Gooding, David: 3 - Overview of Section 1

So, first of all, thank you, my good brethren, for your cooperation and helpful comments and contributions in the open discussion that we have just enjoyed. This present session is billed as a straightforward lecture. If in the course of the lecture I say something that makes no sense at all to you because you don't know what I int- what I mean, then by all means, raise your hand and, uh, question me as to what exactly I meant. If, on the other hand, you find me saying things that you understand perfectly well what I mean, but you consider that I am here off beam or quite wrong and mistaken, be so kind as to reserve your comment there, uh, to the question time, uh, that will be at the end of the lecture. Now, in this, uh, study, we're going to begin by looking at the literary form of the book of Joshua. We're going to investigate simply how it is put together, how the different parts of the book relate to each other, and what is the sequence of thought, uh, between the various sections of the book. Because in the end, the way the book is arranged is part of the meaning of the book. And full interpretation will have to pay regard to the way the author of, uh, of the book has put it together. The first thing we should notice, therefore, about Joshua is that it is in two distinct parts, as, uh, you see represented in the overhead slide before you. Part one, from chapter one verse one to the end of chapter twelve, records Joshua's exploits and battles as commander in chief of the united armies of the twelve tribes. This part ends in chapter twelve, formally with a long list of the kings of Canaan that Joshua destroyed. The second part opens in chapter thirteen verses one and two. Thirteen one, now Joshua was old and well stricken in years. And the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and well stricken in years. So you've got a double dose of the fact. He was old, like I am, but then people kept telling him he was old. That's another thing. So Joshua was old anyway, and well stricken in years. His days of military campaigning were over, of course. And the Lord now points that out to him. You are old. So that part two of the book is telling now a very different story from part one. In part two, Joshua, in his old age, distributes the territories to the individual tribe, and then counsels their elders, their leaders, and officials, and delivers his farewell address. Two very distinct parts of the book. And that is important when it comes to the question of Israel entering their inheritance and how it was done. In the first part, no tribe attempted to take its inheritance. There was no taking inheritance of the land, no attempt to. It was a long period of fighting by the united armies under the commandership of Joshua. When they took a city, killed its inhabitants, and put its king to death, they didn't then try to settle down in that city. When they took, uh, the cities of an area like the Southern Confederacy, they didn't try to settle down in the southern part of the country. They remained based at their base camp in Gilgal. Let's notice how the text tells us this actual fact, Josie. Joshua, they came over the Jordan, and in chapter five they prepare themselves for the attack on Jericho. But look at chapter four verse twenty, uh, verse nineteen. The people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. A little bit perhaps north of Jericho, but on the east between Jericho and the River Jordan. There they set up their base camp. And the twelve stones which they took out of Jordan did Joshua set up in Gilgal. That was their base camp, formed as soon as they came over Jordan. In chapter five, in their preparations for the attack on Jericho, they are circumcised. Five verse ten, verse nine: wherefore the name of that place was called Gilgal unto this day, and the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They took Jericho. They eventually went up the mountain somewhat towards the west and took Ai, and probably the people of the nearby town Bethel were overwhelmed. That allowed Joshua then to take the people up the mountain roads, past where Ai had been, and past Jericho, of course, and past where Ai had been, and past Bethel, and come to the plain by the mountains Ebal and Goritim. And there they held the ceremony of the establishing of the law of Moses in Canaan. It would seem at the time that there was no particular opposition in the area around Shechem. But when that ceremony was over, they came back to Gilgal. They didn't try to reside up there by Shechem. So when the Gibeonites came, uh, uh, requesting peace, chapter nine verse six, They went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal. Joshua is still at camp, not tried to settle down in any of the cities that he has taken. And then we're told in verse seventeen of chapter nine, the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities, that the cities belonging to Gibeon. Gibeon was a metropolis. It had various, various satellite towns that are now mentioned. The children of Israel journeyed and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriathiarim. Goze. And so they made this covenant with them, and so forth and so on. What did they do after that? Well, they went back to g- to Gilgal. As you gather from