Tag Archives: Book of Joshua

Bible Interpretation, Sunday School

Commentary on Joshua 21-24 (Joshua’s Farewell)

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In chapters 7-12 in the book of Joshua, the Israelites, led by Joshua, conquer the cities of 31 kings (see the list in chapter 12). God, as promised, drove the Canaanites out ahead of the Israelites, and the Canaanites who stayed behind to defy Israel were easily defeated by Israel’s armies.

Once these 31 kings were defeated, God reminds Joshua that much land is still to be taken, but that it is time to allocate all of the land to the 12 tribes of Israel. Some of the land that will be allocated is already in the hands of Israel, but some of the land still needs to be cleared of Canaanites. Take a look at this map to see how the land was allocated to the 12 tribes in chapters 13-21.

After all the land has been assigned, we arrive at, arguably, the climax of the Book of Joshua. In chapter 21, verses 43-45, we read:

So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

Verse 43 summarizes chapters 13-21, verse 44 summarizes the victories of chapters 1-12, and verse 25 summarizes the entire book of Joshua. Even though there was more land to be taken, Israel now had a firm foothold in the Promised Land. All of the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been fulfilled. The tiny nation of Israel was able to take possession of land occupied by nations far greater and far stronger than they. This would have been completely and utterly impossible without God doing the work!

We now pick up the narrative in chapter 23. Joshua, who is 110 years old, senses that he is close to death and makes preparation for his departure. He first summons the leaders of Israel and reminds them of everything God has done for them over the previous 30 years in verses 1-5. In addition, he reassures them that the land they have been allotted, but not yet possessed, will be given over to them by God, as He promised.

In verses 6-16, Joshua warns Israel to carefully follow the Law of Moses and not associate with the nations of people still living among them. Remember that the primary reason that Israel is dispossessing the Canaanite nations is that their cultures and religious systems are extremely depraved. They are characterized by incest, bestiality, child sacrifice, and ritualized prostitution, among other things. If Israel assimilates with these people, then they too will start to commit the same awful sins and they will “perish from this good land.”

How will they perish from the land? God Himself will punish them. “If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.”

Israel is not exempt from God’s justice. He has punished the Canaanites for their sin, and He will do exactly the same to Israel.

In chapter 24, Joshua again summons all of Israel to hear his final words to them. Joshua rehearses the entire redemptive history of Israel, starting with Abraham’s calling and continuing all the way up to the current day, where they have seen for themselves the fulfilment of God’s promises to them.

Having seen all that God has done for them, what should the people do? “Fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness.” Joshua commands Israel to choose between the gods of Egypt, the gods of Canaan, or Yahweh. For Joshua, the choice is simple: “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

The people of Israel respond to Joshua that they, too, will serve the LORD. Joshua doubts their allegiance to the LORD and reminds them again that God will destroy them if they turn to the gods of the Canaanites, but the people respond twice that “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.” Joshua then renews the covenant between God and Israel at Shechem, setting up a large stone as a witness to the covenant. The stone would remind the people of the promises they made to God.

Chapter 24 closes with the deaths of Joshua and Eleazar. After 30 years of leading Israel, Joshua was buried in his allotted land. The author notes that “Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.”

Bible Interpretation, Sunday School

Commentary on Joshua 3-6 (The Fall of Jericho)

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In chapter 3, the Israelites are finally ready to enter the Promised Land, but to get there, they have to cross a river, the Jordan River. Given that there were tens of thousands of Israelites, young and old, along with all of their supplies, how would they do this? The Jordan River was not a small stream that could easily be crossed. Dale Ralph Davis, in Joshua: No Falling Words (Focus on the Bible), describes the scene:

The actual Jordan Valley between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea varies in breadth from 3 to 14 miles. Within this valley is the river’s floodplain, which is 200 yards to 1 mile wide. The floodplain was packed with tangled bush and jungle growth. . . . Then there was the river channel itself, which—if similar to nineteenth-century (AD) conditions—was from 90 to 100 feet broad, with a depth of 3 feet at some fords to as much as 10 to 12 feet. The current was strong because of the drop in elevation (a drop of 40 feet per mile near the Sea of Galilee and an average of 9 feet per mile overall). This means that the river Israel faced that springtime was no placid stream but a raging torrent, probably a mile wide and covering a mass of tangled brush and jungle growth.

Only a miracle from God will get the nation into Canaan. God’s instructions to Joshua are simple. Tell the people to prepare themselves. Send the Levite priests out first, carrying the Ark of the Covenant. The people are to stay back 1000 yards and watch the miracle. When the priests, carrying the ark, step foot in the water, the water will stop flowing. The people will cross the river on dry ground while the priests stand in the middle of the river with the ark.

And this is exactly what occurred. See verses 15-17 below:

Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Now that the Israelites have crossed the Jordan, they must conquer the city of Jericho, and this is where the story picks up in chapter 6. How would Israel defeat a heavily fortified city with thick outer walls? God would provide a way. Here are his instructions to Joshua in verses 3-5:

March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. 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 all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.

Notice that the ark would lead the way around the city. The ark represented God’s presence among the people, so the clear message to Israel, and to us, is that God gets the glory! He enabled Israel to enter the city. Joshua and his army could have never conquered Jericho on their own.

Verses 8-20 describe, in detail, the Israelites following Joshua’s orders exactly as commanded. Once the city walls fell, Joshua gave further instructions. They were to destroy all of the people and livestock within the city, and they were to remove any valuable items, objects made of gold, silver, bronze, or iron, and place them into the treasury of the Lord. The people were not to take any valuables for themselves. God warns them that if they take any valuables for themselves, they will be destroyed just as the people of Jericho.

Everything in the city was to be dedicated to God. Dedication, in the context of the conquest of the Promised Land, means either total destruction or donation to the treasury of God. The people of Israel were not to benefit from the destruction of Jericho, for they were serving as God’s instrument of justice.

Before we finish chapter 6, let’s review why God is giving Canaan to Israel. Is it because they are deserving of the land? Because they are a righteous people who are morally superior to all other nations of the world? No. Deuteronomy 9:1-6 gives the rationale for God driving out the Canaanites and giving the land to Israel: the sinfulness and wickedness of the Canaanites (their sins are catalogued in Leviticus 18:1-20:27). God was judging the Canaanites with Israel. That is why every bit of Canaanite culture needed to be destroyed.

The only people in Jericho who believed in God, who trusted Him for their salvation, were Rahab and her family. They were rescued by the two spies and taken to safety outside the camp of Israel. Joshua then cursed the city and anyone who would try to rebuild it.

Finally, we see that “the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.” Thus the conquest of the Promised Land had begun.

Bible Interpretation, Books of the Bible, Sunday School

Commentary on Joshua 1-2 (Rahab and the Spies)

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Joshua is the first book following the Pentateuch and it begins the series of books in the OT that are called the Historical Books (Joshua – Esther). The author of Joshua is unknown, although large portions of the book appear to have been written by a person who experienced the events recorded in the book. Early Jewish tradition indicates that Joshua himself was the primary author of the book, although some sections were likely added by later editors. If we accept Joshua as the primary author, then the book was likely completed near the end of Joshua’s life, around 1375 BC.

The events of Joshua start where Deuteronomy ended, with the Israelites across the Jordan River from the city of Jericho. The book describes the conquest of the Promised Land by Israel, a fulfillment of the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob hundreds of years prior. The original audience of the book would have been Israelites who lived after the conquest (which lasted about 7 years). The events in the book span the years from approximately 1406 – 1375 BC (about 30 years).

For a map of the conquest of Canaan, please go to this link.

Verses 1-5 in chapter 1 of Joshua give incredible encouragement to Joshua and the entire nation of Israel. God tells Joshua, his appointed leader, to get the people ready to cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land that God promised to them. God again delineates the borders of the Promised Land, giving the northern, southern, eastern, and western borders.

To Joshua specifically, God promises, “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Although this reaffirms a promise God had already made to Joshua (Deut 31:8, 23), I’m sure Joshua needed all the assurance he could get, given the mission he was about to undertake. The words “I will be with you” repeat identical promises made by God to Isaac (Gen 26:3), Jacob (31:3), and Moses (Exod 3:12). Joshua is, therefore, to be compared to the former great servants of God.

In verses 6-9, God tells Joshua how he will successfully take the Promised Land. Joshua must obey the Law given by God through Moses. It is only by obeying the Law that Joshua will be successful in his mission of possessing the Promised Land of Canaan. In verse 8, God tells Joshua to “meditate on it day and night.” What does this mean? David M. Howard, Jr., in Joshua: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (The New American Commentary), explains:

The idea of meditating here is not the one commonly familiar in the late twentieth century, namely, of emptying the mind and concentrating on nothing or on self or on visualizations of various types; much of this type of meditation is indebted to Eastern mystic religions. Rather, the Old Testament concept of meditation involves two things: First, a focus upon God himself (Ps 63:6 [Hb.7]), his works (Pss 77:12 [Hb. 13]; 143:5), or his law (Josh 1:8; Ps 1:2), and second, an activity that was done aloud. This is why God told Joshua that this lawbook should not leave his mouth (as opposed to, e.g., his heart or his mind).

