`The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world`, says Paul; `They have divine power to demolish strongholds.` Well, we surely want to learn how to do that!
How does the old testament help us? Actually there are very few OT cases of God’s people capturing strongholds, and Joshua has two of them, together in chapters 6 to 8: Jericho, and the disturbing and powerful story of Ai. What can we learn here about demolishing strongholds opposed to God, in our own lives and elsewhere? What gets emphasized in these chapters? (Here it can get subjective, but here’s my own take – please read the chapters and see what else you learn from them!)
(And by the way: Some writers describe the gospel miracles as `paradigm events`. That is: they’re recorded to give us the clearest possible examples of how things work, how God works. Then, in our more confusing experiences we can look for hints of the same patterns. Jericho’s fall was just such a `paradigm event` for Israel (one they would need to carefully `remember`, the theme we noted in ch4), because God never worked so clearly again; at Jericho the walls fell down miraculously, which never happened again. In future God would still be at work, but Israel would have to do the (normal) fighting. But because of what they remembered from Jericho, they would be sure that God was with them, and victory was assured. That’s why we too need to feed our minds on Scripture’s `paradigm events`.)
The first thing that strikes me in these histories is that victory comes through the patience of faith. Having crossed Jordan, the Israelites didn’t head straight for Jericho, they paused to get circumcised as God had commanded. Then, they all had to march silently round the city seven times before anything happened; that might seem pointless, but God had commanded it and it couldn’t be omitted. Letting God do things (break the walls down) in His good time; similar situations may happen to us, so let’s pray for that same patience of faith, if it’s so basic to capturing strongholds…
Or we can call it something else: holy obedience. Not turning from God’s commands to the right or the left (1:7-8), even when it may take a while for God’s promises to be realised. (We may remember in contrast Saul’s disastrous impatience in 1 Samuel 13, which led to a disobedience that cost him his entire destiny.) Holiness, we recall, was the sole issue flagged up by the `commander of the Lord’s army` in 5:15. And holy obedience is a big issue when they’re outside Jericho too. `Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word, until I tell you to shout`, says Joshua firmly (6:10). And a bigger test of obedience follows: in the desert they’ve presumably had very few luxuries; now they’re told to restrain themselves, to keep their hands off the plunder when Jericho falls (6:18). (When Ai falls it will be different, 8:2.) And disobedience in this matter is the cause of Israel’s disaster in ch7. Then, after that, in ch8, it’s striking that when God has told Joshua that the strategy this time is to set an ambush, Joshua in fact sets two; as if now he’s being extremely careful to keep to God’s instructions. We note, too, how his instructions to the army conclude carefully: `Do what the Lord has commanded!` (8:8) He knows obedience is crucial, because he knows they’re totally dependent on God’s power, and dare not grieve Him…
Israel’s disastrous defeat at Ai certainly flags up these issues for us. First there’s a lack of faith: because Ai seems a tiny place, there’s no sign of them sensing any need to seek God’s instructions; they feel they can handle something as small as this without God’s guidance. What’s the lesson for us? That we need to seek God over every tiny decision, praying earnestly about which socks to put on in the morning? No – but what does matter is an overall mindset of not `leaning on our own understanding` (Prov 3:5). So, perhaps starting the day by asking God, claiming His sure promise (James 1:5), to fill our minds with His wisdom: Lord left to my own intelligence I’ll probably do things that are less than ideal sometime today; I need Your wisdom, fill my mind, so that my thoughts as I make decisions are Your thoughts, in matters large and small throughout this day…
But the really big thing in these chapters is what God makes clear is the main cause of Israel’s defeat, and the deaths of many of their soldiers: the sin of Achan. When Jericho falls, Achan ignores God’s instructions to keep his hands off the plunder; he sees a beautiful robe and some silver and gold, and grabs them (7:21). And it’s because of that, the Lord says, that He allowed the enemy to be victorious, and many Israelite soldiers died (7:12). Oh, this haunts me, and it should; can I do things that might render my whole fellowship liable to spiritual defeat? This is where western individualism isn’t the whole story, at least when it come to the supernaturally-united Body of Christ; here `If one part suffers, every part suffers with it` (1 Cor 12:26), and it seems equally true that sometimes one person’s sin isn’t negligible, it can spiritually cripple a whole community. `Israel has sinned`, says the Lord here – not just one sinful individual; `… they have stolen, they have lied… That is why they cannot stand against their enemies` (Josh 6:11-12).
