King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Sunday, March 24, 2024
Chapters: Joshua Chapters 5-8
Message: God Comes Before The Work Begins
Hello My Friend,
I was half was through today’s reading and getting into the study when the power and internet went out at the same time, and on top of that only half of what I had written was saved. So, here I am trying to figure out what was on my mind this morning as I was reading the chapters when God pointed out to me that I had problems all morning. He was right, I woke up an hour late, my computer was giving me problems, and I did not even go to church this morning. The crazy thing is that with all this mess God got me and my family to go out and spend some time together. It is a reminder that while God definitely works in mysterious ways, He is always working, [John 14:10-11 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.]
As we continue in the reading of Joshua, the Israelites successfully crossed over the Jordan and were now awaiting the command from God what to do next. First of all, and before they could go any further, God, commanded Joshua to circumcise the new generation of males. Circumcision, was required only of the males even though women were also included in the covenant.
[Joshua 5:2-5 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. 3 And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. 4 And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt. 5 Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised.]
[and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.] They were not getting circumcised again as there is only time that the foreskin could be removed as it does not grow back. This was the new generation, that had not been circumcised yet. When you stop to think about it, this is the same thing as ones salvation, they second they receive Christ as their Saviour, they have removed the foreskin of their heart forever and why we cannot lose our salvation, [Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.]
[And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise:] Why was it important that the men be circumcised? First, of all, it identified them as being the people of God. This was not a matter of their being an Israelite rather their being one of God’s people. The second reason and perhaps the most important was that it was the seal of the everlasting covenant that God had made with Abraham.
[Genesis 17:1-2,7, And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.]
The circumcision of all males both of the Israelites as well as those who were converted was a sacrament instituted by God based on His promise to Abraham that He would give him and his children after the land of Canaan. The significance of the sacrament was that the descendants of Abraham and those who followed them were to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts and be a holy people unto the Lord, [Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.] Above all, it was the seal of their righteousness by faith until Jesus would come and give His life for an everlasting covenant, [Romans 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:]
Until we are made whole by accepting Christ as our Saviour, we are incomplete, having this skin of sin preventing God’s Spirit from getting inside of us. We may be right there at the gate of the promise land, but until we are made whole, we cannot pass over. Speaking of Passover, it was also important for them to be circumcised immediately because the Passover was about to be observed. While observing the Passover, something else happened as well.
[Joshua 5:8-10,12 And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole. 9 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day. 10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. 12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.]
[This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt] God took away any guilt, shame, or blame for not following the Law, in this case, not having the new generation circumcised while on their journey to the land of promise. From the second that sin entered into the world there has been an enmity between God and man, but also the promise of reconciliation to all who believe in Him, [2 Corinthians 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;]
[And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land;] Notice that it says that as soon as they ate of the old corn of the land that God stopped the manna from appearing every morning. They eating of the old corn that they had found on the promise land signified their future state of the land being filled of the milk and honey they had heard so much about. The miracle of the manna showed that God provides for His people no matter what condition they are in. The ceasing of the manna which was a type of Christ, proved that God will feed His people one way or another, in which Christ is held forth as the bread of life, [John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.]
We do not realize it, but as Christians, we are in a battle every single day that we stand by Christ. Why? They know how God takes from them and gives to His people. However, they do not know who they are dealing with, when you belong to God, He deals with them Himself. Yes, we do have to fight, but He will go before us, and not only fight with us, He will lead us to victory. While the men healed they observed the Passover and prepared for their first battle in Jericho. As Joshua gets close to Jericho he is approached.
[Joshua 5:13-15 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? 14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? 15 And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.]
[there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn] This was no man and it was no ordinary angel, he was the great Angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ Himself. The one who had also met with Moses in a similar fashion, and would have passed him up if he did not turn back to see the burning bush, [Exodus 3:4-5 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.]
The captain of the Lord’s host was neither for them or against them, he undoubtedly reminded Joshua of the experience Moses had with him. The world would like to think of Jesus as some man that was here two thousand years ago, martyred for his faith in God, but He is, and always has been LORD, and will forever be there to fight for His people. Now, the time had come, Israel was not only going to storm into Jericho, they were going to burn it down to the ground. Since word had gotten out that they were coming there was a fortress built around the city, God instructs Joshua how to approach this.
[Joshua 6:1-5 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2 And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. 4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. 5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.]
[And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns:] The Ark was to be taken up and carried by priests round the city and there were interestingly seven priests at the time. This was done to both to remind the Israelites that God was among them and to keep doing all that was commanded of them according what was written in it the Law, which was contained in within the Ark. The blowing of the trumpets was God’s way of letting the world know that this was war against His people, and that He not only stood behind His army, He was leading them. We must always remind ourselves that God is with us every step of the way even when we do not understand why He is asking us to do something, [Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.]
