# Joshua | Kyle Weir | 2026

# Joshua Introduction | Sunday June 28, 2026

This morning we will be starting a new book study of Joshua. Which will serve as a great continuation of what we have studied recently. In the gospel of John, we had a detailed look at who Jesus is and how we are to believe in Him for eternal life. Then in Leviticus we saw how God’s people are to walk in fellowship with Him. We are called to reflect His holiness in every aspect of our lives. Then in 1, 2, and 3 John, we have seen what an active, abiding walk with Jesus looks like. We are to walk in the light and grow in our love for God and, in turn, our love for others. This is why Joshua fits so well. This book is all about taking possession of all that God has for His people.

#### **Joshua 1:1-6 ESV**

> (1) After the death of **Moses the servant of the LORD**, the LORD said to **Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant,** (2) “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, **go over this Jordan**, you and all this people, **into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel**.  
> (3) Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you**, just as I promised to Moses.** (4) From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.  
> (5) No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. **Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.** (6) Be strong and courageous, **for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.**

The book of Joshua starts with a huge moment for the nation of Israel. Their earthly leader, Moses, has died. They spent an entire month weeping for Him out of grief in Deuteronomy 34:8. Moses meant so much to them. He was the one who came to them when they were slaves. He was the one who confronted Pharaoh. He put His staff down, and the Red Sea parted, and he had led them for 40 years in the wilderness. I am always amazed **how easy it is for us to focus on the person God chooses to work through instead of the God who is actually doing the work.**

Israel’s earthly leader, who had led them through so much, died, but in reality, it was always God leading them. God went to Moses at the burning bush. God empowered Moses to confront Pharaoh. It was God who split the Red Sea. God was affirming to His people that He was their true leader. **The God whom Moses served was still there and was still going to lead His people**. Their journey was not over; they needed to cross over the Jordan and go inherit all the promised land that God had given to them.

**Moses had died, but God’s promises lived on.** It was time to inherit and take possession of what God promised. God had chosen Joshua, who had been Moses assistant, to become the new earthly leader. This morning we need to look at some background on who Joshua is before we can start looking at the calling God is giving to him. **Joshua was born a slave in Egypt**. He would have been around 40/45 years old at the time of the exodus. Meaning he was just a baby/child when Moses killed the Egyptian and fled to the wilderness. The book is most likely written by Joshua with some additions by the high priest Eleazar and his son Phinehas. Joshua is first mentioned in Exodus 17 as a general who led Israel in its first battle after the exodus.

##### **Exodus 17:8-16 ESV**

> (8) Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.  
> (9) **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.”  
> (10) So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  
> (11) Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.  
> (12) 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.  
> (13)  **And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.** (14) Then the LORD said to Moses, “**Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”** (15) And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, **The LORD Is My Banner**,  
> (16) saying, “A hand upon the throne of the LORD! The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Joshua would have been around 40 as he went out with the Israelites in this first battle. He had seen the plagues in Egypt and walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. Now in the very first battle he is a part of, success is only possible if Moses keeps his hands up. I wonder how long it took Joshua to realize the army's success was directly tied to Moses’s hands and ultimately God giving the victory. God gave Joshua the victory over the Amalekites. Then he specifically wanted Joshua to hear that God was promising to blot out the Amalekites permanently. At Joshua’s first mention, we have this important foreshadowing that God has plans to use Him. **Joshua had to learn early on that victory was directly tied to God.** No amount of strategy or valiant fighting could overcome God. Joshua’s training and Moses’ mentorship continued from here.

##### **Exodus 24:12-15 ESV**

> (12) The LORD said to Moses, **“Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone**, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”  
> (13) **So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.** (14) **And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you.** And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”  
> (15) Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

Joshua was Moses's assistant and stayed close to him. 70 of Israel’s elders were allowed to approach the mountain but were instructed to not go any farther. **Yet, Joshua rose and went up with Moses**. It is hard to tell how close Joshua came to the glory of the Lord, which looked like a devouring fire on the mountain. As Moses descended, it was Joshua who first heard the troubling noise from the camp.

##### **Exodus 32:15-19 ESV**

> (15) Then Moses turned and **went down from the mountain** with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.  
> (16) The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.  
> (17) **When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.”** (18) But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but **the sound of singing that I hear.”** (19) **And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf** and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

Joshua heard the Israelites and thought it was the sound of a war cry. Moses recognized it as singing. Israel had made the golden calf and was throwing a huge party and committing all sorts of immorality as acts of worship to the calf (Ex 32:6). It is important to see that Joshua **was not a part of worshipping the golden calf**. **Instead, he was drawing near to God on the mountain.** Joshua would also draw near to God outside the tent of meeting.

##### **Exodus 33:10-11 ESV**

> (10) And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door.  
> (11) Thus the **LORD used to speak to Moses face to face**, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his **assistant** Joshua the son of Nun, **a young man**, **would not depart from the tent.**

Before the tabernacle was built, Moses would talk with God at the tent of meeting that was outside the camp. Israel stood and worshipped as they saw the pillar of cloud descend onto the tent. Moses had the unique position to talk with God like a friend, as if they were face to face. Do not miss who was leaning against the canvas of the tent eavesdropping on the conversation, Joshua. **He desired to be close to God** and would not depart from the tent as long as these conversations were happening. He was a rising leader among the people, so it was no surprise when it came time to pick out 12 spies to go into the promised land that Joshua was chosen.

##### **Numbers 13:1-3; 6; 8; 16 ESV**

> (1) **The LORD spoke to Moses**, saying,  
> (2) “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, **which I am giving to the people of Israel.** From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, **every one a chief among them.”** (3) So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, **all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.**
> 
> (6) from the tribe of **Judah, Caleb** the son of Jephunneh;
> 
> (8) from the tribe of **Ephraim, Hoshea** the son of Nun;
> 
> (16) These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. **And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.**

Each of the 12 spies was recognized as a chief, or head, among the people of Israel. Caleb and Joshua being included is remarkable as they were only in their forties. Also notice that Moses changed Joshua’s name from his given name of Hoshea. This is important because **Hoshea means “he saves.”** Yet Moses changes it to **Joshua, which means “The Lord (Yahweh) is salvation.”** Moses wanted Joshua to constantly be reminded that he was not the one who could save, but the Lord alone is the one who brings salvation. This is such an important name because it is the same name given to Jesus. **The Greek version of Joshua, “The Lord is salvation,” is Jesus.**

##### **Matthew 1:21 Hebrew Name Version**

> (21) She shall bring forth a son. You shall call His name **Yeshua**, **for it is He who shall save His people from their sins."**

Joshua was given the name to remind him that it is the Lord who gives salvation. **Jesus is given the name to declare that He is the Lord who will give salvation**. It is no accident that Moses, who received the law and represents the law, could not lead the people into the promised land. Yet Joshua, who is given the name “The Lord is salvation,” which points directly to Jesus, leads the people into the promised land and into inheriting what God had for them.

##### **Deuteronomy 1:37-38 ESV**

> (37) Even with me the LORD was angry on your account and said, **‘You also shall not go in there.** (38) Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. **Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.**

Moses struggled with God’s punishment that he would not be allowed to go into the promised land. Here he blames the Israelites. Their grumbling caused the situation, yet it was **Moses’ disobedience** at Meribah (Num 20:8-13) by striking the rock to cause it to give water instead of speaking to it that caused him to be restricted from the promised land. Under the law, which Moses represents, just one infraction is enough to condemn. Israel, God’s people, will only be able to enter into the promised land as they are led by **Joshua, “The Lord is salvation.”**

This has so much application for us today because of what the promised land represents. Despite what so many older songs infer, **the promised land does not represent heaven**. **The promised land is the spirit-filled life.** It represents an abiding, close intimacy with God. It is taking ownership and inheriting the promises that God has given to His people. Throughout this study we will expand on this idea. **The book of Joshua will serve as an example of how we as God’s people are to take hold of and inherit all that God has for us.** This should be important to us as believers because God has given so much to us to inherit and take possession of.

##### **Ephesians 1:3 ESV**

> (3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ **with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,**

We have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ. Just like Israel had been given the promised land. Now comes the very practical question: **how do we make these promises ours?** This is the very question in front of Joshua. It is a question that each of us as believers face on a daily basis. For instance, we have been promised wisdom.

##### **1 Corinthians 1:30-31 ESV**

> (30) And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, **who became to us wisdom from God**, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,  
> (31) so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Jesus has become our wisdom from God. Jesus, true wisdom, has been given to us. If this was not enough, God is so gracious that He even promises to give us wisdom when we ask for it.

##### **James 1:5 ESV**

> (5) **If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God**, who gives generously to all without reproach, **and it will be given him.**

This means that whenever we need God’s wisdom, we simply have to ask for it. Based on these two promises, no believer should ever lack wisdom. Yet just because we have these promises and have access to wisdom does not mean that we use it.

##### **Galatians 3:1 ESV**

> (1) **O foolish Galatians!** Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

Like the Galatians, we know that we act foolishly and not in wisdom. **This means that we are not inheriting; we are not taking possession of God’s promise to us.** Taking possession of His promises will never be done through the flesh or through the law. It can only be done as we walk in unity with the Holy Spirit and live based on His power. Joshua learned this lesson over and over again. From the battle that could only be won if Moses had his hands up to the walls of Jericho. **Victory in the promised land comes from walking in God’s power, not our own**.

My hope is that as we study Joshua, we would learn as believers how to take possession of and inherit these amazing spiritual blessings and promises that have been given to us. Joshua is a great example for us because he helped lead Israel to take possession of the promised land. There were setbacks along the way and still more to be done after Joshua’s death, yet **6 nations and 31 kings will be conquered throughout the book.** Joshua led well and helped Israel take possession of what God had promised.

##### **Joshua 24:31 ESV**

> (31) **Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua**, **and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua** and had known all the work that the LORD did for Israel.

Israel continued to walk with God after Moses’ death and then after Joshua’s death. **This is a very rare occurrence** of when one generation passed truth on to the next. Unfortunately, we have many more examples in scripture of the next generation turning from walking with God. My hope is that God would teach us in Joshua how to lay hold of and take possession of our spiritual blessings and that He would help us to instill that desire in the next generation.

# Joshua 1:1-6 | Sunday July 5, 2026

Last week we began studying the book of Joshua. The book opens with a very dramatic scene. Moses, the servant of God, has died, and Joshua has been declared the new leader. Israel is encamped at the plains of Moab (Deut 34:1). The problem with this is that the promised land and the fortified city of Jericho lie on the other side of the Jordan River that is currently at its flood stage (Josh 3:15). The new leader, Joshua, has an immediate crisis to deal with. A raging river stands between him and what he was called to inherit, and it is yet to be seen if the Israelites will follow him at all. The Israelites could stay and wait to see if the river would go down. They could continue to mourn Moses. They could set up cities in the plains of Moab or even turn back to Egypt. With Moses’ death, some might have been doubting if the promised land was still promised. In all this uncertainty, God is so gracious to speak to Joshua and encourage him with truth and lead him with clear direction.

#### **Joshua 1:1-6 ESV**

> (1) After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant,  
> (2) “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore **arise, go over this Jordan**, you and all this people, **into the land that I am giving to them**, **to the people of Israel.** (3) Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.  
> (4) From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.  
> (5) No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.  
> (6) Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

**God is letting Joshua know that His truth and His promises are immortal**. The promises of the promised land did not die with Moses. God is still faithfully leading His people, and it is time for them to arise and go over the Jordan into the promised land. **It is not time to wait or turn back but to arise and inherit**. God’s simple command could have seemed utterly impossible. **Israel had been on the edge of the promised land before and failed to enter it**. And that time they had Moses, and there was not a raging river in the way. Joshua would have known all of this as He was directly involved. Memories of their failure would have been lingering for Joshua. It is really important to understand what caused Israel to fail to enter the promised land the first time so that we do not make the same mistakes they did. Understanding their failure will also help us to see what needs to change for them to succeed this time, with even more going against them.

##### **Numbers 13:1-2; 17-20 ESV**

> (1) **The LORD spoke to Moses**, saying,  
> (2) “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, **which I am giving to the people of Israel.** From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, **every one a chief among them.”**
> 
> (**17**) Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country,  
> (18) and **see what the land is**, and whether the people who dwell in it are **strong or weak, whether they are few or many,** (19) and whether the land that they dwell **in is good or bad**, and whether **the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds,** (20) and whether the land is **rich or poor**, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” **Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.**

Both Joshua and Caleb were chosen to spy out the land along with 10 other men, all of whom were leaders among the people of Israel. They were to investigate and see if the land flowing with milk and honey actually lived up to its name. **In reality, they were to go see whether what God had claimed was true or not.** They were also to see what would be involved in conquering the promised land. The spies were to find out if there were fortresses with strong warriors or if it was a ghost town with small unprotected villages.

##### **Numbers 13:21-23; 27 ESV**

> (21) So they went up and spied out the land from **the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. (22) They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there.** (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)  
> (23) And they came to the Valley of Eshcol **and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them**; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.
> 
> (**27**) And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. **It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.**

The spies went directly through the middle of the promised land. They spent 40 days visiting cities and being amazed at the land. They gathered samples of the amazing pomegranates and figs. They even cut down a single cluster of grapes that was so big that they carried it on a pole between two men. When they came back, **they fully confirmed that the land was as great as God had claimed it would be. God’s word was proven true.** Look at how God described the promised land years later.

##### **Ezekiel 20:6 ESV**

> (6) On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, **a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.**

God describes the promised land as the most glorious of all lands. It is hard to fathom how incredible the promised land must have been. Flowing with milk means that livestock were plentiful and healthy. Flowing with honey means the bees, the pollinators, were abundant, which implies the crops and produce were bountiful as well. The spies just confirmed all that God had promised was true.

##### **Numbers 13:28-29 ESV**

> (28) **However**, **the people** who dwell in the land **are strong**, and **the cities are fortified** **and very large**. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.  
> (29) **The Amalekites** dwell in the land of the Negeb. **The Hittites, the Jebusites**, and the **Amorites** dwell in the hill country. And **the Canaanites** dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

It is truly sad that these verses are introduced with however. This shows the doubt and fear that have already crept in. The spies give an account of all the mighty people who live in the land. **The cities are fortified, and the people are strong**. This report could have been summarized simply by referring to Genesis 15.

##### **Genesis 15:18-21 ESV**

> (18) On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “**To your offspring I give this land**, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,  
> (19) the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,  
> (20) **the Hittites,** the Perizzites, the Rephaim,  
> (21) **the Amorites**, **the Canaanites**, the Girgashites and **the Jebusites**.”

**The spies could have simply said that the land has the exact people God said it would**. The land was as great as God claimed, and it was filled with the exact people God promised it would have in it. Instead of seeing the inhabitants as confirmation of God’s word, most of the spies began to doubt and be full of fear. **The earthly challenges dominated their thinking instead of the amazing God who made truthful promises.**

##### **Numbers 13:31; 14:3 ESV**

> (31) Then the men who had gone up with him said, “**We are not able** to go up against the people, **for they are stronger than we are.”**
> 
> (14:3) **Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword?** Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. **Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”**

They doubted their own strength, and they doubted what God was doing. They did not trust in His love and goodness to them. They would rather be slaves in Egypt and even start to look for a leader to take them back. They could not move past the fact that the inhabitants were stronger than the Israelites. **The amazing thing is Caleb and Joshua would not disagree with this fact**. Their confidence was not in their own strength or military might but in the God who promised.

##### **Numbers 14:6-9 ESV**

> (6) **And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes** (7) and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, **is an exceedingly good land.** (8**) If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.** (9) Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, **for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us**; do not fear them.”

Caleb is willing to speak up and tries to bring the people back to truth. For Caleb, God’s Word had been confirmed. So why would God’s Word that they would be victorious fail? He knew that with God on their side, their enemies would be like bread to them. The other 10 spies refused to have an eternal perspective. So often we can get focused on the details and facts of a situation and completely ignore processing the situation through the lens of the Word of God. **All 12 spies saw the same people. Only 2 filtered this through the truth of God.** How do God’s people who are thinking earthly respond when they are challenged to think spiritually and to trust in God?

##### **Numbers 14:10 ESV**

> (10) **Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones.** But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.
> 
> They wanted to stone Caleb, and Joshua. Not only did they refuse to accept truth and trust in God but they were willing to kill anyone who attempted to trust Him. Worldly believers can be such a hindrance to the Spirit filled life. God disciplined that generation so that they could not enter the promised land.
> 
> **Numbers 32:11-12 ESV**
> 
> (11) ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from **twenty years old and upward**, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me,   
> (12) **none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun,** **for they have wholly followed the LORD.’**

The adults who had a say, those who were 20 and older, were held responsible for the rebellion. The Levites were not disciplined because they did not send a spy and had no land inheritance in the promised land (Num 1:49 & 14:29). Caleb and Joshua wholly followed the Lord and were assured that they would enter into the promised land. The true nature of this rebellion and Israel's failure to enter the promised land is perfectly explained in Hebrews 3.

##### **Hebrews 3:11-12; 16; 19 ESV**

> (11) As I swore in My wrath, **‘They shall not enter My rest.’**”  
> (12) Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you **an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.**
> 
> (16) For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? **Was it not all those who left Egypt** led by Moses?  
> (19) **So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.**

God’s people who left Egypt and were covered by the Passover lamb fell away from the living God. They were unable to enter the promised land due to their unbelief. **This is not the belief for salvation but is the belief or trust needed to grow and mature with God**. It is the belief of taking God at His Word and believing He will do what He claimed. Caleb and Joshua believed God would give the victory; the others had an unbelieving heart. **As believers, we can have an unbelieving heart.** Verse 12 is the application written to the brothers, believers in Jesus. We can choose not to trust in God’s promises and in His character. Whenever we do this, we fall away from and lose our rest and contentment in Him.

So as Joshua stands outside the promised land for the second time, God takes time to encourage him, to believe. God brings Joshua back to His truth and His promises. **Trusting, believing God, is what will make the difference between failure and success.**

#### **Joshua 1:3-6; 9ESV**

> (3) Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon **I have given to you**, **just as I promised to Moses.** (4) From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.  
> (5) No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, **so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.** (6) **Be strong and courageous**, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.
> 
> (9) Have I not commanded you? **Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”**

God promises never to leave nor forsake Joshua and His people. The word for leave also means **to fail, be weak, grow slack, or be inactive.** God is renewing His promise that He will never be weak or inactive and fail Israel or Joshua. Notice that Joshua is not told to gather his own strength and grit his teeth in determination. It is not a matter of how positive of a thinker Joshua is. **Joshua is to find courage and strength in the promise that God will be with them**. Joshua’s strength is to come from God and His presence. This is the same promise that God has called so many throughout the word to find comfort in and trust in.

In **Genesis 26:2-3,** God told Isaac, “**Do not go down to Egypt**; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. **Sojourn in this land**, **and I will be with you and will bless you.”** Isaac had a choice between trusting in the help that Egypt could provide or resting in God’s presence.

In **Genesis 31:3** God called **Jacob** to **“return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”** Jacob was to trust in His presence and return to the land of His fathers even with the potential danger looming of going back to where Esau was.

In **Exodus 3:12,** when Moses doubted how he could ever confront Pharaoh, God responded with the truth, **“But I will be with you.”** Then in

**Judges 6:16 Gideon** wonders how He could ever help Israel win a battle against the **Midianites,** **and God responds with this same truth: “But I will be with you.”** The difficulties and the trials of each situation are different, yet God's reminder of truth to rest and trust that He would be with His people is consistent. We need to know that God has called us as believers to trust and rest in this same promise.

##### **Hebrews 13:5-8 ESV**

> (5) Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, **for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”** (6) **So** we can confidently say, “**The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”** (7) Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, **and imitate their faith.** (8) **Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.**

There is nothing more important than for God’s people to hear the truth that God promises to be with us in the middle of whatever difficult circumstance we might find ourselves in. **The Spirit-filled life is found as we trust God, finding our strength and encouragement in the truth that God is with us and can be trusted.** We are not trusting in a certain outcome but in the good God who promised to be with us.

# Joshua 1:7-15 | Sunday July 12, 2026

At the beginning of the book of Joshua, God’s people are at the edge of the promised land for the second time. 40 years before this moment, Israel tried to enter the promised land and failed. Hebrews 3:19 makes it clear that Israel’s core sin was the reason “they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” God’s people who had gone out that morning and collected the manna that God had given for food did not trust that God would be able to give them the land. That generation was judged for their unbelief. Now Joshua’s first instruction as Israel’s new earthly leader is to arise and go inherit the land God wants to give them. Joshua and the people will have to believe, to trust, that God will be with them and give them the victory. God knows our weaknesses and doubts and encourages Joshua three times to be strong and courageous.

**Joshua 1:5-9 ESV**

> (5) No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. **Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.** I will not leave you or forsake you.  
> (6) **Be strong and courageous,** for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.  
> (7) **Only be strong and very courageous**, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses My servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.  
> (8) 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.  
> (9) Have I not commanded you? **Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”**

Joshua is called to be strong and courageous in the fact that God has promised to be with him. Joshua is not being called to strategize or rely on himself but to anchor into God’s presence. Both of these words, "strong" and "courageous," carry the idea of **making firm, hardening, or strengthening**. Joshua is called to harden and firm into the idea that God will be with him. This is not the first time that Joshua has been encouraged with this truth. God instructs Moses in Deuteronomy **1:38** and **3:28** to encourage Joshua and to strengthen him in the role of helping Israel inherit the promised land. Moses is obedient to God’s command.

**Deuteronomy 31:7-8 ESV**

> (7) Then Moses summoned **Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous,** for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it.  
> (8) **It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”**

Moses encourages Joshua to be strong and courageous. The entire nation hears this. After all the years of leadership, Moses had firsthand knowledge that strength and courage came from God’s presence and not from self. Moses knew how important this message was. Then God goes even a step farther from having Moses encourage Joshua, and God encourages Joshua Himself.

**Deuteronomy 31:23 ESV**

> (23) And the **LORD** commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, **“Be strong and courageous,** for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. **I will be with you.”**

It is important to understand that all of these encouragements by Moses and God to be strong and courageous **are the context behind Joshua 1 and its three more encouragements to be strong and courageous**. I find so much hope in this. **God graciously knows who we are and how prone we are to fear, discouragement, doubt, and self-reliance.** God is willing to repeat Himself multiple times. God knows that this is not a lesson that Joshua will be able to learn overnight and that Joshua will need regular reminders of this amazing truth. Joshua is to rest and become strengthened or hardened into the fact that God will be with him. It is a truth that seems too simple and yet will take us a lifetime to grow into. David is a great example of this.

**Psalm 54:1-4 ESV**

> (1) To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?” O God, save me by Your name, and vindicate me by Your might.  
> (2) O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.  
> (3) For **strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life**; they do not set God before themselves. Selah  
> (4) Behold, **God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.**

**1 Samuel 23:15-29** tells us the background of this Psalm. David was hiding in the mountains, and the Ziphites told Saul exactly where he was. In this exposed, dangerous situation, David wrote Psalm 54. He came back to the truth that his life was in God’s hands. God was David’s helper and the one who held up David’s life.

The situation comes to a very dramatic moment with Saul on one side of the mountain and David on the other. God used a raid from the Philistines to distract Saul and protect David. It was an amazing moment for David to see God’s protection. God had reaffirmed that He was with David. This is what can make the events of 1 Samuel 27 confusing.

**1 Samuel 27:1 ESV**

> (1) Then David said in his heart, “**Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul**. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, **and I shall escape out of his hand.”**

Instead of relying on the truth that he knew in Psalm 54, David relied on his own thinking. This shows how many reminders and encouragements to rely on God’s truth we need. David had watched God protect him time and time again, **and yet relying on his flesh and letting his fear and doubts take over was always available to him.** This is why God encourages Joshua so many times. It is why He encourages us in His word so many times. We need to constantly remind ourselves of God’s truth and anchor to it. Remaining in God’s word is what will help Joshua be strong and courageous.

**Joshua 1:7-8 ESV**

> (7) Only be strong and very courageous, **being careful to do according to all the law that Moses My servant commanded you.** Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.  
> (8) **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.**

Joshua would have had the first 5 books of the Old Testament that Moses had finished writing. He was currently living in the 6<sup>th</sup> book. God wanted Joshua to do 3 main things concerning the Word. First, it was not to “depart from your mouth,” meaning Joshua was to talk about the truth. God’s Word was to be a regular part of everyday conversation.

**Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV**

> (6) And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.   
> (7) You shall teach them diligently to your children, and **shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.**

We are to talk about God’s Word when we have downtime with friends or family and everywhere else we go. God’s Word is to be a normal part of life. Talking about God’s truth does not have to be a formally planned thing. **Our children are to see our heart for God and His Word by how everyday normal things are discussed through it.** The Word is not supposed to be something that we engage with once or twice a week and never talk about again. God desires for His truth to be involved in each aspect of our lives. To talk about the Word, Joshua would need to follow God’s second command to “**meditate on it day and night.”**

**Psalm 77:11-12 ESV**

> (11) **I will remember** the deeds of the LORD; yes, **I will remember** Your wonders of old.  
> (12) **I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds.**

We have to know the Word to talk about it. **Meditation is more than reading scripture**. It is similar to the difference between eating food and then letting our bodies digest that food. Eating a nice meal takes about an hour, then our bodies start to digest and get all the nutrients that they can. The digestion can take anywhere from **14 to 58** hours, with the average person digesting food in about **28** hours. In the same way, intaking scripture can be done very fast, but meditating on it is a slow process that must take time. It is remembering what God has done and pondering how He has worked. If we just hear scripture and then never meditate on it, that would be like chewing up our food and then spitting it out and never letting our bodies digest it. We would get weak very quickly, and so often this is what happens in our walk with God. **Just like we need digested food daily for our physical body, our spiritual life needs to meditate on truth on a regular basis**. Meditating on the Word is not the last step.

**Joshua 1:8 ESV**

> (8) 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.**

We are to meditate on the word so that we can be obedient to it. Joshua will have success and prosper in the promised land if he is obedient to the Word. This should make absolute sense; **it is God’s promised land, and His Word describes how to live in it.** Likewise, as believers, we will enjoy the Spirit-filled life as we walk in obedience to the Word of God. Our rest is found in living in His Word.

**Hebrews 4:9-13 ESV**

> (9) **So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,** (10) for whoever has entered God's rest **has also rested from his works as God did from His.** (11) **Let us therefore strive to enter that rest**, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.  
> (12) **For the word of God is living and active**, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, **and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.** (13) And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

As believers, we can enjoy resting in God because of all that Jesus has accomplished. We are called to strive to enter that rest. This shows how hard it is for us to trust and rest in His finished work. Next, God explains to us how amazing His Word truly is. His Word can separate out our motives and what is going on in our hearts. **Successfully living the spirit-filled life is not found in a new strategy or new curriculum but is found in the Word of God**. Joshua’s success will be tied to how closely he talks about, meditates on, and is obedient to the Word. So, after all this encouragement, Joshua obediently takes the next step and starts to get Israel ready to cross the Jordan River and enter the promised land.

**Joshua 1:10-15 ESV**

> (10) And Joshua commanded the officers of the people,  
> (11) “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, **‘Prepare your provisions**, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”  
> (12) And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said,  
> (13) “**Remember** the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, **‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’** (14) Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, **but all the men of valor among you shall pass over** armed before your brothers and shall help them,  
> (15) until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, **and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them.** Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

One of the first things the people have to do is prepare provisions for the journey in the promised land. This is something the people have not done in 40 years, as there has been a daily supply of manna. We will see in chapter 5 when and why these provisions will be needed. Secondly, Joshua has to deal with the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. Back in Numbers 32, they had made a deal with Moses that Joshua needed them to honor.

**Numbers 32:1; 5 ESV**

> (1) Now the people of Reuben **and the people of Gad** had a very great number of livestock. And they saw **the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead**, and behold, **the place was a place for livestock.**
> 
> (5) And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, **let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan**.”

The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who join in later, had no interest in crossing the Jordan River and going into the promised land.

They thought practically and saw land that would be great for their livestock. They approached Moses with the idea of making this land their inheritance. **The giant problem was it was on the wrong side of the Jordan.** Eventually that land would have been included in the promised land, but **it was not what God had for them at that time.** This pained Moses as His greatest desire, which He pleaded with God about many times (Deut 3:23-26), was to enter into the promised land, and here were 2 and ½ tribes that did not care about it. Moses lets them know they have made a huge mistake.

**Numbers 32:6-9; 14 ESV**

> (6) But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, **“Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here?** (7) **Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land that the LORD has given them?** (8) Your fathers did this, when I sent them from **Kadesh-barnea to see the land.** (9) For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, **they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the LORD had given them.**
> 
> (14) And behold, you have risen in your fathers' place, **a brood of sinful men**, to increase still more the fierce anger of the LORD against Israel!

These tribes were content not to be a part of what God was doing, and they would have been a discouragement to the entire nation. They were repeating the same mistakes that their fathers had when they failed to enter. This was not a good decision. These tribes are called a brood of sinful men. Even after 40 years of wandering in the desert, **these tribes did not think walking in what God had for them was a big deal**. All they could see was land for their livestock. **God’s people were focused on earthly things instead of what was eternal.** This decision did not benefit these tribes eventually. Jesus traveled to these tribes during His life, and they were raising pigs (Mat 8:28; 31). Pigs should have been viewed as incredibly unclean to a Jewish community, and **yet on the wrong side of the Jordan, it had become part of life.** Moses was clear that it was wrong for them to want their inheritance there, but God would allow it. God does not force us to walk close with Him. If these tribes were willing to miss out on what God had for them, He would let them.

**Psalm 32:8-9 NKJV**

> (8) I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; **I will guide you with My eye.** (9) Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, **Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.**

We can be like a horse or mule and be proud and stubborn. God will use a bit to direct us, but we will miss out on so much that He has for us. Or we can be led with His eye, as He looks on us and shows us our next step that we can only see because we are looking to Him. Now these tribes respond well to Joshua and are willing to go fight with the rest of Israel, but their lack of belief cost them so much.

# Joshua 1:16-2:11 | Sunday July 19, 2026

The book of Joshua opens at a critical moment in Israel's history where things could have gone sideways very quickly. We have seen throughout Chapter 1 the time and care God took to encourage Joshua. Moses is gone, but they still have **God’s promises, God’s presence, and God’s Word,** and they are still **God’s people**. It is time to arise and go over the Jordan to inherit the promised land. Joshua has every intention of entering the promised land. Joshua’s first few decisions show how careful he is not to have another rebellion of unbelief like what happened 40 years before at Kadesh-barnea. The first step is to remind the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh of their promise to remain unified with the other tribes and join in with the conquest of the promised land.

**Joshua 1:12-18 ESV**

> (12) And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said,  
> (13) “**Remember** the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’  
> (14) Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers **and shall help them,** (15) until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, **and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them.** Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”  
> (16) And they answered Joshua, “**All that you have commanded us we will do**, and wherever you send us we will go.  
> (17) Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, **so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses!** (18) Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. **Only be strong and courageous.”**

Last week we saw the earthly focus of these two and a half tribes and their desire to not enter into the promised land. Moses called them **“a brood of sinful men”** (Num 32:14). Both Moses and Joshua understood the danger of these tribes's request and knew if not handled correctly **fear and discouragement could spread out to the other tribes as well**. The desire not to have their inheritance be across the Jordan was wrong. Yet, the two and a half tribes respond well to Joshua and are willing to stay faithful to their promise. They are willing to join with the other tribes in a unity and fight in the promised land. Then, surprisingly, they take time to encourage Joshua. The very tribes that Joshua was unsure if they would respect His authority remind Him that success will be found in God’s presence. They encourage Joshua to be strong and courageous. **Instead of discouragement spreading among the tribes, encouragement based on God’s truth is shared.** We have been called to do the same thing for each other within the church.

**Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV**

> (23) Let us **hold fast** the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.   
> (24) And let us consider **how to stir up one another to love and good works,** (25) not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some**, but encouraging one another**, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Within the church, we are called to **hold fast, take into possession, occupy, and lay claim to** the hope that we have through Jesus Christ. We have access to God through the blood of Jesus (Heb 10:19). We can make that promise ours because God is faithful and will not change His promises. Then we are to encourage one another and help each other hold fast to this promise. We are to **stir up, provoke, and irritate** each other into love and good works. We are called to care for each other’s spiritual walk and aim to help each other continue to lay hold of what Christ has for us. Notice that **we need to meet with each other in order to encourage one another.** The problem of not meeting is not solved by simply getting together**.** We are called to care for each other and encourage each other when we do meet. **The point is not just getting together but also stirring each other up and encouraging one another in our walks with Jesus**.

Joshua was calling on these two and a half tribes to encourage the other tribes and collectively walk in what God had for them. **Everyone was lifted as a unit as they took hold of God’s promises.** The same is to happen within the body of Christ. Now, with the risk of the 2 ½ tribes alleviated, Joshua then turns his attention to the next issue that could spark another Kadesh-barnea: how to spy out the land.

**Joshua 2:1 ESV**

> (1) And Joshua the son of Nun sent **two men** **secretly** from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially **Jericho**.” And they went and came **into the house** of a prostitute whose name was Rahab **and lodged there**.

Joshua had been one of the 12 spies that had gone through the land 40 years ago. At that time, 10 walked in an unbelief and fear while 2 trusted God. So this time he only sends 2. Last time the report of the spies caused a panic and fear within the camp, so this time Joshua sends them secretly. **This indicates that Joshua does not tell Israel that spies have been sent out.** Joshua is taking every practical step he can to avoid discouragement and unbelief from infecting Israel. These spies are meant to provide reconnaissance on Jericho, as it is time to start conquering. Jericho was **five miles** west of the Jordan River and was strategically placed as it served as a major passageway between the **Jordan Valley and the central hill country.** Due to its good location and spring-fed water supply, it is one of the oldest cities in this part of the world.

These spies try to infiltrate the city unnoticed and go to a prostitute's house where men coming and going would not be unusual. The language emphasizes that the spies simply lodged in Rahab’s house to alleviate any concerns of immorality. Yet even with this detail, there are many parts of the story that can make us uncomfortable. Throughout the years, Jewish tradition and many others have tried to make Rahab into an innkeeper and not a prostitute. Yet, the New Testament references of Rahab (Heb 11:31; James 2:25) describe her as a prostitute and take away any option to change her profession. Unfortunately, the spies plan did not work. Although they had slipped away from Israel secretly, they were quickly noticed even at Rahab’s.

**Joshua 2:2-3 ESV**

> (2) And it was told to the **king** of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.”  
> (3) Then the king of Jericho **sent to Rahab**, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house**, for they have come to search out all the land.”**

Not only were the spies noticed coming into the city, but **their exact location is known immediately.** At this time Canaan was not a unified region, and each area would have had its own king or leader. The King of Jericho sends messengers to Rahab and demands she hand over the spies. If we did not know the story, we would have every expectation for this immoral Canaanite woman to gladly turn over the spies and eagerly receive whatever reward she could get from finding them. Yet shockingly that does not happen.

**Joshua 2:4-7 ESV**

> (4) But the woman had taken the two men **and hidden them**. And she said, “True, the men came to me, **but I did not know where they were from.** (5) And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. **Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.”** (6) **But** she had brought them up to the roof **and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.** (7) So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And **the gate was shut** as soon as the pursuers had gone out.

Rahab hid the spies and concocted a great story, weaving pieces of truth with outright lies to send the soldiers in the wrong direction. She admits that the men came to her yet lies about where they were. Instead of turning the spies over, she hid them in the stalks of flax that were drying on her roof. When the Jordan River was flooded, it was also harvest time. Flax would be soaked in water and then dried in the sun so that it could be used to make cloth. **If the spies had come in any other time of the year, this hiding spot would not have existed.**

The very timing that made the Jordan River difficult to pass was the timing that helped save the spies lives. It would have been easy for Joshua to question why God led them to the Jordan River during its flood stage. **The very trial that stood before Israel became the means for God to show them His grace.**

**John 1:16 Wuest Expanded New Testament**

> (16) for out of His fulness as a source we all received, and **grace in exchange for grace.**

God is so faithful to us and works out His purpose in our lives in so many ways, yet we can tend to entirely overlook how He is at work**. God keeps His grace fresh in our lives**. Each situation we face, He provides grace for that moment, often in ways we did not expect. Then when the next situation arises, He provides grace for that moment. **His grace is constantly being exchanged and replaced with new, fresh grace in our lives.** This entire story is filled with too many coincidences to ignore. From the timing of the flax being on the roof to the spies meeting Rahab in the first place. How many Canaanite prostitutes in Jericho desired to worship the true God? Are we expected to believe the spies just happened to meet Rahab?

**Isaiah 46:8-10 ESV**

> (8) “Remember this and **stand firm, recall it to mind**, you transgressors,   
> (9) remember the former things of old; **for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,** (10) declaring the end from the beginning and **from ancient times things not yet done,** saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and **I will accomplish all My purpose,’**

Only God knows the ancient times and the future all at once. We are called to remember this truth and stand firm in who God actually is. He is all-powerful, and all-loving, and good. He will accomplish His purpose in our lives. **We can trust a God who is this powerful and this intimate with our lives** that He even knows when it is time for the flax harvest. We are to stand firm in this truth and recall it to mind.

Verse 7 leaves us with a cliffhanger. Rahab the prostitute has hidden the spies, but the gate is shut now, and we do not know how the spies will make it out of the city. We also have not been told why Rahab just hid them. At this point everyone wants to know whether Rahab was justified in her lie or not. **Scripture clearly calls lying a sin and part of our old life** (Prov 12:22-23; Col 3:9-10). **Scripture also has the example where deception is encouraged for safety** (1 Sam 16:1-3). God tells Samuel to use a cover story to protect himself from Saul. Yet these principles are not what this story is about. **The focus is not on if Rahab the prostitute lied but on the amazing truth she is about to declare.**

**Joshua 2:8-11 Legacy Standard Bible**

> (8) Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof  
> (9) and said to the men, “**I know** **that Yahweh** has given you the land, and **that the terror of you has fallen on us**, and that all the inhabitants of the land have **melted away before you.** (10) For **we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea** before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, **to Sihon and Og**, whom you devoted to destruction.  
> (11) Indeed we heard it, and **our hearts melted**, and a courageous spirit no longer rose up in any man because of you; **for Yahweh your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.**

Rahab explains what has been on her heart and why she was willing to save these spies and risk her own life in the process. **She shares what she knows to be true**. This is in comparison to the lies that she did not know where the spies are from or where they went. **She knows that the Lord has given Israel the promised land, her home.** She has heard what happened in Egypt 40 years ago and believes that God really did split the Red Sea. She heard about the more recent battle in Numbers 21, where Israel defeated Sihon and Og. The people of Canaan were talking about this nation that kept wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. They had plenty of time to respond if they wanted to. **Rahab watched as her ancient, well-fortified city trembled in fear at Israel.** The Canaanites had no spirit in them, and their hearts melted. **As** **Rahab watched all of this, she chose to respond in faith**. She concluded that the God of Israel must be the true God in the heavens above. She trusted that He was more powerful than Baal, and she was willing to risk her life trusting in the God of Israel. Her speech shows how much work God had been doing in Rahab’s heart long before the spies ever showed up.  **Rahab had reached the very conclusion God desired for Israel to reach.**

**Deuteronomy 4:37-40 ESV**

> (37) And because He loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and **brought you out of Egypt with His own presence, by His great power,** (38) **driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you**, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,  
> (39) **know therefore** today, and **lay it to your heart**, **that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.** (40) **Therefore you shall keep His statutes** and His commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

God desired for Israel to see His mighty works and to know that He was God and there was no other. They were to respond in worship and obedience.

Time and time again God revealed His amazing power and tender goodness to Israel. He desired for them to walk in fellowship with Him. **Instead of Israel proclaiming these truths, it is a pagan Canaanite prostitute declaring truthfully who God is.** Rahab responded in faith to the true God.

**Hebrews 11:29-32 ESV**

> (29) **By faith the people crossed the Red Sea** as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.  
> (30) By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.  
> (31) **By faith** **Rahab the prostitute** did not perish with those who were disobedient, **because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.** (32) And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of **David** and Samuel and the prophets—

More is said about Rahab in the faith chapter of Hebrews 11 than of David. This chapter is easily misunderstood, and often the great strength and ability of the people mentioned is emphasized. Instead, this chapter is about what faith can do, not what people can do. Faith is not a warm, cozy feeling about God. **It is hearing the truth about God and then responding to it. Rahab responded to the truth that she knew, and God kept pursuing her.** She didn’t know the law and how God defined morality. Her lifestyle was definitely not cleaned up before God used her. Everyone tries to clean Rahab up because, on some level, we are uncomfortable with God using someone so sinful. **She came as a sinner just as we all do**. She heard the truth about God and responded. Rahab is commended for her faith. God not only used her to protect the spies; He made her a part of His people and had her be a part of the family line of King David, King Solomon, and Jesus.

**Matthew 1:1; 5-6 ESV**

> (1) The book of **the genealogy of Jesus Christ**, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
> 
> (5) and Salmon the father of Boaz **by Rahab**, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, (6) and Jesse **the father of David the king**. And David was the father of **Solomon** by the wife of Uriah,

What an amazing picture of God’s never-ending grace to us. Our sinfulness and dirtiness do not keep Him from reaching out to us. Instead, it proves that we are all truly saved by His amazing Grace.

**1 Timothy 1:15-16 ESV**

> (15) The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, **that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.** (16) But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example **to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.**

# Joshua 2:12-21 | Sunday July 26, 2026

As Israel is on the edge of entering the Promised Land, Joshua has done everything he can to make sure another Kadesh Barnea does not happen. Instead of 12 spies being sent publicly, only 2 spies were sent secretly, apparently with a plan of blending in by going to a prostitute’s house. Even with Joshua’s great strategy, the most important thing is that God providentially protected and guided these 2 spies. What Joshua and the spies had no idea about was that God had been preparing Rahab the prostitute’s heart. Rahab had heard about the God of Israel and what He had done to Egypt and other kings in the area. Rahab responded in faith and trusted that God’s Word of giving Israel the Promised Land would actually happen**. No amount of planning or strategy can accomplish what God working in someone’s heart can**. The spies are immediately recognized as they enter Jericho, and their exact location is known. Yet, God had been working in Rahab, and God providentially directed the spies and Rahab together. She was able to hide the spies in flax that God providentially arranged to be up on the roof, and she sent the soldiers in the wrong direction. **The providence of God is His hand inside the glove of human events**. God is actively at work in these circumstances. After saving the spies lives, Rahab shares with them how God had been preparing her heart for this exact moment.

#### **Joshua 2:8-13 Legacy Standard Bible**

> (8) Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof  
> (9) and said to the men, **“I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us,** and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.  
> (10) “For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.  
> (11) “Indeed we heard it, and **our hearts melted**, and a courageous spirit no longer rose up in any man because of you; **for Yahweh your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.** (12) “So now, **please swear to me by Yahweh**, since I have shown lovingkindness to you, that you also will show lovingkindness to my father’s household and give me a pledge of truth,  
> (13) and preserve my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters alive, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”

Rahab knows that the God of Israel is the one true God. There is none other like Him anywhere in heaven or on earth. Notice that Rahab asks the spies to swear to her by Yahweh, by the God of Israel. **She does not want them to swear by Baal or Asherah, because at this point she believes that the God of Israel is the true God.** We are not told how Rahab heard about the events of the Exodus or the other battles, only that she has.

##### **Romans 10:14 ESV**

> (14) How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? **And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?** And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Paul says that we cannot believe in something that we have never heard of. I am constantly amazed at what God uses to share His truth. At some point, Rahab heard about the God of Israel. As far as we know, God did not send someone like Jonah or a prophet. Yet, **God brought His truth to Rahab and worked on her heart as she responded to Him**. She heard the truth about God and responded in faith. She is placing her life and the lives of all her family members into the hands of the God of Israel.

#### **Joshua 2:12-14 LSB**

> (12) “So now, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have shown **lovingkindness** to you, that you also will show **lovingkindness** to my father’s household **and give me a pledge of truth,** (13) and preserve my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters alive, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”  
> (14) So the men said to her, “Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it will be **when Yahweh gives us the land that we will show lovingkindness and truth to you.”**

Rahab has shown lovingkindness to the spies, **and she is asking for it in response.** The spies promise that as long as she continues to protect them, then they will show her lovingkindness. What is amazing is that Rahab uses the word **Hesed,** which conveys a covenant loyalty. **It is not just love or kindness but a dependable, committed love that is based on a promise**. She is not requesting this based on the people of Israel and their military might but is trusting in their God. She believes that Israel, through God’s strength, will destroy Jericho, and she is acting in response to her belief. Rahab and the spies have entered into a covenant. They are trusting each other for safety.

#### **Joshua 2:15-16 ESV**

> (15) **Then she let them down by a rope through the window**, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall.  
> (16) And she said to them, “**Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you**, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.”

Rahab is faithful to her promise by helping the spies get out of town safely, and she instructs them on how to avoid the pursuers. Now the spies will need to be faithful to their promise. Helping the spies flee to safety is a huge moment for Rahab’s faith.

To understand why sending the spies away safely is so important in Rahab’s life, first we need to see that Hebrews emphasized Rahab’s warm welcome of the spies as a result of her faith.

##### **Hebrews 11:31 ESV**

> (31) By faith **Rahab the prostitute** did not perish with those who were disobedient, **because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.**

Rahab believed God and received the spies based on her belief. **She welcomed the spies into her house because of their God**. Her faith did not stop at this warm reception. James points out that Rahab helping the spies flee to safety was a pivotal moment in her growth. **Her faith led to action**.

##### **James 2:14-17 NKJV**

> (14) What does it profit, **my brethren**, **if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?** (15) If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,  
> (16) and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, **what does it profit?** (17) Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

This passage can be easily misunderstood if we are not careful to realize that James uses terms like "save" and "justified" in a very different way than other parts of scripture, especially Paul. **James is not referring to heaven or hell salvation when he asks, "Can faith save?"** We can be saved from many things, including cold, hunger, or, like Rahab, being saved out of Jericho. **James is focused on the practical benefits of our faith.** How does our faith practically help the cold, hungry beggar if we do not provide for them coats and food? Faith without works is dead, meaning it is not active or doing anything.

##### **James 2:18-20 ESV**

> (18) But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and **I will show you my faith by my works.** (19) **You believe that God is one**; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!  
> (20) Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is **useless**?

Faith cannot be seen **by the human eye** without works. James wants to show his faith through his actions. The demons know that there is one God, just as any Jew does and just as every Muslim knows. This verse is too often mistaken to be about heaven and hell salvation when **James is careful to define what specific belief He is referencing. Believing in one God**. Yet this belief in one God does not amount to much. Faith apart from works is **useless, idle, lazy, unproductive, and worthless**.

To prove his point of how **practically useless and unproductive faith without work is,** James will use two examples from the Old Testament.

##### **James 2:21-24 ESV**

> (21) Was not Abraham our father **justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?** (22) You see that faith was active along with his works, **and faith was completed by his works;** (23) and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—**and he was called a friend of God.** (24) You see that a person **is justified by works and not by faith alone.**

If we lose sight of James argument, then this passage seems to directly contradict Romans 4.

##### **Romans 4:2-5 ESV**

> (2) For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.   
> (3) For what does the Scripture say**? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”** (4) Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  
> (5) And **to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,**

Paul is focused on the initial moment of belief for Abraham. He is describing the heaven or hell moment of salvation when Abraham believed in God and was declared righteous. **This was not accomplished through works**. James, on the other hand, is referring to an entirely different moment in Abraham’s life, years later, when he was willing to offer Isaac on the altar in obedience to God. This was the moment that Abraham’s faith was **completed, fulfilled, perfected, and brought to maturity.** Abraham’s faith grew, and he was shown to be righteous when he was willing to walk in obedience to God. **James uses the term justified in the sense that something is shown to be righteous.** This is the same way it is used in Luke.

##### **Luke 7:29 NAS95**

> (29) When all the people and the tax collectors heard this*,* **they acknowledged God's justice**, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

This is the same word justified. Paul uses it to describe being declared righteous in the heaven and hell sense**. James and Luke use it in the sense of showing something to be righteous.** Abraham’s works showed on the outside what was true on the inside, and these works had tremendous practical benefits. This is easier to see with James’ second example.

