Blogging Bible Study: Joshua 10:1- - 28 -- The Day the Sun Stood Still

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Now, we flash back to the top of chapter 9, where it is noted that all the kings west of the Jordan...came together to make war against Joshua and Israel.

Apparently this happened in clusters.  Which, in reality, made things a bit easier for the Israelites as they could conquer a number of territories in the same battle.

The first alliance didn't attack Israel, though...they went after Gibeon, because Gibeon, being a fairly big city, had an army of good fighting men.  So not only were the surrounding kings alarmed that Gibeon would not be fighting against Israel, they had some concern that the Gibeonites might join Israel and fight against them.

So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem, appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon.  "Come up and help me attack Gibeon," he said, "because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites." (vs. 3-4)

They all seemed to think that was a good idea, and the five of them joined forces and attacked Gibeon.  Somehow, the Gibeonites got a message to Joshua and the Israelites, who were camped at Gilgal, a bit over 15 miles away.  "Do not abandon your servants.  Come up to us quickly and save us!  Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us." (vs. 6)

Now, in reality, the treaty the Israelites signed with Gilgal was non-aggression; that is, the Israelites agreed to let the Gibeonites live in exchange for their services as laborers.  But Joshua took the implications of the treaty seriously.   He mustered the army, including his best fighting men, and left Gilgal for Gibeon.  Oh, and he also had a word from God about the battle: "Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand.  Not one of them will be able to withstand you."  (v.8).

Joshua and the Israelite army marched all night long and arrived at Gibeon before any word of their approach reached the attackers.  They were totally taken by surprise and pinched between the attacking Israelites and the defending Gibeonites.

But that's not all;  there was a cataclysm that day that figured heavily in the battle.  I'm pulling verses a little out of order here, to get what I think was the chronological order.  Verse 12 states On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel:
"O sun, stand still over Gibeon,
O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon"

And it happened.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.  There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man.  Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel! (vs 13b - 14).

Now, something as disruptive as the earth stopping its rotation  would have an effect on the conditions around the globe.  And, guess what, there was a massive hailstorm right in the midst of the battle.

When the Israelites surprised the attacking armies, The LORD threw them into confusion before Israel. (v. 10).  With folks from 5 different city-states joined in battle suddenly thrust into a defensive position, it must've been hard to tell who was friend and who was foe.  It wasn't long before the attacking armies fled before the Israelites.

Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. [and now, the hailstorm...] As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky, and more of them died from the hailstones than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.  (vs. 10b - 11)

Now I have no idea how the oddly long day figured into the ferocious hailstorm...but I bet it did.  Who knows what God did to make those things manifest.  And there were probably earthquakes and other things happening in other places that don't figure into this narrative.

But the saga of the five kings is not quite at an end.   They had abandoned their soldiers and holed up in 'the cave' at Makkedah while their armies were being decimated by sword and hailstone.  But the report got to Joshua that they were there, and he gave orders to "Roll large rocks up to the mouth of the cave and post some men there to guard it."  Then they pursued the armies so that only a few of them made it back to their cities.  (v.20)

Then the whole army returned to Makkedah, where Joshua had the stones removed from the cave and the cornered kings brought out and thrown on the ground.  The army commanders were instructed to put their feet on the necks of the kings, and Joshua proclaimed to the army. "do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.  Be strong and courageous.  This is what the LORD will do to all the enemies you are going to fight." (vs. 25).  Joshua killed the enemy kings and, as was the custom, hung their bodies on trees until evening.  At sunset, the bodies were removed from the trees and thrown back into the cave and the stones rolled back over the mouth where, the author notes, they were still at the time the record was written.

While the bodies of the kings were hanging in defeat, Joshua and the army attacked and defeated Makkedah, destroying everything, and the king of Makkedah was hung on a tree just as the king of Jericho had been.

The Israelites were following God...and God was fighting for them.  That's a universally applicable truth.

Am I careful to follow God's directions in my daily activities?  Do I trust Him to guide me?  Do I believe He will do mind-blowing impossible stuff if it is necessary for me to succeed in what He has called me to do?

Blogging Bible Study - Joshua 9: You can't judge by appearances

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The first two verses of Chapter 9 state the reaction of the majority of the city-states in the region to the recent events... (All scripture today from the NIV 84)

Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things -- those in the hill country, in the entire coast of the Great Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites,  Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites) -- they came together to make war against Joshua and Israel. 

Then, ya gotta park that little bit of info until we get to chapter 10.  Because there was one group of folks who came up with a plan that did not involve fighting.

When the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to  Jericho and Ai, they resorted to a ruse...

