Week 55: Judges and Ruth Part 4
June 20, 2011
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
1. Inexcusable compromise
(I) ALLOWANCES – VULNERABLE VALLEYS
God sent Israel into the land to destroy the inhabitants totally. Archaeology confirms the wicked practices of the Canaanite people – sexual diseases were rife. Those who question the justice of this extermination forget God’s Word to Abraham about the future of his descendants. He was told that the Jews would stay in Egypt for centuries until the wickedness of the Amorites reached its ‘full measure’. God was tolerant of their wickedness, but they finally overstepped the mark and he used Israel as the instrument of his judgement on a most perverted society.
Instead of following God’s commands, however, Israel were selective in their punishment. They captured the hills and mountains but allowed many of the peoples to remain, especially those living in the valleys. Israel thus became divided into three groups: northern, central and southern. Communication between the tribes was difficult and they were unable to respond speedily and unitedly when external threats arose. Furthermore, the valleys provided routes for invaders, who were only too keen to exploit such internal weakness.
(II) ALLIANCES – MIXED MARRIAGES
The lax standards of the valleys were too great a temptation for many Israelite men, and before long Israelites had married outside their faith in clear defiance of God’s law which forbade ‘mixed marriages’. This affected the spiritual life of Israel. If you marry a child of the devil you are bound to have problems with your father-in-law! Any designs on holy living were dashed and many Israelites in unequal marriages ended up serving Canaanite gods. The spiritual influence of the nonbeliever tends to be stronger in a mixed marriage, even today. The service of Canaanite gods led inevitably to immorality, for wrong belief always leads to wrong behavior.
2. Incorrigible conduct
The bulk of the book of Judges consists of a series of cycles. With almost monotonous regularity the people of God repeat the same pattern.
- Supplication: It starts with Israel crying out to the Lord because they are facing oppression of some kind.
- Liberation: God sends a deliverer (e.g. Gideon, Samson) to rescue the people.
- Violation: In spite of their deliverance, the people slip back into sin.
- Occupation: God therefore sends a hostile people (e.g. Midianites, Philistines) to overpower Israel. Israel becomes a vassal state in a land they should have been freely owning.
- Supplication: In view of the hardship of the situation, they cry out to the Lord again and so the cycle continues. It seems they only pray when they are in trouble. It is hard to tell whether they are truly repentant or merely regretting the consequences of their behavior. Clearly many were unaware that the oppression was their fault.
The cycle does not just apply to the whole nation: individuals also live in a similar routine of sin and forgiveness and further sin. It is not simply an endless cycle either, but a spiral going downwards. Things get steadily worse.
3. Inevitable corruption
The last part of the book of Judges is a most unedifying account of what happened to the people. There were two situations, one in the north in the territory of Dan and one in the south in the territory of Benjamin. On both occasions, the people of God were misled by a priest. It is a perfect illustration of the maxim mentioned earlier, that idolatry (wrong belief) leads to immorality (wrong behavior).
(I) IDOLATRY IN THE NORTH – DAN
The story starts with a son, Micah from Ephraim, stealing 1,100 shekels from his own mother. He returns the money to her and she is so delighted that she uses it to make an idol which she gives to Micah for the private shrine he has set up in his home.
A young Levite comes to Micah’s house in search of lodgings and is offered the opportunity to be his father and priest for a regular income, clothing and food. He accepts. Later the tribes of Dan, who failed to take the land God allocated to them in the south, migrate north. When their leaders lodge in this house with the idols and the priest, they offer the priest the chance to officiate for their whole tribe, for more money, and he accepts.
In clear violation of the law of God, therefore, the tribe of Dan slips into idolatry. Just as Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 disciples, went missing after his great sin, the tribe of Dan is missing in the book of Revelation. The sin starts with a man who steals money from his mother, then it is carried over to a Levite who becomes a private chaplain, first to a family and then to a whole tribe – without any proper appointment or authorisation.
(II) IMMORALITY IN THE SOUTH – BENJAMIN
This story is even worse. Another Levite from the tribe of Ephraim takes a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. She leaves him and returns to her family home. After four months the Levite arrives in Bethlehem to seek her return. The father keeps urging the Levite to stay at his home before finally letting her go. They set off too late in the day and only get as far as Jerusalem, a pagan city at that time. The Levite refuses to stay with ‘pagans’, so they travel north to the tribe of Benjamin, arriving at Gibeah by nightfall. They are offered hospitality by an old man who welcomes them into his home. However, while they are eating, they are interrupted by ‘wicked men of the city’ who demand that the newcomer be given to them for sex. The old man refuses, but offers instead his daughter. Eventually the Levite gives them his concubine. The next morning the concubine lies dead on the doorstep, having been gang-raped through the night.
The Levite cuts his concubine up into 12 pieces and sends them to the other tribes of Israel. When the Israelites discover that men of the tribe of Benjamin committed the crime, they seek revenge on the perpetrators. The Benjaminites are offended by the accusation and refuse to hand the men over.
A civil war results which almost wipes out the tribe – only 600 men are left. Their towns are destroyed and all the women and children are slaughtered. The other tribes had vowed not to give their daughters in marriage to the tribe of Benjamin, but now the tribe is on the brink of extinction and the Israelites have pity on them and take action to prevent this happening. They find 400 virgins from Jabesh Gilead as wives for the Benjaminites, but they need more. They then concoct a clever plan. They hold a festival at Shiloh and allow the Benjaminites to kidnap their daughters – thus not technically ‘giving’ them away and so fulfilling the letter if not the spirit of their previous oath.
