We’re back in “History” today… Joshua 6-10.
Today’s thoughts and notes:
Joshua 6:2-5 (NIV)
2Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”
Once again, God commands one of his followers to do something that would have made me ask, “You want me to do what?”
God’s ways CLEARLY are not ours.
Joshua 6:20-21 (NIV)
20When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. 21They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
Can you imagine how this news must have resounded throughout the region? Not only that Joshua and the Israelite army conquered Jericho… but how it happened?
Joshua 7:1 (NIV)
1But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel.
Can you say, “trouble brewing”?
Joshua 7:3-5 (NIV)
3When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there.” 4So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.
We see the result of Achan’s sin… the people of Israel suffer defeat as punishment from God.
It’s interesting how sin not only affects the individual, but affects a people as a corporate body. In today’s church, I don’t think we take this concept as seriously as we should. I don’t see evidence throughout the Bible that God changes throughout time, so it stands to reason that individual sin DOES still affect the larger body of believers. Yet another reason to guard our hearts.
Joshua 7:14-15 (NIV)
14” ‘In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD takes shall come forward clan by clan; the clan that the LORD takes shall come forward family by family; and the family that the LORD takes shall come forward man by man. 15He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the LORD and has done a disgraceful thing in Israel!’ “
The penalty for Achan’s sin seems a little harsh to me. Who am I to question God though? Obviously, the obedience of the people of Israel is of paramount importance to Him, and He needs them to understand that. I suppose it makes more sense in the context of their situation… Israel is just beginning the process of capturing the promised land, and will need to follow God’s orders perfectly to be successful. Any disobedience could jeopardize the success of their conquest.
Sadly, we see the result of this later on in the Old Testament.
Joshua 8:3-8 (NIV)
3So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4 with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, 7you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give it into your hand. 8When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”
Now these are tactics I understand a bit moreso than, “march around the wall seven times…”
Sometimes, God’s ways aren’t all that mysterious. Still, we must listen and follow how He directs, even if it does seems like we could have came up with the plan of action.
Joshua 10:12-14 (NIV)
12On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel:“O sun, stand still over Gibeon,
O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”13So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped,
till the nation avenged itself on its enemies,
as it is written in the Book of Jashar.The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!
With miraculous things like this occurring on a regular basis, I have a hard time imagining why Israel continued to stray from God’s will.
Of course, we easily forget the miracles God works in our own lives. I find that passages such as these call us to remember, reflect, and recommit our lives to the author of such kindness and goodness.
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