One of the reasons why I think that these overviews can be good for us, it's that sometimes
when we just look at individual stories, we kind of lose the big picture of the context
of the entire book in which these stories are found.
And not only that, but just it can serve as a review for people who even know these
stories just to be reminded of these things and to help us to know where to find
things in our Bible because a lot of times situations come up or we're talking to somebody
and something comes to mind, we want to be able to know where to find things in the Bible
and it's good to just have an idea of how the Bible is laid out, what's in the book
of Joshua, what's the book of Joshua about, and you can take a step back in an overview
like this and kind of get the big picture as opposed to taking a microscope to just
one verse or two verses, kind of get the big themes of the book.
Now the book of Joshua, and I've already done Genesis through Deuteronomy kind of as
a part of this series if you want to call it that because it's not every week or anything,
it just kind of is whenever we feel like it, but in the book of Joshua we've got
at first in chapter one this introduction where God is giving instructions to Joshua
and you really get a big part of the theme of the book from these first instructions
that Joshua has given.
Moses has just died at the end of the book of Deuteronomy and Joshua is now in charge.
He's picking up the mantle and he's got some pretty big shoes to fill and he's about
to lead the children of Israel into the promised land, okay, because if you remember
they'd been slaves in Egypt and they crossed the Red Sea and they left Egypt.
They were supposed to go in the promised land 40 years ago but they ended up not having
faith and so they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
Now finally 40 years later it's a new generation and Joshua has been ordained to lead them
into the promised land.
Now look at verse number six of Joshua chapter one it says, be strong and of a good
courage and these two instructions to be strong and to be of a good courage are going
to be repeated over and over again because this is the major theme.
For unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto
their fathers to give them only be thou strong and very courageous, there it is again, that
thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded
thee turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper
whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, this is probably the most
famous verse in the book of Joshua.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein
day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein
for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous and then shalt thou have good success.
Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord
thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
So the instruction keeps hammering this point, be strong and of a good courage, be strong
and of a good courage.
Now Joshua has this difficult task ahead of him because the land of Palestine, the
promised land, it's already filled with nations who already live there and many of
these nations are somewhat powerful and they have chariots of iron, they have great
militaries and they have walled cities, the Hivites and the Jebusites, the Perizzites,
the Canaanites, all these different groups are there and God has determined that these
people are super wicked, they've done all kinds of abominations and perversions and
just horrible horrific things that are described in Leviticus chapter 18, Leviticus chapter
20 and so God has slated these people for annihilation and so the children of Israel
are going to come in and bring judgment upon these existing nations who have become
so incredibly ungodly and then they're going to dispossess them of their land and
they're going to take over the promised land.
And so this is a big job because there's a lot of fighting involved, I mean it's
a military conquest that's going to take years and so you can see how someone like
Joshua could be daunted by the task of going in and fighting all these battles but
here's what you have to understand, it's not a difficult task, it's an impossible
task, it's literally impossible for Joshua to lead these ragtag troops from the wilderness
into the promised land and fight these Canaanites on their own turf and win against these walled
cities and iron cherries, it's just not happening.
But it is going to happen through the power of God because with men it's impossible
but with God all things are possible and this is why the only skill that Joshua
really needs to have is just doing what God told him to do and just not getting
scared, don't panic, just do what I told you to do, be strong and of a good courage,
look I've commanded you, I'm going to do it, I promise to give you the promised
land, that's why it's called the promised land, and I am going to get you to the
finish line but you just have to stay with me.
Don't fear, don't panic, don't quit because why did they fail 40 years ago?
They feared, they didn't have the faith and so that's why this instruction is hammered
over and over again because it's really the only thing Joshua needs to do is just
do what he's told and not panic.
He doesn't need to be a brilliant military tactician or an incredible warrior or trainer
of combat, right?
He just has to do what he's told and have faith and you know that's a lot like
the Christian life obviously.
We need to obey the Lord, we need to follow God's commandments and just not fear.
Just trust that the Lord is going to guide us through life and that if we acknowledge
him in all our ways, he shall direct our paths and so fear is the enemy today in
our lives just as much as fear was the enemy in Joshua's day.
And not only fear but also weakness because it's be strong and of a good courage, right?
So we don't want to get weak and just quit, get lazy, give in, faint in our minds.
No we need to stand firm, be strong, don't flinch, have faith, have courage and God
will get us to the destination.
So Joshua gets these important instructions and that's really a theme for the whole
book of Joshua because the conquest is going to be the work of God not just the work
of a powerful military or something like that.
It's all going to be done through the power of God.
So then we have Joshua give instructions to the people.
So the first part of chapter one is God instructing Joshua.
Now Joshua's instructions to the people aren't very complicated.
You know look at verse 11, he says,
"'Pass through the host and command the people saying,
"'Prepare you vittles, for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan
to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.'"
So the instruction is pretty simple at this point.
It's just head them up, move them out, let's go, right?
Just let's go, pack your stuff and in three days we're crossing the Jordan River.
Okay, and then here's the people's answer.
Look down at verse 16, and the answer Joshua is saying,
"'All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will
go."
Because they don't want to make that same mistake that was made 40 years ago.
According as we hearken unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee,
only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses.
You know, we want to follow you as long as the Lord's with you.
Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto
thy words, and all that thou commandest him he shall be put to death, only be strong
and of a good courage.
Now notice, the people have obviously heard the instruction that Joshua heard.
And so they're reiterating that to Joshua, because they're reiterating, hey, be strong
and of a good courage.
Because of course, God did not speak directly to Joshua.
When the Bible says in Joshua chapter one, the Lord said to Joshua, you know, God spoke
directly to Moses, but Moses is kind of the only one of the major prophets where
God spoke them directly.
