Joshua 9

(1) *NOW all the kings west of the Jordan River heard about what had happened. These were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who lived in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far north as the Lebanon mountains.

• *Now: Links back to chapter 8 where the Israelites had won their second battle in the Promised Land - Ai. The lesson to learn from the last chapter is the way to have victory over the sins of our lives requires, first of all, the willingness to face our sins "head on". The point is, if we are willing to tackle the sins that separate us from living the way God wants us to, the victory over those issues is guaranteed. Therefore, when we won't face our sins before God and use 1 John 1:9 for confession, we will suffer defeat.

(2) These kings combined their armies to *fight as one against Joshua and the Israelites.

• *fight as one: Even when bitter enemies are confronted by a common enemy, they will often unite to defeat the enemy before then going back to where they were before. Just look at the relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union during World War II and then after. My father was exempted from service in the war because he was employed making boxes for goods going to the USSR. Then, once the war was over, the "Iron Curtain" spoken of by Churchill came down cutting off and enslaving Eastern Europe.
• These two verses introduce the wars that unfold in chapters 10-11. After hearing of Israel’s victories over Jericho and Ai, all the kings of the Land (hill-country, lowlands, and coastlands) unite to attack Israel. The defeat of the Israelites by little Ai emboldened these city-state kings to unite because they thought they had a good chance to defeat them - they did not know, however, why Ai won the first time but lost the second time!
• The new threat had caused them to bond. This we may expect soon, before the coming of Christ - Revelation 16:14:
• They are demonic spirits who work miracles and go out to all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great judgment day of God the Almighty.

(3) But when the people of *Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

• *Gibeon means "high place" or "hill place". It was one of the largest towns in the central part of Canaan, much larger than Ai and possibly the Hivite capital. It later became a Levitical town (18:25; 21:17). The Israelites eventually pitched the tabernacle there, and it remained at that site until Solomon built his temple (1 Kings 3:4-5; 1 Chronicles 16:39; 21:29). Notice that there's no mention of a "king" of Gibeon. The "people" and the "elders" are making the decisions!
• The Gibeonites, which included a league of cities (see verse 17), concocted a clever ruse designed to deceive the Israelites and hide their true identity—a typical strategy of Satan, the deceiver. Their goal, which was successful, was to convince the Israelites they were from a country outside the land (verse 6). They evidently somehow knew that God had commanded the Israelites to totally destroy all the inhabitants of the land. Their claim was that they were impressed with the great things Joshua had done and had heard of their great god and so they wanted a treaty allowing them to live because they were not of the land of Canaan.
• The city of Gibeon was 6 miles northwest of Jerusalem and approximately seven miles from Ai. The Israelites were to exterminate all of them, as they had the people of Jericho and Ai. It was the will of God, as we read in Joshua 3:10. Deuteronomy 7:1-6 reveals the divine rationale for such extermination.
  
  • Deuteronomy 7:1-6: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and occupy, he will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are greater and more numerous than you. When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy. You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters, for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you. This is what you must do. You must break down their pagan altars and shatter their sacred pillars. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols. For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.
• The remains of Gibeon were excavated in 6 expeditions from 1956 to 1962, led by the University of Pennsylvania archaeologist James B. Pritchard who discovered numerous jar handles inscribed with the name "Gibeon".
• Gibeon is mentioned 45 times in the Old Testament.
• With an elevation of about 2400 feet, Gibeon towered above most other cities, making it easily defended. Dating to about 3000 B.C., Gibeon served as the fortress city at the head of the valley of Ajalon which provided the principal access from the coastal plain into the hill country. Gibeon's power was strong as archaeology has found no sign of the city's destruction.
• 1 Chronicles 16:39-40: Meanwhile, David stationed Zadok the priest and his fellow priests at the Tabernacle of the Lord at the place of worship in Gibeon, where they continued to minister before the Lord. They sacrificed the regular burnt offerings to the Lord each morning and evening on the altar set aside for that purpose, obeying everything written in the Law of the Lord, as he had commanded Israel.
• 1 Chronicles 21:29: At that time the Tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering that Moses had made in the wilderness were located at the place of worship in Gibeon.
• 2 Chronicles 1:5-7, 13: But the bronze altar made by Bezalel son of Uri and grandson of Hur was there at Gibeon in front of the Tabernacle of the Lord. So Solomon and the people gathered in front of it to consult the Lord. There in front of the Tabernacle, Solomon went up to the bronze altar in the Lord’s presence and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings on it. ... That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
• 1 Kings 3:3-4: Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship. The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings.

(4) they resorted to *deception to save themselves. They sent ambassadors to Joshua, loading their donkeys with weathered saddlebags and old, patched **wineskins.

• *deception:
  
  • Though Satan surely knows he can never really defeat the Lord and that he is a defeated foe, he nevertheless turns to his many tricks and deceptive devices to defeat God’s purposes for and with His people.
  • It’s exactly the same word that’s used of Satan as he is first described in the opening verses of Genesis 3, where the serpent was "the shrewdest of all the wild animals.”
  • 2 Corinthians 11:3: But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.
  • Ephesians 4:14: Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
• **wineskins: Wineskins were usually made from the skin of an animal, with the hair shaved off, turned inside out and the neck became the place from which the liquid was poured. When wineskins are new, they are relatively elastic and can accommodate the expansion of fermenting wine. When the skins are old, they cannot expand and they will break.
• Matthew 9:17: “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”

(5) They put on worn-out, patched sandals and ragged clothes. And the bread they took with them was dry and moldy.

(6) When they arrived at the camp of Israel at *Gilgal, they told Joshua and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land to ask you to make a peace treaty with us.”

• *Gilgal: This is the Gilgal that is in more of the central part of the country near Shechem, rather than the Gilgal down by the Jordan River. It doesn’t make sense that Joshua and all of the people would go all the way back down to the Jordan River, because they are moving from the central part of the country to take the entire land; and rather than stay on the border down near the Jordan River, the other Gilgal is, no doubt, that one that you see on your Bible maps: more in the central part of the country, just south of the area of Shechem, mount Gerizim, and mount Ebal.

(7) The Israelites replied to these Hivites, “How do we know you don’t live nearby? For if you do, we cannot make a treaty with you.”

(8) They replied, “We are your servants.” “But who are you?” Joshua demanded.
“Where do you come from?”

(9) They answered, “Your servants have come from a *very distant country. We have heard of the might of the Lord your God and of all he did in Egypt.

• *very distant country: God permitted peace with cities outside the Land:
• Deuteronomy 20:11-15: If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the Lord your God hands the town over to you, use swords to kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the plunder from your enemies that the Lord your God has given you. “But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of the nations in the land you will enter.
• How did they know about this rule in Deuteronomy?
• It is possible that they really did believe in the power of the God of Israel much like Rahab. The Gibeonites were not cowards (see 10:2). They knew they could not withstand the power of God and did the next best thing in their thinking; they turned to deception through disguise.
• Not only were Joshua and the elders gullible, they were also superficial. They were flattered by this talk, and Joshua sits down and he writes a treaty. He never seems to ask the question, he never seems to say to them, “Don’t move an inch until I make sure that what you’re saying is true.” He never consults with the Lord. The decision seems so obvious to him, but he was so wrong!

(10) We have also heard what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River—King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan
(who lived in Ashtaroth).

• These Canaanites mention nothing of
  the victories of Joshua at Jericho and Ai.  If they had, Joshua
  would have known that they lived closer than they claimed, because news didn't travel that fast in those days.

(11) So our elders and all our people instructed us, ‘Take supplies for a long journey. Go meet with the people of Israel and tell
them, “We are your servants; please make a treaty with us.”’

