13-Joshua 7-23
Mark. 21, 2009
Our study this week begins in the Book of Joshua, Chapter 7. When we ended last week, Israel had just defeated their first objective in the Promised Land. Although they had defeated the Amorites and the inhabitants of Bashan earlier, Jericho was actually located in the land that the Lord had originally promised to the people. God had delivered the city of Jericho into the hands of His people, and they utterly destroyed it. All that remained of Jericho was Rahab and her family, along with the wealth of the city. God instructed Israel to place the wealth from the city “under the ban”. The words “under the ban” meant that the spoils of war were to be given to the Lord so that the people would not covet those articles and sin against God. We now find in Chapter 7 that Achan, a man from the tribe of Judah, disobeyed the Lord and took for himself some of the articles from Jericho that were under the ban. The text says that the anger of the Lord burned against Israel. Joshua was not aware of Achan’s sin, and sent men to the nearby city of Ai to spy out the land. Ai was not the Canaanite name for the city. The word Ai in Hebrew actually means ruin. The spies returned to Joshua and told him that they would require only two to three thousand men to take the city because it was small. Joshua then sent about three thousand warriors to Ai to defeat the city. The Lord was not with them, and the men of Ai killed thirty-six of the men of Israel then pursued and struck them down as far as Shebarim. A city with the name Shebarim has never been located. The text seems to indicate that the men of Ai pursued the Israelites until they killed them all. Ai’s small army had defeated mighty Israel. Joshua tore his clothes in grief, and fell to his face before the Ark of the Covenant. He prayed to the Lord, along with the Elders of Israel until the evening. Joshua asked God in Chapter 7:7-9 “Alas, O Lord GOD, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan!“O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies?“For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?” The Lord answered Joshua and asked him why he was so upset, Israel had sinned and broken their covenant with God, and have taken some of the articles under the ban. God said that He would not forgive Israel until the articles were recovered and destroyed. God’s penalty for the man who had sinned against Him was that he, along with all that was his, was required to be burned up with fire. The next morning the tribes, including the tribe of Judah was brought before Joshua and divided into families. The people were narrowed down until Achan and his family was brought before Joshua. Joshua told Achan to give glory to the Lord, and praise Him and admit what he had done. Achan told Joshua that he had truly sinned against the Lord and had taken the articles. He said that he had coveted the gold, silver, and beautiful mantle from Shinar. He removed the articles from Jericho and buried them in the earth under his tent. Joshua sent messengers to Achan’s tent, and they recovered the articles where Achan had said they would be. Joshua along with all of Israel took Achan, with his family, livestock, and all that belonged to him, and stoned them to death. Their remains, along with the articles taken were then burned with fire. The great heap of stones that cover the remains of Achan still remains in the valley of Achor today. The anger of the Lord was now turned away from Israel. The Lord, now pleased with Israel, told Joshua to go against the city of Ai. He would now give the city along with its king into their hands. God told Israel to do the same to Ai as they did to Jericho. Joshua set out at night with thirty thousand men to ambush the city. He commanded the men to wait behind Ai while he and those that were with him would draw out the people from the city. When the inhabitants of the city came out towards Joshua, the men waiting behind Ai attacked. The ambush worked as planned, and the city was utterly destroyed, and burned to the ground. Joshua hung the king of Ai from a tree, and only cut him down that evening when the victory was complete. Joshua then built the altar of uncut stones on Mt. Ebal as Moses had commanded. He wrote the law on the stones, and separated the people between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim. The blessings and curses were spoken, and Joshua read every word of the law to the men, women, and children of Israel along with strangers that were living with them. In Chapter 9 the people living in the Promised Land had heard of the victories of Israel at Jericho, and Ai, and made an alliance with each other to fight against the threat of Israel. While the formation of this alliance was in progress the people of the nearby city of Gibeon also heard of Israel’s might and feared for their lives. The men of the city devised a plan to save their people. They sent messengers to Israel dressed in worn out sandals and clothing, along with torn and mended wineskins, and old bread to fool Israel into believing they had come from a far off country. They told Israel that they were from far away, and had heard of the might of their God. They said they would serve Israel. Joshua did not consult the Lord in this matter, and made a covenant of peace with the men from Gibeon. After three days’ time Israel found out that the men of Gibeon had lied to them, and that they were from a nearby city. Joshua was angry, but would not destroy them because of his oath. He did however curse them to become slaves to Israel forever. The text says that the people of Gibeon were hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation of Israel from that day forward. Adoni-zedek, the king of Jerusalem heard of Joshua’s victories at Jericho and Ai, and also of the peace treaty with the Gibeonites. He became very afraid of Israel and sent word to four other kings to join with him and fight against Gibeon. Adoni-zedek thought the Gibeonites would be an easier foe then Israel. Gibeon heard of their plans and sent word to Joshua, pleading with him not to abandon his servants. The Lord told Joshua to go against the five kings, and that He would give them to him. When the warriors of Israel came to the armies of the five kings, God caused confusion in their ranks that made them easy prey for Israel. The men of Israel killed many with their swords, and God Himself entered the battle by causing hailstones to fall from the sky killing more than Israel. It was recorded in the Book of Jashar, and also in Joshua 10:12-13: “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.”
