Joshua 8 (1)

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.” Joshua 8.1, 2

Reflect.
1.  If you were Joshua at the end of chapter 7, what would you be thinking?

2.  We note a change of tactics for the siege of Ai. Why?

Think about it.
God’s Word to Joshua is reminiscent of His instructions to him in chapter 1. Joshua must have breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

As with the siege of Jericho, God gives specific instructions to Joshua as to how he is to proceed against the king and city of Ai. The tactic here is more purely military, including deception and an ambush. We might wonder about this change, but there’s an important theological principle at work here. God can save His people by extraordinary, even miraculous means. And He can deliver them in ways more familiar and ordinary. Either way, it’s God at work, bringing His people ever more deeply into His promises and Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God came to the world through the ministry of Christ and His Spirit, accompanied by many miraculous works. But it has been advancing in the world since then through the familiar and ordinary means of Christian witness – lives and words. Either way, as under Joshua’s leadership, so now under Jesus’ reign, it’s all the work of God, and we are “all the people of war” whom God uses for His glory.

Meditate and discuss.
1.  What does it say about God that He went back to Joshua, rather than to someone else, after the disaster at Ai and Achor? How should we be encouraged by this?

2.  Why do you suppose God allowed Israel to take the spoil and cattle of Ai for themselves, rather than have it all brought into the treasury of the Lord, as at Jericho? Why was it important for Israel to do this at Jericho, but not at Ai?

3.  What is suggested in the siege of Ai about how God will enable His people to subdue the rest of the land of Canaan? Are we likely to see more walls falling down by trumpets and shouting? Why or why not?

“We must consider whether every attempt at deception ought to be reckoned as a lie and, if so, whether a lie can be just, when someone who should be deceived is deceived. And if not even this kind of a lie is found to be just, we must still relate what transpired with the ambush to the truth with some other meaning.” Augustine (354-430 AD)

Today, Lord, I have a good many familiar and ordinary works ahead of me, but because I know You are in them, I…

Pray Psalm 25.1-15.
Pray that God would show you His ways for your path today, and call on Him to give you the strength, in all your familiar and ordinary work, to lay hold on His promises and advance His Kingdom.

Psalm 25.1-15 (Festal Song: Revive Thy Work, O Lord)
I lift my soul to You; O Lord, in You I trust.
Let me not come to shame, nor let my foes o’er me exult.

All they who wait on You shall never come to shame;
Yet they to shame shall come who stand against Your holy Name.

Make me to know Your ways, teach me Your paths, O Lord!
My Savior, all day long I wait and seek You in Your Word.

Remember mercy, Lord, and steadfast love to me!
And all my sins before You let them not remembered be!

My sins have been of old, Your love is new each day;
According to Your goodness, Lord, regard my sinful way.

Upright and good are You, You lead us in Your way;
The humble You instruct in truth and guide him day by day.

The paths of God are all of love and faithfulness;
All they who keep His covenant the Lord will surely bless.

For Your sake, Lord, forgive.  All they who fear You, Lord,
Shall know Your blessings day by day and follow in Your Word.

Your friends are they who fear and seek Your holy face;
Your covenant with them You share and save them by Your grace.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).