Answers Bible Curriculum 2nd Edition Unit 7 Lesson 67
This week in Sunday school, we continue in the book of Joshua by looking at two significant events during Israel’s conquest of Canaan: the defeat at Ai and the miraculous victory at Gibeon. After an astounding victory at Jericho, why was Israel suddenly defeated at little old Ai? How was it possible that the sun remained longer in the sky than usual during the battle of Gibeon? And what can we learn from these accounts about how seriously God treats sin among his people and about how God is mighty to bring victory? We’ll consider these questions and more!
Our main text for this lesson is Joshua 7:1-10:15.
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
alright well it’s time to begin good morning to all of you who’ve tuned into the stream good to good to have you if you’re on the YouTube page thank you for saying hello again you can you can actually say hello now just let me know that you’re here so I can see you involved in the comments or in the chat I really appreciate that because of how the circumstances are hello Joe because of the coronavirus and our not being able to gather in person we are gathering temporarily in this forum but thank the Lord that we have this forum via the technology of our time again if you’re watching me on Calvary mu org that’s great but you can actually there’s a better way for you to watch and be involved consider switching over over to the livestream that we have on the YouTube page via the URL on the screen and then you can take advantage of the chat you can ask questions you can answer questions that I asked and you can be edified by the comments of the others who are in the stream but we’re we’re continuing on in sunday school today we still need the word we still need to be encouraged and to be encouraging one another so let’s get to the word in the book of Joshua we’ve been seeing how God has been fulfilling his promises those promises that were given to Abraham back many years before but we’re seeing how those are being fulfilled in the people of Israel actually obtaining the land of Canaan via the conquest last time we saw Israel make its first conquest in the land of Canaan via Jericho this ancient and mighty city was brought down it found no protection behind its great walls God mer actually brought those walls down and thus in Jericho we see a clear testimony both of God’s ability to bring victory and display his mighty power on behalf of his people but also to take away the security and to judge and destroy those who will not repent of their sin Jericho is the city of wickedness and God judged it and it is an unstoppable judgment and speaking of unstoppable I mentioned you before how Israel since it’s really arrived on the eastern side of the Jordan it has seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut not because Israel itself has a great amount of power but because Yahweh is fighting for Israel Israel is wiping out kingdoms right and left causing all the wicked nations to fear but today we’re going to talk about how that conquest comes to a screeching halt at least for a moment the juggernaut is stopped Israel will be defeated and by a seemingly insignificant opponent then why does this happen and what would be needed for Israel to have victory once again under Yahweh and how will God a reassert dramatically reassert his power on behalf of Israel afterwards that’s what we’re gonna talk about today and as we do so we’re gonna we’re gonna learn more for ourselves how we can continue on under the blessing of Yahweh and not be defeated in the struggles that we face I’m talking about our spiritual struggles let’s pray and then we’ll begin to hear from God’s Word in Joshua let’s pray Heavenly Father we thank you that you are sovereign you will always take care of your people because you promised you even through the trials even through the difficulties but we’re reminded of certain scriptures and the Old Testament where you promise that there would be nothing that would harm your people that you had not ordained you will bring your people through even through fire and you will bring them safely into your heavenly kingdom at your appointed time so Lord we rest in your sovereignty lord I pray that we be encouraged by your word today that you’d help me to explain it well and accurately thanks for these people who have tuned in I pray that you encourage sober and work in their hearts in Jesus name Amen I see a number of other good mornings thank you good to see you all right please open your Bibles to Joshua chapter and Joshua 7 we’re picking up right where we left off last time with the destruction of Jericho but before we read Joshua 7 just take a look back quickly in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 6 Joshua 6 verses 17 and 19 and we’re gonna be we want to recall some special orders given by Joshua to the people of Israel this is right before Jericho’s destruction look at Jericho Jericho Joshua 6 verses 17 to 19 where it says the city shall be under the ban and all it and all that is in it belongs to the Lord that is yahweh covenant name of God only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live because she hid the messengers whom we sent but as for you only keep yourselves from the things under the band so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it but all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to Yahweh they shall go into the Treasury of Yahweh and I notice from these verses in Joshua Joshua 6 what Joshua says will be the effect of someone taking something under the ban that is something that was a curse and devoted to Yahweh that person who transgresses in such a weight will make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it and this one is gonna explain a lot of what we’re about to see let’s now look at Joshua 7 and read the entire chapter 2 verses 1 to 26 follow along with me it says but the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban 4 akin the son of Carmen the son of Zabka the son of Zahra from the tribe of Judah took some of the things under the ban there for the anger of Yahweh burned against the sons of Israel now Joshua sent men from Jericho to I which is near Beth even you stood Bethel and said to them and said to them go up and spy out the land so the men went and spied out I they returned to Joshua and said to him do not let all the people go up only about two or three thousand you go up to hide do you not make all the people toil up therefore they are few so about 3,000 men from the people went up there but they fled from the men of I the men of I struck down about 36 of their men and pursued them from the gate as far as Sheva ream and struck them down on the descent so the hearts of the people melted and became as water then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the Ark of Yahweh until the evening both he and the elders of Israel and they put dust on their heads Joshua said alas O Lord Yahweh why did you ever bring this people over the Jordan only to deliver us