That typically doesn't, usually God's speaking through some kind of a prophet, okay?
And so the Bible will often just, as a shorthand, will say God said to so and so, but
a lot of times he's doing that through an angel or prophet, some kind of a messenger.
And so the people probably heard that injunction, or maybe he has passed it along to them.
But they are saying, look, just like God told you not to be scared, we're telling
you the same thing.
Hey, be strong and of a good courage.
Let's do it.
So here's what you get from that final verse.
Everybody's on the same page.
You know, Joshua, the people, God, everybody's in agreement.
They're on the same page.
This is ready to move forward into chapter two.
Now one thing I want to quickly point out before we get into the rest of the book is
that you could also take a symbolic view of the book of Joshua.
And obviously the things in the book of Joshua really happened.
Of course, this is an actual history of what happened.
But there's also an allegorical interpretation that is, you know, another layer of meaning
here.
And really there are so many layers that we could spend the rest of our lives reading
the book of Joshua and keep finding more because the Bible is so deep.
But of course, the name Joshua, in case you're not aware of this, is the Old Testament
version of the name Jesus.
So that when you're in the New Testament, any verse that talks about Joshua in the
New Testament actually calls him Jesus.
So in Acts chapter seven, when reference is made to Joshua, it says they went with Jesus
into the Promised Land.
But that's just because names in the Old Testament are in their Hebrew version, and then they
get moved into the Greek version.
So Elisha becomes Elisias, Elijah becomes Elias, and Isaiah becomes Esaias, right?
You've probably noticed that when you're reading the New Testament that people's
names are spelled a little bit differently.
But it's kind of interesting that Joshua's name ends up getting spelled Jesus in the
New Testament.
Now the modern versions will just change it to Joshua.
So you'll be reading Acts chapter seven or Hebrews chapter four, and it'll just put Joshua.
Which okay, it is Joshua that we're talking about, but the reason why the KJV leaving
it as Jesus is superior is because now you learn as the reader, because the context
makes it clear that it's Joshua in Acts seven.
And then you kind of put two and two together and realize, oh, Joshua and Jesus are the
same name.
Why?
Because Joshua is a great picture of Jesus.
So this is what I mean about like a symbolic or allegorical interpretation for the book
of Joshua is that Joshua represents Jesus.
See Moses represents the law, right?
The law was given by Moses.
And if you think of it as a salvation allegory, you know, Moses can't get them into the
Promised Land because they come short.
They've all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
So the law can't get us saved, right?
Moses can't get them into the Promised Land.
Who does get them into the Promised Land?
Jesus, right?
Jesus does what Moses can't do.
Jesus does what the law can't do.
Okay.
And so, and what do they have to do?
They really just have to just trust God and he's going to do the work, right?
And so obviously no allegory is perfect.
No symbol is perfect, but there's a lot that you can do with that allegory.
And I already did a sermon called Jesus and the book of Joshua where I explored a lot
of that, but today we're going to focus more on just kind of the surface interpretation,
but I'm just putting that out there that there's another way to read the book of
Joshua where you're thinking about Joshua as Jesus and you can be even more enriched
by that.
But anyway, back to what we're saying.
So in Joshua chapter one, we've got this prologue, introduction, instructions are given.
Now chapter two, we roll into the story about the two spies and Rahab the harlot says
in chapter two verse one, and Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to
spy secretly saying, go view the land, even Jericho.
Now here's what's funny.
Everything went bad the first time 40 years ago because they sent spies into the land
to check things out and see how things were.
And the spies came back and 10 of them gave an evil report and said, we checked it
out and this is impossible.
We can't do it.
We're going to be destroyed.
It's a bad idea.
And then two spies were good.
Caleb and Joshua.
Caleb and Joshua came back and said, you know, what in the world?
God's going to give us the victory here.
Let's do this.
And so that's what destroyed everything where the 10 bad spies, the 10 spies died.
And of course the children of Israel punished by having to wander in the wilderness for
40 years.
Well, what's kind of funny is that this time they just send two spies.
It's almost like, Hey, we're only sending the two good guys this time.
Not the 10 idiots, right?
Even though it's two different people, but there's a little bit of symbolism there.
So they send these two guys and these two guys, man, they are the exact opposite
of the first spies.
These guys don't really accomplish a lot on their recon trip.
Okay.
These two guys are sent out, go view the land, even Jericho.
They went and came into a harlot's house named Rahab and lodge there.
Interesting choice of accommodations.
But anyway, they go there and they, they basically, they show up and they spend the
night and she hides them and the authorities come because somehow they were detected coming
in and she says, no, no, they went that away.
And she lies for them and, and, and basically sends the troops going the wrong way.
She hides them on her rooftop and she has this conversation with them in chapter two
where she tells them, you know, we know that God is with you guys.
We heard about what happened in Egypt, even though it was 40 years earlier.
You know, she's saying, look, you guys have a reputation because we know about God
parting the red sea.
We've heard things about that.
We've also heard about how in the wilderness you defeated these two great Kings, Sihon
and Ogg.
And so all of the hearts of the people of Canaan are melting right now.
They're scared because of you.
And so, Hey, I just hid you guys.
I just helped you guys out.
So do me a favor and spare me and my family.
You know, when you come through here and kill everybody, don't kill us.
And so they make an agreement with her that anybody who's inside the house when they
attack Jericho is going to be safe and she has to put this scarlet thread outside of
her house.
Her house is on the wall, so her house is part of the wall, basically.
She lives on the wall.
And so there's a red thread that she's going to put out, a red cord that she's
going to hang out the window.
And that basically is the sign.
This is Rahab's house.
Don't kill anybody here.
And anybody who's inside the house is safe.
