Bible Survey

06-Joshua

(Conquest of Canaan, 1405-1398 B.C.)

I. Entering the land (1:1 - 6:5)

     1/ Joshua encouraged - Joshua began the conquest with the promise of God’s Presence and success (1:5,9), a call to be courageous (1:6-7,9), success requires no deviation from God’s plan (1:7).  He also got a strong promise of support from the people (1:16-18).

     2/ Spies Investigate Jericho - The spies stayed with Rahab, because she probably ran an inn along with harlotry, but word got out fast that they were there (many nations may have kept a fearful eye on the Israelites as they traveled).  Rahab deceived the men looking for the spies, while she hid them on her roof and made an arrangement with them (2:1-21) agreeing to mark her house with a red cord and have all stay within the house as Israel attacked (similar to the Passover - Exodus 12:22).  The spies stayed in the central highlands for several days and then made it back across the Jordan (2:22-24).

     3-4/ Israel crosses the Jordan - The Ark of the Covenant went before Israel, separated by 3,000 feet, and when the priest’s feet touched the water, it piled up as behind a dam (3:14-17) so that Israel crossed through the Jordan River on dry ground as they had crossed the Reed Sea (Exodus 14:21-22).  Afterwards, a memorial of twelve stones was set up as a reminder to their children and a lesson to the whole world (4).

     5:1 - 6:5/ Final Preparations for Conquest - The crossing of the Jordan put fear into the Canaanites and they withdrew into their fortresses while the uncircumcised Israelites finally obeyed the Covenant of Abraham (5:1-9) as Moses had been forced to do earlier (Exodus 4:24-26).  The Conquest began with circumcision and celebration of the Passover (5:10).  When Israel tasted the first natural food of Canaan, the miraculous supply of manna ceased (5:11-12), like Cortez burning his ships to encourage moving on with the conquest before them.  Joshua removed his sandals in the presence of the (divine?) Captain of the Lord’s host and received “battle plans” for Jericho (5:13-6:5), much like Moses received his mission briefing (Exodus 3-4).

II. Conquering the land (6:6 - 12:24)

     6:6 - 9:27/ Central Campaign - The central campaign began with Jericho, a strategically-placed fortress city.  For six days, Israel’s fighting men circled the city once a day, followed by the Ark as the priests blew the trumpets.  On the seventh day, they marched around Jericho seven times and on the last one, all of the fighting men shouted and a portion of the walls fell down, allowing easy access to the city.  Rahab’s house and family were spared and Israel was not to take any of the spoil for themselves, the first portion belonged to God (the tithe - 6:6-23).  The city of Jericho was destroyed and burned and a curse was placed on whoever rebuilt the city and fortified it (6:24-27; see: 1Kings 16:34).

     Ai was not the fortress that Jericho was, but two things delayed Israel’s conquest: over-confidence (7:3-4) and loss of God’s support because some of the banned plunder was taken by Achan (7:11-26).  Destroying all of Achan’s family seems harsh, but they probably knew of and went along with the hiding of treasure inside their tent and this had contributed to the loss of 36 innocent Israelite warriors (7:5).  “Sin in the camp,” like leaven, influences the whole group!  After the sin was dealt with, Israel employed tactics and more strength to accomplish the conquest of Ai, which was also destroyed and burned (8).  Then they proceeded on to Mts. Ebal and Gerizim for the covenant ceremony (8:30-35) that was announced back in Deuteronomy 27:11ff.

     Like Rahab, the Gibeonites could see a bigger picture unfolding and wanted to side with Israel.  To do so, they sent messengers to Israel with the appearance of having traveled from a distance outside the land seeking to make an alliance with Israel.  The leaders of Israel made a covenant with them in God’s Name and then discovered they were Canaanites from just a few miles away.  The price of salvation was servanthood (9:27), yet they remained a part of Israel longer than the northern ten tribes, for they are still present after the return from Babylon (Nehemiah 3:7; 7:25).

     10/ Southern Campaign - With the fall of Jericho and Ai, followed by the defection of Gibeon, five southern kings decide they need to unite to fight Israel and their first target is Gibeon (10:1-5).  The Gibeonites call for aid from their covenant partners and Joshua did an overnight “forced march” to rescue Gibeon.  God aided Israel with large hailstones and lengthening the daylight hours (10:6-15).  The five kings were found hiding in a cave and were executed (10:16-28).  The rest of the southern campaign is summarized: Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir (10:29-43).  As God wanted to Israel to not be faced with a massive rebuilding effort (Deuteronomy 6:10-11), these towns were captured and the people killed, but the towns and buildings were not destroyed and burned.

     11/ Northern Campaign - The Northern Canaanites also formed a confederacy and fielded a large army, but God gave Israel victory (11:1-9).  The third city destroyed and burned was Hazor (11:10-13).  Then Joshua fought north of Hazor, in Phoenicia and Syria for some time (11:14-23).  Most of the Anakim (giants) were eradicated, except a few in what would be Philistine territory (David would meet one of these in battle later on).

     12/ Kings Defeated by Israel - A summary of the kings defeated.  Think of “kings” here as rulers over small city-states rather than kings over large countries/nations.

III. Dividing the land (13 - 22)

     13-19/ Division of Canaan to the Tribes - The description of boundaries and land area is tedious reading for us, but these division lines would identify tribal lands for the next 1400 years and were quite important for national Israel under the Mosaic Law.  Think of this material as similar to genealogies - not “fun” reading, but important to the unfolding plan of God during the Mosaic era.

     20-21/ 48 Levitical Cities - The Levites were scattered amongst the tribes of Israel in 48 cities, six of which were strategically set apart as “cities of Refuge.”  This way, the Levites could (ideally) be a spiritual influence on the other tribes.  The “cities of refuge” were provided so that those guilty of accidental deaths could be protected from revenge by the victim’s family.  If they could make it to a city of refuge and were found to have not acted in a premeditated/cold-blooded way, they were safe until the death of the current High Priest (angry families could cool down).

     *Note this - All of the promises concerning the occupation of the land of Canaan were fulfilled in Joshua’s time (Joshua 11:15; 21:45; 23:14).  The promises that Israel would be as numerous as the “stars of the heaven” (Genesis 15:5; Deuteronomy 1:10) and the “sand on the seashore” (Genesis 32:12) and would possess of the land promised to them were fulfilled by the time of Solomon’s reign (1Kings 4:20-21) and do NOT require a future “millennial kingdom” in order to be fulfilled!

     22/ Trans-Jordan Tribes & Offensive Altar - Joshua thanked the fighting men from the tribes that would settle on the East side of the Jordan (the “Trans-Jordan”) and released them to go home.  Because the Jordan River did function as a bit of a barrier between the 2.5 tribes that settled in the “Trans-Jordan” and the 9.5 tribes that settled in Canaan, the eastern tribes soon set up a memorial altar on their side of the river.  When the Western tribes heard of it, they thought it was being set-up as a rival altar and were ready to fight.  As it turned out, the Easterners did it as a memorial/Witness to remind later Israelites in Canaan that the East-side people were Israelites too and had a share in the one central altar.

IV. Joshua’s Farewell (23-24)

     23:1-5/ God has been/is/will be aiding Israel

     23:6/ Hold firmly to Scripture - As Joshua was told at the beginning of the conquest, he reminds Israel to follow Scripture closely (v. 6).  God’s covenant people are not free to “do their own thing/follow their whims” (Deuteronomy 12:8; Judges 21:25), but are supposed to follow God’s objective instructions!

     23:7-16/ Remain loyal to YHWH & don’t imitate your neighbors - Be loyal to God and watch yourselves - do not copy the religious practices of your neighbors (no matter how “cool” or “spiritual” they seem to be) or it will cost you!  Obviously, the danger of abandoning God’s truth in order to participate in the apparent success and assumed validity of what your neighbors are doing has been a danger for God’s people for centuries.

     24:1-13/ Remember what God has done - Understanding the past accurately provides a solid foundation for our perception of the present and future.  History is to a nation what memory is to an individual - amnesia brings on disorientation at both levels (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11).  Joshua reminds them of how they got to where they are.

     24:14-15/ Choose to serve God in sincerity & truth - Obviously, some Israelites were still carrying with them religious ideas and hardware (idolatry) from beyond the Euphrates and Nile Rivers (Acts 7:42-43).  Joshua called them to clean out their spiritual closet and serve YHWH alone.  Rather than blend all of our favorite religious ideas together (syncretism), Joshua calls them to choose who they will serve.  Either way, his family has chosen YHWH.

     24:16-28/ Re-dedication to the covenant - Israel’s future isn’t “guaranteed” because of one past “election” event, but their real choices in the future will determine where they wind up.  Rebellion will cause them to be destroyed and cease to be God’s people!  They promise to be faithful and nature is called in as a witness.

     24:29-33/ Death of Joshua and his generation - Joshua lived 110 years, but the passing of his generation marked the beginning of an era of serious spiritual decline for Israel (See: Judges 2:8-12).  Good leadership is very important!

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Charles E. McCoy

2006/5/31