(12) “This bread was hot from the ovens when we left our homes. But now, as you can see, it is dry and moldy.

(13) These wineskins were new when we filled them, but now they are old and split open. And our clothing and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.”

• All the evidence presented assured Joshua that they were telling the truth.

(14) So the Israelites examined their food, but they
did not consult the Lord.

• Joshua failed to inquire of the Lord through prayer. Looking at the evidence, he supposed he could wisely discern what they were facing. He was wrong. In the depths of winter at Valley Forge, George Washington went to his knees in prayer, certain that unless God aided his bedraggled and discouraged army, all hope for the fledgling United States was lost. During the Civil War, when the fate of the nation again hung in the balance, Abraham Lincoln confessed to a friend that he was often driven to his knees to pray because he had nowhere else to go. In the passage before us, we see the danger of failing to commit their way to the Lord, the peril of prayerlessness and the peril of walking by sight - making decision on the basis of how things appear.
• Joshua is making the same mistake here that he made about Ai - the decision is very obvious and easy - no need to pray about this one! Just look at all the evidence! This is a no brainer - no need to consult God!
• Proverbs 3:5-7: Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
• Psalm 37:4-6: Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.

(15) Then Joshua made a peace treaty with them and guaranteed their safety, and the leaders of the community ratified their agreement with a binding oath.

• Why didn’t God interfere? Why didn't He contact Joshua and tell him that these were Gibeonites and not men from far outside the land?
• Exodus 34:12: “Be very careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going. If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped.

(16) Three days after making the treaty, they learned that these people actually lived nearby!

(17) The Israelites set out at once to investigate and reached their towns in three days. The names of these towns were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.

• Why would you make an agreement and then investigate the truthfulness of those with whom you made an agreement? This sounds really stupid. And, Joshua and Israel and going to have to live with this mistake.

(18) But the Israelites did not attack the towns, for the Israelite leaders had made a vow to them in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. The people of Israel *grumbled against their leaders because of the treaty.

• *grumbled: They grumbled because they, in effect, had been prevented from getting the spoils from destroying those cities. Given that Jericho was burned to the ground and that Ai was a very small city, the goods which had thus far been taken in spoil were very small compared to the number of Israelites. So far, we have the goods and spoil of 12,000 spread out to 2,000,000. So, to find out that they were going to pass up four cities and all the wealth therein was pretty disappointing to the people as a whole.

(19) But the leaders replied, “Since we have sworn an oath in the presence of the
Lord, the God of Israel, we cannot touch them.

(20) This is what we must do. We must let them live, for divine
anger would come upon us if we broke our oath.

• God never punishes the Israelites for honoring this contract with them. In fact, in the next chapter (and next lesson) the Israelites come to the rescue of this group of people.
• Psalm 15:4 : Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts.

(21) Let them live.” So they made them woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community, as the Israelite leaders directed.

• As is often the case with the consequences of sin, they would live with their decision for the rest of their lives.

(22) Joshua called together the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you *lie to us? Why did you say that you live in a distant land when you live right here among us?

• *lie:
• John 8:44: For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
• Joshua does what is common with most people who have made a mistake - he blames it on someone else. His mistake was in not consulting God. He inappropriately blames the Gibeonites. What the Gibeonites did was very reasonable under the circumstances. What Joshua did - carelessly entering into a binding treaty without consulting God - that was the real problem and the real mistake.

(23) May you be cursed! From now on you will always be servants who cut wood and carry water for the house of my God.”

(24) They replied, “We did it because we—your servants—were clearly told that the Lord your God commanded his servant Moses to give you this entire land and to destroy all the people living in it. So we feared greatly for our lives because of you. That is why we have done this.

• Barnes footnotes are appropriate here: It was mere fear which drove the Gibeonites to act as they did. They sought for union with God’s people, nor for its own sake, but to save their lives. Rahab’s motives were higher. Hence she was adopted into Israel; the Gibeonites remained for ever bondsmen of Israel.
• Joshua 2:9-10: “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed.

(25) Now we are at your mercy—do to us whatever you think is
right.”

(26) So Joshua did not allow the people of Israel to kill them.

(27) But that day he made the Gibeonites the woodcutters and water carriers for the community of
Israel and for the altar of the Lord—wherever the Lord would choose to build
it. And that is what they do to this day.

• They honored their pledge because it had been ratified in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. To break the covenant would dishonor God’s name and bring down His wrath. In fact, such a judgment from God would later come to pass during David’s reign because Saul disregarded this agreement.
• To keep the Gibeonites’ idolatry from defiling the true faith of Israel, their work would be carried out in the tabernacle, where they would be exposed to the worship of the one true God.
• Later, the tabernacle of the Lord would be pitched at Gibeon (see 2 Chronicles 1:30, and the Gibeonites, later known as Nethinims ("given ones" = given to assist the priests), would replace the Levites in menial temple work.
• It is interesting that in later years, when the Israelites would go into idolatry, the Gibeonites would still be standing at the altar where the true God ordained that sacrifices should be made for sins. As a result of what they had seen God do for Israel, they became convinced, like Rahab, that Israel’s God was the true God. Like Rahab, they evidently became loyal believers.
• Under Nehemiah, the Gibeonites are listed as helping in building the wall of Jerusalem close to what is known as the Old Gate (Nehemiah 3:7).
• Both Rahab and the Gibeonites came to the God of Israel as sinners, Rahab as a prostitute, and the Gibeonites as liars. Both Rahab and the Gibeonites were willing at risk to forsake their former associations and be counted among God’s people.
• Gibeon becomes a priestly city; the Ark of the Covenant stayed at Gibeon often in the days of David and Solomon (1 Chronicles 16:39-40 and 21:29).
• 2 Samuel 21:2 indicates that Saul pursued the Gibeonites and sought to kill them off "in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah". The only ones who survived were those who fled beyond Israel.
• 1 Chronicles 9:2: The first of the exiles to return to their property in their former towns were priests, Levites, Temple servants, and other Israelites.
• 1 Chronicles 12:4: Ishmaiah from Gibeon, a famous warrior and leader among the Thirty; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, and Jozabad from Gederah;
  
  • These were David's leading warriors while Saul was trying to kill him.
• Ezra 2:43,58: The descendants of the following Temple servants returned from exile: Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth, ... In all, the Temple servants and the descendants of Solomon’s servants numbered 392.
• Nehemiah 3:26: with the Temple servants living on the hill of Ophel, who repaired the wall as far as a point across from the Water Gate to the east and the projecting tower.
• 2 Samuel 21:2: So the king summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were all that was left of the nation of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn not to kill them, but Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out.

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APPLICATION and LESSONS to LEARN:

