prayer, there is a story of a person who prayed for their spouse, child, or parent for years or decades before the Holy Spirit brought them to know Christ.

I’ll close by restating something mentioned two weeks ago as part of looking at Joshua 1:9:

Imagine what we could do if, instead of being afraid or discouraged we told God about those concerns and trusted Him to handle them? God fulfilled promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and many others even if it was not always in the timing expected. How might our lives change if we stopped kind-of believing that God hears our prayers and kind-of believing that He may answer them and start living secure in the knowledge that God hears and God will fulfill His end of any promises He has made? Be strong. Be courageous. Do not be frightened. Do not be dismayed. Your God is with you wherever you go.

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