In the ancient world, reading silently was mostly unknown. Almost everyone read aloud. Interestingly, modern science has shown that reading aloud aids in the memorization of a text over and above reading silently.

Joshua tells the officials among the people to get them ready to cross the Jordan River in a few days, and then he turns his attention to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. Recall that Moses already gave them their land east of the Jordan River. Joshua reminds them that they must provide soldiers for the conquest of the land west of the Jordan River. Only after all the land west of the Jordan is conquered can their soldiers return home.

In verses 16-18, all of Israel promises to obey Joshua as the rightful successor of Moses. All twelve tribes are committed to the conquest of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua.

In chapter 2, Joshua sends two spies across the Jordan River to the city of Jericho to look over the land. The spies enter Jericho and stay in the house of a woman named Rahab. There is some scholarly dispute as to whether Rahab is an innkeeper or a prostitute. In any case, the king of Jericho hears about the two men and sends a message to Rahab to turn them over.

Rahab hides the men on her roof and lies to the king’s messengers, telling them that the Israelites have left the city and that they can catch them on their way back across the Jordan.

In verses 8-13, we read some of the most remarkable verses in the Bible. A pagan woman, possibly a prostitute, makes a confession of faith! Rahab acknowledges that God has given the land to the Israelites, then she recounts the stories she’s heard about God parting the Red Sea and God defeating the kings Sihon and Og. Dale Ralph Davis, in Joshua: No Falling Words (Focus on the Bible), writes about Rahab’s confession of faith thus far:

This was the basis of her faith; she had heard about the mighty acts of God. This is the normal way of coming to faith. Biblical faith is based on at least some knowledge, data, and evidence. Even couples who ‘fall’ in love don’t come to love each other merely by sighing or groaning or oohing and ahhing; rather they talk, communicate, find out about each other—their past, their likes, their dislikes, their character, and so on. Even romance has some basis in knowledge. So is the case with faith. Faith is not just a warm, cozy feeling about God. Faith grows, if at all, out of hearing what God has done for his people.

Rahab then clearly states that the God of Israel is sovereign over all the heavens and earth. Her response to the God of Israel is to plead for mercy for herself and her family. She knows that Jericho will fall and that her family will be trapped inside.

Davis writes,

Here is the evidence of faith. Genuine faith never rests content with being convinced of the reality of God but presses on to take refuge in God. Rahab not only must know the clear truth about God but also must escape the coming wrath of God. It isn’t just a matter of correct belief but of desperate need. Saving faith is always like this. It never stops with brooding over the nature or activity of God but always runs to take refuge under his wings. Amazingly, Rahab not only trembles before the terror of the Lord but also senses that there might be mercy in this fearful God.

The spies agree to save the lives of all in her house when the city is attacked. Since her house is built into the city wall, she is to gather everyone inside and hang a scarlet cord in the window so that the Israelite army can identify her house from outside the city.

The spies slide down a rope hung from Rahab’s window, wait 3 days for the Jericho search party to return, and then go back across the Jordan River to tell Joshua, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.” What a difference is the report from these spies versus the spies from Numbers 13-14!

Bible Interpretation, Difficult Bible Passages

Who Did Joshua Kill in Jericho?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

Many Christians, as they read the book of Joshua, are uncomfortable with the accounts of conquest that are recorded there.  The conquest of Jericho is the first in Canaan for the Israelites.  The biblical writer describes the battle of Jericho this way in Josh. 6:20-21:

When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.  They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

What causes many of us discomfort is the phrase “men and women, young and old.”  It seems that we must understand Joshua’s conquest of Jericho as a complete annihilation of a major population center, including non-combatants who are women, children and the elderly.

Christian scholar Paul Copan strongly disagrees with this understanding of the attack on Jericho in his book Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God.  Copan marshals a case to dispute the traditional view of Jericho being a major population center with loads of non-combatants living in it.

His argument rests on two primary points.  First, the language found in Josh. 6:21 should be understood as Near Eastern warfare rhetoric.  In other words, Joshua’s original audience would not have understood the sentence, “They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys” as literally meaning that.  Instead, they would have heard Joshua describing a decisive military victory.

Joshua’s conventional warfare rhetoric was common in many other ancient Near Eastern military accounts in the second and first millennia BC.  The language is typically exaggerated and full of bravado, depicting total devastation.  The knowing ancient Near Eastern reader recognized this as hyperbole; the accounts weren’t understood to be literally true.

Copan cites several examples of Near Eastern warfare accounts which used hyperbole to describe their victories, including accounts originating from Egyptians, Hittites, and Assyrians.  This historical data casts new light on how we should understand biblical warfare accounts, especially those recorded in Joshua.

