Israel’s Preparation for the Conquest

Transcript

GRS 203
6/13/2021
Israel’s Preparation for the Conquest
Joshua 3:1-5:12
Gil Rugh

You can turn in your bibles if you would to the book of Joshua chapter 3. Joshua chapter 3 and while you turn there let me read you a couple of verses from Romans chapter 15 which we studied recently. Romans chapter 15, verse 4 we read “Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus.” The goal is so that we can together “glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We look into the book of Joshua. Its one of those Old Testament books and what was recorded here is not just to fill us in on the history of Israel, as important as that is. It is to remind and challenge us as the Church today of the work of God, to be encouraged and reminded He is faithful. Joshua is about to lead the children of Israel into what we call “the promised land.” It’s been six hundred years since God promised that land to Abraham and his descendants. Four hundred of those years were spent in slavery in Egypt, a foreign land. When they finally got out of Egypt they came up, they got to the edge of the land, and it looked like now we’re going to go in and then the people grew weak-kneed. The report of ten of the spies that went in to check out the land was bad, and they got turned back. A total of forty years go by and here we are. They are back at the brink of the land again. In all of this all they have are the promises of God but that ought to be enough. As I read this I think well, what’s their problem? God has promised! He always is faithful. But it’s good for us to be reminded as we go through our situations, our circumstances that yes it is the same God who is faithful to us, who will accomplish His purposes. He is sovereign and He is in charge.

Joshua was getting the people ready to go into the land. All they have at this point are the promises of God. Oh, they’ve been encouraged. Two spies went in and heard from a Canaanite prostitute named Rahab that everybody was afraid of the Israelites. But what does a Canaanite prostitute know? A harlot? In the land that we are supposed to come in and wipe out the inhabitants. It’s a word of encouragement but we still have the armies of that land to contend with and all the issues and all we have are the promises of God and a prostitute in Canaan who says everybody’s afraid, but they have to go on God’s word. You appreciate Joshua is ready to go forward and that’s what chapters 3, 4, and 5 are about. Israel crossing the Jordan, going into the land. All Joshua has to do as we saw in chapter 1 is “be strong and courageous.” “Be strong and very courageous,” “be strong and courageous,” “be strong and courageous.” Why? Because God says, “I’ll be with you.” Well Jesus told us “I’ll never leave you or forsake you” so no matter what comes up or what faces us I can be strong and courageous also because the same God who is going to work on behalf of Joshua and in, and through Joshua, works in and through us. So, we can be encouraged. We can be reminded. It doesn’t take away the challenges. The challenge is still there but the confidence is in what God is going to do.

One commentator wrote about Joshua. Let me just read you what he said. When the time came to actually move toward the Jordan Joshua did not request an extension in time in order to let the Jordan subside, because we are going to see the Jordan is at flood stage. That’s another problem. Why don’t we just wait until the river goes down and it’s at its lowest ebb? No we have to go when it’s at flood stage. He didn’t plead for a different route. You know we’ve got to cross the Jordan and the first thing we have to confront is one of the most challenging cities. A fortified city with a people who are ready to do battle. But he didn’t ask, Lord will You take us an easier way. He didn’t say we’re going to have to talk about this, get some of the people together and decide what to do as he continues to describe. God says go so you go. They are ready to go forward.

I want you to note and it’s important. In chapters 3 and 4 the key repeated expression is the “ark” or the “ark of the covenant.” Ten times in chapter 3 this “ark of the covenant” is mentioned. Seven more times in chapter 4. That’s seventeen times. I was going to go through all the verses, they start in verse 3. “They commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God.” Then it will be mentioned, you can go down on your own and just note them. The emphasis is on the “ark of the covenant.” Why is that? Because that is the focal point of God’s presence in the community of Israel. That’s where God met with the high priest once a year, if you would. They come in to His very presence so it represents the presence of God in the nation. That ark is going to be carried at the forefront. Everybody can see it. A reminder God is going before us. He’s leading us. Now all they have is the ark.

Why don’t you put up that picture of the ark. This is one of the artist representations. There may be slight variations. It’s not that big of an item. It is three feet nine inches wide. It is two feet three inches wide and high. So, three feet nine inches in length, then in height and width it’s two feet three inches. So, it is a chest. On the top of the chest, you have a covering. Upon that covering we are told there are two angels with their wings stretched out touching one another.

