History – Joshua 6 – 10

How many of you watched the Lord of the Rings?  The Red Cliff? Or even the 300?

Reading today’s passage from the book of Joshua is just like watching a movie where the soldiers battle the enemies to the death.

This movie has a bit of everything!

Preparation of the army.  Special tactics that no one has ever seen before. The joy of victory!The agony of defeat!  Heroes. Betrayal. Deception. Overcoming the odds.  Even hailstones from heaven (a bit like Armageddon here).

Makes you wonder if the script writers of movies today ‘swipe’ ideas from the Bible! 🙂

Where are we now?

The people of Israel were now at the promised land.  But they had to fight and claim their land.  A land that God had promised long ago.

I kept on wondering… the Bible does not state how the Israelites were trained to be soldiers to fight.  But I can imagine in their wandering in the wilderness, they must have been preparing their weapons, sharpening their fighting skills and even create battle plans … all in anticipation of the battles ahead.

And the fighting came… it came fast and furious.  Very much like in the movies.

But there is a great difference between the movie and what happened.

God was with them. Not only that… God fights with them and for them (when I got to the part about God sending hailstones down from heaven – I had the trailer of the movie “The Day The Earth Stood Still” in my mind …. and what do you know… the earth actually stood still for Joshua!).

Throughout the passages – one thing is very clear.  Obey God and He will lead you to victory.  Disobey and suffer the consequences.

So in the midst of all the victories, there were instances where the Israelites fail.  Can you spot them?

Bible Passage:  Joshua 6 – 10

Some Things to Think About:

Joshua 6:5 – “All the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat.”

Imagine if you were Joshua – a soldier.  You eagerly await for orders from your commander.  You wonder what great strategy he has laid out for you.  And then you hear these instructions…

These instructions are very strange isn’t it?  What about all the training we have done?  Wht about the battle movements we have practiced?  What?  All we have to do is to march around the city wall and shout when told?

Joshua did not question.  He immediately obeyed.

God’s will may not make sense – but we must just trust and obey and God will lead the way.

Do you remember when we first read the book of Joshua?  God was there and encouraged Joshua by promising that He will be with him….

Joshua 10:25 – “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies”

Hmm… does not these words sound familiar?  Yes, these are the same words that God said to Joshua in Joshua 1:18).

Joshua, after receiving encouragement from God, now encourages the people.

This is what we should do more often.

All of us have received God’s grace and encouragement one time or another.  But after being strengthened and loved, do we in turn show the same to our fellow brethren?  Perhaps we have not.

We should learn to do so more often.  We need each other more than you know.

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