These chapters, and several that follow, describe the widening conquest of Canaan.

I. The fall of Ai (8:1-29)

• Israel confidently sent 3,000 soldiers against the city, but was handily routed by Ai before (chapter 7). This time they send 35,000 troops (Joshua 8:3, 12).
• Previously Israel conducted a one-front attack on the city; this time they pretended the same tactic in order to draw Ai out into the fields to fight.

II. The law of God (8:30-35)

• After the battle, Joshua erected a stone memorial altar; and he had the law of God written thereon (Joshua 8:32-35).
• Then the word of God was read publicly.
• Separation of church and state was not an issue.

III. The Gibeonite ruse (9:1-27)

• The inhabitants of Gibeon, a large and powerful, royal city (Joshua 10:2), desired peace with Israel.
• But had forbad covenants with the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 20:16-20).
• The Gibeonite ambassadors pretended, quite believably, to be from a distant land.
• Joshua and the elders of Israel, depending upon their own intuition, accepted the actors, and made a peace treaty with them.
• Upon discovering the charade, Joshua ordered that the Gibeonites be allowed to live, in keeping with the terms of the treaty; but they would become servants to Israel.
• The Gibeonites, pleased to be alive, accepted servitude.

Meditation Points:

1. Sometimes what appears to be a small problem can be very difficult to solve, and may even require our full strength to overcome.
2. When God has given us victory over our enemies we should rededicate ourselves to His service.
3. Joshua entered into a covenant with the Gibeonites in much the same way that Isaac blessed Jacob instead of Esau–living by sight rather than by faith and obedience to the word of God.

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Trinity International Baptist Church meets twice each week in small groups to discuss their Bible reading. Maintaining a habit of daily devotions requires uncommon devotion; and our prayer is that God will use these “assigned readings” and regular accountability sessions to teach us the discipline that might develop into a habit of devotion. All discussions are in English with an evangelical emphasis upon knowing God.

Today’s Bible reading presents the falling walls of Jericho (chapter 6) and the fallen nature of a Jew named Achan (chapter 7).

The walls that came tumbling down (chapter 6)

Who hasn’t heard the song of Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho? But who remembers what actually happened?

• 7 priests, blaring 7 trumpets for 7 days
• Soldiers in front of them; soldiers behind them
• For six days they marched once around the city of Jericho, without speaking or any other vocal noise
• On the 7th day, they marched around the city 7 times, followed by a long blast of the trumpets
• Then the soldiers shouted, and the walls fell down
• The ring of soldiers advanced quickly into the city
• The two spies who had been saved by faithful Rahab, went to rescue her and her family
• All life in the city was destroyed; the gold and silver were taken and the rest was burned (or, at least that was God’s commandment)
• The city was never to be rebuilt, lest the builder’s family be struck down.

The wedge that brought Israel tumbling down (chapter 7)

One man’s sin brought disgrace upon the nation, defeat for the army, and death for 36 warriors. How did this happen?

• When Joshua decided not to send the entire army after the small city of Ai, he could not have predicted what the results would be.
• The 3,000 soldiers were humiliated in battle and chased away, suffering casualties.
• When Joshua sought the Lord about the reason for their failure, God told him to stop praying and to do something about the sin that caused the defeat.
• “Israel has sinned” (Joshua 7:11). The nation is guilty though only one man actually took the forbidden fruit of battle. (Does this sound familiar? Recall Genesis 3 and Romans 5 and the effect of Adam’s sin upon all men.)
• God publicly points the finger at Achan, singling him out in a dramatic way.
• What else could Achan do but confess: I sinned – I saw; I coveted; I took; I hid. (Does this sound familiar? Recall Genesis 3 and the sin of Adam and Eve.)
• The nation executed Achan; the accused is removed; and God is free to join His people once more (Joshua 7:12-13).