Come back to Exodus chapter 25 since this is such a focal point in these two chapters. Exodus chapter 25 and you have the description of the ark here. We won’t read the whole thing but verse 10 “they shall construct an ark,” Exodus 25:10, “they shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long. A cubit is about eighteen inches so that’s where we translated it into feet and inches for ourselves. It’s one and a half cubits wide, one and a half cubits high. That comes into three feet, nine inches long and then two feet, three inches high and wide. Overlayed with pure gold inside and out. There are four rings for carrying it. That’s important because the priests are going to carry this into the Jordan. This is how the ark had to be transported.

Remember the tabernacle is a temporary structure. It has to be taken down and put up as Israel has moved around for forty years in the wilderness. Every time they move they had to take this down according to instructions, put it up. This is how the ark had to be carried. So those poles were not to be removed. They will not be removed until Solomon builds his temple, and the ark has a permanent residence in the temple, then they remove the handles. Other than that, they stayed there. It was not to be carried by hand, so to speak, with men on each side holding it. There was danger in doing that as we know from another occasion. So that’s how it’s going to be transported, with them carrying it as they will do as we see.

Verse 17 of Exodus 25, “You make a mercy seat of pure gold and it’s measurements are given. You shall make two cherubim which are a category, if you will, of angels, the cherubim. They are made of gold, hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat as you can see there. They have their wings spread toward covering the mercy seat with their wings. This is pretty much an accurate picture as you can see. They are facing one another, turned toward the mercy seat. Then what happens? Verse 21, you put the mercy seat on top of the ark and in the ark you put the testimony which I will give you. That’s why it’s called the “ark of the covenant.” It contains the two stones that have the summary of the Mosaic Law, the ten commandments. So you have those two tablets so this is called the “ark of the covenant.” It represents God’s covenant with Israel and it contained their governing principles for the nation, summarized in ten. There are six hundred and thirteen commandments in the Mosaic Law, the ten commandments give us the summary as you are aware. The other things in this ark, Hebrews chapter 9 verse 4 and there are other places you can find it but that brings all three together. You have these tablets of stone with the ten commandments. You have a golden jar that contains a sample of manna, which is yet future here from obviously from Exodus 25 but that will be put in the ark. Then the rod of Aaron that budded that showed the special role that he had and his priestly line in Israel. So those are the three items that are mentioned in scripture. We’re told what they were. You can read it in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 4. This is where once a year this particular item is kept in the holy of holies in the tabernacle. Once a year the high priest would come in on the day of atonement and sprinkle blood here. That symbolized the provision of a death for the nation. With that you will have the two goats with one the scapegoat and one the sacrifice.

So this is the item that is such a focal point because this is the major in that holy of holies that the priest could only go in once a year. This is the representation at the heart of God’s presence in the nation. So when this is moved it is an indication of God moving, so to speak, and moving His people. That on the top of the ark, that lid that we saw, was called the mercy seat because it was there it was a covering. It’s called a covering but on the day of atonement, which is related to the same word for covering, the sins of the nation were covered. So that covering that they put on, of gold, was a place where that not only covered the chest of the ark but it also was the place where on the day of atonement the sins of the nation were atoned for, covered. So we are ready now to move the people.

Come back to Joshua, chapter 3. The end of three days, they are ready to move out from Shittim. Maybe we ought to put up the map and remind ourselves where we are. This is an abbreviated map, cut off, but you see the Dead Sea and then the green line moving up is the Jordan River going up here. So we’re down at the Dead Sea. You have Jerusalem up and over here with the little red dot for the city. So just to orient you. We are most familiar with Jerusalem, Bethlehem just five miles south of Jerusalem all the way down. It’s not on the map but going south down toward the bottom of the Dead Sea, just keep going down, you get Kadesh Barnea where they tried to go into the land but they couldn’t go in because of the lack of faith. So they wandered around down in this desert. Now they’ve come back up here and we are at Abel Shittim and they are going to cross over here. You’ll note up here there’s a city called Adam. It’s fifteen miles up the Jordan River. Keep that in mind because when the rivers of the Jordan are stopped this is where they are piled up. So you have a fifteen mile stretch, while we have the map here, where the waters of the Jordan will be stopped. So we don’t want to think they are just going across here, a little bit up, they could all see the waters piled up. No this is fifteen miles up. Some would put it a little higher but fifteen miles basically up to this place. It’s connected with Zarathan. It’s up by Zarathan it says. Some of these places are a little hard to precisely identify, obviously, with the great passing of time and the destruction of the cities and so on. There will be fifteen miles there of basically dry land even though they are only passing right here. They are coming over to Jericho and they stop at Gilgal. The place of rolling so we’ll talk about that. That’s where circumcision of the males will take place. They are going to observe Passover, that all preparation for going to Jericho, so they’re going to cross over but they are not going to cross and start around Jericho. They have some things to do so just so you’ll see. We’ll see when they are at Gilgal they are close but they are not going to Jericho yet.

