Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends, as we begin a new week together,
In recent months our world has been shocked by two unprovoked, vicious attacks which have left thousands of people dead, scores of communities damaged beyond repair, and millions of people around the world living in great anxiety that World War three may be just around the corner. Thursday, February 24, 2022, Russian troops, tanks, artillery and rockets attacked several cities in Ukraine and that war has continued every day to the present, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands who have fled for their lives. Saturday October 7th, 2023, Hamas terrorists attacked Israeli towns near the Gaza strip and slaughtered many innocent people before taking back to Gaza over 200 hostages of several nationalities. The war between Hamas and Israel has continued now for a month with thousands dead, thousands more displaced from their homes and entire communities destroyed.
In our journey with Joshua and the Israelites we have left 40 years of wandering in the desert and been brought into the Promised Covenant land, by God Himself, as He stopped the flow of the Jordan river so more than one million Israelites could finally cross into this land God had promised to Abraham 500 years before! We’ve watched as the Israelites piled up 12 big rocks from the riverbed to never forget the miracle of God here at Gilgal. (Joshua 4:19-24) They’ve celebrated the Passover on the exact anniversary, 41 years before, of their parents being delivered by God from Egyptian slavery. (Joshua 5:10-10) The men have consecrated themselves to God with circumcision because their parents had refused to give them the Covenant mark when they were born, in rebellion against God. (Joshua 5:2-9)
Now the Israelites are ready to move INTO this wonderful land of God’s promise, but of course the land is already occupied by millions of people and thousands of towns and villages.
As Joshua contemplates how they should move into the land, his record describes a significant moment of encounter: “As Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to the man and asked him, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’
‘Neither’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence and asked him, ‘What message does my LORD have for his servant?’
The commander of the LORD’s army replied, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.” (Joshua 5:13-15)
What do you see here my friends? Who is this man with a drawn sword? Who is the army of the LORD he claims to command? Why does he instruct Joshua to do what Moses was told to do at the burning bush encounter with God, take off his sandals? Why did Joshua fall with his face to the ground ‘in reverence’?
Clearly this is a heavenly being who has come from God with a message for Joshua. The “army of the LORD” are the angels whom God can rally at any time to engage in battle against any force, human or demonic, which may be threatening the people or purposes of God. May I give you two Biblical examples? In 2 Kings 6:8-17 the Israelite prophet Elisha finds himself surrounded by a large force of armed soldiers with horses and chariots intent on killing him or taking him back to Syria for execution. God, however, responds by sending the ‘army of the LORD’ which appeared as angelic beings on horses and chariots of fire! Also, when Jesus was arrested by the mob in the garden of Gethsemane, He told Peter to put away his sword, for Jesus was confident that God His Father had “more than 12 legions of angels” available and ready to defend Jesus. (Matt. 26:53)
The arc angel Michael is referred to as ‘one of the chief princes’, in Daniel 10:13,2 as he is sent by God to defend Daniel who is under attack by a strong demonic force. Michael is also referred to in Revelation 12:7 as “Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon…” thus Michael is often seen as the arc angel whom God sends leading the armies of heaven in battle. But nowhere in Scripture do angels, even Michael or Gabriel, call for humans to bow down and worship them, for our worship is reserved for God alone. For that reason, many Bible scholars believe this is not Michael, but rather in this encounter Joshua is meeting none other than an Old Testament appearance of Jesus! And it was similarly Jesus speaking to Moses at the burning bush, which is why both Joshua and Moses were instructed to remove their sandals, for the place of their encounter was holy ground!
So, what was the message this Commander had for Joshua? This battle strategy: “Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘See I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men of Israel. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carrying trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.” (Joshua 6:1-5)
Now my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends, it is important we look closely here, especially in view of what we have seen recently in Ukraine and in the Israel towns attacked by Hamas. Is God doing here what the Russian army was ordered to do to Ukraine and the Hamas terrorists were instructed to do by their leaders? Why would God instruct Joshua and the Israelites to totally destroy Jericho and all its inhabitants? Have you struggled trying to understand this part of the Bible my friends, especially in view of such blatant, vicious, barbaric wickedness which has been seen so often down through history in so many parts of our world?
We must begin with the fact that God is holy, and God calls His people to be a holy people. That is what their months of instruction from God at Mount Sinai were all about as these Israelites came to understand what it would mean to live God honoring holy lives in full obedience to God’s leading. God is a loving God and God calls His people to be holy and loving in their relationships with each other, and with God, and even with the people of the world who do not know the one, true, holy, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God had NOT told Joshua and the Israelites to destroy EVERY city and town, and slaughter all people in the Promised Land, so they could have it for themselves.
Oh no, on the contrary, God’s people were to move into this land and settle peacefully and as a people of God modeling to those already in this land, what it would be like if they too sought to know and honor the God of the Israelites and thereby reject their idol worship, their immorality and their wickedness.
Jericho was a fortress city with very high and wide walls designed both to protect the inhabitants of this city but also to be an insurmountable fortress with well-armed warriors on top of the wall able to repel any enemy seeking to attack the city from any direction or even pass by this city. Jericho was an ambitious and wicked city, for from this city warriors often went out attacking trading caravans passing by or pillaging towns and cities on the east side of the Jordan river. Jericho was an immoral and idol worshiping city. And finally, Jericho was very strategically placed as a gateway city to the land of Israel from the southeast.
The road from Jericho to Jerusalem, up through the rugged Judean hills, was the only viable pathway from this southeast corner, the Dead Sea & Jordan river region, up to Jerusalem and the heartland of southern Israel. For the Israelites to move into the land of ‘milk and honey’, finding pasture for their animals and places to build their villages, they needed to pass by Jericho, but of course Jericho would never allow them to pass by without ravaging this huge throng of traveling people. Thus, God’s plan to protect His people and bring them into the Covenant Land of Promise safely required destroying Jericho.
Let’s pause right here as we contemplate this. I urge you to read or listen to Joshua 6 and I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow as we try to evaluate what happened here, at this famous place, and how it positioned these Israelites for following God further into the Covenant Land of God’s Promise. And how it is very different from what Hamas just did, or what Russia did in invading Ukraine?
Today’s Scripture is Joshua 5:13-6:7.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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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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