##### **James 2:25-26 ESV**

> (25) And in the same way was not also **Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?** (26) For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works **is dead.**

James is not referring to Rahab’s heaven or hell moment of conversion. Rahab believed the God of Israel. Yet, if **Rahab did not act on this belief, then physically she could have died in the battle of Jericho**. Her faith would have been useless and unproductive. **Rahab was shown to be righteous when she was willing to send the spies out another way**. Her belief grew and matured as she was willing to act based on her faith. This was not mere words to Rahab; her belief was reflected in her actions. James's entire point is how important it is for us as believers to have works that reflect our faith. He is not contradicting Paul and teaching a different gospel but is showing how important it is for us to act on the truth we believe.

##### **Titus 3:4-8 ESV**

> (4) But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,  
> (5) **He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness**, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,  
> (6) whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  
> (7) so that **being justified by His grace** we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  
> (8) The saying is trustworthy, and I want you **to insist on these things**, **so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.** These things **are excellent and profitable for people.**

**We are not** saved from hell and the punishment for our sins because of works done by us in our own righteousness. God saved us through the mercy and grace shown through Jesus. **We are declared righteous by His grace**. Understanding that we are not saved by our works is the freedom that helps us learn to work. **We are to insist on God’s grace to believers so that we will devote ourselves to good works**. Devote means **to think of, be intent on, or be carefully concerned with**. It is excellent and profitable for believers to pursue good works and grow in the freedom that grace provides.

Both Rahab and Abraham grew in their faith through their works. They had to learn how to trust God more and to let that trust show through their actions. They were not motivated by earning salvation. They were not motivated out of a fear of losing their salvation. **Understanding what the blood of Jesus has done for us gives us the freedom to grow and to let our faith become completed, fulfilled in our works.**

As Rahab grew in her young faith, she was shown to be righteous through her works. Her faith **practically** saved not only herself but her entire family.

#### **Joshua 2:15-21 ESV**

> (15) Then she let them down by a rope through the window, **for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall.** (16) And she said to them, “**Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you**, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.”  
> (17) The men said to her, “We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear. (18) Behold, when we come into the land, **you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down,** and **you shall gather into your house** your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's household.
> 
> (19) Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, **his blood shall be on his own head,** and we shall be guiltless. **But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.** (20) But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear.”  
> (21) And she said, “**According to your words, so be it.”** Then she sent them away, and they departed. **And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.**

The spies give Rahab practical instructions on how she will be saved from the destruction of Jericho. Her house is built into the walls of Jericho and needs to be marked out so the whole army of Israel knows not to attack her. Rahab is told to tie a scarlet cord or thick red thread in her window to mark it. Any of her family that wish to survive the attack must be in her house. **The spies cannot offer any safety outside the house marked by the scarlet cord.**

**The scarlet cord is not only in Rahab’s house but is woven throughout the entire Bible**. From the blood of the first sacrifice that God gave in the garden on behalf of Adam and Eve, when He made skins for them (Gen 3:21). To the blood smeared on the doorpost of the Israelites houses at the Passover (Ex 12:22-23). Scripture has always pointed us to the safety and deliverance that is found when we are covered by and hidden in the blood of Jesus. Rahab was delivered when she remained in the house marked out by the scarlet cord. She couldn’t go out and fight but had to trust that being marked by the scarlet cord would provide safety. Likewise, our salvation is secured by the shed blood of Jesus.

##### **Hebrews 9:14 ESV**

> (14) how much more **will the blood of Christ**, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, **purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.**

# Joshua 2:22-3:5 | Sunday August 2, 2026

Joshua sent two spies into Jericho to spy out the land and find out any valuable information that they could. The spies were immediately recognized on this secret mission. We are not told how much of Jericho they were able to see because the main focus is their time with Rahab. God had prepared Rahab’s heart in an amazing way and she knew that the God of Israel was the true God in the heavens above and on the earth below. She had heard stories about what the God of Israel had done to Egypt and the other kings. She knew Jericho was terrified of Israel. **By faith Rahab received the spies, and in a step of growth and maturity she helped them to safety**. Based on her trust of God she made a covenant promise with the spies that she would protect their lives if they would protect her families’ lives. Rahab fulfilled her promise by sneaking the spies out of her window. She sent them in the opposite direction of where the Israelites were camped to the caves in the southwest which would provide protection.

#### **Joshua 2:22-24 ESV**

> (22) They departed and went **into the hills** and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing.  
> (23) Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and **came to Joshua the son of Nun**, and they told him all that had happened to them.  
> (24) And they said to Joshua, “**Truly the LORD has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.”**

The spies remained hidden for three days until they were able to make their way back to the Israeli camp. Rahab had kept her word and did not expose the spies. The spies did not give a public report to all the people but came back to Joshua and told him what happened. After fleeing for their lives, and spending much of the time hiding from soldiers, I am amazed at their conclusion. **They had full confidence that God had given the land to Israel**. In Joshua 2:9 Rahab had confirmed that Jericho was fearful and melted away before Israel. The spies knew this confirmed a promise that God had made to Israel.

##### **Exodus 23:27-30 ESV**

> (27) **I will send My terror before you** and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and **I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.** (28) And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.  
> (29) I will not drive them out from before you in one year, **lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.** (30) **Little by little I will drive them out from before you**, until you have increased and possess the land.

When the spies heard that fear had gripped Jericho it confirmed God’s promises to them. He had sent His terror before Israel. Their enemies would turn and run at the sight of them. **God’s promise was always sure but now it was confirmed** **through Rahab’s testimony**. What God promises is true and will happen yet being confident in His promises is something we all grow in and need confirmation in. God was so gracious not only to fulfill His promise but was willing to give the spies and Johsua assurance of His promises. God meets us where we are and keeps drawing us to trust in Him.

Also notice why God did not empty out the Promised Land before Israel ever showed up. He will give it over little by little so that the land does not become desolate and filled by wild animals. God is powerful enough to empty the entire country before Israel ever showed up, but then it would not be a good cultivated land flowing with milk and honey with crops waiting to be enjoyed. **God wanted Israel to walk in His victories, city by city, little by little.** He does the same for us in our walk with Him.

##### **Psalm 119:105 ESV**

> (105) Nun Your word is a lamp to my feet and **a light to my path.**

God guides us through His Word. The word for light is a **small clay lamp that would have oil and one spout with a wick.** So often we want God’s direction and leadership to be like the sun and illuminate everything all at once or at least be like a giant flood light. God promises to use His Word to give us enough light for our next step. **We get so focused on the destination when He is interested in the relationship building journey with us**. What is amazing about this kind of leadership is that it is custom tailored to right where we are.

##### **1 Corinthians 10:11-13 ESV**

> (11) **Now these things happened to them as an example**, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.  
> (12) Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.  
> (13) No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. **God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability**, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, **that you may be able to endure it.**

These true stories of Israel and how God led them are to serve as an example for us. In them we are able to see God’s character and heart. He is so personal and loving to each of us that **we will never enter a trial that is beyond our capability to trust Him in it.** Almost always they will be beyond our ability to handle it ourself. Yet, nothing will come into our life that we are not capable to trust Him with. He faithfully gives us the grace to endure, **bear up under**, the trial.

He will strengthen us and give us the grace to remain in His strength as we endure the trial. He will even be faithful to confirm His promises to us like He did for Joshua and the spies. **He draws us to grow in our trust of Him little by little.**

The other 10 spies at Kadesh Barnea could have trusted God. It was not beyond there ability or growth to rely on Him in that moment. Yet, they refused to trust Him. Now 40 years later, their children will have the same chance to trust God. **Instead of focusing on the danger and fear the spies felt as they hid from the soldiers, they saw God confirming His Word**. The spies trusted God and viewed these events through the light His Word provided. As Joshua hears the spies report He is encouraged by God’s continued faithfulness to Israel.

#### **Joshua 3:1-2 ESV**

> (1) Then **Joshua rose early in the morning** and they set out from Shittim. **And they came to the Jordan,** he and all the people of Israel, and **lodged there** before they passed over.

After the spies report Joshua feels even more confidence that God is with them. Joshua does not delay but faithfully follows God’s command to arise and go over the Jordan (Josh 1:2). He has Israel move out and set up camp right on the edge of the Jordan river. **Crossing the Jordan was the point of no return**. Once 2 to 3 Million Israelites crossed over the Jordan there would be no escape but they would have to face the armies, walled cities, and enemies in the Promised Land. As Joshua has the people move into position he still does not know how they will cross the Jordan river yet God is faithful to instruct Him.

#### **Joshua 3:2-8 ESV**

> (2) **At the end of three days** the officers went through the camp  
> (3) and commanded the people, **“As soon as you see the ark of the covenant** of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, **then you shall set out from your place and follow it.** (4) Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”  
> (5) Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”  
> (6) And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.  
> (7) **The LORD said to Joshua**, **“**Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.  
> (8) And as for you, **command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant**, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”

God informed Joshua that He would lead the people through the Jordan by having them follow the ark of the covenant. When the Ark moved it was time to cross the Jordan. This method of leading was different than the 40 years in the wilderness.

##### **Exodus 40:36-38 ESV**

> (36) Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out.  
> (37) But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up (38) **For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.**

Throughout their wanderings in the wilderness God lead Israel through a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. When the cloud was taken up it was time to move camp. This is what makes the crossing of the Jordan unique. It appears that God stops leading by the cloud and fire at this moment**. Instead the people are to follow after the Ark of the Covenant** at a distance.

##### **Exodus 25:10-11; 22 ESV**

> (10) “They shall make **an ark of acacia wood**. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.  
> (11) **You shall overlay it with pure gold**, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it.
> 
> (22) **There I will meet with you**, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, **I will speak with you** about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

The Ark was made our of acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold. It was not very large but **45 inches long, by 27 inches wide and 27 inches tall**. The mercy seat sat on top of the ark and is where God promised to meet and dwell with His people. **Everything about the Ark speaks about Jesus.** Jesus is fully man which is shown by the wood and yet fully God which is shown by the gold. Through Jesus we are able to meet with and commune with God. Through Jesus we find mercy and our sin is dealt with. The Ark is the means that God will use to lead His people into the promised land. **Just as we are lead into the Sprit filled life as we follow Jesus.**

##### **Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV**

> (1) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and **let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,**   
> (2) **looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith**, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

We are called to lay aside the weights that slow us down from walking with God. These are things that are not necessarily sin but they are not beneficial to growing closer to Jesus. We are also to lay aside the sin that clings closely to us and **easily ensnares** us tripping us up. God has laid out a race for each and every believer to run in. This is only possible as we look to Jesus. Look means **to direct one’s attention without distraction, fix one’s eyes.** Israel is led into the Promised Land, the Spirit filled life, as they keep a close eye on the Ark. We will grow closer to God and enjoy fellowship with Jesus if we stay focused on Him. It is all about Jesus.

He is the founder, this word means, **the originator** of our faith. It does not stop there He is also the perfector which means the **one who brings something to a successful conclusion.** Our faith begins and is brought to completion through Jesus. This is why keeping focused on Him is so important. We should not get lost in what we can do for Him but stay focused on what He has done for us. Isreal is not to focus on battle plans or strategies but to keep a close eye on the Ark, yet at a safe distance.

#### **Joshua 3:4 ESV**

> (4) Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, **about 2,000 cubits in length**. **Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”**

2,000 cubits is about 3,000 feet or a little over half a mile. The Israelites were to keep a distance from the holy Ark but be close enough to see it so that they could follow it where to go. God is so holy His presence had to be veiled from the people even as the Ark was transported.

##### **Numbers 4:5-6 ESV**

> (5) When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and **take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it.** (6) Then they shall put on it **a covering of goatskin** and spread on top of that **a cloth all of blue,** and shall put in its poles.

God’s presence is so holy that the Ark had to be covered by many thick layers before it was ever moved out of the Tabernacle. **It is very easy for us to reduce God down to our size.** We forget how holy and terrifying His presence really is.

##### **Psalms 97:2-6 ESV**

> (2) **Clouds and thick darkness are all around Him**; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.   
> (3) **Fire goes before Him** and burns up His adversaries all around.   
> (4) His lightnings light up the world; **the earth sees and trembles**.  
> (5) **The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.**

God is glorious. He is holy. In His presence are clouds and thick darkness and at the same time unapproachable light. A fire of righteousness and justice goes before Him. It is not hyperbole or an exaggeration that mountains melt before Him. When the earth sees God in His holiness it **trembles which literally means to writhe in fear.** This is the God who we are so casual in using His name in vain both through our words and out actions. Israel could only come within 3,000 feet of the covered ark and had to prepare themselves to even be that close.

#### **Joshua 3:5 LSB**

> (5) Then Joshua said to the people, **“Set yourselves apart as holy**, for tomorrow **Yahweh will do wondrous deeds among you.”**

To prepare for this moment Israel had to reflect God’s Holiness in morality but also in practical ways. In Exodus 19:10-15 when God called the people to set themselves apart as holy this involved washing their clothes and remaining ceremonially clean**. Instead of God telling Israel to sharpen their swords and check their armor, He told them to prepare for His holy presence**. This incredible holy God was going to do something truly wondrous in their sight tomorrow. This is the Holy God who Jesus has given us access to, and resides in us right now as believers. **We have God’s presence inside us right now**. This is something that we should be in awe of and not take for granted.

##### **2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 ESV**

> (16) What agreement has the temple of God with idols? **For we are the temple of the living God**; as God said, “I will make My dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  
> (17) **Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them**, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,  
> (18) and **I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me**, says the Lord Almighty.”
> 
> (1) **Since we have these promises**, beloved, **let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.**

This is what makes what Jesus has done for us so truly incredible. **God the Spirit resides in us.** We are to live in this world but to be separate from it because **He who is in us is Holy and separated from this world**. God desires a deepening and growing relationship with us. He wants to lead us little by little and be a loving and caring Father to us. Not setting ourselves apart as holy gets in the way of this closeness. Since we have these great promises of fellowship we are to cleanse ourselves and bring God’s holiness in us to completion. We were already told how, by fixing our eyes on Jesus. He founded and perfects our faith, lets keep our eyes on Him as He leads us to a deeper and closer walk with Himself.

# Joshua 3:6-17 | Sunday August 9, 2026

In Joshua 3, Israel is at the bank of the Jordan River, waiting to see the Ark of the Covenant move. God was leading the nation in a unique way, by only using the Ark instead of the pillar of fire or the cloud. God is present with His people and is holy. Due to this, Israel had to set themselves apart as morally and ceremoniously pure and stay 3,000 ft. away. Even with these instructions, the ark was triple covered. God went to great lengths to lead His people. They had not gone that way before, and God wanted them to know where to go by looking to Him. The nation was to watch the Ark and let God lead them by it.

#### **Joshua 3:6-10 ESV**

> (6) And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.  
> (7) The LORD said to Joshua, “Today **I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel**, that they may know that, **as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.** (8) And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”  
> (9) And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.”  
> (10) And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that **the living God is among you** **and that He will without fail drive out from before you** the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.

God had promised to do a wondrous thing in the sight of Israel, and He was going to use it in multiple ways. When Israel was able to cross the Jordan, Joshua would be exalted. Just as Israel knew God was with Moses because of the Red Sea crossing, at the Jordan River Israel would know that God was with Joshua. God also wanted His people to trust that He would without fail drive out the people from before them. As He performed this wondrous deed, **God wanted the people to know that He was the living God and would be active in the promised land.**

##### **Psalm 42:1-3 ESV**

> (1) To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah. As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God.  
> (2) **My soul thirsts for God**, **for the living God**. When shall I come and appear before God?  
> (3) My tears have been my food day and night, **while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”**

The author of this psalm is in agony. He has been distressed and tearfully crying out night and day. He is full of doubts about where God is. **His soul thirsts for the living God.** He desperately needs a God who is not only big and powerful but also active and personal. **He needs a living God who can be relied on and trusted.**

By performing this incredible miracle of having Israel cross the Jordan, God wanted His people to know that He was the living God and could be trusted. God uses simple logic; if He is powerful enough to provide a way for Israel to cross the Jordan, then He would be powerful enough to, without fail, drive out the people from the promised land. **If God can stop a raging river, then He can stop the attacks of the Canaanites or Amorites.** God uses this same logic with us as believers.

##### **Romans 8:31-32 ESV**

> (31) What then shall we say to these things? **If God is for us, who can be against us?** (32) He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, **how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?**

God was willing to have Jesus step out of eternity and take on weak human flesh. God did not stop there but was willing to have Jesus suffer and die on the cross. If God was willing to give Jesus, God Himself, to us, then what eternally good thing would He ever hold back from us? **The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are meant to prove to us that our God is the living God**. It is meant to show His personal love and tremendous power. **Everything that comes into our lives is to be filtered by this amazing truth.** Just as Israel was to filter life in the promised land through the truth that they learned at the Jordan River. God proved to them and to us that He was more than adequate for whatever we would face. He is loving, powerful, and at work in our lives. He is the living God.

#### **Joshua 3:8; 11-13 ESV**

> (8) And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, **you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”**
> 
> (11) Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is **passing over before you into the Jordan.** (12) Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man.  
> (13) And when **the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the LORD**, the Lord of all the earth, **shall rest in the waters of the Jordan**, **the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing**, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”

God gives Joshua clear instructions as to how He will stop the Jordan and let Israel cross it. The priests are to stand still in the Jordan. In order to do this, they will need to enter into the raging river. God promises that when their feet hit the water, then the river will stop. These instructions are not accidental. **God is showing us a very important principle in what it looks like to grow in our trust of Him**. To see it, though, we have to compare this miraculous crossing to Israel’s other miraculous crossing, the Red Sea. God uses both of these crossings in unique and separate ways in Israel’s story.

##### **Exodus 14:9-14 ESV**

> (9) The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.  
> (10) When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and **they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD.** (11) They said to Moses, **“Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?** What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?  
> (12) Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? **For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”** (13) And Moses said to the people, **“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today**. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.  
> (14) **The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”**

Israel was finally able to leave Egypt after God miraculously protected them during the Passover. The firstborn male from each household died unless the family had spread the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of their house. **It was through the blood of the lamb that Israel was saved and redeemed out of Egypt**. Yet, once Israel saw Pharaoh’s army pursuing them, fear set in quickly. Notice that the Israelites are absolutely confident that they will die in the wilderness. They saw two options: live as Pharaoh’s slaves or die. This is after seeing all 10 plagues. Moses knew that God was going to provide salvation from Egypt. **God would be the one who would do it; they only had to be silent.**

##### **Exodus 14:19-22 ESV**

> (19) Then the angel of God **who was going before** the host of Israel **moved and went behind them,** and the pillar of cloud moved from before them **and stood behind them**,  
> (20) coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. **And there was the cloud and the darkness.** And it lit up the night **without one coming near the other all night.** (21) Then Moses **stretched out his hand over the sea**, and the LORD drove the sea back **by a strong east wind all night** and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.  
> (22) And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea **on dry ground**, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.  
> (23) **The Egyptians pursued and went in after them** into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

God does something truly amazing: the pillar of cloud moved behind Israel and stood between Egypt and Israel. This kept the Egyptians from attacking, and **it also made it impossible for any Israelites to go back to slavery in Egypt.**

Moses does exactly as he was told and lifts His staff (Ex 14:16) and stretches His hand over the sea. No one was asked to enter the Red Sea until after it was divided and the path was fully dry. Israel had the cloud behind them, keeping them from retreating, and walls of water on each side. **Their only choice was to move forward.** As the cloud moved with Israel, the Egyptians pursued after them.

##### **Exodus 14:24-28 ESV**

> (24) And **in the morning watch** the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces **and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,** (25) **clogging their chariot wheels** so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.”  
> (26) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.”  
> (27) So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, **and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared**. **And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.** (28) The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, **not one of them remained**.

Throughout the night, over 2 million Israelites and the Egyptian army made their way through the Red Sea. The cloud kept them separated the entire time. Then in the morning watch, which was from **2 AM to sunrise (6 AM)**, God caused the Egyptian forces to be in a panic. All of a sudden they realized what they were doing and how dangerous it was. The dry ground became muddy, and their chariots began to get stuck. **Psalm 77:16-20** even hints that there may have been a massive thunder and rainstorm. At this point all of Israel was safely through the Red Sea, and God had Moses stretch out his hand again, and the water returned to its normal place and killed the entire Egyptian army as they fled directly into the crashing waters. God explains what important event the Red Sea represents.

##### **1 Corinthians 10:1-4 ESV**

> (1) For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were **all** under the cloud, and **all passed through the sea,** (2) and **all** were **baptized into Moses** in the **cloud** and in the **sea**,  
> (3) and **all** ate the same **spiritual food,** (4) and **all** drank the same **spiritual drink.** For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

Israel was baptized into Moses. Baptize means to immerse in the sense of identification, like immersing yourself in a culture. Israel was identified in Moses, who is a type of Jesus. **It was Moses’ faithful obedience that the rest of Israel benefited from, just as it is Jesus’ faithful obedience that we benefit from**.

Israel’s baptism into Moses represents our baptism by the Holy Spirit when we are identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

##### **Romans 6:3-4 ESV**

> (3) Do you not know that all of us who have been **baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?** (4) We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, **we too might walk in newness of life.**

This is not referring to water baptism but is the real event that water baptism reminds us of. Once someone believes in Jesus, they are identified with the cross and the resurrection. The Holy Spirit takes us and immerses us into Jesus. **This is not a second work or something that happens later into the Christian walk** but happens the very moment we believe in Jesus (Eph 1:13). For Israel, they believed in God’s deliverer at the Passover. **The entire nation had trusted in the blood of the Passover lamb. This represented their salvation.** Then God brought them to the Red Sea and immersed them into Moses. **It is important to notice that no one was lost between the Passover and the Red Sea**. No one died or was even allowed to turn back. The passage emphasizes all. **Once you trusted at the Passover, you made it through the Red Sea.** The cloud made sure of it! The same is true for everyone who believes in who Jesus is and what He did. They are immediately baptized into Jesus the moment they believe; no one is left out. Yet even with all that God had done for His people, they still had a choice to faithfully walk and grow in their trust with Him.

##### **1 Corinthians 10:5-6 ESV**

> (5) **Nevertheless**, **with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.** (6) Now these things took place as examples for us, **that we might not desire evil as they did.**

All were baptized at the Red Sea, and yet with most God was not pleased. Of that generation that trusted God at the Passover and Red Sea, **only Caleb, Joshua, and the Levites were able to enter into the promised land**. Israel was saved; they never stopped being God's people, and yet they were overthrown in the wilderness because they did not grow in their trust of God. This is meant to be an example for us to grow and learn to trust God and not desire evil like they did. Even though there is a new generation at the Jordan River, God continues to build on this picture. The Jordan River **is not** a picture of Israel being saved or being baptized into Joshua. **Crossing the Jordan River is a picture of learning to trust God and walk in obedience to Him.**

#### **Joshua 3:14-17 ESV**

> (14) So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,  
> (15) and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and **the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water** (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest),  
> (16) the waters coming down from above stood and **rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam,** the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.  
> (17) Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD **stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan,** and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

Notice some of the key differences. **The priests were asked to take a step of obedient faith and trust that God would fulfill His promise**. God had told them exactly what He would do if they would get their feet wet. Now they had to take a step into the flooded, raging Jordan River. **Their soggy footprints are the key difference.** God performed an amazing miracle when they were willing to trust Him. **Their soggy footprints became firm, dry ground because of God’s faithfulness**.

Also notice that the entire nation that wanted to cross made it over. We already know from **Joshua 1:12-18 that the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh** were staying on the other side of the Jordan. Only their soldiers crossed with Israel, and they will go back over the Jordan to get home in Joshua 22. There was no cloud pushing the people through. **Those who wanted to stay could**. God does not force us to grow and trust in Him but gives us opportunities to take a step of obedient faith.

##### **Galatians 2:20 ESV**

> (20) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. **And the life I now live in the** **flesh I live by faith in the Son of God**, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

As believers, we have been crucified with Jesus, and we have been given His new life. Now as we are still in this flesh, we are to live by faith to experience this new life. **We grow closer to God the more we have faith, the more we trust Him to fulfill His promises**. It is time for us to get our feet wet and trust Him.

