Chapter 6 JOSHUA
Joshua looks as if carries on from the last book in our bibles, but the Hebrew Bible starts a new section here. The first five books are the constitution of Israel, Joshua begins the section called “Former Prophets”. These consists of six books in our bibles under the heading history. These should be regarded as prophetic because they are the fulfilment of the Pentateuch. They are a record of how the constitution works out in real life. There is a fundamental rule in scripture regarding prophesy, it will be repeated time and again from this point on. “When you see these things come to pass then you will know! False gods cannot have that sort of confirmation unless false prophets get lucky in their guess.
Fitting it together, the Pentateuch sets out what God had done for Israel and what he required of them in return. Therefore, the Pentateuch should not be seen as a set of laws from a dictatorial and Draconian God but a response of gratitude from a people who were offered great blessings. These laws are the means of maintaining a full and fruitful national life. The natural result of breaking God’s laws is a national route to anarchy with all that brings. Keeping the law is not just hoping for salvation, it is the recognition of a promise of salvation God made back in the garden when Adam first sinned. The conditions of salvation established then were, faith in creator God who promised the means of salvation demonstrated by obedience. The former prophets are a record of how: grace, gratitude, redemption, righteousness, and legislation all dovetail in real life. The original covenant with Adam still applies: You will be blessed in the land if you obey but if you disobey the land will either be taken from you by God, or it will degenerate for lack of order. Either way you will lose it.
You will remember At Mount Sinai they ratified this covenant with God and it was likened to a marriage ceremony. Joshua tells us how the marriage works out in real life. Now the honeymoon is over we see how God and his people got on living together. It worked out badly but fortunately for us God doesn’t believe in divorce.
Figure 21: The land capture strategy
This map in 82shows the tribes in the land at time of conquering. The strategy was to follow the valley going straight through the Middle to divide North and South. Once the South was conquered, then they could concentrate on the harder hill country of the North. Joshua was eighty when he was commissioned to take over leadership. The call came from two places God said, “Be strong and courageous and do it”. Then the people confirmed the call saying almost the same thing. A double call is a biblical principle because if the people call a leader it may be false. The people called king Saul They called him for a specific reason, they wanted a big man to stand up to the Philistines. A big man in stature turned out to be a wimp in heart and was a small man up against Goliath, so that choice was a disaster.
If a person relies on hearing a call from God, there is a danger he or she will hear the call of inner motivations such as: significance, security, or self will. “I am the person for this job”, is hardly humility. It is never a notion found in saints but always a motivation found in Satan83, A call of God needs to be confirmed each step of the way by God. Joshua waited for confirmation. It came, not in the vote of the people, you can get that just because no one else volunteered, but in the confirmation of two or more trusted people who have tested the person’s right heart.
Once the appointment was made, Joshua commissioned two spies. He had learned from Moses what happens by having representatives from every tribe as a form of democracy. That way you get a spokesman for the views of the tribe not a genuine view of the situation. The fear of the people showed through on that occasion when ten outvoted two. Democracy in church is not an option. The two were right and had the heart of God but the ten prevailed and God had to wait. The people also had to wait for a generation before the promise was fulfilled. As we shall see in later books, even if Moses had overruled the people and taken them into the land, they could not have conquered without confidence in both God and Moses. Joshua limited the scope of the spies. Theirs was a twofold task, to confirm the call of Joshua and to confirm the morale of the enemy. The goodies of the land and of the might of the army were not an issue, the state of resolve among the enemy would determine the strategy of attack—not if they should attack. This was a new generation and unlike the previous generation which had died in the wilderness, this people said “Just as we obeyed Moses, so we will follow you”. They had already proved that to be true because they followed Moses and Joshua to conquer Moab. But for now, the first obstacle was the Jordan which dried up just as the priests feet entered it. The Jordan’s bank caved in further up the stream and caused a dam at the precise moment the priests feet entered the water. Joshua chapter-two tells us that:
The river stopped flowing, and the water started piling up at the town of Adam near Zarethan.84
This generation had not seen the Red Sea miracle, so God has a repeat performance on a smaller scale for them at Jordan. Once over Jordan they made a twelve stone circle to remind themselves and future generations of the miracle. Then they camped, calling the place Gilgall (which means “Rolled Away)”. All the disdain of Egypt was finally rolled away, and they were in the land.
The first two towns were the most significant. Jericho is the oldest city in he world. It had twelve- metre high, and twenty-metre thick double walls. The city had become very crowded because it was limited by the walls, so they built houses on top of the walls. Under the weight of all these new houses the walls became vulnerable. So a tremor or even a loud noise could be its downfall. God could see the cracks in the wall even if the people could not. Forgive my indulgence but I like to think Joshua was looking for the most cracks and the best place to blow the trumpets as they marched round seven times on one day. On precise orders the sound of trumpets and shouts and banging of pots and pans brought the walls down, all the walls, that is, except where the Rachel and her family lived. A promise is a promise as far as God is concerned and when the spies made the promise on behalf of God that was good enough, God honoured it.
But it works both ways, equally if God says don’t do something, it does not matter if you are one of God’s chosen people or not, if you disobey you will meet disaster. God said to all the people “You are not to loot this city”, but someone did! It was not discovered straight away but God did not overlook it. When they came to attack Ai, they made two bad mistakes. The first was overconfidence. The trouble is when God’s people see God has done something once they think it will automatically follow the next time. How often do churches look at what God is doing somewhere else and think it will be successful for them? Come to that, how many books have been written telling other churches, “Just do what we did and you will have good success”. When will we ever learn? God likes the unique, that is why he made you and me with such variety. Your success is to do what He tells you not to copy others. But there is a second lesson here also. One man’s sin can cause the whole people to fail. One man took spoils when told not to and it cost Israel a Battle. God is serious when he says something, we cannot get away with it. Once the sin of Akin was dealt with, they conquered Ai with no problem. Joshua has one more task to complete before he could depart in peace. He must take the people to the twin mountains of Gerizim and Ebal in the place called Sheckem or shoulder-blade.
Finally, they reached the twin mountains where they were to ratify the treaty and renew their vows. Half the tribes went up mount Gerizim and half went up mount Ebal from where they shouted the blessings and curses across the valley to each other. Now Joshua can say Lord let your servant depart in peace because he had faithfully finished his commission. He handed the leadership over to twelve elders- one from each tribe. And thus begins the tragic story of Judges.
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83 Read Isaiah 14: 12-16.Satan was the motivation behind the declaration even if it was addressed to Babylon
84 Joshua 2: 16 CEV)