Two cities...three, if you count Bethel... had been virtually wiped out.  The Gibeonites recognized that there was no way they could stand against the Israelites militarily.  So, they came up with an idea to trick them into making a treaty with them and sparing their lives.

It was a pretty sharp trick, too.

They loaded worn-out sacks; old, cracked, mended wineskins on tired-looking donkeys.  The men who were to go  put on old clothes and worn and patched sandals.  They pulled out stale food and moldy bread and packed it in the old sacks.

In short, they gave themselves the appearance of a delegation that had been traveling for a while.  From a good distance away.

Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, 'We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.'  (9:6)

Some of the folks were skeptical.  'Perhaps you live near us.  How could we make a treaty with you?'
 (v.7)

'We are your servants' they replied in verse 8, perhaps speaking prophetically, perhaps just stating what they were willing to do to survive.  Or maybe they were just responding with the standard diplomatic non-answer.

So, Joshua asks them directly, 'Who are you and where do you come from?' 

Well, firstly, they do not answer Joshua's question. Nowhere in their response do they name a country or an ethnic group.  Not even a bogus one.

That ought to have been a tip off that something was amiss.

Instead, they launch into a rehearsed speech that does have one bit of truth.

'...we have heard reports of [the Lord your God]:  all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan -- Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.' (v. 9b - 10)

That much, at least, was true.  It was also true that those reports prompted the elders and those living in 'their country' to send the delegation to make a treaty.  But the rest was deliberate deception.

'Your servants have come from a very distant country....this bread was warm...theses wineskins were new...our clothes and sandals have been worn out by our very long journey.'  (excerpted from vs. 9-13)

Well, the red flag of ...no country named, no kinfolk claimed...went right by the men of Israel as they inspected the dried up provisions, moldy bread, and worn gear.  Sure looked like they had come a long way.

Verse 14 reports that they did not inquire of the LORD.

You'd think that, after the fiasco at Ai, they would have learned.  But once again they went with what looked reasonable to them and

Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.

Well, guess what.  Three days later, the Israelites heard that the folks that they made the treaty with, the Gibeonites, were right handy to them.  Neighbors.  They'd been played.

So the army moved, and three days later they arrived at the cities of the Gibeonites.  But they didn't attack them, because they'd sworn a treaty, under God's name, if without His counsel.  They coudn't break their word.

The people were disgruntled and complained against their leaders, for the rather stupid thing they'd done. Now, here's a novelty...not one of the leaders is recorded as passing the blame for their error.  They OWNED it.  And they admitted that they could not break their treaty.  But, they came up with a plan.  The Gibeonites had repeatedly referred to themselves as the servants of the Israelites; the leaders  decided to let them fulfill those statements.

"Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community." (v. 21)

Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and confronted them with their deception...and pronounced on them the penalty.

"You are now under a curse: you will never cease to serve as woodcutters and water-carriers for the house of my God." (v.9).

The Gibeonites basically said, 'We know what the Lord your God had commanded and we didn't want to die.'  They agreed to meet Joshua's terms.

'We are now in your hands.  Do to us whatever seems good and right to you.'  (v. 25)

So, from that time on, the Gibeonites were servants for the Israelites.  I'm not sure how that arrangement worked; we don't have any details. That treaty would cause Israel more trouble in the years to come...but the Gibeonites, because they feared the God of Israel, survived.

Israel was deceived into making a treaty because they didn't inquire of God.  I wonder...the Gibeonites feared God and did what they did to avoid His sentence.  Do you suppose God would have instructed the Israelites to do exactly what they did: let them live but make them servants?  Because the Gibeonites feared God?  Then their survival would be clearly the mercy of God and not the treaty made under false pretenses.

Also...the Israelites honored the treaty, even though it was made under false pretenses.  They didn't try to rationalize their error away, they didn't do ANY blame-shifting...they stood by their word, even when it went against their best interests.   And they would honor that word in the future as well.  Kinda implies keeping your word is an important character quality...

A little speculation....

posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The picture, from a recent ladies' retreat, hints of things at a distance, things that can only be glimpsed....not really seen....

Sometime recently I stumbled across a little discussion of heaven...eternity.  What will folks do?  Folks who all know boredom...or at least, knew it on this side.  If we all know as we are known, will there be a need for apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors or teachers?  What will we do?

Such speculation is as crazy as a six year old trying to imagine living life as an adult, I know, but I had a little hint of something as I was pondering that.

I think all of us have moments when 'If I could do anything at all...' wanders through our minds.  If money wasn't an object, what would you do?  If you knew you couldn't fail, what would you do?  If you weren't afraid of anything, what would you do?