For six days, the priests carrying the Ark, and the soldiers were to march around the city one time, and for six days the people of Jericho heard them as they marched on. On the seventh day, they were to march around the wall seven times and that is exactly what they did. For six days the soldiers armed themselves with their weapons and armor and marched around the walls one time.
[Joshua 6:-13 And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout. 11 So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. 12 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.]
[Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice…until the day I bid you shout;] Say what? “You want us to just march along the walls around the city one time and say or do nothing at all?” I imagine that is what they were asking themselves. Here are these soldiers, the best of the best, and all they are asked to do is march around the walls of Jericho for a week. I do not know about you, but I would have loved to see the fear of the people of Jericho, hearing the sound of the trumpets and knowing that they were on the other side of that wall. Nevertheless, they did what they were told and on the seventh day when they marched seven times around the walls, Joshua commanded them to shout.
[Joshua 6:16-18,20 And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city. 17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.]
[only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house,] While the rest of Jericho probably trembled and did whatever they could on the other side of those walls to prevent them from coming in, Rehab, was gathering as many as she could to save them. And by the way, Rehab’s house was in the wall, so, you can really imagine what that would have looked like to see the walls come crashing down around them, while the portion they were in remained untouched.
[Joshua 6:23-25,27 And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. 24 And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 27 So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.]
[and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day;] Rehab, was a prostitute, probably stayed to herself, was ashamed of her life, and had no friends. She may not have known everything about God, but she did know that He is the Almighty and that He was the only way to salvation. She may have just been the first Gentile to go soul winning, even before that was such a thing. This is proof that God will save anyone who comes to Him, [Romans 10:11-12 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.]
By now, the army was feeling pretty confident that wherever they went, God, would be with them and they would take it, just like Jericho. Now, remember what Joshua said to them about taking the accursed things, [when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse,]? Well someone did not listen and his name was Achan. The army was pumped up after their victory, ready to take the next town, which was Ai, so, Joshua sent a few people over there to search it out.
[Joshua 7:1-3 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. 2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few.]
[and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few.] Despite the fact that Achan took things that were accursed and brought them into the camp, notice what else they were saying, “There is only a few of them, we can take them out so why send the whole army.” To me it sounded like there was a little of pride mixed in with their victory and you will notice something else, there was no mention of God in their strategy. Well, their strategy did not work, they were to be defeated and not only that thirty-six men lost their lives as well.
[Joshua 7:5-8 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. 6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. 7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!]
[And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth….until the eventide,] So, here is this man as well as the elders, on their hands and knees crying out to God as to why the men were killed when He was the one who brought them into the land. Is that not like us to cry out to God when we did things our own way and something happened to us? While God does actually welcome our requests and complaints, our little pity party temper tantrums do nothing to get His attention. Oh, they actually do get His attention, but it will be a wake up call. God literally tells Joshua to get up.
[Joshua 7:10-12 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.]
[taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled] In other words, they were commanded not to take anything that was used for worshiping idols and whatever they did found it was to be dedicated to God. Then they had the nerve to take some of the dedicated things for themselves and put them among their own things without even one mention of God. Well, as you can see, their sins were found out and unless they took care of the situation, God was not going to do anything else for them. So, the men scrabbled to find the people who had these things and they found Achan and brought him to Joshua.
[Joshua 7:24-26 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.]
[And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire,] This may seem harsh as all the house of Achan lost their lives and they burned everything they owned, but think about it, he not only brought sin into the camp, his family followed him. We must understand that we are responsible for our own sin even if we were unaware of it being sin. Ignorance saves no one, [Acts 17:30-31 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.]
We must understand that we need to follow Christ precisely, we may not always get it right, and when we do not there is no reason to beat ourselves up over for it, we just need to confess and repent. Let me tell you. life defeats us, and becomes a reproach when we start trusting in our own path, but it is Christ who humbles us, sanctifies us, and actually rolls away the reproach to get us back on track. Now, after they found the man, and the accursed things, and removed them all, that was when God was with them and they defeated Ai.
[Joshua 8:1-4 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: 2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it. 3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:]
[but be ye all ready:] We need to be ready for battle at all times, the most amazing thing about God is that while we may mess up, He is right there for us when we put away those accursed things. The battles are not ours, they are God’s, and when Christ returns, we are going to hear one trumpet, and that will be the day that He comes for us, [1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.]
Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [Joshua 5:14-15 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? 15 And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank you for your countless mercies and grace, You could at any time stop them, and yet are faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me from all my sin. The journey You have us on is something of a mystery, we are not asked to understand, we are asked to trust You. The first part of our trusting You is accepting Your Son as our Saviour, the rest comes when we follow our Saviour. Lord, You, have rolled away my reproach, removed every piece of sin that shamed me when I accepted Jesus as my Saviour. When my heart feels broken, when my soul feels crushed, and when my body feels out of sorts, comfort me, give me peace, mend the wounds, and renew my spirit. If there is any accused thing near me, tell me now so that I can repent and remove it. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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