Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 8-9.

I find the accounts of the two attacks on the city of Ai interesting.  The first attack, which was recounted in yesterday’s passage, only involved around 3,000 warriors and failed.  The Israelites were horrified by the defeat and investigated why God allowed it to happen, coming to the conclusion that it happened because Achan had taken for himself goods from Jericho which God had commanded them to destroy.  What makes this interesting is that, even after dealing with Achan, the Israelites not only sent a much larger force the second time, they also used a more complex strategy.  So, yesterday’s passage lays the blame for the Israelites initial defeat at Ai on Achan’s sin.  Yet when they went up against Ai a second time, after atoning for Achan’s sin, they used a different strategy.  This suggests that Achan’s sin was not the isolated sin of one man which brought the wrath of God on the entire people.  Rather Achan’s sin was the extreme expression of a sin which many of the people were guilty.  Or, perhaps to phrase that another way, Achan committed his sin, which was more extreme, because of a culture of sinfulness among the people.  In the same way, when we see what we perceive as extreme sins in others, we need to examine ourselves to see how sin in our lives may have led others to sin.  Then we need to change how we do things so that it doesn’t happen again.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 8-9.

There is much I could write about the victory over Ai, or about the Gibeonite deception of the Israelites, but I want to focus on when Joshua gathered the Israelites between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.  Joshua was carrying out the command which God had given the Israelites through Moses to assemble between these two mountains after they entered the land.  Then, while the people were gathered, Joshua wrote a copy of the law Moses had given the Israelites on stones.  This would be the second set of God’s commands written on stones.  I have always had it in my head that Moses had carved God’s commands into the stone tablets he prepared on Mount Sinai.  So, when I read that Joshua wrote on these I thought they would be different than the ones which Moses made.  However, when I went to check that, I discovered that the translation says that Moses wrote them.  That does not mean that neither of these sets of stones with God’s commands on them were not chiseled, but it seems unlikely that Joshua took the time to chisel the law of Moses onto these stones in front of the gathered people of Israel.

Having said all of that, what does this mean for us?  Well, the passage also says that Joshua read all of the law of Moses to the people during this gathering.  That reminds me of one of my college professors who would write key statements from his lecture on the blackboard during his classes.  As he wrote them he would discuss what they meant and how they fit into the rest of what he was teaching.  For me, that approach accomplished two things.  First, they allowed me to take particular note of the statements he wrote on the blackboard, and second, they caused those statements to encapsulate the entire lesson the professor was teaching.  So, Joshua writing God’s commands on the stones and then reading those commands to the Israelites helped them to internalize those commands.  In the same way, my writing this blog helps me internalize the lessons I learn from my daily Scripture reading.  I hope that reading the passages I write about and then reading my thoughts about them will help you internalize what God has to say to you through those passages (which may or may not have anything to do with what I write).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 8-9.

I never really think about the fact that in Deuteronomy the Israelites were commanded to set up an altar on Mount Ebal as soon as they entered the land of Canaan, but they did not actually do so until after they conquered Ai.  However, when I looked at where Mount Ebal is, I realized that they had to conquer Ai before they could occupy the valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.  I am unaware of any real significance to this, except that it reminds us that some things which appear inconsistent when we read them would have been perfectly clear and consistent to those living as they happened.

We can, however, learn an important lesson from the way in which the Gibeonites fooled the Israelites.  The Israelites attempted to do their due diligence before entering into a treaty with the Gibeonites.  They carefully examined the Gibeonites provisions, supplies, and equipment, but the Gibeonites had expected that and packed provisions and supplies which were already old before they set out, and they used well-worn equipment.  What the Israelites did not do was seek God’s guidance.  When entering into a big decision, we must do our due diligence, but we must also seek God’s guidance.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 8-9.

Following their victory over Jericho the Israelites became cocky.  As described in yesterday’s passage, they scouted out the city of Ai and initially sent a small force to conquer it.  Then in today’s passage, emissaries from the Gibeonites came to them to make a treaty. The Israelites interrogated the emissaries and carefully examined their equipment and supplies.  They reached the conclusion that the Gibeonites were from a distant land and swore oaths with them.  While their failure in the first assault against Ai was complicated by the sin of Achan, in both cases the leaders made the same mistake.  They acted upon their own judgement without first consulting God.  They felt that the circumstances were such that they did not need to consult God.  They knew His will and thought they knew the facts that applied.  In both cases they had done their due diligence and thought that was sufficient.  Consulting God is not a substitute for doing our due diligence, but we should ask God for His guidance as we do our due diligence.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 8-9.

The first time the Israelites attacked the city of Ai they were defeated badly.  Yesterday’s passage blamed that on the fact that Achan had kept for himself loot from the sack of Jericho despite God’s command to destroy it all.  Yet, in today’s passage, Joshua set an ambush with a larger force than the force sent in the first attack while launching a frontal attack with the rest of the Israelite army.  Typically, we understand yesterday’s passage to mean that if Achan had not sinned the force sent against Ai the first time would have been sufficient.  However, today’s passage suggests another interpretation: God allowed the Israelites to originally underestimated the force necessary to defeat Ai because of Achan’s sin.

In a way, the defeat at Ai reflects the same mistake which Israel made when they allied with the Gibeonites, and the victory gives us guidance into what they should have done.  After spying out Ai, the Israelites relied entirely on their own judgement about the situation in deciding what to do, and sent an inadequate force to attack.  In making an agreement with the Gibeonites, the Israelites relied on their own ability to judge the situation as to where the Gibeonites came from.  In both cases they failed to seek God’s guidance before making a decision.  In the successful attack on Ai, Joshua sought God’s guidance as to how they should attack.  The important point about both stories, the failed attack on Ai and the deal with the Gibeonites is that we do not know what we do not know.  If we seek God’s guidance, even for a decision which we think looks obvious, He will reveal to us those things which we may not realize are important.