into the hand of the amorite stew destroy us only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan Oh Lord what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies but the Canaanites then all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and it will surround us and cut off our name from the earth and what will you do for your great name so Yahweh said to Joshua rise up why is it that you have fallen on your face Israel has sinned and they’ve also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them and they have even taken some of the things under the ban and I both stolen and deceived moreover they have also put them among their own things therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies they turn their backs before their enemies where they have become accursed I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst rise up consecrate the people and say consecrate yourselves for tomorrow for thus says Yahweh for thus y’all way the God of Israel has said there are things under the ban in your midst o Israel you cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the banned from your midst in the morning then you shall come nearby o tribes and it shall be that the tribe which Yahweh takes by lot shall come near by families and the family which Yahweh takes shall come near by households and the household which Yahweh take shall come near man by man shall be that the one who was taken with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire he and all that belongs to him because he has transgressed the covenant of yahweh and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel so Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel nearby tribes and the tribe of Judah was taken brought the family of Judah near and he took the family of the Zehra heights and he brought the family of the Zahra heights near man by man and zabdiel was taken brought the household near man by man and akin the son of Carmy the son of zebedee son of Zahra from the tribe of Judah was taken then Joshua said to akin my son I implore you give glory to Yahweh the God of Israel and give praise to him and tell me now what you have done do not hide it from me so we can answer Joshua and said truly I have sinned against Yahweh the God of Israel and this is what I did when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight and I coveted them and took them and behold they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it so Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent and behold it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it it took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel and they poured them out before Yahweh and Joshua and all Israel with him took a kin the son of Zahra the silver the mantle the bar of gold his sons his daughters his oxen his donkeys his sheep his tents and all that belonged to him and they brought them up to the valley of Achor Joshua said why have you troubled us Yahweh will trouble you this day and all Israel stoned them with stones and they burn them with fire after they had stone them with stones they raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day and Yahweh turned from the fierceness of his anger therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day all right we’ve now read through the passage following our inductive Bible study method we now want to start our analysis of the passage with just basic observations let’s do that notice verse 1 it says that people of Israel broke faith with Yahweh now a specific man will be identified as the one who did this akin we see that also in verse 1 but notice it says the people of Israel broke faith and they broke pay for the dog way by taking something under the band we already know from Joshua 6 that means what’s going to come upon Israel trouble and we have this city of I notice that what the spies report in verses 2 to 3 of our chapter they look at hi and they say we don’t need to send more than 2 to 3 thousand soldiers to take this city and we might wonder was that a good recommendation was that bad advice is this the trouble of y’all right walk away already being manifest we will learn later on from chapter 8 that I actually has about twelve thousand total inhabitants spies make it sound small and weak and to some extent dis and they give this recommendation to job Joshua Joshua heats the report of these spies in verses 4 and 5 we see that he sends three thousand men against tiny AI but what’s the result of the battle while Israel’s defeated they flee from I and 36 of their own are killed and then notice verse 5 says that the hearts of the people of Israel melted and became like water now that description says should sound familiar to you because where have we heard that phrase lately that was what Israel’s enemies were experiencing when they heard about Israel’s victories their hearts melted and became like water but now the tables have turned Israel is the one who is disheartened so notice how Josh when the elders respond in verses 6 to 9 they mourn they’re tearing their clothes putting dust upon their heads these are signs of mourning and grief there before the Ark of Yahweh expressing their lament and Joshua even complains before God verse 7 he asked why God brought Israel over the Jordan only to be destroyed in verse 8 he admits he has no explanation for what just happened in verse 9 he expresses concern that the surrounding peoples will hear a visuals defeat no longer be afraid of Israel surround Israel attack Israel and destroy Israel and then at the end of verse 9 notice Joshua asks Yahweh how Yahweh will glorify him so what will he do for his own name if he lets Israel his covenant people be destroyed and notice how God responds to Joshua’s prayer in verses 10 to 12 Yahweh plainly identifies the source of Israel’s trouble he says Israel has sinned by taking something from under the ban and he says Israel has become a curse as a result and cannot stand before their enemies in battle but God also gives instruction to Joshua as to what he’s to do about this what Israel’s to do verse 12 he says you must destroy the banned items from among you verse 13 he says explain the situation in Israel tell them to consecrate themselves ceremonially purify themselves in verse 14 he says cast lots I don’t know exactly how that was done probably via the room and the Thummim of the high priest even those things we don’t really understand what they were but they were used for understanding the Lord’s will by lot but God says cast lots and I will cause the offending man to be found out and then verse 15 what is me done with this man he is to be burned along with all that belongs to him Joshua obeys God’s commands and notice as he does so verses 16 to 18 no one in Israel confesses to the sin or reports who it was who took this in it’s only when the lot plainly falls on akin in verse 19 and when Joshua asks akin straight out what akin had done that akin confesses to his sin verse 19 noticed the way Joshua employs a can he says give glory to God give praise