And of course, this probably is ringing some bells with you, a similarity to Passover, right?
Because in the Passover, everybody has to be in the house and they put the blood
on the doorpost.
What color is blood?
Of course, red.
The blood on the doorpost and anybody who's inside the house is safe.
And of course, both of these things picture the blood of Jesus, okay?
And so she and her household are going to be spared because of this.
But here's what I think is so funny about this.
And there's so many things in the Bible that are funny.
The Bible is such an entertaining book to read.
And thank God, if God wants us to read the Bible every day, he gave us such a great
book to read.
Not only is it filled with spiritual truth and wisdom, but it's also just entertaining
to read because it's just that good.
And there's a lot of funny little things.
But here's what's funny is they're supposed to spy out the land and they're supposed
to spy out Jericho.
They talk to one person and then go home.
That's pretty much what they accomplished on this recon trip.
They do very little, okay?
Now what's funny is that the original spies did too much.
They went beyond their mandate.
They were supposed to come up with just recon for doing the conquest, but then they exceed
that by coming back and giving their opinions about whether it's even possible, which wasn't
really their job, okay?
These guys kind of underperform.
But that's good because God's going to do it all anyway.
It's all about just trusting in the Lord.
They pretty much just show up and talk to one person.
And when they come back to Joshua, what do they report back from their spying trip?
Just what that one person told them.
Hey, we talked to this really reliable source, okay?
She's a harlot.
Don't let that bother you, but we talked to Rahab the harlot and she says that we
got this.
I mean, she says that we can win it.
You know, she says that everybody's scared and we got this.
Oh, well, case closed.
But here's what's so beautiful about this is that it fits in perfectly with the theme
of the book.
This isn't about how well they can strategize militarily.
It's about God doing it, okay?
And again, if you want to switch over to allegorical mode for a second, you can think
about this, how obviously the scarlet thread out the window represents salvation.
Why did God pick a harlot?
Because it's a weird place for them to end up crashing.
But obviously God picked a harlot because it's a symbol of salvation and he's showing
that even a sinful person can be saved, right?
Because obviously a harlot is a morally bankrupt type person, right?
It's low on the scale of morality right there.
And so he's picking a very sinful person, but hey, did she get saved here by reforming
her life?
Did they tell her, look, you got to put a scarlet thread out the window and you
got to promise never to be a prostitute again.
Is that what they told her?
No, because salvation is by grace through faith.
She trusts, she puts the scarlet thread, she's spared physically, but it represents
a spiritual salvation.
Not only that, but basically she then is able to give good news to them in a sense
by telling them, hey, you're going to win.
We're scared.
And then they pass that on to Joshua.
So it's not a very traditional recon by any stretch of the imagination.
So anyway, that's a great story that kind of needs its own sermon, the Rahab the
Harlot story.
So I don't want to spend too much time on that because that needs its own sermon.
But anyway, they come back, they tell Joshua what they heard from Rahab the Harlot.
So then in chapter three is when they actually cross the Jordan River and they're
actually coming into the promised land proper.
And God actually miraculously parts the Jordan River for them just as he had earlier
parted the Red Sea for Moses.
And part of this shows that God is with Joshua just like he was with Moses.
And so at this time, look if you would at verse 15, and as they that bear the ark
were come unto Jordan and the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped
in the brim of the water for Jordan overflow with all his banks all the time of harvest,
that the waters which came down from above stood and rose upon and heap very far from
the city Adam that is beside Zeratan and those that came down toward the sea of the
plane even the salt sea failed and were cut off and the people passed over right
against Jericho and the priests that bear the ark of the coming of the Lord stood
firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry
ground until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
So it's a little different than the Red Sea miracle because when Moses crossed the Red
Sea there's a wall of water on either side.
There's a heap of water on either side.
In this case the water is obviously flowing from one direction so the water is kind of
pushed off to one side and they're able to cross on dry land.
Again so it's not mud or muck or you know when God does a miracle he does it all
the way and so it's literally dry ground.
And so the priests that are bearing the ark of the Lord or the Levites that are bearing
the ark of the Lord what happens is the moment that they set their foot in the water
that's when it parts so they kind of had to take a step of faith.
They're carrying this heavy box on their shoulders and they have to just step into
a river and then when they do that that's when the Jordan River parts and you have
the heap of water on the upstream side.
Well they basically get halfway into the river and they just stop so that the Levites
are carrying the ark and they're standing in the middle of what was the river now
a dry crossing and they just stand there and then all of the children of Israel filter
past them.
So they stay there just holding it and then all the children of Israel go by on dry land.
Then once all the children of Israel have crossed over then they take the ark out
of the river and then the water comes crashing back in and it is the way it is once again.
So that's chapter three, the miracle of crossing the Jordan River.
Then in chapter four they set up 12 stones from the Jordan River as a monument, as a memorial
hey let's not forget that God did this cool miracle and so they make a monument
out of 12 stones for the 12 tribes.
In chapter five Joshua is commanded by God to circumcise the Israelites.
To circumcise the Israelites.
Now if you think about it this is a big act of faith.
Wouldn't it make a little more sense to get circumcised on the other side of the Jordan
River?
I mean if you're going to get circumcised you're going to be laid up for a few days
because the Bible says after they get circumcised they have to rest in their camp
for several days because they have to heal and recover from the wound of being
circumcised.
Okay because obviously that's a surgery in a sense that's being performed and so
they need to recover a little bit.
Remember what happened in the days of Simeon and Levi avenging their sister Dinah and
all that?
Well remember those guys weren't very good at fighting right after they got circumcised
back in the book of Genesis and so if you think about this God is asking them to do
something that requires faith because it would have made a lot more sense when they
were on friendly territory.
