ALL THE GOOD PROMISES
The Lord Fights
Joshua 6-12
GRAB THEIR ATTENTION
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character of all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” So says Richard Dawkins in his 2006 NYT Bestseller, The God Delusion. In the same book Dawkins argued that the conquest of Canaan amounted to nothing more than an “ethnic cleansing” in which “bloodthirsty massacres” were carried out with “xenophobic relish.” Joshua’s destruction of Jericho is “morally indistinguishable from Hitler’s invasion of Poland, or Saddam Hussein’s massacres of the Kurds and the Marsh Arabs.” And, for this reason, according to Dawkins, religion is the “root of all evil.”
Is Dawkins right? I will be the first to admit that the Bible is not a book that keeps all of our pleasant emotions intact. If you want a religion that will pacify all of your cultural and moral sensibilities, Christianity is not for you. In Deuteronomy, God commanded the conquest of Canaan and the destruction of the Canaanite people. Here in Joshua 6-12 we see the people of God obey that command. It’s not reading for the faint of heart. But, I do not believe an honest reading of Joshua will lead us to believe that God is a “bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser.” Instead, I believe the book of Joshua and the conquest of Canaan tells the surprising story of God’s mercy and wrath.
RAISE THE NEED, SIGNPOSTS, STATE THE DESTINATION
I want you to see that if you read Joshua God is showing you his surprising mercy. And I want you to see that if you think of God as merciful if you reach Joshua, he will show you his surprising wrath. And I want to propose to you that both are necessary to understanding God. It will do you no good to have a God who is only merciful. That God is only syrupy sentimentality. And of course, a God who only destroys would be evil. You cannot understand the God of the Bible apart from both his mercy and his wrath, and you cannot set one against the other. If you see him only as a God of mercy, you’ll never understand who he is. If you him only as a God of wrath, you won’t have a complete picture.
As we continue through Joshua, today we cover chapters 6-12. We won’t read all 7 of those chapters, so I’ll summarize them here, and then we’ll look more closely at several passages. You can find Joshua 6 on page 181 of the pew Bibles. You’ll be helped to follow along and we’ll look at several passages closely today. Church, as we study these chapters, we’ll see that the one true God is a God of both mercy and wrath. We’ll see:
First, the surprising mercy of a wrathful God.
Second, the surprising wrath of a merciful God.
Finally, the surprise of wrath absorbed.
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
If you’re looking down at Joshua 6, you’ll notice the end of chapter 5. The Lord has appeared to Joshua as this mysterious “commander of the army of the Lord.” I believe this God the Son appearing in a human for: so, a pre-incarnate Christ. I believe this because Joshua bows down in worship of this person. So, the Lord encourages Joshua with his presence on the eve of the conquest of Canaan. Chapter 6, therefore, is a description of the fall of Jericho. Jericho was a large, fortified garrison. It was primarily an army installation of the Canaanite people. The children of Israel walk around the wall, Jericho falls, and Rahab is spared.
Chapter 7 records another battle at the city of Ai, but this time, because there is disobedience within the camp of Israel, they are defeated. The disobedience is found out to be in the home of a man named Achan. The children of Israel correct the disobedience by putting Achan and his family to death, and in chapter 8 they go back to the city and this time are successful. The chapter concludes with Joshua renewing the Mosaic Covenant with the people.
Chapter 9 is the story of a group of Canaanites who deceive Israel by claiming they are a people from far away. They strike a deal with Israel to avoid war and destruction. From this point on the pace of the narrative speeds up. Chapter 10 summarizes all the battles that take place in the southern campaign of the conquest. Chapter 11 summarizes the northern campaign, and Chapter 12 is really just a list of the various kings that Israel defeated in the entire conquest.
1. THE SURPRISING MERCY OF A WRATHFUL GOD (Joshua 6)
Joshua 6 begins: Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.
The children of Israel have cross the Jordan and are beginning to obey the command which God gave through Moses in Deuteronomy 20:16 “But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction.”