It is a dreadful tale in all aspects and, alongside the story of the tribe of Dan, it makes a depressing end to the book of Judges.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 54: Judges and Ruth Part 3
June 13, 2011
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
HUMAN WEAKNESS
The Bible is always honest about the failings and weaknesses of the individuals it describes and Judges is no exception. The characters in the book reveal a number of flaws: Barak was not manly; Gideon was fearful, constantly asking for signs, and towards the end of his life made a gold ephod, a priestly ‘pullover’, which later proved to be a ‘snare’ to Israel, a relic which had become an object of devotion. Jephthah was the son of a prostitute who made a reckless vow; Samson treated his wife poorly, slept with a prostitute and took a mistress. They were not strong characters, nor were they holy people, yet God used them!
DIVINE STRENGTH
How did these less than perfect people manage to achieve so much? It was not through their own power. Their secret was that the Holy Spirit came on them – they were all ‘charismatic’ people.
Judges gives us vivid examples of divine strength working through weak people, as we read how these individuals were able to perform supernatural feats. Samson was perhaps the most graphic example of this, but there are many amazing stories. This is an especially important point to note, because the anointing of the Holy Spirit only comes on a few in the Old Testament. In Judges such anointing was experienced by just 12 people out of the 2 million who populated Israel at that time. We note too that the Holy Spirit comes on them temporarily, not permanently: for example, the text states that the Holy Spirit left Samson. In the Old Testament it was an anointing Spirit that touched them for a time rather than an indwelling Spirit who stayed with them.
WHAT WERE THE JUDGES?
Our consideration of some of the individual stories of the judges has omitted an important question. What exactly were the judges? Who were they and what did they do?
In English they are called ‘judges’, but this expression does not really capture the essence of the word originally used to describe them. When we read that Samson ‘judged’ Israel, or that Gideon ‘judged’ Israel, the idea behind the Hebrew expression is that they were ‘troubleshooters’ who saved the people of God from themselves and others. They are never given a title as such, but are described in terms of what they did. Indeed, the only person to whom the noun is applied in the book of Judges is God. He is the Judge, sorting out their problems. It would therefore be more correct to say that God is the rescuer or troubleshooter who operates through these heroes, by his Spirit, for the benefit of the people.
They are concerned with justice within the nation, but mainly with external problems, since the people are surrounded by hostile nations who attack them at various times: the Ammonites (three times), the Amalekites (twice), the Moabites (once), the Midianites (once) and the Philistines (three times). There is also specific mention of the Kings of Jericho, Moab and Hazor.
The people of God had come into a highly populated area, to peoples largely hostile to their presence. They were perceived as invaders. The only justification for them being in that land at all was that God had given it to them, and they were to exact punishment on the resident population by wiping them out. Thus the book is not just about individual heroes – or the study of personalities, the first level of history described at the beginning of this chapter – but whole peoples too – the second level of history.
National history
If you add together all the years that the 12 people mentioned above judged Israel, they come to 400, but the book of Judges actually covers only 200 years. How can this be so?
GEOGRAPHICAL
This problem is easily resolved when we realize what the judges are actually doing. When we read about Gideon and Samson we tend to think that they were delivering the whole nation, but Israel was now divided into groups of tribes, spread over a wide area roughly the size of Wales. Therefore, when we read that a judge ruled for 40 years, it may only apply to tribes in the north. Another judge may have been saving a situation in the south at the same time. Samson, for example, delivered the southern tribes and Gideon the northern ones.
POLITICAL
At this time there was a leadership vacuum within Israel. Moses had led them out of Egypt, Joshua had led them into the Promised Land, but with both these great men dead, there was no figurehead for the nation – bearing in mind that this was before the days of the monarchy. Thus the judges were local leaders, commanding the loyalty of groups of tribes, but not uniting the whole nation.
MORAL
There was a moral reason why the tribes were continually facing opposition from other nations and people groups, and this is the heart of the book’s message. The structure of the book makes this clear, as we shall see if we look at a brief outline of it. It divides very clearly into three parts.
1. Inexcusable compromise (1–2)
(i) Allowances
(ii) Alliances
2. Incorrigible conduct (3–16)
(i) Sedition by the people
(ii) Subjection by an enemy
(iii) Supplication to the Lord
(iv) Salvation by a deliverer
3. Inevitable corruption (17–21)
(i) Idolatry in the north – Dan
(ii) Immorality in the south – Benjamin
In Section 2, the four stages of the cycle are repeated seven times. The book finishes with a statement that has actually been the refrain throughout: ‘There was no king in those days, every man did what was right in his own eyes.’
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 53: Judges and Ruth Part 2
June 6, 2011
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Judges
Most people have a Sunday school knowledge of the book of Judges – they only know the ‘bowdlerized’ version. Thomas Bowdler did not approve of certain parts of William Shakespeare’s plays, so he revised them, omitting what he regarded as the ‘naughty bits’, and now his name has gone down in history. In the same way Sunday school stories from Judges omit some of the less palatable elements – concubines, prostitutes being cut up into pieces, rape, murder, phallic symbols, and so on. As a result many people are familiar with particular personalities within the book, such as Samson, Delilah, Deborah and Gideon, but have no knowledge of the rest of it, let alone its overall theme and purpose.
Individual stories
The stories within the book are certainly gripping. There is an economy of words, but interesting detail is provided in vivid descriptions which make the characters live for the reader.
The amount of space given to each character is surprisingly varied. Samson has four chapters all to himself, Gideon has three, Deborah and Barak have two, but some have just a short paragraph. It almost seems that the more sensational they were, the more space they were given. Clearly the author’s purpose is not to give a balanced account of each hero. It is easy, however, to get the impression that the book is about a series of folk heroes who saved the day in whatever situation they faced (and the book contains a selection of quite bizarre events), rather like Nelson or Wellington in British history.
