As for me and my house (Covenant Renewal): Joshua 24

   Living in the Promised Land: A study in the book of Joshua

 

To view this online as a video: https://youtu.be/LFLtzZQ_yPs

 

Lesson Twenty three:  Chapter 24: Three funerals and Renewal of covenant

 

A.    Introduction

1.     Greetings

 

2.     Overview. [For those online, see this book overview from The Bible Project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqJlFF_eU  )

B.             Today’s lesson: Chapters 24. a renewal of covenant

Introduction

Do you often wonder in which direction you should be going? You have major choices to make about schooling or a mate, choices about compliance with government regulations, even vaccinations or choices about simple, daily pedestrian things like clothing or hairstyle. Looking forward, looking through fog, looking through your own ignorance, through situations over which you have little or no control. And you know it’s time and the place to make a choice, to go in a certain direction at a certain speed …. And you just cannot find the way. You are frozen by a lack of being sure.

Then let me give you a bit of help and advice. One of the biblical methods of making good choices is by looking backwards. “What?” you say. The Bible makes it clear we should not be looking back. “Remember Lot’s wife,” Yeshua warns (Luke 17.32). Yeshua also taught us, “no one after setting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9.62)

Here’s what I mean about looking backwards. In those days of indecision, when you cannot see the road ahead, I sometimes look back to how I got to this place. If you will, imagine you are in the Olympics and rowing. You suddenly find yourself in a foggy section of the race. The way forward is to keep going in the direction you had been traveling. That is accomplished by looking backwards and seeing your trajectory. Your pattern of life, your direction you previously set will determine where you are going in the next hour or the next stage of life. 

Isaiah the prophet said, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain.” (Isa. 51.1-2)

That’s how Joshua ends his book for us. He calls all Israel to join him at Shechem, including all the leadership he had charged similar information in chapter 23, to look backwards. Look at the history of the people of God. By doing so you will remember the God of the people of God. Look to the rock from which you were hewn. Get your starting point right, and those other points when you saw or longed for God to be at work in your history. That will help you as you carry on. 

And you must carry on, because I’m 110 years old and fading. I won’t be here in a short while.

The history

Verse 2. He reminds us of our beginnings. Not the beginnings of the world, Genesis 1-11, but only of our beginnings. He starts with Abraham. Terah his father. Ur of the Chaldees. They were practicing idolaters. Then Abraham left (That’s Genesis 12.1-2) and the beginnings of the Jewish people. He travelled through Canaan. Verse 3. God gave him multiplied descendants. (See the hint of “God promised a multitude of nations, and He will do it!”). Verse 4 Jacob and Esau. Land distribution to Esau. Jacob and his sons head to Egypt. Skip 400 years and verse 5. God sent Moses and Aaron. Plagues. Verse 6. I brought you out. Verse 7. Red Sea and Egyptians swallowed up. Note this well…. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the Wilderness. From history to YOUR history. You were there. From ancient history to modern history. This is a crucial linkage.

Verse 8. The battles with the Amorites. Og and Sihon. Done and dusted. Verse 9. The story of Balak and Balaam and the Moabites. Balaam the false prophet gets a couple of verses. Fresh memories for those standing with Joshua at Shechem that day. The chronicles continue to show specific enemies of the Jewish people (Esau(Edom)) and Egypt, Amorites and Moabites, and there are more. Joshua won’t let the 12 tribes forget that we are still in a battle. 

Verse 11. New territory. Land of Israel. Crossed the Jordan, Jericho, the battle there. The 7 nations. I gave their land to you! Verse 12. Hornet sent before us, so we cannot claim the victory as being ours. God fought for us. Verse 13. The land gave us food to eat and cities in which to live; we built neither the vineyards and fields nor the cities. God provided for us. (Deut. 6.10-11)

The charge

After Joshua finishes this brief overview, I mean, imagine your taking 12 verses to write up your family history to today from as far back as you can get. How long would it take you? What would you include? More importantly, what would you omit? After the overview, he turns to the charge. 

Verse 14. Now in light of all that, fear God, serve him inside and out. Sincerity and truth. 