They offered now, verse 3, they commanded the people saying “when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God,” a reminder. The ark of the covenant is the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and now He’s going to go before you with the Levitical priests carrying it. There were restrictions on who could carry this. You’re familiar with Exodus on instructions and Leviticus. “Then you shall set out from your place and go after it however there shall be between you and it a distance of about 2000 cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” That’s about 3000 feet in measure so it’s a little over a half mile that people are going to be back. So you don’t have a situation because everybody, say well you know, we want to be around the ark, we want to be close but the people have to be able to follow the ark so they know where they’re going. So it’s going to be a good distance away. What’s a mile? 5,280 feet so they are a little over a half mile distance between them and the people. So when that ark is going they follow the ark which is, they’re following God as He leads them, if you will, through the Jordan preparing them for what’s coming.

Instructions given and we will just pick up, not reading it all, you can read the details. Some of it is just moving the account along. Verse 5 the people are to prepare themselves. They are to be a holy people so they are to be sure that they have been consecrated in the proper way. “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Joshua spoke to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant, cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant.” Now we are told in verse 5 it’s tomorrow. So as often in Old Testament and the Hebrew way of doing things they’ll jump ahead and tell you then they come back and fill in and they can get ahead of the story and come back. We also have other type of accounts that would do the same thing. But tomorrow, now we get to move, we are ready to go.

Verse 7, “The Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel that they may know that just as I have been with Moses I will be with you.” What God is doing through the miracle of crossing the Jordan, He’s going to do something similar as He did with Moses when they crossed the Red Sea. And it’s going to solidify in the minds of the Israelites, Joshua is God’s appointed leader. So, that’s what he is saying he’s going to do by the events, I’ll exalt you in the sight of Israel, so they may know that the leadership mantel has been passed to you. And God is with Joshua. And that will stick in their minds. By in large, the people of Israel will remain faithful to the leadership of Joshua, and thus to the Lord, through Joshua’s lifetime and then things will begin to soon unravel.

The priests are commanded in verse 8 to come to the edge of the waters and then move into the Jordan. Verse 10, “And Joshua said, by this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite. Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth.” Now you note, the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God in verse 3. He is in a special way, the God of Israel. But He is the God of all the earth. So, we’re going over and you have these nations, these peoples and inhabitants of the land of Israel, and they are significant people. Canaanite, Hittite, Hivite, Perizzite, Girgashite, Amorite and Jebusite. So, good reminder, the ark of the covenant is the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth! So, you’re going in here, God is sovereign over those nations, that land, because all belongs to Him. He is sovereign over it all. He gives it to whom ever He pleases. So, a reminder to Israel, this is the ark of our God. A covenant of our God. It is the ark of the covenant, the covenant He’s made with us. Because this is the Mosaic Covenant remember, the ten commandments representing. But He’s the Lord of all the earth. And He is crossing over ahead of you. Well, if I’m coming in behind the Lord of all the earth, I can be strong and courageous. I don’t have to be afraid. That’s the point as he brings the people along.