1. If you make a mistake, admit it, learn from it and make your mistake work for you.
2. Beware of making snap, rash decisions based on outward appearance instead of God’s direction and will. Always be skeptical when someone wants a decision right now! Don't be rush into a quick decision.
3. Ephesians 5:15-17: So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
4. Even when we make mistakes, we are still under obligation to carry through our part of the transactions we have entered into. Where we involve ourselves and God's Word in our testimony, we have to stick by the promise made. Our word should be our bond.
5. Satan was not able to discourage the Israelites from going on in their conquest of Canaan. Neither should a mistake we have made cause us to give up. Let us confess it to God, forsake it and go ahead.
6. To sum up: the Gibeonites were in a helpless, hopeless situation. They were condemned to a death without mercy, without exception. They were outside the covenant of God. They stood condemned before God. Only because they came to Joshua (Yeshua), were they saved. Joshua looked at them and saw them as people from far away; God looks at us and sees His Son. It is because of what someone else has done that we are saved; it is because of no innate goodness within ourselves. God honored His peace treaty with the Gibeonites and He will honor His peace treaty with us. When we as freeman enter into a covenant with God, we become His slaves, just as the Gibeonites became the slaves of the Israelites. From this choice, we have fellowship with God for the rest of our life and eternity.
7. Before entering into any alliance such as taking a partner in life or going into business with another, be sure to ask for the Lord's wisdom. He will assuredly answer by an irresistible impulse - by the voice of a friend; by a circumstance strange and unexpected; by a passage of Scripture. He will choose His own messenger; but He will send a message. How many go into a marriage on an impulse, on emotion, on hope, on shear stupidity without thinking it through and without consulting the One who really knows how this is going to turn out! Years later, they realize they made a terrible mistake but now there are children who are going to be hurt no matter what happens! The relationship falls apart, anger grows and grows until only a miracle would save the marriage.
8. There will always be Gibeonites in the world, in the church and in the used car lot. As Christians, we are in constant danger of being deceived by the world, the flesh and Satan's agents. We cannot always judge situations properly; we must have God’s wisdom and discernment for every single situation.
9. Alan Redpath wrote: Never, never, NEVER trust your own judgment in anything. When common sense says that a course is right, lift your heart to God, for the path of faith and the path of blessing may be in a direction completely opposite to that which you call common sense. When voices tell you that action is urgent, that something must be done immediately, refer everything to the tribunal of heaven. Then, if you are still in doubt, dare to stand still. If you are called on to act and you have not time to pray, don’t act. If you are called on to move in a certain direction and cannot wait until you have peace with God about it, don’t move. Be strong enough and brave enough to dare to stand and wait on God, for none of them who wait on him shall ever be ashamed. That is the only way to outmatch the devil (Alan Redpath, Victorious Christian Living: Studies in the Book of Joshua).
10. Some Christians are under the misconception that when we sin if we confess and seek the forgiveness of God there are no consequences to sin. Although this action does bring cleansing it does not erase the consequences of our sin. That is the great problem with a failure to consult the Lord in all matters: we must live with the consequences of our wrong actions.
11. God’s generosity preceded Israel. To a displaced, landless, poor and wandering people, the gift of the land represented a free gift of God’s pure grace. At the same time, we should note that God called his people to be active rather than passive recipients of this free gift. They would have to fight for every square inch of the land (Philippians 2:12). Of course, the Israelites’ conquest of Canaan corresponds to the Christian’s inheritance in Christ. Even though our inheritance, like that of the Israelites, is a free gift of God’s sovereign grace, we have to fight for it (Philippians 2:12). We are called to be active, not passive recipients, which, among other things, means using all of our strength and material resources to pursue God’s kingdom.
    
    1. Philippians 2:12: Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
12. Commentator Bruce Waltke notes that three times in these successive verses “the point is made that the not-so-innocent Israel must not break an oath, even though made under false colors, and so misuse God’s name. This is a truth that needs to be reasserted in an age of broken marriage vows and of broken business contracts. Moreover, I AM shows his approval of Israel’s keeping their oath by miraculously intervening on Israel’s behalf when they come to the defense of Gibeon (Joshua 10)” (Bruce Waltke, An Old Testament Theology, 521).
13. How often do you consult God about a decision? Do you ever ask yourself, “I wonder what God would do in this situation?” If you believe that the Bible speaks to all areas of life, do you live that way? One area into which God speaks has to do with your honor and integrity, your word. Are you a man or woman of your word or do you constantly break your promises? Is it serious if you don’t do as you say? What does God think about this? Joshua 9 gives us an insight into God’s thinking on the matter.
14. Sometimes, we have to sleep in the bed we made! God gives us freewill. If the crux of God’s plan was to avoid mistakes and sin, then He would make us wear blinders and beat us half to death until we agree to His will. However, that is not the key to God’s plan. Our volition is the key to His plan. The choices that we make day in and day out are the key to His plan. We do receive discipline when we do wrong, but God still allows us to choose afterwards. God allows our freewill to function and both the good choices that we make while indwelt and controlled by the Holy Spirit, as well as the bad when we accede to our old sin nature. Once we believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn’t mean that our life will be without mistake or difficulty.
15. God often gives us warnings, but we don’t always heed them. In fact, a lot of times we just ignore them. Then, we wish that we had listened and noticed the red flags God is waving in or face. I know exactly what it's like to totally ignore God's warnings - and then learn He was right and I could not have been more wrong! The Lord was trying to speak to Joshua here. Joshua shows that he has a little bit of doubt here: “Just who are you guys? Where do you come from?”
16. Israel failed to consult God before an important decision, a mistake that cost them for generations to come; there was even a 3 year famine because of it, 2 Samuel 21:1-2. How often do you consult God? Do you believe that He has advice for every facet of your life? One area in particular He speaks to in Joshua 9 is your veracity. Will you be a man or woman of your word? Or will you reap the consequences of your lies?
17. Note that when the Israelites found out the truth, they didn't kill them. They didn’t want to go back on their word, even though they gave their word based on the lies told to them.
18. The great lesson of this chapter is that when people hurt us, we are to first see them as "someone who needs Jesus" and not someone who has hurt us. What is "happening behind the scenes" is God is drawing this "lying group" close to Him because they trust in Him.

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NOTES:

• Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New
  Living Translation.
• Sources and References are on line at: http://joshua-biblestudy.blogspot.com/2011/07/joshua-references-and-sources.html

Joshua 8

Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat

1. A New Start: Joshua 8:1-2
2. a New Strategy: Joshua 8:3-13
3. a New Success: Joshua 8:14-29
4. a New Commitment: Joshua 8:30-35

Henry Ford: "A mistake is an opportunity to begin again, more intelligently."

One purpose of this chapter is to encourage us that even when we mess up, if we confess our mistake (sin), He forgives us and we can now get back on track to following His will and His plan. Our way usually ends in defeat; God’s way always ends in victory. And God begins to lay out the battle plan for Ai.

Ai is a type of the flesh. The word "Ai" means "a heap of ruins." That is a good way to describe this flesh in which we live. The first mention of this city is found in the book of Genesis in connection with the life of Abraham, Genesis 12:8; 13:3. The Bible tells us that Abraham pitched his tent "between Bethel and Ai." Now, the name "Bethel" means, "The house of God." Many, if not most, Christians have pitched their tents somewhere between the house of God and a heap of ruins? Do you see the connection? You can either live in a place of victory and blessing, or you can live in a place of defeat and misery. You can either have a Bethel kind of life or an Ai experience, which is up to you!

There was no record of prayer in the matter concerning the first attack of Ai. Joshua appears to give the orders to send out only a few thousand men based on the assessment of the spies that went out to search out the city. Here we see that God’s instructions to Joshua were to send out the all the people of war. If he had prayed and not simply made a rash decision based on the intelligence information from the spies, the outcome would have been much different. Would Joshua learn from his mistake? We will get the answer in chapter 9 when another mistake is made by making a decision based on outward appearances apart from prayer. This teaches us that we must commit all of our ways to God in prayer and be open and dependent upon His leading rather than to trust in the methods He has used in the past.

(1) Then the Lord said to Joshua, “*Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack **Ai, for ***I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his
town, and his land.