to Yahweh how they can gonna do this by confessing his sin telling the truth verse 20 akin does confess his sin which notice he says is against Yahweh being very theologically correct there and then verse 21 he describes the progression of his sin and it’s very descriptive of Austin really he says I saw I coveted I took and I concealed now what is it that akin took well I took some silver took some gold and he took a beautiful robe from the land of Shinar also known as the area of Babylon and these were precious items I’m sure they were beautiful but were they really worth transgressing God’s ban were they worth bringing a curse on himself its family and all Israel verses 22 to 23 notice Joshua has some men confirm Akins story and they retrieved the banned items and then in verse 24 and what follows Israel carries out all israel carries out the necessary punishment for Akins troubling Israel all of Aikens people is animals and possessions are gathered together and then they are stoned with stones they are pelted with large rocks so that they would die and then all of it and the bodies and the possessions they are burned with fire in the valley of Achor a quarter by the way your Bible may have a note about this a chord means trouble in Hebrew it sounds a lot like the name akin so it’s a little bit of play on words here the trouble er of Israel is justly given trouble by God in the valley of trouble there’s two other pointed details in verse 26 I notice what Israel does after carrying out the sentence they heap a great pile of stones over akin I also notice verse 26 says that these actions of Israel they caused the fierceness of God’s anger to turn away from Israel what we’ve observed our way through the passage let’s now go to the second step of the inductive Bible study method and talk about interpretation number of questions here I want to bring to your attention first why was the whole nation held accountable for a consent of the answer has to be the terms of the ban as articulated in Joshua 6 which we read the ban was a particularly serious injunction for Israel to follow so if even one person violated the ban all Israel would have been considered guilty that’s part of the answer another part of the answer probably has to do with a practical involvement of others in Aitkin sin surely others saw or knew what Aiken had done but they concealed it along with Aiken so this participation in and concealment of Aiken sin shows that this was not simply an individual sin but a corporate sin and thus the whole group is responsible but a third part of the answer just has to do with the defiling nature of sin yes there’s the terms of the band from Joshua 6 and yes there might practically have been involved others in achan’s sin but there’s also just the fact that sin is defiling though every Israelite every individual Israelite had an obligation to follow Yahweh the nation itself was under Covenant obligation to be a holy people so when a source of defilement appeared in Israel that source had to be dealt with by the people of Israel for the people as a whole to continue in right relations with God normal sins unintentional sins needed repentance sacrifice the atoning Ministry of Israel’s priests but high-handed sins defiant sin sins like false prophecy or idolatry or adultery these sources of defilement required the death of those who committed those sins really the principle we see from the Old Testament law is the more serious and widespread the sin the greater the need to cut off the rot of that sin otherwise the wrath of God would not only come upon the particular sinners who committed those sins but even upon the whole nation who was complacent and did nothing to deal with the defilement and such sins not only defiled Israel in a positional sense but in a practical sense when great sins are tolerated in the community others often yield to pursuing the same sense or similar sins people learn not to fear God anymore so Israel was called to be a vigilant and holy people eager to pursue holiness not only individually but also corporately this is part of their remaining true to the covenant terms as given to them by their God and they were failing to do so in this instance so for each of these reasons God’s anger justly is put upon all Israel for a consent now here’s another question was Joshua’s complaints in verses 7 to 9 unrighteous we’re truly some of Joshua’s words sound a little bit like Israel’s sinful complaining in the wilderness you remember when they’re tested at various times they say things like oh why did we ever leave Egypt why did God bring us out here only to destroy us so Joshua sounds a little similar to that right here but then notice at the end of Joshua’s prayer what he requests or what he asks he says what would you do for your a great name god this concern over God’s glory that doesn’t sound like the unfaithful generation in the wilderness that sounds more like another person who we’ve seen complain or pray to God and that’s Moses Moses was righteous in his prayers before the Lord so what’s Joshua doing here is this righteous complaining is this unrighteous complaining you might say this is righteous complaining sometimes these two types of complaints can sound very similar even use the same words but the heart was hot behind each is different and it does show up a little bit in differences in wording you remember my explanation in a previous lesson about righteous or unrighteous complaining righteous complaining or we can call lamenting it admits before God grief pain perplexity about his purposes but and this is key it continues in belief in God and it calls on God to keep his promises believing that he will that’s what a righteous complaining does unrighteous complaining though it not only mentions the pain and the grief and the perplexity but it it charges God with wrong over these things God you you messed up you didn’t you let me down you didn’t do the things that you were supposed to do it manifests discontent and ongoing unbelief in God and yeah Greg I think you’re right this is an applicable issue for our own time as may be in your own heart you you were feeling the pain and suffering the perplexity but you want to continue in faith in God and not not unrighteous Li complained before the Lord that’s not what Josh was doing here he’s not being unrighteous in his complaint being unaware of a consent he had no explanation for what had taken place and so he goes to Gandhi says what about your promises god I know you’re a God who can be trusted but why am I not seeing your promises here this is what Joshua is asking and it’s a fine question for him to ask as long as he continues to trust God and of course God clarifies the situation for Joshua here’s another question why is Aikens family killed along with him now this question in this situation might remind you of a similar situation that we’ve seen not too long ago and that’s the situation with Korres rebellion remember Korah Dathan and abiram the leaders of the rebellion God not only judged those leaders