Let's get circumcised over here on friendly territory but instead God has them cross into
the enemy territory, cross into the hostile country right outside Jericho.
Okay now we're all going to get circumcised.
You see God often does things like this because he's testing their faith and because
he's showing them that it's through his might and his power not through human wisdom
and understanding that the work is accomplished.
This is sort of like when Elijah has the face off with the prophets of Baal and he's
going to call down fire to burn up the sacrifice and he has them pouring buckets
of water on the sacrifice before he calls down fire just to make it harder.
Okay so God is telling them to be circumcised on the dangerous side of the Jordan River.
So they cross over the Jordan River and they get circumcised because they had the
children of Israel had been circumcised in Egypt but in the wilderness they didn't
circumcise the children that were born on the road in the wilderness.
They didn't do circumcision so now they're circumcising them as a nation.
Anybody who's not circumcised gets circumcised and then they have to rest of course.
Says in verse two of chapter five, you want to flip over there Joshua chapter five
verse two, at that time the Lord said unto Joshua make these sharp knives and
circumcise again the children of Israel the second time and Joshua made him sharp
knives and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
Now obviously they named it that after the fact and this is the cause why Joshua did
circumcise all the people that came out of Egypt that were all that were males
even all the men of war died in the wilderness by the way after they came
out of Egypt. Now all the people that came out were circumcised but verse
five all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they
came forth out of Egypt them they had not circumcised. And then it talks
about the fact that they had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years kind of
reiterating that in case you didn't read numbers in Deuteronomy you just jumped
in in Joshua one he's giving you a little recap of what's going on and so
forth. Okay but then at the end of chapter five you have this really cool
thing so again we had the instructions in chapter one the two spies in
chapter two chapter three they cross the Jordan River right chapter four
they build a monument chapter five is the circumcision of the Israelites then we
have this really interesting scripture at the end of chapter five beginning in
verse 13 it says and it came to pass verse 13 when Joshua was by Jericho
that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold there stood a man
over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. Now keep in mind
they're on the hostile side of the Jordan River and Joshua is near Jericho
and a guy comes toward him with a drawn sword basically the weapon is
unholstered right and so Joshua says to him at the end of verse 13 art thou
for us or for our adversaries you know hey are you for us or are you
against us because we're just looking for a reason buddy and he said in verse
14 nay now this was not a yes or no question are you for us or are you
for our enemies no because neither is the case he says nay but as the
captain of the Lord as the captain of the host of the Lord am I now come so he
says it's not that I'm for you it's that you're for me you're on my side
I'm not on your side okay now who could this possibly be that would
command such respect because Joshua is the leader ordained by God in place of
Moses there's nobody higher than him on the chain of command humanly
speaking Joshua is the man so who's this guy pulling out a sword telling
Joshua what to do okay well it says in verse 15 actually let's keep going but
as the captain of the host of the Lord am I now come and Joshua fell on
his face to earth and did worship and said unto him what sayeth my Lord
unto his servant and the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua lose
thy shoe from off thy foot for the place where I'll now standest is holy
and Joshua did so this is of course exactly what was said to Moses at the
burning bush by the Lord so this is an Old Testament what we would call an Old
Testament appearance of Jesus Christ because it's basically God in human
form speaking to man which obviously it's not God the Father because no man
has seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the
Father he had declared him there are certain Old Testament appearances of
Christ where for example in Daniel chapter 3 in the fiery furnace the
fourth man in the fire the form of the fourth is like the Son of God the
Bible says and you know again that's a whole sermon of all the Old Testament
appearances of Jesus but here we see that he is worshipped by Joshua he
receives that worship and he even tells him be even more respectful you know
he's not telling oh don't worship me I'm human he's telling him put off your
shoes from off your feet the place where I'll standest is holy ground so he
is the Lord he is Jesus Old Testament appearance of the Son of God and so
that's what we see in Joshua 5 that's a pretty cool scripture because those
appearances are rare and precious in the Old Testament so then we get into
chapter 6 we have the famous story about the walls of Jericho coming down
and this is the first battle really showing how God is the one who's gonna
make this conquest of the Promised Land possible and so the way that this
works is that they're told to approach Jericho which is totally shut
up they have all the gates shut down I mean they've boarded up the windows
and they've batten down the hatches they're ready to be attacked because
they you know this huge army has just crossed the Jordan River so they know
something's coming so they've just got everything in defensive mode and so what
God has the children of Israel do is he has them march around the city of
Jericho one time every day for six days okay and while they do this no one
is allowed to talk nobody can say anything they're not allowed to say a
single word and I've sometimes heard people use this as an illustration when
their when their kids won't shut up like can you imagine if you would have
been living in the days of Joshua you would have screwed up every you know God
probably just struck you dead or something because you just can't shut
up for six days or whatever but anyway I heard that somewhere trust me I
didn't say it I said I heard it from someone else and the armed men went
before the priests look at verse 9 of chapter 6 the armed men went before
the priests that blew with the trumpets and the rearward came after the ark the
priests going on and blowing with the trumpet so the priests are blowing
trumpets but the people aren't allowed to talk at all so if you're in
Jericho this is what you see if you look out of Jericho here's what you
see just this huge multitude of people just going around your city in a
circle not attacking not fighting and you're kind of like what is the deal
what are these people doing just blowing a lot of trumpets but no talking
so there's no trash talk you know there's no threats it's just silence
as far as verbal speech but trumpets okay so it's and look what it says in
verse 10 Joshua had commanded the people saying you shall not shout nor
make any noise with your voice neither shall any word proceed out of your
mouth until the day I bid you shout then shall you shout so they all walk
around and everybody's just silently walking around and just ominous scary
trumpets are blowing you know from the perspective of the people in
