8:1 The previous chapter ended with a raw family moment. We can reasonably imagine that the betrayal and spiritual death has left the camp disheartened. Not only have the Israelites suffered a brutal defeat by the people of Ai, but they have suffered a defeat by Achan's opposition to God, his surrender to covetousness.
God, and Jesus in the New Testament, works so tirelessly to gather the family back together, spirit to spirit and heart to heart. Achan's betrayal and the Israelites response makes us aware of the cost of our own selfish acts. Not only does God feel them but the family, too.
Achan's story, like most others in the Bible, displays a very black and white situation. Often our choices are not so clearly defined. And of course, Jesus offers us constant redemption and saving and ability to return. In this book of Joshua, we do not witness the personal conversation Achan has in Spirit with God. Our private moments with God are opportunities for redemption and perhaps Achan accepted. There are other places in the Bible where we are able to glimpse into the story and journey of redemption, Saul ->Paul for example.
What we do have in this book of Joshua is evidence of God's presence in and after the raw moments. We are able to see how He restores us, physically and spirituality. There's a feature on the iPhone which allows a person to "AirDrop" give and receive. The method is simple: you open your device up to effortlessly, instantaneously receive what somebody has for you. Similarly, God "airdrops" the nourishment we need in the raw moments directly into our hearts.
In this moment, Joshua needs strength and direction (raise your hand if you could use some strength and direction...and everybody on the earth's hands go up.) God has an abundant supply of what you specifically need. And His method of delivery is effortless and instantaneous.
God encourages Joshua to rise, to shed his fear and dismay and to reattempt the battle against Ai. God tells Joshua to get up and walk directly into that battle to personally witness that this time, because it's done the righteous way, God has already won it for him.
God had this account written down as scripture for us because He is with us in the same profound way He is with Joshua. He wants us to understand that we can reattempt the battle and have it won for us. We can rise up, shed fear and dismay and completely confuse our enemies. Our anxieties. Our depression. Our fear.
Ai is doubtlessly going to have detrimental confidence against the Israelites. They have won a battle and because they are not believers, they think their victory was due to their own prowess rather than the Israelites' mistake. Ai is about to be flummoxed.
Because "the enemy" no matter what it is, is shocked when we rise against it in triumph. It wonders: "Is this the same person?" What the enemy does not understand is that the person is different, the person has been trained and changed by faith, but the God is the same. And this time, He's been called into action.
Hebrews 13:8 God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Israelites will not return to the battle with Ai and win against them because of a better effort on God's behalf. He is always best and His best is sufficient. The Israelites will return to the battle remade, understanding their faith a little better, inviting God to enact His eternal power, same power, on their behalf.
The shout of victory from the Israelites is not:
"Hey, you better watch out... God is more powerful this time!"
Instead it is:
"It's useless for you to even try to prevent God's eternal power. We did not bring Him with us in the last battle... but we did bring Him today."
When we bring God to a battle, our enemies might as well not even waste their energy. For our God's same, eternal power is sufficient to defeat them.
8:2 The same defeat accomplished against Jericho is the same defeat to be accomplished in Ai. In Deuteronomy 9:5 it was declared that these were places of festering evil and that they would consequently be driven out. As thoroughly as He did before, God will accomplish this removal of evil.
Yes, they had a sticky moment. A raw moment. A betrayal. A defeat. But now, God has brought His same ability to sufficiently restore, to change the moment. It's like: Remember when you just haaaaad to touch the hot stove as a toddler? Well that stung. That was a raw moment. A betrayal by something you trusted. Well, that was awful. But your parent's effort to protect you is the same now as it was then. You changed. Your perspective changed. But your parent's love and protection did not change.
Father's love and protection did not change when Achan touched the stove, so to speak. Achan changed. He stopped trusting the advice from His father and started trusting in something else: "Nah, I won't get burned by the thing Father has repeatedly told me is tragically hot!" But now that that ugly business is over with, God says to Joshua, let's get back to the regularly scheduled program. Let's get back to leaning into that steadfast love and protection. Let's continue to spiritually trample evil.
