Joshua 8

1 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed (confounded and demoralized): take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:

• God tells the nation to return to the place of or defeat. No defeat or failure in the life of the child of God needs to be a permanent one.
• Joshua had experienced a most humiliating defeat, and the cause was a lack of prayer and hidden sin. But now all of that was behind him and the nation, and it was time to face Ai again. But this time they would face the enemy in the power and wisdom of God.
• The place of defeat would soon become the place of victory. Beloved, we all have Ai’s in our lives. But when we turn fully to God, those places of humiliation and defeat can become places of victory and blessing.

 

2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.

·      It was only after Joshua and the people of Israel had obeyed what God had said concerning the removal of sin that they were ready to receive fresh instruction from God. Try as we might, we cannot separate purity and power beloved. Now that the nation had been cleansed of its sin, the promise of God could again be applied to the conflict at hand.

• Observe that God said that He has given the king, his people and city into their hands, but this time they were to take the whole fighting army of men in this battle. Again we see that divine providence does not diminish the importance of human responsibility and human responsibility is of no value apart from divine assistance.
• We mentioned last week how there was no record of prayer in the matter concerning the first attack of Ai. Joshua appears to give the orders to send out only a few thousand men based on the assessment of the spies that went out to search out the city. Here we see that God’s instructions to Joshua were to send out the all the people of war. If he had prayed and not simply made a rash decision based on the intelligence information from the spies, the outcome would have been much different.
• Would Joshua learn from this tragic mistake? We will get the answer in chapter 9 when another mistake is made by making a decision based on outward appearances apart from prayer.
• What Achan had stolen from God in Jericho that had been designated to be destroyed or given to God is now made available by God for the people. What a lesson this is when we are tempted to take into our own hands by ungodly means what by faith we should trust to come from God's hand in His own way and time. Pastor Bob Caldwell

 

What follows in v. 3-8 is a brief description of God's plan in conquering Ai. You will see God uses a totally different plan than He used for Jericho. No walking around the wall in silence. No trumpets.

Unlike the earlier case of Jericho, the divine instructions for the defeat of Ai depended less, if at all, on miraculous intervention than on clever strategy. The key in both instances is that the Lord’s instructions are to be heeded. ESV Study Bible Note

This teaches us that we must commit all of our ways to God in prayer and be open and dependent upon His leading rather than to trust in the methods He has used in the past.

3 ¶ So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city (i.e. the 30,000 soldiers were to set an ambush behind the city): go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready: 5 And I, and all the people that are with me (a smaller band of soldiers appears to be a decoy group to lure defenders out), will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them, 6 (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.

7 Then (when they come out of the city to attack us) ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.

• Please note again that they were engage in this battle according to The Word of The Lord.

 

9 Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people. 10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai. 12 And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.

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

 

13 And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city.

• Observe beloved that when are walking in the Sprit and following the leading of The Lord, we are wiser than our enemies. This is not to be interpreted as a source of self confidence, but of continual dependence and confidence in the wisdom and power of God.

 

15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. 17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.

18 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.

• Joshua’s hoisted javelin represented the go-ahead indicator to occupy Ai. Earlier, Moses’ uplifted rod and arms probably signified trusting contact with God for victory over Amalek (Ex. 17:8–13).
• Again we find Joshua listening for the voice of God in the midst of the battle. He lifted his hand not when he felt like the battle was won, but when God told him to.

 

19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.

20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.

21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai. 22 And the other (the army of Israel inside the city) issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.

23 ¶ And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. 24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. 25 And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.

26 For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

• In punishing men for their sins, God uses such instruments as he sees best, and it was no more wrong for him to destroy the men of Ai by the hand of the Israelites, than it would have been to destroy them by pestilence, famine, or an earthquake. FBN
• Remember beloved that God has given to this culture 400 years to repent and turn to Him, but they refused. They had heard about His power and might and His sound defeat over all of the pagan gods of Egypt. They had reached that sobering point where they were irredeemably wicked and beyond repentance.
• We know that the Canaanites practiced every possible sexual perversion known to man. They sacrificed their children alive upon fiery altars to their pagan gods. Remember what I have said many times before beloved, God measures time morally.