Individuals’ actions matter, and something has to be done. Joshua’s faith sinks (`Alas, Sovereign LORD, why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?`), although in his discouragement he does hold on to the priority of God’s honour, and that will lead to the way out (`What then will You do for Your own great name?` (6:9)). God’s answer is almost amusing – `Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?` (It reminds me of the similar moment at the Red Sea, when Moses tells the people, sounding very spiritual, ` Stand firm… The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still!`, and God tells him, ` Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to move on!` (Ex 14:15).) If there’s real repentance, something, some act of discipline, has to be done…
And here’s Dale Ralph Davis on this chapter: `Would it be going too far to say that the apparent absence of God… may be due to our unwillingness to purge evil from our midst by the costly exercise of church discipline?` My own church has adopted a policy making clear to everyone that we do church discipline, and indeed (this might protect your church from a lawsuit) that a precondition of anyone becoming a member is that they commit to lead a godly life as defined by Scripture, and to accept pastoral guidance and potentially church discipline where this seems not to be the case. (The purpose of course must always be healing and sanctification.) It’s not a pleasant topic, but if your church doesn’t have a clear policy on this I’d urge you to make one, citing the relevant Scriptures (eg 1 Cor 5:11-12, Titus 3:10, Matt 18:17); and, before anything happens that involves particular individuals. Like the equally vital policy confirming that all leaders are clearly staying committed to Scripture’s authority and doctrine, it’s far harder to establish a stance on this when someone specific is being disciplined or asked to step back – a worship leader who’s fallen into an ungodly relationship, for example; and when they’re someone many of us love, and friendship’s call seems to be (no matter what example they may become to others) to tolerate what they’ve done. (Tolerate it, just seek `mutual listening and understanding`, to quote someone in an issue I’m involved with right now. See Rev 2:20.) The history of Achan is a stunning example of the cost of such `tolerance` of sin, and the reality of Isaiah 59 (see too Jesus’ words in Matt 5:30): `Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But… your sins` – yes, yours plural, until you’ve done something about it – `have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear!`
And yes: here is where it gets emotionally challenging for some of us – me included. But Joshua is a book teaching us what marks the people of God when they’re moving into victory, and that means a willingness to embrace God as He truly is and as He reveals Himself to be. So, to embrace God’s holiness that is such a theme of these chapters; to embrace God as a God who reveals Himself as, sometimes, a God of real judgment, as he does here on Jericho in ch6 and Achan in ch7. (Strikingly, Israel do exactly this `embracing` before ch8 finishes: they renew the covenant, by chanting God’s blessings on those who do God’s will, and His judgmental curses on those who disregard it, 8:33-35, fulfilling Deut 27.) In these chapters real judgment comes on Jericho, and Leviticus 18 and 20 told us why; what the Amorites had been doing was horrendous, including sacrificing their own babies by fire, and every form of perversion, some that are socially acceptable today but also sex with animals and every permutation of incest. (Had Satan garrisoned what he knew was the promised land with people committed to as much evil as possible?) These things (Lev 18:27,20:23) were why judgment came and they were expelled from Palestine, after 400 years of God’s forbearance (see Genesis 15). And God’s judgment came equally on Israel when they too ignored God’s commands generation after generation; they too lost Palestine, and ended up in exile in Babylon.
And we see this same judgment coming on Achan here in Joshua 7. No doubt we can see this too as a `paradigm event`: Israelites did worse things later with lesser penalties, but here at their first entry into the promised land the seriousness of sin had to be made unforgettably clear. (Just like the judgment on Ananias and Sapphira, right at the start of the Church’s history (Acts 5); another `paradigm event` making unforgettably clear to the first Christians the seriousness of sin.) I struggle as I read Achan’s story; but if really grasping God’s holiness is fundamental to spiritual victory (as we saw last week), then logically what follows is the seriousness of sin, and the inevitability of `the Lord’s anger` (Josh 7:1) against it and judgment flowing from it. (But let’s remember too the most important thing about judgment, that Christ carried it for us at Calvary; if we really want to understand, really rejoice over, our salvation, we need to embrace all this about God’s holiness, and the seriousness of our own sin, and then the huge price that was consequently paid by God Himself…)
Joshua’s book will have much more to say about how judgment is commuted, as we’ll see in ch20. But it’s in precisely these chapters that we’re reminded that there is always grace; grace no matter how vile our sins. For it’s amidst the judgment on Jericho that we read about Rahab (spoken of again in 6:25). Leviticus showed us that sexual deviancy was a basic cause of God’s judgment on the Amorites, and who knows what a Jericho prostitute would have done, willingly or unwillingly; very possibly the very things that brought massive judgment on her city. But there’s always the possibility of repentance, and a way back, and Rahab grabbed it; `and she lives among the Israelites to this day` (6:25), indeed she became an ancestor of Jesus!
But – what Rahab had, and Achan catastrophically lacked, was an awe at God that meant that nothing was more important to achieve than obedience to His purposes: `For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below!` (2:11).
Lord: please give me that; by Your Spirit! Amen!