8:3 Restored so lovingly and powerfully by God, Joshua rises and assembles the army. Their growing strength in faith is empowering their military discipline. 1 Peter 5:10 + Proverbs 3:12 God's meticulous discipline always contributes to our betterment.
8:4 Joshua imparts the plan onto the men, the essence is this: Wait near the city and be ready. This is instruction God frequently gives: wait near the city and be ready. He wants us to be patience in faith enough to wait for the opportune moment to act or receive. He wants us to be near to the thing we hope or pray to happen, spiritually, emotionally, wisely. A great blessing needs a great spiritual host. We have to become sufficient for the blessing; we need to have the capacity for the blessing. Finally, He wants us to be ready: to create an atmosphere of learning and growing in preparation for when the opportune moment arrives.
God is with the Israelites but that does not mean that they should hastily charge into battles. It would be foolish to abandon God-taught caution, patience, and observation. God tailors the moment and the messenger. He prepares you and the circumstance for your arrival. It is worth waiting for Him to seamlessly tie those two things together. There's no need to attempt a drastic jump over a chasm when by simply waiting, the chasm could be filled in by solid ground.
8:5-7 Joshua has a strategic plan for defeating the people of Ai. The children of Israel will announce themselves outside of the city of Ai. The people of Ai will leave the city to pursue the children of Israel. Meanwhile, those waiting will ambush the emptied out city and take control over it. As if a simple change in shift, the rulers of Ai will occupy the city... and then they won't.
That seamless victory will only be possible if those commissioned to wait will patiently, obediently do so. Try not to miss the lesson in that.
8:8 Once inside and in control of the city of Ai, it is to be set on fire. The metaphor in this is that God's refining fire ignites the whole earth and only that which is righteous can withstand the heat, Psalm 66:10-12. The Living Water that is our Spiritual Father douses the flames around the righteous. They have access to His life-giving, rescuing well.
If Ai had a well, a basin of righteousness, their city would not have burned. We learned from an interaction between Abraham and God that He would never destroy a place which has innocent souls inside of it, Genesis 18. Like Rahab a few chapters back, God arranges for specific rescue of innocent souls (even if we might not have the scripture to document each one).
Fire cannot melt that which is solid in faith. God uses fire to symbolize the nature of His judgement. It does not burn what cannot be burned...righteousness is not flammable.
8:9-13 Joshua arranges his army, spiritually and physically. It is mentioned here that he musters them up. A leader needs to have the ability to inspire, encourage and motivate. Joshua makes camp overnight with his people even though he is the commander. We have a foreshadowing of Jesus' leadership over the disciples. The master lived as the subject. Like Jesus, Joshua fosters these bonds of kinship between himself and the army.
Joshua continues to rise up early in the morning. His duty to God is always the first thing on His agenda and He's always excited to promptly do begin. Joshua's ability to organize is directly subsequent of his faith. Joshua's faith in the Ultimate Organizer, the Entity Who organizes every atom in the universe to create a complex system of life... enables him to become an organizer himself.
There are two types of leaders: The Controller and the Organizer. The controller manipulates things and people to place them, chaotically, where he wants them to be rather than where they should be. We see this example played out by Satan throughout the Bible, it all began with the overthrow, explained in Revelation 12:4 (Satan rebelled against order in heaven, pre-earth, and convinced others to follow him.)
The Organizer restores. The Organizer, separate from bias and preference and desire, places things and people where they should be. Where they are meant to be. The Organizer-Leader draws order out of disorder.
If Joshua were a controller, he might have tried to manipulate the people of Ai (perhaps roll a horse into their gates as a pretend gift). But Joshua understands that they do not need to trick the people of Ai in order to be powerful. They only need to be organized by faith, under God, to be powerful.
We apply this lesson to our lives when we understand that we do not have to manipulate situations in order for them to go in our favor. We apply this lesson to our lives when we submit to God's constant work of putting things into order. Every detail inside our lives. Every detail outside of our lives.
The Organizer knows better than we do, where we and things should to be, Romans 8:26. He knows where we belong, with Him, and He is able to organize our every step to lead us directly to Him.
