Joshua 8:1-29

All right, try number three. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every morning you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into the wrong chapter, I read the wrong places, we get phone calls in the middle of stuff, and then we finally try to actually get into God's word. All right, so Akin's been taken care of. Now we're at Joshua chapter eight.
We're gonna be talking about the fall of Ai. So let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and get into God's word. You mean Ai? Yeah, Ai. You mean you? Not the fall of artificial intelligence or Apple intelligence or something like that. Okay. Here we go. Joshua chapter eight. Uh, how about we take this paragraph by paragraph? So you read the first paragraph. I'll read the second. We'll go like that.
Now the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid, nor be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and rise up. Go to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and his king as you did to Jericho, Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its kill you shall take as booty for yourselves.
Lay an ambush for the city behind it. So Joshua So Joshua rose and all the people of war to go up against I and Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them right away by night and he commanded them saying behold you shall lie in the ambush against the city and and behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city, and I will come about, and it will come about when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them. But they will come out after us till we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, they are fleeing before us as at first. Therefore, we will flee before them. Then you shall arise from the ambush and seize the city, that the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. And it will be when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire, according to the commandment of the Lord you shall do.
See, I have commanded you. joshua therefore sent them out and they went to lion ambush and stayed between bethel and eye the west side of eye but joshua lodged that night among the people then joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people people and went up and he and the elders of Israel before the people of Ai and all the people of all who were with him went up and drew near and they came of the city and camped on the north side of Ai now a valley lay between them them and sat and a valley lay between them and Ai so he took So he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai on the west side of the city. And when they had set the people or the army that was on the north of the city and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went out that night into the midst of the valley.
Now it happened when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city, and Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them. and fled by the way of the wilderness. So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel.
Then the Lord said to Joshua, stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward I, for I will give it into your hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city, so those in ambush arose quickly out of their place. They ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire.
And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, among the city ascended to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. And the people who had fled to the womb were strung back on their pursuits. Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. Then the others came out of the city against them.
So they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side, and they struck them down. so that they let none of them remain or escape. But the king of Ai they took alive and brought him to Joshua. And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai, in the field, in the wilderness, where they pursued them. And they all had fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites had turned at Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword. So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, would fall without them. all the people of Ai. But Joshua did not draw back his hand for which he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
Only livestock in the small of that city Israel took as booty for themselves according to the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. And the king of Ai, he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it in the entrance of the city gate, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.
Alright, let's pray. God, we thank you so much for your word, and we pray that your Holy Spirit would help us to understand it. Give us clarity as we talk about it, and we pray that we would not just hear it, but believe it and obey. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so we got three questions. A, what is this about? B, what's the... and C, what are we? Call it to do.
So in a previous chapter they had gone up to fight against Ai and because of the sin of Achan they actually got beaten so they had to hightail it and run away. Achan's sin is found out. The Babylonian garments and the gold and silver are found in his tent. He's put to death.
Now what are they going to do again? They're going to go take another C. All right, they're gonna, well, they're gonna go take the same city. They're gonna go fight against Ai, the same city, right? So they're gonna go fight against Ai, and did they only take a small bit of people this time? Last time they only went against, with like 3,000 men. What's that? Yeah, they take a huge army, right? Now it's like, okay, hold on, we're really gonna go. All right, so they commit to going, right? They put away their pride, they're gonna go, they're gonna fight, and what's the plan? Everybody goes sneaks behind the back. Everybody? Most people. Like a lot of the people. Well, enough people that isn't going to get noticed, but enough people that's going to be able to do what?
Attack the city from behind. All right. Yeah. So, so what's the plan? So you get, you get a group of people and they go hide behind the city, kind of in the hills or around it. And we've got guards on the side. Okay. And then you have Joshua and the people in the front. Okay. So I is up here. Joshua is up here.
There's a valley down below. That's where they're going to fight, right? So they go down into the valley and they're in the battle. Swords cling, cling, arrow. And what good Joshua and the people do? Start running away. But then what happens in the middle of the battle in the middle of that retreat? Well, before that, then they noticed they were cheating.
And so then they call everybody. Uh, yeah. We're kicking them. They're kicking their butts. Let's go. Come on. And so all the people in the city come out to go pursue them. Right. They're all. So now the city's like the gates are open. The city's like barely anybody's there. There's nobody. Yeah. Cause they're all, cause they're all fighting. Right.
They're all going to go chase down these. They're going to whip them and tell them, show them who's boss. And then what happens? They come out of hiding once in the hills and take over the city. Yeah. So the ambush takes over the city. Take it over. They just walked right in. Well, yeah, but still they took over the, and I'm not sure that there wasn't a single person at all in the city, but, uh, the point is, right. It's, it's been emptied. So they, so the ambush works. And what does Joshua do? Uh, they kill everybody. Well, remember he turns around and he points a sword or his spear, right? Who told him to do that?
Did you catch that? It was in God. Yeah. I think this is interesting. Verse 18. Then the Lord said to Joshua, stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward I, for I will give it into your hand. Well, I will give I. Yeah. So, uh, and then those who were in BAM ambush arose and took the city, right? Uh, but I just think it's interesting. I don't know how the Lord told Joshua that, or maybe it pre-planned it, or maybe, maybe Joshua does hear the audible voice of the Lord, or maybe it's the commander of the armies that he had met in a previous chapter, right? So that was in a chapter five when Joshua met the commander of the armies of the Lord. So maybe that's how the Lord told him. I don't know.