but everyone who stayed with them the households who stood with him they also were destroyed in God’s judgment and so we asked why why did that happen the answer there is really the same answer that we see here and so I’m sounding a little bit repetitious but family members they were responsible to confront sin in each other and to report sin if there was no repentance I’d be aware from the Old Testament law says even if your son or daughter or your spouse if they follow after another God or they commit one of these high-handed sins in Israel it needs to be confronted if you just conceal it well you are participating in the sin you are complicit to some level in the sin and that apparently is what’s happened with Aikens family they didn’t report his sin they didn’t confront his sin and so they suffer the judgment with him but also there’s also what I said last time though God prescribes in Deuteronomy 24:16 that children will not be put to death for the sins of their parents they will not be executed judicially for the sins of their parents or vice versa it is a fact of God’s own severe judgment that when he judges certain individuals there are consequences for those closely associated with those individuals even family and we can multiply examples of this in the scriptures but consider even just in the localized context Israel’s completing this conquest of Canaan and what are they to do with the babes infants and children of the land there to kill them along with the adults and even the elderly but you say but some of these are mere infants they have no knowledge of right and wrong they aren’t able to choose between right and wrong why are they being put to death in the judgment well the judgment really comes upon the people of Canaan as a whole particularly the adults but that judgment has consequences even for those who are children now this is a tragic situation but it is not unjust this is a fact of our world all of us are affected by the choices of those around us the sinful choices and the righteous choices even our parents we experience undeserved blessing when our parents make good choices but we also experience the consequences and due to the sinful choices even of our parents and where they receive judgment where they receive the consequences of their sins sometimes we do too it’s just a fact of life so God is not being unjust and having Akins family being put to death though this certainly is a tragedy we’re seeing we’re seeing some principles about sin here now here’s a question I’ll ask you to answer via the comments if you can what is the point of the pile of stones heaped up over Aiken and his household the purpose of that is not explained in the text but I think we can under we can understand it why the pile of stones I’m seeing your comment which ‘red this is a sobering reality for the heads of households a reminder that your family can suffer for your sins I think that’s definitely right yeah Jenny is right so this is a memorial it is indeed a memorial not the encouraging kind of memorial that we saw when Israel across the Jordan like hey this is the power of God in your behalf but this is a sobering this is a testimony to what happens when somebody transgresses the covenant of God when he takes something from under the ban not only was he destroyed but look all that was his was destroyed his family his possessions this is a warning that other people in Israel would not do the same and I think you’re right rich even a particular warning to the heads of households others will suffer when you transgress the covenant of God and really that goes to my next question and again I’ll look for your comments in the chat what lessons can we learn here from this passage about sin and God’s judgment what are some of the lessons Oh mark asks a question where is it reference that the family members are to confront sin in their own families don’t have the particular reference in front of me but I’m thinking of the section where it talks about if if somebody in the midst of Israel goes after another God it says that no matter who it is whether it’s a beloved family member that you’re I shall not pity him but that person must be put to death so you can see that there’s some level of confrontational reporting that must be taking place there and so other sins were treated in a similar way in Israel but what are some other lessons that we can see from this passage about sin and God’s judgment I see ROI it made a comment here related to the fact that this shows the holiness of God and the judgment of God that comes upon sin and this is a very important reminder for Israel and of course for all of us we’re getting a little bit too application now but we are so tempted in our flesh to treat the holiness of God as less than it is say oh this sin is not such a big deal oh just repent of this sin later but we’re seeing once again in the Old Testament that God says you need to understand you need to understand my holiness you need to understand the seriousness of sin it brings this kind of judgment now God doesn’t always deal with sin the exact way that he does here but he does deal with sin very severely at certain times so that we would learn for the other times I’m reminded of a somewhat similar occurrence in the New Testament where we have those two people in Acts chapter 5 who pretend to give a certain amount to the church but they hold back a certain amount and this was lying before God and before the people and what did God do struck them down miraculously suddenly I didn’t do that every time somebody lied in the church but he did it at the beginning so that people would learn that God is holy yeah mark another good principle we see from this passage is that sin defiles and impacts many this goes back to what rich was saying before and that is think about how Israel all Israel was affected by just one man sin and 36 people died in Israel related to that man sin and then the family of the family of Aitkin was put to death over this sin sin has consequences and not just for yourself but for others and this is still true we can go right to the New Testament and what excitation zwi here there about the defiling nature of sin and especially the instructions given to the church about that churches need for purity and the churches need to confront sin within its midst you remember what Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 verses 6 to 8 where he’s dealing with a situation in the Corinthian church where there was a notorious sin that nobody was confronting they were even boasting about their tolerance apparently and this is what Paul says 1st Corinthians 5 or 6 to 8 your boasting is not good do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough clean out the old leaven that you may be a new lump just as fact Europe just as you are in fact unleavened four Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old leaven nor the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth so we can see here that God is holy that sin is serious that judgment does come from God