chapter ten, because when the southern cities heard that the Gibeonites had converted to Israel, they formed a confederacy of kings, says chapter ten, to attack not Israel, but these new converts, the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites, therefore, finding themselves besieged, they sent, uh, do you see, uh, to Israel. Verse six of chapter ten: The men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp at Gilgal. So from that visit up to the city of, uh, Gibeon and its satellite towns, they had returned back to Gilgal, to the base camp. No attempt to take over possession of the land. And, uh, then the Lord told them, uh, uh, told Gibeon, uh, Joshua, that is, to go up and rescue the Gibeonites. Verse seven of chapter ten. so Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and the mighty men of valor. They, uh, surprised the s- besiegers, and they were scattered, and the Lord himself destroyed many of them. It resulted in victory and freeing of the city of Gibeon. Look at verse chapter ten verse, uh, fifteen. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp, to Gilgal, not attempting to settle down. There follows an account of the systematic campaigning all around the southern part of the land against the towns and their kings, and Joshua systematically destroyed them, that is, destroyed their kings, took the cities in the sense that he executed their inhabitants, though of course a number of them escaped before he arrived, eh, but no attempt either to destroy the cities or to inhabit them. And when the southern cities had been attacked and their kings executed, look at ten forty three. and Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal. He's still in basic army camp, and there is the nation. Then we have the record in chapter eleven of the northern confederacy. The kings of the north, when they heard what had happened to the southerners, they massed together to come against Israel. And Joshua went forth to meet them all over the country, and God gave him victory as he s- systematically destroyed the cities in the north. The great city of Hazor he burned, though that was exceptional. He normally didn't burn the cities. But notice now verse chapter eleven, verse eighteen, if you will. And Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. You mustn't be surprised, therefore, when chapter thirteen, in beginning the second half of the book, tells you that Joshua was now old and well stricken in years. It had taken a long time to reduce the cities of Palestine and to execute their kings. At that point, no attempt had been made by anybody to settle down in Canaan. They hadn't taken possession of anything except the base camp down at Gilgal. The point of that we shall see just in a minute, but let us notice now Joshua was very old. Military days were finished. Chapter fourteen verse six tells us, then the children of Judah drew near unto Joshua in Gilgal. Therefore, we must take that into consideration, right up to this late point, and the time had been a long time. No attempt had been made to settle in any of the cities or areas that hitherto had been conquered. Now, of course, there were military reasons for it. Joshua was commander of the united armies. He couldn't afford to allow it that when they conquered a certain city or area, some of the tribes had said, well, uh, thank you very much, we'll settle down here, and the rest of you can go on fighting if you like. He couldn't have allowed it. For if that had happened, the army would have become so depleted that they would have been at the mercy of the heavily fortified cities and kings of Canaan. They had to remain a united force. And great emphasis laid both in the book of Numbers and in chapter one of Joshua, that the two and a half tribes who had been given their inheritance east of the Jordan before they ever entered the land. They had conquered the two kings, and Moses had given that part of the country east of Jordan to the two and a half tribes for their inheritance, but on this condition. The leaders of the two and a half tribes were made to swear before Almighty God and in the presence of Joshua and the elders that they would not there and then settle down. They would leave their wives and children in stockades, but they themselves would cross over Jordan in the vanguard of the united armies, and they would fight till the whole land had been conquered, and only then would they leave and go back into their inheritance. As we think of it from simply a military point of view, of course it makes sense. It was impossible to allow any tribe to begin to settle down in its area. That would have been suicide until the whole land had been conquered. So part one of the book upon which we shall be concentrating today and a bit tomorrow, is not about Israel entering into their possessions. That's the second half of the book. Indeed, in the second half of the book, Joshua distributes the land to the various tribes, but distributing it is one thing, actually going in and taking possession of it was another. But it wasn't even distributed till the second half of the book. The first half of the book, therefore, is all about what Joshua did, his exploits and battles to make possible Israel's eventual possession of the land. It's about what Joshua did. So let's have a now a