We apply this lesson to our lives when we stop contributing to the disorder. When we stop trying to force pieces into spaces they do not fit (staying in obsolete relationships, clinging to desires, opposing submission to Natural order).
God has explained to Joshua the order that needs to be restored. He has told Joshua where each man belongs in order to accomplish the victory. So instead of manipulating and controlling, Joshua allows God to organize the troops. Organize the victory.
We apply this lesson to our lives when we understand that we do not have to manipulate situations in order for them to go in our favor. We apply this lesson to our lives when we submit to God's constant work of putting things into order. Every detail inside our lives. Every detail outside of our lives.
The Organizer knows better than we do, where we and things should to be, Romans 8:26. He knows where we belong, with Him, and He is able to organize our every step to lead us directly to Him.
We apply this lesson to our lives when we stop contributing to the disorder. When we stop trying to force pieces into spaces they do not fit (staying in obsolete relationships, clinging to desires, opposing submission to Natural order).
God has explained to Joshua the order that needs to be restored. He has told Joshua where each man belongs in order to accomplish the victory. So instead of manipulating and controlling, Joshua allows God to organize the troops. Organize the victory.
8:14-17 The battle unfolds precisely how God organized it to. The city of Ai is left wide open for the Israelites to flood in and take over.
8:18-20 The plan unfolds perfectly outside of the city as well. The Lord continues to direct Joshua's movements and because Joshua faithfully obeys, they Israelites stop fleeing and begin pursuing. The people of Ai were the pursuers but become the prey. God is able to turn evil completely upside-down.
What a surprise for the enemy to suddenly witness the prey become the predator. The Israelites turn around and begin closing in on their enemies. God would love to do the same planning for you. To transform your feet from fleeing to pursuing.
What a surprise for the enemy to suddenly witness the prey become the predator. The Israelites turn around and begin closing in on their enemies. God would love to do the same planning for you. To transform your feet from fleeing to pursuing.
8:21-29 Ai is completely taken over by righteousness. Every evil soul eliminated and replaced by good. God has no tolerance for evil. Through the destruction of Ai and it's ruler, we see that elimination of evil is complete and forever. These battles are foreshadows of the Final battle in which evil is defeated once and for all.
8:30-32 Joshua's first order of business after the battle is to worship God! Joshua has demonstrated the servitude under which a child of God benefits from living. He now demonstrates acknowledgement and gratitude for the God who organizes our service into blessing.
Because the children of Israel obeyed, they inherited a beautiful, fertile Home. Does that sound familiar? These core concepts represent the final gift God wishes to bless us with.
Because the children of Israel obeyed, they inherited a beautiful, fertile Home. Does that sound familiar? These core concepts represent the final gift God wishes to bless us with.
8:33 Joshua and the Israelites follow the specific instructions Mosses gave before he left the earth in Deuteronomy 27. The camp temporarily divided to display to one another what happens when they fail to act as a unit under God.
8:34-35 Joshua reads the law, blessings and cursings. This moment serves as both a reflection and a meditation. The Israelites are again claiming a new stretch of land. They must remember Who enabled them. They must be familiar and in alignment with God's will in order to retain their new and abounding blessings.
Moses was acutely aware of how quickly the Israelites (and often we too) forget to have acknowledgement and gratitude for the One Who breathed life into our lungs. Physically. Spiritually. Moses knows that this group needs consistent reminding in order to remain focused.
We must make the effort to spend time with Him every day. He's with us in every moment so it is not difficult to reach Him. The closer we are to Him, the further we are from enemies in their every form. The stronger, wiser, more capable we are. The more generous, compassionate and joyful.
Moses was acutely aware of how quickly the Israelites (and often we too) forget to have acknowledgement and gratitude for the One Who breathed life into our lungs. Physically. Spiritually. Moses knows that this group needs consistent reminding in order to remain focused.
We must make the effort to spend time with Him every day. He's with us in every moment so it is not difficult to reach Him. The closer we are to Him, the further we are from enemies in their every form. The stronger, wiser, more capable we are. The more generous, compassionate and joyful.
