Post by alon on Jul 25, 2016 1:13:35 GMT -8
Joshua 8
Joshua 8:1-2 (NASB) Now the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
We should never allow failure to deprive us of victory. When we truly are obedient and deal with our sins, God will meet us with encouragement and guidance. Victories in the life of a believer re a series new beginnings after several false starts.
Psalm 37:23-24 (KJV) The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
The Israelites had dealt with Achen’s sin, and the Lord now gives instructions which will assure victory for His people. However the conquest and destruction of Ai, unlike at Yericho, will allow the taking of spoils. Had Achen waited on the Lord he could have taken spoils as he wanted. But he got ahead of God, disobeyed, and it cost him and his family their lives. God allows us to be tested, so that we might be both proven and purified. And the first fruits always belong to God; yet He will always provide.
Matthew 6:33 (ESV) But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
We should not be upset with our failures, as they are important for instruction. After the initial failure at Ai, the nation was cleansed and humbled, and so now ready for total triumph! It is true they dealt with Achen’s sacrilege; bur first the nations pride and just blossoming arrogance was addressed. Here we see a prime example of how we must as both individuals and as a nation deal with both personal sin and national sin. We are our brother’s keeper, and his sin will affect our nation just as we all will suffer the judgement of our nation for its own sins.
Joshua 8:3-9 (NASB) So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. He commanded them, saying, “See, you are going to ambush the city from behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as at the first, we will flee before them. They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ So we will flee before them. And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. Then it will be when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.” So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.
“See, I have commanded you.” While not overly complex, this is a much more detailed plan than the original attack on Ai had been. Joshua gives these instructions clearly, and then emphasizes his command to pay attention to the details. This plan came from 5. El Elyon, Most High God; and when He speaks the details are important!
Thirty thousand men seems an impossible force for an ambush. We are here hampered by Christian resources written by men with limited understanding. The word here translated as a thousand can also mean a smaller military unit:
H505 אלף 'eleph BDB Definition:
1) a thousand
1a) as numeral
2) a thousand, company
2a) as a company of men under one leader, troops
The numeral they mention is “one” and a company of men may be small, like a squad or platoon in our own military command structure.
“Valiant warriors echos” Joshua 1:14 and anticipates Joshua 10:7.
Joshua 1:14 (KJV) Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them;
Joshua 10:7 (KJV) So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.
Joshua 8:12-18 (NASB) Now Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city, and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley. It came about when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they left the city unguarded and pursued Israel. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
This hearkens back to Moshe when he led the army and was told by 14. Elohe Mauz,- God of My Strength to do the same thing:
Exodus 17:9,11-12 (ESV) So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” … Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Javelin- this is actually a rare word for a weapon that symbolized sovereignty:
H3591 כּידון kı̂ydôn BDB Definition:
1) javelin, short sword, dart
2) gorget, a piece of armour for the throat (1Sam Job_17:6)
The Lord’s command to Joshua to “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand” was a visual demonstration of the power and presence of Lord to effect the absolute victory.
Joshua 8:19-29 (NASB) The men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. When the men of Ai turned back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers. When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and slew the men of Ai. The others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they slew them until no one was left of those who survived or escaped. But they took alive the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua. Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. All who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000—all the people of Ai. For Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation until this day. He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave command and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.
The first unsuccessful battle plan was used to deceive the army of Ai. Now the pagan army were the presumptuous ones, and cost them everything. The Hebrews had learned their lesson; this time it was:
God’s plan- as with Moses before; God’s timeing- as He told Joshua when to give the signal; an it achieved God’s purposes- the total defeat of sin and provision for His people. All of Yehoshua’s past training, those many years of obedience and trust; all these were used by God to conquer Ai and all of Cana’an. We should never be so prideful to use our knowledge and skills to shut God out. These were given and developed for His use as He directs us. This will insure results which benefit His kingdom as well as us. To quote Meyer, “The assurance of faith is not inconsistent with the call to action- ‘rise up.’” We all have a calling and are given direction by God. We are responsible to use our gifts and training as He placed opportunities before us.
Joshua 8:30-35 (NASB) Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel. All Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had given command at first to bless the people of Israel. Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.