 

27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua.

• If only Achan had obeyed God and waited upon Him. This teaches us another valuable lesson in life. Even what God designs for us o have must be had in His time.

 

28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. 29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.

30 ¶ Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal (Mount Ebal is 3,077 feet high and was located opposite Mt. Gerizim with a valley between them),

31 As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole (uncut) stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.

• Burnt Offering - The unique feature of this offering was that it was to be completely consumed on the altar by fire. This was to signify complete consecration of the person, family, or nation that gave the offering. As with every blood sacrifice, this sacrifice would have conveyed the atonement for sin. This is the offering Paul seems to have in mind when he called believers to live wholly consecrated to God in Romans 12:1-2.
• Peace Offering - This offering represents peace between and fellowship with God and man. After the animal was killed its blood was sprinkled to signify atonement for sin. The ultimate peace offering is that of The Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

32 And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

33 And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.

34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant (lived) among them.

• When the battle of Ai was over, Joshua took the people 30 miles north to the valley between Mt Ebal and Mt Gerizim to celebrate the victory. Half of the tribes stood on Mt Ebal (the mount of cursing) and half of the tribes stood on Mt Gerizim (the mount of blessing).
• Keep in mind that even thought there was reason to celebrate this victory at Ai, the war was not over for there were still other cities for them to conquer. Taking the people through a battle zone could be a risk indeed. BY taking them to this place appointed by God, Joshua never wanted to people to forget that victory in war is always connected with obedience to the revealed word of God.

 

Joshua 9

1 ¶ And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan (the west side, where the Israelites then were), in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea (Mediterranean) over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof; 2 That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

• Listed here are the Amorite city-states that controlled the southern region of Canaan. They moved quickly to develop a coalition in the hopes of turning back Israel.

 

3 ¶ And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, 4 They did work wilily (cunningly, craftily), and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent (cracked), and bound up; 5 And old shoes and clouted upon their feet (worn out sandals), and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.

• The city of Gibeon was northwest of Jerusalem and approximately seven miles from Ai. The Gibeonites were Hivites whose iniquity, like that of the rest of the Canaanites, was full to overflowing. The Israelites were not to show compassion toward them, but were to exterminate all of them, as they had the people of Jericho and Ai. It was the will of God, as we read in Joshua 3:10.Deuteronomy 7:1-6 reveals the divine rationale for such extermination.
• Ambassadors- a group of men were sent to give the appearance that they represented the ruler of a distant city in another region.

 

6 And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal (this is where the people of Israel had been camped since they had crossed the Jordan), and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us (treaty; an agreement not to destroy them).

7 And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you?

8 And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye?

9 And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,

• They lied and pretended to have a genuine regard for the God of the Jews, when in fact, their primary concern was a way of preserving their own lives and their way of life as much as possible. Did In Egypt - This would refer to the plagues that God brought upon Pharaoh and Egypt, plaques that were directed toward the gods of Egypt (Ex. 12:12).
• As part of their deception they did not make mention of any of the events that transpired since Israel crossed the Jordan. This is because they would not have heard about it if they had been traveling for several weeks.

 

10 And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon (Num. 21:21-30), and to Og king of Bashan (Num 21.33-35), which was at Ashtaroth. 11 Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us.

12 This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy:

13 And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.

14 And the men (of Israel) took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.

• Joshua had fallen prey to acting as he had in the attack upon Ai and failing to seek God's direction. Joshua thereby became trapped in his tendency to act upon his own perception without first laying it before God.
• They interrogated these people, they listened to their fabricated story, they observed their worn-out clothes and sandals, and they tasted and probably smelled their bread. They did all these things. But they did not do the one thing they should have done: They did not inquire of the Lord. How true this is of us also! How often, when we are face with serious decisions, will we do everything but speak to the One who knows everything.