for sin that sin impacts other people that sin defiles what else do we see Thank You Jonathan for finding that reference Deuteronomy 13 6 to 11 related to Mark’s question appreciate that I think another thing we can point out here is that God knows all sin and sin will not escape God’s judgment I mean akin he did his best to conceal this sin and most people in Israel the vast majority of people in Israel didn’t know anything about it that God knew and in fact the whole nation was suffering because of that person’s secret sin this is like what Moses says that numbers 32 numbers 32 third verse 23 the latter part of the verse says be sure your sin will find you out and Jesus says something similar in Luke 12 to Luke 12 to Jesus says but there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known we see this in our own lives we see sins that were held secret for a long time suddenly exposed and to the great shame and judgment of the person who participated in those sins but even sins that are not exposed in this life they will be exposed one day that’s part of the reason why God says repent now confess your sins now reveal them now turn away from them now so that they don’t have to be revealed later to your shame into your judgment proverbs 28:13 says he who conceals his transgressions will not prosper but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion and that is the beautiful mercy of the Lord if you confess your sins and turn from them now you will find God’s mercy but if you hide them if you continue in your hypocrisy and your secret and selfish sin God will judge you for it in the end Roy makes a good comment here nonetheless we see from this passage that God will lead guide to protect Israel but only as they remain obedient to him and we can see we can see that principle extends even to our own day not in the exact same way because we are not under the theocracy of Israel not under the specific terms on the covenant but it’s true God will not bless those who continue in sin even secret sin now I’m not talking about the prosperity gospel here not saying that everything will just go well for you you’ll be rich you’ll be healthy if you just obey God that’s true God’s Way is wise it does often lead to material blessing but we also know that those who follow Christ are promised trials difficulties and persecutions so you’re not going to be able to avoid that by doing what’s right in fact you will bring more trials on yourself in certain senses because you do what’s right you will bring persecution against yourself and yet it is true you will not experience the blessing of God as long as you continue in sin and I’m talking most particularly about the spiritual blessings you won’t experience the joy of the Lord you won’t experience victory over outward sin temptations as long as you are cherishing idols in the heart or as long as you are cherishing other secret sins in your life can’t compartmentalize sanctification when you are holding on you’re clinging to a sin in a certain area it will lead you to other sins and if there’s an area of your life where you do not wish to repent well what are you sacrificing you’re sacrificing a clean conscience you’re sacrificing the fellowship of walking with the Lord and holiness and the the abundant joy that comes with jesus’s way you cannot experience that you cannot have that and have your sin – it’s really the same principle we see here and really this principle ought to be a motivation for our sanctification the joy of the Lord is our strength as Nehemiah says it is the prospect of the reward of God the joy of God himself and has to be our motivation for not going after sin because that’s what we always face right the choice between the temporary pleasure of sin and the greater and everlasting joy of God when we by faith choose to seek after the Lord himself and all the joy that comes with walking with Him and in his way then we’re not tempted to go after the poisonous and fleeting pleasures of sin but we cannot have that wonderful joy of the Lord in our sin to even the idols of our hearts it mark gives a a good quote from psalm 66:18 if I regard wickedness in my heart the Lord will not hear and Mark also points another good principle that we see from this passage God is gracious even in his justice he preserved the whole nation even though the offender had to be judged and indeed you can never really separate the the attributes of God his mercy his love his goodness are always there even with his justice and his wrath so we see a number of important principles regarding sin and God’s judgment and they are relevant for us today now we’re not going to read the rest of the account of the conquest of I I recommend you read it on your own after today’s lesson but I’ll just summarize it for you Joshua eight verses 1 to 29 God commands Joshua to take more men and to attack the city of eye in a certain way they’re set up a ruse and ambush draw the defenders out of the city then seize the city surround the enemy soldiers and destroy them Joshua obeys God and the plan works Israel destroys the 12,000 people of AI at God’s command and they seize the property in AI at God’s command as well issue will then burns the city this is one of the three cities of the conquest that Israel actually burns as reported in the scriptures Jericho is one is a second and then hots war when we haven’t talked about yet is the third all the other cities they leave intact because they’re gonna live in them but they burn I and they leave it as a ruin again as memorial to God’s power and judgment now you can see this clear contrast between Joshua 8 and Joshua 7 when Israel has no accursed things in its midst no abominations in its midst while God is again fighting for them making Israel unstoppable in battle once again and where you see this in an even more striking way when we get to Joshua 10 so please take your Bibles and go to Joshua 10 let me give you some background as we look at this passage and Joshua 9 Israel unwittingly swears a pact with certain inhabitants of the land the Gibeonites now these Gibby Knights they had heard of Israel’s God initials great conquests and they’re in great fear visual so they disguise certain messengers send them to Israel and pretend to be a nation that lives very far away they say hey we’ve heard about you you’re so great your God is so great please please make a pact of peace with us we don’t live close by so you don’t have to worry worry about us just make it a treaty with us Joshua and elders of Israel are skeptical but they see the disguises and they’re persuaded by them and they do not consult God and they make this pact of peace hold afterwards it’s only a few days later that Israel learns like learns that they’ve been had give me nights in fact do live in the land and actually really close by but Israel has sworn peace and they do not wish to sin and dishonor Yahweh by breaking their oath so they let the Gibeonites live but only as slaves to Israel the Gibeonites are now going to be perennially woodcutters and water