He’s given the land to them, so there’s no doubt of the outcome. The ark of the covenant, He’s our God, He’s covenanted with us. Part of the covenant is, He gives us the land and He is the Lord of all the earth, here we go. Verses 14 to 17, talk about what happens. He tells the priests in verse 13, “And it shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth.” Again, it’s the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. “Shall rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off.” Oh great!, I mean here you have the Jordan running and it’s so full it’s overflowing, as we’re told at the end of verse 15. The Jordan overflows all its bands all the days of the harvest. Now, this is not just the time the Lord picked of shallow water, get Israel across there. Stop a little bit of the little bit of flow, no, this is flood season! And here come the priests with the ark on their shoulders. And the Lord doesn’t stop the waters ahead of time. So, everybody gets up in the morning and says, look the Jordan is dried up. NO! You know when it will dry up? When your feet step in. Here we go. So, that’s what they’re to do. Verse 15, when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, the feet of the priests carry the ark, were dipped into the edge of the water, and that parenthetical reminder for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of the harvest, so we don’t have to go. The rivers come to us, we’re not in that sense, going to the river because we’re, and the banks outside the normal flow of the river, but it’s all river now. Verse 16, The waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah”, the dead sea. They were completely cut off. Miracle! Where did the waters go? They stopped.
Now it’s 15 miles away, but they are pilled up there. Just a dead stop. You know, there’s all kind of, I don’t know if there is a good way to put it, but maybe, I was going to say, mini miracles, but maybe we should say contributing miracles that go on here. For example: I’ve got a little list here. It happened as, it came just as it was predicted, so that’s miracle. That the timing of it was exact, the river is at flood stage, the wall of water is held in place for some time. This is not a momentary thing. Hurry up, everybody get across, the water is going to be coming down any time now. No, it stopped! How long does it take to get this vast hoard of the people by? It might have taken the whole day. It’s alright, there’s no problem. The riverbed becomes dry, they walk across on dry ground. That’s a miracle, usually you have to wait, the water will stop and we’ll wait a few days until the riverbed dries out, no, it’s dry. And then when it’s all done, all the Israelites are across, you know what happens? Here comes the water again. So, you say in all these details the Lord brings about to accomplish His purposes.

So, Israel comes marching across. Verse 17, “And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.” Here we are. So, the priests are out there holding the ark. The waters have stopped miles upstream, upriver. And the people are crossing. When they are all done, then we come to chapter 4.

The focus on this chapter is simple. They’re going to set up a memorial to remind the coming generations of what God has done. But the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the ark of the covenant of their God, a repeated expression, will be mentioned seven times here. This is the work of God. God is in the midst of Israel. That’s what determines everything and the outcome is settled. Verse 1, “Now it came about when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying. Take up for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe.” What they are going to do is select one man from each tribe. You’re going to go out into the riverbed where the priests are standing with the ark, you’re going to get twelve stones. And they would be sizeable stones, one that each man can carry. You’re going to bring that over to the side of the Jordan that they are going to, the land of Canaan. Verse 3, “Take up for yourselves twelve stones form here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them with you, and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight. So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe.” Tribes being represented because they formed the one nation, the twelve tribes. Verse 5, “and Joshua said to them, ‘Cross again to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. Let this be a sign among you, so that when you children ask later, saying, what do these stones mean to you? The you will say to them, because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the are of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the water of the Jordan were cut off. So, these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.” Important, that coming generations are told and have a reminder, these are significant stones.

Picked the men, and they were evidently were men of some strength. They get a stone that they can put on their shoulders. When they get to their camp, they were going to pile these up in a way that can be an ongoing memorial. Word will be circulated around. Not everybody is going to me coming here, but there’s a memorial that’s been there. We see them, we do these kinds of things in our country in little ways. You’ll see a sign that there’s a special place. And they have something there and maybe a plaque with it. This is where this happened. This is what they are doing for Israel. So, that will give you a chance to pass it on the next generation. You know those stones that were piled up in a special way down near the Jordan, close to the Dead Sea? That’s where God brought the nation across on dry land. That has to be passed on, this truth has to be passed on, so that people know and remember what God has done. It’s for future generations. That’s mentioned a lot in the Old Testament, that the truth is passed on. And things are memorialized. When you come to the end of verse 7, “So these stones shall be a memorial to the sones of Israel forever.” I wonder, has anybody gone out into the Jordan at that point, to try to find out? Because there’s another thing that’s mentioned here. That they may take twelve stones, down in verse 9, “Then Joshua set up twelve stoned in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day.” There is some discussion about the exact wording here. But it seems to me, that what they are saying is, they took twelve stones and put them on the dry land. But then they also took twelve additional stones and where the feet of the priests stood, they built another memorial. Now it may not be always visible, but it would be a chance to tell people, you see these stones? There are stones just like those in the middle of the Jordan, where the very feet of the priests stood. So, these things again, as the constant reminder of what God has done for the nation Israel.

