46. Beginner Bible Course: The book of Joshua, Pt. 1

EPISODE 46  The simple Bible overview of…CROSSING THE JORDAN TO THE WEST PART OF THE PROMISED LAND

As we move into the book of Joshua...

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...we moved from the first clump of color's in the old Testament Genesis through Deuteronomy called the law to the second clump, the history books Joshua through Esther. These 12 books cover approximately 1000 years. The ancient history of Israel in the promised land. The theme of the book of this first history book Joshua is how God fulfilled his promise to give Israel the land. Moses has handed leadership off to Joshua, and as we've just discovered has died on the East side of the promised land Joshua is a fast moving book. So buckle in and hang on. And chapter one, God speaks to Joshua and says, I'll be with you as I was with Moses.

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He had better hope. So it was no Sunday school picnic for Moses. God continues, be strong and courageous here. We see again, the partnership between God and his people. God says, I'll give you the land, but also says, now go take it with strength and courage. God adds one more thing. Joshua be a man of the book, the book of the law, what I've carried Moses along to write down, I expect to be your manual, your marching orders. It will be your survival and your strength. The first major city standing in their way of conquering. The rest of the promised land is Jericho. Joshua having learned the hard way from Moses lessons only sends two spies handpicked and secretly those spies entered Jericho and are spotted.

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Thankfully, there's a woman in town. Who's an ally. Her name is Ray Hab. She promptly hides them from the mayor in his deputies. She has to tell a Whopper of a lie, but she's successful in protecting them with the mayor in his deputy is gone to rehab. The EIT woman explains to Israel, spies, why she's protected them. We've heard about your God. He's a powerful God. And I'm all in. She requests that when God gives Jericho to the Israelites, they spare her and her family. The spies agree on the condition. She marks her house with a red cord hanging out the window. We'll see she is spared.

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And not only spared. When we get to the new Testament book of Matthew Ray had the prostitute is listed in the genealogy of Jesus. I should mention quickly something about prostitutes in the old Testament. It's safe to say for nearly all women and such rolls in the old Testament, it wasn't a career choice. It was a necessity, a last ditch effort to keep life and limb together, to earn enough to survive. Despise, get back to the Israel's camp and report to Joshua the people of Jericho, as well as a cross. The Land are shaking in their little bunny slippers. They've heard what God has done to the Kings. On the East side of Jordan, the Israelites are encouraged.

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Now. They just need to cross the Jordan river and attack. We're told in the text that the Jordan river was in flood stage. Normally the Jordan river is a meandering, sleepy little river. In many places, you could throw a stone across it quite easily, but not in the spring at flood stage. This seems to be another test or opportunity for God to show his power. God gives instructions for how they'll cross. The priest will go out front with the Ark. All of Israel is to stay at least 3000 feet back. That's 10 football fields that may have been God's way to continue to communicate. I'm a Holy God and youth as a people, not so much, or it could of been more people would have a better chance to see what God was about to do.

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Or maybe a little of each God said when the pre-step into the water, I'm going to make a path, the priests carrying the Ark step to the edge of the water. And I bet you know what happened. Well, if you said, God part of the water, you'd be wrong. That's what he did in Egypt, but that's not what he does here. We're told he dammed up or piled up the waters at a city upstream. That city was 20 miles upstream. The text makes it sound like when the priest step to the edge of the water, God then stopped it upstream. If that's true, the priest stood there for a while. Even at flood stage, it would take several hours for water to empty out of a river bed.

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When it was dammed up, suddenly 20 miles upstream. So either God did it in advance or those priests stood there for awhile in faith, waiting for God's miracle to happen. I tend to think he let them dangle a little. Would they trust him? Sure enough, the Riverbed empty is out. It sounds like God hardened up the muck at the bottom too. So the Israelites could cross with a priest standing in the middle, holding the Ark, the Israelites all cross, still staying at least 3000 feet back safely across you'd have thought Joshua would have told the people attack not so quick. God said Joshua take one, man. From each tribe, walk back into the middle of Jordan, pick up a rock and bring it over to the West side.

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While the priesthood in the middle with the Ark one man from each tribe came and grabbed a rock. Think about that a minute. That rock couldn't have been any bigger than a basketball. You try picking up a rock, the size of a basketball. God instructed Joshua to have those men set those rocks down in a pile, 12 rocks, the size of basketballs in a pile. Not very impressive, but God said important with the rocks retrieved and piled on the West shore. The priests come up out of the Jordan river bed. And as soon as they do the water returned back to flood stage, since this is history, the book of Joshua gives us the date. This happened on the 40th year, in the first month, on the 10th day of the month, that should ring a bell.

