Winning the Battle
Joshua 8
Intro:
War movies are a staple of our culture. There is always at least one playing at the theatre, often more than one. This past week I rented ¡§Black Hawk Down,¡¨ a true story of American soldiers in the Battle of Mogadishu trying to capture two Somalian warlords in 1993. Our culture is fascinated by stories of conflict and battle, a fascination that is not particularly new or unique to our culture. The Scripture passage we are going to look at today in Joshua 8 is a war story, complete with some brilliant military tactics and a lot of violence.
The Background:
Last week we read in Joshua 7 that the Israelites suffered a humiliating loss at a small town called Ai, and that the reason for the loss was the sin of one man, Achan, who paid for that sin with his life. The Israelites went from a glorious victory over the city of Jericho to terrible defeat at tiny Ai, and then had to deal with the unpleasantness of sin in their midst. Chapter 7 ends with Achan being stoned.
But the city of Ai was still there, and the Israelites under Joshua still needed to carry on with the conquest of the promised land. That is where chapter 8 begins: (read 8:1-9)
The Instructions (8:1-9):
God¡¦s opening words to Joshua are incredibly important. In the last chapter we saw how God had removed His presence and promise from His people because of Achan¡¦s sin, and we heard Joshua¡¦s prayer that acknowledged that without God the Israelites were doomed. They did as God instructed, and dealt with the sin of Achan. Now what is God going to do?? Is He going to punish them some more? Are they going to be taken back into the desert again, is God just going to leave them to fend for themselves in a land of hostile enemies for a little bit? They offended God and felt His wrath, is God going to pout for a while and leave His people alone?
Notice how immediate God¡¦s turn-around is. The people repent and obey, God forgives, and boom ¡V back on track. ¡§I have given them into your hand¡K¡¨ Forgiven. Time to move on. This reminds me that it isn¡¦t God that stays distant after our sin, it is us. God is there, wanting to forgive and restore and bless ¡V it is us that pout for a little while, refusing to accept God¡¦s gracious forgiveness. I think we feel like we don¡¦t deserve it ¡V and we don¡¦t! ¡V but that doesn¡¦t matter. I think we feel like we have to punish ourselves for awhile, we have to wallow around feeling like we are bad bad bad¡K tuck the tail between the legs and hide in the corner for a bit. But that is never a picture I see in the Bible of God. The picture I see over and over is of a God who longs to forgive, who¡¦s entire mission for us is to restore our relationship. Adam and Eve hid; God sought them out and provided for them. Achan sinned; God told them how to deal with it and then forgave and got them back on track. The prodigal son rounded the corner at the end of the driveway and the Father ran to meet him, and threw a party to celebrate his return. That is God¡¦s response ¡V to forgive and restore and celebrate.
My friends, if you have sinned, and repented, then accept what God offers. What does He offer?? Forgiveness. Not in part, but complete. What else?? Restoration of a broken relationship. He wants us back; He doesn¡¦t want to forgive us and then watch us stay distant because we still feel the need to punish ourselves. If God is finished with it, we need to be finished with it also. There is one other thing God offers, and that is power to not sin the next time. It occurs to me that when we insist on punishing ourselves after God has forgiven us, we stay in a dangerous place of being vulnerable to sin again: we feel not worthy, bad about ourselves, unable to walk with God, and so the next time we are tempted it is easy to fall into it again. On the other hand, being restored in our relationship with God and walking with Him once again empowers us to face temptation and sin from a position of strength, from a position of affirming again that ¡§I am a child of God, I have died to sin and have the presence of the Holy Spirit of God to counter temptation.¡¨
So God forgives, and restores the Israelites into covenant relationship with Him. We see this restoration and the Israelites¡¦ recommitment to the covenant at the end of the chapter, which we will look at in a few moment. And then God lays out the battle plan for the capture of Ai. They are going to use a classic ambush strategy, the details of which Joshua describes to his men. He sends of the ambush party and then settles down for the night.
We get a really tiny glimpse at the character of Joshua in the last part of verse 9, and also a lesson in leadership. It says, ¡§but Joshua spent that night with the people.¡¨ Now I don¡¦t know where he usually spent the night, but obviously this was a noteworthy change. And if you think about it in the larger context, it makes sense. The people would have likely been scared ¡V of the city of Ai which had routed them last time, maybe even at God who had just revealed the secret sin of one of their brothers and punished it with death. So what does their leader do? He goes to the people, he spent the night with them, he said by his presence (and probably his words) that things were going to be ok, that God had renewed His promise to deliver the land, and they were back on track.