Verse 11, when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed before the people. Then the Jordan river can return as it was. It’s all done. Verse 18, tells that, it came about when the priest who carried the ark, is where you go, you keep going back and forth, but here, when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up from the middle of the Jordan, the souls of the priests feet were lifted up to the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, went over their banks as before. What did it take? Remember when they stepped from dry ground, into those overflowing waters, fifteen miles upriver, water just builds a wall. They step out of that Jordan, on to dry land and here come the waters. Amazing! Now, you get this information, but if you were there, thinking how is God going to do this? How are you going to get all these people across here? Like we talked a little bit in our earlier study today, we want to be careful about, and I say this reverently, trying to solve God’s problems. There’s something here, I just can’t figure out how God could do. You know why? I’m not God! And unless He tells me what He’s going to do, all I have is His word. It’s like the streets of gold in the new Jerusalem. All I have is His word. What do you mean, all you have? What more would you need? And it’s true with all the promises we have.

So, you see the unfolding here. Now there is something to be taken care of. Two and a half tribes ask for their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River. Now, that’s not a problem. That wasn’t a lack of faith, because the Jordan River remember, is not the eastern boundary of the land that God promised to Israel. It becomes a focal point through their history, but God has promised all the land, all the way to the great river, the Euphrates, to Israel. So, it’s fine that two and a half tribes ask if they could have their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan. But the condition on that was, you couldn’t park there and begin to enjoy the land and the other nine and a half tribes have to go in and do what it will take to clean out the Canaanites. They were given that land under the condition, your soldiers will come with us. And not until Canaan is conquered for the other nine and a half tribes, can you then, go back. So, you could leave your families here. And they evidently left some soldiers there, a number of soldiers, to be a protection from the number that go from these tribes, but that is what is set down in verse 12 and 13. Verse 12, “And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh.” Manasseh will get half it’s land on the east side of the Jordan and half it’s land on the west side of the Jordan. So, the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle array before the sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them. About 40,000 equipped for war, crossed for battle before the Lord to the plains of Jericho. So, they are fulfilling their responsibility. Again, from the numbers here, the soldiers would indicate a significant number remained. Because there are enemy peoples all around. But this is fulfilling that responsibility. Verse 15, “Now the Lord said to Joshua, command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony that they come up from the Jordan.” So, you see now, how we’re going back. We’ve talked about crossing to Jordan and doing the stones and everything and what will happen. Now, we go back and now hear the priests are coming up. So, we’ve filled in some of the coming details, then we go back and complete the account and the water dries up.

Then verse 19, “Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho.” We noted that close to Jericho where they set up their camp. And the twelve stones in verse 20, were set up at Gilgal. Then you’re reminded again, when your children ask their fathers in times to come, what are these stones? You’ll inform your children, Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. For the Lord you God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the Red Sea. So, you note here, the connection back, when God brought them out of Egypt. Forty years earlier He dried up the Red Sea and allowed the people to cross. This so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.
Sadly, there’s going to be a breakdown there. And that will bring us into the days of the Judges as we’re told after the days of Joshua and the Elders that served with him that passed away. People just lost their way. These memorials, these reminders, the Law of God, the promises, somehow the passing of time has a way of dulling our memories and letting us get off track.

So, here God graciously does those things that will encourage us. But, remember these things were written for our encouragement so we don’t follow the negative pattern but the positive pattern. As we read these accounts we say, wouldn’t it have been wonderful to experience those miracles? You know what’s more wonderful? You live in a day when the Spirit of God dwells within your very physical body. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Amazing that they had the ark of the covenant of their God, that indicated the presence of God with them, going before them. I have something better! He dwells within me. I mean, how much greater is that?