##### **Ephesians 5:8 ESV**

> (8) for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. **Walk as children of light**

# Joshua 4:1-24 | Sunday August 16, 2026

##### **Joshua 3:14-17 ESV**

> (14) So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,  
> (15) and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and **the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water** (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest),  
> (16) the waters coming down from above stood and **rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan**, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.  
> (17) Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD **stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan,** and **all Israel was passing over on dry ground** until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

It is hard to imagine the tension and anticipation the Israelites felt as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant approached the Jordan River. The Jordan River was normally **90-100 feet wide**. During its flood stage, the Jordan River was significantly wider, ranging  **anywhere from 200 yards up to even 1 mile wide.** The Jordan floodplain would have been packed with tangled brush and jungle growth. Melting snow from the Anti-Lebanon mountains causes the river to surge and flow into areas it is not normally present in the rest of the year. On a practical level, this was the worst time ever to consider crossing the Jordan, and yet it was the best time for God to show His amazing power.

Israel must have held their breath for the critical moment when the priest entered into the water. Some probably wondered if the priest would be swept away. Others might have wondered if they would be asked to enter the water as well. Then God was faithful to His promise and amazingly stopped this raging river, and it stood heaped, a dammed-up wall of water

In **1267** and in **1927,** landslides caused by earthquakes in that region caused the Jordan River to stop flowing for 10 hours and 21 hours. God could have used an earthquake and landslide, yet there is no mention of an earthquake in Joshua. Also notice the amazing detail that once the water stopped, **Israel passed on dry ground**. A landslide might stop water, but it does not dry out a riverbed so that millions of people can walk over it. The Jordan River crossing is a tremendous miracle. **The water stopped very far away, in the city of Adam**, some **16-18 miles** away. This is no accident. God is showing that the First Adam, our flesh, needs to be held back and will be no help in the Promised Land, the spirit-filled life.

##### **Galatians 3:1-3 ESV**

> (1) O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.  
> (2) Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit **by works of the law or by hearing with faith?** (3) Are you so foolish? **Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?**

Paul’s argument to the Galatians is straightforward. How we begin our relationship with Jesus is how we are to continue to walk in our relationship with Him. We received the Holy Spirit by hearing the gospel and responding in faith. **So we are to continue to walk in faith.** We did not receive the Holy Spirit by relying on our flesh to accomplish works, so why would we think that is how we are to walk now? The Spirit-filled life is not experienced by trying to perfect ourselves in our own flesh. We are not strong enough. **Our flesh, our sin nature that goes all the way back to Adam, does not help us live for God**. We will never grow and experience closeness with Jesus by trying to **perfect, complete**, **or finish** our walk in our own strength. The Spirit-filled life is found when we walk in faith, trusting in Him as we rely on the Spirit. We are called to be obedient in the Spirit-filled life, but the power to do so comes from the new life in Him and not from ourselves.

##### **Romans 6:8-14 ESV**

> (8) Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that **we will also live with Him.** (9) We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.  
> (10) For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, **but the life He lives He lives to God.** (11) So you also must **consider** yourselves dead to sin **and alive to God in Christ Jesus.** (12) **Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body**, to make you obey its passions.  
> (13) Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been **brought from death to life**, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.  
> (14) **For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.**

As believers, we have been identified with Jesus’ death and also His resurrection, His new life. The Spirit-filled life is when we walk in this new life. We are called to **consider;** **this word means to determine something by mathematical process, to calculate, to give careful thought to, and to let our minds dwell on.** We are to dwell on the fact that we are alive through Jesus. This means we are not to let sin reign, **literally become king over us**. As a believer, this is possible, and we are called not to let it happen because sin has **no dominion, control, or authority** over us. We are to stop treating sin like it is our king because it has no power over our new life.

**An obedient walk with Jesus flows from understanding this grace.** We are to present ourselves to God as those who were once dead but now are amazed that we are alive. **Too many of us as believers forget that we are alive.** We forget all the blood of Jesus has accomplished for us. This is why we are to dwell on what Jesus has done for us. We are to remember.

#### **Joshua 4:1-8 ESV**

> (1) When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,  
> (2) “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,  
> (3) and command them, saying, ‘**Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly,** and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’”  
> (4) Then Joshua called the **twelve men from the people of Israel**, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.  
> (5) And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you **a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,** (6) that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, **‘What do those stones mean to you?’** (7) then you shall **tell them** that the waters of the Jordan were cut off **before the ark of the covenant of the LORD**. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel **a memorial forever.”** (8) And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the LORD told Joshua. **And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there**.

God had Joshua appoint 12 men, one from each tribe, to approach the Ark of the Covenant and to pick up a stone from the specific spot that the priest stood. They were to carry these stones from the riverbed of the Jordan to the site that Israel was going to camp at that evening. **The stones were to be set up as a memorial forever.** They were to remind the people that the water of the Jordan was cut off when the Ark passed into it. Israel was to remember what God had done for them.

##### **Psalm 145:3-6 ESV**

> (3) Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and **His greatness is unsearchable**.  
> (4) **One generation shall commend Your works to another**, and shall declare Your mighty acts.  
> (5) On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate.  
> (6) They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds, and **I will declare Your greatness.**

We are to reflect and talk about the greatness of God. One generation is to pass down the stories about what God has done to the next generation. We are to emphasize God’s majesty and awesome deeds. **These stones were to spark conversation.** Children are curious and would ask their parents what they mean. Israel was not to find a priest to answer the question. They were not to tell their children to wait for Sunday school. Parents were to declare who God is and share His awesomeness with their children. How else will the next generation, our children or grandchildren, know about who God is if we don’t tell them? **We should not leave it up to someone else to tell our kids about God.** We are to talk about Him and what He has done in everyday conversation.

##### **Psalm 78:1-8 ESV**

> (1) A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!  
> (2) I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,  
> (3) things that we have heard and known, **that our fathers have told us.** (4) **We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and His might, and the wonders that He has done.** (5) He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which **He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,** (6) **that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,** (7) **so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God**, but keep His commandments;  
> (8) and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

We are not to hide from our children what God has done. The next generation learns so much about God and what it means to have a relationship with Him by how we live and talk about Him. **If our children think a relationship with Jesus can be summed up as simply going to church and not doing certain immoral things, then we are not doing a good job at all of telling the next generation of what God has done**. We are to talk about God in a way that they are drawn to trust in Him. In a way that they would learn they can set their hope in God. We are to tell of what Jesus’ blood has accomplished for us. **We should talk more about our hope for the future that Jesus has secured than the problems we see around us**. We must be thinking about God’s greatness and seeking to trust God if we are ever going to talk about Him in this way. We talk about what is on our minds and what we find exciting and interesting. Is God’s greatness and His goodness something that excites us? These are not conversations that are only to happen at church but throughout everyday life. We are to have stones set up that draw us to talk about how great God is and how we can trust in Him.

#### **Joshua 4:9-13 ESV**

> (9) And **Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan**, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; **and they are there to this day.** (10) For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste.  
> (11) And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the LORD and the priests passed over before the people.  
> (12) The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them.  
> (13) About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho.

Joshua also set up another pillar of twelve stones to mark the spot that the priests stood with the ark. This memorial would not have been as easy to see as the one set up at the camp, as it was underwater. **This memorial would remind the people that only God could have accomplished stopping the Jordan River.** Joshua wanted all of Israel to know that at the time he wrote this book, those stones were still there. This almost serves as an invitation to go see the stones. **He did not want Israel to forget or stop talking about what God had done.**

#### **Joshua 4:14-19 ESV**

> (14) On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, **and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.** (15) And the LORD said to Joshua,  
> (16) “Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.”  
> (17) So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”  
> (18) And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.  
> (19) The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

Israel developed an **awe, respect, and fear** for Joshua that day. They understood that God was leading Joshua just as He had led Moses. Israel watching the water rush back into place as the priests stepped out of the riverbed must have been amazing and awe inspiring. This confirmed once again God’s supernatural hand on all the events. It also **closed the way of retreat**. Israel was now in the Promised Land with armies and giants ahead of them. They would need to rely on God more than ever as they enjoyed this good land He gave to them.

#### **Joshua 4:20-24 ESV**

> (20) And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, **Joshua set up at Gilgal.** (21) And he said to the people of Israel, “**When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’** (22) then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’  
> (23) For the LORD your God **dried up the waters of the Jordan** **for you** until you passed over, **as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over,** (24)  **so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”**

This was Caleb’s, Joshua’s, Eleazar’s (High Priest), and the Levites second water crossing. They had walked across the dry ground of the Red Sea, and now they walked across the dry ground of the Jordan. **Joshua points out that what God had done for us, He now did for you**. Joshua is making sure the next generation does not miss how important this was. He is putting into practice what He is encouraging them to do. He is showing God’s might to the next generation so that they can have a reverential awe of who God is and trust in Him. **One of the greatest enemies to faith, to trusting God, is forgetfulness.** We forget how He has been faithful. We forget what He has done for us. We forget the prayers He answered in such amazing ways. We forget, so the new trial in front of us seems insurmountable. We forget who He is so we do not walk in a holy respect of God. As we forget, we start to rely on our own strength, as pride and other sins creep in. **This is why over and over in scripture we are called to remember**.

##### **1 Chronicles 16:12 ESV**

> (12) **Remember** **the wondrous works** that He has done, His miracles and the judgments He uttered,

##### **Psalm 20:7 NKJV**

> (7) Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; **But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.**

##### **Psalm 77:11 ESV**

> (11) **I will remember the deeds** of the LORD; yes, **I will remember Your wonders of old**.

##### **2 Timothy 2:8 ESV**

> (8) **Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead**, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,

This is a big reason why Israel continued to walk with God even after Joshua died. They had been told of the great works of God, **and they remembered.**

##### **Joshua 24:31 ESV**

> (31) Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, **and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the LORD did for Israel.**

# Joshua 5:1-9 | Sunday August 23, 2026

As we begin to look at Joshua 5 it can be easy to miss how monumental of an event Israel crossing over the Jordan river truly is. The Jordan river crossing was a moment of faithful obedience for Israel and where God displayed His power in an amazing way. It was also the moment that God’s people were finally entering into the Promised Land. A promise that is first mentioned all the way back in Genesis 12.

##### **Genesis 12:1-3; 5-7 ESV**

> (1) **Now the LORD said to Abram**, “**Go from your country** and your kindred and your father's house **to the land that I will show you.** (2) And **I will make of you a great nation**, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  
> (3) I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and **in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”** (5) And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and **they set out to go to the land of Canaan**. When they came to the land of Canaan,  
> (6) Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.  
> (7) Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, **“To your offspring I will give this land.”** So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 11 describes the Tower of Babel. God called humanity to be fruitful and spread out over the earth and fill it after the flood. In direct disobedience, humanity instead tried to stay together and build the tower to make a name for themselves. In judgment, God confused their languages, and they were scattered over the face of the earth. This is what makes the opening of Chapter 12 so amazing. **God reaches down and talks to Abram. At this time there is no Jew or gentile.** Ethnicities and cultures are just starting to form and diverge from each other. God reaches out to Abram and makes a promise: God will make him into a nation that will bless the entire world. **God is promising to create a people for the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to be born into**.

God just chose the man He will start a nation with and then promised to give land for this nation to exist in. Very slowly Abram’s family grew to millions, with some trusting in God and His promises while most did not. While enslaved in Egypt, it was hard to think that this people group would ever become a nation. This is what makes Joshua 5 so monumental. God had made a nation from Abram, and now that nation stood in the very land that God had promised **to Abram 700 years before.** God remained faithful to His word and His promises for all these years. Israel crossing the Jordan proved that God was faithful to His covenant promise.

#### **Joshua 5:1-5 ESV**

> (1) As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea**, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan** for the people of Israel until they had crossed over**, their hearts melted** and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.  
> (2) At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel **a second time.”** (3) So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.  
> (4) And **this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them**: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt.  
> (5) **Though all the people who came out had been circumcised**, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt **had not been circumcised.**

When the inhabitants of the Promised Land heard about what happened at the Jordan River, they were terrified. Instead of arming their militaries and joining together against Israel, they cowered in fear. **God’s first request of Israel in the promised land is for all the men to be circumcised**. The men who had come out of Egypt were circumcised, but this new generation who were born in the wilderness had not been. **God was calling the nation to return again to the practice of circumcision.** This request from God was the last thing Israel expected as they crossed the Jordan.

#### **Joshua 4:12-13 ESV**

> (12) The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh **passed over** **armed before the people of Israel**, as Moses had told them.  
> (13) About 40,000 **ready for war passed over before the LORD for battle**, to the plains of Jericho.

When Israel crossed the Jordan, they had 40,000 armed men ready for battle to go in front of them. Israel expected immediate wars to await them on the other side of the Jordan. Instead, **God caused a fear to paralyze their enemies as He called for the nation to incapacitate their own military**. God had already provided a means to protect them due to the fear that had gripped the surrounding peoples. God’s request to circumcise the men would go against all human logic and military strategy. Israel knew from its history how weak and susceptible to attack men were as they recovered from circumcision (Gen 34:24-25). Levi and Simeon used this trick to exact vengeance on an entire town. Now God was calling Israel to trust Him by becoming weak and open to attack in the Promised Land. To understand why God would request this at this specific time, we have to understand what circumcision was meant to be a remembrance of.

##### **Genesis 17:7-8; 10-12; 14 ESV**

> (7) And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for **an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you."** (8) And I will give to you and to your offspring after you **the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”** (10) **This is my covenant, which you shall keep**, between Me and you and your offspring after you: **Every male among you shall be circumcised**.  
> (11) You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and **it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.** (12) He who is **eight days old** among you shall be circumcised. **Every male throughout your generations,** whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring,  
> (14) **Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”**

Circumcision was practiced by other Near Eastern cultures but was used as a rite of passage from childhood into manhood. God instituted it for every Jewish male when they were 8 days old. God made an everlasting covenant, promise to Israel. **He promised to be their God and to give them the Promised Land of Canaan as an everlasting possession**. Circumcision was to be the sign or symbol of this covenant promise. If someone refused to accept circumcision, they were to be cut off from the people because they were refusing God’s promises. The new generation needed to accept the mark of God’s covenant promise as He was fulfilling it to them. **They were His people, yet they did not have the mark of being His people.** The next verses explain why this generation had not been circumcised.

#### **Joshua 5:6-8 ESV**

> (6) For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, **the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD;** **the LORD swore** to them that He would not let them see the land that the **LORD had sworn** to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.  
> (7) **So it was their children, whom He raised up in their place,** that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, **because they had not been circumcised on the way**.  
> (8) When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.

The men who came out of Egypt had been circumcised. **They had the mark of God’s promises, and yet in unbelief they refused to walk in these promises**. They refused to trust in what God swore to give them, so God swore that they would not be able to enter the land but it would be given to their children. In grief and disobedience, they attempted to take the land by force.

##### **Numbers 14:39-45 ESV**

> (39) When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, **the people mourned greatly.** (40) And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. **We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised,** for we have sinned.”  
> (41) But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the LORD, when that will not succeed?   
> (42) **Do not go up, for the LORD is not among you**, lest you be struck down before your enemies.   
> (43) For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the LORD, **the LORD will not be with you.”** (44) But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although **neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses departed out of the camp.** (45) Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down **and defeated them and pursued them**, even to Hormah.

That generation refused to obey. They refused to trust that God would be powerful enough to give them the land, then they refused to accept His judgment. They were still focused on their own power and thought the Promised Land could be taken by their effort. They did not care that the ark did not go before them. They were quickly defeated. That generation struggled to understand that their own effort and power would never be enough. **Apparently, they were so embittered about not being allowed to enter the Promised Land that they did not circumcise their children throughout their wanderings in the wilderness**. They had a mark of a promise that they would not get to enjoy, so they refused to give it to their children even though it was their children who would be the ones to enter the Promised Land.

**The new generation was learning that God’s promises were secured by trusting in Him and not through the power of the flesh**. Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant promises. It was to remind Israel that these promises would not be accomplished by the strength of their own flesh. God uses circumcision as a picture of what takes place for each believer.

##### **Colossians 2:11-14 ESV**

> (11) **In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,** (12) having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  
> (13) And you, who were dead in your trespasses and **the uncircumcision of your flesh**, **God made alive together with Him,** having forgiven us all our trespasses,  
> (14) by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. **This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.**

When we believe in Jesus, our body of flesh is put off. **Our flesh was dead and useless to walking in a new life.** Instead of our dead flesh, we are given new life in Jesus because He conquered sin at the cross and then rose again. He took our record of debt and its demand for death, and He paid it in full at the cross. Then He rose to new life so we can walk in a new life not reliant on our dead flesh. **The spirit filled life is walking in the new life that Jesus secured for us.**

##### **John 6:63 ESV**

> (63) It is the Spirit who gives life; **the flesh is no help at all**. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

We are given new life through the Holy Spirit. Our flesh is no help at all. Too often we read this verse and think the flesh is of some help, or at least a little help. We are like the first generation of Israel charging forward to enter the promised land on our own terms and in our own strength. **This is why we need to come back to the Word of God. God’s Word is spirit and life**. His Word teaches us about the new life and defines what fellowship with Him looks like.

God had Israel come back to the sign of circumcision **to remind them of His promises, and to remind them that the flesh was no help in securing these promises.** Life in the promised land would only be possible as they relied on Him. The Wilderness Generation did not follow their parents but were obedient to enter the Promised Land and trusted in God to provide.

#### **Joshua 5:9 ESV**

> (9) And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have **rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.”** And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.

This new generation's faithfulness to trust God removed the reproach of their parents. Egypt watched what happened to Israel. The Egyptians had been completely undone by the God of Israel, and they took great delight that His people were wandering in the wilderness instead of enjoying the Promised Land.

##### **Numbers 14:13-16 ESV**

> (13) But Moses said to the LORD, “**Then the Egyptians will hear of it**, for You brought up this people in Your might from among them,  
> (14) and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. **They have heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people.** For You, O LORD, are seen face to face, and Your cloud stands over them and You go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.   
> (15) Now if You kill this people as one man, **then the nations who have heard Your fame will say,   
> (16) ‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that He swore to give to them that He has killed them in the wilderness.’**

If the Israelites failed completely to enter the Promised Land, then God’s name would be mocked in Egypt and around the world. The nations had heard that God was in their midst, and if they could not enter the Promised Land, it would make God look weak. They would assume that Israel did not enter because God was unable to give the people the land He promised. **As Israel crossed the Jordan, God proved not only to His people but also to the world that He keeps His promises.** His promises are secured by His strength and not our own. This is a principle that was important for Israel to learn, and is important for us as believers today to learn.

##### **Philippians 3:3-11 ESV**

> (3) **For we are the circumcision,** who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus **and put no confidence in the flesh—** (4) though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:  
> (5) circumcised on the eighth day, **of the people of Israel**, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; **as to the law, a Pharisee;** (6) **as to zeal**, a persecutor of the church; **as to righteousness under the law**, blameless.  
> (7) **But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.** (8) **Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord**. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  
> (9) and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, **but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—** (10) **that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection**, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,  
> (11) that by any means possible **I may attain the resurrection from the dead.**

Paul states that all believers are the circumcision, meaning the flesh has been removed and we are to rely on the new life in the Spirit. We are not **to put confidence in, depend on, trust in, or believe in our flesh.** Paul gives examples of the types of things we are so prone to rely on in our flesh. We might trust in our ethnicity, or culture as having strength. We might rest in our family and the prestige that comes from it. So often we trust in our own zeal, or efforts. **We think if we can secure our own righteousness, then maybe we would not have to rely as much on grace.** We are called to count all these things as lost in comparison to Christ. Knowing Jesus and walking in fellowship with Him is far greater than anything our flesh can offer. **We have been given a righteousness and status with Jesus that depend entirely on faith in Him**. We are to trust in Him for salvation and then keep trusting in Him to walk in the new life. **Paul desires nothing more than to fully experience the resurrected life that Jesus has given to us.** He wants to experience the fullness of what it means to be resurrected in Christ.

# Joshua 5:10-12 | Sunday August 30, 2026

As we move through the book of Joshua, God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promises stands out. After a 40-year delay in the wilderness, God’s people were finally in the land that had been promised to Abram over 700 years ago. This generation was taking part of a story that was much larger than them. God had the men be circumcised because it was the sign He had given the nation to show that He had made covenant promises with them. It was also to remind them that these promises would not be accomplished through the power of their own flesh but through God’s power and His faithfulness. Following this command incapacitated the Israeli army and required them to trust in God’s protection. Having the men be circumcised also served as a preparation for God’s next command.

#### **Joshua 5:8-12 ESV**

> (8) When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.  
> (9) And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.  
> (10) While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, **they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho.** (11) And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.  
> (12) And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

It was time for Israel to celebrate the Passover. According to **Exodus 12:48, “no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.**” So part of the reason the men had to be circumcised was to prepare the nation to keep the Passover. This was only the third time the nation had kept the Passover. The second time the Passover was celebrated was 40 years ago in the wilderness of Sinai, which was one year after leaving Egypt (**Numbers 9:1-5).** The first time Israel kept the Passover was the night God passed over them in Egypt.

##### **Exodus 12:2-3; 6 ESV**

> (2) “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.  
> (3) Tell all the congregation of Israel that **on the tenth day of this month** every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, **a lamb for a household.**
> 
> (**6**) and you shall keep it until **the fourteenth day of this month**, **when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.**

God’s timing is always perfect. Israel was to select the lamb for the Passover on the **10th day of the first month** and then inspect that lamb until the **14th day of the month** when the lamb was to be killed. Then **41 years later** (1 year at Sinai and 40 years in the wilderness) **to the very day,** Israel crossed into the Promised Land and celebrated the Passover.

##### **Joshua 4:19 ESV**

> (19) The people came up out of the Jordan on **the tenth day of the first month**, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

#### **Joshua 5:10 ESV**

> (10) While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, **they kept the Passover** **on the fourteenth day of the month** in the evening on the plains of Jericho.

**Israel’s redemption was incomplete when they left Egypt.** He had not abandoned them in the wilderness but was faithful and was going to continue the work that He had begun. **Their parents' unfaithfulness delayed the entry, but it did not undo God’s promises**. He would be their God, and His people would dwell in the land He gave, and it was all possible because they were covered by the blood.

##### **Exodus 12:23 ESV**

> (23) For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, **and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door** and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

##### **Exodus 13:3-5; 8 ESV**

> (3) Then Moses said to the people, **“Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt,** out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.  
> (4) **Today,** in the month of Abib, **you are going out**.  
> (5) And **when the LORD brings you into the land** of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you**, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month.**
> 
> (8) **You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’**

God saved His people through the blood of the lamb. **They were called to remember the day they went out of Egypt on the day they entered into the Promised Land**. God keeping His promise was never in doubt. The people were to remember the Passover and how God used it to save them. They were to tell their children what God did for them. **Any firstborn male who was 59-39 could give a firsthand account of how the blood of the lamb saved their life**. 41 years ago they would have been 18 and younger. They were alive through the blood.

##### **Romans 5:8-11 LSB**

> (8) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  
> (9) Much more then, **having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him**.  
> (10) For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God **through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.** (11) And not only this, but **we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ**, through whom we have now **received the reconciliation.**

We are to boast in God for what He accomplished through Jesus. We are to remember and tell our children that we have been declared free of sin through the offering of Jesus’ blood. **We should not let confusion or doubt creep in on what salvation is actually based on.** We are justified, declared righteous because of the blood of Jesus. **Now we can walk in His resurrected life**. Israel was just entering the promised land. They were beginning to walk in the new life that had been secured for them.

#### **Joshua 5:11-12 LSB**

> (11) And on the day after the Passover, **on that very day, they ate some of the yield of the land,** unleavened cakes **and roasted grain.** (12) Then **the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land,** so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, **but they ate some of the produce of the land of Canaan during that year.**

After Israel celebrated the Passover, they ate some of the produce of the Promised Land. Instead of manna, they enjoyed roasted grain. After 40 years of eating the same thing, variety was greatly appreciated. **Now that they were partaking of the blessings in the Promised Land, the manna ceased.** All the years God provided the manna He wanted Israel to learn how to trust Him.

##### **Deuteronomy 8:2-3 ESV**

> (2) And **you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness**, **that He might humble you**, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.  
> (3) And He humbled you and **let you hunger and fed you with manna**, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, **that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.**

God let Israel hunger and go to bed each night with an empty pantry so that they would be humbled. **He wanted them to learn that life is found relying on His Word** and not relying on their own strength to provide.

##### **John 6:31-35 ESV**

> (31) Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”  
> (32) Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, **it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.** (33) **For the bread of God is He** who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  
> (34) They said to Him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”  
> (35) Jesus said to them, **“I am the bread of life**; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.