Jericho so they do this for six days in a row one lap then on the seventh
time at seventh day let's look at that look at verse 14 the second day they
compass the city once and returned into the camp so they did six days so
they did it once for six days verse 15 it came to pass on the seventh day
that they rose early about the dawning of the day because you got to get up
early if you're gonna do it seven times in one day it's a lot of laps
right it's probably a big city probably took a long time to walk all
the way around and it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early
about the dawning of the day and compass the city after the same men
are seven times only on that day they compass the city seven times the
other times the days they only did it once okay and it came to pass at the
seventh time verse 16 when the priests blew with the trumpets Joshua
said of the people shout for the Lord has given you the city and the
city shall be accursed even it and all that are there in to the Lord and
we'll get to that in a moment anyway they shout and when they scream out
with all their voice the walls of the city just collapse the walls of
Jericho just collapse obviously it's a miracle you know I've heard some people
try to explain you know it's like when a singer breaks a glass with their
voice it's like no it's not gonna work okay I don't care what frequency
that is obviously it's a miracle of God they all shout and it's just from
silence to just screaming and it just all comes crashing down and now
basically obviously Jericho is not ready for this they're not ready for
their main defense wall to just drop then obviously they just go in and just
conquer the city with no issue but I want to draw attention to this
statement here about everything being a curse look at verse 17 the city shall
be accursed even it and all that are there in to the Lord only Rahab the
harlot shall live she and all that are with her in the house because she hid
the messengers that we sent now what does that mean to be accursed I mean
when you hear a curse yeah I know what that means but here's what's
interesting accursed to the Lord now does that just mean accursed from the
Lord's perspective no it doesn't when the Bible says accursed to the
Lord what it means is it's a curse for you to mess with it because it
belongs to the Lord it all goes to the Lord okay now let me explain this to
you a little bit to make sure that there's no misunderstanding you might
be familiar with the word anathema right this is a word that's in our
King James Bible is basically just left untranslated from the original
language it's brought directly from Greek into English so instead of the
translators coming along and and saying oh anathema that means cursed it just
stays anathema right so when you're in what is it first Corinthians or
wherever it's found first Corinthians though right first
Corinthians 1622 you know if any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ let
him be anathema right maranatha and so what does that word mean anathema
well Spanish speakers probably know what this means because they still use this
in the modern Spanish language they'll say anathema right and it basically
means is accursed but here's what's interesting what that word literally
originally meant you know if you go way back in the Greek language like
you know say 2,500 years ago or something what it originally meant was
something that's offered up or dedicated okay now so why did this
word eventually come to mean cursed well the exact same reason why it says
in this passage accursed to the Lord because here's the thing things that are
dedicated to the Lord or even things that are dedicated to a false god and a
pagan religion you know it's considered that if you then turn around and mess
with that stuff and take that stuff then you are accursed so this word
evolved from meaning dedicated to meaning accursed okay and why because
those are both in many ways the same thing here's why because these things
are accursed to the Lord what are they gonna do with them the city shall be
accursed even it and all that are there in to the Lord we're not just
talking about the people or the animals but we're also talking about
even the gold and the silver the money the clothing the things those
things are also accursed to the Lord why is this important because in the
very next chapter what's Achan gonna do the Bible says in chapter 7 verse 1 but
the children of Israel committed a trespass a trespass is a sin right in
the accursed thing for Achan the son of Carmi the son of Zabdai the son of
Zerah of the tribe of Judah took of the accursed thing and the anger of
the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel what was the
accursed thing that Achan took he took gold and he took a Babylonish garment so
he's taking merchandise he's taking spoil he's taking riches he's taking
wealth now what was supposed to happen is that the first battle at
Jericho all of that spoil was to be given to the Lord and what that means
is that basically was to go into the house of God it was supposed to be
like in the offering plate it was supposed to be for the Levites to use
and the tabernacle it was supposed to go toward God okay after this and all
subsequent battles they're allowed to keep all the stuff but in the first
battle everything goes to the Lord and this is the principle of God
getting the first fruits of God getting the first things of the flock
so God gets his offering first and then the people get whatever spoil that they want
so that's why the Bible doesn't just say that it's a curse but that it's
accursed unto the Lord and that Achan touched the accursed thing it's that
thing which was dedicated to the Lord but with a curse attached to it if
you mess with it okay so that's why it's accursed to the Lord and so
therefore when Achan takes this stuff he incurs the wrath of God and that's
what chapter 7 is about and so everything in the city is a curse to
the Lord when it comes to the people what does that mean when it
comes to the people it's that they're all to be slain they're all to be
slaughtered because they've committed way too much perversion they're super
wicked they need to be wiped out and so that's what it means for them but
when it comes to the stuff it means that that stuff goes into the house of
the Lord in the future they're still to slay the wicked Canaanites but they
are to keep the stuff for themselves and then they still give a
portion unto God but a lot of it just goes into their personal wallet
after that point okay so that's chapter 6 where the walls of Jericho
fall down and Rahab the harlot is spared the city of Jericho is
destroyed the first battle I mean God just did it through a miracle by making
the walls come down obviously they still have to come in and fight but it
was just pretty easy at that point chapter 7 they move on to the next
battle which is AI and they lose the battle because Achan had stolen of the
accursed thing God isn't blessing anymore and so they lose the battle at
AI but then once they figure out what the problem is once God tells them it's
because of what Achan did they punish Achan he's killed and then once Achan is
killed then in chapter number 8 they go back to AI and they win the second
battle at AI and then God tells them that they can have whatever they
want now think about how stupid Achan is because Achan gets all excited
about the the spoils and he couldn't resist all that gold and and treasure
but if he would have just waited until AI God let them take whatever they want
from AI God's gonna let them take from all these other places as well