בְּתָמִ֣ים וּבֶֽאֱמֶ֑ת

In tamim and emet. Perfection and truth. With everything you have. Don’t omit anything in your service to the Lord. It’s a function of the first phrase. Fear the Lord. Deep unyielding surrender to the Lord of life, and get your relationship with him right. Then your service will not be in fear or hostility; it will not be man-pleasing of full of peer pressure. It will be vertically directed and vertically driven. God is our focus. God is our joy and our strength. Looking back through our history should produce a love and adoration, a thankfulness and a celebration of the goodness and power of God. 

Tamim. Perfect. Now don’t get lost in this, but let me give you some other biblical meanings to tamim. This from Butler’s commentary on Joshua, and I think very helpful about this word.

תמים, “totally,” can refer to the 

1)    completeness of a day or year (Josh 10:13; Lev 23:15; 25:30; cf. 3:9), but most often refers to 

2)    the perfection of an animal to be sacrificed (Exod 12:5; 29:1; Lev 1:3, 10; sixteen other times in Leviticus; eighteen times in Num 6; 19; 28–29; ten times in Ezek 43–46). In reference to 

3)    men, it is used only with Noah (Gen 6:9); as a command to Abraham (17:1); and for the original inhabitant of Eden (Ezek 28:15). It is the action expected of the 

4)    people with their rulers (Judg 9:16, 19). Its basic home is in cultic literature, where it describes the 

5)    actions of God (Deut 32:4; 2 Sam 22:31=Ps 18:31; Ps 19:8). It is the 

6)    demand made on the person who would enter the cultic worship (Ps 15:2) and the confession of 

7)    innocence by the worshiper (2 Sam 22:24=Ps 18:24; cf. 37:18; 84:12; 101:2, 6). The wisdom writers use the term sparingly to refer to the 

8)    righteous man who is blessed before God (Job 12:4; 36:4; Prov 2:21; 11:20; 28:10). Here then is a norm set up for men (Deut 18:13), but seldom ascribed to a man. The man who achieves it is often the victim of ridicule (Job 12:4; Amos 5:10).”

That said, don’t read this as ‘be perfect’ and get all tripped up in your own imperfections. God isn’t interested in nor impressed by perfected saints. He loves every person, COVID-vaccinated and anti-vaxers. He loves Liberals and Labor. He loves Jew and Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free. That said, he makes no excuses for our failures, nor should we. Reasons, yes, alibis, no. 

Becoming perfect is a long-ranged goal of every child of God. And it’s going to happen the same way the children of Israel won the territory of Canaan. How was that? God working with us, (Mark 16.20) driving out the enemy little by little (Ex. 23.23). At the end of our story, it will be “not by your sword or your bow. I gave you a land.” (verse 12-13) The Lord wants the work to be his and the glory to be retained in his own person.

Now before I go on with the rest of chapter 24, let me highlight that to some degree, this chapter fits the literary pattern of ancient Near Eastern treaties, commonly called a ‘suzerain’ treaty. This one doesn’t exactly fit the entire layout but is fairly close and certainly recognizable. It has a 1) Preamble (verse 2), 2) the historical prologue (.3-13), 3) stipulation (.14-15), 4) provision of a document of the treaty (.26), 5) witnesses to testify (.26-27), and 6) consequences of breaking the agreement, called curses (.19-20). As I say, it doesn’t exactly fit the template, but enough elements are there to help us locate this section in the timing, in the history of the world as about 1400-1300 BCE or so. 

Back to our chapter.

The stipulation

Verse 14. Fear God. Serve him inside and out. Put away idols. Serve God. Make a good choice: idols or the Eternal One. Verse 15. As for me and my house, we’re on God’s team. We will serve the Lord. We are signing the contract. You have free will to choose which way you will go. 

In this pair of verses the word “AVAD” is used 7 times. In fact in chapter 24, the word in its root is used 18 times! We are called to be devoted, to be enslaved, to be entrusted and committed to the One and only God. The choices are clear. Look back to see from where you have come and decide where you are going. To whom. With whom. 

Verse 16. The people answer. Nope—not the false gods. Our father Abraham abandoned them. We’re with him. And we are with you 100%.  Why? Verse 17. God delivered us. And our family. We are still witnesses. “in our sight” (still eyewitnesses). Verse 18. All the nations before us. We will serve the Lord. He’s OUR God. Sounds like the people in Moses’ day at Sinai. Na’aseh v’nishma. 

But now comes the change of conversation. Joshua turns to be the prophet. The one who says in verse 19, no, you are going to fail. You really do have a choice, but I’m afraid that you are going to serve foreign gods. You will turn away from the Lord. Shame is coming. 

