Ever go about your day and at the end of it realize you hadn’t stopped for real communication or time with God? Maybe a couple days? Or perchance you told yourself you were too busy to stop and make the time. Sometimes that is our most valuable weakness for the devil to pounce on. To combat the enemy, our minds need to be stayed on Him constantly. Remember God is in control, and a simple way to do that is to focus on the details in the Bible. Pick them out and focus on them. Remind yourself and others just who it is that you serve.
Reestablishing the Relationship…
This set of chapters (Joshua 5-11) covers one of the most common Bible stories of all time… the fall of Jericho. This was a time of strength and power, having just won major battles on the other side of the Jordan River, neighboring kings were terrified. Circumcision and being down for the count probably wasn’t the next mission in their head to accomplish.
Yet, God needed to reestablish their covenant relationship first… ensure that the two parties were in good standing and continuing on with the promises He made to Abraham.
Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
Genesis 17:14
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Since God had just established Joshua as He had Moses, the Israelites were willing participants. If you’ll note the battles they just went through, the opposing nations were decimated, so much so that no other king had the courage to face the Israelites. God’s timing and planning was amazing, He gifted them that time of peace so they could be right with Him. It was important for them to remember God is in control. So they were all circumcised.
It’s the little things that count…
The Passover represented the deliverance from judgment… yet this generation had not celebrated it annually. Look at the timing again though. It just so happens to be that they were circumcised right before the Passover was to be celebrated? Obviously not. It was perfectly planned.
Not only that, but the following day the manna from Heaven stopped because they were now able to eat what the Promised Land produced. God cared for and provided for their needs.
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho…
Instructed to not say A WORD while they walked around Jericho once every day for 6 days, the Israelites complied. How strange that must have been for them. The king essentially issued a stay-at-home order for their city, except this was for safety measures against a viable threat to their lives and everything they owned.
The instructions were to utterly destroy everyone and everything, with the precious metals going directly into the treasury. Achan had other plans. Little did he know that when God said one man could make all of Israel liable for disobedience, He meant it. (Does that remind us at all of Adam? Or the ultimate contrast, the one man, Jesus, offering salvation to all of humanity?) The Israelites lost their next battle and God specifically lays out for them that they will fail in battle until His instructions are obeyed in full by everyone.
God shows us a pecking order of sorts; we see a similar scenario when He initially selects a king for Israel. He has each tribe present itself, then clans, then families, then men. This points to the leadership structure as well as responsibility. Achan was a part of something bigger, his family, his clan, the tribes, and Israel as a nation. It was his choice to disobey and that disobedience led to all of Israel being guilty. His punishment was not just that he died, it included his first circle of influence: his family. (Also, as an aside, take note that remorse was not a part of his confession, it was merely an admission of guilt after being caught.)
Reestablishing…
Next we are brought to a battle where God shows absolute strength in battle. Joshua gets another pep talk to not be afraid and proceeds to enter a battle where 12,000 men and women fell in one day. Do we stop to think about that number… TWELVE THOUSAND? It is then that God reestablishes the Mosaic covenant… with a twist. Not only is this for the Israelites, but it now includes “all [of] Israel, sojourner as well as native born“. Journey back to Rahab and we remember she and her family were saved and had been placed outside of the camp of Israel. Now they (and others) are included.
We see the contrast where Israel needed to trust God with the battle of Jericho: they were instructed that not one word was to be spoken. Here we see that God is renewing the covenant: not one word was missing when Joshua read the law to the people. When you remember that God is in control, every word of His matters. (All the more reason we should be deeply vested in our Bibles daily).
Time of day…
Since we know that words matter, it is imperative we take them to heart as well, no matter how long ago they were spoken! God told the Isrealites way back in Deuteronomy 7:2 that when they were driving out the nations, they were not to make any treaty with them. Yet in Joshua 9 we find out the Gibeonites tricked the Israelites into a treaty and failed to inquire of the Lord. They didn’t give God the time of day when making their decision on how to act with the Gibeonites.
Next God uses the literal time of day to demonstrate His power. In Joshua 10, five Amorite kings banded together to attack the Israelites and Gibeonites. After an all night march, the Israelites arrived at Gibeon to fight them. After receiving his battle pep talk (Joshua 10:8), God showcased His authority over people and creation: He threw the people into confusion, hailstones were cast down from the sky (and killed more people than the sword), and the sun stood still. God actually gave them the literal time of day to battle.
Joshua 10:42, emphasis added
Most of the battles fought against entire cities were won in a day or two. While I don’t know the typical war timelines of most battles at that time in history, these seem incredibly fast. We do know the battles fought spread fear among all the surrounding nations and that it was because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.
A day…
After all of these individual battles, a colossal army was formed against them. Before it was 12,000 in a day… that wasn’t even a drop in the bucket compared to an army that was uncountable. Joshua received his recurring pep talk with an addition this time:
And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”
Joshua 11:6, emphasis added
The northern kings in Joshua 11 banded together to form their humongous army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Israel again faced an army with greater power than they possessed. It wasn’t the first time they had faced an army with chariots, though. And what better way to instill His power but to show the Israelites and the surrounding nations that the latest ‘gadgets’ and ‘technology’ weren’t needed for God to win. While the chariots weren’t washed away in the Red Sea this time, they were all burned up after defeat occurred. The Israelites didn’t even keep them for future battles, they listened to God’s earlier command to utterly destroy everything. They trusted Him at His word, they obeyed and had faith in His future care for them.
Remember God is in control..
Recounting the many miraculous ways the Lord fought for Israel, it makes it easier to remember God is in control. His control reaches over and into all areas of our life. He controls creation! He gifted us His word and every word is important; it matters not that it was written ages ago as it is to remain our guide. His Word. His words. Our Bible should guide us daily, we are just as responsible as Achan was for upholding His words.
Focus on the words so we can have them infiltrate our every day thinking. Remember God is in control as we go about our days and let that be cause for us to turn to Him without ceasing.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
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Wow, You’ve covered a tremendous amount of real estate in this post, all pointing to our faithful God, and our privilege of cooperating with him in fulfilling his purposes and putting his great glory on display!