So, here is the Lord, coming in his wrath to the Canaanites. God is going to use the nation of Israel as an instrument of judgment on an entire culture. It’s crucial to understand this: the Canaanites were not innocent, peaceful people. Rather, they were a culture of depravity, engaged in human and child sacrifice, temple prostitution, and other kinds of demonic evil. In other words, their entire culture was given over to evil. And, God is coming against them in his wrath. God’s wrath is his hatred of evil, typically expressed in his willed response to punish evil. God doesn’t run the universe by a system of impersonal “natural laws” that are somehow independent of him. He is a personal God. Evil is an affront to his person. Therefore, as you read the Bible, you see that God’s wrath is not so much an emotion or angry frame of mind. It’s his settled opposition of God’s holiness (his moral perfection) against evil.
Throughout the Bible his wrath comes in various ways both in this life and the next: through pestilence, death, exile, the destruction of cities, the hardening of hearts, and even the cutting of of God’s own people when they fall into idolatry. Scripture speaks of the final judgment as a day of wrath for those who run from God. This is why 1 Thessalonians 1:9 says that Jesus Christ is the one who delivers us “from the wrath to come.” And church, as much as the doctrine of God’s wrath may not suit modern sensibilities; as much as it may not be a pleasant doctrine to sinful people, we dare not lose the doctrine of God’s wrath. Here’s why: If we ever hope to find a solution to evil in this world, the only hope we have is if there is a God outside of this world who is perfect and therefore can perfectly judge evil. If there isn’t an objective source of good and judge of evil, then not only can we not pursue justice from a human perspective, we can’t even define it. So, we must, on the one hand affirm that God hates sin and will punish sinners.
Yet, over and over, the Bible tells us that this God of wrath is surprisingly patient and merciful. Throughout history we see the Lord is eager to defer his anger, to forgive those who turn from sin, and to show mercy. And such is the case even with the Canaanites. For instance, last week in Joshua 5 we saw that God readily showed mercy to a woman named Rahab and her family. They heard that God was coming in his wrath, through the Israelite invasion, and they sought refuge.
Not only that, but centuries before, when God promised the land to Abraham, he said, “I’m not going to give you the land yet, Abraham. Your descendants are going to be held in Egypt for 400 years, because the sin of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Gen. 15:16) What’s he saying? He’s saying, I’m going to use your descendants as an instrument of judgment—but I’m going to be patient. I’m going to give them centuries to repent. In the course of history we see moments when God’s wrath breaks out against a people or culture. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah, or Egypt. And people ask, “Why does God judge people like this?” But I submit to you a better question is this: “When we see how sinful, how evil, how abusive, how destructive human beings can be, why is it that God shows mercy to any?
2 Peter 3:9 tells us why God delays judgment: “9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
Friends, the surprise of Joshua is not that God judges evil, is that he is patient and allows evil men and women time to repent. He offers them mercy. He withholds what they deserve. This is the surprising mercy of a wrathful God. But let’s also see this:
2. THE SURPRISING WRATH OF A MERCIFUL GOD (Joshua 7/8)
By the end of Joshua 6, the battle of Jericho is a complete victory. The people march around the city for 7 days. They blow horns and shot for victory and the walls come tumbling down. The Lord, through Joshua gives a clear command to the people: don’t take any spoils from the city for themselves. Israel is not fighting the people for riches. They are being used as an instrument of judgment. This isn’t a war for wealth.
Yet in Joshua 7:1 we’re told: But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.
When Israel’s army went in to face the next city, Ai, they ae routed in defeat. Joshua cries out to the Lord in verse 6: Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us?
To which the Lord replies in verse 10:
“Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings… v. 12 [and] I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.
So all the tribes of Israel come to Joshua, one-by-one, and they narrow it down. The tribe of Judah. The clan of the Zerahites. The family of Zabdi. The household of Achan. And as judgment, the family of Achan is placed under the same ban for destruction as the Canaanites. The entire family is stoned to death and then burned with fire.