it's just that we need to give God his share first it's the same thing
with us in our lives you know we need look God doesn't just demand that
we have nothing for ourselves in our life but you know what he demands is
that we start out our week doing what giving him the first right that's why
we're at church on the first day of the week you know we're seeking first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all these other things are
added unto us but we seek the Lord first we give the Lord the first
fruits of our increase we give him the first day of the week right we
should always put him first and then he does bless us with something for
ourselves as well and so in chapter 7 they lose at AI but in chapter 8 they
win at AI also in chapter 8 at the end we have this important passage about
them writing down a copy of the law of Moses and reading it out loud so it
says in verse number 32 if you want to turn to Joshua chapter 8 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 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 bear the ark of the covenant 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 the Lord had commanded before that they should bless the
people of Israel 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 there was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not
before all the children of it or all the congregation of Israel with the
women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversant among
them and so they write down a copy of the law that Moses had received at
Mount Sinai and and other revelations that he received thereafter and they
write down a copy and they read it out loud for everyone to hear so
everybody hears all the commandments everybody hears the blessings and
cursings and it's so important that God's word be read out loud in all
periods at all times even in the New Testament what does the Bible say till
I come give attendance to reading and you know the obviously the context
there is in the church also and and he talks about how the epistle to the
Thessalonians should be read in the Church of the Laodiceans you know
Paul's epistles are to be read out loud okay in the front of the King
James Bible on the title page which is obviously not inspired by God
unless you're a ruckmanite but the title page says that it's appointed to
be read in churches right so you know the intention with the King James
Bible being translated as a this is designed to be read in churches and
it's pretty sad today that a lot of churches they don't really read the
Bible in church you know you go to a church service and they might read like
one verse or maybe they'll read like two three verses and then the sermon
will barely reference scripture itself read it you know and this is one of
the reasons why at our church number one we read an entire chapter before
the sermon even starts because I believe that just the the out loud reading of
God's Word is important you say well I can just read on my own well
here's the problem some people don't know how to read some people don't know
how to read well now I do obviously believe that everyone should learn how
to read if you know if you're an adult and you don't know how to read
shame on you learn how to read but what about children you know little
children don't necessarily know how to read they need to hear the Word of
God being read out loud and that's why we need to read the Word of God
out loud in our homes so that our children even before they're old
enough to read can get the Word of God coming in and then we bring our
children to church they can hear the Word of God being read out loud from
the pulpit it's an important part of our church service where we read a
chapter of the Bible but not only that in the sermon itself I've
embedded a couple chapters worth of verses typically in each sermon one to
two chapters equivalent of scripture are in each sermon 30 40 even 50
verses because we should preach the word and we should be using the Word of
God and reading it out loud so all the way back when the Bible was first
written the first parts of the Bible were committed to the written word it
was being read out loud for everybody right it's so it's always
been an oral thing okay it wasn't just a written thing that you read by
yourself on your own it's always been something that's publicly audibly
read and heard and it was that way then and it's that way now we need out
loud reading of God's Word for God's people and so that's what we see here
in chapter number eight as well chapter number nine I'll just quickly
tell you this story in chapter nine
people see in Canaan they start to see what's happening here okay Joshua
just defeats Jericho no issue he loses at Ai but then he rallies and after he
fixes things with Achan he defeats Ai no issue so the other city-states of the
region are starting to figure out hey these people are a serious threat okay
now according to Rahab the harlot everybody was all totally scared in
the first place but now they're actually seeing it happening and so
they start to realize we need to band together we need to team up against the
Israelites because what you have to understand is that modern-day nation
states are just that they're a modern-day thing typically in the
ancient world states were usually more like a city state that's why in
just a little area like Palestine you have lots and lots of Kings eventually
we're gonna have a list of 31 kings defeated by Joshua now for us 31 kings
would represent like just this in this tremendous area of like 31 countries or
something right 31 kings would be like all of Europe or something you wouldn't
really expect 31 kings to be in this little sliver of land of like if
you looked at a map modern-day map of Israel it's not that big is it you
know what I mean it's not it's not the size of the United States folks
okay it's a little sliver of land from Dan even to Beersheba is 144 miles
so we're talking about an area that's much smaller than Arizona let alone the
United States so how do you fit 31 kings into such small area it's
because each kingdom is what's called a city state okay so each city is its own
government entity with its own king and and there could be alliances that
come and go but you know when you've got this foreign invader of the
Israelites coming in you start putting aside your differences with the
neighbors and you start to team up so you have five kings that team up and
they're gonna team up against the Israelites well in chapter 9 which is
what we're talking about another group of people get smart and says hey if you
can't beat them join them so the Gibeonites are like forget this
we're not teaming up with these guys we want to team up with the Israelites
because they're winning but they somehow realize that Joshua is not
making alliances with anyone maybe someone else had already tried to make
an alliance with them but God had said don't make alliances with anybody
these people are a bunch of super weirdo perverts kill them all they're super
wicked super ungodly wipe them out and so what they do is they do this this
ruse where they basically get a bunch of old dirty clothes and they get a
bunch of old rotten food and they show up to Joshua's camp looking like
they've been traveling for a really long time and they're like oh man we're
from such a far country look at this food man this this bread was fresh when
we left look at it now and so Joshua and the elders of Israel they look at
the evidence that they're presented with bunch of old clothes and old food
and they're like well yeah I mean these guys clearly came from far away
