THE STUDY OF THE BOOK OF JOSHUA

I.       Lesson One

The Summary

The Book of Joshua is a continuation of the history of Israelites, recorded in Deuteronomy.  At the time Moses had led the Israelites to the border of the promise land where he advised, exhorted and blessed them. Later God allowed him to see the beautiful promise land from afar.  However, Moses, without entering it himself, left the world with the Lord. The work of Moses ended here but the work of leading the Is­raelites did not stop at this stage for the Israelites had to be led across the River Jordan to drive out the enemies in order to obtain the land. Joshua was made their leader to succeed Moses in leading the Israelites forward.  Before studying the Book of Joshua the following points should be familiarized with:

A.     The Name of the Book: 

The Book of Joshua is known as "The Book of Triumph". As such the book has special po­wer in encouraging the triumphant Christians, for it di­rects every Christian as to overcome the spiritual ene­mies to obtain from God what have been prepared for him in Christ.  This book gives many exhortations to the spiritual soldiers.  If anyone merely wants to get rid of sins and be satisfied with leading a hermit's life then the Book of Joshua will not be of much help. But should there be others, who after having got rid of their sins wished to become crusaders to fight for the word and to rule with Christ, this book will serve them as the only source of strength and encouragement.

B.     The Author: 

It was written by Joshua but the last porti­on might have been written by someone else.  The theme of the book revealed that Joshua had witnessed every incident recorded in the book so that they were presented in a manner so real, so vivid and in full detail. Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim and was one of the twelve spies whom Moses sent out from Kadesh-barnea (Num 13:8, 16). He was a faithful servant of Moses for many years and the Spirit of God was with him (Ex 24:13, 33, 11; Num 27:18; Deut 34:9).

C.     The Form:

It's a historical book of warfare.  If Moses was compared as an orator, then Joshua would be militarist and a first-class one. But of course it must not be for­gotten that his knowledge came from God.  We can see a case of his triumph from an incident recorded in the book. He took seven years to overrun Canaan.  In these seven years of wars, he only met with a minor defeat.  The sec­ret of his success was entirely due to his absolute faith and obedience to the Lord.

D.     The Structure: 

1.       The Book of Joshua consists of twenty four chapters, each sub-section represents one chapter.

2.        This book is divided into three parts:

 a.      The victory (chapters 1-12).

 b.      The division of land (chapters 13-21).

 c.      The teaching of Joshua in his twilight years and his death (chapters 22-24).

E.     The Time : 

It covered a total period of twenty four years. After having conquered the Canaanites, Joshua distributed the land to the Israelites according to their tribes. He had dominion of the nation for some years and in this respect was considered a great politician.

F.      The Symbolism: 

The Book of Joshua in the light of spiri­tual interpretation is compared as the epistle of Ephesus of the Old Testament.  The "Christian Heavens" in Ephesus refers to the land of Canaan of the Israelites.  The land of Canaan was a place of war and only in this respect it cannot prefigure heaven.  However it was a place of victory of God's strength and of His blessings. (Josh 21:43-45; Eph 1:3).  In our study of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, we have come to know that the experiences the Israelites had, corresponded to the experiences of church and the Christians today.  The history of the Israelites portrayed the spiritual experience of an indi­vidual.  The conditions of the Israelites while in Egypt were slavery, poverty, sufferings and afflictions till death prefiguratively similar to the conditions of the be­lievers prior to their regeneration.  The conditions in the wilderness were unbelief, disobedience, discontentment, weakness representing Christians (in a spiritual sense) who have accepted baptism but have not surrendered to God fully.  In the Book of Joshua we can see the con­ditions of the Israelites in the land of Canaan were: peace, happiness, full of strength and frequent victories. Spiritually speaking this is comparable to a person having surrendered fully to God.  Please note the law; he could not enable the sinful people to prevail (Heb 7519; Rom 6: 14).

G.    Prefiguration:

1.       The meaning of Joshua is "The Lord saves" and it bears the same meaning as "Jesus".  Joshua prefigured Christ with the following significant points:

 a.      He came after Moses. 

Moses preached the law and was unable to lead the Israelites into Canaan but it was Joshua who led them into the land.  This prefigured that when our Lord Jesus came into the world, he saved the people who were under the law and led them into the spiritual Canaan (Jn 1:17; Rom 10:4; Gal 3:23-26).

 b.      He led us to victory (Rom 8:37; II Cor 1:10; 2:14).

 c.      He gives us our portion (Eph 1:11, 14; 4:8-11). 

Thin is represented by the land distributed by Joshua after the conquest.

2.       Crossing the River of Jordan prefigured to die with the Lord and thereafter rise again (Rom 6:6-11; Eph 2:5, 6; Col 3:1-3). Let us study the Book of Joshua in parts.

 a.      THE CONQUEST OP LAND

 b.      THE DISTRIBUTION OF CANAAN

 c.      JOSHUA IN HIS TWILIGHT YEARS                   

 d.      THE FIRST MAJOR PORTION      

 e.      THE SECOND MAJOR PORTION                  

 f.       THE THIRD MAJOR PORTION

Before going to the detail study, please read carefully the contents of chapter one with prayers.  Do not neglect the most important thing, that is, to be familiarized with the theme. Although there is no one to expose to you the meaning, you must make an effort to read it thoroughly until you have fully comprehended what it is all about.  Further, make a full study of every part of the verse otherwise you may be losing something. The first twelve chapters of the Book of Joshua deal with the conquest of Canaan and can be divided into seven minor parts:

1.       God commanded Joshua (Ch. 1).

2.       Spying the city of Jericho (Ch. 2).

3.       Crossing the River Jordan (Ch. 3 & 4).

4.       The City of Jericho was taken (Ch. 5 & 6).

5.       The attack of the city of Ai failed initially but prevailed on the second attempt (Ch. 7 & 8).

6.       The Gibeonites (Ch. 9).

7.       The great battle and the victory (Chapters 10-12).

Following the first portion of 12 chapters is the second major portion recording in detail the distribution of land.  In this lesson we shall study the first subsection of the first major portion, that is, the main content of chapter one.