carriers for Israel but in reaction to this and Joshua 10 verses one to five five great kings in southern Canaan they get spooked over Gideon’s capitulation because Gibeon was a great city it had other cities allied with it and now Gibeon has made a treaty with Israel give me are the the other kings of Canaan don’t like this they don’t they don’t like what it portends maybe other cities will do the same so they decide to attack Gibeon make Anna make an example out of Gideon so let’s read what happens next in joshua 10 verses 6 to 15 how long and me as i read this next portion joshua 10 verses 6 to 15 then the men of gideon sent word to joshua to the camp at Gilgal saying do not abandon your servants come up to us quickly and save us and help us for all the kings of the EM writes that live in the hill country have assembled against us so joshua went up from Gilgal he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors yahweh said to Joshua do not fear them for I’ve given them into your hands not one of them shall stand before you so Joshua came them suddenly by marching all night from Gilgal and Yahweh confounded them before Israel and he slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and pursued them by the way of the ascent of beth horon and struck them as far as isaiah and Makeda and as they fled before israel while they were at the descent of beth horon yahweh through large stones from heaven on them as far as as acre and they died there were more who died from the hailstones the nose and the sons of Israel killed with the sword then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the EM rice before the sons of Israel and he said in the sight of Israel o son stands still at Gibeon and o moon in the valley of aijalon so the Sun Stood Still and the moon stopped until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies is it not written in the book of Jasher and the Sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day there was no day like that before it or after it when Yahweh listened to the voice of a man for Yahweh fought for Israel then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal wow this is really just an amazing account amazing portion of Scripture lets well have to treat this patch a little bit more briefly and for the sake of time but let’s make some observations this is visuals most dangerous battle yet five kings of Canaan and all their armies against Israel Israel’s seen great victory in the past but it was against single cities single kingdoms can they face five at once and win what will be the outcome Paul notice in verse 8 God assures the outcome before visuals even gone to battle he says you will prevail don’t fear them and verse 9 says visual travels all or travels through the night and surprises their enemies in the morning enemies are probably surrounding Gibeon besieging the city as you’ll comes upon them surprises them and then notice verse 10 the enemies go into a panic but why it says Yahweh confounded them before Israel it’s always amazing to me in military confrontations or even just great contests even sports contests it’s amazing how one little moment could go in either direction it could be a moment where the people rally and courage or the people panic and but God makes sure here this surprise this sudden arrival of Israel in the morning it resulted in panic God is able to make something that normally would result in panic not do so they can also take something where panic was not to necessary outcome and he can bring it to pass because he’s sovereign Nana means visual panic and they flee they flee westward from Gibeon via the ascent and descent of Beth Laurent and towards the aijalon valley so the ascent of Beth Horn they go up they go up in elevation a little bit and then they go down a long way via the descent to Beth Laurent so then we’re in the hill country of Israel or Canaan at this point so it’s not like you can just go anywhere you want there there’s certain valleys certain ways to travel that you have to go and these guys these enemies they’re going down the descent of Beth Laurent because that’s pretty much the only way they can get away from Israel this means they’re primarily fleeing downhill which meant they would have been particularly vulnerable to missile fire from Israel Israel can stand on the higher elevation or on the sides of the valley and rain arrows down upon the fleeing the fleeing Canaanites but there’s someone who’s sending more missiles down upon the enemy than even Israel is and that’s God himself according to verse 11 you see God sends large stones probably hailstones and these are very miraculous they apparently are selectively targeting the Canaanites sparing Israel all the way from Gibeon to Isaiah which is a Canaanite fortress on the other end of towards the other end of the aijalon valley now it says that these hailstones they killed more people than even the Israelite warriors did these must have been very scary stones but then notice the striking declaration given by Joshua in verses 12 and 13 Joshua apparently moved by the Spirit of God speaking according to the will of God he commands the Sun and Moon not to move so that Israel could keep attacking pursuing the enemies of God now remember Israel has come upon these enemies early in the morning so when Joshua speaks he indeed probably sees the Sun in the east at Gibeon while the moon is in the West above the aijalon valley and so he commands them to not move according to their current positions now this is an amazing kind of Prayer amazing command but what’s even more amazing is that the Sun and Moon obey the Sun we’re told stops in the middle of the sky and does not go down for an entire day for about a whole day and that could be 12 hours the daylight portion of a day or 24 hours the exact meaning of day here is not completely clear from the context either 12 or 24 hours verse 14 emphasizes though that this was an incredible day a very unique day none others like it because in that day you always into the voice of a man and he fought for Israel with this extra daylight visual willfully pursues the enemy and having accomplished a great slaughter verse 15 says Joshua and his army returned to their base at Gilgal near the ruins of Jericho now just an amazing account let’s ask a few questions of interpretation now and again you can answer this in the chat what does this battle and the manner of victory once again emphasize to Israel and to us today what’s one of the main lessons coming through from this what do you think this is entirely consistent with the things that we’ve been seeing initials conquest yeah Greg says God is powerful powerful to save we’re seeing that once again Craig says God is sovereign yes God is sovereign not only to cause panic in God’s enemies but to rain hail from heaven to cause the Sun and Moon to hold their position this is incredible power of God being put on display and on whose behalf on behalf of his people and really that’s that’s quite amazing I mean how many times does God have to show us in