The manna was not about Moses and how he could provide for Israel. The manna was to show that true nourishment is found in Jesus. We are to live based on the Word of God, who is Jesus. **Jesus is the true bread who came down; He is the bread of life**. We are nourished in Him through His word. This is another reason that the manna stopped in the promised land. Israel was not to move past being nourished by the Word, but in their maturity they were to start chewing on the roasted grain.

##### **Hebrews 5:11-14 ESV**

> (11) About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.  
> (12) For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. **You need milk, not solid food,** (13) for **everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.** (14) **But solid food is for the mature**, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

The Hebrew believers were **unskilled, lacking knowledge, and unacquainted with**  the word of righteousness. A child is too old for milk. There is no sin in maturing, and it is a process that cannot be sped up. **Spirituality cannot be microwaved;** it takes exactly 5 years to walk with God for 5 years. The issue arises when we do not move past the milk stage. We are called to start chewing on the solid food of the Word of God. This is depicted by Israel maturing from the manna to the roasted grain. They were to mature on the nourishing bread of life.

##### **Hebrews 6:1-3 ESV**

> (1) **Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity**, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,  
> (2) and of **instruction about washings**, **the laying on of hands**, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.   
> (3) And this we will do if God permits.

The author of Hebrews describes the milk he desires for these believers to mature from, and his list is unsettling to us. He calls us to leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and to go on to maturity. If all believers hear week after week is how to be saved, they will never grow. **This passage does not diminish Jesus but encourages us to grow into a deeper walk and relationship with Him**. We are to learn what it means to trust Him. We are to mature in our understanding of who He is. We are to grow into what a daily walk in the Word looks like. If we stay on the basic facts of salvation, we will never mature in these areas. We are also to move on from instructions on washings, which can easily become legalistic details about things that miss the heart of the issue. We are to mature from the laying on of hands; this would be outward ceremonies. **None of these things are bad to learn about, but it is not where we are called to stay**. We are called to know more about a walk with Jesus today than we knew years ago. We are called to grow and mature.

The manna did not cease when Israel complained about it or even when they were unbelieving at Kadesh Barnea. **As they were unfaithful, He was still the provider.** God had used the manna as an amazing way of providing for His people, and He wanted them to mature in trusting Him. **Now that the manna stopped, He was still going to provide for them but through the blessings of the Promised Land**. They needed to recognize that all the blessings came from Him and His provision.

##### **Deuteronomy 8:7-10 ESV**

> (7) For the LORD your God is bringing you into **a good land**, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills,  
> (8) **a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,** (9) a land in which you will eat bread **without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing**, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.  
> (10) **And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land He has given you.**

Instead of an empty pantry to remind Israel to rely on God, He was going to bless them in the Promised Land, and they would lack nothing. They could eat all the bread they wanted without scarcity. **When Israel was full, they were to bless the Lord and praise Him for His goodness**. **They were to enjoy Him** and the blessing that flowed from walking with Him. They were to worship in a thankfulness that He provided for them in such magnificent ways. They were to see that every good thing in front of them was a gift from God. They did not deserve any of it, and they did not earn any of it. They were to thankfully enjoy God’s goodness to them. Unfortunately, these very blessings could become a problem if Israel forgot whom they were from.

##### **Deuteronomy 8:11-14; 16-18 ESV**

> (11) “**Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes**, which I command you today,  
> (12) lest, **when you have eaten and are full** and have built good houses and live in them,  
> (13) and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied **and all that you have is multiplied,** (14) **then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,**
> 
> (16) **who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.** (17) Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘**My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’** (18) **You shall remember the LORD your God**, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

The danger would creep in if they began to forget what God had done for them. To forget God meant to ignore His commandments and stop walking with Him. **The truth found in the manna continued in the Promised Land; true life was found living in the Word of God**. If Israel forgot what God had done for them in Egypt, it would be easy to start taking credit for the blessings. Israel would start to think that it was by their own strength that they had all these blessings. They would forget God was the provider of the manna and these blessings.

As believers we are to watch out for the same danger. When we have eaten and are full, it is so easy to forget what this life is truly about: **a deepening relationship with God.** When life is easy, we tend to forget God’s Word and how He defines fellowship. So often we walk in a pride and marvel at what we have done. We need to remember His commandments and that **life is found in His Word**. We are to remember what the blood of Christ has accomplished for us. We are to walk in His power and in His new life as we are equipped by His life-giving Word.

##### **2 Timothy 3:14-17 ESV**

> (14) But as for you, **continue in what you have learned** and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it  
> (15) and how from **childhood** you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you **wise for salvation** through faith in Christ Jesus.  
> (16) **All Scripture** is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  
> (17) **that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.**

# Joshua 5:13-15 | Sunday September 6, 2026

Israel’s time so far in the promised land has been used intentionally. God had the men be circumcised as a reminder of His covenant promises to Israel. Then, the nation celebrated the Passover. Many shared firsthand accounts of how the blood of the lamb saved their lives. As they started eating on the produce of the land, the manna stopped. The people are maturing and growing in their walk with God and how to trust Him. Yet, a glaring challenge loomed on the horizon, Jericho. **The promised land could not be inherited until Jericho was conquered.** Bypassing it would leave their families exposed to attack, so it had to be dealt with. It served as the entrance to the mountainous region of the Promised Land and was conveniently located in the middle of the land. If conquered, Jericho could help provide a strategic advantage in taking the entire land. Due to this favorable position and its strong defenses, Jericho is one of the **oldest cities in the world**. Joshua knew how strong and important this city was. He also knew there was a reason the city existed for as long as it had. Jericho was easily defended and hard to conquer. Israel’s weapons would do little damage against Jericho’s strong walls, and with its resources, the city could endure a long siege. As Joshua was by Jericho, all of this must have been on his mind as he was startled by the sight of a commanding soldier.

#### **Joshua 5:13-6:5 ESV**

> (13) **When Joshua was by Jericho**, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”  
> (14) And he said, “No; but **I am the commander of the army of the LORD**. Now I have come.” And **Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped** and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”  
> (15) And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, **“Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”** And Joshua did so.  
> (1) Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.  
> (2) And **the LORD** said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.  
> (3) You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days.  
> (4) Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.  
> (5) And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”

**The commander of the Lord’s army is not an angel but is Jesus** before He was born in Bethlehem. The first way we know this is when Joshua falls down to worship, the commander does not stop him. An angel would have.

##### **Revelation 22:8-9 ESV**

> (8) I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. **And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me,** (9) but he said to me, “**You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you** and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. **Worship God.”**

When John becomes overwhelmed, he starts to worship the angel who has been showing him these things. The angel quickly stops John and corrects him. An angel is just a messenger and is not be worshipped, only God is to be worshipped. This makes Joshua’s encounter so interesting because **the commander of the Lord’s army accepts Joshua’s worship.** The second way we know this is Jesus is the instruction to **“Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”** This command echoes what God asked Moses to do when He was in God’s presence at the burning bush.

##### **Exodus 3:4-6 ESV**

> (4) When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  
> (5) Then He said, “Do not come near; **take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.**”  
> (6) And He said, “**I am the God of your father**, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, **for he was afraid to look at God.**

**The place became holy because the holy God was present**. The same is true for Joshua. **The commander must be holy** because the place He stood was now holy. The commander of the army of the LORD is Jesus. This is a title we might not think of to describe Jesus but is one of His roles we see in Revelation 19.

##### **Revelation 19:11-14 ESV**

> (11) Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and **in righteousness He judges and makes war.** (12) His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself.  
> (13) He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is **The Word of God.** (14) **And the armies of heaven**, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, **were following Him on white horses.**

Jesus is the righteous one who will judge and make war. **He leads the armies of heaven out into battle.** Here He is standing in front of Joshua with sword outstretched. This raises a very important question for Joshua.

#### **Joshua 5:13 ESV**

> (13) When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him **with his drawn sword in his hand**. And **Joshua went to him** and said to him, **“Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”**

Joshua shows real character by drawing near to the commander. He wants to know if this warrior is for Israel or for their enemies in the promised land. Basically Joshua wants to know if the commander is a friend or a foe?

#### **Joshua 5:14 ESV**

> (14) And he said, “**No;** but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Jesus answers no, which can also mean neither. This answer is truly startling when we really think about it. It makes perfect sense for Jesus to say He is not for Israel’s adversaries. God gave this land to be conquered, so of course God’s commander and His army would not be on their side. **Yet, notice Jesus does not say He is on Israel’s side.** This is startling, as we know Israel is God’s chosen people walking in His promises.

##### **Zechariah 2:8-9 NAS95**

> (8) For thus says the LORD of hosts, "After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, **for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.** (9) "For behold, I will wave My hand over them so that they will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me.

God values Israel, specifically Jerusalem, to the point that they are called the apple of His eye, and all the nations will be judged and plundered by how they treat Israel. So this raises the question, **why would Jesus say He is not for Israel?** To understand this, we have to understand God’s purposes behind His actions. He does not love Israel or work on their behalf because they warrant it or deserve it. **God fulfills His promises to Israel for His own glory**. God is for God’s glory.

##### **Ezekiel 36:22; 24; 32 ESV**

> (22) “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: **It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of My holy name**, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
> 
> (24) I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
> 
> (32) **It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you**. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

##### **Psalm 106:7-8 ESV**

> (7) Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider Your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of Your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.  
> (8) **Yet He saved them for His name's sake**, that He might make known His mighty power.

##### **Isaiah 48:9-13 ESV**

> (9) “**For My name's sake I defer My anger**; **for the sake of My praise I restrain it for you**, that I may not cut you off.  
> (10) Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.  
> (11) **For My own sake, for My own sake, I do it, for how should My name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.** (12) “Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! **I am He; I am the first, and I am the last.** (13) My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.

God is faithful to His promises for His own name's sake. There is verse after verse declaring this amazing truth. From saving Israel out of Egypt, to bringing them back from the exile, to protecting them from countless enemies throughout the years. **God loves Israel and cares deeply for them, but ultimately is faithful to them for His own name’s sake and for His glory**. This helps explain how God works. He does not share His glory with another, so He works in a way that leaves no doubt that only God could have done it. He is the first and last. He is the amazing creator. Israel benefited so much from God’s goodness. They benefited when He delivered them. They benefited when He deferred His anger, but ultimately it was about God’s honor and God’s glory, not theirs.

One application point that should not be missed is if Jesus, as the commander of the Lord’s army, says He is not for Israel, **then no other nation can claim God is on their side.** We know throughout history how many have made this claim. The British national anthem calls for God to save the king and scatter his enemies as it makes loose references to Psalm 59:11 and 68:1. It is challenging to think that the British army was singing for God to be on their side as America was praying for God to give them victory in the Revolutionary War. Countless nations have claimed God is on their side, and yet in reality we should humbly come to His word and submit ourselves to His side. Daniel serves as a great example of how to trust in the God who acts for His name's sake.

##### **Daniel 9:17-19 ESV**

> (17) Now therefore, O our God, **listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon Your sanctuary, which is desolate.** (18) O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by Your name. **For we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy.** (19) O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. **Delay not, for Your own sake, O my God,** because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Daniel makes heartfelt pleas for God to work but bases his prayer on God’s name and His glory. Daniel knows that Israel is not righteous yet. He calls on God to fulfill His promises so that God could receive all the glory. Daniel knew that Israel did not receive God’s protecting hand because of who they were but because of who God is and what He has promised. Daniel is focused on God being glorified. **Israel had needs, and yet above all Daniel wanted to see God glorified and God’s name praised.** Daniel's prayer is humble, and as he makes his real requests, he is looking to God’s glory and not his own or Israel’s. **This attitude challenges our self-focus and draws our eyes to the God who deserves all the glory.** It is a sobering thought that God is glorified through His promises that He has made to us.

##### **1 John 2:12 ESV**

> (12) I am writing to you, little children, **because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake.**

Our sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake! We tremendously benefit from this, and it was motivated out of God’s love, and yet we were not the ultimate focus. God’s own glory is. We are forgiven for His name's sake.

##### **Psalm 23:1-3 ESV**

> (1) A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  
> (2) He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.  
> (3) He restores my soul. He **leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.**

This psalm contains so many amazing promises of who God promises to be for us. He makes us rest and promises to lead us. He sees our weaknesses and faults and restores us. All of this is for His name and for His glory. It can be so easy to become self-focused and lose sight of who it is actually about.

##### **Psalms 79:9 ESV**

> (9) Help us, O God of our salvation**, for the glory of Your name;** deliver us, **and atone for our sins, for Your name's sake!**

**Our salvation is so much bigger than us**. The God of the universe is glorified as He works in each one of our lives, showing His faithfulness to us. **He is glorified by the care and love that He shows to us.**

##### **Psalm 56:8-11 ESV**

> (8) **You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle**. Are they not in your book?  
> (9) Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. **This I know, that God is for me.** (10) In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise,  
> (11) in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. **What can man do to me?**

David knew how intimate and personal God was in his life. God cared so deeply for David that God had collected every tear and counted every sleepless night of distress. David had a confidence that God was for him. This does not contradict Jesus’ answer to Joshua. **God was not on the Israelite armies' side, in the sense that He was not accomplishing their will nor seeking their glory**. God was focused on glorifying Himself as He showed them His loving faithfulness. Israel would benefit as God received the glory.

##### **Joshua 6:2 ESV**

> (2) And the LORD said to Joshua, “**See, I have given Jericho into your hand**, with its king and mighty men of valor.

After telling Joshua that He was not on their side, Jesus then informed Joshua that He had given Jericho into their hands. God was glorified, and His people had the joy to walk in the blessings that He accomplished. **God is for us as believers as He accomplishes His will in our lives, all for His own honor and glory.** When we realize that it is not ultimately about us, we can praise God all the more and truly marvel at His tremendous self-glorifying love.

##### **Ephesians 3:17-21 ESV**

> (17) so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, **being rooted and grounded in love,** (18) may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is **the breadth and length and height and depth, (19) and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge**, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  
> (20) Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,  
> (21) **to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations**, forever and ever. Amen.

# Joshua 6:1-20 | Sunday September 20, 2026

##### **1 Corinthians 10:11 NLT**

> (11) These things happened to them **as examples for us. They were written down to warn us** who live at the end of the age.

When handled correctly, the Old Testament has so much value for believers today. We are told that these real-life events happened to Israel as an example to us. They were meant to be used for our instruction and to warn us how important it is to live for God. When we see God’s timeless character and the eternal truth in them, we are able to learn so much about God’s love for His people and how He leads us. Yet, often the wrong details, the culturally specific ones, are emphasized and practiced. A pastor once told young men to walk around a woman 7 times to claim her as his wife, and just as the walls of Jericho fell down, so will the walls to her heart. This is nonsense and a misuse of the Word. As God calls Israel to walk around Jericho 7 times, we can learn so much about how we are called to walk by faith with Him.

#### **Joshua 5:13-6:5 ESV**

> (13) **When Joshua was by Jericho**, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with His **drawn sword in His hand**. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us, or for our adversaries?”  
> (14) And He said, “**No**; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to Him, “What does My lord say to His servant?”  
> (15) And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.  
> (1) Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.  
> (2) And the LORD said to Joshua, “**See, I have given Jericho into your hand**, with its king and mighty men of valor.  
> (3) You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days.  
> (4) Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.  
> (5) And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”

Joshua encountered the commander of the Lord’s army, who we saw two weeks ago is Jesus before He was born in Bethlehem. Jesus has an intimidating stance, holding out His sword of judgment. God is going to accomplish His own purposes and is not on the side of the Israelites or the Canaanites.

**Instead of seeing whose side God is on, Joshua needs to focus on being on God’s side**. God had promised all the way back in the garden to provide a Messiah (Gen. 3:15), and God is working towards fulfilling that promise. He was creating a people for the future Messiah to be born into, and that people needed a homeland. Jesus declares to Joshua that He has given Jericho into their hands. This is the first of many cities that will be conquered in the Promised Land. **Jesus is clearing the way for His birth over a thousand years later.**

Notice that Jesus describes giving the city to Joshua as a **completed action.** The outcome of the battle for Jericho is not in doubt. Before the battle even starts, Joshua is assured of complete victory. It has already been given over. This was meant to give Joshua tremendous confidence. **The victory was already accomplished; Israel just needed to walk faithfully in it**. The same is true of our salvation.

##### **Ephesians 2:1; 4-7 ESV**

> (1) And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
> 
> (**4**) **But God,** being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us,  
> (5) even **when we were dead** in our trespasses, **made us alive** together with Christ**—by grace you have been saved—** (6) **and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him** in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  
> (7) so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

**We are to live each day from a place of victory in Jesus as believers.** We have been saved through Jesus’ tremendous grace. Paul worded this in such a way (periphrastic construction, perfect participle paired with εἰμί in the present tense) to emphasize that **our salvation is a completed event that has present and persistent ramifications**. In our salvation we have been declared holy; we are in a process of being made holy, and we will be ultimately holy one day when we are with Him. This whole process of salvation is contingent on being made alive through His grace when we believe in Jesus. The moment we trusted in Jesus for our salvation, we were raised with Him and seated in the heavenly places with Him. Notice it does not say we **will be** raised with Him but presents these truths as already happening the moment we were saved. **Our salvation is so secure through the blood of Christ that God declares that we are resurrected and seated in heaven with Jesus.** Just as Joshua needed to walk in a victory that was already secure, we are called to walk each day, growing in our relationship with God, knowing it is fully secure. **The freedom to grow and walk with God is not found in a place of fear but from a place of knowing the victory is fully secured in Him.** God’s battle plan emphasized to Israel that the victory was already won.

#### **Joshua 6:3-5 ESV**

> (3) **You shall march around the city**, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days.  
> (4) **Seven** priests shall bear **seven** **trumpets of rams' horns** before the ark. On the **seventh** day you shall march around the city **seven** times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.  
> (5) And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”

God does not instruct Israel to make battering rams or scaling ladders to overcome the walls of Jericho; instead, they are to march. For six days the military is to walk around the city as seven priests blow seven horns, and the men are to remain silent. Then on the seventh day they are to walk around it seven times, and the city walls are promised to fall. **Seven is emphasized, as this will be a complete victory secured by God**. These plans are so ludicrous from an earthly perspective that there is no doubt that only God could secure this victory. The seven days also correlate to the seven-day feast of unleavened bread that follows the Passover.

#### **Joshua 6:6-14 ESV**

> (6) So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, **“Take up the ark of the covenant** and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD.”  
> (7) And he said to the people, **“Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the LORD.”** (8) And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the LORD went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD following them.  
> (9) The armed men were walking before the priests **who were blowing the trumpets**, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, **while the trumpets blew continually.** (10) But Joshua commanded the people, “**You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth**, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.”  
> (11) So he caused the ark of the LORD to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.  
> (12) Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.  
> (13) And the seven priests bearing **the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the LORD**, **while the trumpets blew continually.** (14) And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.

God protected Israel as they marched around the city, constantly announcing their presence as the horns blared. Jericho did not rain down arrows on them as the people were terrified of Israel and the God whose Ark was encircling their city. **God had the Ark be right in the middle of the men of war**. The impression is they followed the same order of marching as in the wilderness found in Numbers 10:11-28 with 6 tribes before the Ark and 6 tribes behind the Ark. The holy God who at the Jordan asked the nation to stay a half mile away from the Ark now had Israel join Him in a battle march. **God was showing that He was with His people in the battle that He asked them to walk in.**

At the time the people of Jericho would have known the **Ugaritic Epic of Keret,** which describes a god instructing a military to walk around a city for six days and then on the seventh to accept a gift from the city and then leave the city in peace. It is likely that the inhabitants of Jericho were hoping for this kind of outcome from a people that terrified them. **The trumpets blared constantly each day of the march.** These were not the silver trumpets that were used to organize the camp of Israel (Num. 10). These were **shofars,** which are trumpets made from **a ram's horn.** The shofar was to be used each year, marking the Day of Atonement.

##### **Leviticus 25:9 LSB**

> (9) ‘**You shall then sound a ram’s horn** abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; **on the day of atonement** you shall sound a horn all through your land.

The blowing of the ram's horn was to mark the forgiveness of sins that the blood offered in the Holy of Holies **temporarily** secured for the people. The blood of animals was always to point to the need for the perfect sacrifice of Jesus’ blood. A ram’s horn was chosen as a remembrance of God substituting a ram for Isaac.

##### **Genesis 22:7-8; 13 ESV**

> (7) And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, **but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”** (8) Abraham said, “**God will provide for Himself the lamb** for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
> 
> (13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him **was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns.** And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

God had to provide Jesus as the perfect lamb of God. That day He provided a ram as a placeholder until the time for the perfect sacrifice. **These horns that were blaring each day were declaring the need for a substitute.** The need for Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice. **Jericho heard them as a declaration of judgment and was terrified by them, yet in them is the hope of the coming Messiah.**

God used this specific plan to conquer Jericho to show that the complete victory came from Him and as a reminder of the coming Messiah. As a military general, Joshua would have never anticipated or planned for this strategy. How much time could Joshua have wasted worrying about how to overcome the walls of Jericho? Likewise, how much time could Joshua waste trying to figure out what God was going to do? I guarantee Joshua would not think of a 7-day march with ram’s horns. **We are not to worry and try to figure things out for God but to walk faithfully with Him.**

##### **Luke 12:25-26 ESV**

> (25) And which of you **by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?** (26) If then you are not able to do **as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?**

No amount of worry or anxiety can add a single hour to our lives. The number of days we will live was determined before we lived a single one of them (Ps 139:16). Jesus is declaring to us how empty and useless worrying truly is. We can spend so much time anticipating "what ifs" and **trying to imagine what God might do instead of looking to Him.** We are to walk in His truth and let Him work. God’s battle plan with Jericho was for Israel’s good as they learned to trust Him even more and was for His own glory.

#### **Joshua 6:15-19 ESV**

> (15) On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.  
> (16) And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “**Shout, for the LORD has given you the city.** (17) **And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction.** Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.  
> (18) But you, **keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction,** lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things **and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.** (19) But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, **are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.”**

**On the seventh day, and the seventh time around the city, it was finally time for Israel to shout. It was time to receive His victory.** As we reach the important climax of the story, the instructions of verses 17-19 delay the pivotal moment. The entire city and its contents were to be set aside as holy to the Lord, and the Israelites were not to take anything for themselves.

We will spend time next week looking at this command of complete destruction. The important part for today is to see the importance placed on Israel's obedience. **This was God’s victory, and Israel was to obediently walk in it.**

#### **Joshua 6:20 LSB**

> (20) So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, **the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down beneath itself, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.**

God was faithful to His promises yet again, and at the shout of the people, the walls fell down. **The Hebrew is specific in that the walls fell to the outside, beneath themselves**. The historical details presented in Joshua are very specific in when and how Jericho was destroyed.

- Jericho was destroyed during harvest time- Joshua 3:15
- Jericho had walls that protected the city from attack- Joshua 6:1
- The walls fell outward and beneath themselves- Joshua 6:20
- In victory, Israel burned the city- Joshua 6:24
- After its destruction Jericho was to be left deserted and not rebuilt- Joshua 6:26

The historical site of ancient Jericho has been found, and parts of the city excavated and studied. **God’s Word has been fully confirmed** in all the details it offers. The city had a strong tiered double-walled system. The foundations of these walls are still there today. Archaeologists found that the walls fell to the outside and served as giant ramps for the Israelites to enter into the raised city. The city was not destroyed by traditional means of being breached inward, but the ruins confirm God’s Word. A thick layer of ash was also found, confirming that the city was destroyed by fire. **Burnt jars full of grain** were found, showing that the city was not looted and that it was destroyed during the harvest season. Above the ash is a layer showing erosion and desolation, as the city was uninhabited. God’s word is confirmed to every detail. Archaeologists are unanimous in these findings. Some archaeologists debate the exact timing of these events, but none of their arguments are based on physical evidence found. With all this evidence that the walls fell down, God’s Word is very clear on what actually caused them to fall.

##### **Hebrews 11:30 ESV**

> (30) **By faith** **the walls of Jericho fell down** after they had been encircled for seven days.

The walls of Jericho fell by walking in a trust, in a faith, **that God had secured the victory.** We are called to walk in the same trust, the same faith in Jesus’ victory.

# Joshua 6:17-25 | Sunday September 27, 2026

Last week we saw the miracle of the walls of Jericho falling down. God delivered the city to the Israelites just as He promised. It was God’s victory, and the Israelites just needed to walk faithfully and obediently in it. Israel was not only in the promised land, but they were starting to inherit it and take over what God gave to them. Yet, the reality of the Promised Land is that it was not sitting empty; the land was full of cities and people. The story of Jericho does not stop when the walls fall down. Israel was to fully destroy the people and all that was in it.