and so they don't they don't ask counsel at the Lord they don't pray
about it talk to the prophet of God or you know they basically just they
just impulsively just go okay no problem because God had told them that
they can make alliances with people far away but these particular people in
Palestine man they need to go they need to be wiped out other people yeah
make alliances with other people but not these people so these the
Gibeonites are the ones who pull this off they lie to Joshua they lie to
the elders of Israel and Joshua falls for it and so they swear an oath to
these people that they will not destroy them that they make an alliance with
them well of course it turns out they're from right close by Gibeon and so then
when the children of Israel roll up at Gibeon they can't they can't fight
Gibeon because they've made a promise they've made this oath they've
sworn by the name of the Lord so they have to honor their agreement so
they tell these people well here's what we're gonna do we're just gonna
make you the hewers of wood and drawers of water for us you know
you're we're not gonna kill you because we made an alliance with you
but you guys are gonna do the jobs that Americans won't do and so you guys
are basically gonna be chopping wood and hauling water and you know and and
they're like great because they're just like we just don't want you to
kill us all so we're happy to draw you know draw water and you would and
you know the Israelites are mad though the Israelites get mad at their own
leadership like why did you do this we're supposed to be wiping these
people out and they're like we're sorry we promised them they're like why
did you do that why'd you promise I don't know cuz we're stupid I don't
know you know so the the children of Israel upset with their leadership but
whatever they get over it and they move on people make mistakes right so
then in chapter 10 these five kings that Gibeon didn't want to team up with
now these five kings say okay Gideon has tea or sorry Gibeon Gideon's not
coming for a long time Gibeon has made an alliance with the Israelites so
now Gibeon's our enemy now so now the five kings go and attack Gibeon and
then the Gibeonites are like Joshua you're our buddy now like you may
disagree with us you have to defend us now because that's what the oath said
so then the children of Israel they go to defend Gibeon and that's where
they face off with five kings so they're fighting against you know five armies
in a sense the resources of five different local kingdoms long story
short the and if you would look at verse number five of chapter 10 says
therefore the five kings of the Amorites the king of Jerusalem and of
course it was not called Jerusalem in those days it was called Jebus but
this shows us that the book of Joshua was clearly written after the time of
David because David's the one who renamed it Jerusalem and so it says that
the king of Jerusalem the king of Hebron the king of Jarmouth the king of
Lakish and the king of Eglon gathered themselves together and went up
they and all their hosts and camped again before Gibeon and made war
against it and then Joshua comes and you know protects the Gibeonites Joshua
and the Israelites defeat the five kings and this is where the the miracle
happens where Joshua commands the son to stand still because he says I'm not done
defeating this enemy and I don't want the son to go down before I can
completely achieve victory and so God actually makes the son stop and the
day goes longer than 24 hours and and it was a huge miracle and the Bible
says you know is that really a unique miracle in the Bible because
never did God ever just harken to the voice of a man asking for something so
outrageous I mean like you know I think we should think big when we pray
but I mean Joshua was really thinking big I mean I've prayed a lot of
prayers but can you imagine praying something so outrageous as son stands
still that's pretty wild but God's like hey I like your attitude because God
likes that kind of faith and so God liked that attitude and God said okay
why not right and basically he ends up not you know he ends up actually not
allowing the Sun to move basically just you know think about the whole
universe is everything's moving in the whole universe right I mean we
know that the earth and the planets the stars everything's moving okay you know
of course I don't want to talk about the bozos you know who I'm thinking
about right now just read read my mind right now so I don't have to do
it okay yeah all right everything's moving including the Sun okay so the
Sun stopped the Sun's usually moving and it stopped but guess what so is
everything else to earth moon stars Sun everything's moving all the time okay
you need to read my mind for the rest all right so anyway amazing
miracle then in chapter number 11 we just see more cities defeated right so we
you know defeat of five kings in chapter 10 more defeats toward the end of chapter
10 more defeats throughout chapter 11 and then in chapter 12 we get this
catalog of the 31 kings defeated by the Israelites starting with Jericho
and AI and down the list 31 kings okay now that's the fun part of the
book of Joshua right now you say well pastor Anderson you know it's it's
already 715 p.m. and we're only in chapter 12 you know are we gonna make
it okay well here's the thing we're gonna make it because chapters 13
through 22 I'm gonna say like one sentence chapters 13 through 22 is
dividing up the land and this is kind of and and I I'm not saying this
in any kind of a disrespectful way because obviously all scripture is given
by inspiration of God it's profitable for doctrine it's all a blessing
especially to those who are mature in the faith and have a lot of
understanding but let's face it as a new believer as a baby Christian as a
physical child this is a rough part of the book of Joshua to get through
Joshua chapters 13 through 22 is kind of a boring part for lack of a better
word you know to most people obviously it's not truly boring in its essence
because all of God's Word is magnificent it's just that we aren't
necessarily smart enough to process it all but the bottom line is chapters
13 through 22 is a rough patch in the book of Joshua from a reading
perspective where for lack of a better word it's kind of a boring part
okay now some people have asked me hey is it all right when I'm reading my
Bible to just kind of skip those kind of parts to just skip the quote unquote
boring parts and I would say absolutely not there's so many reasons to read the
so-called boring parts of the Bible what about was just a list of names
read it now first of all let me give you a bunch of quick reasons and then
I'll wrap up with chapters 23 and 24 first of all in these parts that seem
like they're just dragging on and on there will be these tiny little nuggets
mixed in where there's be like one really cool verse that's just kind of
tucked in there and you got to plow through all that other stuff to find
that little gem that's buried in there and that's that's one good
reason right number two it builds character you know you don't want to
be this person I might get read if it's fun no shut up and read that
list of names and build some character right because we want to in 2023 be
people who have an intention span longer than these stupid social media
sites that where videos are 30 seconds long max or 60 seconds max or
90 seconds max you know you just don't get it because you're old no I
don't get it because I don't have attention deficit disorder like you know
like I just want to sit and just watch videos that last 10 seconds each or