• *Do not be afraid or discouraged:
  
  • After we have sinned, the Devil loves to whisper in our ear, “You messed up big time and God can never use you again.” It is at just such a moment in Joshua’s life, following the humiliating defeat, God specifically reminded Joshua of his promise. I am sure that morale in the camp was at an all time low and Joshua was never more insecure of himself as a leader. It is reassuring to understand that God does not permanently withdraw His blessings when we fail Him.
  • God is saying, "Don't be paralyzed by your fear or by your past failures. Trust me for the victory. Joshua, get back on your feet and do it right this time!" Now, God once again tells Joshua not to be afraid or discouraged!
  • It is often the most difficult to /regain lost ground such as Ai. When we have failed at some point in our Christian lives, we need to know how to get back on track.
  • "No matter what mistakes we may make, the worst mistake of all is not to try again; for the 'victorious Christian life is a series of new beginings'" - Alexander Whyte.
  • Joshua 1:9: This is my command - be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
  • Psalm 37:23-24: The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.
• **Ai: The place of defeat would soon become the place of victory. Beloved, we all have Ai’s in our lives. But when we turn fully to God, those places of humiliation and defeat can become
  places of victory and blessing.
• ***I have given you: Now that Joshua is taking God's orders instead of heeding the advice of his "spies" and God is in control as with Jericho, God tells him that He will give Ai to Joshua. Notice it's in present tense, not future tense.
  
  • The Commander of the Lord's Army is emphasizing that success will only occur when Israel is following God's orders and plan.
  • How often have we taken a path not consistent with God's plan for us? And, how often have we failed as a result? And, how often have we recovered from our mistake and succeeded once we got back on God's plan for our life? Thank God He doesn't give up on us the way we would!
    
    

(2) You will destroy them *as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time **you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the town.”

• *as you destroyed Jericho: The words, “as you destroyed Jericho” reminds us that victory at Ai would not only be as complete as that at Jericho, but that as with Jericho, it would come by the power of God regardless of the strategy used. God wants our places of defeat turned into places of victory. We are not to live with defeat or accept it as the norm for the Christian life. But as always, victory comes through faith in God’s presence and provision.
• **you may keep the plunder: If Achan had just waited, he could have shared in the spoils! Do you know why they couldn't keep the plunder in Jericho but could in Ai?

(3) So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night

(4) with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action.

(5) When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them.

(6) We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then, while we are running from them,

(7) you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the Lord your God will give it to you.

(8) Set the town on fire, as the Lord has commanded. You have your orders.”

• Probably, this means that they should kindle a signal fire in the city, but not to burn the town down - because the spoils of the city were to be divided among the people. Had they at this time set fire to the city itself, all the property would have been consumed before the rest could have come in killed everyone and taken the plunder.

(9) So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.

(10) Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.

(11) All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town and camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the town.

(12) That night Joshua sent 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town.

• These 5,000 men appear to be positioned between Bethel and Ai in case the army from Bethel sought to attack the Israelites army.

(13) So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley.

(14) When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town.

(15) Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten.

(16) Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town.

(17) There was not a man left in Ai or *Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the town was left wide open.

• *Bethel:
• Bethel’s king is listed as killed by Joshua’s forces in Joshua 12:16, but no record is given of a direct attack on the city. The reason may be that Bethel's power was broken at the time of Ai’s defeat. It was only logical for Bethel to join in assisting Ai against an enemy which it could expect would confront it next.
  
  
• From Judges 1:24, we find that Bethel was then a walled city, in the hands of the Canaanites, and was taken by the house of Joseph.
  
  • Judges 1:22-26: The descendants of Joseph attacked the town of Bethel, and the Lord was with them. They sent men to scout out Bethel (formerly known as Luz). They confronted a man coming out of the town and said to him, “Show us a way into the town, and we will have mercy on you.” So he showed them a way in, and they killed everyone in the town except that man and his family. Later the man moved to the land of the Hittites, where he built a town. He named it Luz, which is its name to this day.

(18) Then the *Lord said to Joshua, “Point the **spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.” Joshua did as he was commanded.

• *Lord: The Commander of the Lord's army is still giving Joshua orders for the battle.
• **spear in your hand:
  
  • Exodus 14:16: Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.
  • Exodus 17:9: Moses commanded Joshua, “Choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand.”

(19) As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.

(20) When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers.

(21) When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai.

(22) Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped.

(23) Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

(24) When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of Ai in the open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside.

(25) So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day - 12,000 in all.

• Numbers 33:51-56: “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: When you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines. Take possession of the land and settle in it, because I have given it to you to occupy. You must distribute the land among the clans by sacred lot and in proportion to their size. A larger portion of land will be allotted to each of the larger clans, and a smaller portion will be allotted to each of the smaller clans. The decision of the sacred lot is final. In this way, the portions of land will be divided among your ancestral tribes. But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.”
• Deuteronomy 7:1-5: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and occupy, he will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are greater and more numerous than you. When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy. You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters, for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you. This is what you must do. You must break down their pagan altars and shatter their sacred pillars. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols.
• Had Israel done so, all would have been well; but Israel did not. Many Canaanites were allowed to remain, and Israel suffered the effects of their influence. This was the danger that God wanted to avoid. Many of the people accepted the worship of Baal rather than YHWH. Baal was believed to be the god of rainfall and good crops. No doubt, the Canaanites advised their new farming neighbors that technical skill was not enough to insure a good harvest, but that worship of Baal was still more important.

(26) For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed.

(27) Only the livestock and the treasures of the town were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these as plunder for themselves, as the Lord had commanded Joshua.

(28) So Joshua burned the town of *Ai, and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day.

• *Ai means "destruction" or a "heap of ruins."

(29) Joshua *impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen **today.

• *impaled: hung on a tree in most translations.
  
  • Hanged, probably after being killed as had been the kings of the Amorites per Joshua 10:26.
  • What’s going on here? What’s going on here needs to be understood in terms of what Moses had written back in the Book of Deuteronomy. That anyone taken by capital offense could be hung on a tree until nightfall. That was the law as a kind of deterrent. You may say it’s pretty barbaric. Yes, it is barbaric. What’s going on here? What are we to make of this? The king is a representative who now finds himself under the curse of God. And you can’t read this story without being reminded of another who was hung upon a tree - upon a cross - outside the walls of Jerusalem. They took Jesus just as they took this king. Jesus who had never done any wrong. Jesus who had never sinned. Jesus who had never uttered a cross word. They took Him and they crucified Him. They nailed Him to a Roman cross. They put nails in His hands and His feet and they propped Him up in the air. They put a crown of thorns upon His head. They mocked Him; they spat in His face. There was a cry that was heard from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”, uttering the opening words of Psalm 22.
  • Deuteronomy 21:22-23: “If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession.
• **today: Joshua wrote this book at the end of his career, so at the time he was writing, these things were still existing: these piles of stones, and all that were left in various areas, they were still there to the day of Joshua’s death.

(30) Then Joshua built an *altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on **Mount Ebal.

• After the victory at Ai, Joshua did what seemed to be foolish humanly and militarily-speaking (30-31). To us, it would seem best to immediately pursue the military campaign and move quickly ahead to capture and take control of the central sector of the land. But no, Joshua led the Israelites 20 miles north on a spiritual pilgrimage to Shechem for a special time of worship - joined now by everybody. Why? Moses had commanded it (Deuteronomy 27:1-8) because of what this event would stand for in the lives of the Israelites. Again this illustrates the principle of first priorities: our capacity in life is always dependent on our spiritual capacity and orientation to the plan of God. Many Christians continually face defeat in their walk because they fail to take time to get alone with the Lord and reflect on Him and to put on their spiritual armor.
• One mountain is called Gerazim and then to the north of it, Mount Ebal. They’re still there.  One is going to be called a mountain of blessing and another one is going to be called a mountain of cursing. All the people are camped together at the base in the valley. Half of them are on one side; half of them are on the other, and in between is the Ark of the Covenant and the Levitical priests representing the presence of God. On the top of Mount Ebal - the mountain that represents cursing, there’s an altar that’s built made out of uncut plastered stone.
• So far, Israel’s experience is an illustration of their whole history, and the spiritual history of many Christians:
  
  1. Obedience followed by victory.
  2. Victory followed by blessing.
  3. Blessing followed by pride and disobedience.
  4. Disobedience followed by defeat.
  5. Defeat followed by judgment.
  6. Judgment followed by repentance.
  7. Repentance followed by obedience.
  8. Obedience followed by victory, and the cycle
     continues.
     
     
• *altar:
• 
• Archaeologists may have actually found this (or a similar)
  revealed sizable remains of a large altar, built of unhewn stones. The altar was ascended by a sloping ramp. Numerous animal bones were scattered on the pavement of the courtyard that surrounded the altar. It was erected on Mt. Ebal (the mountain from which the curses were to be read), rather than on Mt. Gerizim, (the mountain where the blessings were read). Why is this significant? I believe it shows that the altar is for sinners. The ruins of the altar are laid out in a rectangle that measures 25 by 30 feet. The walls of the nine-foot-high structure of uncut stones and rocks are filled with ash, dirt, stones, and bones. Over 4,000 bones were found in the fill, all of them bones of the sacrificial animals called for in Moses' law. Evident, too, is the ramp up to the altar that was used by the priests, as stipulated by Exodus. One discovery at the site seems to tie everything together. It is an Egyptian scarab that was probably among the spoils the Bible says Israel took with them from Egypt.
• It is interesting that a thousand years later the Samaritans built their altar on Gerizim, not Ebal. So when the woman of Samaria told Jesus, “you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?,” she was pointing to Gerizim (John 4:20). Jesus responded by turning her away from that mountain to himself and his coming sacrifice. The chief characteristic of the Samaritans of that day and of our day is self-righteousness. The Samaritans would not come to God as sinners, confessing their need of a cleansing, substitutionary sacrifice. They came as righteous people.
• **Mount Ebal: About 20 miles north of Ai, near Shechem.
  
  • Jacob’s well lies at the mouth of the valley. The width of the valley is about a third of a mile; though the summits of the two mountains, in the lap of which it lies, are two miles apart. Where the two mountains face each other and touch most closely, with a green valley of five hundred yards between, each is hollowed out, and the limestone stratum is broken into a succession of ledges with the, appearance of a series of regular benches. Thus, a natural amphitheater is formed, capable of containing a vast audience of people; and the acoustic properties are so perfect in that dry and rainless air, that Tristram speaks of two of his party taking up positions on the opposite mountains, reciting the Ten Commandments, and hearing each other perfectly.
  • Shechem is where Isaac had dug the well years earlier and where Abraham had first built the altar when he came into the land. The modern city of Nablus is there. One of the Amarna letters indicate that the prince of Gezer and the prince of Shechem surrendered to Joshua during the conquest of the land: “See the actions taken by Milkilu, the prince of Gezer, and the sons of Labayu, the princes of Shechem, who have handed over the land to the Hapiru.”
  • Israel’s conquest of this northern, central region where Shechem was a principal city is not described in Scripture. The biblical account speaks of the Israelites being able to move north to it, apparently without difficulty, but does not explain how this was possible.
  • Genesis 12:6-7: Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
  • Genesis 33:18-20: Later, having traveled all the way from Paddan-aram, Jacob arrived safely at the town of Shechem, in the land of Canaan. There he set up camp outside the town. Jacob bought the plot of land where he camped from the family of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of silver. And there he built an altar and named it El-Elohe-Israel.
    
    • El-Elohe-Israel: God, the God of Israel

(31) He followed the commands that Moses the Lord’s servant had written in the Book of Instruction: “Make me an altar from stones that are *uncut and have not been shaped with iron tools.” Then on the altar they presented **burnt offerings and ***peace offerings to the Lord.

• *uncut:
• Exodus 20:25: If you use stones to build my altar, use only natural, uncut stones. Do not shape the stones with a tool, for that would make the altar unfit for holy use.
• 1 Kings 6:7: The stones used in the construction of the Temple were finished at the quarry, so there was no sound of hammer, ax, or any other iron tool at the building site.
• **burnt offerings:
• They offered on the altar the burnt offerings, which were the offerings of consecration to God. It was known as a sweet-savor offering. The burnt offering was an offering of, “God, we’re consecrating ourselves to you.” “It was an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord” (Leviticus 1). In the burnt offering, the entire offering was consumed by fire from the altar - symbolic of the duty of God’s people to present themselves completely - without reserve - to God.
• This was to pay for sin.
• ***peace offerings:
• The peace offering - which was consumed only in part by the fire from the altar - the other part was eaten by the offerers - symbolic that God’s people had fellowship and communion with God. And then they sacrificed peace offerings, which were offerings of fellowship. The peace offering was, “God, we recognize You as our LORD; we want to live in fellowship with You.”

(32) And as the *Israelites watched, Joshua copied onto the stones of the altar the **instructions Moses had given them.

• *Israelites:
• Gathered in this huge amphitheater are 2 million people.
• The purpose of the service of worship is to glorify God - not to be "entertained" by music and be made to feel good by a "preacher" or "priest".
• **instructions:
• mishneh torath, the repetition of the law; that is, a copy of the blessings and curses, as commanded by Moses; not necessarily a copy of the 10 commandments or the book of Deuteronomy.
• In this act of obedience, we see Joshua as a man of the Book, obeying the command of Joshua 1:8. We also see Israel as a people of the Book ordering their lives after God's Word.
• Deuteronomy 27:1-8: Then Moses and the leaders of Israel gave this charge to the people: “Obey all these commands that I am giving you today. When you cross the Jordan River and enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write this whole body of instruction on them when you cross the river to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you - a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. When you cross the Jordan, set up these stones at Mount Ebal and
  coat them with plaster, as I am commanding you today. “Then build an altar there to the Lord your God, using natural, uncut stones. You must not shape the stones with an iron tool. Build the altar of uncut stones, and use it to offer burnt offerings to the Lord your God.

(33) Then all the Israelites - foreigners and native-born alike - along with the elders, officers, and judges, were divided into two groups. One group stood in front of Mount Gerizim, the other in front of Mount Ebal. Each group faced the other, and between them stood the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. This was all done according to the commands that Moses, the servant of the Lord, had previously given for blessing the people of Israel.

• Deuteronomy 27:11-13: That same day Moses also gave this charge to the people: “When you cross the Jordan River, the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin must stand on Mount Gerizim to proclaim a blessing over the people. And the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali must stand on Mount Ebal to proclaim a curse.
• James Boice writes: "The Mountains, which are about three thousand feet above sea level or one thousand feet above the valley between them, are quite barren. The valley is often green, and at one place where the mountains come close together there is a natural amphitheater. F. B. Meyer describes it as a place where the mountains are hollowed out “and the limestone stratum is broken into a succession of ledges ‘so as to present the appearance of a series of regular benches.’” It is “a natural amphitheater … capable of containing a vast audience of people.” This amphitheater was the people’s destination, and it was here that they camped out for the ceremony." - Boice, Joshua: We Will Serve the Lord, Revell, New Jersey, 1989, p. 89.
• 
  Above image is from www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-altar-of-joshua-ceremony-at-shechem.jpg
• 
  Above image is from www.truthnet.org/biblicalarcheology/6/conquestcanaan.htm
  

(34) Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction.

(35) Every word of every command that Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them.

---

NOTES:

• Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation.
• Sources and References are on line at: http://joshua-biblestudy.blogspot.com/2011/07/joshua-references-and-sources.html

Joshua 7

(1) *BUT **Israel violated the instructions about the things set apart for the Lord. A man named Achan had stolen
some of these dedicated things, so the Lord was very angry with the Israelites. Achan was the son of Carmi, a descendant of Zimri son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah.

• *BUT:
  
  • Chapter 7 opens with a small but ominous word, and it is the word “but,” which contrasts this chapter with the preceding one.
  • Suddenly, we are presented with a series of failures that stand in striking contrast to the victories of the past six chapters. The thrill of victory was so quickly replaced with the agony of defeat.
  • Joshua 6:18-19: Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.
• **Israel violated:
  
  • Means “to act under cover” or “trust-breaking.” Although one soldier only did this, it was seen as an unfaithful act on behalf of all the people. This illustrates the Hebrew concept of corporality. As Adam sinned, all mankind sinned; as one animal dies,
    humans are forgiven; as Jesus gave Himself to die, all mankind is potentially saved (cf. Isaiah 53; Romans 5:17-19). The one affects the whole, either negatively or positively!
  • Notice that the entire nation was blamed for 1 man's sin. One evil man can bring disaster to an entire nation
    - look at Hitler.
  • 1 Corinthians 5:6: Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?
  • Israel had in the person of Achan broken the covenant; God therefore would no longer drive out the Canaanites before them.
• It was at Ai that God taught them that their success at Jericho was not due to their own strength or strategy. Achan’s act
  of taking for himself some of the spoils from Jericho had been a denial that it was God’s victory. Victory depended on God and He required
  obedience before He would act on behalf of His people. He demonstrated this fact by allowing the Israelites to be unexpectedly routed by the defenders of Ai, a disaster that shocked and humbled Joshua and the people.
• Four deadly errors were made by Israel:
  
  1. They remained ignorant of the sin of Achan,
  2. They underestimated the strength of the enemy,
  3. They overestimated the strength of their own army, and
  4. They presumed on the Lord—they took Him for granted.

(2) Joshua sent some of his men from Jericho to spy out the town of *Ai, east of **Bethel, near ***Beth-aven.

• In verses 2 through 5, that there is no reference to the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:7 ...live by believing and not by seeing. Some of the biggest mistakes you will ever make in your Christian life will be those "no-brainer" decisions that you make. Those times when you look at everything, weigh things logically and make a decision - all without seeking the Lord in prayer. If Joshua had prayed about it, the Lord would have told him, "don't go up to Ai, you've got sin in the camp, and I won't give you the victory." But the spies formed their opinion by sight. Joshua made his decision by sight. And the results were disastrous.
• *Ai
  
  • Archaeologists pronounce it like the letter I. Although contested by some, the biblical evidence all points to the pictured site known as Et-tel.
  • The name Ai is always found in the Hebrew text with the definite article, ha’ay, meaning "the ruin."
  • Ai is referred to as lying east of Bethel (Genesis 12:8), adjacent to Beth-aven (Joshua 7:2), and north of Michmash (Isaiah 10:28).
  • NIV Study Bible: "From Jericho to Ai [is] an uphill march of some 15 miles through a ravine to the top of the central Palestinian ridge. Strategically, an advance from Gilgal to Ai would bring Israel beyond the Jordan valley and provide them a foothold in the central highlands."
  • Ai had quite possibly been deliberately set up and inhabited as a semi-permanent township, and as an established forward post for Bethel.
    It possibly contained specially trained fighting men/farmers, with their families. But, its importance for Israel lay in the fact that it stood between the Israelite army and the final ascent to Bethel and the hill country.
  • Ai was about 1700 feet ABOVE sea level. Jericho was about 1300 feet below sea level!
  • Genesis 12:8, 13:3: After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord. ... From the Negev, they continued traveling by stages toward Bethel, and they pitched their tents between Bethel and Ai, where they had camped before.
  • It is evident that for Abram, the place between Bethel and Ai had unique spiritual significance. It was there that he had met God in those early days of entering the "land of promise."
  • Notice, they had not returned to Gilgal after the defeat of Jericho. If they had taken time to go back to Gilgal, the Lord would likely have revealed to them that sin was in the camp. But we do not even read that Joshua inquired of God as to attacking Ai. He had before depended fully on the Lord in reference to Jericho, but we too easily fall into the snare of being flushed with a great victory and thinking therefore that we can easily win a lesser victory. Are we any more capable of a small thing than a large thing? No! If God is not in it, the small as well as the large will defeat us.
• **Bethel means “house of God”. The exact relationship between Bethel and Ai is uncertain. Some have said that it was a military camp or some type of outpost.
• **Beth-aven means “house of vanity".

(3) When they returned, they told Joshua, “There’s no need for all of us to *go up there; it won’t take more than two or three thousand men to attack Ai. Since there are so **few of them, don’t make all our people struggle to go up there.”

• Joshua took this advice from men without asking God's counsel, and the result was that the men of Ai came out and soundly defeated Israel, killing 36 men.
• *go up: From the place of encampment at Gilgal the land rose over 3,000 feet in the space of sixteen miles to this small city
  of Ai.
• **few: According to 8:25, there were approximately 12,000 people in this city.

(4) So approximately 3,000 warriors were sent, but they were soundly
defeated. The men of Ai

• Did Joshua seek God's advice or just listen to his confident spies? He was just relying on the strength of his army to defeat Ai - he was walking by sight and not by faith. The success at Jericho made him overconfident in his ability rather than making him realize that, without God's supervision, they would have been defeated at Jericho. Had he consulted God first, God would have warned him of the problem ahead of time. He makes the same mistake with the Gibeonites (Joshua 9).
• The defeat at Ai reveals that what matters most in battle is not the strength of the opponent, or the strength of the army of Israel, but the constant need of God’s guidance, help and strength. Without God’s help, all would be lost. Vain are human resources in times of battle and temptation.
• The children of Israel hadn’t realized that the greatest danger that they faced was actually their own success, for their incredible
  victory at Jericho had caused them to become overconfident and self-reliant.
• At the battle of Jericho, the “Ark of the Covenant” went with the people in their very midst, and thus the presence of the Lord went with them, However, at Ai, they left the “Ark of the Covenant” in their camp.
• J. Vernon McGee: "The only battle that the children of Israel lost in taking the Promised Land was a battle in which the defeat came, not from without, but from within. When the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, not many enemies, but three conspicuous and outstanding ones stood in their way. They were Jericho, Ai, and the Gibeonites. These three enemies of Israel prevented Israel’s enjoyment and possession of the Promised Land. The land was there. God had told them that it was theirs. God had given them the title deed in His promise to Abraham. To Joshua He had said, “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses” (Joshua 1:3, ASV). God was saying to them, “It is yours, go in, possess, and enjoy that which you take.” These people were given a land that was made up of three hundred thousand square miles, and even in their best days they only occupied thirty thousand square miles.

(5) chased the Israelites from the town gate as far as the quarries, and they killed about thirty-six who were retreating down the slope. The Israelites were paralyzed with fear at this turn of events, and their courage melted away.

• Now, it's the Israelites who are afraid.
• This is the only defeat that the children of Israel encountered in the book of Joshua and in their conquering of the land of Canaan

(6) Joshua and the elders of Israel tore their clothing in dismay, threw dust on their heads, and bowed face down to the ground before the Ark of the Lord until evening.

(7) Then Joshua cried out, “Oh, *Sovereign Lord, why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side!

• *Sovereign Lord: This is Adonai YHWH. With one breath he cries out “Ah, Adonai Yahweh,” which acknowledges God’s sovereign authority and lordship over their lives, but with the very next breath he seems to question God’s purposes and promises as the Sovereign Lord.
• Have you ever reached this point in your walk? Joshua sounds like the Israelites complaining to Moses and wanting to return
  to Egypt.
• Joshua falls into the common trap of blaming God for their defeat and failure rather than self-examination. Wasn’t this what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden? They indirectly blamed God for their sin. Isn’t this so common amongst us as well?

(8) Lord, what can I say now that Israel has fled from its enemies?

(9) For when the Canaanites and all the other people living in the land hear about it, they will surround us and *wipe our name off the face of the earth. And then what will happen to the honor of your great name?”

• *wipe our name: This is a Hebraic idiom of the death of all of a family line. No descendant remained alive! This has always been Satan's goal (and Hitler's and Ahmadinejad's).

(10) But the Lord said to Joshua, “*Get up! Why are you lying on your face like this?

• *Get up: There is a time to pray, but there is also a time to act. Sometimes, Christians claim to be "waiting on the Lord" when actually they're simply avoiding "getting up" and "doing".
• God tells Joshua to stop the pity party. The reason for the defeat is sin in the camp.

(11) *Israel has sinned and broken my covenant! They have stolen some of the things that I commanded must be set apart for me. And they have not only stolen them but have lied about it and hidden the things among their own belongings.

• *Israel has sinned: The entire nation is judged because of on man's sin. Later we see there YHWH provided a procedure by which Israel could be restored.

(12) That is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat. For now Israel itself has been set apart for destruction. I will not remain with you any longer unless you destroy the things among you that were set apart for destruction.

• Our position before God is secure in Jesus; but our fellowship with Him is hindered by our own sin.  This fellowship with God is our wellspring of power to live in the Spirit.
  
  • 1 John 1:6: So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not
    practicing the truth.

(13) “Get up! Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord. You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.

• If Achan had regretted his sin, this would have been his opportunity to confess and tear his own garment pleading with the Lord and with the people for forgiveness. It is the type of attitude called for in these last days, typified by the Day of Atonement humility.

(14) “In the morning you must present yourselves by tribes, and the *Lord will point out the tribe to which the guilty man belongs. out the guilty clan. That clan will then come forward, and the Lord will point out the guilty family. Finally, each member of the guilty family must come forward one by one.

• *Lord will point out: Probably by the use of the Urim and Thummin (cf. Numbers 27:21). This method of knowing God’s will is also found in 1 Samuel 10:20 and will be the means by which the Promised Land will be divided among the tribes.
• Certainly the Lord could have exposed Achan as the offender immediately, but in His great wisdom He made all the tribes come as though all were under suspicion. This would call for serious heart searching among all, so that there would be no mere resentment aroused against Achan, but that all would be humbled by the evil. The process would gradually narrow down to the individual whom the Lord had already judged must be burned with fire. This also gave Achan time to suddenly call out, "I am the man" and seek forgiveness, but he does not.

(15) The one who has stolen what was set apart for destruction will himself be burned with fire, along with everything he has, for he has broken the covenant of the Lord and has done a horrible thing in Israel.”

(16) *Early the next morning Joshua brought the tribes of Israel **before the Lord, and the tribe of Judah was singled out.

• *Early: Four times we read in Joshua that he rose early in the morning to take care of important business. Joshua was not a
  procrastinator.
• *before the Lord: that is, before the tabernacle.

(17) Then the clans of Judah came forward, and the clan of Zerah was singled out. Then the families of Zerah came forward, and the family of Zimri was singled out.

(18) Every member of Zimri’s family was brought forward personby person, and Achan was singled out.

• Achan had been given plenty of time to confess his guilt, but evidently he was hoping right to the end that he might not be exposed. How foolish is the unbelief of greed!
• Though the identity of the sinning family was unknown to Joshua, it was known to God. Secret sin on earth is an open scandal before God. Therefore, we should live our lives with “one set of books,” with one kind of life that can be seen by anybody, anywhere.
• Numbers 32:23 "...your sin will find you out."

(19) Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, by telling the truth. Make your confession and tell me what you have done. Don’t hide it from me.”

(20) Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel.

• The process to Achan’s sin was a familiar one. He saw, he coveted and he took. It was the same with Eve (Genesis 3:6) and with David (2 Samuel 11:2-4) and it is the same with us. Joshua’s approach was tender, yet firm. He hated the sin, but loved the sinner. Achan’s confession while honest, was too late and the product of discovery. It was not an act of repentance or godly sorrow that leads to repentance.

(21) Among the *plunder **I saw a beautiful ***robe from Babylon, 200 silver coins, and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. They are ****hidden in the ground beneath my tent, with the silver buried deeper than the rest.”

• *plunder: Here's the beginning of the sin. He considers it "plunder" belonging soldiers, not as first fruits belonging to God.
• **I saw:
  
  • Notice the progression into sin:
    
    1. I saw.
    2. I wanted.
    3. I took.
    4. I hid.
       
  • James 1:14-15: Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
  • This man had followed his natural inclinations, he had begun where we all begin, where the first man began. "I saw." She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her" is said in Genesis 3:6. The process to Achan’s sin was a familiar one. He saw, he coveted, and he took. It was the same with Eve (Genesis 3:6) and with David (2 Samuel 11:2-4) and it is the same with us. Joshua’s approach was tender, yet firm. He hated the sin, but loved the sinner. Achan’s confession, while honest, was too late and the product of discovery. It was not an act of repentance or godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:8-11). The eventual adultery and murder committed by King David began when he "saw a woman washing herself."
• ***robe: It was a long robe such as was worn by kings on state occasions.
• ****hidden: It is probable, because he hid it among his family’s possessions, that his children knew of his theft. They did not tell anyone. They will be killed also!
• 1 Timothy 6:10: For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

(22) So Joshua sent some men to make a search. They *ran to the tent and found the stolen goods hidden there, just as Achanad said, with the silver buried beneath the rest.

• *ran: Apparently eager to remove the source of God's disapproval.

(23) They took the things from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites. Then they laid them on the ground in the presence of the Lord.

(24) Then Joshua and all the Israelites took Achan, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, tent, and everything he had, and they brought them to the valley of Achor.

• Interesting - nothing about a wife, just his children! Were his children adults and knew what he'd done but hadn't reported it?
• The fact that his sons and daughters were included in this judgment indicates that they knew of his crime and did not report it, for in Israel no children were to be put to death for their father's sins:
  
  • Deuteronomy 24:16: “Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.

(25) Then Joshua said to Achan, “Why have you brought trouble on us? The Lord will now bring *trouble on you.” And all the Israelites **stoned Achan and ***his family and burned their bodies.

• *trouble:
  
  • The rabbis say that because of the phrase “the LORD will now bring trouble on you,” Achan did not lose his eternity with God, but was condemned to death for his acts.
  • Both C H Spurgeon and Dr John Gill, nineteenth century Calvinistic Baptists, believed that Achan was a believer. That’s altogether possible. He was certainly a professing believer. He was a member of the covenant people of God.
• **stoned: Notice that there are two methods of judgment in this account of Achan. First of all he will be stoned and then all that he has will be burned. Achan’s family and animals were destroyed with him.
• ***his family: Achan brings destruction not only to the nation, but especially to his family! Contrast him with the husband and father in Psalm 128:
  
  • How joyful are those who fear the Lord - all who follow his ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be! Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your table. That is the Lord’s blessing for those who fear him. May the Lord continually bless you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosper as long as you live. May you live to enjoy your grandchildren. May Israel have peace!
• One man's sin brought defeat and the death of 36 Israelite soldiers. God considered it not just a sin of one man, but a sin of the entire people. Today, it's called "corporate punishment". Money is a root of all evil! Achan thought God wouldn't know about his sin. In effect, Achan stole from God. Sin can ruin a man, a family, a nation.
• God says that Israel had sinned, not only one man. The whole nation was found guilty and thirty-six men were dead, all for the sin of one man.
• The NIV Study Bible: "[This is] the tragic story of Achan, which stands in sharp contrast to the story of Rahab. In the earlier event, a Canaanite prostitute, because of her courageous allegiance to Israel and her acknowledgment of the Lord, was spared and received into Israel. She abandoned Canaan and its gods on account of the Lord and Israel, and so received Canaan back. In the present event, an Israelite (of the tribe of Judah, no less), because of his disloyalty to the Lord and Israel, is executed as the Canaanites were. He stole the riches of Canaan from the Lord, and so lost his inheritance in the promised land."