We read early in the book of Caleb’s younger brother Othniel. All we are really told is that he brought peace to his people for 40 years.
We read of Ehud, the left-handed leader who concealed his 18-inch sword blade by strapping it to his right leg. Since most people were right handed, it was customary to check the left leg for weapons. He was thus able to take his weapon into a private meeting with the King of Moab and plunge it into the King’s belly!
We read of Shamgar, who killed 600 Philistines with an ox-goad.
We read of Deborah and Barak. Deborah was a prophetess, married to Lappidoth. Her name means ‘Busy bee’ and Lappidoth means ‘Flash’ in Hebrew! Deborah would settle disputes by hearing the answer from the Lord, and on an occasion recorded in Judges she told Barak to lead the people into battle. Barak refused to go into battle without her. Senior officers in Israel, then and today, always lead the troops into battle. God was angry with Barak’s refusal and told him that the enemy Sisera would fall to the hand of a woman in order to humiliate him. And so it proved.
The next story concerns Gideon, one of the most fearful men in the Bible. He put some meat on an altar and fire from heaven burned up the meat. Then he asked the Lord for a sign from heaven, as if the fire was not enough! God graciously provided a further sign through a fleece which was dry one day and wet the next. Gideon had to learn that it is by God’s strength and strategy that battles are won. God reduced his army from 300,000 to 300 so that Gideon would learn not to put his trust in human resources.
The next character we read of is Abimelech (more of him later); then comes Tola, who receives only the brief comment that he led Israel for 23 years. After him Jair led Israel for 22 years and had 30 sons who, we are told, rode 30 donkeys and controlled 30 towns. A little interesting detail, but nothing more!
There is a longer section recounting the story of Jephthah, the head of Gilead. He made the rash vow that he would sacrifice to the Lord whatever came to meet him when he returned from battle and ended up having to sacrifice his only daughter.
Ibzan of Bethlehem had 30 daughters and 30 sons who all married outside the clan of Judah. Elon led Israel for 10 years. Abdon, who came after him, had 40 sons, 30 grandsons and 70 donkeys! Again no more details are given.
When we come to Samson, however, we learn far more. His name literally means ‘sunshine’. He was brought up as a Nazarene, which meant that he was not allowed to take alcohol or cut his hair. It is an extraordinary tale of a man who had trouble with women. He married, but his marriage broke up before the honeymoon. He moved on to a nameless prostitute before finally joining with a mistress called Delilah. Although having great physical strength, Samson was actually a weak man. His weakness was not primarily his relationships, but stemmed from a weakness of character. His charismatic anointing enabled him to accomplish many amazing feats of strength, but then the Spirit of the Lord departed from him. He was captured by the Philistines, blinded and put on a treadmill, the laughing stock of the Philistines.
Many years ago I preached a sermon called ‘Samson’s hair is growing again’. It became well known and one young woman who heard it wrote a poem about the blind Samson being led by the little boy to the pillars of the temple, where he pulled the whole temple down.
The boy who held his hand
They gouged them out,
At first
I could not bear to look:
Empty and raw and cruel.
I would not look:
The shock of emptiness,
Knowing that he would not see.
I watched the shaven head bowed low
Rocking with the rhythm of the grindstone.
Round. Round. Round.
I watched the needless shackles:
Heavy and hard,
Biting the flesh that needs no binding.
Now
It does not matter that his eyes are gone:
I am his eyes,
He sees through me.
He has to see through me, there is no other way.
And I have wept the tears he cannot weep,
For all those careless years.
And I have learned to love this broken man,
While he has learned at last to fear his God.
So
I am not afraid to die:
Happy to be his eyes this one last time.
Taking his hand,
Leading with practised care,
Step by guided step
Into the place where he can pray,
‘Lord,
O Sovereign Lord.’
And as the pillars fall, I cry
‘Amen.’
In his last five minutes Samson did more for his people than he had done in all the years of his life.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 52: Judges and Ruth Part 1
May 30, 2011
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Introduction
Judges and Ruth belong to each other, so we will consider them together. The Bible is unique among sacred writings in being mostly history. The Koran, for example, contains little or no history, whereas the Bible displays a historical dimension throughout. Furthermore, it includes history no human being could have written, for it includes the very beginning of our universe in Genesis and a description of its end in Revelation. Either this is human imagination, or God himself has revealed it – there is no other explanation.
When we looked at the book of Joshua, we saw how prophetic history is a special type of history because it records events in terms of what God says and does with his people Israel. What we have in the Bible is no ordinary history book, simply recording what a nation has done and experienced – it is God’s story of his dealings with his people.
There are four possible levels when it comes to studying history:
- The study of personalities: this approach involves detailed analysis of the individuals who made history – monarchs, military leaders, philosophers, thinkers. Their lives control what is included; they are the reference point for all that happens.
- The study of peoples: here the focus is on whole nations or people groups. We discover how nations grow stronger and weaker and how this affects the balance of power within the world.
- The study of patterns: aside from the personalities and peoples, this approach looks for the patterns which exist across time frames, such as the way civilizations rise and fall. It is less concerned with the detail and more with themes.
- The study of purpose: historians also ask where history is heading. They look for meaning and purpose. Marxist historians believe in dialectical materialism, i.e. the history of peoples includes conflict, especially between the workers and ruling classes. Evolutionary optimists believe in the ascent of man, i.e. humanity is making progress to a better world. Others look at war throughout history and predict doom and gloom.
The study of purpose can be divided into two strands: on the one hand there are those who see history as linear progression – things are moving forward with the present building on the past; on the other hand there are those who see history as a series of cycles where things tend to come full circle – to them there is little forward progression, just aimless and futile activity signifying nothing.