the Old Testament or anywhere in the scripture is that he is powerful and he is powerful on behalf of his people if that’s if it’s true that God is able to deliver victory in such a way here in the Old Testament then we’ll not God also be able to deliver his people in the present time will they not be able to keep his promises to them even to you even to us in the middle of the coronavirus it’s not able to keep his promises Greg says God didn’t have to save in such a miraculous way but he he did so in particular to exhibit his power and glory roy says we see the impact of prayer and obedience to god yes as we were seeing from the previous passage on you when you’ve got this sin in your midst you don’t see the blessing of god but look in a very practical material way for israel according to their covenant when you follow the Lord look at what he’s able to do for you look at the blessing of God upon his people he brings them the victory that he promised he would give them and Mark says God worked beyond the mere ability of his people all of these things showing us just as we saw at Jericho God is mighty he’s mighty to save deliver and bless on behalf of his people but he’s also mighty to judge and destroy and to bring just severe wrath upon sin these five Canaanite kings and their people they were wicked and God made sure that they were dealt a severe blow in this battle so we see all these things here and that should be an encouragement to us and a sobering reminder now I want to ask a little bit of questions though about this Sun miracle how is it that the Sun Stood Still there’s some there’s a little bit of a kind of interesting ways that people try and explain this some try to characterize this Sun standing still as referring to an eclipse they say what really happened here is that God caused an eclipse kind of blocks out the Sun so that the people visual can remain cool as they pursue their enemies and fight during the day that’s an interesting interpretation but has nothing to do with what the passage actually says and there’s nothing here about coolness or eclipses that that doesn’t fit what the passage at all-but did the Sun and Moon literally stand still I mean from what we know about the about the world today when we see the Sun move across the sky the sun’s not really moving it’s actually the earth moving so isn’t the Bible being a little inaccurate when it says the Sun Stood Still oh this is being too hard on on the way that we actually communicate in the way the history is written we should acknowledge that the passage is probably using phenomenological language that is it is actually describing manners as they appeared rather than is technically scientifically accurate but this is the way we speak all the time we often refer to sunrise and sunset and we’re technologically advanced people of the 21st century but we still describe things in phenomenological turns how they appear the same thing is probably happening here the reason the Sun stops moving and are appears to stand still is because what God is actually doing is that he’s causing the earth to stop moving he’s stopping the Earth’s rotation so that the Sun stays in its same position from the is viewing it on the earth this is not scientifically inaccurate at all but someone might ask wait a second if the earth stops moving wouldn’t that cause all sorts of deadly chaos on the earth and this is a fair question because after all scientists have determined today that the earth rotates at about a thousand miles per hour and what would happen if something that’s moving at a thousand miles per hour suddenly stopped what if what would happen to all the things on the Earth’s surface well they’d go flying wouldn’t they everything would become a missile because of inertia because of momentum so let me ask you this question how could God have stopped the Earth’s rotation without everything flying all over the place what do you think Gregg says well he created the earth so doesn’t sound too hard for him to slow it in such per to to stop it in such a way that things don’t fly everywhere I can see at least two ways this might have come about magda ass doesn’t have something to do with gravity mark says we can’t explain it naturally well well we’ll get back to just some of those comments in just a second Kevin says there’s just a miracle though certainly something non normal is happening here this is miraculous in in one way or another in terms of describing what is what is taking place it may be that the Lord slows the rotation of the earth rather than just stops it all of a sudden until it eventually stops it’s interesting if you notice in the passage Joshua says son don’t move from over Gibeon so that sounds like because giving would have been in the East and the Sun was in the east notice later in the passage though it says the Sun went into the middle of the sky so apparently the Sun did move after Joshua uttered his command but then it stopped so it may be that what happened was God slowed the rotation of the earth in such a way that there wasn’t the dramatic inertia that would have happened if God suddenly stopped the earth he slowed the earth until it basically stopped and then he gradually increased the rotation of the earth so that the day would continue that may be one way that he did it or it could simply be that God stopped the earth and he also stopped all the momentum I mean we’re talking about God here he’s able to do whatever he pleases and so he can stop the earth and also stop the momentum – we don’t know exactly how he did it but whatever way he did it he made it happen so God is able to indeed keep the Sun where Joshua wanted it without the world falling into deadly chaos and many of you are pointing out yeah he’s God he’s not hindered by the laws of nature because he creates the laws of nature and he’s able to he’s able to do whatever he pleases now her so as we kind of already said whatever the best scientific description whatever the scientific description of what happened here this clearly was not normal not natural so what was God doing for his people he was doing a miracle a great miracle I mean think about the miracles that we’ve seen the scriptures this is one of the hugest he kept the Sun where it was as it appeared to the people on the earth for an entire day this is the power of God on behalf of his people and he displayed that kind of power in the Old Testament but he still is powerful on behalf of his people today even us now one other word about this miracle here there’s a story that circulates every now and then about a NASA computer running a calculation in the 1960s charting the movement and Sun throughout history and reportedly this computer yielded a glitch in the simulations for the years of 1400 BC and it revealed that there was an extra 24 hours in the solar cycle that could not be accounted for researchers couldn’t understand supposedly their NASA researchers couldn’t understand where this extra day came from until one of them realized that this must be the 24 hour or the thus the