Here we see the surprising wrath of a merciful God. Now, keep in mind everything we’ve said thus far. God has shown incredible mercy. The Canaanites have sacrificed babies on pagan altars, and yet God has shown mercy to Rahab. He has pardoned and forgiven the unforgiveable. Yet, Achan and his family are judged for taking a few items that were devoted to destruction. It seems disproportionate. It doesn’t seem fair. One man’s sin turns away God’s presence from a whole people. Why, on the one a hand will God let the baby killers off the hook, but turn around an condemn someone who took a hand full of war spoils?
Friend, the severity of this judgment is an index to the enormity of even the slightest sin. And any offense we take at God’s judgments demonstrates how little we honor him as God and understand how little we understand the offense of our sin against his holiness, against his goodness, and even against his love and mercy. Jesus himself said in Matthew 5:29: 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. Do you see what Jesus says? Treat sin like gangrene. You have to cut it out. You can’t make friends with it. You can’t parlay with it. Church, this is why every week in our worship service we confess our sins, and then read of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Have you sought God’s mercy? Do you see yourself not as someone who needs a second chance, but as someone who needs God’s forgiveness?
And here in Joshua we see both God’s surprising mercy and wrath. Both! Now listen… if you are someone who thinks of God only as wrathful… you have to look at Rahab. Look at the centuries of his patience. And, if you see God only as merciful, only as loving, if you deny his wrath against sin, look at Achan. If you see him only as a God of mercy, you won’t understand who he is. If you only see him as a wrathful God, you won’t have a complete picture.
The God of the Bible challenges our conceptions. He break out of all our categories. He will not allow us to reduce him, or set his attributes against one another. He comes to us in Joshua and says, you can have all of me, or none of me. You can walk away from me, or you can submit yourself to me, but I will not be divided. In the case of the Canaanites, God shows us that he will pardon those we deem unpardonable. He forgives the unforgivable. And in the case of Achan, God shows us that his law is more demanding, more exacting than we can ever afford. Which leads us to our final point:
3. THE SURPRISE OF WRATH ABSORBED
You say, on the one hand, how can God forgive the unforgivable, and yet condemn the guy who takes a few trinkets? If you think God’s wrath against Achan was surprising or shocking, there’s an even bigger shock in the Bible. If you think God’s wrath against Achan is shocking, it gets worse. You see, you may think that Achan’s sin was a triffle, but he was guilty. He clearly bork God’s law. You may ask, “Why would God punish Achan for something so small,” but a better question would be, “Why would God punish the only innocent person who ever lived?”
This is the real surprise of the entire Bible. Because Jesus Christ, the Son of God was perfectly righteous. His life was nothing but obedience. The scandal of the Bible is not that God condemns guilty men, it’s that he condemned the only righteous man who ever lived. Why? And 1 John 4:10 gives us the answer: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Propitiation means that which absorbs and therefore turns away wrath. On the cross, Jesus Christ absorbed the furious wrath of God against sin—but not his own. He absorbed the destruction that our sin had earned so that the unforgiveable could be forgiven.
God, because he loves sinners, removes his own wrath against them by pouring out on his Son who received it as a willing sacrifice. And here’s what this means: it means that God is utterly inflexible in his holiness.
If you ever doubt his hatred of sin, look at the cross of Jesus Christ. He was unwilling to release sinners even for his only and dearest Son without the severest payment. On the one hand the cross shows us that we are more sinful than we like to believe.
Yet, on the other hand, the cross tells us that we are more loved, pardoned, and forgiven, than we dare to hope. If you ever doubt the love of God, look at the cross. The storm of God’s wrath is exhausted. The cup of his anger is drained to the dregs. The wrath is absorbed so all that remains is God’s favor and welcome.
Guilty I stand before Thy face;
On me I feel Thy wrath abide:
’Tis just the sentence should take place,
’Tis just—but O, Thy Son hath died!
For me I now believe He died!
He made my every crime His own,
Fully for me He satisfied:
Father, well pleased behold Thy Son.