It is no surprise that a divine view of history includes a sense of purpose. It is not the optimism of the evolutionists, for not everything ‘gets better’, but biblical history does have a purpose, for God is in control and will bring things to the ending he intends. History is, indeed, ‘his story’.
These two aspects of history – the linear and the cyclical views – will help us understand Judges and Ruth. The history in Judges is a classic case of a series of cycles: the same cycle is identified on seven occasions and, although the time line is there, it is largely in the background. Ruth, by contrast, is a time-line story with a beginning, a middle and an end, and a clear sense of progress.
The pattern of history in the book of Judges mirrors accurately the sort of lives many people live when they do not know God. They get up, go to work, come home, watch the television and go to bed again, ready to repeat the same cycle the next day. It is life on a large roundabout! You get nowhere and achieve nothing. The pattern seen in Ruth is more in keeping with the way God intends his people to proceed through life. Here there is purpose and meaning, a movement towards a goal.
The most important thing to establish about any book in the Bible is the reason why it was written. Some books reveal their purpose very easily, but Judges and Ruth require rather more investigation. We will need to examine each book in detail before we can come to any conclusions about the purpose behind them.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 51: Joshua Part 8
May 23, 2011
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Christian application
We are told in 1 Corinthians 10 and Romans 15 that everything in the past was written for our learning. How is the book of Joshua used in the New Testament, and how can we apply what we learn from it today?
Faith
In Hebrews 11 Joshua and Rahab the prostitute are used as examples of faith. They are part of the ‘cloud of witnesses’ with which we are surrounded.
James says that faith without action is dead; it cannot save us. Again Rahab is used as an example, for the way she hid the spies and said goodbye to the past in order to embrace the faith of Israel.
Sin
The book also gives us a graphic reminder of the problems which sin can cause amongst a whole people. In the New Testament an incident with Ananias and Sapphira exactly matches the sin of Achan. Acts tells the story of how this couple lie about money withheld from the church’s common purse, while Achan deceives the people by not owning up to the goods he stole from Jericho. The result in both cases is the same – the judgement of God. Ananias and Sapphira are immediately struck down dead, as Achan was stoned to death by the people.
Salvation
The book is also a glorious picture of salvation. Joshua’s name was originally Hoshea, which means ‘salvation’, but Moses changed it to Yeshua, which means ‘God saves’. The Greek version of the Old Testament translates this as ‘Jesus’.
Moses himself means ‘drawn out’, so his name and Joshua’s together describe Israel’s progress towards the Promised Land. Moses brought them out of Egypt, but it was Joshua the savior who brought them into the Promised Land. Getting out of Egypt did not constitute salvation, but getting into Canaan did.
This illustrates an important truth: Christians are not just saved from something, they are also saved to something. It is all too possible to get out of Egypt but still be in the wilderness; to stop living the lifestyle of a nonbeliever but not enjoy the glory of the Christian life.
Applying the concept
Finally we must ask: How should a Christian apply the concept of the Promised Land?
HEAVEN
Some imagine that the Promised Land depicts ‘heaven’. One hymn, for example, contains the line: ‘When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside’, as if the image of the river is depicting death, with Canaan (heaven) on the other side.
HOLINESS
The Promised Land, however, is not heaven but holiness. The writer of Hebrews, commenting on Joshua’s conquering of the land, says that the Israelites never entered ‘the rest’ under Joshua, despite entering Canaan. He goes on to say that there still remains ‘a rest’ for the people of God. This ‘rest’ means rest from battle – and the Promised Land is reached when we enjoy what God has for us. So whenever we overcome temptation we have a little foretaste of the rest that God has promised. The victories in Joshua should be replicated in the life of every believer as he or she lives for Christ and battles against sin. The ‘rest’ is that relief when our struggles with enemy forces are successfully behind us and our efforts have been rewarded.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 50: Joshua Part 7
May 17, 2011
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Divine intervention
1. GOD’S WORDS
God’s words are prominent in the book of Joshua as we hear of his solemn covenant to Israel which he could never break. He had sworn by himself that he would stay with them, and the land was his promised gift. God always keeps his Word – he cannot lie. So Joshua tells us that God gave to Israel all the land he had sworn to their forefathers that he would give them.
2. GOD’S DEEDS
God’s deeds are linked with his words. We are told that God would fight for Israel. He would drive the other nations out of the land.
Joshua is full of physical miracles: the division of the River Jordan, the sudden cessation in the provision of manna, the collapse of the Jericho walls, the hailstones which help defeat the five kings, the lengthening of the day by making the sun ‘stand still’, and the drawing of lots to decide how the land is to be divided.
The book of Joshua is careful to give the glory to God for these amazing events. God was truly with Israel. The name Immanuel has four possible meanings or emphases:
- God is with us!
- God is with us!
- God is with us!
- God is with us!
The fourth version conveys the meaning of the biblical text. Immanuel means God is on our side – the emphasis is that he is going to fight for us, not them. Joshua is a testimony to this truth.
Human cooperation – positive
God works through human cooperation. He did not fight by himself: the Israelites had to go to the battlefield and face the enemy for themselves. Without them God would not have done it – they had to go into the land, they had to take action. God said that every bit of land they actually stood on he would give to them.
1. THEIR ATTITUDE
Not fear (negative)
In taking action and entering the land, the Israelites were not to be afraid. This was the command given to Joshua at the very beginning. This had been the cause of the people’s failure 40 years before when they had refused to enter Canaan.