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That's the same time as Passover in Egypt, they were to select the Passover lamb on the 10th day of the first month and sacrifice it on the 14th 40 years earlier, God had saved them in Egypt from the death of the first born. And a few days later opened the sea to provide a way of escape from the Egyptians. Now, 40 years later to the week, God opens the Jordan river and delivers them in to the promised land, which brings us back to that little pile of stones. You may ask, what did they do that for? The text tells us, leave them there permanently. So in the future, when your children walk by the site and say, why did they pile those stones there?

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I wonder tell them, God delivered us with a mighty hand out of Egypt and into this land. He Promised I've thought many times how un-American that Memorial was. If I were doing it, I'd have had all 6 million Israelites pick up a stone. Think of that pile of stones. Now that's impressive, but God didn't leave that there to impress. He wanted it. There is a reminder. God saves God alone saves. God keeps his promises even to people who don't deserve it. Speaking of remembering for days later on the 14th day of the month, the first month, the children of Israel celebrate Passover on the West side of God's promised land with Passover complete it's time to attack, not so fast, God stops them.

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My people, you forgotten to do something in the desert, circumcise your children. Shockingly, none of Generation two had been circumcised in the desert. What God had told Abraham as a sign of being as covenant people, they were to circumcise their little boys on day eight. Apparently none of Generation one circumcised, any of their little boys in the wilderness. During those 40 years of wandering of sitting there waiting to die, what else did they have to do? My best guess is they were saying, if you want to give us the promised land, we won't do circumcision. So there, now God was saying, do your diligence be circumcised?

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If you've been following with us all the way through, you'll remember back in Genesis, two of Jacob's sons, Levi and Simeon convinced the males of a Canaanite village, check him to be circumcised. They agreed in on day three of recuperation. Those two men went into the village and murdered every single male. Now Israel nearly under the shadow of the walls of Jericho are being asked by God to drop their tunics and become incapacitated for at least a week, remarkably in what might be the most impressive act of trust of Generation to they obey. And God protects them a week or so later, having been fully healed.

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Now they're ready to attack, but not quite. There's still a matter of marching orders though. Moses and Deuteronomy had given them the general plan, divide and conquer. God wanted to give them a bit more instruction. And that instruction came to Joshua through a figure. And the text called the captain of the army of the Lord of hosts. Joshua runs into this imposing figure, holding a sword as the account unfolds. You begin to think this is a heavenly bell boy and angel sent by God to give Joshua marching orders. But there's a couple of things in the text that make you scratch your head. First Joshua goes face down in reverence before this captain figure in other parts of scripture will find heavens bellboys telling human beings get up.

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I'm just a messenger boy. Don't worship me worship guide. And the captain of the host of the Lord also tells Joshua dude, take your shoes off. This is Holy ground. That's the same thing. Moses was told that the burning Bush, which makes you think of God's words to Joshua earlier as I was with Moses, I will be with you, who knows there with his sandals off on his face. He's given the marching orders for taking Jericho. One of those orders is Jericho. The first city on the West side is to be devoted to me, a burnt offering. All of it is God's Joshua gets up and returns to the camp with his clear instructions.

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Now it's time to attack. Yes and no. The military plan given Joshua by the captain of the host of the Lord is a little well unusual with the priests in the Ark out front, all the people of Israel like procession Arie caterpillars are to walk around the city once a day in complete silence for six continuous days, psychologically. This is brilliant. Can you imagine already terrified being in a city and watching 6 million people walked around your city in complete silence once a day for six days. But from the perspective of the people of Israel Generation to who've been sitting around in the desert for 40 years, just itching to get into their new Land that got it Promised and start living a life.

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That was a real test of their faith and obedience, but give them some love. They followed Joshua his orders on day seven, Joshua changed his orders this time. We're going to walk around it. Seven times. Joshua reminded the people of God's orders. This city is to be devoted to God as a burn offering, no survivors, burn everything and anything that won't burn like precious metals belong to God's house. Don't touch her, take anything. And when the priest give the signal, I want you to shout the top of your lungs. Those horns did blow and the people did shout a mighty shout out the text simply says the walls of Jericho collapsed all, but one place on the wall, a place with a red cord hanging out the window, Ray Habs house, while one group rescued Ray Haben, those in her household, the others rushed in killing everything in the city and setting it on fire.

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The smoke Rose up to God. It was an offering to God, the first fruits of the new Land for 470 years. Now, God had tried to reach the Canaanites, the residents of the Land and they became more and more wicked in God's goodness and mercy. He was bringing their sinful trajectory to an end Jericho. The first city on the West side of Jordan had fallen and the other Canaanite cities like dominoes would follow something happened in Jericho that almost brought the conquering of the West side of the promised land to a screeching halt. We'll examine what that was in our next wordpicture.