Tues.’s Devo - Defeating Jericho

Read: Joshua 5:1-7:15; Luke 15:1-32; Psalm 81:1-16; Proverbs 13:1 The Amorites were paralyzed with fear when they heard of how God dried up the Jordan for Israel to cross over. The Lord told Joshua to circumcise the men over twenty since no one had be circumcised since leaving Egypt. All of the circumcised had died in the wilderness because of their rebellion and a new group of warriors had arisen. They named the place Gibeath-haaraloth which means “hill of foreskins”. But when they had healed, God called the place Gilgal which means “a wheel” because on that day God rolled their shame of slavery away from them. It was Passover and the next day they celebrated Unleavened Bread from the grains and fruits of the promised land. No longer did they need manna so they never saw manna again. Joshua met a man on his way to Jericho and asked him if he was friend or foe. He answered, neither, he was the commander of the Lord’s army. This was so true; sometimes God used his army to fight with Israel and sometimes against them. Joshua submitted totally to this commander (who was probably Michael) and he gave Joshua the strategy to take Jericho. He was to send the priests with rams’ horns to blow their horns as they marched around the city. The army was to walk silently behind them. They were to circle the city once every day for seven days and on the seventh they were to encircle the city seven times. All the while the priests were blowing their horns. They started at dawn so the people woke up to the sound of horns. How terrifying to wait for an attack day after day. This was intimidating and terrifying for the people of Jericho. On the seventh day, after their seventh time around, the people were to shout as loud as they could and the walls would fall down. They obeyed the Lord’s commands and it happened just as God’s commander had said it would. They were to completely destroy everything living with their swords and save only things made of metal and give them to the Lord’s treasury. Joshua spared Rahab and her relatives. Joshua cursed anyone who would try to rebuild the town of Jericho. They would lose their firstborn son while laying the foundation and their youngest son when setting up its gates. When I went to Israel fifteen years ago, our tour guide told us that a wealthy man decided to rebuild Jericho a few years before this and he lost his oldest son the day he laid the foundation. His youngest son begged his father to stop to save his life and he abandoned the project. Achan secretly kept some of the gold for himself which brought a curse on Israel. The next town they were to take was called Ai. It was small and should have been a piece of cake for them. They sent only 3,000 men to take it and were completely humiliated. Thirty-six men died and Israel was now paralyzed in fear. If others heard of what happened they would ban together and annihilate them. Joshua and the elders went before the Lord and God told them it was because someone had sinned against him and now they had become God’s enemy. They would never win a battle until they had rectified this problem. God told them to meet with him the next morning, along with the leaders of each tribe and He would show them who was guilty. In Luke, the religious leaders complained that Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus gave them three parables explaining the reason he did what he did. One was about a man who lost one in a hundred sheep, the second was about a woman who lost one coin out of ten and the last was the story of a man who had two sons and lost one to sin. In each of the stories he told of the joy of finding the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. The lost son was the greatest joy. Jesus was trying to change their perspective about evangelism and the heart of God. Being found and forgiven is like life from death - it is being born again, which is something to rejoice about! Lord, help us not to be like the prodigal son’s brother and the Pharisees who could only see their worth and not the worth of a person brought out of sin. Help us to rejoice with You because salvation is a gift we have all been given freely.