Josué 7
F.B. Meyer · Citado em PreceptAustin
Josué 7
Meyer - do not make all the people toil up there - But this recommendation went on the supposition that Jericho had been overthrown by the attack of the hosts of Israel; whereas, in point of fact, they had had singularly little to do with it. They had walked around it, and shouted--that was all. It had been taken by their great Captain and Leader, and by him given into their hands. The silence that reigned over its site was no criterion of their might, but of his. To speak as they did was to ignore the real facts of the case, and to argue as though the victory were due to some inherent qualities in themselves; with the inference that because they had conquered at Jericho they must therefore necessarily conquer at Ai.... There is nothing small in Christian life- -nothing so small that we can combat it in our own strength. Apart from God, the smallest temptations will be more than a match for us. So weak are we, that occasions of sin, which are perfectly contemptible in themselves, will o verthrow our most confident resolutions. The victories which we have won in fellowship with God have imparted no inherent might to us; we are as weak as ever; and directly we are brought into collision with the least of our enemies, apart from him, we shall inevitably go down before the shock. The faith, watchfulness, and fellowship with God, which availed before Jericho, can alone serve as the key to Ai. GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 7 3. Let not all the people go up, &c. The easy conquest of Jericho had probably rendered the people presumptuous. They concluded that God would of course interpose for them just as he had done before. The counsel here given was based, as it would seem, upon a culpable assurance of success in the neglect of the proper means. To confide in God was right; but to expect his aid while they neglected to use their own endeavors, was nothing short of downright presumption. So prone is human nature to extremes. The first spies that were sent out by Moses brought back the most disheartening report. The Canaanites were invincible, and they would surely fall before them. Those sent to Ai were as much on the other extreme. Their enemies are contemptible, and they can easily carry all before them. Even Joshua himself seems to have formed his measures without taking the usual precaution of consulting God as to his duty (ED: "PRAYERLESSNESS"). The result showed that they should at least have had some intimation from heaven, that a part of the force was to be dispensed with in this instance. But the truth is, they were now under the Divine displeasure; sin unrepented had interrupted the communications of God’s will (cf Ps 66:18, Pr 28:9, Isa 1:15), and where that is the case with a people or an individual, all goes wrong. No one can have security that he is planning or acting right, while the light of the Lord’s countenance is hidden by sin. The pledge of the Divine blessing is wanting, and he is not to be surprised if all his counsels are carried headlong. Make not all the people to labor thither. That is, to labor and fatigue themselves by going thither, probably implying the ascent of a mountainous region; an advice by which they obviously consulted the ease rather than the safety or glory of the people. It is perhaps in allusion to this incident, that Solomon says, Eccles. 10:15, ‘The labor of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.’ For they are but few. On which Henry well remarks, that ‘few as they were, they were too many for them.’ It appears from Josh 8:25, that Joshua slew in one day, twelve thousand of the citizens of Ai, and yet the spies reported the place slightly garrisoned, and proposed to send against it only a detachment of two or three thousand! Joshua 7:4 So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. but they fled from the men of Ai: Lev 26:17 De 28:25 Dt 32:30 Isa 30:17 59:2 Joshua 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Leviticus 26:17 ‘I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you (COMPARE THE PHRASE IN Josh 7:6 "THE HEARTS...MELTED..."). Deuteronomy 28:25 “The LORD shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Deuteronomy 32:30 “How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up? Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. JOSHUA TAKES TO THE SPIE'S ADVICE So - This marks a conclusion based on the information Joshua had been given from the spies, but not from the sky! There is no evidence Joshua sought the counsel of the LORD! Oh yes, he did pray, but sadly AFTER the battle rather than BEFORE the battle! (Been there, done that!) Had Joshua prayed before the battle, God would have revealed the guilty stash in Achan's tent! Believers will always reap the consequences of not staying in close contact with God! Joshua's orders to march on Ai remind me of Samson in Judges 16:20... She (Delilah) said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. (AND NEITHER DID JOSHUA!!!) About three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai - NLT = "they were soundly defeated." NIV = "they were routed." This passage indicates that Joshua heeded the advice of his spies, and also implies that he did not seek the counsel of the Captain of the LORD's host. Notice carefully that it does not say three thousand men followed the Ark of the Covenant into battle! The truth is they did not take the very thing that symbolized the power of Jehovah. They went into the battle depending on their own power (thinking "we whipped Jericho, so Ai is nothing!") THOUGHT - Whenever we try to live the Christian life (a supernatural life) in dependence on our own natural power, the inevitable results will always be failure, futility, frustration, etc. The battle was the LORD's in the Old Testament (David's testimony against Goliath - 1Sa 17:47, cf 2Chr 20:14, 15, 2Chr 32:8) and it is still the LORD's in the NT believer's life! We must learn to daily be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18+) so that we might be supernaturally enabled to walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16,17+) and only then can we defeat the desires of the flesh. Only by the Spirit can we put to death the deeds of the body (Ro 8:13+). Only by the Spirit can we be strong in the Lord and put on the full armor of God (Eph 6:10-18+). Believe it! Live it out! Walk by faith, not by sight (2Cor 5:7+)! Experience victory over sin! Bring great glory to your Father in Heaven (Mt 5:16+)! Paul Apple - The Failure of the Flesh Can Be Just as Dramatic as the Victory of the Spirit. We think something is a snap because we have experienced success earlier in a similar realm. God will surprise us if we are not depending on Him. Alan Redpath - One of the greatest temptations that can come to you after you have proved that God is able to give you victory, is to neglect to pray. When you think that you are strong and don't need to pray any more, then you will have dulled your sensitiveness to sin. It is only prayer in the hour of victory that makes a man of God realize that he will face defeat again unless he maintains continuous contact with the Lord Jesus Christ. The moment of victory is the moment for humiliation. When one experiences the excitement and thrill of God giving him a new deliverance from sin, that should be the moment, not for pride , but for humility. F B Meyer - The defeats that we incur in the Land of Promise are not necessary. They are due entirely to some failure in ourselves, and they cause grief to the immortal Lover of our souls. There is no reason for defeat in the Christian life; always and everywhere we are meant to be more than conquerors. The course of the Christian warrior should be as the sun when he goeth forth in his strength, and in regular gradients drives his chariot from the eastern wave up the steep of heaven. Child of God, never lay the blame of thy failure on God; seek for it within! Joshua 7:5 The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water. and pursued them: Dt 1:44 so the hearts of the people : Jos 2:9,11 5:1 Lev 26:36 Ps 22:14 Isa 13:7 Joshua 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries A BITTER DEFEAT DEMORALIZES ISRAEL The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent - There were no casualties reported in the battle of Jericho, and while the number of fatalities was small, the effect on morale was great. The hour of greatest danger is when flushed with recent victory. -- J Oswald Sanders Don't miss this - one man's sin resulted in the loss of the lives of 36 men! At the very least Achan would seem to be guilty of Manslaughter. Alan Carr paints an even more poignant picture - Because there was sin in the camp, thirty-six men died. Thirty-six sets of children lost their fathers. Thirty-six mothers lost their sons. Thirty-six wives became widows. It was a very high price to pay for sin. (Some Things Can't Be Hidden) So the hearts of the people melted and became as water - Not exactly "strong and courageous" as was repeated in Joshua 1! That is, were utterly discouraged. The irony is seen in a striking reversal - the very effect which was to be produced on the pagan nations by the approach of the Israelites, was now a "righteous judgment of God wrought in the hearts of his own sinning people." (Bush) Earlier Rahab had told the 2 spies how the hearts of the citizens of Jericho melted (Josh 2:11, cf Josh 5:1), but now the "tables were turned" and the same description was used of the defeated Israelites. The presence and power of God had clearly departed and they had reason to be fearful like the godless pagans. THOUGHT - You see, this is one of the problems with sin. It defeats you and leaves you feeling just like a lost man. Nothing is right in the life of a believer while there is sin in his midst! (God's Prescription For An Achan Heart) Alan Carr - This is one of the major problems with sin. It defeats you and leaves you feeling broken, used and confused. Nothing is right in the life of a believer while there is sin in his heart! (Some Things Can't Be Hidden)
