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March 7 + Daily notes & readings

DAY 66

Joshua prepares the people for battle.  They have crossed the Jordan into the land God had promised them and now it is time to overcome the nations.  

DAILY READINGS

Joshua 5-8 & Psalm 66

DAILY NOTES

Joshua 5:1
  • All the kings beyond the Jordan heard about the Israelites movement, that they had crossed over (again).  As a result, their hearts melted and their spirit was gone.  They are fearful of what is to happen to them.
Joshua 5:2-9
  • The Lord tells Joshua to circumcise the people.  They had not practiced circumcision, the sign of the covenant between them and God, since they were in the wilderness.
  • Now, all that they faced in Egypt, everything they were and everything endured is "rolled away."  They are, officially, a new people.

Joshua 5:15
  • The command of the army of the Lord gives Joshua the same instructions Moses was given at the burning bush.
Joshua 6:1-16
  • The city of Jericho has closed itself.  No one is leaving or entering because they feel the threat of the Israelites.  
  • Joshua receives and gives the command of God.  The people are to march around the city gates once daily for six days.  On the seventh day they are to march seven times and then, when they hear the trumpets blast, let out a "great shout."
    • They are never told what to shout.  
  • They are to remain in silence as they march around the city.  
Joshua 6:18-25
  • The people are instructed not to take any spoils from Jericho.  Jericho is the first fruit!
  • The city is overtaken.
  • The spies seek out Rahab and her family to uphold the covenant they made with her.  
Joshua 7:1
  • Even though one person, Achan, takes spoil from Jericho, the text reads that the Israelites broke faith, or "committed a trespass."
Joshua 7:5
  • As a result, the people are unable to win their next battle.  Consequently, like the other kings before, their hearts melted and turned to water.
Joshua 7:25
  • After going tribe by tribe, clan by clan, household by household and person by person, Achan is identified as the one who has "done an outrageous thing."  
  • He is stoned first and then burned.
  • The place where he is burned is called the Valley of Achor, or the Valley of Trouble.
Joshua 8:2-7
  • God prepares the people for their next battle.  This time they are able to take spoils.
  • God instructs Joshua to take advantage of the Israelites' previous loss by creating an ambush.
Joshua 7:22-23
  • The city of Ai is overtaken and the king is taken captive.
Joshua 7:30-35
  • After their victory, according to what Moses had prescribed to them, Joshua erects an altar and stones upon which the law was written.  Afterwards, he read the words (most likely Deuteronomy) before all of Israel.
Psalm 66
  • The psalmist recognizes God's goodness to the people of Israel.  Consequently, he responds with joy and worship.  
  • We are reminded of how God has acted toward the Israelites.
  • The psalmist is ready to tell anyone who will listen about what God has done.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

I'll try not to preach.  But notice that the people had failed.  More than that, they had sinned against God by taking items from Jericho.  Jericho was the first fruit of their labor before God.  First fruits belong to God.  As a result, they were not prepared for their next battle.  They did not win and stand against the other nation.  They were broken and disheartened.

Longer story short, they recognized the sin within their people.  They identified the person and made confessed.  God then says they can go to battle.

They aren't just to march through the city.  God instructs the Israelites to use their previous defeat as an advantage.  Because they were defeated before, the people of Ai will think they have the upper hand again and feel confident in their victory.

God uses the Israelites' previous defeat to prepare them for their future victory!

Maybe it's time to stop focusing on your defeats and let God bring something new out of them instead.

Stay blessed...john

P.S. You can't read about Jericho and not think of Veggie Tales.







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