But faith (positive)
If they were to win every battle, their attitude had to be one of confidence and obedience. This faith showed itself in action as they obeyed the Lord’s command to march around Jericho seven times in silence, when they doubtless would have preferred to get on and fight straight away. They also had to be prepared to take risks. Joshua took the risk of asking God publicly to stop the sun.
2. THEIR ACTION
Their confidence had to lead to obedience. They were to act on God’s Word – they were to do what he said. This is a reminder to us that God’s gifts have to be received. The Israelites were given every bit of land they put their foot on, but this meant they had to do something to make the inheritance theirs; it was not automatic.
There is a delicate balance to be reached between faith and action, summed up brilliantly by Oliver Cromwell, who once told his troops, ‘Trust in God and keep your powder dry.’ Or as C. H. Spurgeon said, ‘Pray as if it all depends on God and work as if it all depends on you.’
If the Israelites’ attitude was to become self-confident and their action was to become disobedient, however, they would lose every battle. That is why the two major parts of Joshua cover the story of Jericho and the story of Ai, one attack a success, one (initially) a failure. If we learn the lessons of those two towns then we are set for the conquest of the land.
Human cooperation – negative
The Bible is a very honest book. It deals with weaknesses as well as strengths. The book of Joshua tells us about three mistakes the Israelites made when they took over the land.
The first mistake was at Ai. They were defeated by superior troops because they had too much self-confidence. The previous generation had been under-confident, and thus guilty of fear, but this generation was over-confident and therefore guilty of folly. Both attitudes were equally damaging.
The second mistake was when the Gibeonites tricked them into making a treaty to protect them. Their refusal to first ask the Lord what to do is given as the reason for their folly on this occasion.
The third mistake was when the two and a half tribes put up an altar on the east bank of the Jordan and the tribes on the other side of the river accused them of treachery and turning away from the Lord. The misunderstanding that arose almost led to civil war.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 49: Joshua Part 6
September 19, 2010
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
3. DIVIDING
Before progressing any further, we must establish the distinction between occupation and subjugation. Occupation refers to places; subjugation refers to peoples. Whilst the land was theirs, since the people were subjugated, the Israelites still had much land to occupy. Much of the rest of the book is taken up with this process.
The allocation of land was decided by national lottery, leading some to believe that God sanctions the sort of lottery which currently operates in many countries, including Britain. There is, however, an important distinction to be understood. Lotteries are arranged so that humans cannot influence the outcome. Israel chose the lottery specifically so that God could influence the outcome. After all, if God could control the sun, this was nothing to him.
(i) The east bank
The land itself is fascinating, and Joshua records how it was surveyed. The same size as Wales, it is the only green part of the Middle East. The Arabian desert lies to the east, the Negev desert to the south. The rain comes from the Mediterranean.
Moses had promised that the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh would be given fertile land east of the Jordan, providing they helped in the battle for Canaan. Joshua honoured this pledge.
Throughout the division of the land, the key word was ‘inheritance’. The land was an inheritance for Israel, not just for a while, nor just for the lifetime of the victors, but as a permanent home to pass on to their descendants.
(ii) The west bank
At Gilgal: 21⁄2 tribes
Caleb was one of the spies who had given a positive report about the land when the 12 spies were sent in 45 years before. Now, at the age of 85, we read that he was just as strong as he had been at 40. He approached Joshua and asked that he might be allowed to take the hill country that he had been promised all those years before. Joshua blessed him and gave him the town of Hebron.
The daughters of Manasseh reminded Joshua of Moses’ promise to give them land too. The people of Joseph claimed to be too numerous for the land they were given and so were also allotted forested areas to clear.
The book outlines in considerable detail the towns and villages that were allotted to each tribe, with occasional reference to other matters. We read, for example, of the Israelites’ failure to defeat the enemy when Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites in Jerusalem.
At Shiloh: 8 1/2 tribes
Several tribes remained without allotted land, so each tribe selected men to survey the territory in order to divide it further.
(iii) Special cities
Refuge
There were six special cities of refuge, three on each side of the Jordan, where those guilty of manslaughter could flee when they were chased by those intent on revenge. Within Jewish law there was a distinction between accidental, unintentional killing and premeditated killing. These cities enabled the law to be applied.
Levites
When the land had been allotted, the text makes it clear that the Levites received no land as such, no specific territory. We are told that the Lord was their inheritance – serving God was sufficient for them. Of course, the individual Levites had to live somewhere and towns with pastureland were allotted to them, scattered amongst the other tribes.
(iv) The altar on the east bank
Towards the end of Joshua we are told how a potential tragedy was averted. When the two and a half tribes returned across the Jordan to their territories on the east bank, Joshua urged them to be careful to love God, walk in his ways and obey his commands. However, no sooner had they arrived home than they built an altar at Peor, by the Jordan. The other tribes regarded this as idolatry and immediately declared war. Fortunately, they decided to talk before the first blow was struck. The ‘guilty’ tribes claimed that the new altar was their way of remembering that they were still part of God’s people on the other side of the river. This pacified the concerned tribal leaders and war was avoided.
Joshua’s commitment
The last two chapters are a moving finale to the book. Joshua was conscious of his advancing years. He knew he was going to die soon and so wanted to make provision for the future of the nation.
It is important to note that whilst Moses appointed Joshua as his successor, Joshua did not appoint a successor for himself. This may seem strange, but from then on the job of leadership could not be left to just one man. The leadership needs were different, the people were scattered across the land, and one man could not lead properly with so much ground to cover. So Joshua passed on his commission to them all.
Joshua’s message was very firm: God had promised not only to bless them when they obeyed but to curse them when they disobeyed. God had brought them into the land as he had promised, but they must obey the law if they were to experience his continued favor.
