Possessing the Land - a Study in the Book of Joshua
"Lord, if this is the Promised Land, why don’t I see all the milk and honey? If this is the Land of Plenty, then why do I have to scramble at the end of each month just to come up with enough to pay the rent? If I have left behind the Land of Bondage, then why am I so hindered by the things of my past?" If you have the ability to be really honest with yourself, then you have probably, at various times, and under a variety of circumstances in your Christian walk, found yourself reflecting on your progress into the Kingdom in such a manner. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of the original People of God as they went about taking possession of the land which God had promised them, and to draw parallels between their journey in a physical sense, and ours in the spiritual realm. We desire to be able to join them in their victories, learn from their defeats, and ultimately, like them, to enter into the fullness of all that God has prepared for us.
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Victorious at Jericho
Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. Interestingly, Jericho is a combination of two words in Hebrew. The first is the word used to define a month, or by implication, a specified period of time. The second is a word that means .breath. or .to breathe. or even, by implication, .the spirit.. In Genesis 2:7, the story of creation, the writer indicates that God breathed into his, (ie Adam.s) nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being, or spirit. One of the basic premises of this study is the realization that our battle is going to be in the spiritual realm. The enemies that we contend with will not be flesh and blood, but rather principalities and powers - rulers of wickedness in heavenly places.
By now, the people of Jericho were well aware of the plans and purposes of God for the children of Israel. They knew that, ultimately, they would have to surrender their territory to the invaders, and that they stood to lose their lives in the process. Their immediate reaction was one of fear - their hearts melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer, because of the sons of Israel. As a consequence of the fear, they locked the gates, and would not allow anyone in or out. When God starts to get serious about conquering the strongholds that are before us, it is not uncommon to observe that people’s first reaction is one of fear. What am I going to lose here? Will I have to change my way of life? A hundred and one apprehensions start to fill their mind because they have heard about the things that God has done in other people’s lives, and what is about to happen to them could very well mean that they will be forced to leave the comfort of their present place of residence. In their attempt to deal with the fear, they fortify the walls that they have built around themselves - no one gets in, and they don’t go out. I am sure we have all met people in that state of mind, and likely we can identify times in our own lives when we have reacted in a similar fashion. But God’s plans are not subject to the fears and apprehensions of the people, and when He ordains that Jericho be conquered, there is little we can do to prevent it from happening.
And you shall march around the city ... circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. What sort of strategy is this? You mean to say we don’t batter down the gates, or scale the walls? How is marching around the city once each day for six days going to accomplish anything? I am sure Joshua and the people of God could have raised any number of similar objections. Can you imagine the reaction of the inhabitants of Jericho as they stood on the walls of the city and observed the behavior of the children of Israel. "What are they doing, Daddy?" comes the question from a bewildered child. "Never mind," replies the likewise bewildered adult, "It’s just those religious fanatics again!" Our God works in mysterious ways, and His ways are not always man’s ways. In modern terms, it is easy to become "results-oriented" at times, and any actions that do not lead to the desired results are considered unnecessary, even drawing the scorn of those who would take a more proactive approach. Many times our logic dictates how to handle a certain situation, but God has other plans which may sound totally impractical or inefficient to our human reasoning, but if we follow His directions, we will find that He has surely given Jericho into our hands. We may well draw criticism and rebuke from those around us, but determining to obey His directions will lead to certain victory.
Then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And it shall be when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people will shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat... The seventh day, they were to spend seven times longer, walking seven times further, and probably enduring seven times as much criticism. Sometimes, the things which God requires of us may seem to be a little excessive, but remembering that He is sovereign helps to keep things in perspective. Our personal agendas, comforts, and self-esteem must be put aside in order to make way for what He is trying to accomplish in our lives.
’Then all the people will shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat.’ There’s one to stretch your faith a bit! These walls were not your twenty-first century brick and mortar facilities - these were WALLS. People built houses on these walls, they drove chariots on the top of them - and they are going to fall down when the people shout? Not surprising though, the word ’shout’ does not just mean a common ’yehaaaw!’, but, more important, it is a word that means ’joyful, jubilee, rejoicing, clamour.’ We must never under-estimate the power of praise as we face the walls that the enemy has erected. No matter how physically or spiritually exhausted we may feel, or how foolish we may look in the eyes of others, praise moves the hand of God on our behalf, and often saves us from much human effort.
Everything went as planned, everything was done according to the instructions given to Joshua by the Lord. Around the city, once a day for seven days and seven times on the seventh day as God had specified. In retrospect one might ask - what would have happened if, on the third day, the people had decided to take a day off because they were still sore from Gilgal? Or, what if, on the seventh day, they felt that four times around the city was enough to make their point? Of course such questions are only matters of conjecture, but one thing is certain - it pays to obey the instructions of God to the letter. True to His word, when the people shouted on that seventh day, the walls of the city fell flat, and only Rahab’s section of the wall remained standing. According to the word of the Lord, then, every living thing was destroyed, except those that had chosen to find refuge in the house of Rahab. But, some may argue, isn’t that rather harsh? Would a God of Love order the outright slaughter of thousands of innocent people? Beyond the rhetoric, however, we see a picture of Gods perfect plan of salvation. There could well have been more people saved if they had only heeded the words of Rahab, and gathered themselves into her house on that seventh day. Think of all the people that could have been saved from the flood, if they had listened to Noah’s warning for 120 years while the ark was under construction.
Similarly, in our day, there could be many more people destined for eternal life, if only they would listen to the Word of Life. God is a merciful God, he always provides a way of escape from the judgments he ordains. He is not willing that any should perish, but, at the same time, He will not always strive with man, nor will He over-ride man’s freedom of choice. But, not everyone has read the Bible, some would argue, think of all the people in Africa who have never heard the Gospel preached. Would God arbitrarily include them in His final judgment? Since the beginning of time, Paul says, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. So, before we start questioning why God would be so harsh and dogmatic in His judgments, we need to ask why man would be so proud, and non-accepting of the mercy of such a loving God. Ultimately, there comes a time when the Spirit of God will not always strive with man, and God must decree that the time has come for His plans to be fulfilled. But that time never comes before God has provided a means of escape, giving every man an opportunity to choose his destiny.
And they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. All the people were dead already, so, one may question, why the need to set fire to the site? Fire is a picture of the finality of God’s judgment. Having rendered an object to ashes, it is humanly impossible to reconstruct it to its original form. At the end of the age, we are told, the elements shall melt with a fervent heat, and the heavens and the earth that are shall pass away. Additionally, fire has a cleansing effect on the earth. After the harvest, in many countries, the stubble is burned in preparation for the next season’s planting. In the forest industry, a logged area is usually ’burned off’ before reforestation begins. Similarly, in our lives, God wants every trace of that sinful pride erased from our lives in preparation for the new life He desires to introduce in our Land of Promise.
Only the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. There were certain things within Jericho which the Lord specified that He wanted preserved. These were the silver, gold, and the articles of bronze, and iron, and from these, the Lord gave strict instructions that His people were to keep themselves, placing them directly into the treasury of the house of the Lord. They were "accursed" or "under the ban" to the children of Israel. One may wonder, if such items were accursed, why would the Lord want them placed in His treasury? In 1Corinthians, chapter 3, the apostle Paul talks about the deeds and actions upon which we build our lives, and identifies six categories - wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver, and precious stone. At the end of the age, he explains, our lives will be tested with fire. The wood, hay, and stubble will be consumed. Only the gold, silver, and precious stone will remain, and will be the basis on which our eternal reward will be measured. It is not hard to understand that, by their very molecular structure, the wood, hay and stubble would be readily consumed by any amount of fire. Gold, silver, and precious stone, however, though it may be rendered to a liquid form, depending on the heat of the fire, would remain in its original molecular configuration. The gold, silver, and precious stone of our lives, then, the Lord finds valuable, and desires to have placed in His treasury. We are not to take them for our own, lest we covet them, and they begin to be a source of pride in ourselves.
As we look at our own experience then, we need to face the question - have we been to Jericho? Have we confronted that pride that is an integral part of the natural man? Have we seen the destruction of the walls that allow no one to enter, and keep what is inside from escaping? Finally, have we rendered to ashes all traces of the temporal items of our former self , placing the valuable, lasting traits in the Lord’s treasury? Jericho is our first real battle, and, as we shall see, things don’t get any easier. In that light, we need to adhere strictly to God’s direction to ensure our victory not only here, but also in our future battles with the enemy.
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