Some folks might get a solid picture of something.  I don't.  What I get is a door with a dazzling light seeping through the cracks and gaps.  Something big.  Something shining.  Something free.  Free of fear, free of judgement, free of fetters. Something that is so much more me than I even recognize; something that demands the aspects of myself that I have clamped down and boxed up as unacceptable.  Something that soars.

And, the other day when I found myself confronted with the 'What will we do in heaven' question, I had a glimpse of the 'what would I do if.....' door.  And it clicked.

 What if that thing that is so bright it hurts my eyes, so big I can't get my head around it, so much me that who I am now looks like a cheap imitation, is exactly what I was created to do, the expression I was meant to have,  the yoke that was made specially for me...and is the eternal assignment?  Not a JOB I will do, but the purest expression of my identity in Christ?

No, I can't describe it, because it's probably out of my experience and vocabulary.  But I believe it's there. Seen through a glass, darkly, maybe, but there.

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  -1 John 3:2

Blogging Bible Study - Joshua 8:30-35: Blessings and Curses

Posted by Lisa Laree  to Beer Lahai Roi

The tail end of Joshua 8 is  a break in the narrative and  we have to go back to Deuteronomy 27 to see what was going on...the instructions that Moses gave the folks.

When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster.  Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land...and when you have crossed the Jordan, set up thes stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster.  Build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones.  Do not use any iron tool upon them.  Build the altar of the LORD your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God....and you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up."  (Deut. 27:2-8, all scripture today from the NIV 84).

So...after defeating Jericho and Ai, before they do anything else, there is a worship service.

Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal, an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites.  He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses -- an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used.  On it they offered to the LORD burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.  There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses; which he had written. (Josh. 8:30-32).

So, the stones were found and the altar assembled, the Law recorded and the offerings made.  But there was more...a declaration to be made by the Levites and all the people.

When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin.  And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. (Deut 27:12-13)

Interestingly, Deuteronomy goes on to list a script for the curses...and just the curses.  We don't have a script for the blessings; no similar detailed version of the declarations and responses that were to be made with the folks standing on the mountain.  Maybe it was more important to record what behaviors would be unacceptable?  There are lists of blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 28; presumably the declaration of blessing was taken from that list.

However they worded those blessings, we do know that they stood on the mountains and made the proclamations:

All Israel,  aliens and citizens alike, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, facing those who carried it -- the priests, who were Levites.  Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel. (Josh. 8:33)

In all honesty, I'm not sure they DID do a proclamation/response when they were all arranged on the mountains.  Verse 34 reports

Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law -- the blessings and the curses--just as it is written in the Book of the Law.

So...did they do an interactive bit, and then Joshua read over the blessings and curses in Deut. 28?  Or were they positioned to hear the declaration from Joshua, and Joshua read it over them?  From Deuteronomy, it appears the people themselves were to pronounce the blessings and the curses. I kinda think they did both, because

There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the aliens who lived among them. (Josh. 8:35).

But, however they did it, they made a deliberate stop in their campaign to worship and rehearse the promises and warnings.

I think there's a pretty key principle there...even in the midst of a busy season, of pushing and advancing, it's essential to take time to worship and review God's promises...and His warnings.  Of course,  reciting the blessings and curses is not the same as living in mindfulness of them, but, still, it's a good start.

Do I get so head-down-push-to-finish that I forget to stop and spend time in worship, listening to what God is telling me?

Blogging Bible Study: Joshua 8:1 - 28 - Doing it His Way

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

With the hidden disobedience dealt with, it was time to deal with Ai.  This time, Joshua had God's instructions for the battle.

And this time, they were allowed to keep the plunder. 

God's instruction this time was to set an ambush, and Joshua sent about 5,000 men around to the west of Ai, between Ai and Bethel, the night before Joshua and his men set out from the camp (8:9).

Early the next morning Joshua mustered his men, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai.  The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it.  They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city.  They had the soldiers take up their positions --all those in the camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it.  That night Joshua went into the valley.  (vs 10-13)

Well, the king of Ai saw Joshua's troops move into the valley, and he headed out to meet them at a strategic point, from his point of view. The battle was engaged, and the Israelites seemed to fall back, just as they had before, and actually began a retreat back towards the desert.

Thinking that victory was within his grasp, the King of Ai called for all his men to pursue the Israelites; even the men from Bethel joined the pursuit ( vs. 17).  They had to be congratulating themselves on once more defeating the army that was so feared as they chased them away from the city.

That now had no defenders left in it.

At God's signal, Joshua stopped and pointed his javelin back at the city.  Somehow, that signal reached the force that had been waiting, and they attacked the city, defeating it easily and setting it on fire.

The smoke from the city was the signal for the fleeing forces to turn and attack their pursuers. And,
The men of the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides.  Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. (v.22)

It was a brilliant tactic.  Israel's defeat of Ai was complete...they utterly destroyed it, just as they had destroyed Jericho. Per the custom, the king of Ai was hung on a tree outside the city, and at the end of the day his body was thrown down in front of the city gate and covered with a huge pile of rocks.

Which was still in place when the writer of the book of Joshua penned the words some years later.

As I read through the narrative, some things struck me that I really hadn't paid much attention to before; firstly, the Israelites were allowed to keep the plunder of Ai.  If Achan had just been patient, he would have been able to keep, freely, any plunder he came upon there.  Instead, he jumped on what he saw first, instead of waiting on God's later 'go'.

The second thing that struck me is that the success of the plan relied on the king of Ai taking the bait.    Had Ai stayed shut up defending their city, the pincer movement would have not given the Israelites any advantage.  But Israel had God leading them, provoking the soldiers of  AI to take the battle outside of the city and giving Joshua real-time instruction, so he knew when to signal the attack on the city and when to turn and pursue their pursuers.  

The last thing that struck me was the deliberate humiliation of Ai by  hanging the king on a tree. They took him down at sunset, according to Moses' instruction in Deut. 21:22 - 23:
If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight.  Be sure to bury him the same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse.  You must not desecrate the land...

Paul references this in Galatians 3:13, showing how even these details  were foreshadowing Christ:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.'

The ancient folks understood this; they knew it was always a criminal or a defeated enemy who was hung on the tree...sometimes it was just a display of the dead body, as was done to Saul and his sons in 1 Samuel 31, after they were killed in battle.  The cross of Jesus wasn't just an ancient form of execution; hanging a body on a tree was also a particular form of humiliation and subjugation, symbolizing complete dominance over the one hung. It was the logic behind Moses putting the snake on a pole...symbolizing the defeat of that enemy.   The humiliation of Ai's king...as small a detail as that would seem...actually demonstrates defeat in the same way that Jesus, who became sin for us and hung it on the cross, demonstrates his defeat of that enemy.

Complete dominance over the enemy.

"Baby Bird's Gotta Fly Sometime...."

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

WARNING: Much rambling reminiscing ahead to set up the news I'm sharing in the end...lol...

In the late 90's, we were still in our little denominational church, doing...well, lots of stuff.

My Sweet Babboo made several trips to Promise Keeper Events, and, despite originally not wanting to go, even went to the rally they had in Washington DC in...was it '98?  A start up Christian Satellite TV service offered a deal during their start--up...purchase the equipment with a one-time membership fee and have free Christian satellite for life (well, 'Life' was about 10 ish years before they closed up shop, but I guess we got our money's worth); the kicker was that they were going to broadcast that Washington PK rally live.

So we made the investment so I could watch.  It was awesome.

One of the channels, we discovered, carried a program from Morningstar Ministries  .  30 minutes every Sunday at 2 PM; one worship song and a portion of a teaching from one of their conferences.  String two or three programs together and get the whole message.

We came home, ate dinner, then turned on the VCR and recorded the program as we sat with our Bibles and soaked it in.

I have compared that to the ravens feeding Elijah.

At first, the worship seemed rather strange to us 1st-2nd-and-last-verse folks, but it grew on us.  And, through a series of events, we ended up at their New Year's Conference the last few days of December, 2000, at the location where most of the broadcasts had been filmed - New Life Christian Fellowship Church in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Princess was (barely) 15,  the Artist was 12, the Actor was 7 and the Flute Player was still 7 years away from picking up a flute at age 4.  We had a marvelous time and there were lots of good things that came from that weekend.

In a -wow, I don't believe this- sort of way, before 2001 was over, we had changed churches and the church we ended up in was pastored, as it turned out, by the former senior associate pastor of that very church in Jacksonville, Florida.  They had left just about a year and a half before we were there to start the church in the Rocket City.

Fast forward 17 years...through more uncanny events and amazing relationships, The Actor has just been offered a staff position on the children's ministry team at...you guessed it...New Life Church in Florida.  Where he happened to attend a conference as a 7 year old kid.

Who would ever have thought.

I'm still kind of in denial, I think.  I'm so proud of him for taking this step, but, wow, thatsa long way from home for a kid who has to make the jump to self-supporting.

I just keep reminding myself that Jacob had nothing when he headed to Haran and God took care of him just fine...

He's packing up; he'll take basic necessities with him and his dad and I will come down with a van load of stuff once he gets himself a place with space. He's going to be sleeping on an air mattress w/ friends for a bit.

We'll be down to one kiddo in the house after that.  Gonna be a big change.

But it's the right kind of change.