special day of Joshua as recorded in chapter 10 I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this story it’s kind of a neat story but is it true actually it’s not not only is there no sound historical evidence that research or realizations of this type ever occurred at NASA but there’s actually no way that they could ever have occurred computer simulations can only tell you what should have happened according to known inputs and parameters if we don’t know all the information the computer can’t run a proper simulation and we can’t do a proper comparison the only way a computer simulation could reveal a discrepancy in the movement of solar bodies in ancient times would be if the Reacher’s knew the precise locations and movements of those bodies to compare with a computers calculation of course we don’t have such detailed records from ancient times so there’d be no way for this story to actually come about science does not prove or disprove the miraculous day of Joshua 10 but we don’t need Sciences confirmation to know that this really took place now why is that because God has made clear to us that he is and that his word is true mrs. Romans 1 says we all know deep in our hearts that the Lord is true that he is indeed the God of the Bible and we recognize it when his spirit moves in our hearts when he opens our blind eyes to see we know that God is we know that he’s revealed himself to us or revealed himself to us in the Bible and therefore that his word this this Bible is authoritative and inerrant it is totally accurate and we can trust this Word of God above any earthly authority and believe this word when no earthly word is available to speak you know it’s very popular among biblical scholars today to deny the miracle of Joshua 10 they say oh this is too incredible to believe no actually they’re truly incredible thing is to deny the knowledge of God which we all have and if God exists and he is the God of the Bible then this is not too hard for him and he indeed accomplished it so as our time is winding down a little bit let me let’s talk a little bit about application we’ve been seeing application as we go along but just three three avenues of application that I want to bring to your attention based on what we looked at today from Joshua 7 and 10 first we need to take individual and corporate sin seriously we saw this in particular from Joshua 7 whether Israel’s under special terms of under its covenant with God we also have been called to holiness we cannot out of some twisted idea of love say oh you know I’m just not gonna I don’t even want to mess with that other person’s sin I don’t want to say anything to them about it learn from the lesson of Aitkin and Israel you’re not confronting the sin first of all that shows dishonor to God but second of all shows a lack of love to others because sin impacts others no sin can stay restricted to one person others learn to do the same sin or others are unpicked it by impacted by the life of someone who is in sin now there’s a way to be to wrongly pursue confronting sin and others we can do that judgmentally and hypocritically and according to terms that are not actually in the scriptures but let’s get that faulty idea out of our heads that if you love people that you don’t confront sin and that’s not true actually love covers transgressions by pursuing people that’s actually what the end of the book of James says he who brings back a sinner from his way know that that person will cover a multitude of sins and isn’t that what love seeks to do it wants to see sin covered and wants to see sin paid for and atoned by God and fellowship with God restored so we need to take not only individual sin corporate sin seriously but we all chose to be seeking the joy of God over the pleasure of sin again this is something emphasized when it comes to Joshua 7 this is our great motivation and sanctification even when we both experience earthly blessings earthly vindication you do the right thing but people are just not responding to it that’s okay because you can have the joy of the Lord the joy of pleasing the Lord the blessing that comes with walking in his way that ought to be your chief motivation as you pursue sanctification and then thirdly remember the power of God on behalf of his people we see it in a titanic way in Joshua 10 and even in Joshua 8 at all throughout the conquest this is God’s power on behalf of his people why because God wants to wants us to get in our heads which is so quick to doubt the Lord that he is mighty and he is committed to his people he will keep his promises both to save and to judge so what should we do we should believe the Lord we should obey the Lord we should seek refuge in the Lord if you have not yet come to the Lord via the only way Jesus Christ you need to do so repent of your sin turn of your sin seek refuge in the savor the one who can make you acceptable to God you can who can do much better than merely protect you from the coronavirus he can do that if he so wills it in his good pleasure but more importantly he can save you from the eternal consequences of sin and bring you into his presence is his abundant life forever seek refuge in the Lord remember his great power and beware his great judgment ness bring us to the end of our time today if you have questions you can definitely email me or you could post something in the comments I’ll stay I’ll stay for a few more minutes or I’ll stay for a little bit of time afterwards but that’s all for this week next week we’re gonna cover the rest of the conquest and the distribution of the land to the different tribes I’m so glad that you were with me today let me pray and then I’ll hang around a little bit too to just interact with the chat lady pray Heavenly Father we thank you that you are the mighty God you’re the God who even stops the Sun in the moon right in their position or stops the earth so that appears that they don’t move and you you accomplished such mighty victories for the people of Israel not because they deserved it but because you were gracious and you were committed them you committed yourself to them and you’ve committed yourself to us those of us who are in Jesus Christ and Lord we thank you for that because you are on our side indeed a psalm 46 says why should we fear if even the whole earth is caught in a tumult you are on our side you will take care of us even through the trials and difficulties but thank you for this comfort but Lord were also aware of the the sobering word when it comes to sin and judgment we cannot be nonchalant about sin in ourselves or on others so lord I pray that you would give us the courage and the love that would even seek to address sin lord I pray that we would not think lightly of your judgment but we would fear you with an appropriate reverence and fear because you are the great and holy God I pray Lord you to blast encourage the people today even as they are home or in various places and Lord take care of you people and we praise You God because we already know that you will in Jesus name Amen