Read Joshua
4-6 & Luke
2:1-24
To discover:
As you read note what God displays about himself.
To ponder:
The echoes of Exodus continue. After passing through the Jordan
twelve stones (representing the twelve tribes) are taken from the middle of the
river as a “sign” to future generations of what the LORD did. It is stressed
“everything” is done as God commanded. 40,000 cross ready for “war,” with the
tribes due to settle east of the Jordan
in the front. After all are safe, the priests follow from the middle of the
river where they were standing with the ark, and the waters return. This must
have been astonishing to witness and clearly no coincidence. By this means God
“exalts” Joshua, who is then “revered” like Moses. God also shows his power to
“the peoples of the earth” and moves this generation of Israelites to fear him.
Immediately we then read that “the hearts” of the Canaanite kings sank. No
doubt this helped them to yield more quickly to Israel.
God’s defeat of evil in the hearts of his people now serves as a witness to
others of his power (1 Pet 2v12).
Just as Israel
left Egypt
after the previous generation were circumcised and celebrated the Passover, so
this generation do both, demonstrating that the goal of their salvation from Egypt
has been reached. This is also seen the following day when the people first eat
the “produce” of the land and find God’s provision of manna stopped.
By being circumcised Israel
keep the covenant with Abraham, affirming it is being fulfilled, and ensuring
all are right with God before looking to him to fight for them. By declaring
this “rolled away the reproach of Egypt” God declared it marked Israel as
finally free and even purified from their time in Egypt, ready for their new
life in the land. Baptism marks a similar dying of the old self and coming
alive as a new creation (Col
2v9-15, 2 Cor 5v17).
The people are camped just east
of Jericho at Gilgal. As Joshua
goes near the city, he mysteriously meets an angelic “commander of the army of
the LORD.” In repeating God’s words to Moses at the burning bush, it seems he
represents the presence of God himself. This would have reassured Joshua
greatly that God fights for him. And the theme of assurance runs through the
next chapter as God declares he “has” delivered Jericho
to him.
The seven day encirclement may
hint of the days of creation, signifying that the land is just that for God’s
special people. For six days the armed men march round once, with seven priests
following in front of the ark, representing God’s presence. On the seventh day they
do this seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets, and ending with a
long blast and a shout from the people that topples the walls. God had
instructed Israel
previously to sound trumpets on entering battle so that he remembers and rescues
them (Num 10v9). And the “shout” was probably a cry of victory (Num 23:21, Jos 6v16). It is that easy for God to
defeat his enemies.
The detail stresses God’s
instructions were carried out, and Jericho
devoted to him: the people killed, the valuable items put in God’s treasury and
the city and all else in it burned. Only Rahab and her family are saved.
Initially they are put outside the camp as ceremonially unclean, but then live
“among the Israelites.” 6v25 signals that the book was written in her lifetime.
Joshua’s curse displays the
absolute nature of God’s judgement. Jericho
could be used for inhabitation (18:21),
but not be properly re-established as it once was (1 Kgs 16v34).
Praying it home:
Thank God that we are new creations in Christ. Pray that you
would trust God always to fight for you against the world, the flesh and the
devil.
Thinking further:
The appearance of the “commander of the army of the LORD” is
intriguing. Elsewhere we see that there is some sort of correspondence between
what goes on in the angelic realm and the affairs of nations on earth. Indeed,
in Daniel 10v12-14 the word “prince” is the same as “commander” here. However,
this individual looked so like a man that Joshua simply quizzed him. Yet
hearing who he was, he revered him as one should God. Moreover, the instruction
to take off his sandals suggests Joshua is as close to God as Moses was when at
the burning bush. The “man” may therefore be “the angel of the LORD,” or even
the pre-incarnate Christ. Whatever, by taking the form he did with drawn sword
and describing himself as the “commander” of God’s armies, he is reassuring
Joshua that God fights for him.
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