Thursday
Evening Bible Study
February
24, 2011
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the
broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a
decision
The book of
Joshua is a book about receiving God’s promises.
The Israelites took
40 years to get through the wilderness, a journey that could have taken them
two weeks.
It was their lack of faith that made it last longer than it could have.
God miraculously
parted the Jordan River, the people have crossed into the Promised Land, and
they are ready to take on their first challenge in receiving what God has
promised them.
Joshua had been scouting out Jericho when he met an interesting, mysterious fellow called
the “Commander of the army of the LORD”
Joshua bowed and worshipped before this mysterious figure. I think the following chapter picks up at the
same moment…
(Jos
5:13–15 NKJV) —13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he
lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword
drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or
for our adversaries?” 14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell
on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say
to His servant?” 15 Then the Commander of the Lord’s
army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you
stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Joshua 6 – Jericho
:1 Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none
went out, and none came in.
:1 securely shut up
Jericho was quite an imposing and important fortress city in the ancient
world.
It sat in the
middle of some important trade routes. It
is considered the oldest city in the world.
Play “Moab
Gilgal Jericho” Google Earth clip
We saw over the
last couple of weeks that the people of Jericho were well aware of the
Israelites and the amazing things that had happened with them.
They were aware
of how God had parted the Red Sea when they left Egypt.
They were aware
of how the Israelites had wiped out Sihon, Og, and their kingdoms on the
eastern side of the Jordan River.
They were aware
that Israeli spies had come to check out their city.
:2 And the LORD
said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the
mighty men of valor.
:2 the LORD said
This is Yahweh speaking. It’s
possible that the “Commander”
that Joshua has been talking to (Josh.
5:13-15) is the one who is still talking, the “LORD”, Jesus in His preincarnate
state.
:3 You shall march
around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once.
This you shall do six days.
:3 march around the city
The
city was on 8-9 acres, and would
take less than 30 minutes to march around.
To get a picture of the size of
Jericho, think about the land that Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa sits on, it’s
about 10 acres.
If Israel used all of its troops (and
that's possible), there would be 600,000 armed men involved, probably
completely encircling the entire city.
:4 And seven
priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the
seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall
blow the trumpets.
:4 trumpets of
rams’ horns
This is the “shofar”.
:5 It shall come
to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the
sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then
the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man
straight before him.”
:6 Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up
the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’
horns before the ark of the LORD.”
:6 the ark of the covenant
The ark would be covered while it’s not in the Tabernacle.
:7 And he said to the people, “Proceed, and march around the city, and let
him who is armed advance before the ark of the LORD.”
:8 So it was, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests
bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD advanced and blew the
trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.
:9 The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the
rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the
trumpets.
:9 before … after
There was a prescribed
order for the tribes to march in given in Numbers 2,
and it looks like they followed this order:
First came Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Reuben, Simeon, Gad, then the Ark
followed by Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.
:10 Now Joshua
had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with
your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to
you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.”
:10 shall not shout
For the first six days, the soldiers were to be silent as they marched
around the city.
The only noise would be the sound of the shofars.
:11 So he had the ark of the LORD circle the city, going around it once.
Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp.
:11 they came into
the camp
They went back to the camp at Gilgal.
The people in Jericho would probably
have been expecting them to attack after marching around the city, but instead,
they quietly go back to their camp.
Think about the effect this must have
had on the people of Jericho:
It’s possible
that they were sitting up on the walls laughing and jeering at the stupid
spectacle. But I don’t really think so.
Remember what Rahab told the spies:
(Jos
2:11 NKJV) —11
And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there
remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is
God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
And then after Israel had crossed the
Jordan, we read:
(Jos
5:1 NKJV) —1
So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the
Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the
LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel
until we had crossed over, that their heart melted; and there was no spirit in
them any longer because of the children of Israel.
I can’t help but think that this must
have been kind of a terrifying sight, watching these 600,000 armed men, with
trumpets and “their GOD” (the ark), marching around your city walls in silence.
:12 And Joshua
rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
:13 Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark
of the LORD went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men
went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of the LORD, while the
priests continued blowing the trumpets.
:14 And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to
the camp. So they did six days.
This same process is repeated every day for six days.
:15 But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the
dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner.
On that day only they marched around the city seven times.
:15 seven times
Probably taking about three hours to do seven laps.
Have you noticed how many sevens there
are in this chapter?