It was never the intent of HaShem to simply replace one people with another in the land, but rather to destroy the pagan inhabitants and in their place install His own sanctified people. Just as in the Olam Haba on ruins of the hostile nations of this world His own people will be established.
These three tasks were prescribed by Moses as a duty upon entering the land:
Deuteronomy 27:2-3,6,12-13 (ESV) And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. … you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, … “When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
Six tribes which had sprung from lawful wives of Israel were to stand on Mt Gerazim: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. The other six, five of whom had sprung from Leah’s and Rachael’s handmaids- Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Zebulun; Reuben being added to them because of his great sin- were placed on Mt. Ebal.
Genesis 49:4 (KJV) Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
As the priests who were in the valley between these hills read the words of blessing, the tribes on Mt. Gerazim were to respond by “Omein,” which means “agreed.” It is an affirmation. Then as the priests read the words of the curses those on Mt. Ebal were to give the same solemn assent, thus each individual and the nation as a whole once again took on the obligation of obedience with its blessing in observance and its curses in transgression.
New victories ought always to result in steps of rededication. Y’hoshua obeyed the commands of Moshe in Deu 27. He could have said “I am in command now, not Moshe.” He could have made up a new covenant instead of renewing; saying “that was then, this is now.” But Y’hoshua knew that obedience to the word is the secret to success:
Joshua 1:8 (ESV) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Even in the flush of victory or the sting of defeat, in our time of rest after the battle, we are not away from Elohim’s
. However it is especially important to stand before El Rai, the God Who Sees Me after a victory, as then is when we are most vulnerable. His will promote humility and a thankful heart, and so not give the enemy of our souls any weaknesses he can exploit.
In defeat we should go to the word, as God wants to use this to help us become cleansed of sin or to instruct us; or sometimes to prepare our path to final victory. But to those seeking to follow Elohe Mauzi- the God of My Strength, defeat is never final.
Dan C
Resources: JPS Study Tnk, W Wiersbe, FB Meyer, MF Unger, A Edersheim, Dr. F Seekins, Rav S, my fathr and others.
Joshua 8:1-2 (NASB) Now the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
We should never allow failure to deprive us of victory. When we truly are obedient and deal with our sins, God will meet us with encouragement and guidance. Victories in the life of a believer re a series new beginnings after several false starts.
Psalm 37:23-24 (KJV) The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
The Israelites had dealt with Achen’s sin, and the Lord now gives instructions which will assure victory for His people. However the conquest and destruction of Ai, unlike at Yericho, will allow the taking of spoils. Had Achen waited on the Lord he could have taken spoils as he wanted. But he got ahead of God, disobeyed, and it cost him and his family their lives. God allows us to be tested, so that we might be both proven and purified. And the first fruits always belong to God; yet He will always provide.
Matthew 6:33 (ESV) But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
We should not be upset with our failures, as they are important for instruction. After the initial failure at Ai, the nation was cleansed and humbled, and so now ready for total triumph! It is true they dealt with Achen’s sacrilege; bur first the nations pride and just blossoming arrogance was addressed. Here we see a prime example of how we must as both individuals and as a nation deal with both personal sin and national sin. We are our brother’s keeper, and his sin will affect our nation just as we all will suffer the judgement of our nation for its own sins.
Joshua 8:3-9 (NASB) So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. He commanded them, saying, “See, you are going to ambush the city from behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as at the first, we will flee before them. They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ So we will flee before them. And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. Then it will be when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.” So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.
“See, I have commanded you.” While not overly complex, this is a much more detailed plan than the original attack on Ai had been. Joshua gives these instructions clearly, and then emphasizes his command to pay attention to the details. This plan came from 5. El Elyon, Most High God; and when He speaks the details are important!
Thirty thousand men seems an impossible force for an ambush. We are here hampered by Christian resources written by men with limited understanding. The word here translated as a thousand can also mean a smaller military unit:
H505 אלף 'eleph BDB Definition:
1) a thousand
1a) as numeral
2) a thousand, company
2a) as a company of men under one leader, troops
The numeral they mention is “one” and a company of men may be small, like a squad or platoon in our own military command structure.
“Valiant warriors echos” Joshua 1:14 and anticipates Joshua 10:7.
Joshua 1:14 (KJV) Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them;
Joshua 10:7 (KJV) So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.
Joshua 8:12-18 (NASB) Now Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city, and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley. It came about when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they left the city unguarded and pursued Israel. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
This hearkens back to Moshe when he led the army and was told by 14. Elohe Mauz,- God of My Strength to do the same thing:
Exodus 17:9,11-12 (ESV) So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” … Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Javelin- this is actually a rare word for a weapon that symbolized sovereignty:
H3591 כּידון kı̂ydôn BDB Definition:
1) javelin, short sword, dart
2) gorget, a piece of armour for the throat (1Sam Job_17:6)
The Lord’s command to Joshua to “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand” was a visual demonstration of the power and presence of Lord to effect the absolute victory.
Joshua 8:19-29 (NASB) The men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. When the men of Ai turned back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers. When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and slew the men of Ai. The others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they slew them until no one was left of those who survived or escaped. But they took alive the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua. Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. All who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000—all the people of Ai. For Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation until this day. He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave command and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.
The first unsuccessful battle plan was used to deceive the army of Ai. Now the pagan army were the presumptuous ones, and cost them everything. The Hebrews had learned their lesson; this time it was:
God’s plan- as with Moses before; God’s timeing- as He told Joshua when to give the signal; an it achieved God’s purposes- the total defeat of sin and provision for His people. All of Yehoshua’s past training, those many years of obedience and trust; all these were used by God to conquer Ai and all of Cana’an. We should never be so prideful to use our knowledge and skills to shut God out. These were given and developed for His use as He directs us. This will insure results which benefit His kingdom as well as us. To quote Meyer, “The assurance of faith is not inconsistent with the call to action- ‘rise up.’” We all have a calling and are given direction by God. We are responsible to use our gifts and training as He placed opportunities before us.
Joshua 8:30-35 (NASB) Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel. All Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had given command at first to bless the people of Israel. Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.
It was never the intent of HaShem to simply replace one people with another in the land, but rather to destroy the pagan inhabitants and in their place install His own sanctified people. Just as in the Olam Haba on ruins of the hostile nations of this world His own people will be established.
These three tasks were prescribed by Moses as a duty upon entering the land:
Deuteronomy 27:2-3,6,12-13 (ESV) And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. … you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, … “When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
Six tribes which had sprung from lawful wives of Israel were to stand on Mt Gerazim: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. The other six, five of whom had sprung from Leah’s and Rachael’s handmaids- Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Zebulun; Reuben being added to them because of his great sin- were placed on Mt. Ebal.
Genesis 49:4 (KJV) Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
As the priests who were in the valley between these hills read the words of blessing, the tribes on Mt. Gerazim were to respond by “Omein,” which means “agreed.” It is an affirmation. Then as the priests read the words of the curses those on Mt. Ebal were to give the same solemn assent, thus each individual and the nation as a whole once again took on the obligation of obedience with its blessing in observance and its curses in transgression.
New victories ought always to result in steps of rededication. Y’hoshua obeyed the commands of Moshe in Deu 27. He could have said “I am in command now, not Moshe.” He could have made up a new covenant instead of renewing; saying “that was then, this is now.” But Y’hoshua knew that obedience to the word is the secret to success:
Joshua 1:8 (ESV) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Even in the flush of victory or the sting of defeat, in our time of rest after the battle, we are not away from Elohim’s
. However it is especially important to stand before El Rai, the God Who Sees Me after a victory, as then is when we are most vulnerable. His will promote humility and a thankful heart, and so not give the enemy of our souls any weaknesses he can exploit. In defeat we should go to the word, as God wants to use this to help us become cleansed of sin or to instruct us; or sometimes to prepare our path to final victory. But to those seeking to follow Elohe Mauzi- the God of My Strength, defeat is never final.
Dan C
Resources: JPS Study Tnk, W Wiersbe, FB Meyer, MF Unger, A Edersheim, Dr. F Seekins, Rav S, my fathr and others.