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Crossing the Jordan River (Joshua 4)

And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. (!Joshua 3:17)

1. How long this took, we don’t know. Imagine the strength of body and mind required to stand there doing the Lord’s work while hundreds of thousands of your family, friends and neighbors passed by. Christians should be so disciplined in their spiritual service.
2. Two memorials of 12 stones each were set up, one on the edge of the river (Joshua 4:8) and the other in the middle of the river (Joshua 4:9). Their purpose was to elicit questions from future generations and to provide a forum for presenting a testimony about God (Joshua 4:7, 23-24).
   • God dried up the Jordan River so that our ancestors might pass over.
   • God did a similar thing to the Red Sea for a previous generation.
   • This is to be a testimony to all people of the earth.
   • Men should know that God is powerful.
   • You should fear the Lord forever.

Circumcision and the Captain (Joshua 5)

10  This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11  And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13  He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14  And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. (!Genesis 17:10-14)

24 ¶  And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.
25  Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.
26  So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. (!Exodus 4:24-26)

1. Why hadn’t anyone been circumcised the entire time that Israel was living in the wilderness (Joshua 5:5-7)? Wasn’t circumcision a perpetual obligation? Didn’t Moses realize the serious consequences of failing to keep the commandment? Thinking a bit more about this, why would their unbelieving parents have observed the commandment when disobeying God was normal in their lives? We don’t expect the children of unbelievers to have learned anything about God from their parents, do we?
2. Did you notice that this crossing of the Jordan and the circumcision of the new generation took place in the first month, in preparation for the annual passover celebration (Joshua 4:19; Joshua 5:10)?
3. With their arrival in the promised land, Israel had no more need of the miraculous and regular provision of manna, so the miracle ceased (Joshua 5:12). Too many people keep looking for miracles when they should be attending to God’s normal means of providence.
4. Joshua’s interview with the Captain extends through the first five verses of chapter 6.
5. The Amorites and Canaanites were afraid of the Lord and His people (Joshua 5:1). So afraid was Jericho, that it had locked itself in (Joshua 6:1).
6. The Lord appears to Joshua. Who else could this be but the Lord?
   • He is called the LORD (Joshua 6:2)
   • He is worshipped by Joshua (Joshua 5:14)
   • He speaks like the LORD did to Moses  (Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:15).
7. Joshua, no doubt mindful of the military task before him, sees a man with a drawn sword (Joshua 15:13), and asks a perfectly normal question of the suddenly appearing soldier, “Are you for us or against us?” Everyone should ask this question of the LORD: “Are you for me or against me?”

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Meditation Points:

Rahab’s faith and works are mentioned in James 2:25. What are the facts?

• She lived in Jericho
• She was a harlot (prostitute)
• Two Israelite spies took lodging in her house
• Someone told the king about the Israelites at Rahab’s house
• Soldiers were dispatched to arrest the spies
• Rahab hid the men on the roof of her house
• She told the soldiers that the men had gone and she didn’t know where they went.
• After the soldiers left, Rahab told the men that it was safe to leave.
• She lowered a red rope from a window in her house on the city wall, for the Israelites to escape.
• Before they left she made them promise to save all her family. Indeed, she lobbied for their lives.
• The spies agreed that if she didn’t tell anyone that they had escaped,  and if she should both gather her family into the house and hang the red rope from the window, the spies would accept responsibility for the safety of Rahab and her family.
• After 3 days hiding in the mountains, the spies returned to camp to declare that the people of Jericho were afraid of the nation of Israel.

Joshua rallied the people for the imminent invasion. What are the facts?

• He spoke to tribal representatives who spoke to the congregation at large.
• Entrance to the promised land would begin in 3 days.
• In keeping with the Lord’s instructions, the ark of the covenant, carried by priests would lead the congregation.
• Because the people had not passed this way before, they should move behind the ark, and never lose sight of it.
• The Jordan river was to stop as the priest-borne ark was carried into the water.
• These things were to confirm God’s presence among them.

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