Seven Priests. Seven Trumpets. Seven Days. Seven times around the city.
Why all the sevens?
Seven is God’s special number of completeness,
perfection.
God created the world and rested in seven days.
This is going to be
God’s perfect judgment on Jericho
They will be utterly destroyed (vs.21)
This is God’s perfect
plan for Israel in this battle.
:16 And the
seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said
to the people: “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city!
:17 Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who
are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in
the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
:17 doomed … to
destruction – cherem – a
thing devoted, thing dedicated, ban, devotion; (appointed to) utter destruction
In other words,
“hands off”. No souvenirs.
:17 Rahab
We saw a couple weeks ago how Joshua’s spies ended up at the house of
Rahab, a prostitute. Rahab could see
that God was at work, and she wanted to be on God’s side. She hid the spies and asked them to spare her
life and the lives of her family.
:18 And you, by
all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you
take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble
it.
:18 abstain from the accursed things
abstain – shamar –
to keep, guard, observe, give heed; to watch for
accursed things – cherem
– a thing devoted, thing dedicated, ban, devotion; (appointed to) utter destruction
:18 trouble
– ‘akar – to trouble, stir up, disturb
Joshua’s choice of Hebrew words is very
interesting, since it’s kind of a play on words on the very person who would
bring trouble to Israel, Achan.
Lesson
Trouble
One of the reasons that God is bringing Israel into the land of Canaan is
in order to bring judgment on these people for their gross wickedness.
We got a hint of this way back in the time of Abraham, where God promised
that the timing of Abraham’s descendants coming back into the land would
coincide with a time of judgment.
(Ge 15:16 NKJV) But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the
iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
The iniquity of the Amorites is now “full”, and God is
going to use Israel to bring judgment on them.
We too can get ourselves into trouble by getting too close to the wrong
things in this world that we live in.
(Col 3:5–6 NKJV) —5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth:
fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is
idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of
disobedience,
When we dabble in things like these, we are dabbling in
the very things that God is planning on judging the world for.
We’re going to see in the next chapter that one person didn’t “stay away”.
Achan would take some silver, gold and a garment from Babylon. It is his sin that will be at the root of
Israel’s loss in their next battle.
Our sin affects those around us.
Like it or not, we’re all in this together.
Illustration
Have you seen that commercial with the dog working hard to hide or protect
his most prized bone?
Play
Trouble – Prized
Possession Commercial
The
dog is trying to protect his prized bone.
It’s a nice sentiment when it comes to buying insurance.
We get into trouble when we “bury” or hold onto the wrong things.
:19 But all the
silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD;
they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.”
Only the metal things will be kept and “recycled”.
:20 So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it
happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted
with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into
the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
:20 the wall fell
down flat
The archaeologists have found that ancient Jericho was built on a mount
that was surrounded by a retaining wall.
The area inside the wall was filled with dirt, and the city was built on
top. Above the retaining wall was two
sets of outer walls. These are the walls
that fell down, not the retaining wall.
We’ll look at a video about all this in a minute.
Archaeological Evidence From Halley’s Bible
Handbook:
Dr. John Garstang, director of the British School
of Archaeology in Jerusalem and of the Department of antiquities of the
Palestine Government, excavated the ruins of Jericho (1929-36).
He found pottery and scarab evidence that the
city had been destroyed about 1400 b.c., coinciding with Joshua’s date, and, in
a number of details, dug up evidence confirming the Biblical account in a most
remarkable way.
Dr. Garstang found that the wall did actually
“fall down flat.” The was was double,
the two walls being 15 feet apart; the outer wall, 6 feet thick; the inner
wall, 12 feet thick; both being about 30 feet high. They were built, not very substantially, on
faulty uneven foundations, of brick 4 inches thick and 1 to 2 feet long, laid
in mud mortar. The two walls were linked
together by houses built across the top, as Rahab’s house “on the wall.” Dr. Garstang found that the outer wall fell
outward, and down the hillside, dragging the inner wall and houses with it, the
streak of bricks gradually getting thinner down the slope.
From Easton’s 1896 Bible Dictionary:
In one of the Amarna tablets Adoni-zedec (q.v.)
writes to the king of Egypt informing him that the ‘Abiri (Hebrews) had
prevailed, and had taken the fortress of Jericho, and were plundering “all the
king’s lands.”-
:20 the people went
up
Note that it mentions them going “up”.