Verse 21, the people reply, ‘No, we are really serious. Honest. We’re going to serve God.”

Verse 22. Joshua says, ‘OK, you are witnessing against yourselves.” This is exactly what Moses said in his swan song of Deuteronomy 32.  In other words, your own words will be brought up in a future court of law to remind your children that you promised, and when you fail, the justice meted to you will be deemed to be just. You are signing a contract, and when you break it, and you will, the punishments will be proper. It’s the same as the Tochacha of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. You will be cursed. 

They agree! 

Verse 23. Joshua charges them yet again. Put away the foreign gods and incline your hearts. This word for ‘incline’ struck me in study. It’s the word from the root Nata and means “to spread out, stretch out; to be outstretched, be spread out, be extended.” In other words, this is not a simple act of saying a word. This has to do with extending yourself. It’s not something about which you should be cavalier. In fact, I wonder if we were in a gathering, in an assembly hall, if I asked you who wanted to follow the Lord, if you would raise your hand. That would be similar to what Joshua is asking. But now, take that one more step—It has to do with going beyond the normal, and the simplistic, and stretching ourselves. To serve God.

Invitation

Dear friends, have you been born again to the living hope God promised? Have you committed yourself to the Lord of life, and said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?” Yeshua died to give us the way into relationship with the Lord.   We love Yeshua because in his death he accomplished salvation for all people. He took the curse we deserved to give us his righteousness which he deserved. Forgiveness is available because of the death of our messiah.  

If you’d like to receive him today, just now, join me as we pray.

Say something like this: “Father in Yeshua’s name, forgive me my sin, I was wrong to dismiss you and to disbelieve in you. I need your mercy. I deserve punishment but you are kind and merciful and I receive your grace. I repent. I receive Yeshua as my saviour and Lord. I will live because of my faith in Messiah Yeshua. Amen.

If you prayed that, please let us know of your profession by writing straightaway, won’t you? Bob@JewsforJesus.org.au We’d love to hear from you.

 

Conclusion

We are delighted you have joined us today. Please join us next week as we cover a major topic in Joshua—that of Holy War. Then in a fortnight we begin a new series on the book of James, near the end of the Bible. Yaakov was his real name.  You will certainly see yourself in the readings, the applications, and see what lessons we can draw for ourselves from the text there!  

Hope to see you then… until next week, Shabbat shalom!

 

 

 

Bibliography

Butler, Trent C., Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 7. Joshua. Word, Waco, 1983.

Davis, Dale Ralph, Joshua: No Falling Words, Christian Focus, Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland, 2019.

Hess, Richard. Tyndale Commentary Complete. 

Meyer, F.B., Joshua and the Land of Promise, Christian Literature Crusade, Ft Washington PA, 1977.

Pritchard, James, “The Bible reports on Gibeon.” Penn Museum, Expedition, 1961. Volume 3, Issue 4.

Sanders, J. Oswald, Promised-Land Living, Moody Press, Chicago, 1984.

Thompson, Frank Charles, Chain Reference Bible, Kirkbride Bible Co, Indianapolis, 1964.

Toms, Paul, This land is your land. Gospel Light Publishing, Glendale CA, 1977.

-------------------

D-Groups for this week

1)             Monday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse

2)             Monday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White

(Contact our office for zoom details)

If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details. It’s time to step up. Ponder this—who will be in your D-Group?

 

The Book of Joshua:   Outline.

 

A.    Entering the Land (Chapters 1-4)

a.     Chapter 1: A funeral and a promise

b.     Chapter 2: A harlot saves the day 

c.     Chapter 3: Go against the flow (Part 1)

d.     Chapter 4: Go against the flow (Part 2)

 

B.    Taking the Land (5-12)

a.     Chapter 5: Roll away iniquity: a study in sacraments 

b.     Chapter 6: Joshua fit d’battle ob Jericho

c.     Chapter 7: Getting it very wrong: Achan and his mistakes

d.     Chapter 8: Combat and Covenant

e.     Chapter 9: Common sense is not so common

f.      Chapter 10: Southern dominance

g.     Chapter 11: How not to win

h.     Chapter 12: God is faithful

 