Joshua had asked the Lord to lengthen the day so all the men against them could be defeated. The Lord answered and stopped the sun’s motion in the middle of the sky for an entire day until the battle was complete. Joshua said that there had never been, or ever will be a day like this again where the Lord listened to a man and fought for Israel.
The five kings fled during the battle to a cave near Makkedah, and hid themselves there. Joshua found out the kings were hiding there and sent men to cover the entrance to the cave with large stones. Several men guarded the cave while the others participated in the slaughter of the armies of the kings. After the victory, Joshua removed the five kings from the cave and declared victory over them. He then had the kings put to death, and when they were dead, hung them on five trees. At sunset he cut them down and threw them back into the cave where they had been hiding. He again covered the mouth of the cave with large stones. Makkedah was then defeated and the city was treated the same way as Jericho. The central part of Palestine was now completely conquered. Joshua and Israel then turned south and fought against Libnah, at the end of Chapter 10. The Israelites then moved on to Lachish, then to Eglon, and to Hebron. They then returned to Debir, and fought with it. The Lord was with Israel and gave them victory in each battle. Israel continued fighting south until they had taken the land of Goshen in Egypt. This was where they had lived as slaves many years before. They then continued north to Kadesh-Barnea, and Gaza. The southern campaign for Palestine was now complete. God had delivered each of the people into Israel’s hand. In Chapter 11 the kings of the northern part of Palestine came together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel. Merom was located north of the Sea of Chinneroth, or as it was later called, the Sea of Galilee. The army gathered was so large that it was described in the text as that their number was as the sand is on the seashore. They also had many chariots and horses. The Lord told Joshua not to fear, that He would deliver them into his hands. Joshua was told to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire. Joshua and the army of Israel did as the Lord commanded and defeated the large northern army. The Israelites then turned to Hazor, and destroyed the city, burning it to the ground. They captured the rest of the cities of the north, and gathered up their wealth and cattle as spoils of war. The northern part of Palestine was now also conquered. Joshua and the armies of Israel had now completely conquered the Promised Land from Egypt in the south, to the valley of Lebanon in the north. As a final measure Joshua removed the Anakim from the land. The only giants remaining were in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. Joshua had taken all of the land that was spoken of by Moses, and gave it to the tribes of Israel as an inheritance. The land now rested from war. In Chapter 13 the Lord told Joshua that he was old and advanced in years, and that much of the land still needed to be possessed. The kings and the cities had been destroyed, but there were still people throughout the land. God told Joshua to divide the land among the tribes of Israel while He drove the people out of the land for him. Joshua began the division of the land with the half tribe of Manasseh, the tribe of Reuben, and the tribe of Gad. Those tribes were given an inheritance by Moses of land on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Joshua honored Moses’ decision and allocated that land to those tribes. Caleb, the only other man beside Joshua that remained from the men who had left Egypt long ago, had requested an inheritance of land for himself as the Lord had promised him when he was a spy in the land long ago. Joshua gave Caleb the city of Hebron as his inheritance. Chapters 15 through 19 cover the division of the land by Joshua to the other nine and one half tribes of Israel. The portions of land given to the tribes by lot as an inheritance are listed in the text. Each tribe, along with their land and cities are described in detail. In Chapter 20 the six cities of refuge were established in the land. The cities were Kadesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan. These six cities were spread evenly throughout the land. In Chapter 21 the forty eight cities that were given to the Levites to dwell in are listed. The Levites received no portion of the land but were given places to live within the other tribe’s territories. The Lord had given Israel all the land He had promised and had given them rest from all sides. Not one of God’s promises had failed. Every one of them had come to pass. The men of war from the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh had fulfilled their obligation to their brethren and could now return to their families on the other side of the Jordan. Joshua then blessed them and instructed the tribes to walk in the ways of the Lord, to keep His commandments, and to hold fast to Him with their hearts and souls. The tribes then returned to their families with the wealth they accumulated, from the spoils of war from the conquest, through the land of Gilead. On their way home, in Gilead, the men erected a large altar to the Lord on the eastern side of the Jordan River. This altar offended Israel in that the Lord had commanded them to only worship Him in the single place in which He chose. Phinehas set out with ten chiefs from the tribes of Israel to ask the three departing tribes why they had done this unfaithful act. The sons of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh explained to Phinehas and the chiefs that the altar was not for burnt offerings. The altar was built to be a witness between their generations and the generations of the other tribes on the western side of the Jordan that they would follow the Lord. This explanation pleased Phinehas and the chiefs that were with him. They returned to the west of the Jordan River and told Joshua and the people what the altar was for. The word of Phinehas pleased the people and they blessed the Lord. The children of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh called the altar “Witness” because it was a witness between them that the Lord is God. We will finish up our study this week in Chapter 23 where Joshua gives his farewell address to the children of Israel. Joshua had completed his task of leading the people through the conquest of the Promised Land. He had also finished allotting the inheritance of the Lord to the tribes of Israel. Joshua encouraged the people to follow every word of the law. He told them to keep away from the other nations around them and to not follow their gods. He said that they would be a snare to them. He told the people that today he would die, and warned them that the anger of the Lord would burn against them who broke His covenant. This ends this week’s study. Next week we will cover the final chapter of the Book of Joshua, and begin to look at the Book of Judges.