Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

If you have your Bible at hand, please open it to Joshua 8. Before we begin let us pray.

Ancient Israel was God’s chosen people.

He descended from His Heavenly throne to be their God.

He made them a nation, and He made a covenant with them.

To understand why God blesses Israel one day and the next seems to curse them, we must get to the heart of the Old Testament covenant blessings.

And the heart of the Old Testament blessings and curses is Deuteronomy.

Specifically Deuteronomy 27-30.

These chapters give instruction to Israel on rewards for faithful obedience.

While at the same time they warn of doom for disobedience.

The current generation of Israelites, heard the Law of God from the mouth of its human authorship, Moses, only a short while ago.

In Joshua 7 we saw Israel come under the curse of the Law and are punished accordingly, especially Achan and all he owned.

After the guilt is removed we see the blessings return to Israel in chapter 8. God once again gives orders for gaining victory over their enemies.

In chapter 7 Israel sins, God disciplines, and the people repent.

In chapter 8 we see God give victory to Israel, then Israel responding by rededicating themselves to the covenant with Yahweh, their God.

The Battle

Encouragement

Chapter 8 begins, Joshua 8:1-2, Now the LORD said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king.

Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves.

Lay an ambush for the city behind it.”

The first thing that the LORD says is a word of encouragement.

Verse 1, Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed.

After the defeat, Joshua and his army are afraid.

They are afraid that the LORD has left them.

That He has had enough of their unfaithfulness, and so turned His back on them.

They are also scared that the next battle will bring more Israelite deaths then last time.

No one likes to lose, and sometimes the smallest losses can turn our hearts to jelly.

If you will remember from chapter 7, only 36 out of 3000 souls lost their lives.

That isn’t bad odds really, however, in the minds of the Israelites they had already lost any future battles.

We see the same thing in sport.

Hypothetically.

From 2006 to 2013 Queensland won the State of Origin every year.

That is 8 consecutive wins.

But why did they continue to slaughter NSW?

It wasn’t because they had the better team, though many of you may disagree.

NSW had lost their confidence and courage.

They went into the games defeated already.

When our minds are in the game, or battle, we have already lost.

God reminds Joshua to press forward, Don’t despair, for this time your heart is in the right place.

Gracious God

There are similarities with the battle at Jericho.

The Commander is directing the battle.

Just like Jericho all the people living in Ai are condemned to death.

But there is a difference.

Jericho was devoted to God as the first fruits.

Everything was to be dedicated to the LORD.

Whether destroyed or given for temple use.

Ai, on the other hand, is not.

The LORD says, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king.

Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves.

” He assures Joshua that He has given Israel the victory.

Ai’s wickedness is complete and they are devoted to destruction.

However, this time you get to keep the spoils of war.

This is realized in Joshua 8:27, Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He had commanded Joshua.

This makes Achan’s trespass an even greater tragedy.

If he had sought God’s honor and glory at Jericho, instead of his own, he would have received his share in the booty at Ai, and eventually a plot of land within the Promised Land and descendants who might enjoy it.

The plan executed

In Joshua 8:3-13 we are entreated to the plan of attack.

Again we see a contrast between the first and second battles against Ai.

Here we notice that Israel followed orders.

Joshua separated some and sent them away in the cover of darkness, for an ambush, all the while creating a ruse by which the now the overconfident men of Ai would fall for.

The men of Ai did not count on one thing - The Commander of the army of the LORD was now in control of the battle.

Joshua 8:6 Joshua says of the coming battle, For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’

And this is exactly how the events unfold.

Ai is puffed up from their victory over the invincible army who brought the down walls of Jericho and destroyed all who were in that city.

In Joshua 8:25 it says there were 12,000 people destroyed in Ai. 12,000 against Israels army, at least 30,000 men.

How many men were in ambush and where they were hiding is a little confusing.

I think a plain reading of this passage shows two separate ambushes.

One is on the opposite side of Ai to the main Israel incursion.

The smaller of the two is sent as a trap between Bethel and Ai, on the western side of town.

Perhaps the larger ambush is sent in to take the town quickly.

And they do that in Joshua 8:19, they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire.

I don’t think the ambush sets everything on fire, but possibly the kings residence or meeting hall, because this fire was just to show that the town was theirs.

The Spear

The ambush was integral to Israel’s victory, however it isn’t the main point.

Nor is Israel pretending to flee Ai’s army.

The central key of the battle is when Joshua raises his spear.

He had to make sure the enemy was too far out of town to be of any use to the ambush.

When he raised his spear in the air his men knew it was time to turn and fight back.

If this was the only reason for lifting up the spear Joshua only needed to raise it long enough for his troops to see it and turn around to fight.

And it certainly was used as the green light, and we see this in Joshua 8:18-19, Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.”

And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city.

So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire.

However, Joshua didn’t just raise the spear as the green light.

He raised the spear until the battle ended.

Joshua 8:26, For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.”

The raising of the spear was a sign that God had already given them the victory.

It was to encourage them to battle on, not because they had the bigger army, not because they were better warriors, but because the All powerful and sovereign God was in control of the battle.

The victory always belonged to the LORD.

The Bible is full of victories God has over His creation.

He won the battle in Genesis 3, He won the battle in Genesis 6-8.

He is always victor and He always will be.

As soon as the smoke from the town went up, the main army turned around, Ai had lost their heart.

They had been outclassed by the superior plan.

Joshua did as the LORD commanded and razed Ai to the ground, killing all its citizens, “both men and women.”

Not one was spared.

He also hanged the king on a tree.

Joshua 8:29, And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening.