Grace and Strategy

From 3,000 to 30,000

Joshua 7:4 “So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai,”

Joshua 8:3 “So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night.”

The Pincer Movement worked to perfection

Operation Cartwheel

Cartwheel gained approval at the Casablanca Conference between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt and their military staffs. Both MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific and Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey’s Southern Pacific forces were to be under the overall direction of MacArthur. While Halsey oversaw the advance up the Solomons chain to Bouganville, MacArthur would lead the attack up the New Guinea coast to eventually land on New Britain and converge with Halsey’s group on Rabaul. With Rabaul isolated, the original intention was to capture the base.

Joshua stretched out his hand

Joshua 8:26 “But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.”

Exodus 17:11 “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.”

Following the Law to the letter

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 ““And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.”

The Renewed Covenant