Copan’s second point is that the city of Jericho is not a large population center containing numerous non-combatants which were killed in the assault.  According to Copan, the language used in Joshua 6 is “stereotypical Near Eastern language [which] actually describes attacks on military forts or garrisons, not general populations that included women and children.  There is no archaeological evidence of civilian populations at Jericho or Ai” (emphasis added).

Copan goes on to explain:

Given what we know about Canaanite life in the Bronze Age, Jericho and Ai were military strongholds.  In fact, Jericho guarded the trade routes from the Jordan Valley up to population centers in the hill country. . . . That means that Israel’s wars here were directed toward government and military installments; this is where the king, the army, and the priesthood resided.  The use of ‘women’ and ‘young and old’ was merely stock ancient Near Eastern language that could be used even if women and young and old weren’t living there. . . .  The text doesn’t require that women and young and old must have been in these cities.

If this is true, then what of Rahab?  According to Copan, “Rahab was in charge of what was likely the fortress’s tavern or hostel.”  Evidently it was common for a fortress to have a tavern where “traveling caravans and royal messengers would . . . stay overnight.”  Most of Jericho would have consisted of soldiers, priests, and political leaders.

Copan’s argument is compelling, as it cites ancient Near Eastern historical data to place in context what the original readers of Joshua’s book would have understood.  This is exactly what the historical-grammatical method of biblical interpretation calls us to do.  As we gather more data about the ancient Near East, we must constantly refine our understanding of the biblical texts.

Bible Interpretation

What Are Nine Common Errors When Interpreting Biblical Narratives?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

Our local church, Cornerstone, has embarked on a year-long study of the Book of Joshua.  Our pastor, Dr. Byrd, is going to prepare detailed sermon notes each week, which will then be translated by the other pastors into lessons for Sunday school classes.

As we kick off this series in Joshua, I have been drawn back to one of my favorite books on biblical interpretation, Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart’s How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth.  In the past I shared ten principles for interpreting Old Testament narratives from their book, but this time I want to highlight nine errors that are commonly made when interpreting biblical narratives, also from their book.

Allegorizing.  “Instead of concentrating on the clear meaning of the narrative, people relegate the text to merely reflecting another meaning beyond the text.”

Decontextualizing.  “Ignoring the full historical and literary contexts, and often the individual narrative, people concentrate on small units only and thus miss interpretational clues.  If you take things out of context enough, you can make almost any part of Scripture say anything you want it to” (emphasis added).

Selectivity.  “It involves picking and choosing specific words and phrases to concentrate on while ignoring the others and ignoring the overall sweep of the narrative being studied.”

Moralizing.  “This is the assumption that principles for living can be derived from all passages.  The moralizing reader, in effect, asks the question , ‘What is the moral of this story?’ at the end of every individual narrative.  An example would be, ‘What can we learn about handling adversity from how the Israelites endured their years as slaves in Egypt?’  The fallacy in this approach is that the narratives were written to show the progress of God’s history of redemption, not to illustrate principles.”

Personalizing.  “Also known as individualizing, this refers to reading Scripture in the way suggested above, supposing that any or all parts apply to you or your group in a way that they do not apply to everyone else.  This is, in fact, a self-centered reading of the Bible.  Examples of personalizing would be, ‘The story of Balaam’s talking donkey reminds me that I talk too much.’  Or, ‘The story of the building of the temple is God’s way of telling us that we have to construct a new church building.'”

Misappropriation.  “It is to appropriate the text for purposes that are quite foreign to the biblical narrative.  This is what is happening when, on the basis of Judges 6:36-40, people ‘fleece’ God as a way of finding God’s will!  This, of course, is both misappropriation and decontextualizing, since the narrator is pointing out that God saved Israel through Gideon despite his lack of trust in God’s word.'”

False appropriation.  “It is to read into a biblical narrative suggestions or ideas that come from contemporary culture that are simultaneously foreign to the narrator’s purpose and contradictory to his point of view.”

False combination.  “This approach combines elements from here and there in a passage and makes a point out of their combination, even though the elements themselves are not directly connected in the passage itself.”

Redefinition.  “When the plain meaning of the text leaves people cold, producing no immediate spiritual delight or saying something other than what they wish it said, they are often tempted to redefine it to mean something else.”  Fee and Stuart use the example of 2 Chronicles 7:14-15: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.”  Christians today want to apply this promise to their own land, but as Fee and Stuart point out, this promise was only directed toward the ancient land of Israel.

As our church moves through the Book of Joshua, I hope we can avoid these common errors.  The most important step in interpreting any biblical text is to first work very hard to discover what the original author was trying to communicate to the original audience.  Only after we have done the hard work of finding the original meaning can we then apply the text to our contemporary world.