C.     Possessing the Land (13-21)

a.     Chapter 13: Inheritance lessons

b.     Chapter 14:  Caleb as an example with a side of contentment

c.     Chapter 15: Geography lesson

d.     Chapter 16: God’s ways are not our ways

e.     Chapter 17: Promise vs compromise

f.      Chapter 18-19: Apportionment continued

g.     Chapter 20: Cities of Refuge

h.     Chapter 21: Levite cities to the rescue

 

D.    Retaining the Land (22-24)

a.     Chapter 22: Can an altar alter anything?

b.     Chapter 23: Staying on edge

c.     Chapter 24: Three funerals and Renewing the covenant

 

The Seven Nations

 

1.     Amorite

2.     Canaanite

3.     Girgashite

4.     Hittite

5.     Hivite

6.     Jebusite 

7.     Perizzite

 

Josh. 24:1   Then ^aJoshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God. ² Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the ¹River, namely, ^aTerah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. ³ ‘Then ^aI took your father Abraham from beyond the ¹River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and ^bmultiplied his ²descendants and gave him ^cIsaac. ⁴ ‘To Isaac I gave ^aJacob and Esau, and ^bto Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but ^cJacob and his sons went down to Egypt. ⁵ ‘Then ^aI sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt ¹by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out. ⁶ ‘I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ^ayou came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the ¹Red Sea. ⁷ ‘But when they cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And ^ayou lived in the wilderness for a long time. ⁸ ‘Then ^aI brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you. ⁹ ‘Then ^aBalak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. ¹⁰ ‘But I ^awas not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his hand. ¹¹ ‘^aYou crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and ^bthe Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Thus ^cI gave them into your hand. ¹² ‘Then I ^asent the hornet before you and it ¹drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but ^bnot by your sword or your bow. ¹³ ‘^aI gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

 

Josh. 24:14   “Now, therefore, ^1afear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and ²truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the ³River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. ¹⁵ “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or ^athe gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

 

Josh. 24:16   The people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; ¹⁷ for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of ¹bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. ¹⁸ “The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.”

 

Josh. 24:19   Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, ^afor He is a holy God. He is ^ba jealous God; ^cHe will not forgive your transgression or your sins. ²⁰ “^aIf you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.” ²¹The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.” ²² Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that ^ayou have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³ “Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and ^aincline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” ^24 aThe people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and we will ¹obey His voice.” ^25 aSo Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. ²⁶ And Joshua ^awrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. ²⁷ Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, ^athis stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke ¹to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.” ²⁸ Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.

 

Josh. 24:29   It came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred and ten years old. ³⁰ And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in ^aTimnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.

 

Josh. 24:31   ^aIsrael served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who ¹survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

 

Josh. 24:32   Now ^athey buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground ^bwhich Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred ¹pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons. ³³ And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him ¹at Gibeah of ^aPhinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.

Conflict and covenant: Joshua Chapter 8

 Living in the Promised Land: A study in the book of Joshua

Lesson eight (Joshua Chapter 8)

16 April 2021

To view this online as a video:  https://youtu.be/1WQhFLfaDW8

Lesson Eight: Conflict and covenant

 

A.     Introduction

1.     Greetings

2.     Overview. [For those online, see this book overview from The Bible Project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqJlFF_eU )

B.     Taking the city

Do you remember how sad the story was last week? Achan had ruined it for the Jewish people by taking plunder from the capture of Jericho in chapter 6. God had to judge the Jewish people for the sin of this one man, and to guarantee that everyone took him seriously. Achan was killed and the goods he took were destroyed. That’s why we had lost in the first battle of Ai in chapter 7.

Now in today’s episode, the Jewish people are given assignment to go again and take the city. There are only 12,000 people in the city, so it’s small compared to Jericho, but still, about the size of St Kilda East or West Ryde. That is, not a minimal and easy to knock over location. As we discovered when we lost 36 men trying to take it in the strength of self-confidence. God never really commends self-confidence. Jeremiah the prophet said it this way, “cursed is the one who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength.” (17.5). The Psalmist said, “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God.” (20.7)

Trent Butler said this about the wrong of chapter 7 and the victory of chapter 8: 

“The two chapters show the reverse sides of warfare led by Yahweh. Warfare carried out in thoughtless self-confidence leads to disaster. Warfare carried out in obedience to each of God’s commands leads to victory and possession of the land forever. The narrative of a sacred process has illustrated to Israel how she must act when she brings the anger of God upon herself.”

