1. Return of the Israelites
Week 5 • Day 1
My wife and I started dating at a relatively young age. The more serious we got about our relationship, the more we dreamed of our marriage in the future! When our wedding day finally arrived, we were beyond thrilled after enduring many years of highs and lows. As I stood at the altar before the crowd waiting for my bride to enter the room, flashbacks and memories of those youthful years flooded my mind. This was the start of a new and exciting chapter of life together. As the music began, I couldn’t help but mentally utter the words, “Here…we…go!”
Have you ever anticipated something this much? Maybe you are anticipating something right now! As the moment gets closer to you, what does that heightened anticipation feel like?
Consider the Israelites at this particular moment of God’s kingdom story. Generations of their people had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years with only a vague promise to hang onto. For the last 40 years, this new generation had to watch their parents wander in the wilderness because of their unfaithfulness to God. Now, they stood at the border of God’s promised place having just heard an incredibly motivational “pregame speech” from Moses about God’s rule! Everything has led up to this moment! For Joshua and this generation, it was “show time”.
Here…we…go!
Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. - Joshua 1:2-3
Perhaps these moments are so thrilling because we never know what to expect. In order to guide His people into the promised place, God splits the Jordan river just like He did for Moses at the Red Sea. Furthermore, right before they approach the first city of the Canaanites, Joshua runs into this mysterious figure:
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” - Joshua 5:13-14
What an amazing encouragement this must have been for Joshua! An encounter with the Commander of the Lord’s Army showed that the Lord’s powerful rule was with Joshua as he led God’s people towards Jericho and into the promised place!
You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him. - Joshua 6:3-5
Could you imagine thinking that you are going to battle and then hearing these instructions from God? And then it actually works! I’m sure Joshua had every reason to praise God for His power to reestablish His rule by crushing the enemy inhabitants of Jericho. Praise God for His faithfulness to return Israel back into the kingdom place promised to Abraham long ago!
Perhaps this would be the generation in which Joshua, along with the Commander of the Lord’s Army, would rescue God’s people from all enemies of the serpent kingdom and restore their hearts to love God and love others! Might Joshua be the serpent crusher even though he was from the tribe of Ephraim?
THE SERPENT STRIKES BACK
It didn’t take long for the Israelites to show that they were still under the rule of the kingdom of the serpent. At the battle of Ai (Josh. 7), the Israelites suffered casualties due to the secret sins of one man named Achan. This time, in an attempt to preserve this fresh start, the Israelites took this man’s sin so seriously that they sentenced Achan to death. They hadn’t waited all these years only to have one individual pollute the entire campaign by disobeying the ruling commands of the Lord. God’s people were absolutely determined to live under God’s rule as they entered God’s promised place for them!
Sure enough, after the Achan episode is resolved, Israel successfully conquers the land of Ai (Josh. 8). Then, the Lord causes the Sun to stand still in order to guide Israel as they conquered the land of Jerusalem (Josh. 10). The pattern here showcases that God’s people could not be thwarted so long as the commander of the Lord’s army was with them and they remained faithful to YHWH, even if their battle was against multiple kingdoms at the same time (Josh. 11-12). The Lord was determined to reestablish His kingdom rule by crushing the head of all serpent-like nations and people groups. The Lord was committed to finishing His rescue mission for His people by restoring their hearts as image-bearing rulers and returning
them to His kingdom land in which He would dwell in the middle of their place. Then, as promised to Abraham, other nations would find refuge under the wings of YHWH if they acknowledged His kingdom rule, much like the foreign prostitute Rahab who hid the spies before the Jericho attack!
But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. - Joshua 6:25
After all these years of anticipation, the gospel of the kingdom breaks through in powerful ways! God was actively rescuing His kingdom family of people and returning them into His kingdom place so that they might become restored rulers who live under YHWH’s powerful rule. In so doing, the blessings of YHWH were actively extending to the nations (Rahab). God’s people were ready and willing to continue forward and spread His glory throughout the land! Surely, it’s time for the serpent to be defeated!
REVENGE OF THE SERPENT
When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.” - Joshua 9:3–6
As we learned in the Achan debacle, even the slightest hint of unfaithfulness would cause the Lord to withdraw His mighty rule in this conquest process. Centered at the middle of all these successful conquest (6,7,8 **Josh. 9** 10,11,12) is a story about the neighboring Gibeonites who were not defeated, but were spared because they fooled Joshua into making a covenant of peace with them.
Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.” So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them. - Joshua 9:12–15
Here, we discover the leaders of Israel along with Joshua bending the knee to the serpent. The faithful serpent-crusher would not be found in this generation.
Instead, in this moment of weakness, the serpent invites them into his own kingdom by elevating their own thrones above the Lord’s. This story may seem rather innocent, but it foreshadows a potential problem that the Israelites were going to face moving forward. Pay close attention to the instructions given to them by Moses back in Deuteronomy:
(Law in Question) But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God. - Deuteronomy 20:16-18
Here is the cliffhanger of the book of Joshua: would the serpent use the small opening of surrounding nations to destroy the Israelites?
The conquest stories of Joshua illustrate the final elements of God’s rescue mission from Egypt.
The conquest stories of Joshua illustrate the return of God’s people to His promised place.
However…
The conquest stories of Joshua illustrate that God’s image-bearers still need a restored heart to rule in a way that loves God, loves others, and obeys His law.
The conquest stories of Joshua illustrate that in order for God’s kingdom rule to be fully reestablished, the serpent still needed to be crushed once and for all!
A NEW HOPE?
Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.” - Joshua 13:1
The rest of the book (Josh 13-22) goes on to tally Israel’s great victories and how Joshua geographically divides up this promised land. The important thing about this commonly skipped-over section is that God had successfully brought Israel from a state of hopelessness in Egypt to fulfilling one of His great kingdom promises made to Abraham long ago - a return back to God’s kingdom place. Yet the book of Joshua leaves us wondering whether or not God’s people would
faithfully follow God’s rule in this land? Or would they be influenced by the neighboring people groups and begin to worship their gods?
As Joshua summons the leaders of Israel to urge them to follow the ways of the Lord and complete His mission, the people exclaim that they will surely be able to resist and overcome any temptations of the serpent!
“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. - Joshua 24:14-25
All of God’s kingdom pieces have fallen into place in the book of Joshua: God’s powerful rule in God’s place over God’s family of people. And just like on my wedding day, the newly formed kingdom of God is excited to follow through on their life-time covenant relationship with the Lord. But as my wife and I learned after our wedding, there is an entire journey still to come.
Joshua leaves us wondering what this new season of life would look like. Will this be the generation that actually resists the serpent kingdom that has plagued all of humanity up to this point? Would this actually be the generation that remained true to their commitment and obedient to God’s rule? Would we see this king figure from Israel defeat the serpent and take the throne over this generation of
people? Or will the surrounding serpent-like neighbors continue to rule over them? Joshua’s parting words encourage the Israelites to choose the way of life and warn them of the consequences of choosing the path of the serpent.
Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day.
And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. - Joshua 23:6-8, 14–16
Share the Gospel: The conquest stories of Joshua illustrate the final elements of God’s rescue mission from Egypt and the return of God’s people to His promised place. However the conquest stories of Joshua illustrate that God’s image-bearers still need a restored heart to rule in a way that loves God, loves others, and obeys His rule. Joshua leaves us wondering: would the serpent use the small opening of surrounding nations to destroy the Israelites?