Joshua gave all the credit for Israel’s possession of the land to God. Although he had led the people, he recognized that God had fought for them and they should be grateful to him for their success. He concluded his speech by asking the Israelites to take an oath of loyalty to God.
The final chapter is in an altogether different style. Here Joshua speaks in the first person singular as he does in the previous chapter, but this time ‘I’ means God. His last message is prophecy and is understood as such by the people.
(i) Grace
First God reminds the people of all he has done for them. There is no mention of Joshua’s role.
(ii) Gratitude
Now Joshua speaks, urging the people to fear God, serve him, be faithful and throw away any other gods. Then he speaks for himself and his household, saying, ‘We will serve the Lord.’
The people agree to follow God with Joshua, who sets up a stone of witness. Three times the people declare, ‘We will serve the Lord.’
The last verses of the book record three burials: the burial of Joshua, the burial of Joseph’s bones and the burial of Eleazer. For 40 years they had carried with them a coffin containing Joseph’s bones, because his dying wish was to be buried in the Promised Land. Now at last the bones could be laid to rest in the land Joseph had looked for.
So a triple funeral rounds off this book. We are told that as long as Joshua and his generation of leaders lived, the people were faithful to God. When the next generation grew up, however, things went badly wrong.
It is possible to sum up the lessons of the book of Joshua in two simple phrases:
* Without God they could not have done it.
* Without them God would not have done it.
These are two very important lessons. It is easy to put all the responsibility on God or to put it all on ourselves. The Bible has a balance: without God we cannot do it, but without us he will not do it. The change of verb is significant – it is not that without us he cannot, it is that without us he will not. If Joshua and the people of Israel had not cooperated with God, their entry into the Promised Land would not have happened, and yet without God and without his intervention, they could not possibly have done it.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 48: Joshua Part 5
July 23, 2010
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
2. CONQUERING
The military strategy for taking the land is clear – they were to divide and conquer. Joshua drove a wedge straight through the middle of Canaan and then, having divided the enemy into two halves, he conquered the south then the north. This strategy prevented the forces in Canaan from uniting, and meant that Israel could fight manageable numbers, dealing with each area in turn.
The view that Joshua is prophetic history is underlined by the space given to the first two cities attacked. Jericho and Ai were deemed the most significant. The moral lessons, both positive success and negative failure, learned from these two initial assaults, would be confirmed in later engagements; but the prophetic interpretation would not need to be repeated.
(i) The center
Jericho
Ancient Jericho is a mile down the road from modern Jericho. Its ruins today are at Tel Es Sultan and reveal that Jericho is the oldest city in the world, dating from 8000 BC and containing the oldest building in the world, a round tower with a spiral staircase inside. These remains have been excavated and, of course, the key question was whether the walls which fell in Joshua’s day could be found. In the 1920s the archaeologist John Garstang thought he had found them, only to be contradicted by Kathleen Kenyon, who asserted that Jericho was not even occupied in Joshua’s day! However, the Egyptologist David Rohl has revised the dating and discovered fallen walls and burned buildings at another level in the diggings (see his remarkable book The Test of Time, Century, 1995, following the TV series of the same name, which includes his discovery of remains of Joseph’s time in Egypt, and his even more remarkable Legend: The Genesis of Civilization, Century, 1998, locating the Garden of Eden, still full of fruit trees – and he’s not even a believer!)
When Jericho eventually fell, Joshua cursed anyone who sought to rebuild it. He said that their first-born would die when the foundations were laid, and their youngest would die when the gates were put in place. The book of Kings records an attempt to rebuild the city 500 years later, when the curse was enacted exactly as predicted. Although one would expect building work to take place on the ruins, therefore, the curse was a real deterrent. The remains of Jericho were left open to the weather and available to anyone wishing to remove stonework for other buildings. The absence of some walls thus helps to confirm the truth of the Bible’s record.
Archaeologists have confirmed the size of the walls from similar constructions. They suggest that Jericho’s walls were 30 feet high, with a 6-foot thick outer wall and a 12–15-foot gap between that and a 12-foot thick inner wall. The walls became a barrier as the city grew, so houses were perched on the top of the walls in close proximity to one another. It is easy to see how an earth tremor could send the whole lot toppling down. The text tells us that the sustained noise of the horns of 40,000 men was the trigger, so maybe this sound was sufficient – rather in the way that an opera singer can crack a light bulb if she sings at a certain intensity and pitch. The only house that remained standing was the one with the scarlet thread hanging from the window – the house of the prostitute Rahab, preserved because of her faith in the God of Israel.
The destruction was so great that no fighting was necessary – the Israelites simply walked in and took the city. But victory celebrations were conditional. God told them that this city was his, rather like the ‘first fruits’ of the harvest. They must recognize that this was God’s victory, not theirs. The cities conquered in the future could be looted, but not Jericho. One man, however, disobeyed the command, and this fact links with the next story.
Ai
The flourishing city of Ai was farther up the hill from Jericho. But this time the battle was lost. Israel made two errors. The first was over-confidence: Joshua used fewer troops, believing that conquering this city would be as easy as it had been with Jericho. They learnt the important lesson that it is fatal to think that because God has blessed you once, he is going to do it again in the same way.
The man who took some of the loot from Jericho made the second error. Achan had taken a Babylonian robe, 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels, thinking that these items’ disappearance would not be noticed. When Joshua’s troops first attacked Ai, they were routed and they fled. Joshua was distraught and asked God why he had let this happen, especially now that their reputation was growing. God explained that Israel had sinned; one of them had taken something devoted to God. So they drew lots to find the tribe, then the clan, then eventually Achan’s family.
