1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 ‘Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, 3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.’

4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, ‘Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean?” 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel for ever.’

Exactly when the instruction had been given to the twelve men seems a little confused. And the phrase ‘Go over before the ark’ (Verse 5) is also confusing as the ark went first. I guess the chosen men were told to collect the stones from ‘in front of’ the ark as they crossed, rather than having to go back for them, or they may have waited with Joshua until all Israel had crossed over.

Read Joshua 4:8-9

8 So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. 9 Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

What a perfect memorial. And what a talking-point for the generations to come (v6); here was convincing proof of the Lord’s provision. ‘And they are there to this day’ well, not exactly – we’ll see in a moment.

Read Joshua 4:10-14

10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, 11 and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the Lord and the priests came to the other side while the people watched. 12 The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, ready for battle, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them. 13 About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for war.

14 That day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses.

Joshua may well have been looked up to after that crossing, but the Lord made sure that he would be held in high honour by the people. Could someone explain verse 14 to us? (Maybe not, but it makes people think)

Read Joshua 4:15-18

15 Then the Lord said to Joshua, 16 ‘Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant law to come up out of the Jordan.’

17 So Joshua commanded the priests, ‘Come up out of the Jordan.’

18 And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran in flood as before.

That too would have been a dramatic sight.

Read Joshua 4:19-20

19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 20 And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.

The word Gilgal in Hebrew seems to have always referred to a circle of standing stones (it can also mean wheel or to roll or rolling). In just about every mention (40) of the word Gilgal in the bible, the Hebrew has ‘the Gilgal’. Some have assumed that Joshua built an altar, but it is more likely that the words ‘set up’ simply refers to placing them in a definite way – perhaps in a circle. It is unlikely that their camp site originally had a name, least of all a Hebrew name, but by the time the writer of this book was recording these details the name had been well established.

The traditional site for Gilgal is near Jericho, just above the high water mark of the Jordan flood plain.

Read Joshua 4:21-24

21 He said to the Israelites, ‘In the future when your descendants ask their parents, “What do these stones mean?” 22 tell them, “Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.” 23 For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.’

Stones from the river bed would have been distinctively rounded, quite unlike the normal jagged limestone rocks found locally. People in generations to come were bound to ask ‘what are these?’ and in that way the account of the crossing has never been forgotten. Sadly, what has been forgotten? (verse 24.)

Joshua 5:1-15

Read Joshua 5:1

1 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.

Forty years before, some of the Israelites made an abortive attempt to invade but had been beaten back. From then on their intentions were known, but it seemed Israel had lost interest. However, they had been observed again, and this time they posed a definite threat – and bad news travels quickly. The total destruction of the peoples on the other side of the Jordan had been very worrying, but to now see their enemy miraculously crossing the Jordan, in flood, was beyond their understanding and ‘their hearts melted in fear’.

Read Joshua 5:2-9

2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.’ 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.

4 Now this is why he did so: all those who came out of Egypt – all the men of military age – died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt. 5 All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. 6 The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness for forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

7 So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.

9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’ So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

There was more preparation to be done! Remember Joshua 3:5

‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.’

They were to be God’s ‘Holy People’ and they constantly needed reminding. So,

Read Joshua 5:10-12

10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.

Would people like to suggest some of the different feelings that Israelites felt now – and why?

Praise, relief, gratitude, security, eagerness, wonder

What reasons do we have to feel like that now?

Read Joshua 5:13

13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’

It seems as if Joshua had gone on a reconnaissance trip, to perhaps plan his attack. On the path he is met, and fearlessly he asks who’s side he is on.

Read vJoshua 5:14-15

14 ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?’

15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.

Joshua himself now needs his own understanding deepened. He asked ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ but he didn’t expect the answer ‘neither’.

The soldier he faced answered only to God, whose plans and purposes did not necessarily coincide with Joshua’s. Joshua thought he was going to lead his people into Jericho but he was wrong. God would lead HIS people into the Promised Land, and Joshua could have a part in that!

But first, as Joshua had commanded the people to consecrate themselves, it was now time for Joshua to do the same, recognising that what he would undertake would be a truly ‘Holy War’. And the first step was to humble himself.

Joshua 6:1-27

Read Joshua 6:1

1 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

As we saw earlier, the people were totally demoralised – they had bolted the gates, they could do nothing else.

Joshua meanwhile had been met by the ‘commander of the army of the Lord’ and he now gave his orders.

Read Joshua 6:2-5

2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March round the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Make seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march round the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, make the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.’

Obviously nowadays we know the story, but to Joshua these instructions were totally unexpected.

Read Joshua 6:6-11

6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and make seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.’ 7 And he ordered the army, ‘Advance! March round the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.’

8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forwards, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the army, ‘Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!’ 11 So he had the ark of the Lord carried round the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.

Note verse 11 – they circled it once and then returned to camp; if the inhabitants of Jericho had been concerned before, now they were totally mystified.

Read Joshua 6:12-14

12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forwards, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched round the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

Marching round, beginning early in the morning, gave the inhabitants all day to worry about what was going to happen next.

Read Joshua 6:15-16

15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched round the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time round, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, ‘Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!

So far the army had acted passively, now would be the time for action but there were more important orders to be given first. This was not their battle, it was to be on God’s terms.

Read just the first phrase of Joshua 6:17

17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord.

The word ‘devoted’ is had a very specific meaning in those days.

Can anyone tell me what it meant?

The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.

Read Joshua 6:17-19

Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.’

This was the Lord’s battle and any plunder they could take belonged to him alone.

Read Joshua 6:20-25

20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.’ 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho – and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

As we saw in our first study it is thought that one of the spies was Salmon, who married Rahab and eventually settled in Bethlehem.

Read Joshua 6:26

26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: ‘Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:

‘At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations;

at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.’

Jericho was to remain desolate until the time of wicked king Ahab

1 kings 16:34

In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun.

Read Joshua 6:27

27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

So now at last the Israelites could start to take over the land.

But unfortunately . . . . .