something stupid you know but that's the generation that we're living in
no why don't you sit down and read a book with no pictures in it and why
don't you read Joshua 13 through 22 and get some smarts okay you know grow
an attention span and actually get the ability to focus and learn and be
quiet and study and meditate and read your Bible even the hard parts that's
another good reason right build some character another reason is that it
actually makes you a better reader and let me tell you why because the
best way to read is to read through phonics okay phonics not the C and say
method okay there are some misguided pedagogical methods out there that teach
people how to read through like a C and say method where you're almost
you're just like memorizing the shapes of words or the sequences of
letters but the right way to learn how to read is that you know B says B
and C you know and you got to learn sounds you know that there's the long
a says a the short a says a a says as an apple E says a as an elephant I says
it as an Indian oh wait never mind that got canceled so it's I says it as
an inchworm now all the books are being changed they're all being
reprinted I don't know why there's anything wrong with India or Native
Americans that are call themselves Indians or whatever but anyway I
digress you know Oh says Oz and octopus uses us an umbrella that's the
right way to read where you you know how you don't know this word sound it
out if you don't know the word sounded out people who learn how to
read through phonics are better readers than people who learn like a
C and say type method here's why these lists of names make you a better
reader because of the fact that you can't just see and say because you've
never seen may her shallow low hash pass to just be like oh yeah may her
shallow hash pass of course so you have to sit there and sound out that
name it's the only way to even read the thing and this is gonna make you a
better reader in general and people are bad readers I've told them I said
hey when you get to those lists of names you should read them out loud just
practice training your brain to sound things out and the only way to read
lists of names is to sound them out because these names are so obscure
that you're not gonna just recognize like if you say if you see
JOHN it's like you know you're not you're like you're not sounding it
out your brain just sees that and just so obviously all of our brains are
eventually gonna see and say certain words but when you're learning how to
read you're better reader if you actually learn phonics and learn
phonetical rules and so reading lists of names trains your brain to
sound things out okay there's a third reason to read the so-called boring
parts because you're gonna have to sound some stuff out in Joshua too
because it's not lists of people's names but you know it's place names there
are a lot of wild place names and you have to sound out a lot of these
things this list of Kings at the end of chapter 12 you're gonna sound that out
and you know hooked on phonics is gonna work for you and so that's a good
reason so chapters 1 through 12 you're having fun you're reading the book of
Joshua it's like chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 it's
like 13 14 15 that's where you have to have a little character to grind it
out okay so you grind out chapters 13 through 22 then you get to chapters 23
and 24 and you get some final words from Joshua to the people and this is
where you get the other most famous verse because remember the the most
famous verse is at the beginning this book of the law shall not depart out of
thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night then you get
the next most famous thing in chapter 24 where Joshua says as for me and my
house we will serve the Lord and so Joshua's final charge to them his final
speech them I'm just gonna kind of sum it up for you because we're out of
time he basically says look your ancestors worshiped idols they worship
false gods but you know you've got to only worship the Lord if you're
gonna worship the Lord it can only be him you can't mix you can't mix
pagan gods and worship of the Lord you figure out what you want to do do
you want to worship the gods of Egypt you want to worship the gods that your
ancestors worshiped but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and then
they say no no we're gonna serve the Lord too and he basically says I
don't think you guys can because I know you guys you guys are gonna screw
this up and they're like no we promise we're only gonna worship the Lord
we're gonna get rid of all the false gods and he's like okay well you
know you guys are making this commitment I'm paraphrasing of course you guys
are making this commitment you you know you better stay to this you know your
witnesses against yourselves that you've promised to only worship the Lord oh
yeah that's all we're gonna do okay great we're all on the same page
Joshua dies and here's the thing all the time that Joshua was alive the
children of Israel did worship the Lord and all the elders that were that
were of Joshua's generation that outlived Joshua when any of those
old-timers were around they did worship the Lord but of course once
Joshua's gone and all the elders that outlived Joshua are gone then they end up
you know forsaking the Lord worshiping false gods and that's where we get the
book of Judges so there's your overview of the book of Joshua tonight
and I think it's good to get that kind of an overview to see a book of
the Bible and see okay what is the book of Joshua about right they're on the
verge of going into the Promised Land it's all gonna be done by faith it's all
gonna be done through the power of God as long as they do things God's way they
can't lose as long as they just follow instructions follow Jesus do what
God has said and God will open every door they just have to be strong and
have a good courage there's the story about the spies with Rahab the harlot
parting of the Jordan River setting up of a monument circumcised the children
of Israel captain of the Lord's host Battle of Jericho Achan steals things
after the walls fall down Ai is a defeat because of Achan's disobedience
then they go back to Ai and then they win it the nations start to team
up with one another against Israel the Gibeonites team up with Israel by
lying then everybody turns on the Gibeonites and they have kind of it
comes to a head Joshua versus five kings at the same time he wins after
that it's just a series of victories for Joshua then once the lands conquered
then they're dividing up the land parceling it out and then Joshua is
telling them hey you need to serve the Lord that's the book of Joshua in a
nutshell of course they don't fully conquer the land in the book of Joshua
there are little pockets that they don't end up conquering and these are the
pockets that are going to cause them problems in the book of Judges the next
book after Joshua so the biggest takeaway is that we need to be strong
and have a good courage do what God tells us to do we can have success
and victory in our life if we follow the Lord if we serve him God's gonna
bless us that's the main takeaway God can perform miracles God can do
anything so the most important thing is to make sure that God is with us that's
what matters most in our lives let's borrow a word of prayer father we
thank you so much for this great book of the Bible Lord I pray that we
would all read it and meditate upon it Lord and that it would be a blessing
to us as it guides us in our lives and in Jesus name we pray amen