Joshua 11 - Understanding Joshua & Jesus

If I could sum up the book of Joshua in 3 phrases it might sound something like this: Don’t be afraid.  Do everything the LORD commands you to do. The LORD will fight for you.  Those themes echo throughout the book. We’re in Joshua 11, the part of the story where Israel faces the armies of the North and we see those 3 themes in action.  Also, what’s the deal with hamstringing horses?  We’ll talk about that too.

Transcript

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If I were to summarize the book of Joshua into three phrases, it might sound a little something like this. Don't be afraid. Do everything the Lord has commanded you to do, and finally the Lord will fight for you. We see those three themes echo throughout the book. Welcome to Meet Me in the Word. I am genuinely glad that you've joined us today. We're in Joshua chapter eleven, and it's the part of the story where Israel faces the armies of the north in an epic battle, and we see those themes in action. Also, we get to talk about hamstringing horses. What's that all about? Hang in there with me and we'll even get to that question. Let's jump into our text for today, but before we do anything else, let's pray. Jesus, thank you that you meet us consistently, that you meet with us deeply, and that when we're together with you, we're changed for the better as a result. God, would you lead us on? We ask this in your name. Amen. All right, let's jump into our passage for today. Uh, and I'm encouraging you to read Joshua 11 in its entirety for our purposes, for our little episode here today. We're going to read verses 6 through 15, and then we'll also read verse 20. The other verses are also important, but uh they're a little bit backgroundy, and I just wanted to jump into the into these parts. So, what's happened is Joshua and Israel have conquered the southern kings, and word continues to spread. The armies of the north understand all of what's going on, and so they form this allegiance to come and attack Israel. So we come in here at verse six. The Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them slain over to Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots. So Joshua and his whole army came against them suddenly at the waters of Merim and attacked them, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel. They defeated them and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon, to Misraphath Maim, and to the valley of Mizpah on the east, until no survivors were left. Joshua did to them as the Lord had directed, he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots. At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazar and put its king to the sword. Hazar had been the head of all these kingdoms. Everyone in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed, and he burned Hazor itself. Joshua took all these royal cities and their kings and put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. Yet Israel did not burn any of the cities built on their mounds, except Hazor, which Joshua burned. The Israelites carried off for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but all the people they put to the sword until they completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed. As the Lord commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 20. For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Let's pause for a moment here to listen to God. If you'd like to pause this podcast, go ahead and do so. Let's make a few observations together. And I've kind of summarized it into three components here, not necessarily the three that we talked about at the beginning, but just kind of piggybacking off it a little bit and moving forward. So the first thing I wanted us to appreciate or to notice is the Lord's hand in this epic battle. And once again, these are really, really clear things. I I you know resisted the urge to try and like see things between the lines here too much, but to really appreciate what's uh right in front of us. So, for example, we'll start with verse six. Uh, the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them slain over to Israel, right? So the Lord's acting. Uh obviously Joshua and the Israelites are on the ground and doing the fighting, but the Lord is intervening in a divine kind of a way to ensure victory. Then again in verse eight, it just has that phrase there, and the Lord gave them. So he says there is the promise in verse six, and then verse eight, we see the fulfillment of it. The Lord gave them into the hand of Israel. And then in verse 20, and this one hits a little different, and we'll talk about it, uh, but it says, For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts, speaking of the armies of the north, to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses. So we see that the Lord is active in making all of this come about. And we should talk a little bit about this hardening of the hearts. I think that's a challenging phrase for us, especially here in the West, and I'm sure other places as well, but we value our individuality, we value our autonomy, and the idea of anybody, including God, somehow like changing our hearts in a way that feels like it's leading us towards bad things, is just it's it's it's tough for us to kind of like reconcile how all of that works. Uh, and my understanding of this, and and I'll always try to bring it back to just keep to honesty and how I've processed uh passages like this, and when this subject comes up, uh, which it certainly does in the book of Exodus and it does in other parts of scripture as well, is to understand that uh that there is uh already uh a sense of rebellion, not just a sense, there is outright rebellion from these people towards the Lord. It's not just that they're randomly created, I think, to, you know, whatever, just to be pawns in the scheme, so to speak. I I think there's a willingness uh on their side of things to go against God, and and the Lord just invokes that and and then brings that about. But it is certainly an interesting moment, and we see that the Lord is active in what's taking place uh and making that happen. The second bit here is for us to notice Joshua's obedience, right? We see in verse nine, uh, there's just these descriptions again of Joshua doing what the Lord tells him to do. Verse 9 says, Joshua did to them as the Lord had directed. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots. Verse 12, we see another example. Joshua took all these royal cities, all easy for me to say, all these royal cities and their kings and put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. Right? So there's an obedience that's actually generational, kind of in a way, that Moses was the lead beforehand, and now Joshua's stepping in, ultimately it comes from the Lord. And then verse 15, once again we see it. As the Lord commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses. And so once again, we see this ongoing sense of obedience and doing the things that God had commanded them to do was really uh important and a central idea that's here. All right, I told you at the beginning that we're gonna talk about uh hamstringing horses. What's that all of about? Uh so I'm gonna just right away here say thank you to gotquestions.org for some of their insights on this. By the way, that's a great place to search uh if you're just trying to like get somebody's informed opinion about something. Uh they have quite uh quite an array of responses to various questions that people have. So it's a good place to go. Gotquestions.org. So, hamstringing horses, what's that all about? Well, first of all, it's super common. Uh, it happened throughout the ancient Near East, not just in these sections that we read about in scripture. There are several accounts of that practice happening. And we should think about it in a in a similar way to like modern warfare. It's about disabling um a weapon, I guess, of sorts. Like think about tanks or or fighter jets or something along those lines, and you're trying to disable the enemy's uh advantage. So, and now I get it, these are animals and not machines. I appreciate that, but that's the mindset that's present there. Uh logistically, uh, it was much simpler than actually killing the animal. So in the course of battle, it was a it was a simpler action to take. Uh, there was less work to be done afterwards. And and then also, just so you know, the way in that they did it, uh it didn't automatically mean that the animal was going to suffer and die many times. That animal was no longer fit for battle, uh, but they could still serve in slower tasks, agricultural tasks. They could they couldn't run, but they could walk, they could still have a meaningful existence. But the reason they did it, or I guess another reason that they did it, was to ensure the horse couldn't return to battle later on for the enemy. So again, kind of coming back to that whole military, logistic uh and strategic element. And then there's an added component here, uh, specifically for Israel. It seems like the Lord really wanted Israel to be dependent upon him, that they wouldn't build this sense of trusting in themselves. And we see phrases like that throughout the Old Testament. Some trust in chariots, but we trust in the Lord our God. And I think I even talked about this in one of our previous times together when David took a census, and that was an act of him trusting in his own greatness rather than trusting in God, and God wanted them to do that. So uh hamstringing the horses meant not only could the enemy not bring that animal back into battle and utilize it in that sense, but neither could Israel. And so they were now dependent fully on the Lord and nothing else. All right, I wanted to leave you with some good reflections, uh and I and I felt compelled uh as I was preparing for this particular time together to leave you with words of Jesus that echo and reinforce and maybe even enhance those whole ideas of uh of don't be afraid, do everything that the Lord has commanded you to do, and the Lord will fight for you. And these three ideas are actually things that Jesus taught, and I've found them to be encouraging in my life. So let me let me give them to you. So John 14, 27, Jesus says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives, do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. So is Jesus followers. It's not just about, hey, don't be afraid of the scary thing. It's don't be afraid, don't be troubled. Why? Because you have the peace of Jesus, which is wildly better than anything else anybody else can offer us. So let the peace of Jesus rest on you and don't be afraid. John fourteen, twenty-one, just a few verses before, Jesus said this Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. But do what Jesus has commanded us to do. Keep us com keep his commands. Love God, love your neighbor, do these things, love one another, place your faith and your hope in Jesus. Live your life in a way that's consistent with the person of Jesus and the writings of the New Testament. And then finally, Matthew chapter 10, verses 18 through 20. This is in the context of Jesus sending out the twelve to go and do ministry, and so it's specific to them, but it echoes out for us. He says, On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father through you. The Lord will fight for you, the Lord will give you what needs to be said, the Lord will be with you as you serve him. And I feel very comfortable saying that this isn't just about words, this is about actions too. When we do what God has commanded us to do, when we follow Jesus with all that we are, we can know that we are not alone, and that the Lord, specifically Jesus, is there for us. The Holy Spirit is our advocate, and we can uh rest in that idea that that the power of God not only goes uh with us but ahead of us, and that that's pretty cool. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for this delightful day. Thank you that you do not leave us alone, that you are our strength, that you are our courage, and that you are present with us. Be with us now. We ask this in your name. Amen.