Well, now they’re over the land. They have come over. And there are two important ceremonies that have to take place. Now, wait a minute. We don’t have the Jordan as a protective barrier between us and all those enemies. The Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, you know those peoples. Now, we’re in their territory. Don’t you think we ought to get ready for battle? Yes, we do. First thing you have to get ready, be sure you’re ready spiritually. Be sure you’re ready in you relationship with the God who can only give you the victory. So, two ceremonies are going to become the focus here. The ceremony of circumcision and the observing of Passover. We’re getting ready for war, is this the time? Wait a minute, we’re going to circumcise all the soldiers, the men, hup pup pup. That’s sort of going to incapacitate them for a time. How many vote to do it now? How many vote to wait until we conquer the land? There’s no vote to be taken. Look at chapter 5, “Now it came about when all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites, all those. I mean, they are afraid. The end of verse 1, “There was no spirit in them any longer, because of the sons of Israel.” Their hearts had melted. What’s nice that we read that. You know, the children of Israel have yet to experience it. They’re parked here. They still don’t know how they’re going to defeat the first city they have to fight. Then we have subsequent cities. But God’s telling us, the hearts of the people have melted. They got word of what happened at the Jordan, but how does Israel know this?
We’re told, this is the condition. As they move through, then we’ll see it worked out.

Verse 2, At that time the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives to circumcise the sons of Israel a second time. He’s going to explain it. It’s the reason Joshua circumcised them, all the people who come out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war died in the wilderness along the way, after they came out of Egypt. Every man over 20 years of age died, remember? All the people that came out were circumcised. So, they practiced circumcision during their 400 years of slavery in Egypt. So, the males that came out of Egypt were circumcised but they all died. They hadn’t practiced the circumcision during the time in the wilderness. Verse 5, but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out weren’t circumcised. We’re not told why they didn’t practice it in the wilderness, but they didn’t.
All the sons of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness until all the nation, that is the men of war, come out of Egypt perished. They didn’t listen to the voice of the Lord. See, how we get these reminders? Why we’re where we are and why we had to go through what we did? They perished because they didn’t listen to the voice of the Lord. So, the Lord swore, you’re not going into the land.

And you know what? This is a reminder, the Lord keeps His word, for the good and the bad. The good being, blessing He brings when you obey. The bad being, the punishment He brings when you don’t. You know, we spent 40 years wandering. You know had to happen? It was an ongoing funeral, as man after man died. Now we’re here. And now we’re going to do circumcision. Maybe during that time in the wilderness, it was God’s plan that they not practice circumcision so that this time it could be a reminder of the consequences. When we’re coming into the land, unbelief has serious consequences. Even Moses isn’t with you. Even Aaron isn’t with you. We don’t get to pick the consequences. Israel tried to change it’s mind as soon as they found out that God was going to punish them for not going into the land in faith, back at Kadish Barnea so many years earlier. God says, no, it’s too late to change your mind, and here’s the consequences. All the men over the age of 20 are going to die.

So, this action of circumcision is crucial. And a reminder that God has sworn to give you the land. You better not go into unbelief. You know what happened. We have to have the ceremony of circumcision because all of those who had been circumcised in Egypt are dead. Their children whom they raised up in their place, Joshua circumcised. They were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised along the way. Then they have to wait for the healing. Circumcision was key. Circumcision did not save. Come back to Genesis 17. This is where circumcision begins. Just remember we’re in chapter 5, I said we’d do 3,4 and 5. I didn’t necessarily say we’d finish 5. Genesis 17, we have yet to see. That’s all to give you time to get to Genesis 17. It’s in Genesis chapter 15, back up to chapter 15:6, this order is crucial. We saw it when we studied the book of Romans. In Genesis 15:6, we’re told, then he, referring to Abram, believed in the Lord. And He, the Lord, reckoned it to him as righteousness. Now we’re going to go ahead 15, 17 years to chapter 17. And now Abram is going to be circumcised. That’s crucial, because it shows that circumcision was not necessary for salvation. God declared Abraham righteous years before Abraham was circumcised. So, remember, circumcision is not necessary before salvation. Abraham had been a saved man for years before God then instructed him to be circumcised. You come into the circumcision at the last part of chapter 17, and we’re given a timeline here. Verse 24, now he’s Abraham, Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. Well, Ishmael wasn’t even conceived in chapter 15. Chapter 16 is where the conception of Ishmael takes place, so you get a picture of the years that have taken place between Abraham being declared righteous and then being circumcised. And this circumcision was a sign of the covenant that God established with Abraham and his descendants. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, all the males in Abraham’s house will be circumcised. But it’s the sign of the covenant between Abraham and the specific descendants, specifically Isaac, through whom the covenant will give. So, it is important, not for salvation but to obey God. I mention this because I think today we have to be careful. You know, it was not optional for Israel to be circumcised. If you were a believing Jew, you had your children circumcised, your male children, because God told you. That didn’t guarantee their salvation, but it did mark them off as part of the covenant nation. And it was a serious thing not to be circumcised. God has instructed certain things for us. Baptism, observing the Lord’s supper. Sometimes we take those things casually. I don’t think the Lord does. Well, it’s not necessary. I’ve had people say, well is baptism necessary for salvation? Well no, then I’m good. Was circumcision necessary for salvation? No, was it ever necessary? No. Was it required by God? Yes. Were there consequences of not doing it? Yes. It becomes a matter of obedience. I think we want to take these things that God does, seriously. I use circumcision as an example because Jews do that in the New Testament. The Jews got confused and began to equate circumcision with their salvation. It was to be an evidence of their faith in God in obedience, but it never was necessary for salvation. I want to be careful as I think we sort of get away from what God has instructed for us today. Go into all the nations and make disciples. Bring the gospel to them so that they become believers. Then you baptize them, and you teach them. But we make, well baptism is optional, it’s not optional. The New Testament, most commentaries note this, knows nothing of an unbaptized believer. Because you’ve placed your faith in Christ, you get baptized. If you don’t get baptized, well have you placed your faith in Christ? It becomes clearly our first act of obedience.