Josué 7
Meyer - The experience of defeat is far too common to the majority of Christians. They are constantly turning their backs before their enemies. They are defeated by indwelling sin and the assaults of Satan, and by the mighty evils which they assail in the name of God. But instead of taking their defeats to heart, they become inured to them. For the time they are filled with mortification and chagrin, but the impression soon wears away. They do not lie on their faces before God, eager to discover the cause of failure, to deal with it, and to advance from the scene of defeat to wider and more permanent success. If we but carefully investigated the causes of our defeats, they would be only second to victories in their blessed results on our character and lives. Mattoon - The hearts of the people were melted or liquefied. When something takes liquid form it …Is Unstable (Treasures from Joshua) Alan Carr - When Israel went up to Ai in they suffered a terrible defeat and 36 of their number were killed. This must have been very devastating to the Israelites. However, when one takes the time to look more closely at their actions, it is easy to see that they made several mistakes. Mistakes that, I feel, many of us are guilty of making as well. 1. Nowhere in this passage does it even hint that Joshua and the people of Israel sought the will of God for dealing with Ai. They didn’t even pray about the matter. If they had, God would have revealed the problem before people died. (Ill. How many times are we guilty of jumping ahead of the Lord and His will? We will rush headlong into life and trust the Lord to bail us out of the messes in which we find ourselves. It is far better to consult God before we make the mistake than it is to expect Him to clean up our messes afterwards.) 2. They didn’t take the Ark of the Covenant into the battle. The Ark symbolized the presence and power of God. They went into the battle in their own strength and they failed! (Ill. Again, here is an area where we could all use help. We try to live the Christian life, fight the flesh and the devil in our own power and we fail time after time. The reason? We do not take the time to strengthen our walk with God! When we are walking with the Lord and in His Word as we should be, He will go with us into the battle and face our enemies on our behalf. Who killed the giant, David or God? David himself holds the answer to that question, 1 Sam. 17:47.) 3. Finally, Israel had their confidence in their own power and not in the Lord. They were not walking by faith, but they were guilty of trusting what they could do. (Ill. How many times have we suffered defeat at the hands of our enemy because we too believed we were able and that we could get the job done. Well, the bottom line is this: I can’t do the job and neither can you! We all need the Lord is we are to walk in spiritual victory in our lives, Phil. 4:13+ [I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.]; John 15:5.) (God's Prescription For An Achan Heart) Paul Toms - I do not know of any more sad or depressing experiences in the Bible than the times when men who had enjoyed the blessing of God discovered to their great sadness that that blessing had been lifted. Remember Saul and those awful words, "The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him." (1Sa 16:14). That is a "terrifying";- frightful prospect. There were times in the history of these people when Moses said, "Go not up (to fight), for the Lord is not among you." (Nu 14:42). It is a good thing to be aware of that before you launch yourself into a battle where your only hope is the Lord. Moses apparently was sensitive to the presence of God in such a way that he could say to the people, "Don't go now; this is the wrong time for you to start a battle, for God is not in your midst." Perhaps the clearest and most sobering illustration of this is the story of Samson. Here was a man who was given unusual strength and an important mission by God . But he let himself be sidetracked by his fancy for Delilah . She wormed his secret out of him after several efforts, and then she let the Philistines shave his head and thus deprive him of his strength. When he woke up, he said, "I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist [knew] not that the Lord was departed from him" (Judg . 