Lots may seem a strange way of deciding on an issue of this magnitude, but the Israelites believed that God was in control of every situation and would enable the person to be identified through the drawing of lots, and so it proved. A similar method was used throughout Israel’s history. The priest carried a black stone and a white stone inside his breastplate, called the Urim and Thummim. People would use these to discern what they should do. When the white stone was drawn the answer was positive, and when the black one was drawn it was negative. This practice was continued among God’s people right up until the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. From that moment the Holy Spirit guided his people instead and such methods were never used again.
Achan knew he was guilty. Had he owned up earlier, he might have been forgiven, but he had refused to come clean. His family were also implicated in the crime because they had not exposed him, and so they were all stoned to death. It is frightening that one person’s sin could cause a whole people to suffer such disgrace.
When the sin was dealt with, the Israelites fought against Ai again and this time they were victorious.
Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim
Following the destruction of Ai, Joshua led the people of Israel to two mountains in the center of the land. Moses had given clear instructions concerning the renewal of the covenant God had made with them at Sinai. They were to write the laws he had given them on uncut plastered stones and then they were to divide into two groups, one standing on Mount Gerizim shouting the blessings of the covenant and the other on Mount Ebal shouting the curses. The two hills form a natural amphitheater, so that each group could hear the other and respond with an ‘amen’ to what was being called out.
(ii) The south
Despite this covenant affirmation, the people were still fallible, and they immediately made a big error in their dealings with the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites were a tribal group within the land of Canaan who realized that they were unlikely to be able to stand against an Israelite onslaught. They opted for deception instead. They visited Israel dressed in old clothes and shoes and carrying old wineskins, worn-out sacks and stale, moldy bread. They claimed to be from a distant country and said they had heard of Israel and wanted protection.
The text says that the men of Israel took them at face value and did not enquire of God. Only later did they realize their error, but by then it was too late, and the four cities belonging to the Gibeonites had to remain untouched because of the oath the Israelites had taken to preserve their lives. The Gibeonites were protected by the treaty they had gained through trickery, and served as woodcutters and servants to the people of Israel. Thus Israel was unable to expel these people from the land.
Gibeon continued to be part of the picture. The King of Jerusalem, Adoni-Zedek, heard of the treaty that the Gibeonites had made with Israel and called on four Amorite kings to unite with him and attack Gibeon. The Gibeonites requested Israel’s assistance and battle commenced. God assured the Israelites of victory, sending hailstones of such size that more died from the storm than by the sword. It was at this point that Joshua asked for an extraordinary miracle. He knew that he would not be able to continue routing the enemy when it was dark – at sunset all fighting stopped, whatever the state of the battle, since it was impossible to discern who was friend and who was foe. Joshua therefore made an unprecedented prayer request that the sun should stop in order that the battle could continue! This astonishing display of faith was rewarded, and we read that for a full day the sun stopped in the sky. Victory was complete.
The southern campaign continued with victories over Bethel and Lachish (which we know from archaeology were destroyed between 1250 and 1200 BC). The whole region was subdued.
(iii) The north
Having defeated the south, the people turned to concerns in the north. The northern kings were aware of the Israelites’ success by then, and so united their forces for battle. Once again, however, God assured the Israelites of victory: their enemies’ chariots were burned and their horses hamstrung.
The cities on the mounds were the only ones not totally destroyed, apart from Hazor which Joshua burned. Archaeologists confirm that that city was ruined by fire at this time, between 1250 and 1200 BC.
With the conquests over, we are given an interesting summary of the Israelites’ activity, including the statement that the Lord hardened the hearts of the nations so that they came against Israel in battle. Clearly their sins were so great that complete extermination was the only solution.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 47: Joshua Part 4
June 28, 2010
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Joshua’s command
The heart of the book deals with Joshua leading the people as they enter the land of Canaan. There are three sections, all dealing fundamentally with the land.
1. ENTERING
(i) Before
Before entering, Joshua sends two spies into the land. When 12 spies had been sent out 40 years before, the negative report from 10 of them had contributed to Israel’s faithless refusal to enter the land. This time just two are asked to go in, mirroring the number who had brought back a good report on that first occasion. Sending in spies may seem to be faithless – after all, had God not promised the land to them? But they were practising a principle Jesus used in a story when he was on earth: it is important to sit down and count the cost before you go to battle. It would have been foolhardy for the Israelites to enter Canaan without first obtaining the maximum amount of information about what they might face.
The place where the spies stayed tells us a lot about the moral state of Canaan. They ended up staying in a brothel with a prostitute named Rahab. It is clear from their conversation with Rahab that news of the Israelite victories over Egypt and the surrounding nations had made the locals fearful about their prospect of repelling an invasion. Indeed, Rahab was so convinced that God would give the land to Israel that she wanted to join them. The New Testament commends this amazing display of faith, for Rahab is included in the great heroes of the faith mentioned in Hebrews.
The means of her escape was reminiscent of the way in which the Jewish first-born escaped with their lives when the angel of death came to Egypt. They had painted blood from the Passover lamb on the door frames of their houses. Rahab was told to hang a scarlet thread out of the window so that she and her family would be spared the destruction that would come on the city of Jericho. It was as if she was marking her window with blood, so that death would not touch her home. Not only was she commended for her faith, but Matthew’s Gospel records how this prostitute is included in the royal lineage which reaches to Jesus himself. It is an extraordinary and moving tale.
(ii) During
The River Jordan operated like a moat on the eastern edge of Canaan, especially at harvest times when floods could reach depths of 20 feet, with no bridges or fords to enable easy crossings. We have noted already that it is likely that a temporary natural dam upstream stopped the flow of the river to enable the people to cross. The timing was perfect: the river bed was dry at the precise moment when the priest at the front of the convoy entered the river.