God¡¦s Plan Works (vs. 10-29):
The middle part of the chapter tells us what happened under God¡¦s plan. (read). The victory was complete, the city and all the people destroyed. The ambush is successful and the city is defeated.
The reason for the victory is fascinating. Obviously, it was God¡¦s plan and the Israelites obeyed and so success was to be expected. But notice what precisely it was that caused the plan to work: it was the previous defeat. Think about it from the perspective of the people of Ai ¡V ¡§Here come the Israelites again¡K let¡¦s run them off again. There are more of them now, but we were outnumbered last time and we took them, we can take them again.¡¨ To add the religious dimension, wars between two groups of people in this time were often viewed as a battle between the gods of the two people ¡V they were as much about whose God was stronger as they were about whose army was stronger. So I think the people of Ai had likely concluded that their gods were stronger than Israel¡¦s God, and so victory was assured. So when they see them out front of the city, they march out to meet them.
Just like last time, the Israelites flee before them. They turn tail and run. So the king summons all the men out of the city to pursue the Israelites and destroy them completely, leaving the city undefended. Of course, that is when the Israelites waiting in ambush jump on the opportunity and take the city and burn it to the ground.
So the reason they won the second time was because they lost the first time. God turned defeat into victory.
My friends, God is still doing that. He is still turning defeat into victory. He did it at Ai, He did it at Calvary, He does it today. He takes our weaknesses, our defeats, and when we give them to Him He does something amazing with them ¡V He uses them to advance His Kingdom. We need this reminder ¡V it is not in our strength that God is honored, it is in our weakness. I think He does it like that so that it is obvious where the power is, that it is God who does it and not us. The Apostle Paul understood this, even coming to the conclusion that the only thing he would boast about was His weakness, for it was there God could be strong.
There was a 10 year old boy, who’s left arm was damaged and subsequently amputated. He decided to learn judo. His Sensai (teacher) was an old Chinese judo expert. The boy learned quickly. After three months, he had learned only one move. He asked his teacher to teach him more moves. The Sensai told him that this was all he would need. Soon after, the boy entered a tournament, where he quickly advanced to the finals, where his opponent was bigger and more experienced. The boy seemed very out matched. After a long match, the opponent seemed to lose concentration. Quickly, the boy took advantage and pinned what seemed to be his superior opponent. On the ride home, the boy asked his Sensai. "How could I win with only one move? "The Sensai replied, "You have nearly mastered one of the most difficult moves in all of judo. And, the only defense against that move, is for your opponent to grab your left arm."
That is a message of hope ¡V God turns defeat into victory. He uses our weaknesses to be strong. As we understand this, we suddenly become free to risk. We suddenly see a situation that is outside of our ability and comfort zone, and instead of smirking and saying ¡§no way¡¨ and running the opposite direction, we say ¡§ok Lord, this is a great opportunity for You to do something really neat.¡¨ It is a change in focus, from what we are comfortable with and what we think we can handle/control/achieve in our own strength, to what God can do. And as the Israelites saw at the Jordan and at Jericho, what God can do is an awful lot.
Maybe you have been feeling defeated and dejected. If so, this message of hope is for you ¡V God turns defeat into victory, weakness into strength. Maybe you¡¦ve been longing for more of God¡¦s power in your life, to know Him more deeply and passionately. Maybe your desire has been that God would do more for His Kingdom through you. Step out and take some risks for Him; see your weaknesses as opportunities for God to step in in power. See what He does.
The destruction of Ai, like the destruction of Jericho, was thorough. There was a lot of violence, a lot of gore, a lot of death. These are uncomfortable passages for us, especially in light of Jesus¡¦ message to ¡§love your enemies.¡¨ I don¡¦t want you to think I¡¦ve been avoiding those difficult questions, those parts of the conquest of the promised land, or the modern parallels with ¡§holy war¡¨ that we hear on the lips of radical Islamic sects. It is a big topic, which I plan to look at in some detail in a few weeks time. So for now we will notice that the destruction was complete and that it came at God¡¦s instruction, and try to figure it out together in a couple of weeks.
Covenant Renewal (vs. 30-35)
Chapter 8 ends with a sudden shift of location and activity. (read).
Not only is the location and activity different, but the language and form is different also ¡V each phrase is taken straight out of the book of Deuteronomy to emphasize how completely the Israelites followed the law laid down by Moses (I included the detailed references in your handout).