16:20). He did not know that God had lifted His blessing. To be doing God's work is no guarantee of having God's help . There is a principle for us here--do not move until God says so. Yesterday's blessings are not enough for us today. Stay close to the Lord, so that you can sense His presence. (This Land Is Your Land) GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 7 5. Chased them—even unto Shebarim. Heb. השברים hash-shebârim, to the breaches, breakings, or shiverings; so called probably from the event, because the ranks of the Israelites were utterly broken and the people, panic-struck, fled in the utmost confusion. Smote them in the going down. That is, in the descent or declivity of the hill on which the town stood. The effect of this defeat would naturally be (1) to serve as an evidence of God’s displeasure, and a solemn call upon them to humble themselves under his mighty hand, and institute a rigid self-examination to discover if possible the cause of so sad a reverse. (2) To harden the Canaanites and make them more secure than ever in their sins, prompting them to say of Israel, as the enemies of David said of him, Ps. 71:11, ‘God hath forsaken him; persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him.’ Thus their ruin, when it came, would be the more dreadful. The Christian may derive some profitable hints from this narrative as to the conduct of the warfare in which he is engaged. Notwithstanding the Canaan which he seeks is the gift of God, yet it must be obtained by a manly and continued conflict with our spiritual enemies. He must not despise any as too weak, nor fear any as too strong. As to the weak especially, he should remember that there is none so weak but he will be able to overcome us if we indulge a careless habit, or confide in an arm of flesh. Joshua 7:6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. tore his clothes: Ge 37:29,34 Nu 14:6 2Sa 13:31 Ezr 9:3-5 Es 4:1 Job 1:20 Ac 14:14 fell: Nu 16:22,45 2Sa 12:16 until the evening Jdg 20:23,26 21:2 2Sa 1:12 Joshua 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Job 1:20; Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. Job 2:12 When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. JOSHUA IN DEEP DISMAY AT DEFEAT Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads - This is the second time he had been on his face, the first time when confronted with the Captain of the Lord's host (Josh 5:14) and he bowed in humility. Now he bows in humiliation at defeat of the army under his command. Joshua responds to the defeat with the wrong diagnosis and starts to question the plan of God.
Josué 7
Meyer - There was something very beautiful and impressive in that prostrate form. And as the awed people gathered around in silence to contemplate their leader thus prone upon his face, it must have greatly touched them. There was cause for soul-anguish. Joshua had counted on unbroken victory through the might of his covenant-keeping God; but here it appeared, either that God had deserted his people, or that He could not cope with the gods on which the Canaanites depended. In either case, Israel was in awful peril; obviously she had not strength sufficient to cope with the seven nations of Canaan. If left to herself, she must inevitably be cut off. But even this prospect alarmed Joshua less than the discredit that would attach to the name of Jehovah. There are hours in our life when we are called from the exercises of devotion, good and God-honoring though they may be, to deal with the sin of our people, or to cut out some source of failure and defeat. Our place then is no longer before the ark; but arraigning the people by their tribes, casting lots for the offender, or consigning the accursed thing to fire. Child of God, do not be content with weeping and praying before God; diligently ascertain and put away the accursed thing which has hidden his face from you. When defeat befalls you at the hands of Satan, you may always be sure that there is some flaw in your consecration. You have taken some of the devoted thing back from God. The course of the Christian warrior should be as the sun when he goeth forth in his strength, and in regular gradients drives his chariot from the eastern wane up the steep of heaven. Joshua 7:11 "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. Israel: Jos 7:1,20,21 transgressed: Jos 23:16 De 17:2 Jdg 2:20 2Ki 18:12 Isa 24:5 50:1,2 Jer 31:32 Ho 6:7 under the ban: Jos 7:21 6:17-19 stolen: Mal 3:8,9 Mt 22:21 and deceived: 2Ki 5:25,26 Joh 12:5,6 Ac 5:1,2,9 Heb 4:13 put them among their own things: Lev 5:15 Hab 2:6 Zec 5:4 Joshua 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passage: Joshua 6:18 - “But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. GOD'S STINGING INDICTMENT OF ISRAEL'S SIN Don't miss God's stinging barrage of 6 verbs - sinned...transgressed (violated)...taken...stolen...deceived (lied)...put (hidden)! Joshua must have been reeling after this divine declaration! Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them - Immediately God declares to Joshua that it is not His (God's) fault, but the "buck stops" with the nation of Israel! Note the entire nation is held guilty for one man's sin. These initial words must have surprised or even shocked Joshua, for he was unaware of sin in the camp. (See devotional Sin in the Camp)