look at the account, the contents rather, of the first half of the book. Actually. It is my suggestion that the first half of the book consists of three distinct sections. Look at chapter one, verse one, for it sets the theme of the first section of part one. Now it came to pass after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses. Here is the initial theme set out forthwith and at once. He is to go over Jordan and take the people over Jordan into the land. Well, the, uh, rest of chapter one and chapter two, chapters three and four are about that. First, of course, being a good commander, he sent out spies to recognize the situation, and not only the physical situation, but the psychological situation of the Canaanites, and in particular the psychological situation of the king of Jericho and its inhabitants. And having ascertained that through the spies, then the people, uh, were taken across Jordan. And chapters three and four are about the crossing of Jordan. And they come to their triumphant end, you'll see, at the end of chapter four, the people are finally across Jordan. That's number one section of the first half of the book. Now, at the risk of boring you, let me call attention now to a formal feature of the book. Look, if you will, please, at chapter five and its introductory verse. And it came to pass when all the kings of the Amorites, which were beyond Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was their spirit in them anymore because of the children of Israel. What these kings had heard was what chapters one to four have told us, that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan, and the Israelites were, were now in the land, if you please, by a virtual miracle performed by their God. Notice that verse, because there follows the story of the sack of Jericho, the destruction of Ai, and then the establishment of the law up in She- near Shechem. That brings you to the end of chapter eight. Look, if you will, at the beginning of chapter nine. Nine, verse one. And it came to pass when all the kings which were beyond Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on the sh- on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite heard thereof. Now what they heard was, of course, the destruction of Jericho and Ai and this extraordinary ceremony up at Mount Gerizim and Ebal. And when they heard that, they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord. You'll see they hadn't gathered together with one accord when Joshua attacked Jericho, nor when he attacked Ai. But now they heard that those two cities had gone, and this enormous great ceremony had been held up near Mount Ebal and Gerizim. I heard that. They decided that united resistance was necessary, and they made their plans to come against them. On that basis, the similarity between chapter five verse one and chapter nine verses one and two, I'm going to suggest to you that from chapter five, verse one to the end of chapter eight, we have the second of the great sections in this per- first part of Joshua. The second section, the reaction of the kings to the news that the Lord had dried up the Jordan. The third section, the reaction of the Canaanite kings to the destruction of Jericho and Ai and to the ceremony at Ebel Gerizim. Three sections, therefore, on my estimate of the literary form of the first half of the book at, uh, o- o- of, um, Joshua. So let's now think of these three, uh, uh, parts in the, uh, book. There we are. Thank you so very much. Each of the three sections contains one major objective in the campaign. The three objectives together were, in the first section, to get the people across Jordan into their God-given inheritance, physically in it. The second major objective, now notice what it was, not the destruction of Jericho or that of Ai. The second objective, to establish the law of God for Israel at Mount Ebal and Gerizim in Canaan. To do that, of course, Moses had commanded that they did it. But to do it, if you started at, uh, Gilgal and you tried to take the Israelites up to Mount Gerizim, you would have had to pass the cities of Jericho, Ai, and Bethel. And to make it possible to go to Gerizim and hold this ceremony and there establish the law, you had to destroy Jericho and Ai and put Bethel out of action. But that made the obtaining of the objective possible. The final objective, covered in chapters nine, ten, eleven, and twelve, was to put down the kings, to put down all rule and authority, to overcome the principalities and the powers. And thus make it safe for Israel to begin to take possession of the land. Three major objectives then. And Joshua achieved all three. It is the fact that if you look at the individual accounts of these objectives, there was in each one a major obstacle in the way of achieving the objective. The first one was the River Jordan in flood. A very serious, uh, obstacle. It wasn't just that the river had overflown its banks, but on each side of the banks there was a very extensive, uh, area where you had tangled bushes growing, what in the authorized version is called the pride of Jordan. They were difficult to get through if you were walking when there was no water there. But with the, uh, water overflowing the banks for a mile or more each side, with all these tangled thickets growing like a jungle, you try to take some hundreds of thousands of people through that and across a river when they can't even see exactly where the banks are. From a military point of view, that is an exceedingly difficult operation. And of course, Joshua, being a, a, a skilled military commander, before he committed the people to cross it, sent his spies across, not only to discover the land in general, they knew more or less what it was like from their previous experience forty years ago, but in particular the psychological state. Would the king of Jericho, for instance, come out against them just as they were going to try to cross a river? Just crossing the river through that tangle could lead to a stampede and the people treading its- each other to death. But if while they were halfway across, the king of Jordan, uh, Jericho came out, the people could have suffered grievous damage. He sent spies across to discover what the psychological state of the people was like. And they came back and gave their report, of course, that Jericho was straightly cut shut up. The king was not intending to resist. He was relying upon his fortifications that the Israelites would not be able to get into his city. Obstacle number one, Jordan in flood. Obstacle number two, against the establishment of the law, of course. As I said already, to establish the law at Mount Gerizim and Ebal, he would need to take the people up from Gilgal, past the city of Jericho and Ai and that of Bethel in the hill country, and around into the plain near Shechem. To have that ceremony there, you must first destroy A- uh, Jericho and Ai on your flank. Jericho was straightly shut up. How would you capture it? And the third object, uh, third difficulty obstacle, of course, was the combined forces, first of the southern confederacy of kings, and then the confederacy of the northern kings. And in the north, they had some very strong embattled cities, such as Hatzor, standing on its mound with the latest engineering projects at hand. The third great obstacle, therefore, these two confederacies of kings. In each of those three objectives, there are not only three prominent obstacles. The story tells how on each occasion, God did a mighty miracle. The Israelites were still expected to fight, of course. They didn't just sit in their tents while God did all the work, they had to fight. But on each of those three occasions, there was a something that they never could have overcome by their own fighting, and God intervened by a notable miracle. First of all, the parting of the waters of Jericho, key to getting across the river into Canaan. Two, the walls of fortified Jericho fell down, out of through divine intervention. Three, hailstones from heaven, if you please. On the Southern Confederacy, as they scattered from Gibeon and tried to get back to their home cities, God himself rained down mighty great stones from heaven, so that more of the enemy died from the hailstones than were killed by the swords of Joshua and company. And then that notable miracle, the sun and the moon standing still. Three objectives, three major obstacles, three major miracles. And of course, it, it, it, it, uh, uh, engages all would-be expositors, doesn't it? It's all right to say, oh, God is a God of miracles. Well, of course he is. And he did miracles then. Yes, he did. But miracles can be a little bit samey if it's the same miracle every time, can't they? What? Well, perhaps you don't know. The question is, they were all miracles, but what was the difference between them? Gentlemen, it's a se- a a a secret of exposition of God's word, that when you get a series of similar things, you first notice the similarity, but then much more important is to notice the difference. It's what the medical people call differential diagnosis, if you don't mind the term. A simple matter, really. Here is a general practitioner of medicine, and three men show up at his surgery, you see. They all complain of sore throats, yes. So the first man comes, and the doctor looks down his throat, hmm, very inflamed. He said, have you been at a, an American football game or something? You have? And shouted your head off? Yes. Well, your cure is to go home and shut up for a while, and you will recover. Mm-hmm. Looks at the second man. Ah, sore throat too, but it's different. He prescribes a, a swab. He wants to take a swab. He thinks the man has got laryngitis, you see, and then prescribes penicillin or something. He looks at the third man. He's got a sore throat, it's all the same, sore throats. But this time he looks very grave. He says, I, I, I, I must send you to get some tests. He fears that this is the beginning of a cancer of the throat. Same, all sore throats. You're going to understand the patient, you've now got to understand the differences. What are the differences in this series of obstacles, and what are the differences in the series of miracles that took place. Mm. But now, when we come to look at those three objectives, we shall find as follows. That Moses commanded them. Moses couldn't do it. But what Moses couldn't do, Joshua did. And this is not me making up a convenient little sermon to fill my time this morning. Let's look at what scripture actually says. Look at chapter three, if you will, please. And chap- uh chap- sorry, chapter 4. Chapter