H.    God Commands Joshua (Chapter I)

After the death of Moses, God commanded Joshua to take the place of Moses as the leader of the nation and to lead the people across the River Jordan into the Promised Land. "Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, t6 the people of Israel".   It seems as though God had given a difficult task to Joshua. First and foremost how would they cross the river, when the water of the Jordan overflowed the banks on both sides during harvest (3:16) and they had neither a boat nor a bridge? Even if they were able to cross over, they would have to face seven strong in-habited tribes.  Please refer to the map indicating the localities where the seven tribes dwelled.  They all had strongholds and fortresses to protect their country and the inhabitants were skilful warriors. Apart from issuing the order to Joshua God also gave four direc­tions to Joshua to clear off his doubts:

(1:3-4)

1.       God enabled him to see the properties they were to inherit.  Of course those properties were worth their effort to strive for but how would they be able to face the enemies?

2.       God assured Joshua of success in 1:5 in order to rid off his fear.

3.       The secret of success of the children of God is to always trust and obey the words of God (1:7-8).

4.       God promised Joshua to be with him continuously (1:9). From the viewpoint of man, it appeared a difficult task to perform, but since God had given the encouragement, Joshua led the people and headed toward Canaan undauntedly.

After what God had spoken, Joshua told the whole camp what to do, and they were all filled with joy (1:10-11).  It had been forty years since they left Egypt, but now at the command of Joshua, they were to leave within three days to enter the Promised Land. If these disobedient wanderers in the wilderness for forty years were told to cross the Jordan, they would undoub­tedly object and would start to murmur as in the past. They might say that since we have been on the road for forty years, there was no necessity to cross the river in a hurry. Why not wait for a few days and let the river subside a little until it was not so dangerous? What were the reasons for crossing the river within three days?

These people had been greatly influenced by the teachings of Moses after following him for such a long time in the wilderness. They realized that it was not of any use to depend on their know­ledge, power and judgment to work their way.  They had decided to follow the instructions of the Lord and, to carry out his will (Deut 34:9).  Thus they obeyed the Lord unconditionally and out of faith, they told Joshua.  "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go" (1:16). God led these people to victory and it was little surprise that they took the land of Canaan within seven years.  If the present churches would obey the Lord absolutely, follow our great Joshua too.

Please note that while Joshua commanded the people to prepare to cross the river, he also reminded the descendants of Reuben and i.e. Christ and sincerely say thus, "whatever you command us we will do; wherever you send us we will go, for He will lead us to victory" then Christ will take possession of the world and accom­plish His heavenly task within a short time. Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh that although they had chosen the east of Jordan as their properties (Num chapter thirty two), they would have to cross the river Jordan, according to the arrangements of Moses, to fight in the battle until they had ta­ken possession of the land of Canaan before they could return to the east of the river to take possession of their properties (Joshua 1:12-15).

 

Questions:

2.      What was the other term given to the Book of Joshua?

3.      Which category of Christians do you think are specially motivated by the event of the conquest of Canaan?

4.      What were the reasons for Joshua to write this book?

5.      How can you tell that Joshua was a great militarist?

6.      About how many years were covered in the Book of Joshua?

7.      Which text of the New Testament is similar to the Book of Joshua?

8.      The conditions of the Israelites in Canaan (they were strong, peaceful, happy and triumphant) denote the state of well-being of a redeemed man spiritually. What must a redeemed man hav­ing the grace of salvation go through to attain to this state of spiritual wellbeing?

9.      In what respects did Joshua prefigure Christ?

10.  Write the seven sub-sections of the first major portion "the conquest of Canaan."

11.  What were the four directions of God given to Joshua prior to the crossing of the River Jordan?

II.    Lesson Two

The Spying of Jericho and the crossing of River Jordan (Chapters II to IV)

Before making the actual study of the lesson, please read the three chapters for at least three times.  The first major portion of the Book of Joshua deals with the conquest of Canaan.  In lesson one, we have made a study of the first sub-section "God commands Joshua" (Chapter I).  In this lesson, we shall study the second sub-section with the following details:

A.     The Spying of Jericho (Chapter II).

When the whole camp was prepared to cross the River Jordan, Joshua secretly sent two spies to scout the city of Jericho (2:1). After the Israelites had crossed the Jordan, the first city which hindered their advancement was Jericho (Please refer to the map). To have a clear notion as to what sort of enemies they were to en­counter, it was necessary that they should spy out the land first. We must note carefully that in the course of our spiritual advan­cement, whenever we encounter any difficulty, we must wage our hope with the Lord for no matter how great the difficulty is, the strength of the Lord is even greater.

The arrival of the two spies at Jericho soon came to the know­ledge of the King of Jericho.  The King sent messengers to Rahab saying, "Bring forth the men that have come to you, who entered your house."  Rahab, who had hidden the two men replied, "True, men came to me, but I did not know where they came from; and when the gate was to be closed, at dark, the men went out; where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them."

The messengers did not know that Rahab was lying, to them. As soon as they were gone, she went up to the roof and spoke to the two men, "I know that the Lord hap 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   and what you did to the two Kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan       And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any man".  This indicated that from what she saw, she believed that the God of Israel was the true God and that the land of Canaan would be given to the Israelites, so she pleaded to them to deal with her and her relatives kindly. The spies promised with one condition that she had to gather all her people under her house and that she had to tie a scarlet cord in the window and not to reveal this secret to anyone.

At the destruction of Sodom, God sent his messenger to de­liver Lot, and when God wanted to destroy Jericho on this occa­sion, He saved Rahab before doing so, because she had faith in Him.

Please think about the incident of Rahab and learn the fo­llowing precious teachings:

1.       The grace of salvation given to a person is not based on the amount of truth he has received but rather based on his faith and obedience.   Rahab lived in a sinful environment.  The people around her were foolish, unclean, worshippers of despi­cable idols.  Rahab was sinful but she believed in the Lord, and as a result she was saved.  Though she had seen very little light she immediately believed and obeyed the Lord, and later God gave her more light.  Indeed, Rahab knew very little about God.  She only knew* that the Lord had delivered His people out of the bon­dage of Egypt, and promised them the beautiful land of Canaan. She believed this, and it was considered as her righteousness.  The truth she knew was very little but because she had done immediately what she was able to do at that time, she was saved by her faith. "By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had warmly welcomed the spies" (Heb 11:31).

2.       True faith must be manifested in works - the actions taken by Rahab proved her genuine faith. The following four things proved the faith of Rahab:

 a.      She opposed the King of Jericho and acted for God and for the people of God (2:4-6).

 b.      She openly acknowledged that she believe the Lord (2:11).

 c.      She used the scarlet cord to identify herself with that of the children of God (2:21).  This reminds us of the red sign painted on the doorposts in Egypt to indicate that the people living in such houses had faith in God and were the children of God.

 d.      She had concern for the salvation of her relatives (2:12, 13; 6:17, 22, 23, 25).  Do we have these four qualities to declare our faith to God too?

3.       The redemption of God is not because of the righteousness of man, but because of the faith of man. One may ask, "Was not Rahab a sinful woman?"  Yes, she was. "Was she not lying to the King of Jericho?  Yes, she was. Then, how could such a person be saved? She was saved not through her righteousness but rather through her faith. God saved her not because she was good but because after having come into the Lord she would gradually become good. Both Heb 11:31 and Jas 2:25 indicated that God had "saved Rahab because of her faith revealed through her work.”  Similarly, the robber on the cross was also saved because of his faith, that is:

 a.      He admitted his sin and that he deserved to be cruci­fied.

 b.      He openly declared his belief that Christ was the Lord without sin and that he was crucified to redeem the sin of the people.

 c.      He had acknowledged God and feared Him.

 d.      He refuted sin.

 e.      He "believed that Christ would come again in His Kingdom and asked Jesus to remember him when He comes. Although he had committed great sins in the past and was crucified on the cross with Christ, he had truly repented and believed in the Lord, and was saved beca­use of his faith (Lk 23:39 - 43).

4.       God will reward richly those who have faith and trust in Him. If we were to compare the Book of Joshua 6:25 with Mt 1:5, we shall be able to know the history of Rahab.

After Rahab was saved, she stayed with the people of God (Jo 6:25).  Later she married an Israelite and became one of the anc­estors of Christ Jesus (Mt 1:5). The wonderful works of God far surpassed her expectations and requests.  God had delivered her from death, placed her in the midst of the children of God, instr­ucted her and led her into the genealogy of the Lord that she may have a part with Christ.  No matter how foolish, sinful and corru­pted a man is, or how far away from God he may be, if he is will­ing to believe and obey the Lord, the Lord will similarly make him whole.

Before turning to chapter two, we must take note of the re­port of the two spies (2:23 - 24). This report was directly con­trary to the reports made by the ten spies in Kadeshbarnea some forty years ago.  The report given this time was through faith si­milar to. The report given to Moses by Joshua and Caleb.  Refer to Num 14:6-9. Because their report contained no discouragement nor any shadow of doubt, the people were greatly strengthened.

B.     Crossing the River Jordan (Chapters Three & Four).

The River Jordan in the Bible is related to death, but the death referred to is not the bodily death.  It refers to the des­truction of life of the old self.  Please read II Kings chapter five. When Naaman realized that all human efforts were rendered useless, he surrendered his stand and obeyed the direction of God to wash in the River Jordan, where he was cleansed.  When he came up from the river, he was renewed physically.  He became healthy, strong and thereafter lived a happy life.  Please read Matthew, chapter three and note that when those people who went to John the Baptist to admit their sin, knowing that their own doings were wrong and that only God's ways were correct, they were baptized in the River Jordan (the symbol of death of their old self) and came up from the water ready to receive the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire (Mt 3:11).

Our Lord was also baptized in the river Jordan, not because He was a sinner, but "to fulfill all righteousness" and to leave a teaching for us to follow.  After the Lord was baptized, the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire (Mt 3:11).

In His almighty power, He had overcome Satan (Mt 3:13; 4:11) Therefore when the 'old-selves of those once weak, heart hardened and sinful Israelites had come to an end (that is when they realized their weakness, folly and sins, and were willing to believe God for protection, wisdom and strength), God led them across the River Jordan safely.  They became able and powerful people through the strength of God.

The section which deals with the crossing of the River of Jordan is the prefiguration of our death together with Christ.  Please read carefully Romans 6:6 -11; Eph 2:4 - 9; Col 3:1 - 3, paying particular attention to the directions and the exhortations in the­se verses.

Joshua came up early in the morning and led the people to the river bank to await the crossing of the river.  When he saw the huge waves in front of them, he thought to himself that there was no way for them to cross the river on their own effort with women, children, animals and all the belongings except the Lord open a way for them.  When the Israelites were about to cross the river, the officers went to their camp and gave them a very important order. They said to them, "When you see the ark of covenant of the Lord your God "being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it" (3:2-3).

The order was for them to watch the ark of covenant and to follow their leaders that they might march forward with the ark leading in full view of them.  They entered the water as though they were entering the valley of death.  They had never trodden such road before but had no fear, for the promise was laid down for them saying, "Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is to pass over before you into the Jordan" (3:11). The Ark of the Covenant prefigured Christ.  The ark was to be ca­rried across the Jordan before them.  The priests who carried the ark stood on dry ground in the midst of the river and all the Israelites crossed the river safely.  The Lord would never let His people walk before Him.  It was He who walked before them.  When the ark of covenant was carried into the midst of the river, the water stagnated and would not flow.  Christ Himself had died first before, and we need only to follow Him.  Let us look at the won­drous signs which God gave to His people.  He dwelled among them. Not only did He lead the Israelites across the river, He also wrought miraculous signs when the Israelites were at war with the Canaanites.  So Joshua said to them "Hereby you shall know that the living God is among, you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Preizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of covenant of the Lord of all the earth is to pass over before you into the Jordan .... the waters of the Jor­dan shall be stopped from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap" (3:10 - 13).

The next day, they wanted to see the great miracle somewhat expected to happen at the beginning of their journey.  The first thing they saw was a group of priests with white garments carry­ing the ark of the covenant and about two thousand cubits behind followed the Israelites according to their tribes. As soon as the feet of the priests carrying the ark stepped into the river, the waters coming down from above stood, and rose up in a heap far off....  And while all Israel were passing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

They then selected twelve persons, one from each tribe to take twelve stones from out of the very place where the priest feet stood, for a memorial of this great event to testify to the mighty power of the Lord.  The Lord had not only led them cross the Jordan safely, but had also given them power to drive out the seven tribes namely the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Amorites, Girgoshites and Jebusites.

Now when the Israelites had crossed the river leaving the rolling waters behind, they had no more chance to retreat.  They had left their life in the wilderness for good and had arrived at the promised land.  The second step was to inherit the beau­tiful land.  The crossing of the River Jordan has the most tea­ching value.  If Egypt were to prefigure the world or the terri­tory of Satan, the wilderness would prefigure the way of life of not-devoted Christians, who murmured, wandered about, fell fail­ed, disobeyed and disbelieved.  Canaan would prefigure the devo­ted, filled with the spirit, absolutely conformed Christian way of life.  The position of Christians after the "resurrection" will be no more for self but for Christ, for He controls us.

For when we die, are buried and raised with Christ we obtain the new life from Him and shall gain a triumphant, blessed and happy position. How we wish that every child of God wou­ld die to sins and be rid of Satan? When Satan wants to use our mouth, our hands, our minds and our feet, we shall refute the devil to let him know that we are dead to all his temptations and that we are living for Christ!  And how we wish that Christ would use our mouth, our hands, our feet, our minds, to find us living for Him.  "Do not yield your member to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instrume­nts of righteousness" (Rom 6:13).

For the children of God to have such triumphant life, it may not necessary mean an absence of conflicts within them.  On the contrary, the fiercest battle of the Israelites was fought in Canaan but God gave them the strength to be victorious.  The first place they encamped after crossing the Jordan was at Gilgal about five miles away from the river (please refer the map).  When they were at war with the Canaanites, Gilgal served as the base where their wives and children remained until they had conquered and distributed the land.  That was the best place to set up the memorial heap of stones.  When the warriors came back from the war, the heap of stones would remind them of what the Lord God had done for them.

They gathered another twelve stones and placed them in the midst of the River Jordan (where the priests carrying the ark of covenant had stood causing the water to stop flowing).  These stones were already submerged by the water when the river flowed again.  (Twelve represented the whole of the Israeli people, the old self of whom had all died and perished in the river).  The twelve tablets of stone carried to Gilgal represented the rege­nerated new people in the beautiful land.  The people gave thanks to God for His redemption when they saw the twelve tablets of stone in Gilgal.

Questions:

1.      What saved the life of Rahab?

2.      What were the four things Rahab did to testify her genuine faith?

3.      What are the things we should know of Rahab besides that her life was saved?

4.      What were the reports given by the two spies after they had returned from Jericho to their camp?

5.      What crossed the River Jordan before the Israeli peo­ple and what does it signify?

6.      What are the prefigurations of the crossing of the Jordan in relation to the spiritual experience of the Christians?

7.      What was the great miracle they saw at that moment?

8.      Where did the Israelites lay the twelve memorial stones after they had crossed the river?

9.      What did the stones remind the Israeli people of and what spiritual meaning do they have?

10.  What are the things which remind us that we have de­parted from the everlasting death?

III. Lesson Three

Conquest of the City of Jericho (Chapter 5 & 6)

Please read a few times chapters five and six before studying the lesson proper.  The beginning of chapter five is in the subsection four of the first major portion which deals with the conquest of Jericho.

Jericho was their enemies' first strong fortress.  In this battle, Joshua followed the instruction of the Lord to drive out the seven tribes of Canaan.

Why must God want the Israelites to fight against them? To "utterly destroy them", "not to show mercy on them", "cut off their name from the earth" and all those that breathe must not be left alive.  Refer to Deut 7; 20:16-18.  Regarding the above be left alive (refer Deut 7; 20:16-18).  Regarding the above orders of God, we often hear the remarks,  What a cruel thing that God should order his people to kill the innocent women and children? How could a merciful God do such a thing? To such arbitrary critics, it would be best that they read the law books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy to find out the reasons. In the first place their wickedness was beyond correction. Leviticus chapter eighteen is a chart of sins of the Canaanites (some of sins committed by them were unimaginable).  Verses 24 and 27 revealed the abominable sins the people committed so that the land was defiled.  From Deuteronomy 12:31, we can know that the sins they had committed were so serious that God simply could not allow them to remain on earth.  God is the owner of the land.  He can at any time, when He deems fit, drive out the inhabitants.  The sins they had committed were up to the point where God were forced to take action to drive them out.

Had God wanted to deliver the people from corruption, he would have taken the necessary action as in the days of Noah. Before a surgeon can save the life of an ulcer-stricken patient, he would have to take off the affected part.

Similarly, although the land of Canaan belonged to the Israelites, God was the landlord who had given the land over to Abraham and his descendants (Gen 12:6-7; 13:14,15,17).  However the land was occupied by the Canaanites.

The fighting between the Israelites and the Canaanites were even more severe than the wars fought between nations. For a long time Satan and his subjects had been in control of the inhabitants there, so they had to be conquered and destroy­ed besides been driven out.

Why must God allow the Israelites to have bloodshed? Why must God resort to wars and not use other ways to destroy the inhabitants, for example, the method of famine and pestilence. It was because the Israelites were made the executors of God and the Lord God wanted them to learn to follow strict instructions. Before they launched the attack, God told them in explicit terms through Joshua, the reason for killing the Canaanites so that the Israelites that if they worship idols, they would be cast out from the promised land too.

Now read chapter five verse one and note carefully what were the effects upon the Amorites and Canaanites when they heard of the miracle of the water of River Jordan parting. Had they known that the war was waged by the Lord and that the strength, ability and wisdom of Joshua's army were from the Lord, creator of heaven and earth, their fears would have been even greater.

The Israelites had to undergo circumcision before going to war (Jos 5:2-3) "Circumcision" is the sign of the covenant made between God and Abraham, in which God wanted to give the land to Abraham and his descendants forever (Gen 17:7-14).  The land was not obtained out of their own effort but was given by God as a gift and in honouring it, the Israelites had to keep the conditi­ons of the covenant.

The Israelites were not told to be circumcised when they were in Egypt nor in the wilderness (5:4-7), but when they were in Canaan, the first thing they were told to do was to be cir­cumcised.  Circumcision denotes the getting rid of carnal desire, the acknowledgment of the covenant of God, the trusting in the instruction of God and not relying on our wicked ways, and the complete doing away of self will (Deut 10:16; 30:6, the original text).  Only then will the glory of God be revealed.  However the circumcision such as practiced by the Israelites in those days was no more than prefigurations.  True believers today must live a circumcised life in its true sense.

The place in which the Israelites were circumcised was Gilgal.  The meaning of Gilgal is to roll away and it indicates that all the former wickedness was rolled away.  We too should have our own 'gilgal'.  We all are aware of one principle that is to live and die with Christ.  It must be manifested in our inner-self as well as in our works.  In simple language, we must rid off our old self, to be born again to put on a new man having the image of Christ, to be made the spiritual 'Gilgal' and be true Israelites who have undergone the true sense of cir­cumcision (Eph 4:21-24; Col 3:1-10; Rom 2:28-29).

In Gilgal they did another important thing that was to keep the feast of the Passover (5:10).

Since the Israelites left Egypt, this was the second time they kept the feast of the Passover.  The first time was kept in Sinai in the second year after they left Egypt (Num Chap 9). They had no occasion to keep the Passover when they were in the wilderness until they had entered Canaan. Now they must be cir­cumcised otherwise they would not be able to partake the feast of the Passover.

Children born in the wilderness for forty years had not been circumcised, for during this period most of the people did not believe and many of them did not obey the laws. As such they did not pay attention to the important covenant God had made with Abraham.

After the Israelites had circumcised themselves and when they had eaten the produce from the land, the manna ceased to fall.  God looks after His people today as in the days of old. For He will not cease to supply a thing until the next substitute comes.  The produce from the land was prepared by God. Then the manna ceased to fall, the land of Canaan supplied the Israelites with more nourishing spiritual food .  If one is willing to put away the life of his old self to come under the control of the Holy Spirit, then he is able to live on spiritual food and is no longer dependent on spiritual milk.

When they were about to attack the first strong fortress in Canaan, God appeared to Joshua to increase his faith and to strengthen him (5:13-15).  Joshua was then in Jericho thinking of the heavy duty before him and when he looked up, God appeared to him.  At first Joshua did not know it was God because He had appeared in a human form with a sword in His hand.  Joshua asked Him "Are you for us, or for our adversaries ?"  And the Lord God replied, "No, but as the commander of the army of the Lord I have now come."  Then Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worship­ped Him.

Joshua thought at that time that the person who accepted his worship was a man or an angel of the Lord but actually He was Christ himself who appeared in the form of flesh.  He told Joshua that he was commander of the army of the Lord.  In this connection we are reminded of the words spoken by the Lord Jesus to Peter at the time of his arrest,  "Do you think I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Mt 26:53-54).

The Lord came not only to be the commander of the Israeli army for the words He had spoken to Joshua carried a very deep meaning.  As "Commander of the Lord's army, "He undoubtedly has countless number of angels to be His soldiers.  If we open our spiritual eye, we shall be able to see, as the servant of Elisha had seen, the countless number of soldiers of God with us (II King 6:16-17) .

We must not forget that the one who appeared to Joshua was the commander of our salvation.  In our course of action against the principality of darkness the organized, trained soldiers of Satan, we shall prevail if we obey and look up to our commander to have Him lead us.

Before the Israelites could occupy the lard, they had to destroy the fortresses of the enemies.  This is exactly what the Christians must do.  They will have to overcome their bad habits one by one, to get rid of their indecent behaviour and thoughts, for they are our great enemies and the fortresses of Satan in us before we experience the abundant blessings of the Lord.  Jericho is comparable to our sins, bad habits and the things done by us in our daily lives against the will of God.  If we do not get rid of such impurities and evil practices, we shall not be able to dwell in the spiritual Canaan.

But how did the Israelites take Jericho?

The City of Jericho was big and strong.  It was surrounded by thick walls fortified by well trained mighty men of war.  They had piled up enough food stuffs in case the city was being attack­ed or being besieged.  In short, they were well equipped (6:1).

It was practically impossible for the Israelites to take the city by themselves.  However with the help of God, they only need to follow the instructions.  In Jos 6:2, it is stated, "I have given into your hand Jericho...."  It was all because of the grace of God that the Israelites could prevail over the city and so there was nothing for the Israelites to brag of.

Please note how they had their victory so that we may know how to overcome the ‘great Jericho’ in the course of our life. When Joshua conversed with God, he was given the precise instruc­tion as how he should take Jericho.  The strategies Joshua used were never used by other militarists before.  Please refer to 6:2-5.

The Israelites had to march round the City of Jericho once a day for six days and on the seventh day they had to go round seven times.  The marches involved all the men of war (approxima­tely about 600,000 of them).  Seven priests were appointed to bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark.  There was not a single voice to be heard apart from the trumpets.  On the seventh day after they had marched round the city, all the people shouted with a great shout and the wall of the city fell down flat.  It was a great miracle indeed!  Had the people led by Joshua behaved like those in the wilderness, they would have objected to the orders of Joshua.  Perhaps they would find faults with Joshua and say "Has anyone used such a method to fight a war before? or someone would say, "Can priests fight in the war? Did Moses ever use such a strategy before? "But strange enough, when Joshua issued the orders, there was not a single objection raised.  Such unity and obedience accounted for the greatest cause of success.  They were not like the people, who died in the wilderness, always finding faults, were critical and selfish, and who did not respect the authority of God nor did they acknowledge the words of God spoken through their leader.

They were then an entirely different group of people for they had crossed the Jordan and experienced the power of God. Thus they entrusted everything to God.  Although the method used by God differ greatly from the wisdom and judgment of man, they raised no objection but had absolute obedience because the command was from God (6:8-9).

Now let us compare the words and deeds of the people in Canaan and in the wilderness, and at the same time also compare the life of a Christian before and after he has offered his body to the Lord.

We have studied how God helped the Israelites to be victorious because they obeyed the command of the Lord.  On the seventh day, the wall of the City of Jericho collapsed, the inhabitants killed, beasts destroyed, many things were burnt down and the whole city perished.

Now let us ask ourselves the question- Do we have any "Jericho" in the course of our life ? Do we have the strong for fortresses of Satan lying in our way? What has kept us under bondage for a long time? The sins which bind us, the tendency to do evil, the insurmountable lust, the crafty temptation, and bad habits are all the wickedness to be subdued.  It is important to follow the example of Joshua to first consult God and to do according to His instructions.  Then God will be present to render wondrous help and we shall be triumphant over the fortresses of the adversaries.

There is another important point to note in the orders of Joshua to the whole army, that is, they must kill everyone in the city of Jericho only sparing the lives of Rahab and her household. Apart from gold, silver, copper and iron for the construction of God's temple, all other things must be destroyed.  No one was allowed to take home anything from Jericho for all the things were cursed.  It was for certain that there were a lot of things which the Israeli soldiers would like to take home for their wives but the command of God was such that He wanted everything to be destroyed.  In our next lesson we shall study about a man who did not obey the order of God and the terrible consequences.

Questions:

1.      Who declared war on the seven Canaanite tribes?

2.      Why did God punish these nations and order the Israe­lites to destroy them all?

3.      What right had the Israelites in taking Canaan for their own country?

4.      What is the sign of circumcision and what is the spiritual meaning in it?

5.      What was the other important event which took place in Gilgal besides circumcision?

6.      When did manna cease to fall? What did the people eat after manna had ceased to fall?

7.      Who appeared to Joshua before Jericho was taken?

8.      Please state the procedure of surrounding the City of Jericho by the Israeli people.

9.      Who were those saved in the City of Jericho?

10.  How did the Israelites use the gold, silver, copper and iron they had taken from Jericho?

IV.  Lesson Four

Attack against Ai and the Gibeonites

We shall now study sub-section five of the first major portion.

A.     The Attack of the City of Ai (Chapter 8 & 9)

After the fall of the City of Jericho, the name of Joshua spread fast and wide in the nation (6:27). The second offensive was against the City of Ai which was midway of the journey and a stumbling block to the march of the Israelites to Canaan (to the north west of Jericho situated near a small town called Bethel).

It was a great honour to the Israelites to have taken the big City of Jericho, just like we have overcome a great sin in the course of our life.  Now we shall note that on this occasion when they went to attack a small town (somewhat like a minor sin commit­ted by us), they failed.  What was the reason? Man can often prevail over great sins but fail on account of minor irritations. Minor faults may look unimportant, nevertheless, they impede the progress of man and his communication with God .  It is similar in effect to a major sin.  Please read chanter seven, paying particu­lar attention to the cause of the failure of the Israelites so that we may learn to be more careful.

The first thing to note is their disobedience - "But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things...." (7:1).  The second thing is that they had neglected prayers. Joshua had consulted men instead of consulting God - "Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai.... "God up and spy out the land"(7:2). Thirdly, their self confidence and their laziness; the idea of man differs from that of God's in that God said that all those who were able to fight must go, whereas the people said, "Let not all the people go up.... do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are but few" (7:3).

They were thinking that the attack of the small city of Ai when compared to the big city of Jericho would be a trifle matter. Their victory over Jericho was through the help of the Lord.  They thought it was no problem for them to capture the little city of Ai, so there was no necessity to mobilize the whole army.  All they thought was needed two or three thousand men.

It was apparent that they had slowly developed a state of self-confidence and pride, as though they had some great achieve­ments of their own to brag of in the victory at Jericho.  They did not glorify God and were no longer humble to seek help from Him, only acknowledging their own effort.

Defeat and losses were the expected results when Joshua accepted their advice (7:4-5).  The Israelites should have realized that their strength alone could not enable them to preva­il over the strong Canaanites.  Presently, we should also realize that our strength alone definitely cannot enable us to overcome Satan.  As children of God, we must always entrust everything to Him regardless of how trifle the matter is and what circumstance we are in.

The last part of verse five records that the Israelites were defeated miserably and that their hearts melted like water. We shall now see how Joshua was affected (7:6).  Note again in 7:7-9 the state of affairs when the Israelites returned from their defeat.  Joshua cared for himself and his people before the name of God.  He was not so concerned that the name of the Lord had been shamed but was more concerned about his own name and that of Israel.

Joshua placed the shame of defeat on to God.  Actually it was not the fault of God but the Israelites themselves.  They should not have been defeated on the promised land and it applies to us also.  In 7:10-1, God told Joshua clearly the cause of the defeat.  It was not the fault of God at all.  It was because the Israelites had sinned and so they could not stand firm.

From this event, God has taught us the truth that all those who belong to the Lord are of one body (I Cor 12:12-20).  When Achan alone disobeyed the orders of God and stole the devoted things from Jericho, God in 7:11 said, "Israel has sinned".  "They have transgressed my covenant".  "They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, and lied, and put them among their own stuff".  A single person sinning would not affect the whole community in a worldly organization but in a church, if a believer sins, the whole church is affected. The Lord said further (7:12-13) that if they would not get rid of their sins, they would be defeated again.  They would not prevail over the Canaanites unless God be with them.  God in (7:12) said clearly that he would be with them no more unless they destroy the devoted things from among them.  How is it that the church has no power to prevail over the world? It is because the people in the church have sinned, and that's the reason.

Since it was known that the Israeli camp had sinned, the question was where did the sin lie? No one knew except God and the one who had committed the sin.  But since the sin had affected the whole camp in that they were defeated by the enemies, they had to find out the culprit and properly deal with him.  The next morning, every tribe was asked to pass before God and the tribe of Judah was taken.  Now at least they could find out the cause of the defeat from this tribe.  The tribe of Judah was the strongest and they moved before all the other tribes.  It was the tribe from which Christ was born. From the tribe of Judah the family of Zerahites was taken and from the Zerahites, Achan was taken.  The consequence of Achan was tragic (7:24-26).  This incident brings important teachings to us!  The teaching is that there are little Ai(s) before the disobedient believers and there are small Achan(s) in the hearts of the unspiritual believers. Everyone should find out the small Acnan(s) in his heart and destroy them completely without any pity otherwise when we pass the little Ai(s) that lie in our way to heaven (i.e. when one is tempted by the lust of materials) we will fall into sins which in turn will affect the whole community.  Now if we have found the small Achan(s) among us, we should put them to death, burn them and raised a great heap of stones over them.

Please note carefully the section in which Achan made his confession (7:19-21), paying particular attention to verse 21. Achan sinned in the following manner: "I saw.... I coveted them, and behold they are hidden In the earth."  When we see the things forbidden by God, the best thing to do is to turn away our eyes and our mind.  For if continue looking at those things, we will be greedy.  Such greed will develop into the tendency to take and to secretly possess.

Chapter eight records the victory in their second attack against Ai.  Please note why Joshua had failed in the first attempt but succeeded in the second.  This incident tells us that if we had failed before, we may succeed later on: First, knowing all sins committed should be cleansed (7:24-26); second, Joshua sought advice from God no longer from men (8:1); and third, he took all the fighting, men with him (8:1-3) - although it was a little city, a small foe, they had to utilize their total strength all the same.  At the same time, they had to be obedient to God as well for they were unable to win the war by their own efforts. Joshua was triumphant in Ai because it was the grace of God just like the conquest of the city of Jericho before.  And the Lord said to Joshua, "I have given into your hand the King of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land" (8:1, 18).

This is yet an important teaching.  Although the attack by Satan in us may be mild, we are too weak to resist it.  In every thing whether big or small, we need the help from God.  As long as we have true faith and trust in God, He will enable us to prevail every time.  Knowing such victories are from God, we must bring all the glory to God.

Please read again carefully 8:3-22 and note the military tactics used by Joshua in the war.  He told some of his mighty men to lay an ambush behind the city while the rest pressed forward toward the city.  When the people of Ai came out to meet these Israelites, the Israelites pretended to run before them as though they were beaten.  Then all the people of Ai came out to pursue the Israelites leaving not a single man in Ai .  When this happened, the Israeli soldiers lying in ambush went into the city and set fire to it.  When the people of Ai in pursuit of the Israelites looked back, they then realized that they had been fooled.  Joshua and his soldiers turned back and successfully took the city;

After they had successfully taken the city of Ai, the Israelites had another important journey.  They had come to the central region of Israel about thirty miles away where there were two mountains facing each other.  The mountains were called Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim situated in the central part of Canaan (8:30-36).  The Canaanites there did not oppose the Israelites.

The inhabitants there were timid and very much afraid of the. Israelites.  Their hearts melted and there was no courage left in any man as described by Rahab (2:11).