Back to the word from heaven through General Joshua. Verse 1, God says, “do not fear or be dismayed.” Why would God tell Joshua not to fear? Because the natural response to the failure at Ai is to be afraid that we will lose again. After being with Moses and learning the ropes, so to speak, and hearing in chapter one to be strong and courageous, then having great success, after one failure, it’s natural to self-doubt and to wonder if one had heard well from the Lord. God is reassuring Joshua. 

Dale Davis says this, “the tempter was sharp enough to place his emphasis on the restriction God had imposed rather than on the riches he had lavished.” (page 69)

The word is given from heaven, to take the city for God has given us the city, and do to Ai what you did at Jericho and its king. A boundary of taking only spoil and cattle, in case anyone from the tribe of Judah or Benjamin missed last week’s slaying of Achan. Then set an ambush. No details are given, but Joshua is a general and can sort this out. 

He chooses two lots of folks, and neither is a small number. The 5,000 and the 30,000. He’s not going to trust himself and he’s going to put a significant number against the weaponry of Ai. Increasing the numbers of troops is not about self-reliance, but is a statement that they are NOT going to trust their own strength. I know this might sound odd, but it’s a statement of embarrassment about last week’s cocky self-confidence. Sending only a few was cocky. And wrong. 

The plans are laid out to verse 9. The larger group will camp on the back side of Ai. And await the departure of the over-confident Ai residents. Oh, by the way, Ai means ‘ruin’ and it’s unclear when it got its name. My guess is that is happened after this battle. 

Joshua camps with the 5,000 on the ambush side while the 30,000 wait on the backside. I wonder what they all felt. I wonder how they prayed that evening. 

The distance is fascinating. From Gilgal to Ai is about 15 miles, over half a marathon. In verse 10, Joshua goes up with the elders. We haven’t seen that term before, and I wonder when it actually was presented first.

Anyway, the 5,000 amble up towards Ai in the morning and then make motions like they have been defeated. Perhaps they drop their weaponry or they make sure they are seen as warriors and then make noises of retreat. 

Remember, the 36 who died in the recent attack .The residents of Ai remember that they had defeated the mighty Hebrews whose deity was against the people of Jericho, and the people of the Amorites. So the confidence of the residents of Ai would have been very high, especially if they start to throw javelins down from the top of the gates of the city. 

Verse 14 shows the king (read: mayor) of Ai who saw the 5,000 and thought to himself, I can beat those Jews easily again. He gave chase. He did not check his rear-view mirror. His confidence prevented his research. 

Verse 15, Joshua and the 5,000 pretended. That pretense will come back to bite Israel in a later episode. We have to be smart in military activities, but victories in a long season often prevent our careful considerations going forward.

Verses 16 and 17, the people of Ai were summoned and to a man, they all chased after the Jews… not a man was left in town. The place was unguarded it says, the Hebrew is OPEN (Petucha). We would say left open like a house open for a thief.

Verse 18, you can almost hear Joshua saying, “We’ve got ‘em right where we want ‘em.” He climbs the hill so that all the 30,000 can see him and he raised the javelin. Compare Moses raising his rod, both against Pharaoh and at the Red Sea. When he lifts the javelin, the signal is sent and the ambush takes place. 

I like verse 19. It doesn’t say the men in ambush rose. It says “the ambush rose.” I like that. It’s as if the plan of God took centre stage. The ambush, that which God ordained, rose like the javelin and the faith of the people ascended with it. God’s plans work. Remember the famous quote of Hudson Taylor,

“Depend on it. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. He is too wise a God to frustrate His purposes for lack of funds, and He can just as easily supply them ahead of time as afterwards, and He much prefers doing so.”

God’s way here was the ambush. It worked like a charm. 

Verse 19 says the city burned. 

Verse 20, the former residents of Ai turned around and saw their houses destroyed, their city turning to ash, and just then the 5,000 turned and gave chase to the displaced ones. 

The fires in Ai gave pain to the residents and great hope to the 5,000 in military garb. Think about that. The same activity; the same reality; the same things can have multiple meaning depending on your position of faith at that moment. 

Hear this from the friend of Yeshua, named Simon Peter. 

“you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.⁶             For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”⁷This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,”⁸         and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.” (1 Peter 2.5-8)

The same rock can be a haven of rest, and the Temple of worship or a stone over which the unbeliever trips and damages himself. The difference is our honor or respect or in biblical term, our faith, in the Rock himself. See what I mean?

Similarly Rabbi Saul said something about aromas and us.

¹⁵ For we are a fragrance of Messiah to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; ¹⁶ to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. (2 Cor. 2.15-16)

To believers we are a fresh smell of a spring rain and beautiful fragrances like spikenard and hyssop, like the rose of Sharon. To unbelievers we are like the fresh smell of a garbage truck with rotting fruit especially durians in a tunnel in the summer which is traveling at less than 10 kph. To one we are pleasant; to the other a rotting and painful stench. What’s the difference? The difference is the beliefs of the recipient. The difference is faith. 

So here in our episode, the fires of Ai are to the former residents pain and suffering. To the Jewish people behind and in front, it’s a sign of God’s presence and God’s victories. It’s a call to faith and rejoicing. It’s Jericho all over again. Hallelujah!

The end of the ambush was the capture of the mayor, and in verse 23 brought him to Joshua. 

Verses 24 to 29 is the cleanup action, mopping up after the victory. Taking spoil, killing the renegades, all 12,000, and burning and hanging, and setting up a stone memorial. 

A couple points to note. 

Verse 26, the phrase, ‘utterly destroyed’ is the word Harem again. 

הֶחֱרִ֔ים

Dedication and destruction are tandem here. We’ve seen that word before, and will again. What belongs to one is dedicated to him and if you mess with that, it will destroy you.

Also the hanging until evening and the removal of the king. Verse 29. This seems to showcase a military lynching of sorts, but it’s better than that. Yes, there is residual reminder for a time so that others learn not to oppose God and his people. But the grace of removal is noteworthy. 

Davis quotes PC Craigie, another commentator about this section. He says, 

“The body was not accursed of God because it was hanging on a tree. It was hanging on a tree because it was accursed of God… it was accursed because of the reason (crime against God’s law) for the death.”

Davis says the hanging was not the cause of the death, but a sequel to death. Kings were hanged after they were put to death (Josh 10.26-27). In other words, Deut. 21.22-23 gives us some help here. The Israelite offender put to death for a capital offense could be hung up on a tree or post to serve as a warning to the people. But the corpse was to be taken down before nightfall. 

Remember Deut. 21.23 says “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

Remember the hardness of our hearts and God has given us another picture of his judgment, the King of the Jews hanging on a tree. Having become a curse for us. (Gal. 3.13) 

The final section today is verses 30-35 and although there is controversy about the timing of this event, and the placement into the canon here or later, the reality is this makes sense. After faith-filled victory replaced the wicked presumption of the last chapter, it’s fitting that a reading of Scripture to remind the people of God how to keep going and winning in this transitory life. 

Obviously the flashback is to Moses who read the blessings and the curses on the same mountaintop. And this is probably not a reading of the entire Torah, including the narratives, but rather the legislations of Exodus and Leviticus perhaps. We aren’t privy to what was included and what was omitted.

What matters though is that we who have conquered should renew our covenant with God. 

Dear friends, when you have battles in your life, in your faith, in your walk with God, what do you perform when those battles are over? How do you memorialize your own history?

The people of Israel used stones and repeated tribal stories to maintain the reality. They corroborated the history and made sure that we would never forget. How you do that in your own life, in the life of your family, and of your mates… that will settle matters long after you are gone.

Invitation

Dear friends, do you have such memories of victory today? Have you met the one who was cursed on the Roman tree for you in Jerusalem? if you have never asked Yeshua to be your Saviour, today as we keep learning from Joshua, would you choose to believe the Lord of life?   What does it mean to be strong and courageous in light of learning about Yeshua? Would you be willing to take a stand for him who took a stand and died on a Roman cross for you? No, it’s good because historically, our Messiah died. It’s good because Messiah’s death accomplished salvation for all people. He took the curse we deserved to give us his righteousness which he deserved.

Without that kipporah (sacrifice) we would be hopeless, but because Yeshua died in our place on Passover, as the Passover lamb, and his blood was applied to the doorposts of our hearts, we can be forgiven. 

If you’d like to receive that today, just now, join me as we pray.

