Chapter 16: From Promise to Conquest

The Remarkable Book of Joshua

Our story continues as we move from the Pentateuch to the book of Joshua.

It is worthwhile pausing at this point to remember that the book of Joshua fits within the broader biblical story. It is the fulfillment of promises that God had made to Abraham, over 400 years prior. When God called Abraham, he made a threefold promise: to make Abraham into a great nation, to give him the promised land, and to bless the whole world through him.

When the book of Joshua opens, only the first of these three promises is fully realized. Israel had indeed been made into a great nation; however, they were currently camped outside of the promised land (even though a few skirmishes had been fought), and they certainly were in no position to be a blessing to the whole world since they had spent the last 40 years wandering through the desert. At the same time, the covenant God made with Abraham is part of his promise to Adam that one day someone would come who would put an end to the evil of sin through crushing the head of the Serpent.

The book of Joshua is the book that shows us how the promises to Abraham are fulfilled and how the promise to Adam starts being fulfilled. As we read the book of Joshua, we need to remember that this book is not primarily a history book, although it does recount Israel’s history. It is a book that seeks to teach us theology, and as we read it, we need to keep this in mind. The book of Joshua picks up the story immediately after Moses dies, and so the Lord calls a new leader to lead Israel into the promised land. This new leader is called Joshua, and the book of Joshua chronicles the war Israel makes on Canaan to take possession of the land God had promised to them.

After God commissions Joshua to be the leader of Israel in chapter 1, chapters 2-12 are dedicated to recording the battles against the Canaanites. It is here that the theological character of the book becomes obvious. We cannot read this book like modern-day Western thinkers for whom precision in history is most important. This book is written in the ancient Near Eastern style of history writing that is hyperbolic and exaggerated. This was common for battle accounts of the day. For example, when you read the book, you will read things like "they completely destroyed a town and all its inhabitants." However, when you continue reading, you will read about how the Israelites intermarried with people from those towns, or made alliances with them, or were warned not to take on the idols of those towns.

It is impossible to intermarry with people who were completely destroyed. So when we read this book, we have to keep in mind that it intends to teach us theological history and not simple history. This is a book about how God delivers Canaan into the hands of Israel as a fulfillment of his promises to Abraham. Joshua teaches us that for the Israelites' conquest, military success, and prosperity in the land, it is only possible when God is on their side.

The first two battles in the book make this point very clearly.

The first battle is the battle against Jericho. Most readers will know this story because it is Sunday School famous. It is the story where Israel marches around Jericho for 6 days. On the 7th day, they march around it 7 times and blow their trumpets, and the walls of the city come tumbling down, and Jericho is given into the hands of Israel.

But what we don't cover in the Sunday school story is that in Joshua 5, just before Jericho falls, the Commander of the Lord's armies appears to Joshua. This mysterious figure is either an Archangel or possibly a prefigurement of Jesus himself, but regardless, Joshua wants to know whether he is fighting for Israel or against Israel.

Having watched the Lord deliver Israel out of Egypt, parting the Jordan river so they could enter the promised land and appointing Joshua as the leader of Israel himself, we expect the Lord to be on the side of Israel. It is startling, therefore, that the Commander of the Lord's armies responds that he is neither for Israel nor against Israel. Nevertheless, the Commander declares that he has handed over Jericho into the hands of the Israelites. The point the commander was making is that this battle against Jericho is not so much about Israel as it is about God's bigger plan being brought to fruition. Jericho will fall because God is fulfilling his promises. The Commander of God's armies is not for Joshua; he is for God. God doesn't so much fight for Joshua as Joshua fights for God.

This is the way success always works in scripture. When we set ourselves up against God and his plans, he may allow us to get away with it for a while. But in the end, God's plan always succeeds, and whether we are on the right side of history or not depends on whether we are pursuing his mission in the world or not. The battle was entirely God's, and the mighty citadel of Jericho was defeated without Israel even going into battle.

The very next battle is the battle against Ai. Ai is a small little town and nowhere near as strong as Jericho, so when Joshua sent spies to go check it out, they come back, and they advise Joshua to send only a small portion of his army. Only two or three thousand men would easily be able to take the town. So Joshua sends only a portion of his army to go and take the city, but his men are soundly defeated.

Why?

Because Israel had been unfaithful to the Lord. They had set themselves up against God's plan because there was a man named Achan who, instead of trusting in God, took some of the "devoted things" for himself. Israel was supposed to destroy these devoted things as an offering to the Lord, but instead, Achan put himself in God's place and offered these devoted things to himself. As a result, Israel gets easily defeated by a small town because God stood against them. The battle belongs to the Lord. This is the point Joshua makes over and over.

When Achan is found out, Israel stones him, his cattle, sheep, donkeys, and everything that belonged to him. This is a grim reminder that Israel is to be holy as the Lord is holy. Once Achan's sin is dealt with, the Lord hands over Ai to Joshua and the Israelites, and the conquest of Canaan begins in earnest.

It is in this battle section that we are reminded that in the conquest of Canaan, God is fulfilling his promise to Adam. Joshua understood that the conquest of Canaan was part of a much bigger story, and we see this perhaps most clearly in Joshua 10. At first, this seems to show Joshua as a cruel victor. What happens is that Israel had captured 5 kings who had made an alliance against Israel.

Once they are defeated, Joshua has these 5 kings stretch out on the floor, and he commands his army commanders to: "Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings." After the commanders come, and they do so, they are executed and hung on trees. While this seems cruel at first glance, this is a remarkable action of faith.

Joshua has the words of God ringing in his ears. God had promised that one day, one would come who would crush the head of evil. When he has his commanders place their feet on the necks of these kings, he proclaims that God is doing what he promised. Jesus would one day fulfill this promise to crush the head of the Serpent when he would be hung on a tree in our place, taking on our evil in our place.

By the end of chapter 12, Canaan has been conquered, and now it is time to divide up the land as an eternal inheritance for Israel. Chapters 13 through 22 detail how the land was to be divided, and while this is hardly riveting reading for us, it is the culmination of God's promises to Abraham. Here at last, Israel has taken possession of the promised land. What remained for them was to turn into the blessing for all the nations. To see how this happens, we need to turn to the next book, but that is a story for next time…