The miracle enabled the crossing but also had an additional purpose. Many of the new generation of people who entered the land with Joshua had not witnessed the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea recorded in the book of Exodus. God wanted his people to see his mighty power and to have confidence in the leadership of Joshua as he led them against the Canaanites and into the Promised Land. God was with him as he had been with Moses.
(iii) After
Their first camp in the Promised Land was at Gilgal, an open space near to the fortified town of Jericho which had been built to guard the eastern approach up to the hills. When the Israelites arrived they did three things:
- They took 12 stones from the bed of the River Jordan and made a cairn as a reminder for future generations of how God had dried up the river. Remembrance was an important part of Old Testament piety. Israel had as part of their culture many reminders of what God had done for them in the past. A cairn of stones was a favorite method of marking a significant site, with the 12 stones representing the 12 tribes.
- They circumcised all the men. The new generation had not undergone this covenant rite, first introduced with Abraham. Joshua wanted to follow the law to the letter – the people’s spiritual condition was important.
- They named the place Gilgal, which means ‘rolled’, because God had ‘rolled away’ the reproach or disgrace of Egypt.
God also did something when they entered the land: he stopped sending manna. For 40 years the Israelites had fed off this daily provision, but now they had reached the fertile land of Canaan, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’, and the manna was redundant. Even today there are delicious grapefruits and oranges sold in Jericho.
(iv) The captain of the Lord’s host
Jericho was the first city they were to attack, but before the battle Joshua had an unusual experience. He approached the city by night to see the fortifications for himself and was met by an armed man.
Joshua suspected this man was an enemy and asked whether he was friend or foe. He was surprised to receive the answer ‘No’, a nonsensical reply! But then the man added that he was not part of the Hebrew or Canaanite peoples, but belonged to God’s forces, involved with heavenly rather than earthly troops. He was virtually asking Joshua whose side he was on! The person was none other than the captain of the Lord’s host, i.e. a senior angel, an archangel or even the preincarnate Son of God himself. Joshua was being reminded that he was not the highest officer in the Lord’s army, but only an under-officer. The experience also made clear to him that he did not fight alone, nor was he the true commander of Israel – he was a servant of God and the people.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 46: Joshua Part 3
June 21, 2010
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
The content of Joshua
It is important that we gain an overview of the content of Joshua before looking at the detail. This will save us from drawing inappropriate or unwarranted conclusions about what it means, just as we would refuse to judge a novel by selecting isolated pages without seeing the whole thing. Every sentence in a book takes its meaning from the context, so we need to see the book as a whole first.
The book covers the life of Joshua from the age of 80 to 110. Moses’ leadership, between the ages of 80 and 120, is covered by Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The difference between the two is that Moses was a lawgiver and a leader while Joshua was just a leader, the period of law giving having been completed.
Structure
The book divides like a sandwich. There are three parts: two thin slices of bread and a lot of filling in the middle.
- The top ‘slice’ is Chapter 1, the prologue describing Joshua’s commissioning as leader.
- The bottom ‘slice’ is Chapters 23 and 24, Joshua’s final sermon and his death and burial.
The main section between these two outer ‘slices’ is the account of how Israel possessed the land that God had promised them, in spite of the fact that it was already occupied. This middle section can be further divided:
- Chapters 2–5 cover the entering of the land of Canaan through the River Jordan.
- Chapters 6–12 detail how they conquered the land, with a list of the 24 kings that Joshua defeated being given in Chapter 12.
- Chapters 13–22 cover the dividing of the land between the tribes who had conquered it.
Joshua’s commission
Joshua was 80 years of age when he received his call to serve as a leader. It is possible to identify two parts to the call: divine encouragement and human enthusiasm.
DIVINE ENCOURAGEMENT
God tells Joshua that he is his choice to replace Moses following his death. Moses had led Israel out of Egypt, and now Joshua would lead them into the Promised Land. God promises that just as he had been with Moses, so he would be with Joshua. He tells him to be strong, courageous and careful to obey the law. If he does this he will prosper.
It is an encouraging, if challenging, beginning to his leadership. The word ‘prosper’ has been misunderstood. It does not mean ‘wealthy’, and those claiming that the Bible promises financial rewards are mistaken. It means that Joshua will achieve what he sets out to achieve in God’s name.
These words of encouragement were not merely for Joshua’s wellbeing. God knew that his leadership would affect the morale of the whole people of Israel. And important as it was that Joshua’s leadership should help morale, he was also to ensure that his own morality was of the highest standard. He was not just leading a group of individuals armed for battle who needed good pep talks, he was leading the people of God. Their standards of morality would affect their success in battle too, and Joshua was to set an example.
HUMAN ENTHUSIASM
When Joshua told the people of God’s decision they were enthusiastic – indeed, their precise response echoes the commands God had given him privately, for they also urge Joshua to ‘be strong and courageous’. Furthermore, they promise to obey him fully just as they had obeyed Moses. This may seem strange, as the Israelites’ behavior under Moses’ leadership could hardly be described as obedient and this was one of the reasons why they had taken 40 years to travel to the Promised Land. But this new generation had learned from the disobedience of their forefathers. This generation had obeyed Moses whilst he had been alive, when they had conquered Moab and Ammon, and were now comfortable about reaffirming their support for the new man. They promise specifically to do what Joshua tells them and to go where he sends them. They ask that God may be with Joshua as he was with Moses.
This twofold aspect of Joshua’s calling is instructive for calls to service today. Both aspects are required: a God-given sense that an individual is called to the work, and a heartfelt response from God’s people that this is so.
