Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this first day of October,
In our journey together you’ve heard me many times say that God is always working a bigger plan than what appears to us; and God is always working TODAY in anticipation of what HE sees in our TOMORROWs!
Yesterday we witnessed one of the greatest events in Israel’s history… the crossing of the Jordan river by a huge throng of Israelites from their years of desert wandering into the Land of God’s Promise. It was a phenomenal miracle as God stopped the flow of the Jordan river, which was running at FLOOD stage, and this huge throng of people and animals crossed a dry Jordan riverbed into the land of their ancient ancestors.!! (Joshua 4)
While news reporters were not present, word of this event spread like wildfire and Joshua chapter 5 opens with this statement: “When the Amorite and Canaanite kings heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan river… their hearts melted in fear, and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.” (Joshua 5:1) Terrifying news spreads far, wide, and quickly, doesn’t it?
While the Israelites did not seem to understand it, God was going before them, preparing the way for them to re-settle this land. Why did I say “re-settle”? Because this is the land Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their families had received from God centuries before! (Gen. 15:18-21) But in the fear of famine they had abandoned their land for the appeal of the best of Egypt! (Gen. 47:5,6) When the famine hit Canaan, Jacob moved his family to Egypt, remember? (Gen. 47:27,28)
400 years had passed and not one of these Israelites, who crossed the Jordan with Joshua, had ever seen this land. Also, the thousands of people who had moved in or been born in this land had, of course, no intention of handing it to people claiming to be Jacob’s descendants and original owners of this land. Does that sound familiar in our day?
If Joshua’s leadership plate wasn’t already full enough Joshua received a troubling message from God which he reports for us in Joshua 5. You’ll remember in Genesis 17 God had given Abraham a specific SIGN of the Covenant between God and His people. Circumcision of every male baby on the 8th day after their birth! (Gen. 17:9-14) But now God’s message to Joshua was painfully clear: “Make flint knives and circumcise THESE Israelites!” (Joshua 5:2)
WHAT? WHY? Because those hard hearted, rebellious Israelites who had fled Egypt and then refused to enter God’s land but wandered in the desert for 40 years, had lived in angry rebellion against God during those years by REFUSING to give their baby boys God’s Covenant mark of circumcision! Therefore all these adult male Israelites, who crossed the Jordan with Joshua, had been living with the curse of their parental disobedience, their rebellion against God. (Gen. 17:14)
Now think about this a moment from God’s perspective. Daily, God was providing these Israelites air to breathe, water to drink, manna from heaven, protection them from any enemies and guiding them with his cloud by day and pillar of fire by night...and yet they REFUSED to give their sons the mark of their unique heritage, born into the family of God’s people! Now these Israelite men had a very important and painful decision to make! Would they break the chain of their parents’ rebellion and circumcise themselves, taking God’s Covenant mark, or continue living under the curse of parental rebellion? Pause a moment.
Have you considered what parental rebellion you might be living under and how it may have affected your life? Are your children or grandchildren living under some ‘parental rebellion’ curse? What will you or they need to do to be chain breakers from ancestral rebellion toward God?
I can’t even imagine what this act of great courage and self-mutilation was like 3400 years ago for the Israelite men. It was an act of self-cleansing and consecration, perhaps unlike any other. When completed, God proclaimed to Joshua: “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” (Joshua 5:8,9) For several days they writhed in pain. Finally, in God’s perfect timing, the men of Israel rose up from their painful consecration and led their families and their nation in the first Passover celebration in the Promised Land! (Joshua 5:10)
Oh, what a memorable festival that must have been, especially in view of what the next two verses tells us: “The day after the Passover, that very day, the Israelites ate some of the produce of the land…The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land… There was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan…” (Joshua 5:11,12)
Oh my, do we see how much has changed for these Israelites in only a few days? Leaving the desert by crossing a dried up flooded Jordan river; consecrated circumcision as adult men; Passover in God’s Land of Promise; eating from the produce of the new land; and the ending of 40 years of daily Manna… all in less than one week! WOW, can we wrap our minds around the significance of each of these changes in a few days? For each of them, there was no going back to how it was before!
Oh, but things were just starting for Joshua and those who had crossed into the new land with him. Next Joshua, who was out evidently taking a stroll to evaluate Jericho from a distance, was confronted by a man with a drawn sword. “Are you for us or for our enemies” Joshua asked, and the man with the sword responded by declaring these remarkable words: “Neither, but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” (Joshua 5:14) Oh my! Who is this man and what is the ‘army of the LORD’?
Well, we know heavenly angels are available to God for any assignment at any time and once God sent many of them to help Elisha the prophet who describes what he saw with these words: “… he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:16,17) Now I realize this scene does not mention angelic soldiers, but of course a cavalry without mounted warriors or chariots without soldiers in them doesn’t make any sense, so we presume Elisha and his servant saw an angelic army surrounding them! This is, I believe, one small glimpse of the angelic ‘army of the LORD’ and it is possible this man Joshua met was the arc-angel Michael who is shown to be commander of the angelic army of the LORD in Rev. 12:7; Daniel 10:13; 12:1.
Joshua knew that leading the ‘Israelite next generation’ into the land of God’s promise was only the first small step in the long process of their claiming, clearing and settling into this land. The city of Jericho before them was a symbol of the entire land which was now occupied by 7 different nations of people, all of whom were antagonistic toward the Israelites.
Assurance of God’s Presence and Power with them was essential for Joshua as he would lead the people forward. Joshua chapter 6 has the story of the remarkable conquering of that city Jericho but not by force, at least not human force, rather it was by their explicit obedience to the very unusual strategy of God, even though not one arrow was fired and no Israelite casualties sustained! Joshua and all the people were given yet another opportunity here to learn the profound lesson of blessings found in obedience to God.
As you read Joshua 6 and the famous story of the ‘walls tumbling down’, look closely for the lessons to be learned by Israelites and the people already living in this land, and ask yourself how those lessons apply to your life and mine, as we live in a world filled with Jericho’s.
How do the key lessons in the “Grand Narrative” link just below compare to your lessons found in Joshua 6? And today I’ve found a very special worship song helping us to find Jericho victory against our walls and enemies. The link, as always, is available to you at the bottom of our page and I’ll meet you here again tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: Joshua 5-6.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Joshua 6
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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