Posts tagged ‘Joshua’
Hope In Troubles
Recently, in my personal devotions, I have been reading through the book of Hosea. Hosea is the first of the so-called “Minor Prophets” at the end of the Old Testament. He, like so many of the other ancient Israelites prophets, carried out his ministry during a time of great trouble and turmoil in Israel. The people had fallen prey to idolatry. They were defrauding and exploiting each other. They were engaged in all sorts of crass and harmful immorality, such as cultic sexual rituals. God raised up prophet after prophet to try to call the people back to righteousness – back to Him.
When God called Hosea, He called him not only to be a preacher, but, in some sense, a performer. Hosea is asked by God to use his life as a giant object lesson as a divine message to Israel:
The Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)
So, Hosea does. And, predictably, she cheats on him. What Israel has done to God – cheating on Him by worshiping other gods – Hosea plays out in his life and marriage, at a great personal expense of suffering.
But even in the midst of much sin and pain, all is not lost. God makes a promise through Hosea to Israel:
I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. (Hosea 2:14-15)
God promises to restore Israel even after her faithlessness. This promise does not mean there will be no fallout from her sin. Hosea speaks of the “Valley of Achor,” which, in Hebrew, means “valley of trouble.” This is the same valley where, eight centuries earlier, a man named Achan was stoned to death for lying about stealing what belonged to God (cf. Joshua 7:24-26). Sin brings trouble.
But God reminds us that trouble does not have the last word. For, even in the Valley of Achor, God brings a “door of hope.”
Where has sin brought trouble in your life? Maybe your trouble is the result of a lie you told, a confidence you betrayed, or a boundary you breached. Then again, perhaps trouble has come to you through no fault of your own. Perhaps it is simply the result of living in a sinful, broken world. No matter what trouble you may be facing, even if God does not rescue you from the Valley of Achor, God will not abandon you in the Valley of Achor. Instead, when you are most troubled, God will give you a door – right in the midst of your valley of trouble. He will provide hope – right there in your pain.
How? Through One who has seen trouble, too – not in a valley, but on a hill called Calvary. And as this One once said:
I am the door. (John 10:7).
Jesus is our hope, no matter what our trouble.
Joshua Paused the Battle of Jericho
When I was a kid, I would sing a song in Sunday School called “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho.” It was all about Joshua’s conquest of the infamous city, whose walls came “tumblin’ down.” The song was fun to sing, but it also recounted a chapter from Israel’s history that has long been troubling to a lot of people. Israel’s conquest of Canaan, beginning with Jericho, involved a lot of violence and slaughter, which raises an important and understandable question: how could a good God lead His people in such violent warfare?
When Joshua fights this inaugural battle against the people of Canaan, the battle plan God gives him is a strange one:
See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. 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 the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in. (Joshua 6:2-5)
God says to Joshua He will bring the walls of the city down, but only after six days of open marching.
In ancient battle plans, the element of surprise was key. Just a few chapters later, Adoni-Zedek, who is the king of Jerusalem at this time, moves to attack the Gibeonites because he does not like that they have made a peace treaty with the Israelites. The Gibeonites ask for Joshua’s help, which he delivers when he takes Adoni-Zedek in battle “by surprise” (Joshua 10:9). Surprise was standard.
But there’s no surprise at Jericho. The chapter opens by noting that “the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites” (Joshua 6:1). The people of Jericho knew a defeat was imminent. So why would Joshua wait? Why not just make those Jericho walls tumble on the first day instead of waiting until the seventh?
Before they reach the Promised Land, Moses describes God’s character to the Israelites like this:
The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. (Exodus 34:6)
God’s desire and nature is not to destroy wicked people in anger, but to patiently wait for them to turn to Him. Indeed, even when a prostitute from Jericho named Rahab trusts in God and helps the Israelites, He gladly spares her (cf. Joshua 2). The six days of marching, then, are six days of waiting – six days of God waiting for the people of Jericho to repent. Before Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, he paused the battle of Jericho.
When God first promises the land of Canaan to Abraham, He says to Abraham that he will have to wait to enter it because its sin “has not yet reached its full measure.” 675 years pass before Joshua fights the first battle against the people there. It turns out that God is not only patient with sinners, He is very patient.
Thus, the violent warfare of Joshua’s day is not the story of a vengeful God gleefully destroying sinners, but the story of sorrowful God who has waited and waited for sinners to repent, but to no avail.
God is still patient with sinners today. His invitation to us remains the same: turn to Him and trust in Him. Sin does not need to destroy you, for His Son can save you.
Who Is God’s Enemy?
There is a fascinating exchange between Joshua and an unnamed man right before he fights the battle at Jericho. As Joshua is nearing the city and mustering his troops, he looks up and sees a man with a sword drawn in his hand. He asks him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” The man replies, “Neither, but as a commander of the army of the LORD I have now come” (Joshua 5:13-14).
This exchange, though somewhat cryptic, is extremely revelatory. In this exchange, this man reveals who He is. He is part neither of Israel’s army nor of the army of Israel’s enemy. Instead, He commands the forces of God Almighty. In other words, He is not just a man. He is divine. This is why this commander echoes the words that God speaks to Joshua’s predecessor, Moses, from a burning bush. “Take of your sandals,” this commander says to Joshua, “for the place where you are standing is holy” (Joshua 5:15). This commander speaks the same words God once spoke to Moses because He Himself is God, who is now speaking to Joshua.
But the revelation that is given to Joshua in this man does not end here. For this man reveals not only who God is, but who God cares about. Before one of the biggest battles in Israel’s history, this commander comes to Joshua and tells him that He is not somehow blindly for Israel and against Jericho. But neither is he for Jericho and against Israel. Instead, He is for God who, ultimately, is for all. It is indeed true that God does rain down His wrath on Jericho’s sin in this story. But this does not mean that He does not love Jericho’s people. God is much more interested in saving people than in siding against them.
In our current milieu, I think it can be all too easy to forget that God cares about not only us, but those who we call “enemies.” But if we took the time to actually ask Him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” God’s answer might just surprise us. It might just be, “Neither.” God is much more interested in loving the world than He is in making enemies.
The next time you are tempted to hate your enemy, remember this commander’s interaction with Joshua. And remember the admonition of Jesus: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). And, most importantly, remember the action of Jesus: “While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10). Paul says that God’s enemy, before the cross, was you. So, ask yourself, “How did God treat me when I was His enemy?”
Go and do likewise with your enemy.
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