• If men do not ask counsel of God, and seek his direction, they may expect to be habitually and grossly deceived. FBN
• There will always be Gibeonites in the world and in the church. As Christians, we are in constant danger of being deceived by the world, the flesh, and the devil. We cannot always judge situations properly; we must have God’s wisdom and discernment for every single situation.  
• Let me give you an example from Scripture. Recall how the prophet Samuel almost anointed the wrong son of Jesse as king of Israel. When he saw Eliab the firstborn, Samuel thought, Surely the Lords anointed stands here before the Lord (1 Samuel 16:6). He was convinced that Eliab was the one God had chosen and was about to anoint him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him (v. 7). Samuel said, He is the man!  But God said, He is not the man. I have rejected him. Then comes the principle: The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. How many times have we made decisions based simply on outward appearance! We think, That person is so good-looking or so smart or so spiritual, I mean look at high they lift their hands when we are singing or listen to how many Scriptures he can quote, what more could we want.
• In 2Sam 7, David told Nathan that he had it in his heart to build God and temple and Nathan told him to go for it! But that night, The Lord told Nathan that David was not to build the temple. Even a prophet can be deceived when he fails to consult The Lord in all things. Obviously what David felt in his heart was not God’s will for him, but for his son Solomon.  
• Alan Redpath wrote: Never, never, NEVER trust your own judgment in anything. When common sense says that a course is right, lift your heart to God, for the path of faith and the path of blessing may be in a direction completely opposite to that which you call common sense. When voices tell you that action is urgent, that something must be done immediately, refer everything to the tribunal of heaven. Then, if you are still in doubt, dare to stand still. If you are called on to act and you have not time to pray, don’t act. If you are called on to move in a certain direction and cannot wait until you have peace with God about it, don’t move. Be strong enough and brave enough to dare to stand and wait on God, for none of them who wait on him shall ever be ashamed. That is the only way to outmatch the devil (Alan Redpath, Victorious Christian Living: Studies in the Book of Joshua
• Those who refuse to pray are in essence saying that they do not need God’s wisdom or guidance for this “obvious” decision. We had better make it a holy habit to go to God for everything, because He may have something to tell us which will be the exact opposite of what we are thinking. Prayer should be the divine breath of every single Christian and every single congregation.

 

15 ¶ And Joshua made peace (peace treaty) with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes (leaders) of the congregation sware unto them (ratified it with an oath).

• Israel precipitously made peace with the Gibeonites (11:19) who lived nearby, even though God had instructed them to eliminate the people of cities in the Land (Deut. 7:1, 2). God permitted peace with cities outside (Deut. 20:11–15).

 

16 And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them. 17 And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim. 18 And the children of Israel smote them not (did not attack them), because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes (grumbled against their leaders). 19 But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them.

20 This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them. 21 And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood (woodcutters) and drawers (carriers) of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them.

 

22 ¶ And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you (we live a long way from you); when ye dwell among us?

23 Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.

• He took responsibility for the consequences of his poor judgment.

 

24 And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.

26 And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not.

27 And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose.

• Note how God made something good out of this bad decision. These pagan Gibeonites would become a daily part in assisting the Israelites in the worship of the True and Living God. Only heaven will disclose the impact that this may have had on the hearts of some of these Gibeonites.
• As the years progressed, the Gibeonites were given greater responsibilities. Under Nehemiah, the Gibeonites are listed as helping in building the wall of Jerusalem close to what is known as the Old Gate (Neh 3.7).

 

The importance of being a person of prayer. Ladies, men, I urge you to consider the various prayer meetings that we have scheduled during the week. Consider serving as a prayer warrior for one of the services here at KF. Pray through your bulletins…

Beware of Gibeonites….especially the ones that speak fluent Christaineze, but inside are ravening wolves and deceivers. Beware of making snap, rash decisions based on outward appearance instead of God’s direction and will. Be sensitive to fresh wisdom from God is spiritual warfare. His strategy for Jericho was completely different from His strategy for Ai.