For those reasons (and a bunch of others) I¡¦m not convinced that this event followed immediately after the destruction of Ai, but rather at some other time during the conquest. I think it is put here for an important teaching point rather than as an attempt to exactly chronicle the detailed conquest of the land. And by the way, I believe we have a similar thing happen in the New Testament Gospel of John, where Jesus¡¦ cleansing of the Temple is recorded at the beginning of Jesus¡¦ ministry rather than at the end as it is in the other Gospels. Both stories are taken out of their chronological order to serve an important theological point.
So what is the point ¡V why is this story placed here? Trent Butler, author of one of the commentaries on the book of Joshua, explains it this way:
The preceding section has contrasted the experiences of a disobedient people of God and of an obedient people of God¡K One theological question remained unanswered. How did the congregation which had transgressed the divine covenant restore that relationship?... (They) go to the place where God has chosen and renew their commitment to all the law which Moses has set out for them.¡¨ (Butler, p. 91).
You see, it is the missing step. The step we often overlook in our lives also. We sin, we confess, and we get on with life. By placing this story of Israel recommitting to their special relationship with God, we see the final, critical step. It is the step of recommitment, of pledging once again to abide by the law of God, of saying ¡§I will sin no more.¡¨ Instead of going back to life the way it was before, without addressing the issues that led us in to sin in the first place, we put ourselves in danger of falling into that same temptation again.
I rejoice when I hear testimony of God doing miraculous things in people¡¦s lives, of delivering them instantly from sin and addictions and bad habits. But I recognize that there is another step that must flow from that ¡V we need to commit to following the whole law of God, just like the Israelites did in this covenant renewal ceremony. We need to dig deep and see the factors that led us to sin in the first place, and allow the Holy Spirit to deal with those root causes. Then we start to see the miraculous changes take hold permanently, we see change and we see growth towards Christlikeness.
When we sin, we need to confess our sin and receive God¡¦s forgiveness. But Biblical confession means more than saying just, ¡§oops, I¡¦m sorry¡K¡¨ It includes also a commitment to live differently by the power of the Holy Spirit, to truly turn away from our sin and toward our Lord. This is the essence of the word ¡§repentance,¡¨ which is necessary for forgiveness. Repentance is our determination (under the power of the Holy Spirit) to change, to live differently, to sin no more. It is the part that breaks the cycle of sin „³ feel bad „³ ask for forgiveness „³ feel better for a little while „³ sin again¡K
That is what the Israelites did at this ceremony, and I believe that is part of the reason why this story follows the story of the conquest of Ai.
Conclusion:
God is good. Sometimes He is a little bit scary, like we saw last week as He confronted sin in His people. But He is still good. We see that here in Joshua 8 ¡V that even though His people had turned their backs on Him and broken their covenant, and thus deserved to be forever abandoned by God ¡V God still forgave. He still welcomed them back. Yes there was a price paid for their sin, but God proved His goodness and faithfulness as He restored His people and welcomed them back into relationship with Him.
That is the heart of the message of all of Christianity. God wants us back in relationship with Him. That is what the cross of Jesus is all about ¡V about the price of sin being paid by Jesus instead of us so that we can be welcomed back into relationship with God, who proves His goodness to us over and over again. And that is the message I proclaim to you today ¡V God is good, He longs to forgive you and restore you into a relationship with Him. Not as a distant acquaintance, but as a precious child. He invites you to come home.
The Israelites made this returning very public through their corporate recommitment to the covenant. Maybe as you¡¦ve worshipped this morning you¡¦ve felt God tugging you back, felt Him speaking to you in some personal way. Or maybe you haven¡¦t felt anything out of the ordinary. Either way we have the opportunity to recommit to our relationship with Jesus through the Lord¡¦s Supper this morning. I invite you to look upon this as a covenant renewal ¡V like the Israelites did here at Mount Ebal. Express once again your love for your Lord, experience His goodness, invite Him to be Lord of your life.
Joshua 8:30-35 compared to Deuteronomy (Trent Butler, Joshua, p. 90)
Joshua 8 Deuteronomy
v30 27:4-5
31a 30:10
31aB 27:5
31b 27:6-7
32a 17:18
32b 31:9
33 Combination of 29:9-14 and 27:12-13
34 31:11
35 Summary of Josh 8:30-34 based on Deut. 4:2; 12:32