#### **Joshua 6:15-19 NAS95**

> (15) Then on the seventh day they rose early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times.   
> (16) At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city.  
> (17) "**The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD**; **only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live**, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.  
> (18) "But as for you, only **keep yourselves from the things under the ban**, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it.  
> (19) "But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron **are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD."**

**God placed Jericho under the ban.** This means to devote something to God for complete destruction. Putting something under the ban means that it is exclusively to be given to God and no one else can partake of it. Jericho was not a city that was to be plundered or moved into. It is the concept of a **holy war** where everything in the city that is alive must be put to death with the exception of Rahab and her family. **The ban meant a total destruction**. This was not the Israelites' idea but came from God.

##### **Leviticus 27:28-29 ESV**

> (28) “But **no devoted thing** that a man devotes to the LORD, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; **every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD.** (29) **No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction from mankind,** shall be ransomed; **he shall surely be put to death.**

"Holy" means to be set apart. In this case when things under the ban are described as holy, it means they are **set apart for God only and are to be destroyed**. They cannot be redeemed or used in any other way. Rahab and her family were not under the ban and so were saved from the city before the ban was carried out. We will look later on as to why they were not under the ban. The rest of the city and all that were in it were put to the ban, a complete and full destruction.

#### **Joshua 6:20-21; 24 ESV**

> (20) So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.  
> (21) Then **they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword**.
> 
> (**24**) And **they burned the city with fire, and everything in it**. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.

**Jericho was burned and offered as a first fruits offering to God**. Just as the first fruits of a harvest were to be given over to God in thanks, **Jericho was the first fruits of the Promised Land was given to God in thanks**. When we really see what this describes, it can be hard to process. An entire city is put to death and then completely burned. The best way for us to understand it is in terms of a nuclear blast and its contaminating radiation. Whatever was not killed by the blast of the bomb was infected by radiation and needed to be cleansed by fire. This is how complete the ban of destruction was meant to be. The Promised Land was contaminated by sin and had to be purged. **It was time for the people of the Promised Land to be judged** after God had been so patient with them.

##### **Genesis 15:13-16; 18 ESV**

> (13) Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for **four hundred years.** (14) But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.  
> (15) As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.  
> (16) And **they shall come back here** in the fourth generation, **for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”**
> 
> **(18**) On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “**To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,**

God let Abram know exactly what was going to happen to His future descendants. They would be afflicted for 400 years but would leave their enslavement in Egypt with great possessions. Then they would be brought to the land that God was showing to Abram. From the river of Egypt to the Euphrates was to be given to Israel. It was not time for Abram to take over this land yet because **the sin of the Amorites, the inhabitants of the land, was not yet complete**. God, in His amazing patience and grace, gave the inhabitants of Jericho **over 400 years** to respond to Him. **God judges nations based on their sins**. He has a limit of how much sin a people are allowed to walk in. The people in the Promised Land had hit their limit; **it was time for a holy God to judge them**. Jericho was not a kind city with peaceful people but was a brutal society that had given themselves over to gross immorality.

##### **Leviticus 18:20-25; 27 ESV**

> (20) And you shall not lie sexually **with your neighbor's wife** and so make yourself unclean with her.   
> (21) You shall not give any of **your children to offer them to Molech**, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.  
> (22) **You shall not lie with a male as with a woman**; it is an abomination.  
> (23) And **you shall not lie with any animal** and so make yourself unclean with it, **neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it:** it is perversion.  
> (24) “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, **for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean,** (25) and **the land became unclean**, so that I punished its iniquity, and **the land vomited out its inhabitants.**
> 
> (**27**) (**for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations**, so that the land became unclean),

The Promised Land was full **of adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality.** The land vomited them out because of how sinful they had become. Our scale of how sinful a society can get so often ignores these examples from scripture. Our sinful natures are desperately wicked, and societies as a whole can sink to depths of depravity that are hard to imagine. **Sin is extremely contagious**. It is not that these actions were done by a few, but after giving themselves over to sin for over 400 years, these depraved acts had infiltrated their entire society. **God is judging the people and their sins, and He is using the imperfect tool of Israel to do this.**

##### **Deuteronomy 9:4-6 ESV**

> (4) “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, **‘It is because of my righteousness** that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ **whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations** that the LORD is driving them out before you.  
> (5) **Not because of your righteousness** or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, **but because of the wickedness of these nations** the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that He may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.  
> (6) “Know, therefore, that the LORD your **God** **is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.**

Israel was not more righteous or more deserving of the promised land. They were not used as an instrument of justice because of their own righteousness. The people of the Promised Land were judged because of their own sin and wickedness. **God used stubborn sinful Israel to exact His judgment**. Just as He was willing to use sinful Babylon to one day judge Israel. **God can use sinful nations to execute His judgment**, and then He will judge that people when their sin reaches its limit. The ban that Jericho was put to is not gross injustice but shows our holy God and the amazing patience He is willing to show. **After waiting for over 400 years, He gave the people 7 more days to respond to Him**. At any point they could have turned to Him.

##### **Jeremiah 18:1-10 ESV**

> (1) The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:  
> (2) “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.”  
> (3) So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel.  
> (4) **And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.** (5) Then the word of the LORD came to me:  
> (6) “**O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD**. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.  
> (7) **If at any time** I declare **concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,** (8) and **if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.** (9) And **if at any time** I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,  
> (10) and if it does evil in My sight, not listening to My voice, **then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.**

God is affirming that even when a judgment has been pronounced on a nation, if the people would turn to God from their evil, He would relent from the destruction that was promised. **He is the potter and can rework the clay however seems fit to Him**. He cannot bend on His holy standard, but He can defer judgment and blessing based on how a nation walks with Him. At any time a nation can turn to God. **Nineveh is a great example of this.**

##### **Jonah 3:3-5 ESV**

> (3) So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, **three days' journey in breadth.** (4) Jonah began to go into the city, **going a day's journey.** And he called out, **“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”** (5) **And the people of Nineveh believed God**. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, **from the greatest of them to the least of them.**

Jonah does a pitiful job of sharing God’s message and only travels 1 day into a 3-day journey to the city, and amazingly, **everyone believed God**. They called for a fast, and the greatest in the city to the least believed in God. **God relented from the immediate destruction**. God’s judgment was delayed over 100 years until future generations eventually went back to their sin. Nahum, then, is given the message of destruction for Nineveh. **At any time a nation can turn to God.** Jericho knew the stories about what God had done in Egypt and chose to reject from following this God.

##### **Joshua 6:1 ESV**

> (1) **Now Jericho was shut up** inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.

**The people of Jericho shut up their gates and closed themselves off from the God of Israel**. They refused to turn to the powerful God that destroyed Egypt and chose to continue in their immorality. It is amazing how the closed gates of Jericho are compared to Rahab’s open window.

##### **Joshua 2:18 ESV**

> (18) Behold, when we come into the land, **you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down**, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's household.

Rahab’s open window with its scarlet cord shows how gracious God is when someone is willing to turn to Him. Rahab chose to trust in the God of Israel. She heard how Israel destroyed the two kings of the Amorites (Josh. 2:10) and did not want the same fate. **Rahab responded to God, just as the rest of the city could have**. Even after all the years of immorality, God was still patient and gracious as He delivered judgment.

##### **2 Peter 3:9 ESV**

> (9) The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, **but is patient toward you,** **not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.**

##### **Psalm 7:11-12 ESV**

> (11) **God is a righteous judge**, and a God who feels indignation every day.  
> (12) **If a man does not repent, God will whet His sword**; He has bent and readied His bow;

God does not want anyone to perish and be judged in their sins. This is why He sent Jesus to die and pay for the sins of the entire world. God desires that all would repent, to turn to Him and live**. Jesus is not being slow about His return but is patiently giving people time to turn to Him.** God knows that He is righteous and sin must be judged. So often we try to diminish sin and its consequences, and yet we forget the affront it truly is to a holy God. God is loving and wants people to turn to Him, and He is just and His judgments are not empty threats. **So God patiently waits to give time for all who would come.** Rahab is so thankful He did. Rahab and her family opened themselves to God as Jericho closed itself. They were now considered Israelites and were **brought into an entirely new kingdom, and thus the ban did not apply to them anymore.**

#### **Joshua 6:22-25 ESV**

> (22) But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”  
> (23) **So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel.** (24) And **they burned the city with fire, and everything in it.** Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.  
> (25) **But Rahab** the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. **And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.**

**The complete ban and destruction of Jericho show God’s righteous judgment, as** **Rahab shows God’s patience and amazing grace.** About as much is said about Rahab and her deliverance as the destruction of the ban. Rahab and her family were saved from the complete destruction of the ban. At first, they were brought outside the camp because **they were ceremonially unclean**. The amazing thing is that they did not stay outside the camp; **Rahab and her family lived in Israel.** They become part of God’s people. They were not second-class citizens or outcasts but members of God’s family, and Rahab is the great-great-etc. grandmother of Jesus. When we are willing to believe in Jesus, we are fully brought into His family and become His people.

##### **Ephesians 2:12-14 ESV**

> (12) remember that you were at that time **separated from Christ**, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, **having no hope and without God in the world.** (13) **But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.** (14) **For He Himself is our peace**, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

Every one of us was like Rahab, a sinner living with an impending judgment. **Everyone who believes in Jesus is marked by the scarlet cord of the blood of Christ** and will be saved from the coming judgment. The blood of Christ is sufficient for everyone; they simply have to turn to Him. **We were all under the ban, and Jesus was willing to take the ban for us.**

##### **Galatians 3:13-14 ESV**

> (13) **Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us**—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—  
> (14) so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, **so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.**

Jesus was willing to take on the curse that our sins deserved. He took God’s righteous judgment so that we could live. We receive this incredible gift by faith just as Rahab did.

##### **Hebrews 11:31 ESV**

> (31) **By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient**, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

# Joshua 6:26-7:6 | Sunday October 4th, 2026

As Israel enters the Promised Land, they are starting to take possession of God’s blessings and gifts. The Promised Land does not represent heaven, but God’s people are taking ownership of their inheritance in Him. God gave this land to them, and He has promised to make them victorious. All the people have to do is walk faithfully and obediently with Him. This can sound so easy, yet in practice we know how much we struggle with this, and we will see Israel struggle as well. It is difficult to walk faithfully with God because of how sinfully stubborn our own hearts can be. The curse Joshua puts on Jericho after its destruction shows this.

#### **Joshua 6:26-27 ESV**

> (26) Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, **“Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.** “**At the cost of his firstborn** shall he lay its foundation, and **at the cost of his youngest son** shall he set up its gates.”  
> (27) So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

Jericho was put to the ban of God’s judgment. The city is not to be rebuilt. God promises that the person who rebuilds Jericho will do so at the cost of not only their firstborn but also their youngest child. At various times small groups of people occupied the ruins of Jericho, yet for over 500 years it was not rebuilt or refortified until the time of King Ahab.

##### **1 Kings 16:33-34 ESV**

> (33) And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.  
> (34) In his days **Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD,** which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Hiel of Bethel shows how stubborn our hearts can be. Over 500 years have passed, and He decides that this curse is not real. He outright rejects God’s Word and decides God will not be able to carry out the punishment. To be fair, God’s Word might have been so forgotten by the time of Ahab that Hiel might not even know the curse exists. Then Hiel’s firstborn, **Abiram**, is killed as he was working on laying the foundations of the city**.** It is sobering to realize that Hiel does not stop building Jericho. **In the stubbornness of his own sin, he continues to build after already being shown that God will fulfill His Word of judgment**. At its core our sin nature disbelieves what God says and wants to challenge it. Hiel was not unique but shows how stubborn our own hearts can be. We are promised that this attitude will continue.

##### **2 Peter 3:3-4 ESV**

> (3) knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.   
> (4) They will say, “**Where is the promise of His coming?** For ever since the fathers fell asleep, **all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”**

I am amazed at how easy it is for the world to accept world-altering/ending events like an asteroid that supposedly killed the dinosaurs or to live, fearing future world-ending events caused by nuclear war or climate collapse**. Yet, the truth that there is a just creator who judged this world with a flood and will again judge the world is far-fetched**. The world will accept random natural events but not a just judge. For Hiel, 500 years proved that God was unable to fulfill His Word. After 2000, the scoffers feel very confident that Jesus will never return. **Our sin nature keeps selling us the lie that we can sin and get by with it and** that there will not be consequences for sin. As we look at Israel’s next city to conquer, we will see how quickly sin had infiltrated the camp and the disastrous consequences of it.

#### **Joshua 7:1 ESV**

> (1) **But** **the people of Israel** **broke faith in regard to the devoted things**, **for Achan** the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, **took some of the devoted things**. And **the anger of the LORD burned** against the people of Israel.

One man, Achan, sinned, and God said that the people of Israel have broken faith. God interacts with Israel as a whole unit in part so that it can be used as an example for us. It also shows the corporate unity that God’s people share.

##### **1 Corinthians 12:26-27 ESV**

> (26) **If one member suffers, all suffer together**; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.  
> (27) Now **you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.**

The American culture emphasizes individuality, whereas other cultures are more communal. **God interacts with us on both levels.** Salvation is for the individual and cannot be chosen for or transferred to someone else. Yet, once we are saved, we are brought into the unity of the body of Christ and are intricately connected one to another. If one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. **The individual affects the whole**, just as Adam sinned and we all became sinners. Jesus paid His blood, and we can all be saved. Sin is in the Israelite camp because of Achan, and God’s anger burns against Israel.

#### **Joshua 7:2-3 ESV**

> (2) Joshua sent men from Jericho **to Ai**, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai.  
> (3) And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. **Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.”**

Joshua has no idea that God’s anger is burning against them. Defeat is the last thing on his mind. The walls of Jericho fell, and it is time to conquer the next city. Ai was strategically located in the hill country and would help Israel control the whole region.

Ai did not have the near defenses that Jericho had. The spies feel full confidence that only a few thousand men would be needed to conquer the city. Yet, nothing will go according to plan with Ai.

#### **Joshua 7:2-5 ESV**

> (4) So about three thousand men went up there from the people. **And they fled before the men of Ai,** (5) and the men of Ai **killed about thirty-six of their men** and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. **And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.**

Israel is defeated by Ai. Just as Rahab said (Josh 2:11), the people of Jericho’s hearts melted when they heard what the God of Israel had accomplished; now it was the Israelites' hearts who melted. They felt utterly abandoned and vulnerable. They were in the Promised Land with no way to retreat, and Ai defeated them. **God did not give them the victory, and they don’t know why.** After watching God accomplish such an amazing victory, Israel felt crushed by this defeat. **Ai exposes a pattern of the vulnerability and danger that can come after a great spiritual victory**. Peter serves as a great example.

##### **Matthew 16:15-19 ESV**

> (15) He said to them, “**But who do you say that I am?”** (16) Simon Peter replied, “**You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”** (17) And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! **For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.** (18) And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  
> (19) I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

I cannot imagine the thrill Peter experienced when Jesus complimented Him. The truth that Jesus is the Christ was revealed by God the Father to Peter. He knew who Jesus was. It is the truth that Jesus is the Christ that Jesus promises to build His church. I imagine Peter was overwhelmed with what God the Father had revealed to Him. He just saw God accomplish something incredible in His life.

##### **Matthew 16:20-23 ESV**

> (20) Then He strictly charged the disciples **to tell no one that he was the Christ**.   
> (21) From that time Jesus began to show His disciples **that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things** from the elders and chief priests and scribes, **and be killed**, and on the third day be raised.  
> (22) **And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him**, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”  
> (23) But He turned and said to Peter, **“Get behind me, Satan!** You are a hindrance to Me. **For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”**

Peter went from declaring a truth that was revealed to Him by God the Father to correcting Jesus and being called Satan in no time at all. **After seeing God accomplish something amazing, we tend to let our guard down and forget what secured the victory in the first place.** Instead of staying focused on the truth of God’s Word, Peter’s thinking went back to the things of man. This was easy to do because this human thinking is what is natural to us. **We tend to forget that anything eternally good comes from God’s truth and Him working and not from us.** This is a pattern that we need to recognize and guard against. We are so prone to rely on our own strength and thought process. God warned Joshua and instructed him of what would guarantee success before Israel ever entered the Promised Land.

##### **Joshua 1:3; 5; 8 ESV**

> (3) **Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you**, just as I promised to Moses.
> 
> (**5**) **No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.** Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.
> 
> (**8**) 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.**

Israel was not sinning by going up to conquer Ai. **God clearly commanded them to conquer all the land; that was His will for them**. Israel was defeated because Achan sinned. Achan did not follow the Word of God, and the entire camp suffered for it. **Joshua was promised success and victories if they walked according to the Word of God.** We don’t get to redefine what fellowship with God is; His Word does that. Israel was out of fellowship. Israel was not defeated because they underestimated Ai, which we will find out had **12,000 people** in it (Josh 8:25). Numerically it might have been larger than Jericho but just less fortified. Yet, the size of the military does not matter**. Israel was victorious when they were in fellowship with God according to His Word and suffered defeat when they were not in fellowship.** The core issue exposed at Ai is how dangerous our sin truly is.

##### **John 15:5 ESV**

> (5) I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, **for apart from Me you can do nothing.**

Israel just found out how much they could accomplish outside of fellowship with God. They went to do a good thing, but sin had broken fellowship. **How we walk in a fellowship with God matters. We cannot just go do good things and be in sin and think that God will empower our actions.** Ai shows that the end does not justify the means. God wants us to walk in obedience with Him, as it is defined in His Word. Achan sinned and Israel reaped the consequences of this disobedience.

##### **Galatians 6:7-10 ESV**

> (7) Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  
> (8) **For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption,** but the one who sows to the Spirit **will from the Spirit reap eternal life.** (9) And let us not grow weary of doing good, **for in due season we will reap**, if we do not give up.  
> (10) So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

This spiritual principle is put on practical display with Israel's defeat at Ai. Through Achan’s sin, Israel had sown to the flesh and reaped **corruption, decay, and deterioration**. At Jericho they walked in obedience to God and, in His power, reaped victory. **In our lives as believers, the same principle is true but is displayed on a spiritual level**. **Earthly victories and defeats are not directly tied to our sin.** Yet if we sow to the flesh, we experience the decay of walking out of fellowship with God. If we sow to the Spirit as believers, we will reap eternal life. This is the rich contentment and joy that is found in an abiding walk with Jesus. Sin leads to decay and prevents us from walking in the spiritual blessings that God has for us.

##### **2 Timothy 2:19-21 ESV**

> (19) But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “**Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”** (20) Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, **some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.** (21) Therefore, **if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy**, **useful to the master of the house**, ready for every good work.

All believers are called to depart from sin. By the blood of Jesus we have been given new life, so we should walk in this new life. God wants to use us as the master to accomplish His purposes. **Some vessels are too dirty and cannot be used for certain tasks**. It is the master who is the one who wants to accomplish His will. **We are called to be ready, clean vessels in fellowship, eager to watch Him go to work**. Ultimately we are frail and weak and can do nothing without Him. Success will not be found in our strength but in the humility of knowing how close sin remains to us and seeking after Him.

##### **1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV**

> (27) But I discipline my body and keep it under control, **lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.**

**Romans 7:21 ESV**

> (21) So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, **evil lies close at hand.**

Paul knew how available sin was to Him at any given moment. **Yesterday’s victory in Jericho does not make the believer immune from a defeat at Ai today**. We must constantly draw near to God and let His Word search out our hearts. **Achan’s sin is still secret at this point.** It shows how important it is to seek God in prayer and ask Him to search out our hearts.

##### **Psalms 139:23-24 ESV**

> (23) **Search me, O God**, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  
> (24) And see if there be any grievous way in me, **and lead me in the way everlasting!**

David is asking God to search out the areas of His heart that He does not fully understand yet. **He trusted that God would be faithful to convict and reveal the sin in his heart.** We just need to listen and not callous ourselves from His conviction. God is faithful not to hide from Joshua what went wrong.

#### **Joshua 7:6-7 ESV**

> (6) **Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD** until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.  
> (7) And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord GOD, **why** **have You brought this people over the Jordan at all,** to give us into the hands of the Amorites, **to destroy us?** **Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!**

This defeat has caused Joshua to grieve. The rug has been pulled out from him, and now he is doubting if they should have crossed the Jordan at all. Without the detail of sin in the camp, God seems unfaithful to His promises. God will be quick to explain this discipline. He does not leave Joshua guessing at what happened.

#### **Joshua 7:10-11 ESV**

> (10) The LORD said to Joshua, **“Get up! Why have you fallen on your face?** (11) **Israel has sinned;** they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.

God clearly explains His discipline. He reveals to Joshua that Israel has sinned and taken things that were under the ban. **God is faithful to convict us and draw us back to a fellowship with Him**. We simply have to ask Him to search our hearts and expose ourselves to His word, and He will keep drawing us to Him. When something is pointed out, we are called to confess and walk fresh with Him.

##### **1 John 1:7-9 ESV**

> (7) **But if we walk in the light**, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another**, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.** (8) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  
> (9) **If we confess our sins, He is faithful** and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

# Joshua 7:7-26 | Sunday October 11, 2026

Israel’s first success in the Promised Land was quickly derailed with a stunning defeat at Ai. God’s victory that Israel walked in at Jericho was followed by defeat because sin had come into the camp. Achan took some of the things that were devoted to the ban so God could not bless Israel. Joshua was stunned and terrified by Israel’s failure at Ai because he still didn’t know why it happened. From his point of view, it seemed like God abandoned them.

#### **Joshua 7:6-7 ESV**

> (6) **Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD** until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.  
> (7) And Joshua said, **“Alas, O Lord GOD**, **why** **have You brought this people over the Jordan at all,** to give us into the hands of the Amorites, **to destroy us?** **Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!**

Joshua is grieved and calls out in desperation to God. Joshua wants to know why this happened. From Joshua’s perspective, God had not been faithful to His promises. In his pain and doubt he echoes the complaints that the other 10 spies had 40 years ago.

##### **Numbers 14:1-3 ESV**

> (1) Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.  
> (2) And all the people of Israel **grumbled** against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation **said to them,** “**Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!** (3) **Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword?** Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. **Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”**

The unbelieving spies grumbled and **complained about God**. They cried out that it would be better to be a slave in Egypt than die in the Promised Land in battles that they could never win. Joshua shares in some of this thinking. He cries out that it would have been better to live on the other side of the Jordan, out of the Promised Land, then to be destroyed in war with the Amorites. **The main difference between the spies and Joshua, though, is who these complaints were directed to.** The 10 spies along with the people of Israel complained to each other and to Moses and Aaron. They spent a lot of time talking to others about how upset with God they were. **Joshua, on the other hand goes directly to God.** Joshua brings His pain, doubts, and fears straight to God. The God whom Joshua is upset with is the only one who can bring clarity and peace.

#### **Joshua 7:8-9 ESV**

> (8) **O Lord, what can I say**, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies!  
> (9) For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us **and cut off our name from the earth**. **And what will You do for Your great name?”**

Joshua rightly understands that what happens to Israel is much larger than them. God’s name and God’s reputation have been connected to Israel. Joshua uses wordplay to emphasize this concern. **If Israel's name is cut off, what will become of God’s great name?** What Joshua does not know is that God’s name would have been tarnished if Israel defeated Ai. God could not bless Israel in their sin, and His holiness needed to be upheld. **God was defending His own name and His reputation by letting Israel be defeated**. God does not need Joshua’s help defending His name. God wants Joshua and Israel to walk faithfully with Him, and God will bring glory to His name.

#### **Joshua 7:10-12 ESV**

> (10) The LORD said to Joshua, **“Get up! Why have you fallen on your face?** (11) **Israel has sinned;** they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.   
> (12) **Therefore** the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. **I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.**

God’s response emphasizes again why He is the one we need to turn to in our fears and pain. If this answer came from anyone else, it would seem harsh, and the truth in it would be hard to see. Yet **God is able to pierce into our hearts and bring His truth**. Joshua needs to get up. It is not a time for grief and mourning but a time to repent and purge the sin out of the camp. The defeat at Ai would be the first of many if Israel does not deal with the sin. **In judgment, God warns that He will no longer be with Israel as long as sin is tolerated.** God will not give them the victories if they walk in disobedience from Him. God’s presence and His blessing are the very things that make Israel unique.

##### **Exodus 33:15-16 ESV**

> (15) And he said to Him, “**If Your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.** (16) For how shall it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? **Is it not in Your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and Your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”**

Moses rightly understood that if God did not go with Israel, then they were like any other people. It was God’s presence and the fellowship that He had offered to them that made them distinct from all other people. **The same is true of us today**. Having fellowship with the one true God is what makes life so remarkable. It is not all the activities or good things we can accomplish. It is not about what we can do for God. The world has plenty of groups that do good work, service projects, or offer humanitarian aid. What is to set our lives apart is that we have trusted in the blood of Jesus and now are walking in fellowship with Him. It is only when we are in fellowship with God that we can truly live how He has called us to. Israel is not to move forward until fellowship has been restored.

#### **Joshua 7:13-15 ESV**

> (13) **Get up! Consecrate the people** and say, ‘**Consecrate yourselves** for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. **You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”** (14) In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the LORD takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the LORD takes shall come near by households. And the household that the LORD takes shall come near man by man.  
> (15) **And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’**”

Joshua is to have the people consecrate themselves, which means **to set themselves apart as holy**. This would have involved ceremonial washings and making sure everyone is clean. God is reminding His people that they are set apart as holy and His holiness should be reflected in their lives. Whoever has sinned and taken the devoted things is to be removed from the people and put to the ban. Compromising with sin is not an option. Throughout history different groups of believers have tried to negotiate with sin or think they are holy enough to not be affected by it. Yet, God repeatedly calls His people to a holiness and to break fellowship with an unrepentant believer.

##### **1 Corinthians 5:1-2 ESV**

> (1) It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.   
> (2) And you are arrogant! **Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.**

The Corinthians were boastful in how accepting of sin they were. They were progressive and could accept something that even the world turned away from. Yet, this was not God’s love because they did not address the sin. God takes us just as we are for salvation because our sin has been paid for through Jesus. Then He calls us to walk in a fellowship with Him. This process of growth takes time, and grace needs to be shown as people mature. Yet, believers openly walking in sin and refusing to address it is not an option.

##### **1 Corinthians 5:6-7; 9-11 ESV**

> (6) Your boasting is not good. **Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?** (7) **Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.**
> 
> (**9**) I wrote to you in my letter **not to associate with sexually immoral people—** (10) **not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world**, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.  
> (11) **But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.**

Sin is called leaven. Leaven permeates and multiples in whatever dough it is exposed to. Likewise, **sin spreads out and is multiplied** among believers if it is not confessed and repented of. The Corinthians did not understand how serious sin is within God’s people. They thought they needed to be more cautious of the world than of an unrepentant believer. God says the opposite. **The World needs to be presented with what the blood of Jesus has accomplished for them.** That their sin is paid for because He died for them**. Then believers need to be encouraged to grow and mature in that truth**. We have been made unleavened through Jesus. We are declared sinless; now we are to learn what that actually means for daily life. **Open sin in a fellow believer's life is such a big deal to their walk that we are even called not to eat with them.** This is not done to be harsh but to value their eternal walk with Jesus. Just as Israel is called to purge Achan, we are called to purge unrepentant sinners**. We are to love each other enough in the body of Christ to humbly call each other to holiness**. This break of fellowship should not be done hastily and only applies when the erring believer refuses to repent. Matthew 18:15-17 describes the process that needs to be followed, and the hope is that it never escalates past an encouraging call back to truth.

#### **Joshua 7:16-18 ESV**

> (16) So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of **Judah** was taken.  
> (17) And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the **Zerahites** was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and **Zabdi** was taken.  
> (18) And he brought near his household man by man, and **Achan** the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

Achan has had so many chances to repent of what He has done. When Joshua called the people to consecrate themselves, Achan could have stepped forward. When His tribe was chosen, He could have come clean. At each step, Achan remains silent and refuses to acknowledge what He has done until He is exposed by God.

#### **Joshua 7:19-21 ESV**

> (19) Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, **give glory to the LORD God of Israel** and give praise to Him. **And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”** (20) And Achan answered Joshua, “**Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel**, and this is what I did:  
> (21) **when I saw** among the spoil **a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels,** **then I coveted** them and **took them**. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

Once directly confronted, Achan finally admits his sin. He took a beautiful exotic robe, along with some gold and silver. Everything he took could be grabbed quickly and then easily concealed under his cloak.

At today’s prices the gold and silver amount to a little over **$70,000**. By some estimates this would have been equivalent to a **lifetime’s wages for a common laborer**. It is important to see the progression that sin takes. Seeing the cloak, gold and silver was not the problem. Plenty of other Israelites saw riches and costly valuables as the walk in an obedience to God’s command. The issue was not the external but Achan’s heart.

##### **James 1:14-15 ESV**

> (14) But each person is tempted when he is **lured and enticed by his own desire.** (15) Then **desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin**, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Once he saw the valuables, he coveted them. After 40 years of wearing the same cloak in the wilderness, the beauty of the new cloak and the value of the gold and silver appealed to his flesh. **Achan was lured and enticed by his own heart.** He sinned by coveting the things of God, and then he acted on this sin and took them. He decided that he deserved these things instead of devoting them to God. **Achan never stopped to analyze if he really wanted to steal from God.** We don’t think about the cost of our sin. We just act based on the desires of our sinful flesh and ignore the ramifications. Achan acknowledges his sin, and yet there is not a zeal or eagerness to clear his name. He stood there the entire time hoping he would not be revealed.

##### **2 Corinthians 7:8-12 ESV**

> (10) **For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.** (11) For see **what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you**, **but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment**! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.

Godly grief draws us to repent before a holy God and leads us to Him. We are to have an eagerness and zeal in this. We are to desire to be made right with God. Achan acknowledges his sin, and yet there is no zeal to make things right. He became under the ban of destruction through his actions.

#### **Joshua 7:22-25 ESV**

> (22) So Joshua sent messengers, and they **ran to the tent**; and behold, it was hidden in his tent **with the silver underneath.** (23) And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the LORD.  
> (24) And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, **and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.** (25) And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today.” **And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.**

Just as Jericho was to be put to a complete destruction, so was the entire household of Achan. It is interesting that a wife is never mentioned. His sons and daughters are included in the punishment. Deuteronomy 24:16 tells us that no children are to be put to death for the sins of their father. **God would not violate His own Word,** so we can assume that His sons and daughters must have been involved in helping hide the banned items. Israel had to purge this family and their sin. They executed God’s judgment by burning and stoning them.

#### **Joshua 7:26 ESV**

> (26) And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. **Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.**

This great heap of stones served as a very different monument than the twelve memorial stones used to remember crossing the Jordan River. **These stones were to serve as a remembrance of the judgment and destruction that sin brings.** The valley was named trouble. Sin always leads to trouble. Yet what is truly amazing is this is not the only time we hear of the Valley of Achor. There is an amazing future promise for the Valley of Achor (Trouble).

##### **Hosea 2:15; 19-20 ESV**

> (15) And there I will give her her vineyards **and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope**. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
> 
> (19) **And I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.** (20) **I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.**

Despite being used as a memorial for trouble and judgment, God restores. The valley where one of God’s people were judged for their disobedience will become a door of hope. **Jesus took the full judgment for our sins. Once sin is judged, God can know and show His grace to us**. We will walk with Him forever, in righteousness and faithfulness. We will be in perfect fellowship and know the Lord! God’s people, both Israel and the church, will finally be free of our sin nature. Our future is great. Let us not walk in the valley of trouble and be disciplined for our sin and experience the trouble that it brings. Let us look forward to the door of hope that the blood of Jesus has secured for us.

# Joshua 8:1-29 | Sunday October 18, 2026

Any confidence that was gained for Israel in the victory at Jericho was undone by the defeat of Ai. Achan and his family had sinned, and God could not give Israel victory until the sin was dealt with. Israel proved themselves faithful and purged the sinning family just as God commanded. God is just, and sin must be judged. This is a side of God we tend not to think about, but without it the cross does not make sense. Jesus’ death was required because God is just and sin must be fully paid for. We can experience His grace and mercy because sin was fully judged on the cross. Now that Israel has dealt with the sin in the camp, they can experience God’s goodness and walk in His victories.

#### **Joshua 8:1-2 ESV**

> (1) And the LORD said to Joshua, “**Do not fear and do not be dismayed**. **Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land.** (2) **And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king**. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

Now that the sin in the camp had been dealt with, Israel needed to get up and go take Ai. Ai will become the next Jericho. **God does not want Israel to sit and dwell on their defeat.** He does not want doubt and discouragement to take root. They are back in fellowship with God, and it is time to walk in His victory. He encourages Joshua not to be afraid or be dismayed. **"Dismayed" means to be broken to pieces, shattered, and disheartened**. This is the same encouragement that Moses shared with Joshua as he handed over leadership to him.

##### **Deuteronomy 31:7-8 ESV**

> (7) Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him **in the sight of all Israel**, **“Be strong and courageous**, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it.  
> (8) **It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you**; He will not leave you or forsake you. **Do not fear or be dismayed.”**

I am sure that Joshua heard the encouragement not to be dismayed very differently after the defeat in Ai than he did when Moses gave it to him. Joshua and the people of Israel were humbled by Ai. It reminded them how weak and vulnerable they were without God. **Being dismayed in the Promised Land might have seemed like an impossibility at one time, and now Joshua knew how quickly discouragement could come.** Joshua had been shattered and disheartened. When Joshua was dismayed, God was there to encourage him and draw him back to truth. God was not done with Joshua or Israel. Fellowship was restored, and it was time to take the next city. The people found out how weak they were, but God’s strength and power always stood.

##### **Isaiah 51:6 ESV**

> (6) Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; **for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment,** and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but My salvation will be forever, **and My righteousness will never be dismayed.**

Having a godly eternal perspective is so hard for us. Things that seem so permanent and fixed God says will vanish like smoke. This entire universe and all its galaxies and stars will one day be no more. This earth will wear out over time. Israel’s garments in the wilderness did not wear out, but this planet under the curse of sin is wearing out. **The earth’s seams are stretching, and the fabric is growing thin.** We are not to take our hope and comfort from things that will not last. God promises that His salvation will never wear out; it is forever. **His righteousness will never be dismayed, shattered, disheartened, or broken to pieces**. Joshua was dismayed, the people of Israel were dismayed, and we became dismayed, but God’s righteousness never will. This is the righteousness that we have been given through Jesus.

##### **2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV**

> (21) For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, **so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.**

In our weakness and our discouragement, we should come back to the truth that **God’s fixed, eternal righteousness has been given to us**. Through Jesus we have been born into and have become God’s righteousness. Once we believe in Jesus, even if we are dismayed, disheartened, and shattered, Jesus’ righteousness that we have been brought into will not be. We are secure in Him. **His righteousness will never be dismayed**. **He is the faithful one even when we fail.** As God calls Israel not to avoid or go around Ai but to conquer it, He is reminding them of His power and faithfulness.

#### **Joshua 8:2 ESV**

> (2) And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. **Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves.** Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

Unlike Jericho, Israel is told to plunder Ai and to take its spoils and livestock. This cast such a different shadow on Achan’s sin**. Achan had legitimate needs and chose to fill them in an illegitimate way.** We know his needs were legitimate because God now lets the entire nation partake of the plunder and spoil. They needed new coats, money, and livestock. The manna had stopped, and God is using the plunder of Ai to provide once again for His people. **This means that Achan only had to be patient and wait a few days to be in the will of God.** Achan chose to ignore God’s restriction instead of waiting on His blessings. Achan’s sin shows the danger of instant gratification. The sin of wanting something our way and on our timeline and not waiting on God. Achan is not alone in this sin in scripture. There are many examples of how dangerous it is.

##### **Genesis 16:1-2 ESV**

> (1) Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.  
> (2) And Sarai said to Abram, “**Behold** **now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children**. Go in to my servant; it may be that **I shall obtain children by her.”** And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

##### **Genesis 21:1-2 ESV**

> (1) The LORD visited Sarah **as He had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as He had promised**.  
> (2) And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age **at the time of which God had spoken to him.**

Sarah could not believe that God would provide a child through her, so she asked Abraham to have a child with her servant Hagar. **Sarah saw no point in waiting for something she thought was impossible.** Sarah and Abraham had a legitimate need of having a child that God promised to them, but they went about it in their own way and in their own timing. The consequences of this choice are still felt all over the world as the descendants of Hagar (Arabs) persecute the descendants of Sarah (Jews). Instead of acting on their own power, Abraham and Sarah should have waited 14 years for God to fulfill His promise.

##### **Acts 7:23-25 ESV**

> (23) “**When he was forty years old**, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.  
> (24) And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and **avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.** (25) He supposed that his brothers **would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.**

At 40 Moses correctly knew that God would use Him to bring salvation to the Israelites. Yet, **Moses acted in his own power and in his own timing.** After killing one Egyptian, he has to flee to the wilderness. Moses needed to wait 40 years until God would use Him to deliver Israel. So often Satan tempts God’s people with a legitimate need or a correct desire but encourages them to go about it in their own power or in the wrong timing.

##### **Luke 4:5-8 ESV**

> (5) And the devil took Him up and showed Him **all the kingdoms of the world** in a moment of time,  
> (6) and said to Him, “**To You I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.** (7) If You, then, will worship me, **it will all be Yours.”** (8) And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘**You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’”**

Satan offered to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Satan is correct when he says they are his to give away. In John 13:31, Jesus calls Satan the ruler of this world. **Satan is offering to give Jesus all the kingdoms that will one day be His.** The real part of this temptation is what would be avoided, **the cross**. Satan is offering to give Jesus power and authority without having to suffer. He is offering for Jesus to do it in His own way and in His own timing and not according to the will of God the Father. Jesus knows that the instant payoff will never be worth the consequences of this action. He is willing to trust the Father and His timing. Jesus will ultimately be glorified for this decision. Sin comes down to this core issue: **will we trust in God’s timing and His way and not our own?**

##### **Hebrews 13:4 ESV**

> (4) **Let marriage be held in honor among all**, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Sex outside the marriage bed is a prime example of Satan tempting us with a Godly desire but in the wrong timing and in our own way. God designed and created sex, and He has revealed how it is glorifying to Him within the one-flesh union of marriage. Any time sex is taken outside of marriage, pornography, or sexual immorality of any kind, there are consequences, and we will not experience God’s eternal best for our lives. Instead of pursuing our timing and our way, we are to turn to Him.

##### **Psalm 37:4-5 ESV**

> (4) **Delight yourself in the LORD**, and **He will give you the desires of your heart.** (5) Commit your way to the LORD; **trust in Him, and He will act.**

Achan needed to delight himself in the Lord. His desire was good, but he should have trusted in God to fulfill his desire. We need to do the same. **We are to delight ourselves; this word means to pamper (focus on) and take pleasure in the Lord.** He is the only one who can correctly and fully satisfy our hearts. God will now satisfy Israel in providing a strategic battle plan to take Ai.

#### **Joshua 8:3-8 ESV**

> (3) So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night.  
> (4) And he commanded them, “Behold, **you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it**. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. (5) And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, **we shall flee before them**. (6) And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘**They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them**. (7) **Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will give it into your hand.** (8) And as soon as you have taken the city**, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the LORD. See, I have commanded you.”**

God gives Joshua a wise battle plan that involves setting an ambush and utilizes a fake retreat. **It is amazing how big God is—that He can use Israel’s previous failure to their advantage in this attack.** Ai will believe Israel is fleeing in defeat because they already did once before.

#### **Joshua 8:9-17 ESV**

> (9) So Joshua sent them out. **And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai,** but Joshua spent that night among the people. (10) Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. (11) And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. (12) He took about 5,000 men and **set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai**, to the west of the city. (13) So they stationed the forces, **the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city.** But Joshua spent that night in the valley. (14) And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. (15) And Joshua and all Israel **pretended to be beaten** before them and fled **in the direction of the wilderness.** (16) So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, **and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city.** (17) **Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.**

It is difficult to tell if verse 12 describes a second ambush to cut off the aid that might come from the neighboring city of Bethel or clarifying details about the first ambush. Either way, **God is able to redeem Israel’s failure and bring good out of it for them.** The men of Ai and Bethel are so confident that they completely abandon their cities as they pursue Israel, leaving them defenseless to Israel’s ambush attack.

#### **Joshua 8:18-22 ESV**

> (18) 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.”** **And Joshua stretched out the javelin** that was in his hand toward the city. (19) And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire. (20) **So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that**, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. (21) And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, **then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.** (22) And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. **And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped.**

Joshua and Israel follow God’s battle plans to the exact detail. The ambush has worked perfectly and completely demoralized the men of Ai and Bethel. **The smoke of the city going up is the same language as the smoke of a whole burnt offering rising to God**. Ai’s defeat is pictured as another offering to God in the promised land. Israel had walked in God’s victory as Joshua made sure to follow every detail.

#### **Joshua 8:23-26 ESV**

> (23) But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.   
> (24) When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword.   
> (25) And all who fell that day, both men and women**, were 12,000, all the people of Ai.** (26) **But Joshua did not draw back his hand** with which he stretched out the javelin **until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.**

Notice Joshua’s attentiveness to God’s Word. God told Joshua to stretch out his javelin, and God would give the city into Israel’s hands. So Joshua made sure not to draw back his hand until the city was conquered. **The discipline that Israel experienced caused Joshua to be reminded how important God’s Word truly was**. Joshua now knew on a deeper level how reliant they needed to be on God for every detail. Unlike Jerhico, Israel is invited to partake of the plunder and enjoy the blessings of being God’s people.

#### **Joshua 8:27-29 ESV**

> (27) **Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder**, according to the word of the LORD that he commanded Joshua.  
> (28) **So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day.** (29) And he **hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening**. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and **threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones,** **which stands there to this day.**

If Achan would have waited, he could have enjoyed the plunder of Ai instead of receiving the ban for taking items out of Jerico. Once plundered, Ai was burned and made into a heap of ruins. The king of Ai was displayed as a warning to the land of God’s judgment, and then he was buried under a great heap of stones at the city gate**. These heaps of stones served as another monument to be remembered**. Ai was to remind Israel and us of the failure that comes from being out of fellowship with God and the rich blessings and goodness that come from walking with Him. It was to remind us that it is always better to wait on God to fulfill our needs than to try and fill them ourselves.

##### **Lamentations 3:24-26 ESV**

> (24) “**The LORD is my portion**,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”  
> (25) **The LORD is good to those who wait for Him**, to the soul who seeks Him.  
> (26) **It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.**

# Joshua 8:30-35 | Sunday October 25, 2026

At this point Israel has walked in God’s victories and defeated both Jericho and Ai. This has not been without stumbles, yet Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land is starting to take shape. Then something interrupts the conquests and battles right at the end of Chapter 8. Before Israel is to conquer another city, they are to be reminded of how important God’s Word and their faithfulness to it is.

#### **Joshua 8:30-35 ESV**

> (30) **At that time** Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,  
> (31) **just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people** of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.  
> (32) And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.  
> (33) And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of **Mount Gerizim** and half of them in front of **Mount Ebal**, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel.  
> (34) And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.  
> (35) There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

After defeating Ai, we would expect Israel to set their sights on the next city to conquer. Instead, Joshua leads Israel over **20** miles north to Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim with **the city of Shechem** **in between them**. We are not told if Shechem surrendered to Israel or were conquered by them. The emphasis is on why Israel was called to go there. Israel is to be reminded of God’s Covenant with them. Shechem is where God first brought Abram into the Promised Land.

##### **Genesis 12:1-3; 6-7 ESV**

> (1) Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house **to the land that I will show you.** (2) And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  
> (3) I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, **and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”**
> 
> (**6**) Abram passed through the land **to the place at Shechem**, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. (7) Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “**To your offspring I will give this land.”** So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

**Joshua brought the nation of Israel back to the very place that God promised to give to Abram’s descendants**. God was reminding His people that no matter how many years had passed, He had been faithful to keep His Word. God wanted to remind the people of how important His Word is.

#### **Joshua 8:32 ESV**

> (32) And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, **he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.**

Joshua followed exactly what God commanded back in Deuteronomy 27. God wanted His Word to be presented before His people.

##### **Deuteronomy 27:1-4; 8 ESV**

> (1) Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today.  
> (2) **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.  
> (4) And when you have crossed over the Jordan, **you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster.**
> 
> (**8**) And you shall write on the stones **all the words of this law very plainly.”**

God has Joshua set up large stones and cover them in plaster. Then he was to write out the words of the law **so that the people can see them very plainly**. This was a time before God’s Word was readily available in every translation and binding imaginable. God had His people make this giant billboard so that they could plainly see His Word and come back to it to remind themselves of His truth. Here God is setting up **another monument** to remind His people. This has been a consistent theme of the book of Joshua. Our need to have constant reminders of who God is and what He has done for us. This shows our need to come back to His word, over and over again.

##### **Psalm 16:8-11 ESV**

> (8) **I have set the LORD always before me**; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.  
> (9) Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.   
> (10) **For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol**, or let your holy one see corruption.  
> (11) **You make known to me the path of life**; **in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.**

We are to set the Lord before us continually. **We have short memories and need reminders to come back to His truth. It is the path of life**. When we walk according to His truth, we are in His presence and in the fullness of joy. We need His truth when we feel shaken and feel like we have been abandoned to remind us that we have not been. We have to come back to the path of life. **God knew Israel needed all these monuments to remind them of His truth; why would we be any different?** As Israel was just getting established in the Promised Land, God wanted them to remember what would lead to a life of blessings and conversely what would lead to curses.

#### **Joshua 8:33-34 ESV**

> (33) And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on **opposite sides of the ark** before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, **half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel.** (34) **And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.**

The two mounts served as a natural amphitheater. Israel followed all of God’s instructions. This was not Joshua’s idea but a ceremony that God laid out in detail.

##### **Deuteronomy 27:12-17 ESV**

> (12) “When you have crossed over the Jordan, **these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people:** Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.  
> (13) And **these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse**: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.  
> (14) And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:  
> (15) “‘**Cursed be the man** who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ **And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’** (16) **“‘Cursed be anyone** who dishonors his father or his mother.’ **And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’** (17) “‘**Cursed be anyone** who moves his neighbor's landmark.’ **And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’**

Half of Israel was on Mount **Gerizim to represent the blessings,** and the other half of Israel was on **Mount Ebal to represent the curses**. **The Ark was right in the middle**. The Levites were to call out "cursed" to anyone who did, and then give a command of God. The people of Israel were to respond, Amen. This was a public declaration that this curse was true and real. Israel was agreeing to what type of behavior would make the Promised Land full of curses. Later on in the ceremony they would also recite all the specifics of these curses, which involved famine, pestilence, and even confusion.

##### **Deuteronomy 28:1-6 ESV**

> (1) “And **if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today,** the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.  
> (3) **Blessed shall you be in the city**, and **blessed** **shall you be in the field.** (4) **Blessed** shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.  
> (5) **Blessed** shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.  
> (6) **Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.**

**God did not want Israel just to hear the punishments of curses but also to hear all the various ways He wanted to bless them**. Whether in the cities or in the fields, He wanted to pour His goodness out to them. This meant the blessing of large families, large herds, and food in abundance. No matter where they went, they were to be blessed. **This ceremony was to present Israel with two options for their future.**

##### **Deuteronomy 28:2; 15 ESV**

> (2) **And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.**
> 
> (15) “**But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments** and His statutes that I command you today, **then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.**

**Israel would be overtaken either by the rich blessings of God or the various curses from Him**. This was a **conditional covenant** and was entirely contingent on Israel’s faithfulness to obey the Word of God. What a tremendous moment this would have been for Israel. Disobedience was costly and yet God desired to show so much goodness to them. Unfortunately, we know how many times Israel failed **and experienced the curses from Mount Ebal.** Israel showed time and time again the true weakness of our sin nature. When presented with blessings and curses, we pursue the curses instead of walking in the blessing of God’s Word. **The law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), yet the problem is that we are sinners and choose to disobey God**. When the path of life and the path of death are presented, we choose death. Yet, God in His amazing grace knew this about us; **He was using the law to reveal it to us.** Notice which mountain the altar was set up on.