(26) They piled a great heap of *stones over Achan, which **remains to this day. That is why the place has been called the ***Valley of Trouble ever since. So the Lord was no longer angry.

• *stones:
  
  • Imagine walking by the pile of stones that were put in the Valley of Achor to remind God’s people about Achan.
    Remember the 12 stones placed by the Jordan?
• **remains to this day: This heap of stones serves as a reminder to avoid sin just as the heap of stones in Gilgal serves as a reminder of what God can and did do.
• ***Valley of Trouble:
  
  • Hebrew, valley of Achor.
  • This refers to the fact that one man’s sin brought failure, reproach and condemnation to the entire nation. However, this same valley is mentioned in Isaiah 65:10 and Hosea 2:15 as a source of hope.
  • Hosea 2:15: I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.
• Numbers 32:23: But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.
• Hebrews 4:13: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
• Jeremiah 16:17: I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me.
• Psalm 10:11: The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us! He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!”
• After dealing publicly with Achan’s sin, God directed the strategy by which Joshua was able to conquer Ai. The citizens were killed, their king was executed, and their city was rendered a "heap," (Hebrew tel). The way was now open for Joshua to advance, penetrating the heart of the land westward and southward.
• There is a very interesting parallel in the New Testament to this passage. In the book of Acts, there is a very similar story, the story of Annanias and Saphira. Annanias and Saphira knowingly and secretly kept a portion of the offering that they had dedicated to the Lord to themselves. The actual Greek word in that passage is a direct translation of the Hebrew word (Septuagint) for what Achan did in keeping part of the booty to himself. And if you remember the story from Acts 5, you remember that the Lord judged both of them with death for their secret action. There is a simple reason - would this new community that the Lord established be characterized by generosity and integrity, a holiness with the very character of God, or would the church take the shape of compromise with the world, of allegiance with the principalities and powers? - which is where most of the visible "church" has arrived.

Application to us:

• How often are we like Joshua here in chapter 7? Because of a workaholic mentality or an activity-oriented bent or a desire to get things done and to be successful, there is the tendency to rush off without taking time to draw near to the Lord, draw on His resources and to put on the full armor of God. Such is not only unwise, but it often causes us to be insensitive to serious failures in our own lives and ministries which grieve and quench the Spirit and leave us defenseless against the enemy because we are operating in our own strength and wisdom. Ultimately, then, these failures stand in the way of our progress and ability to handle the various challenges in life.
• Here is the story of life and one we must learn to deal with in our daily walk because this passage is so typical of most of us. One minute we can be living in victory - the next in defeat. The distance between a great victory and a great defeat is only one step, and often only a short one at that. One sad truth of reality in a fallen world is that we can be riding high on the cloud of some great spiritual success and the very next moment find ourselves in a valley of spiritual failure and despair. One moment we can be like Elijah standing victoriously on Mount Carmel and the next shriveled up under a juniper tree or hiding in a cave in deep despair complaining to God: “… I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Kings 19:10).
• We may also make a small application to our own lives from this. At the point that sin enters into life, we are no longer functioning as a tool for God. When bitterness flairs up, when we become angry, when we backbite or gossip, we are immediately out of fellowship with God and we cannot fulfill any sort of divine purpose. This is where Israel found herself. Israel had become infected with sin and God viewed her as a whole and God would not work through her. Hence, the defeat at Ai, hence our own spiritual defeat when we are out of fellowship. However, once we are back in fellowship, via I John 1:9, we again can accomplish our divine purpose and regain our momentum. The same was true of Israel - once the evil was removed, Israel would go into Ai and conquer it.
• Christians have been given all spiritual blessing, but how many of them are you enjoying today? How many of them are really yours? You have the title to them, but have you claimed them and are you enjoying them as He intended? Think of the many Christians who are blessed with all spiritual blessings and yet are living as if they are spiritual paupers. God has made them available to us, but, if we are to get them, there are battles to be fought and victories to be won. In fact, the Epistle to the Ephesians closes with the clanking of armor and the sound of battle, with the call to put on the whole armor of God.
• Achan’s story is one of the saddest in the Bible. A good man overcome by the evil desires of his heart. It’s a story that’s been repeated over and over throughout history. Good men, godly men, men intent on doing God’s will, men blessed with success because of their godliness, but in one moment are brought low by succumbing to the temptation of Satan.
• Before we pick up stones of disapproval and criticism of Joshua here, how many times have you failed to pray before engaging in important decisions or in moments of trial or temptation? How many times have we forgotten lessons that God has tried to teach us in the past?
• There is a warfare taking place here, in which Satan is doing his utmost to undo all evidence of God’s work in the lives of his people. Then we should consider 1 Corinthians 10:11-13:
  
  • These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
• We are so quick to become depressed, discouraged, and disoriented. We look in every direction for a reason for defeat - except to ourselves. We blame, we make excuses, we hide and hurl, but we so often fail to honestly examine our own lives. We assume the problem could not possibly be us … could it?
• Failure is unique to none of us … and it is not the end. In fact, it can be the beginning depending on how we respond. Of course, it is always better to make a few new mistakes and learn from them than to repeat old ones. When we keep making the same mistakes, our defeats have no life-changing value.
• Failure is unique to no one. Failure, like all testings, are common to all men (1 Corinthians 10:13) and thus, the manner in which a leader handles failure, his own and others, will have a powerful impact on his growth and future leadership.
• A study of Bible characters reveals that most of those who made history were men who failed at some point, and some of them drastically, but who refused to continue lying in the dust. Their very failure and repentance secured for them a more ample conception of the grace of God. They learned to know Him as the God of the second chance to His children who had failed Him - and the third chance, too.
• The successful leader is a man who has learned that no failure need to be final and acts on that belief, whether the failure is his own or that of another. He must learn to be realistic and prepared to realize that he cannot be right all the time. There is no such thing as a perfect or infallible leader.
• The primary purpose of confession is not to get out of trouble or to keep us out of God’s woodshed. The purpose of confession is to reestablish fellowship and turn our lives over to God because we want to walk with Him under His control, going in His direction.
• Some of the biggest mistakes you will ever make in your Christian life will be those "no-brainer" decisions that you make. Those times when you look at everything, weigh things logically and make a decision - all without seeking the Lord in prayer. You see, if Joshua had prayed about it, the Lord would have told him, "don't go up to Ai, you've got sin in the camp, and I won't give you the victory." But the spies formed their opinion by sight. Joshua made his decision by sight. And the results were disastrous. John 15:5 "....Apart from Me you can do nothing." It is not our strength, it is not our ability, it is not our intellect, it is not our education, it is not our insight, it is not our logic, it is not our brilliance that gets us the victory - it is only Jesus Christ.
• We must never rely upon self-confidence or carnal wisdom as our weapons to fight our battles as Christians, but trust in the Lord, the power of His might, and the full armor of God to equip us.
• We should not take defeat as final. Joshua seems to have felt there was no remedy for Israel's shameful position. He looked for defeat to increase to the complete destruction of Israel and of the honor of God. Doesn't Satan overcome many of us this way - by getting us to feel all is lost, no use to try any longer? God has a remedy. We should not ask why God allows defeat to happen, but ask why we failed. Ask how we may get rid of the wrong and bring victory again. We should never accept spiritual defeat as final.

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NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation.

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NOTE: Sources and References are on line at: http://joshua-biblestudy.blogspot.com/2011/07/joshua-references-and-sources.html