four, verse ten. This is the crossing of Jordan. Moses had commanded it, of course. Commanded Joshua to take the people across. Moses couldn't do it. Joshua did it. Notice chapter four verse ten. For the priests which bear the ark stood in the midst of Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua. And the people hasted and passed over. And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests in the presence of the people. Oh, thank God. What Moses couldn't do, Joshua did. Or had I better rephrase it? What Moses couldn't do, that God did through Joshua. Now look again, if you will, at chapter eight, verses thirty to thirty five. The second great objective. It was a very important objective, and Moses had twice made mention of it in Deuteronomy chapter, uh, eleven, brief mention of it, and then later on in Deuteronomy chapter twenty seven, m when all the detailed laws are finished, then the first big thing that Moses now repeats in Deuteronomy is that they are to go up to Mount Gerizim and Ebil, build an altar, set up stones, write out the law on the plaster, get the people assembled, put the Levites here and the Levites there. And as the blessings of the law are pronounced by the Levites on all who keep the law, the people at large are to emit a thunderous Sunderous. Amen. amen. That's establishing God's law. And when the Levites read the curses of the law to fall on the heads of those who break the law, then the people are to pronounce with equal thunder. Amen. The establishment of the law in Canaan. And now let's r- read how it was done. This is chapter eight, verse thirty. Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses. And here come all the details which Joshua fulfilled punctiliously. They wrote, says the end of verse thirty two, on the stones a copy of the law of Moses. Now look at the end of thirty three. As Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded that they should bless the people of Israel first of all. Afterward, he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the assembly of Israel. Marvelous triumph. Second objective achieved. Moses commanded it. He couldn't do it. But what Moses couldn't do, God through Joshua did. Now I shall have a difficulty at this juncture, restraining you from thinking. If I point out to you that what Moses couldn't do, that God did through Joshua, I couldn't, if I tried, stop you thinking of a famous verse in the Epistle to the Romans. What the law could not do. How does it go on, my brother? And it was weak through the flesh. Yes. What happened? Yes. Yes. Yes, through his son. God sending his son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, with all the curse of that law heaped upon him. That the righteous requirement of the law shall be fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And I'm not going to try and stop you thinking it. For this is sheer gospel. This is what Joshua did, or what God did through Joshua. Third objective, let's watch how it is, uh, told us. Let's look at chapter eleven, verse twelve. And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and he smote them with the edge of the sword and utterly destroyed them, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded. Look at verse fifteen. As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses. Aha, and then again in verse twenty: For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that he might utterly destroy them, and that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse twenty three, so Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord spoke unto Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes, and the land had rest from war. What Moses couldn't do, Joshua did. So, as promised, let me pause now and take your questions, criticisms where necessary, and further contributions. Ah, someone over here somewhere. And yet he tells us that Joshua didn't take them into their rest. Very pertinent observation, sir. No, if Joshua had given them rest, the psalmist in the later psalm would not have later spoken of another rest. That is true. How would you, uh, uh, explain that apparent difference? Well, it occurs to me that perhaps, uh, in Joshua they were actually operating under the Mosaic covenant, Yes. who also promised them the land, um, building upon the foundation of the Abrahamic covenant, but promising it to them on the basis of law, on the basis of works, in order, as you find in these sections, to gain faith, that it could not be achieved through work. Mm-hmm. That's right. Yes. Very, very good observation, sir, that the law came in beside, as Paul would say. Uh, and Paul deals in that chapter three that we were studying this morning, why God brought in the law of Moses as a temporary, uh, provision until the promised seed should come. So the law had a function, a temporary function. The law was added for the sake of transgressions until the promised seed should come. That is the promised seed promised to Abraham. That is Christ. The law was a temporary provision. I nearly said a parenthesis. And when Christ came, another order was instituted. Yes, that is true. Would you allow me to also to suggest that there was a sense in which Joshua didn't give them rest? Because Hebrews four quotes God as saying, they shall not enter into my rest. And the writer inquires what God means when he talks about entering his rest. They shall not enter my rest. He says that promise of entering God's rest was not fulfilled even when Joshua did his very best. Well, that was a rest way beyond the literal rest in Canaan. It is God's rest, the works of which were fulfilled from the very creation of the world. God's rest. But thank you for raising a question, because another thing that we must face in reading the book of Joshua are the apparent, they are only apparent, but apparent contradictions. One lands, one verse says, the land had rest from war. The verse we have read, for instance, in eleven verse twelve. You only have to turn a page or two, and they have to fight. Caleb fighting, taking Hebron, and some of the others of the nation having to fight for their inheritance. How does the one passage say the land had rest from war, when almost the very next, uh, chapter will tell you that they still had to fight? Yes, Keith. Is this an example of the Semitic way of storytelling, that you tell it one way and then go back in some detail retelling it another way? Yes, yes. Embroider that a little bit, Keith. You see it also in Genesis chapter one. it gives you a creation account, and then in chapter two comes back and gives you another creation account with further detail on man. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So same that the same seems to happen in Egypt too. That's right. That is very definitely a Hebrew way of talking. We shall find it in the, uh, in the chapter, for instance, chapter ten. They were to... they attacked the forces besieging Gibeon. Uh, the Canaanite army fled. They were to mop them all up before they got back into their cities. So they mopped them all up. Oh. There weren't any left, but the later verse says, but yes, some of them escaped into their cities, you see. So when you read that they, they got them all, they mopped them all up, you must read it in its context. It's a natural way of talking, they virtually the lot went, but there were some that escaped. You see, we must be prepared for those apparent conflicts, but as Keith says, it's a Hebrew way of telling you a story. And the second thing to notice about the way the author tells the story, if you notice in chapter uh eleven, it says Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord spake unto Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribe, and the land had rest from war. Wait a minute. He took all the land. What then is chapter thirteen saying when the Lord comes to Joshua and says, you're now very old, and there remain as very much of the land still to be possessed. Hello, there's a man got there, comment. That, yes. Yes. Mm-hmm. That's right. Well, that's right, and the land itself would, uh, get out of hand, with weeds and things and wild animals and this, that, and the other, so he wasn't going to give them all at once. So when it says he gave all the land to, as he spoke to Joshua, it must be understood in that general context. Mm-hmm. Hello? Could it also be understood this way, that he took the land that is militarily subdued, but to take possession even in thirty one, is a different story than keeping a land. Wow. Yes, that is another, eh, very important, uh, uh, thing to notice. When it says of Joshua many times he took a city, it does not mean that he, uh, captured the city and then they inhabited it. He just defeated it in battle. Secondly, it doesn't mean that he destroyed the city. Modern archaeologists have often complained at the record in Joshua of Israel's entry into the land. And they point out that, uh, there is very little evidence of these cities being burned at that time, and therefore they think that the record is inexact and unhistorical. What they have overlooked is the fact that the phrase he took a city doesn't mean that he burned it and destroyed it. He captured it. He put its king to death. Very often they put the citizens to death. But of course, there were those that as- escaped. But he didn't burn the city, he just left it and had to go fighting other cities and went all around the country, north, uh, south and then north. You'll see. He didn't burn. In the Northern Confederacy, it is explicitly said that he burnt Hatzor. It's a very big city standing on a mound, but not others. And when the army of Joshua had passed by and gone to fight some other city, and it was a long while in being done, some years maybe, inhabitants that had escaped would have come back to the cities. Hence, when the tribes went in, they had to fight to get possession of many of the cities in their territory, because in the intervening, uh, months and years, a lot of the Canaanites had come back again. And another thing to be observed is when the Hebrew tells us in verse twenty three of chapter eleven, Joshua took the land and gave it as an inheritance unto Israel, and so forth. That should not be understood to mean that there and then and on the spot he gave the land to Israel. The rest of the Joshua will tell us it happened rather differently, you'll see. This is looking at the whole thing and looking towards the end of it, and the end result was that the people got the land, but not immediately. Yes? Sir. I believe there'd also be a spiritual application, even as the Lord Jesus defeated Satan and sin and death and broke all that power, yet the practical outworking of that remains and continues to this day. Excellent observation, sir. Yes, excellent observation. In principle, Christ has broken the power of Satan, destroyed him, put out of action him that has the power of death. Because the great victory has been won over death. That doesn't mean that Satan is now out of action completely, does it? He comes around as a roaring lion. And in our work for God, we wrestle against principalities, powers, mights, and dominions. That is a very important and practical lesson to draw from this book of Judges, surely. You will see. We see in that the Berg mentioned a parallel with what we find in the New Testament book of Ephesians, where we can draw into spiritual blessings through the work that Christ has done Yeah. in the heavens. Yes. And yet at the same time, in a season six, we have a battle with spiritual wickedness. That is absolutely so, sir. And you see, the point of my, uh, uh, remarks yesterday about s- the book having significance at different levels applies to that. Because, yes, we are, uh, we've gone through Jordan. We died with Christ, eh, to use now New Testament, uh, language. We're buried with Christ. We are raised with Christ. We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. But there's a tremendous amount of fighting to do. And yet, and yet, and yet, and yet. Because the power of death for a believer has been broken. one Peter will tell you that God has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. So in a future sense, we shall be one day in that glorious inheritance, and already we may be certain of it, you'll see. And our certainty is based on the fact, not of our fighting this time, but on Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension, yes? Both are true. Mm-hmm. This is the first time that, uh, he heard of somebody making a copy of, uh, the book of the law, making a transcription, the first official transcription of the book of Moses. Oh yes, yes, that's very interesting. They were, uh, making a transcription onto the, um, uh, stones. Some people say on the standing stones on Mount Ebal and Griitsum, some say on the stones of the altar that were plastered, yes. My second question is, uh, the third question was the last, no mercy was to show Yes. in battle, even with the women and children and pregnant ladies and all with, uh, and what happened and how they treated them? That means Yes, that's right. And we have it down, sir, as for open discussion, God willing, on Thursday morning. How do we as Christians answer those who tell us that Israel's invasion of Canaan and the execution of men, women, and children in the name of God. How do we answer those who say that that is no more than an Islamic jihad and holy war, and that it contradicts the teachings of Christ, that we are to love our enemies and not promote his kingdom by violence? That is true. We were going to discuss it. Be looking forward to hearing you, from you, sir. Let me George, I don't know if I understood your question right in the transcription. Moses did write the law in Exodus twenty four four in the book of the covenant. Did I misunderstand you or? First time on stone, other than God. But the book of Deuteronomy is a restatement of the entire law. All that Moses has informed on the Torah restated in the Bible. Mm-hmm. And it is an interesting, historically true, to observe the covenant at Sinai, then in Moses' farewell speeches on the plains of Moab, he renews the covenant, and Joshua, in his farewell address, holds the people to the covenant. That is a predominant theme. But may I just revert, because our time is now up, I revert to the crossing of Jordan. You'll see. If we look at those three objectives, and we consider that each one had a prominent obstacle in the way, and thirdly, that God did a, a very big miracle on each occasion to deal with the obstacle, then of course the obstacle in the second section, Jericho and Ai, and the obstacle in the third section, the kings, were obstacles put there by men. But the obstacle the first time presented by Jordan was not put there by men. That's put there by Mother Nature. And it is the law of nature that if you, uh, go face downwards in water and get muddled up with a lot of reeds, you die. And in the end, unless the Lord comes, we all die. Now, if you'll allow me to transpose the lesson from the basic historical to the general and spiritual, what's the good of talking about an inheritance reserved in heaven if the big obstacle, which is death, is not overcome. It's all moonshine. If that obstacle hasn't been overcome. That is surely the point of Peter's remark in one Peter that we quoted. Let's quote it again. He has begotten us again unto a living hope, the hope of the glorious inheritance reserved for us in heaven. He's begotten us again to that living hope. How? Yes, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is the vast first miracle needed to be done and achieved before there could be hope for us in an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fades not away, reserved in heaven for us. Thank God for the resurrection, the bodily resurrection of Christ. Yeah, hallelujah, what a savior. Why don't we sing it now? Our time is up, so why don't we sing it? Hallelujah, what a savior.