We’ll see in a minute that this fits the archaeology of the ancient
ruins.
:21 And they
utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old,
ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
:21 utterly
destroyed all
This was God’s judgment on these people.
These people had all kinds of perverted
rituals that they took part in.
Their rituals were honeycombed with the
sins of violence and sexual immorality. Archaeologists uncovered a library of
early Canaanite texts, dating right back to the time of Joshua, demonstrating
what their religion was all about. Their
own gods, El, Baal, Anath, Astarte, and Asherah, were lusty, murderous,
incestuous beings, just plain horrible.
These people, in building their houses,
would sacrifice their children and put their bones in little jars, and embed
the jars in the walls of their house to keep out evil spirits.
It is now time for the judgment of
these people to come. And God is going to use the armies of Israel to bring
about His judgment.
One Archaeologist wrote (in the Open
Bible): “Exterminating the Canaanite in the time of Joshua
was not a question of destroying innocent people. It was a question of destroying or being
destroyed, separating or being contaminated, being quarantined from the plague
or having the plague destroy everyone.”
:22 But Joshua
had said to the two men who had spied out the country, “Go into the harlot’s
house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to
her.”
:23 And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her
father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all
her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel.
:23 the young men
who had been spies
Jewish tradition has it that Salmon was one of the spies, who would later marry her and their
descendants would include King David and Jesus Christ.
:23 left them
outside the camp
This was a temporary sort of quarantine. Later they
will be incorporated into the people of Israel. (vs. 25 “in Israel to this
day”)
:24 But they
burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and
the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the
LORD.
:24 burned the city … with fire
We’ll see in a minute that archaeology bears this out.
From Halley’s
Bible Handbook: Signs of the conflagration and destruction were very
marked. Garstang found great layers of
charcoal and ashes and wall ruins reddened by fire. The outer wall suffered most. Houses alongside the wall were burned to the
ground. The stratum generally was
covered with a deep layer of black burnt debris, under which there were pockets
of white ash, overlaid with a layer of fallen reddish brick.
:25 And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all
that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the
messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
:26 Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, “Cursed be the man
before the LORD who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its
foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its
gates.”
:27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the
country.
:26 Cursed be the
man
Joshua pronounces a curse on anyone who would rebuild the city of Jericho.
This was a bad place and God didn’t
want it rebuilt.
Joshua’s curse came true 500 years
later during the days of Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah.
(1
Ki 16:34 NKJV) In
his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram his
firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, according to
the word of the LORD, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.
Until that time the city of Jericho had not been rebuilt. Apparently Mr. Hiel didn’t pay attention to
Joshua’s curse and he paid dearly for it.
He lost two sons with the building of the city.
:25 Joshua spared
Rahab
Lesson
Faith and Promises
Faith is counting on God, even when you don’t see Him or understand what He
is going.
(Heb 11:1 NLT) Faith
is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us
assurance about things we cannot see.
I don’t see God. I
don’t understand why He wants me to do things.
I trust Him.
The Israelites took so long to step into the Promised Land because of their
lack of faith.
(Heb 3:16–19 NKJV) —16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who
came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was
it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He
swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So
we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
They couldn’t see how they were going to be able to
conquer all those giants.
In contrast, the writer of Hebrews tells us why this first city was conquered
and the walls came down.
(Heb 11:30 NKJV) By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled
for seven days.
How was faith involved with the walls coming down?
Did the Israelites close their eyes, moan, “use the
force”, and cause the walls to crumble?
No.
They did an unusual thing when they crossed the Jordan and
THEN got circumcised in obedience to God.
They did an unusual thing by keeping their mouth shut,
marching for seven days, and following God’s plan.
They trusted God.
Rahab also survived because of her faith:
(Heb 11:31 NKJV) —31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did
not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
She believed that God was behind the Israelites. She acted accordingly.
God wants you to trust Him.
(Heb 11:6 NLT) And it
is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must
believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
A big step in learning to receive “Promised Land”, the life that God has
for you, is learning to trust God.
Don’t confuse this with thinking that you have to check your brain at the
door when you follow the Lord.
Christianity is a very rational, historical, factual
faith.
There are reasons to believe.
But you still have to believe. At
some point you have to trust in Someone that you don’t see.
Jericho Unearthed
For the last fifty years or so there has been some controversy over whether
there really was a battle over Jericho.