So, just a reminder, these things, we look at Israel, we’re going to Passover. You know, you couldn’t partake of the Passover if you weren’t circumcised. You’re back in Genesis, go to Exodus 12. Here you have the Passover lamb, celebrating, getting ready for Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt and it will be an ongoing memorial of the Passover. Remember, you take the lamb, you sacrifice it, you put the blood on the doorpost. And when the Angle of the Lord comes through killing the first born child of all the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the doorpost, he will pass over your house. He won’t come in and kill the first born, which is going to have something to say, because there are some questions about why would God come in and kill all the children in Canaan. Well, He already did that in Egypt. He didn’t kill all the Adult males, He killed all the first born whatever the age. So, that’s another message for a later time in Joshua.

But, the Passover, here’s what you do and you observe the Passover and the importance of the Passover. And you come down to verse 48 of Exodus chapter 12, the end of verse 48, and further instructions and so on, all through this. Look at the last statement in verse 48 of Exodus 12, no uncircumcised person may eat of it, obviously no uncircumcised male can partake of the Passover. So, is it important? Yes it is. Just like putting the blood on the doorpost was important for to pass over. So, we want to be careful that we want to keep separate. Baptism, the Lord’s supper, they are not necessary for salvation. Does that mean they’re not necessary? No, they are necessary requirement for every believer. For us to ignore it, just Israel, what about a Jew that chose, well, I’m not getting into circumcision, I have the faith of Abraham. Not acceptable. So, little side light.

Come back to Joshua. I have another side light for you, that’s why I don’t know if we’ll finish chapter 5 or not. I know we’re doing a lot of gender issues in our day. You know when God established the sign of the covenant with Abraham, He gave circumcision as the sign of the covenant. Now, we don’t want to get too explicit but you know the only ones that can be circumcised are the males. God didn’t provide the sign of the covenant for the females. Now, that would be very offensive today. We would have marches in everything. But you know, God decides and He sets down the order that He established at creation and is carried out. That doesn’t mean that the women we not part of the covenant, but they come into it through their connection with the males in Israel. The sign of the covenant is for the men in the line is passed on that way. This whole gender issue is deeper and pervades the scripture. And we see such an overt response against it in our day, not because people want to see equality, because they are so adamant. And their rejection of God and His purpose and plans from creation. That’s why the Old Testament is unacceptable to so many of them. We’ve made equality the sameness. There is a spiritual equality. There is not a sameness and the church gets drawn into that, piece by pieces, step by step. And we have to draw the line where the scripture draws it. Very offensive today to say, the woman was made for the man, not the man for the woman. But it’s God who says that not us. There is an order. So, when we’re reading this in Joshua, and we follow through, the men are going to be circumcised, yeah the covenant was, we stop and think, wait a minute, why did He do it that way? Why didn’t He do something that men and women, together would have the some kind of mark or identification? Because it’s going to be with the male and passed through that line. It’s God’s plan. We’re just aware, the little steps that have drawn the church, and so much of the church claims to be, we keep, we’ve got to come up with another translation, and it’s more gender neutral. Wait a minute, we’re dealing with the word of God. Why did He use males. We’ve got to come up with some kind of idea on circumcision that will include the female. We could come up with another sign, another indication. We want to be careful that we see what God’s doing.