Say something like this: “Father in Yeshua’s name, forgive me my sin, I was wrong to dismiss you and to disbelieve in you. I need your mercy. I deserve punishment but you are kind and merciful and I receive your grace. I repent. I receive Yeshua as my saviour and Lord. I will live because of my faith in Messiah Yeshua. Amen.

If you prayed that, please let us know of your profession by writing straightaway, won’t you? Bob@JewsforJesus.org.au We’d love to hear from you.

 

Conclusion

We are delighted you have joined us today. Please join us next week and learn with the others how you can stay on track in 2021 and beyond.   I hope to see you next week as we continue our studies in Joshua.  You will certainly see yourself in the readings and in the lessons. It will be worthwhile!  Next week we will look at chapter 9, in what I call “Common sense is not so common” and see what lessons we can draw for ourselves!

Hope to see you then… until then, Shabbat shalom!

 

 

 

Bibliography

Butler, Trent C., Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 7. Joshua. Word, Waco, 1983.

Davis, Dale Ralph, Joshua: No Falling Words, Christian Focus, Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland, 2019.

Hess, Richard. Tyndale Commentary Complete. 

Meyer, F.B., Joshua and the Land of Promise, Christian Literature Crusade, Ft Washington PA, 1977.

Sanders, J. Oswald, Promised-Land Living, Moody Press, Chicago, 1984.

Toms, Paul, This land is your land. Gospel Light Publishing, Glendale CA, 1977.

Weirsbe, Warren. Be Strong: Putting God's Power to Work in Your Life. David C. Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs, 2010.

-------------------

D-Groups for this week

1)              Tuesday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse

2)              Monday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White

(Contact our office for zoom details)

If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details. It’s time to step up. Ponder this—who will be in your D-Group?

 

The Book of Joshua:   Outline. (This is the current plan for the series)

 

I.               Entering the Land (Chapters 1-4)

a.     Chapter 1: A funeral and a promise (Leadership Lesson 1)

b.     Chapter 2: A harlot saves the day 

c.      Chapter 3: Go against the flow (Part 1)

d.     Chapter 4: Go against the flow (Part 2)

 

II.              Taking the Land (5-12)

a.     Chapter 5: Roll away iniquity: a study in sacraments 

b.     Chapter 6: Joshua fit d’battle ob Jericho

c.      Chapter 7: Getting it very wrong: Achan and his mistakes

d.     Chapter 8: Combat and Covenant

e.     Chapter 9: Common sense is not so common

f.      Chapter 10: Southern dominance

g.     Chapter 11: How not to win

h.     Chapter 12: God is faithful

 

III.             Possessing the Land (13-21)

a.     Chapter 13: Inheritance lessons

b.     Chapter 14:  For example

c.      Chapter 15: Geography lesson

d.     Chapter 16: Trends of note (Part 1)

e.     Chapter 17: Trends of note (Part 2)

f.      Chapter 18: Apportionment (Part 1)

g.     Chapter 19: Apportionment (Part 2)

h.     Chapter 20: Provisions (Part 1)

i.       Chapter 21: Provisions (Part 2)

 

IV.            Retaining the Land (22-24)

a.     Chapter 22: Can an altar alter anything?

b.     Chapter 23: Staying on edge

c.      Chapter 24: Three funerals and Renewing the covenant

 

 

Josh. 8:1   Now the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. ² “You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”

 

Josh. 8:3   So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. ⁴ He commanded them, saying, “See, you are going to ambush the city from behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. ⁵ “Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as at the first, we will flee before them. ⁶ “They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ So we will flee before them. ⁷ “And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸ “Then it will be when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it according to the word of the LORD. See, I have commanded you.” ⁹ So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.

 

Josh. 8:10   Now Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. ¹¹ Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. ¹² And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. ¹³ So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley. ¹⁴ It came about when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵ Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled by the way of the wilderness. ¹⁶ And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they left the city unguarded and pursued Israel.

 

Josh. 8:18   Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹ The men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. ²⁰ When the men of Ai turned back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers. ²¹ When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and slew the men of Ai. ^22 1The others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they slew them until no one was left of those who survived or escaped. ²³ But they took alive the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.

 

Josh. 8:24   Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵ All who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000 — all the people of Ai. ²⁶ For Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷ Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua. ²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation until this day. ²⁹ He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave command and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.

 

Josh. 8:30   Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, ³¹ just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. ³² He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel. ³³ All Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had given command at first to bless the people of Israel. ³⁴ Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. ³⁵ There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.