JOSHUA PROPHET OF CONQUEST
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE: JOSHUA 5:13-6:5, 15-16,20
Lesson 2 March 13, 2021
Key verse
“The Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor”.
Joshua 6:2
INTRODUCTION AND STUDY.
Sometimes we hear about amazing things that happen. The Bible tells us that sometimes the things that we meet are so difficult and so impossible to overcome that God has to step in directly and solve the problem for us. This activity happens much more than you think. Sometimes God solve problems that we have and we don’t even know that it is He that solved them for us. We just think that the problems have just vanished into thin air. But we should remember the Scripture that tells that the angels of God encamp or are right beside the people of God and deliver them from trouble.
But in this chapter we are studying we learn that the nation of Israel have gone through a long journey through the wilderness and finally had reached the entrance into the Promised Land of Canaan.
The only people that were in the nation were people 20 years of age and under except for Joshua the leader, his family, and a warrior named Caleb and his family. The parents of the young people had died in the wilderness because they had refused to obey God. Only Joshua and Caleb were in the older age group that had survived. They did not sin against God.
So here were some pretty young people who were given the job of capturing the land of Canaan and taking care of it despite the fact that there were many powerful warriors and other nations that were living there. But God wanted to get rid of those other nations because they had been wicked for a long time and had done all kinds of terrible sins. They have sacrificed their children to a god called Molech. They believed in all kinds of witchcraft and idolatry and they worshiped all kind of gods made of wood and stone for they foolishly thought that those gods they had made up for themselves would help them and make them successful. God had been patient with them for hundreds of years, warned them to change their ways and had sent many witnesses to show them how to behave. But they got worse and worse. They rejected God the Father completely.
But though they were in a very difficult position these young people were led by a very brave and capable warrior called Joshua. Moses the previous leader who taken the nation out of slavery in Egypt, and he had led them to cross the Red Sea, and looked after them, .leading them on their long journey in the wilderness that took nearly 40 years. Moses had trained Joshua well. Joshua responded to the training well. Joshua was a firm believer in God and he was ready for the challenge.
So Joshua circumcised all the young men over a certain age as a sign that they belonged to God. Then everybody celebrated Passover to thank God for taking them out of slavery in Egypt. Every male in the nation had to be circumcised but everybody men women and children had to celebrate Passover in memory of what God had done for them.
But now they faced the River Jordan that was flooded and God had to perform a miracle and make a path through the water so that they could cross over the River on dry land and go into the land of Canaan.
But then they faced the next obstacle and this was a powerful city called Jericho. It stood right at the entrance into the land of Canaan to stop anybody from coming into that land without their permission. The city had two walls 15 feet high and anybody who tried to get in to the land of Canaan had to find a way of destroying those two walls that surrounded the city. That was an impossible task except you had battering rams and all kinds of powerful military weapons. But of course these young people of Israel led by Joshua had none of those things.
The only source of help they had was God. God told Joshua not to worry for He had already given the city of Jericho into their hands. They would win. There was a young lady named Rahab and her family that God intended to save when He made the walls fall flat. She was the only one in that entire city that believed in the Lord God and therefore she had done a great favour to the people of Israel by hiding some spies that Joshua had sent to check on the land and what was in the city. At great risk she had hidden the spies when the people of Jericho came to searching for them to kill them.
So there was no question that would God succeed in breaking down the walls of Jericho and capturing the city when so many other people had tried to do that and had failed.
But God had a plan. This plan was a very strange one. God told Joshua that the army, the Priests, as well as the Ark of the Covenant should march around this formidable walled city every day and not try to attack it directly. The people in Jericho must have wondered what kind of a strange army this was. The Israelites marched around the city for six days keeping very quiet. But on the seventh day everybody including the Priests marched around and blew their trumpets and shouted.
Note that this was not just a military fight but a religious fight for the Ark of the Covenant which showed the presence of God was there was involved and leading.
When the shout went up the walls of Jericho fell flat and the military men of Israel were able to go into the city and capture it, and kill all their enemies that were there. Only Rahab and her family who had believed in the true God was saved.
Following the capture of the city the army of Israel burned down the city and Joshua made a curse on the city saying that nobody should build that city again.
This was amazing. Nobody ever tried that kind of strategy to capture any city again. It worked this time because God made it work. Actually we believe that the armies of God which are in heaven and come down and when this people shouted the powerful angels simply and easily knocked down the laws. Only the angels in the army of God could do that kind of work when God the Father told them to do that.
So we learn that no matter how difficult the problem might be that you face, no matter how tough your “Jericho” might seem, how impossible to conquer, all you have to do is to pray to God and the Lord God and His angels will hear your call for help. He will help you to overcome your difficulties.
Just as in the case of the nation of Israel in those days God had given them a capable and righteous man to lead them. In many cases God will provide a righteous person, which might be your righteous parents or someone in church to help you to overcome all your difficulties.
Remember you need the help of God and you need the help of the people that God has put in your company so that you will succeed. So thank God for His help and thank God for the help of the righteous people around you.