When they had arrived at Mount Ebal, they built an altar and sacrificed peace offering to God, Then they put up a few stones and wrote upon the stories the law (probably the Ten Com­mandments) .  Then the twelve tribes were made to stand on the mountains, according to the instructions of Moses, six tribes in front of Mount Ebal for the curse and the other six tribes in front of Mount Gerizim for blessing.  The ark of the covenant of God, the priests and Joshua were at the centre.  Then Joshua read out the words of curse and blessing according to the books of the law once, and the congregation would say "Amen" (Refer to Deut 27:11-26; & Ch 28).

These were very important rituals which Moses repeatedly told them to observe before his death (Deut 11:29, 30; 27:1-260). They stood in the central place to acknowledge God and His command­ments and to declare that they would be faithful to the Lord for they had captured the land through the name of the Lord.  Thus they would inscribe the laws of God there at the center of the 1and. We, too, must write the laws of the Lord in our hearts; to accept the Lord and declare our faith with the Lord by sacrifi­cing burnt and peace offering.  When this religious ritual was over, the Israelites returned to their base in Gigal.

The following is sub-section six of the first major portion:

B.     The Gibeonites (Chapter Nine)

Make a thorough study of this lesson and remember the in­cidents well.

It is frightening to note from the verses that the King in Canaan had joined forces to attack Joshua.  Ordinarily these kings were not on good terms with each other.  But when the Israelites entered into their land, they all sensed the danger. Thus they united together to fight against the Israelites, their common enemy.  They had heard that the Israelites had won all the battles ever since they left Egypt and so they formed a united front to fight the strong Israelites.

But the Gibeonites had no confidence in their allies.  They preferred to join forces with the Israelites.  They seemed to be very familiar of the orders given to the Israelites by God through Moses (9:24).  In order to join forces with the Israelites, the Gibeonites could not let Joshua know that they were one of the seven tribes.  So they hid their identity by pretending that they come from a far away country.  One day they entered the Israeli camp and said some seemingly thing to Joshua (9:8-13).

Joshua and the elders were not in the least aware.  Please note that these people had a very high respect for the God of Israel (9:10).  They were very familiar with the miracles per­formed by God, but avoided mentioning the crossing of River Jordan and the destruction of Jericho which took place recently, so as to make believe that they had come from a far away country.

Although in the beginning Joshua and the elders were a little bit suspicious about them, they did not consult God over the matter but resorted to their own general knowledge for the decision because the Gibeonites seemed to have a truthful testimony.  Even­tually Joshua made a peace treaty with them (9:14-15).  The Israe­lites needed to learn as we need to learn.  Being the subjects of God for guidance in everything we do, for He is our wisdom and our strength.

Three days later, the Israelites realized that they had made a mistake and had been fooled.  Though these Gibeonites were sincere in their words and looked innocent in appearance, they were actually the neighbors and the wicked people God had ordered to kill.  But because the Israelites did not consult God, they swore to the Gibeonites that by the name of the Lord of Israel they will be allowed to live. Although they had done this by mis­take, they could not undo what they had done for it was under oath that they promised not to kill the Gibeonites.  Then the Israelite made them hewers of wood and drawers of water and they helped to work in the camp.  This showed that God can put right the wrongs of his people and through His love fulfill the salvation and complete His glory.

The teachings and their application to individuals are clear out.  The several Canaanite tribes being punished prefigure various kinds of spiritual adversaries.  In our last lesson we have studied the big Jericho and the small Ai.  In this section the Gibeonites denote the plans of the devils and their attack. These enemies are not open and launch their secret attacks with contrivance.   Such enemies are more treacherous for they cannot be detected easily.  Only with the foresight of God can one see through their deceiving character.  It would have been well for the Israelites to inquire from the Lord before they befriended the Gibeonitee.  Similarly Christians are being surrounded by the worldly people - the enemies of God.  Very often the worldly peo­ple will try to be acquainted with the Christians under the pre­text of friendship and religion.  Let us learn the teaching from the story that before we enter any contract or covenant such as marriage, profession, partnership or agreement etc, no matter how reasonable or trustworthy the person to whom we are to enter an agreement with may seem to be, let us not forget to consult God first.

It is abominable for the children of God to be united with the adversaries of God.  Very often, we see the daughters of believers married to unbelievers or Christian brothers enter, into business partnership with non-believers.  They pay no attention to the teachings of the Bible, "Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteous and iniquity?"  Sometimes God would grant special grace to unbelievers, like He had done to Gibeonites, by allowing them to enter upon some kind of partnership with His people, so as to afford them the chance of obtaining salvation.  But as a precautionary measure, it is best not to have this concept.

If the children of God were to unite with Satan, the outcome would not be good.  We can understand the fact by looking at the changes and corruptions in Christianity after the apostolic church spread to Rome. Satan wants to resort arms to attack the Chris­tians, but when he knows that he cannot prevail, he will use other tricks until the church is gradually united with the Satan-domina­ted world and has lost the qualification as the people of God.  It is sad to add that presently the Christian churches of the world are already in such a declined state.  Let this be the warning to all!

Questions:

1.      State the three reasons which caused the failure of Joshua in his first attempt to capture the city of Ai.

2.      What were the effects of the failure in taking Ai upon the Israelites and upon Joshua?

3.      In the story of Achan, how does God teach us the impor­tant truth in regard to the unity of God's children?

4.      State the four steps leading to the sin of Achan.

5.      What was the purpose of the Israelites' journey to Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim?

6.      How did the Israelites accept the land?

7.      What sort of enemies do the Gibeonites prefigure? Do we Christians encounter such enemies?

8.      What sort of mistake did Joshua and the elders make with regard to their being tricked by the Gibeonites?

9.      How did God deal with the matter regarding the wrongs on the part of the Gibeonites?