JOSHUA 8

1. 1-2 God's commands

   All the fighting men were involved this time. Lack of solidarity was part of the problem with the first attack on Ai. (Remember the instructions to the trans-Jordan tribes that they were to be part of all battles.) Look at the literary structure of Joshua 6-8, especially the similar wording in sections 1 and 1'.

   1. The Destruction of Jericho (6:1-27)

   begins “I have given unto your hand Jericho, with its king...”

   ends with a curse on the city

   2. Achan's Sin (7:1-26)

   begins and ends with mention of Yahweh's “burning anger.”

   1'. The Destruction of Ai (8:1-29)

   begins “I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his...city, and his land.”

   ends with a curse on the king

   
   

   This last curse is somewhat under the ban like Jericho, but a with slight loosening of restrictions. Subsequent conquests will have booty going mainly to the Israelites since it was no longer the first fruits.

   A brief strategy is laid out:

   3-8 complete battle plan

   Details are not revealed yet.

   Ten times the total men take place compared to the first battle (7:4).

   9-13 preparation for battle

   14-17 first phase of battle

   The people of Ai are lured to defeat by their self confidence just as were the Israelites at the first battle of Ai (v. 3). This is the first reversal of situation compared to the previous chapter.

   18-23 second phase of battle

   Stretching out the javelin is a signal to those in ambush (He climbed out of the ravine where he could be seen), OR

   Theological importance – what does this action remind us of? The rod held out by Moses at the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14) and the battle with the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-11).

   24-29 aftermath of battle

   This time there was absolute obedience to God's wishes. Symbolism of hanging the king: he was cursed.

   Verse 29 is parallel to 7:26 with their heap of stones (second reversal of positions).

   Why didn't they circle the city with trumpets? Just as with Jesus' miracles of healing, there are different external details in each so that we don't attempt to reduce divine power to a magic formula by which we can manipulate God.

   This battle appears to be purely by natural means while the conquest of Jericho was wholly supernatural, but God is equally present in both events.

   30-32 sacrifices at altar

   The OT ceremonies always seem a bit strange to us with little relevance for our lives today. Let's look for the basic meanings and spiritual truths behind this particular one, which had actually been commanded in advance by Moses (Deuteronomy 27-28).

   How close by was Mt. Ebal? Consult a map. This site had great significance for the Jews. It was near Shechem (the site of Abraham's first altar to the LORD, Jacob's well and Joseph's tomb – all associated with God's presence in the land).

   unhewn stones – The theological explanation for this command lies in the fact that they were natural objects made by God, not carefully cut by stone masons or decorated by artists and craftsmen, all of which would draw attention away from God and toward man. This same principle should hold in our places of worship today. They should be functional without being cluttered or ostentatious. This, however, is not such a simple matter. For example, on one hand there are the quite plain meeting houses designed by the Shakers in New England. Today they are admired greatly for their architectural beauty. On the other hand, the classic cathedrals of Europe are filled with beautiful sculptures, stained glass panels, and paintings. And as long as the subjects of this art draw the worshiper closer to God and the understanding of His word, they also have their purpose in worship.

   importance – The proclamation that the Israelites' right to possess Canaan is intimately tied to the Israelites being a unique possession of God and obeying His laws.

   Several kinds of offerings were made first:

   The Burnt Offering: It was to be burned up entirely with none saved out for eating. We as Christians do not offer animal sacrifices since Christ's sacrifice on the cross took the place of that for us. However, we can give God our hearts, faith, gifts, deeds, life, bodies, prayers and praise.

   That last item is one that Christians practice corporately as a ceremony every Sunday, in the form of song. Do we really thinking about the words we are singing? Are they wholly given up to God, or did we hold back some of ourselves by letting our thoughts wander elsewhere, being worried about not singing well enough, or perhaps being proud of how good we sound?

   The Peace Offering: It was given next. However, in this case, some portion of the animal was saved to be eaten by the people. Of course, at this time only clean animals could be eaten by the Jews. Now that Peter's vision has clarified that all food is ceremonially clean, we as Christians are free to partake with thanksgiving of donuts and coffee at church.

   The significance of the peace offering lies in two aspects

   God doesn't despise physical things since He made them in the first place. That is why it is appropriate that we have physical means to worship God, such as through communion and baptism. This is unlike the Gnostics and other religious groups today who denigrate all forms of physical expression as being beneath the higher spiritual truths.

         As in other aspects of our worship of God, we get something out of the process ourselves. In                 blessing God, we ourselves are blessed. Praise is for our good, but must not be done with that as             our primary motive in doing it.

33-35 blessings and curses

33a: It is obvious from this verse that all of Israel was to attend, even including the sojourners, non-Israelites such as Rahab who had attached themselves to the Jewish people. Since these non-Jews would be affected (for good or for bad) by the relationship of Israel with God, they all needed to understand God's beliefs and laws.

The lesson for us is that we should not restrict in any way visitors to our church services or stand in the way of their ability to worship with us. After all, this was one of the reasons Jesus cleared out the money-changers from the Court of the Gentiles at the temple.

If you look at a picture of the landscape where this ceremony took place, you can see that the valley between the two mountain slopes actually serves as a natural amphitheater so that all of the people could hear what was being said.

The ark was present as a representation of God Himself.

For more details, read Deuteronomy 27:11-15 with additional blessings and curses in Chapter 28. Interestingly, those tribes who were to represent the blessings were all descendants of Jacob's wives. By contrast, those tribes who represented the curses were all descendants of Jacob's concubines.

But why were the curses on Mt. Ebal where the altar was?

Francis Schaeffer's explanation was that the Samaritans had built the altar on Mt. Gerizim and pursued blessings by trying to get it on their own merits, doing good deeds. The Jews knew that they were under the curse of the law and could only be saved by God's forgiveness of their sins.

My own explanation is a little simpler: the tribes are either facing or with their backs to the laws of God. It has been said, “The blessings and curses are the two poles around which the history of the covenant revolves.”

One additional symbolic element is worth discussing. Since this ceremony took place near Jacob's well, we need to jump to NT times and look at an episode that took place there. Read John 4:19-24.

As an informative exercise, I once divided my Sunday school class into two sections, with one group representing the curses and one the blessings. They were then asked to look for as many curses or blessings, respectively, as they could find in the New Testament and then read them to the other group.