But anyways, uh, so, They capture the city, and what do they do with it? They... They kill everybody, destroy the city, but they take the booty. Okay, yeah, and what do they do with the king? They save him, and then they hang him. Okay, so they save him, and then it's a public execution. And then what do they do with his body at night? They put it in front of the gates and put stones on top of it.
Yeah, right. So the guy who once ruled the city, now his tomb is at the door of the city, right? Kind of quite a political statement, huh? Yeah. So nice, easy Sunday school, like teach the fifth five year olds about Joshua, right? Be strong and courageous. This is bloody warfare. This is people losing their lives. This is one of the difficult things about the Old Testament. They're not just stories. People really died. Is that unfair?
Okay, so God could just command somebody to come in here and just kill our family? Okay, so God's just like like the gods of Greece and stuff and that we're just he's just capricious and arbitrary, right? If he hates us he gets in the Chinese to come in here and kill us Okay, so sometimes you got a purpose and that's what he's talking about But Why is he doing this to the Canaanites?
Is it because the Israelites are that much better? No, probably because they can sometimes be lost. Yeah, he actually tells them in the law from Moses' mouth, don't think in your heart when you go and you conquer that land because somehow you're better or more righteous than them or bigger and stronger and mightier than them. It's only because of his covenant promise that this is coming to pass. The Canaanites, God was judging them for their own sins.
Yep. And God was blessing the Israelites, not because they were better or stronger, more numerous, but because of his love. So, what's this about, right? Joshua takes I, the ambush works. That's verse, what do you think? I got verse 26 and 27 underlined.
Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Only the livestock and the spoil of the city, Israel took as booty for themselves according to the word of the Lord, which he had commanded Joshua.
You know the thing about that is, you have to think, Joshua, this has happened before. When? The raising of the hand, and as long as your hand is raised. Moses. Oh yeah, so Joshua had been at war before, hadn't he? But like, you can see, you can imagine what was going through his head. Last time he was told, he knew somebody that was told to raise their hands and they would win. He was holding up that person's hands. Well no, Joshua wasn't the one holding up his hands. Joshua was the one fighting the war. I thought he was helping.
I think it was Moses and Eleazar if I remember correctly. Or sorry, Aaron and Eleazar. I could be wrong with that though. But I don't think it was Joshua. I think Joshua was fighting the war. Maybe if one of you guys is online and you can let us know down in the comments if Joshua was holding his arms or if it was Aaron. I think it was his brother. But it could be wrong here. Could be Moses's brother.
Let's talk about seek calling, right? Are you called to create an ambush and go kill people? Are you called to go hang a king on a tree and then bury him in front of his own town hall? So why in the world would you read this? What's this got to do with you or about Jesus Christ or anything? Probably trusting the Lord. Okay, I think this is interesting, right? They just lost the eye. They lost the eye, and the very end of chapter 7, verse 9, for that whole thing, right?
Oh Lord, what can I say when Israel turns back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name? And at that, God says, Joshua, get up, get off your face. And now in verse eight, the Lord says to Joshua, don't be afraid or dismayed, take all the people of Israel with you.
You get dealt with your sin, it was put to death, now what do you do? You do what you're supposed to do. Does that happen in our lives sometimes? Yeah, like we get Caught in sin or caught up by sin or something goes wrong and we might get a little anxious or something like that and Then we don't actually do anything about it. Yeah, we don't actually do anything right this is and the lord is saying No, man, come on Come on, get up. Let's go. There's work to do Now Yeah, okay, sin is dealt with.
All you do after sin, go serve the Lord. That's a good kind of moralistic interpretation of this. Where do we find anything about grace, right? All the law and the prophets teach about me, is what Jesus says. So where do we find Christ or the covenant of grace here?
I think I see things, but they're definitely not direct ties. Yeah, and it's not always direct ties. Sometimes it's attitudes, sometimes it's types, right? And so that's where we're wrestling with, right? The application for us isn't necessarily just, you know, well, they did this, thus I do that exact same thing.
But I think here one of the ways is Joshua's attitude towards the Lord. They thought about God as their king and they wanted to follow him because they loved him. And so when God says, hey, no, look, that sin is dealt with, get up, get off your face and go do it. They follow that by faith. They trust God.
Not as some type of cruel person who's going to, oh, you guys, you sinned against me. I'm going to squash you like a bug. But no, right? God is going to keep his promises. He's going to accomplish this work. And I think we can trust in that, with that type of same faith. Do we believe he's bringing in a kingdom? Yep. Can we see it happening perfectly? Nope. No, but do we trust him? Yeah, he's gonna make a promise that's good.
Hey, let's go ahead and pray. Hey God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for time together. We thank you for the blessing of getting to read your word. And we pray, Lord, that we would have faith and we would follow you, that we would do hard things trusting in you. In Jesus's name, amen. All right, may God bless you. May you follow with the faith of Joshua. And we'll see you next time. You wanna say bye? Bye. Adios.