#### **Joshua 8:30-31 ESV**

> (30) **At that time** Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, **on Mount Ebal,** (31) just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “**an altar of uncut stones**, **upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.”** **And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.**

**God in His sovereignty placed the altar on Mount Ebal, the mount of curses**. God knew that Israel would fail at this covenant and be in need of redemption. The altar was placed to deal with the curses of the law. **The altar had to be made of uncut stones because humanity could not take care of our own problem. This altar would not be a result of our work but of God’s**. The altar pointed to the amazing news that we would be redeemed from the law of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, but Jesus Christ.

##### **Galatians 3:5-14 ESV**

> (5) Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you **do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—** (6) just as Abraham **“believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?** (7) Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.  
> (8) And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “**In you shall all the nations be blessed.”** (9) So then, **those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith**.  
> (10) **For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse**; for it is written, “**Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”** (11) Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “**The righteous shall live by faith.”** (12) **But the law is not of faith**, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”  
> (13) **Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—** (14) **so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.**

Works of the Law are put in direct comparison to hearing with faith. Works of the law and living by faith are opposites of each other. Abraham was saved because he believed in God’s promise of a messiah. **Everyone who has ever been saved is by faith and not by works of the law.** If you rely on works, then you are under a curse. Works will show our consistent failures and shortcomings. **Noone except for Jesus Christ has been able to perfectly follow the law and not experience the curses that it brings**. His obedience to the law made it possible for Him to become our curse. **He redeemed us from the curses of Mount Ebal by giving His blood on the altar and becoming the curse so that we could have God’s blessing.**

##### **Ephesians 1:3 ESV**

> (3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, **who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,**

Instead of experiencing the curses of the law, we now experience every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places **through Jesus**. Do not cheapen this to earthly blessings, but exalt it to the **eternal heavenly blessings that are described**.

##### **Romans 4:7-8 ESV**

> (7) “**Blessed are those** whose lawless deeds **are forgiven**, and **whose sins are covered;** (8) **blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”**

As believers we are truly blessed in Jesus because our sins are fully forgiven and completely covered. Our sins will not be counted against us because we have been given the righteousness of Jesus. **This blessing is far greater than any earthly blessing**. **In this world we should expect tribulation, suffering, sickness, grief, and pain.** This is why we need to come back to the amazing truth of how eternally blessed we truly are. We need the reminder of God’s Word just as Israel did.

#### **Joshua 8:35 ESV**

> (35) There was not a word of all that Moses commanded **that Joshua did not read** **before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.**

This ceremony was not just for the military. Everyone was to be there and be reminded of God’s Word. Everyone of Israel heard these blessings and curses from the old, to the foreigners who had joined Israel, all the way down to the little ones. **At no age do we mature from our need for the Word of God.**

##### **Psalm 119:9-12 ESV**

> (9) Beth How can a **young man** keep his way pure? **By guarding it according to Your word.** (10) With my whole heart I seek You; **let me not wander** from Your commandments!  
> (11) **I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.** (12) Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes!

The Word of God brings us to a closeness with Him and away from sin. The Word convicts and draws us back to walking in His light. When we are young, we need the Word to guide us from wandering off to our own desires.

##### **Psalm 71:17-18 ESV**

> (17) O God, **from my youth You have taught me**, and **I still proclaim** Your wondrous deeds.  
> (18) **So even to old age and gray hairs**, O God, do not forsake me, **until I proclaim Your might to another generation,** Your power to all those to come.

Then in old age, the Psalmist declares that God has faithfully taught him from the Word all these years. He knows how important the Word of God still is. **He wants to proclaim God’s Word and His great deeds to the next generation.** God had Joshua put up these large stones with the Word plastered on them, so Israel could continually come back to His Word. We need to keep coming back to His Word. **We need to be reminded of how truly blessed we are in Jesus, redeemed from the curse of the Law.**

# Joshua 9:1-14 | Sunday November 1, 2026

Israel had another spiritual victory as they were reminded of the importance of the Word of God at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Joshua followed God’s instructions and set up large stones plastered with God’s law. The Promised Land could be full of rich blessings or filled with curses based on how Israel lived in fellowship with God, according to His Word. God’s grace showed through with the altar on mount Ebal, the mount of curses. The law shows our sinfulness and failures. We need redemption from the curses of the law, and Jesus was willing to become the curse for us. Then as we turn to chapter 9, we have another example of a principal that we have already seen. After a spiritual victory we can tend to let our guard down and have a spiritual defeat. Just after Israel was reminded of the importance of God’s Word and living based on His truth, they are going to forget how reliant on God they truly need to be.

#### **Joshua 9:1-5 ESV**

> (1) As soon as all **the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country** and in the lowland all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, **the Hivites**, and the Jebusites, **heard of this**,  
> (2) they **gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel.** (3) But when **the inhabitants of Gibeon** heard what Joshua had done **to Jericho and to Ai,** (4) they on their part **acted with cunning** and went and made ready provisions and took **worn-out** sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, **worn-out and torn and mended,** (5) with **worn-out**, patched sandals on their feet, and **worn-out** clothes. **And all their provisions were dry and crumbly.**

Word of Israel’s victories and their defeat was spreading among the people of the Promised Land. After Jerico’s destruction, Israel seemed invincible. **Then Ai happened**. The people of the land now understood that Israel could be defeated. Cities throughout the Promised Land sought to make alliances with one another to stand against Israel. These battles will be described in chapters 10 and 11. Yet the Gibeonites chose another strategy. They were clever and sought to trick Israel. The Gibeonites intentionally dressed up messengers in worn-out clothing. They were detailed in this deception: old food, worn-out luggage, and worn sandals that were falling apart. Their goal was to appear that they had taken a tremendously long journey through the desert to come meet with the Israelites. **The reality was Gibeon was about 20 miles away from Gilgal.**

#### **Joshua 9:6-8 ESV**

> (6) And they went to Joshua in the camp **at Gilgal** and said to him and to the men of Israel, **“We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.”** (7) But the men of Israel said **to the Hivites**, “**Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?”** (8) They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, **“Who are you? And where do you come from?”**

The sarcasm in verse 7 is thick. The Israelites are talking to Hivites who live in Gibeon, asking if they live in the Promised Land. Of course the Hivites live in the Promised Land. The only problem is that **Israel doesn’t know they are being deceived**. Yet the good news is that **the Israelites and Joshua are asking the right questions**. They are trying to be careful and live based on the Word of God by not making a covenant with people who live in the land. The problem is the Gibeonites are really good at lying.

#### **Joshua 9:8-13 ESV**

> (9) They said to him, “**From a very distant country** your servants have come, **because of the name of the LORD your God. For we have heard a report of Him**, and all that He did in Egypt,  
> (10) **and all that He did** to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.  
> (11) So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us.”’  
> (12) Here is our bread. **It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly.** (13) These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours **are worn out from the very long journey.”**

**The Gibeonites are trying to act like they are the next Rahab**. They accurately share that they have heard a report about what the God of Israel has done to Egypt, Sihon, and Og. **They deceptively leave out that they have also heard what happened at Jericho and Ai**. If they were traveling from afar, they would not have this new information. Through lies and deception, they are trying to present themselves as people coming from a distant land to respond to the powerful God that they have heard about. They hold up moldy bread that they claim was freshly baked when they left on their journey to add to their deception. The Gibeonites know more than they are letting on.

##### **Deuteronomy 20:10-12; 15-18 ESV**

> (10) “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, **offer terms of peace to it**.  
> (11) And if **it responds to you peaceably** and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you.  
> (12) But **if it makes no peace with you**, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.
> 
> (**15**) **Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you**, **which are not cities of the nations here.** (16) **But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,** (17) **but you shall devote them to complete destruction**, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, **the Hivites** and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded,   
> (18) that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God.

Cities that were far away, Israel was to offer peace treaties to. They were not to attack them if the people were willing to surrender and become their slaves. This offer was not to be given to cities within the Promised Land. These cities were to be devoted to complete destruction. Being Hivites, the Gibeonites were to be destroyed just as Jericho was. **Yet Rahab shows that anyone could respond to God and be saved**. The Gibeonites believed that the God of Israel was powerful enough to destroy them, but instead of wanting to worship Him, they wanted to trick Israel as an attempt to save their lives.

Joshua and Israel know God’s Word and are trying to be careful to follow it. They asked the right questions and were suspicious of these messengers. **They were not ignoring God’s truth.** The Gibeonites said the right things, and common sense could easily see that these messengers had taken a very long hard journey. **Yet, this chapter shows the problem with common sense**. Joshua and Israel could not rely on common sense but needed spiritual insight.

#### **Joshua 9:14 ESV**

> (14) **So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the LORD.**

God lets us in on Israel’s failure; they did not stop to ask counsel from the Lord. **They did not stop and take time to pray**. They made a decision with human reasoning and logic instead of seeking God’s wisdom. Joshua had access to seek God’s will.

##### **Numbers 27:21 ESV**

> (21) And **he** shall stand before **Eleazar the priest,** **who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD.** At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.”

At any time Joshua and Israel could have consulted what God wanted, but they didn’t. **God’s direction and will were readily available, but they were never sought**. We are not told why Joshua did not seek God’s direction, yet we know all of our own reasoning all too well. Sometimes we feel like the situation is beneath God. Sometimes we feel like we cannot ask for help because we should know what to do. Sometimes we don’t ask for God’s direction because we already think we know what to do. Yet scripture is filled with promises of how important prayer is and how God promises to answer us.

##### **James 1:5 ESV**

> (5) **If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God,** who gives generously to all without reproach, **and it will be given him.**

##### **James 4:2 ESV**

> (2) You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. **You do not have, because you do not ask.**

We are promised that God will give us wisdom when we ask for it. **Wisdom is the ability and discernment to apply God’s truth to a specific situation**. If we lack wisdom, it is because we are not asking for it or doubting that God can really give it to us. We are to rest in God’s promises and **trust in His ability to give wisdom**. How tragic that Israel and we so often lack wisdom simply because we never asked for it. There is no better time to pray than when something seems obvious to us. We should not only pray when we don’t know what to do, but we should be especially careful to pray when we think we know what we should do. **Praying should be like spiritual breathing.** It should be a regular consistent part of everyday life. A continuing dialogue with God. Nehemiah practiced prayer this way. He spent 4 months in prayer after learning about the condition of Jerusalem and still stopped in the middle of his conversation with the king to seek God in prayer.

##### **Nehemiah 2:3-4 ESV**

> (3) I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”  
> (4) Then the king said to me, **“What are you requesting?”** **So I prayed to the God of heaven**.

Nehemiah relied on prayer. In one of the most important conversations of his life, why would he not pray? I guarantee this was not a long, elaborate, or eloquent prayer. He spoke with God, who knew his heart and knew what he needed.

##### **Matthew 6:7-8 ESV**

> (7) “And when you pray, **do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.** (8) Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

We are not to pray empty phrases; this literally means **stammering the same phrase over and over again**. Prayer is a conversation with our loving, caring God who already knows what we need before we ever come to Him. Yet, we still come to Him to be in relationship with Him and to help our hearts align with His.

##### **John 15:7 ESV**

> (7) **If you abide in Me**, and My words abide in you, **ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.**

**Prayer is a great barometer of where our abiding relationship with Jesus is**. When we are abiding with Him, then our prayers and our desires will match His. Our prayers will be answered because they are according to His will. When we are not abiding, we tend not to pray much. If we do prayer, our prayers tend not to be based on truth. **Prayer reminds us of our consistent need for a close relationship with God**. At no point can we think that we can live this life on our own strength or wisdom.

**The Gibeonite deception shows how vulnerable we are**. Israel knew God’s truth and sought to apply it. They were careful and asked good questions. Yet, they never sought God for His help, so they made a treaty with the wrong people. Prayer is an important part of helping us fight the spiritual battles that we are in.

##### **Ephesians 6:10-12; 18-20 NAS95**

> (10) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  
> (11) Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against **the schemes of the devil.** (12) **For our struggle is not against flesh and blood**, but against the rulers, against the powers, **against the world forces of this darkness**, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places*.*
> 
> (**18**) With all prayer and petition **pray at all times in the Spirit,** and with this in view, **be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,** (19) and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, **to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,** (20) for which I am an ambassador in chains; **that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.**

The Gibeonites were a crafty, cunning enemy who were extremely deceptive in what they did. We have a similar enemy. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). He is the father of lies (John 8:44). Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against sin and the evil forces that are out in this world. **If our struggle is not with flesh and blood, then the solution will not be found with flesh and blood**. We need a spiritual, eternal answer. This is why we are called to pray at all times. We are to be alert in our prayers. **This means to be vigilant and have an awareness of the threatening peril all around us.** Paul was aware of this battle raging all around Him. He needed the Ephesians and Colossians to pray for Him to have a boldness to share the gospel. **Paul knew that he was weak, and true strength came from the Spirit.**

##### **Colossians 4:2-4 LSB**

> (2) **Devote yourselves to prayer**, **being watchful in it with thanksgiving**;  
> (3) praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been bound,  
> (4) that I may make it manifest in the way I ought to speak.

We are called to devote ourselves to prayer. "Devote" means to attach oneself to or to be faithful to. **Are we attached to prayer?** **Consistent prayer is one of the most important things we can do as believers**. Our prayer life will change when we realize that the God of the universe is not only hearing our prayers but listening to them and moving in response to them. We can pray for God to act, and even when we do not know His will, call on Him to reveal it to us and trust He is already beginning to work.

# Joshua 9:15-10:8 | Sunday November 8, 2026

The people of the Promised Land have heard what happened at both Jericho and Ai, and they are ready to unify and fight against the Israelites. The Gibeonites chose a different strategy. They chose to deceive Israel and pretend that they lived in a far distant country. Their goal was to get Israel to enter into a covenant with them so that they would not be destroyed with the rest of the people of the Promised Land. Joshua and Israel were careful to ask the right questions and even knew the correct scripture to apply. Yet, they still made a mistake in agreeing to a peace treaty with the Gibeonites. Verse 14 lets us know why they failed.

#### **Joshua 9:14-15 ESV**

> (14) So the men took some of their provisions, **but did not ask counsel from the LORD.** (15) **And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them**, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

Prayer is so important to living the Spirit-filled life. Prayer draws us into a fellowship with God. Joshua needed spiritual insight, and seeking counsel from God was the only way to receive it. We are just as dependent on needing spiritual insight, so we should be consistently seeking God in prayer. Without God’s wisdom, Joshua and Israel made a peace treaty with their neighbors, and this treaty will have immediate consequences.

#### **Joshua 9:16-18 ESV** 

> (16) At the end of **three days** after they had made a covenant with them, **they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them.** (17) **And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day**. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.  
> (18) **But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel.** **Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders.**

Three days is all it took for Israel to hear rumors that the Gibeonites lied. Then it took another three days to confirm the deception. **So often when we pray, God has us wait**. If Israel and Joshua would have only waited a few days, the lies could have been seen through. The Gibeonites were not from a distant country but lived a little over 20 miles away. The nation is understandably upset about this treaty that was made. What worsened it is that when the scouts reached Gibeon on the third day, they found out what kind of city it really was.

#### **Joshua 10:2 ESV**

> (2) he feared greatly, because **Gibeon was a great city**, **like one of the royal cities**, **and because it was greater than Ai,** and all its men were warriors.

Gibeon was a massive city, larger and grander than anything else Israel had conquered up to that point. **This foolish treaty cost the Israelites a tremendous amount of plunder**. They had enjoyed all that they took from Ai, and these Gibeonite cities had even more to offer. Yet, now that Israel made this foolish treaty, they could not destroy the Gibeonites and could not enjoy the spoil that would come from these cities. Israel was still God’s people, and **yet they missed out on rich blessings that God had for them because of their sin.** This is a principle all throughout God’s Word.

##### **Exodus 12:36 ESV**

> (36) And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. **Thus they plundered the Egyptians**.

##### **Exodus 32:4 ESV**

> (4) **And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf**. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

God blessed Israel by having them plunder the Egyptians as they came out of Egypt. The Israelites walked out of Egypt wealthy. Then beneath Mount Siani, as the mountain was still on fire with the presence of God, Israel melted their gold earrings and rings down to make the golden calf. **Their rewards were exchanged for sin**. The prodigal son did the same thing.

##### **Luke 15:12-13 ESV**

> (12) And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, **give me the share of property** that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.  
> (13) Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and **there he squandered his property in reckless living.**

The son took his inheritance, the blessing of being in his father’s family, and exchanged it for the temporary enjoyment of sin**. As believers, our sin does not undo our standing or relationship with God.** Israel was still God’s chosen people. The prodigal was still a son of the Father. Yet, our sin cost us the rewards that God has for us. This is why Paul was so focused on living for the eternal rewards that God had for Him.

##### **1 Corinthians 9:23-27 ESV**

> (23) I do it all for the sake of the gospel, **that I may share with them in its blessings.** (24) Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, **but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.** (25) Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, **but we an imperishable.** (26) So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.   
> (27) But I **discipline** my body and **keep it under control**, lest after preaching to others **I myself should be disqualified.**

Paul wanted to partake of the blessings of the gospel. He wanted to walk in the eternal things that God had for him. He wanted to receive eternal, imperishable prizes. Since this was his motivation, he disciplined his body, which means **to bring something to submission by constant annoyance, to wear down.** Paul knew how active and intentional he needed to be in his walk with Christ because his flesh was constantly pulling toward what is earthly. He sought to make his body his slave so that he would not be disqualified. Paul was not worried about losing his salvation, and he was not worried that he was never saved in the first place. **"Disqualified" carries the idea of being unfit/unqualified for any good deed (Titus 1:16); it is also used of barren soil (Heb 6:8).** Not walking in a fellowship with God costs us the eternal fruit that God wanted to produce in us. Joshua and Israel did not consult God, so they lost out on the plunder of Gibeon. **Walking in the wisdom of our flesh will always cost us the eternal blessings from walking in the Spirit.**

#### **Joshua 9:19-26 ESV** 

> (19) But all the leaders said to all the congregation, **“We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.** (20) This we will do to them: **let them live**, **lest wrath be upon us,** because of the oath that we swore to them.”  
> (21) And the leaders said to them, “**Let them live.” So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them.** (22) Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, **“Why did you deceive us,** saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you dwell among us?  
> (23) **Now therefore you are cursed,** and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”  
> (24) They answered Joshua, “Because **it was told to your servants for a certainty that the LORD your God had commanded** his servant Moses to give you all the land **and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you**—so we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing.   
> (25) And now, behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.”  
> (26) **So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them.**

The Israelites were so upset they were ready to kill the Gibeonites. The treaty was made under false pretenses, and Israel was ready to take all the plunder that was supposed to be theirs. **Yet Joshua and the leaders of Israel knew that breaking an oath was sin.** The oath was in the name of the Lord and should not be broken. The leaders knew that they had sinned in not consulting God and **rightly understood the best course of action was to walk in a fellowship with God in the very next decision**. They needed to honor their oath. **One sin should not become two or three**. They were God’s people and made the oath in God’s name. They were called to walk as people of integrity because of whom they belonged, even as the Gibeonites had not walked in integrity.

##### **Colossians 3:9-10 ESV**

> (9) **Do not lie to one another**, seeing that **you have put off the old self** with its practices  
> (10) **and have put on the new self**, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

As believers, we have put on the new life in Jesus. Our actions are to reflect that. Our word is to reflect that. Our society overvalues words in the sense that what someone says is often more important than their actions. Then at the same time, devalues words when lying is called "spin," and there is no accountability for what someone says. We are to reflect Christ and speak the truth. Our word is to mean something.

**God is honored when we live for Him the best we know how in the midst of a tough situation**. We are not to let one foolish choice snowball into multiple sins as we try to fix it. The best path is to walk in an integrity and fellowship with God and let Him take care of the details. Even though Israel was responding well to their mistake, they still had to deal with the consequences of their actions. We can be fully forgiven in God’s eyes for our sin and walk in fellowship with Him and still face the earthly results and consequences of our sinful actions. **Forgiveness does not mean elimination of earthly consequences.**

#### **Joshua 10:1-5 ESV**

> (1) As soon as Adoni-zedek, **king of Jerusalem**, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how **the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,** (2) **he feared greatly**, because **Gibeon was a great city**, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, **and all its men were warriors.** (3) So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham **king of Hebron**, to Piram **king of Jarmuth**, to Japhia **king of Lachish**, and to Debir **king of Eglon**, saying,  
> (4) “**Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon**. For it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel.”  
> (5) **Then the five kings of the Amorites**, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and **encamped against Gibeon and made war against it**.

With this new treaty with the Gibeonites, Israel has started getting too close to Jerusalem for Adoni-zedek’s comfort and knows the cities need to band together to stand against this new threat. Adoni-zedek creates a coalition with 4 other kings of southern cities in the Promised Land. Yet, instead of directly attacking Israel, they attack the Gibeonites. Adoni-Zedek wants to set a precedent for all the other people of the Promised Land that making a treaty with Israel is treasonous and will be viewed as a threat. The Gibeonites respond by relying on their new ally.

#### **Joshua 10:6-7 ESV**

> (6) And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, “Do not relax your hand from your servants. **Come up to us quickly and save us and help us**, **for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.”** (7) So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.

Israel now had to defend a people that originally they should have been destroying. Their foolish choice had immediate consequences. Instead of continuing the attacks in the Promised Land city by city, Israel was going to face a unified enemy. Yet, God is so gracious and faithful. Israel is walking in truth and upholding their mistaken peace treaty, and God will honor them for this.

#### **Joshua 10:8 ESV**

> (8) And the LORD said to Joshua, “**Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands**. Not a man of them shall stand before you.”

Even after Joshua and Israel failed to consult God, He still loves and works on behalf of His people. **God does not abandon them** as they have responded well to their mistake and are upholding the oath they made in God’s name. Our God is so gracious to us. **In His grace, God honors a treaty that was never meant to happen.** Instead of telling Israel that this was their mess and they had to figure it out for themselves, He continued to be faithful to His promises. **Israel was walking in fellowship with God, and He was willing to fight with them to defend the Gibeonites.** In a way only God could; this battle against the 5 kings of the Amorites will also accomplish God’s own will of taking over more of the Promised Land. God is so faithful even when we are not. It is amazing that over **400 years later** God is still upholding this ill-conceived peace treaty with the Gibeonites.

##### **2 Samuel 21:1-3 ESV**

> (1) Now there was a famine in the days of **David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the LORD.** And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, **because he put the Gibeonites to death.”** (2) So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.  
> (3) And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? **And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?”**

**Time does not undo God’s promises and His faithfulness**. God did not forget the covenant Israel made in His name. Saul violated it, and Israel was disciplined with a famine for his actions. As the famine got worse, David sought God for wisdom. Israel needed to be faithful to their promise because God was still upholding it.

Our sin makes life so complicated, and it can bring so many consequences. The answer is always the same: we are to confess and walk in a fellowship with our faithful God. **God is showing His tremendous character by being faithful to the lying deceitful Gibeonites.** He is a God that, while just, brings restoration and beauty out of a disastrous situation.

#### **Joshua 9:23; 27 ESV** 

> (23) **Now therefore you are cursed,** and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood and drawers of water **for the house of my God.”**
> 
> (27) But Joshua made them that day **cutters of wood and drawers of water** **for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD**, to this day, in the place that he should choose.

The Gibeonites were cursed to slavery because of their deceitfulness to the Israelites. They were given the laborious task of providing wood and water to the tabernacle and future temple. **While there was a curse in this, God made it into a blessing in that the Gibeonites were exposed to the things of God**.

##### **1 Chronicles 16:39 ESV**

> (39) And he left Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests **before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place that was at Gibeon**

For a time the tabernacle was set up in Gibeon, and eventually it even became a city for the Levites (Josh 21:10; 17). Through this, the Gibeonites were saved and became worshippers of the one true God. We know this because we notice who is mentioned years later when Israel came out of exile and started to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

##### **Nehemiah 3:7 ESV**

> (7) And next to them **repaired** **Melatiah the Gibeonite** and Jadon the Meronothite**, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah**, the seat of the governor of the province Beyond the River.

The Gibeonites were a people who were to be destroyed. Yet as the result of a foolish peace treaty, God not only preserved them but can also bring redemption. These deceitful cheating people became worshipers. They were not destroyed by Israel, or Assyria, or even Babylon but worshipped God and even helped rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. God was faithful to Israel to work on their behalf even when they made a foolish treaty. God was faithful to the Gibeonites who lied and cheated. We can trust God to be faithful to us.

##### **Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV**

> (21) **But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:** (22) **The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases**; His mercies never come to an end;  
> (23) they are new every morning; **great is Your faithfulness.**