So, the circumcision of the male here, Israel can’t go forward now to take the land. They go wander around in the desert while the men died because they were unfaithful to the signs of the covenant. They weren’t trusting God anyway. They’ve died off. Now, we’re here. We have a commitment to make. We have a reminder of the commitment. And what is the reminder of our covenant relationship going back to Abraham? Circumcision. It’s the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham and his seed down through the years. Now we’ll observe Passover, the Lamb God provided. You know, one step of obedience leads to the other. We’re going to do circumcision, the sign of the covenant. Now we’re going to observe Passover, that indicates God’s provision of a Lamb for us. So, that the first born of our children did not die. And so, verse 10 of chapter 5, back to Joshua. What he says in verse 9, just to bring the circumcision, “Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.” So we have a little bit of an anachronism, in that we’ve read back into the name of the place they are, as Gilgal. It gets that name from the fact that the reproach of Israel was rolled away, because they weren’t what they needed to be until circumcision took place. They didn’t have the sign that God required of the covenant. They’re still God’s people but they are not in the place that God requires them to be. For them to be able to go forward. So, Gilgal, and you see it in the note by this verse that means rolling. They roll away the reproach, cause important that they take this step of obedience. It’s going to be unpleasant, it’s going to be painful. It has to be carried out and they have to wait for healing. We’ve got a battle ahead of us. What if the enemy hear what we’ve done and they come? You do what God tells you. And that’s important. Now that the circumcision has taken place.

Verse 10, While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal, we’ve got another thing to do, we’re going to observe Passover. Then on that evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. Reminder, the enemy and their fortress cities, right there. But we’ve taken time. We’ve incapacitated our army with the act of circumcision. But it’s an act of obedience to identify us with God and our covenant relationship with Him. Now, we’re going to do the religious ceremony of Passover, to remind us, when God acted on our behalf to protect us from the Angel that brought death to the family of our enemies. And that’s what’s going to happen to their enemies in the land. And the manna ceases, verse 12. On the day they had eaten some of the produce of the land. And the bit of the manna will be put in a golden jar. And it will be placed along with the tablets of stone and Abraham’s rod that budded, in the ark of the covenant. All these reminders. You could tell, in that ark where God meets with us, there is the manna that God graciously gave that sustained us for those years of wilderness wandering.

In this chapter, we’ll close. We can’t go here, we’ll pick it up with the man who meets Joshua with that confrontation. And I mentioned this morning, Joshua, soldier that he is, are you with us or are you against us? And the answer is no. Then he tells who he is. And we’ll be ready for that confrontation, which leads us into chapter 6. So, we’ll do it with chapter 6, where Joshua is given the instructions. And we’re ready. Finally, a lot of what God brings into our lives are to prepare us. Get us ready for how He wants to use us. We don’t want to get sidetracked here. Want to be sure. Am I in line with what God wants? These Jews, we got to get circumcision taken care of. That’s the sign of the covenant. Well, we can do that sometime. No, we do it now. We observe Passover after, no, we do it now.

Most important thing is to be where we must be in our relationship with God. Because He’s going to bring about the victory. We think the most important thing is, I do all this, and get all that and do… No, the most important thing is, get right with God, be where we need to be with Him. Then we go where He takes us.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for Your word. For its richness. Thank You for the account of Joshua, the people of Israel. Lord, much of it up to this point has been negative, but You are a faithful God. There are positive lessons we learn. Our obedience is not optional. Even as Your people, You have placed requirements on us. You are our God. Our Lord. You require of us, loyalties, faithfulness, obedience. We walk by faith, we trust You. We don’t do this life in our own strength, in our own power. Lord, how blessed we are to be reminded of Your grace and faithfulness. Even these Old Testament accounts and to realize how greatly we have been blessed, that Your Spirit lives within each believer, and in us as a fellowship of believers. And He is the one who leads and guides and enables. So, we commit the week before You, to accomplishing what You have for us. May we be faithful. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen