Day 64: Joshua 7-9

(The previous post covered the children of Israel crossing the Jordan, defeating Jericho, and saving Rahab.)

Joshua 7
¹ But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing: and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the children of Israel.

(Achan took of the devoted (accursed) things and God's anger was against the Israelites.)

² And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and spy out the land. And the men went up and spied out Ai.
³ And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; make not all the people to toil thither; for they are but few.
⁴ So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.

(The men that were sent to Ai by Joshua fled. Was God not with these men?)

⁵ And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men; and they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them at the descent; and the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

(The men of Ai killed about thirty-six men. This defeat caused the Israelites to lose faith. Was this a plan of men or of God?)

⁶ And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of Jehovah until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust upon their heads.
⁷ And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord Jehovah, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? would that we had been content and dwelt beyond the Jordan!

(Did Joshua consult God before this battle?)

⁸ Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel hath turned their backs before their enemies!
⁹ For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will compass us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do for thy great name?
¹⁰ And Jehovah said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face?

(God told Joshua to get up and He asked Joshua why he was lying on his face.)

¹¹ Israel hath sinned; yea, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: yea, they have even taken of the devoted thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also; and they have even put it among their own stuff.
¹² Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, because they are become accursed: I will not be with you any more, except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you.

(God told Joshua that Israel had sinned and that He would not be with them unless they destroyed the accursed from among them. So God was not with the men who went forth to Ai. Again, did Joshua consult God before the assault on Ai? Would God have had this discussion with Joshua about the "devoted" thing before Joshua sent men into Ai?

Although, God promised Israel the land of the Canaanites, this did not mean that they wouldn't have to rely on God throughout the entirety of the conquest. Just as God gave the Israelites manna each day in the wilderness, God would want to lead them each day moving forward.)

¹³ Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow: for thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, There is a devoted thing in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the devoted thing from among you.
¹⁴ In the morning therefore ye shall be brought near by your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which Jehovah taketh shall come near by families; and the family which Jehovah shall take shall come near by households; and the household which Jehovah shall take shall come near man by man.
¹⁵ And it shall be, that he that is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath; because he hath transgressed the covenant of Jehovah, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

(God told Joshua that the man that had the devoted thing had to be burnt with fire.)

¹⁶ So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:
¹⁷ and he brought near the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zerahites: and he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:
¹⁸ and he brought near his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

(Whether God told Joshua or it was revealed some other way, they found out it was Achan who took the devoted thing.)

¹⁹ And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.

(Joshua told Achan to confess to God and to him.)

²⁰ And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Of a truth I have sinned against Jehovah, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:
²¹ when I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonish mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.
²³ And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel; and they laid them down before Jehovah.
²⁴ And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up unto the valley of Achor.
²⁵ And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? Jehovah shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones.

(Achan, his sons, his daughters, and all that he owned was burned and stoned.)

²⁶ And they raised over him a great heap of stones, unto this day; and Jehovah turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

(Achor meant "trouble, disturbance." A "great heap of stones," meant they piled up stones until the people could not be seen. These events caused God to turn from His anger. The punishment Achan faced was in response to his iniquity. God and the Israelites acted justly by stoning him.)




Joshua 8
¹ And Jehovah said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land;
² And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: set thee an ambush for the city behind it.

(This time, God told Joshua to go to Ai for He had given them into Joshua's hands and they got to keep the spoil and cattle for themselves. God told Joshua to set up an ambush.)

³ So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them forth by night.

(Joshua chose 30,000 men and sent them out by night.)

⁴ And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
⁵ and I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city. And it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them;
⁶ and they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: so we will flee before them;
⁷ and ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city: for Jehovah your God will deliver it into your hand.

(Joshua established the military strategy. They would out smart the enemy.)

⁸ And it shall be, when ye have seized upon the city, that ye shall set the city on fire; according to the word of Jehovah shall ye do: see, I have commanded you.
⁹ And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to the ambushment, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
¹⁰ And Joshua arose up early in the morning, and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
¹¹ And all the people, even the men of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between him and Ai.
¹² And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city.

(A different group of 5,000 men were set in an ambush on the west side of the city.)

¹³ So they set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers-in-wait that were on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
¹⁴ And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

(Ai ran after Israel but they did not know that there was an ambush. The strategy worked.)

¹⁵ And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
¹⁶ And all the people that were in the city were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
¹⁷ And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.

(All of the men of Ai left the city to pursue after Israel.)

¹⁸ And Jehovah said unto Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thy hand. And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
¹⁹ And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it; and they hasted and set the city on fire.

(The men of the ambush got up and took over the city.)

²⁰ And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
²¹ And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
²² And the others came forth out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
²³ And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
²⁴ And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
²⁵ And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.

(Those of Ai who died that day numbered 12,000! All the men of Ai were included in that number, except for their king who was taken alive and brought to Joshua.)

²⁶ For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
²⁷ Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for prey unto themselves, according unto the word of Jehovah which he commanded Joshua.

(They took the spoil as God commanded.)

²⁸ So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.
²⁹ And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the eventide: and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised thereon a great heap of stones, unto this day.

(The king of Ai was hanged; all the men of Ai were killed.)

³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal,
³¹ as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man had lifted up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto Jehovah, and sacrificed peace-offerings.
³² And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote, in the presence of the children of Israel.

(Joshua wrote on the stones, a copy of the Law.)

³³ And all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, as well the sojourner as the homeborn; half of them in front of mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.
³⁴ And 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 commanded, which Joshua read not before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners that were among them.

(Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the Law.)




Joshua 9
¹ And it came to pass, when all the kings that were beyond the Jordan, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;
² that they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

(Kings of six different peoples gathered together to fight against Israel.)

³ But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

(The inhabitants of Gibeon heard about Jericho and Ai. The fame of the Israelites was spreading.)

⁴ they also did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-skins, old and rent and bound up,
⁵ and old and patched shoes upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and was become mouldy.
⁶ And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We are come from a far country: now therefore make ye a covenant with us.

(It seemed many nations were afraid of the spread of Israel. Six nations joined together to fight while the Gibeonites had another plan. The Gibeonites lied to Joshua and said that they were from far away. They wanted to make a covenant with Israel. Some translations used the word "league" in the place of "covenant.")

⁷ And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a covenant with you?
⁸ And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye?
⁹ And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of Jehovah thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,

(They lied again and said that they were from far away and that they were coming because they had heard of the fame of God. Remember, that was the purpose of the 5th Dispensation: reach people through the Law.)

¹⁰ and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth.
¹¹ And our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: and now make ye a covenant with us.
¹² This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and is become mouldy:
¹³ and these wine-skins, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they are rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.
¹⁴ And the men took of their provision, and asked not counsel at the mouth of Jehovah.

(The Israelites did not take counsel of God in this matter.)

¹⁵ And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.

(Joshua covenanted with them to let them live.)

¹⁶ And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them.

(Three days later they found out that the men were Gibeonites.)

¹⁷ And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.
¹⁸ And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by Jehovah, the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes.
¹⁹ But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by Jehovah, the God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them.
²⁰ This we will do to them, and let them live; lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them.
²¹ And the princes said unto them, Let them live: so they became hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation, as the princes had spoken unto them.
²² And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us?

(Joshua confronted the Gibeonites with a question. He wanted to know why they lied.)

²³ Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
²⁴ And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that Jehovah thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were sore afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.

(The Gibeonites reason was that they knew about God commanding Moses to take all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants. They were afraid for their lives.)

²⁵ And now, behold, we are in thy hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.
²⁶ And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not.
²⁷ And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of Jehovah, unto this day, in the place which he should choose.

(Joshua made these men hewers (cutters/gatherers) of wood and drawers of water. They would be servants to Israel and God.)

(This post covered Israel's first conflicts with other nations once they inhabited the Promised Land. Israel defeated Ai and then made a covenant with the Gibeonites because the Israelites did not ask God what to do.)

Day 65