Joshua: Courage Over Fear
A Sermon Series
“The Hearts of the People Must Be Right Before Moving Forward”
Joshua 5:1-15
Introduction
Joshua is reading and studying the writings of Moses – he is meditating on it, talking about it, and he is seeking to do it. Rahab is waiting with the red cord tied to her window, for the army to arrive at Jericho. The people have miraculously crossed over the Jordan River, and now the peoples of the land are aware of their presence.
Prayer
The Setting of the Covenants (vv. 1)
As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.
For the Cananites, these events were horrifying. Over two million people were gathered across the Jordan in the Jordan valley. They clearly were preparing to attack them, but there was the Jordan river in between and it was at flood stage, so they had a little time to prepare for the attach. But then came news that they Jordan River had miraculously stopped flowing and the people crossed over “on dry ground.”
From a worldly wisdom, this would be the time to attach. Leveraging the miraculous crossing, having received the report from the spies about how the people’s hearts were melted – attack now while their spirits were shaken.
“But the wisdom of God is not like human wisdom, and it was far more important that the hearts of the people be right with God than that they gain a momentary military advantage.”[1]
The hearts of God’s people have to be right before any campaigns can be successful.
The Covenant of Circumcision – Identifying (vv. 2-7)
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.”[2] 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.1 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.
It does not make strategic sense to march your army right into the teeth of a lion’s head and then completely incapacitate your entire army for “as long as it took them to heal.” But God says, “make flints knives,” so Joshua did it.
“Circumcision was the mark of the covenant; it signified membership in the covenant people of Israel, just as baptism signifies membership in the covenant community of the church today.”[3] It was how God showed that these were His people, and it was also a human response or action taken to show that they are, or want to be apart of God’s people. It was an outward sign of an inward condition.
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Exodus 4:24 God has called Moses to lead God’s people out of slavery and Egypt, he has given multiple excuses, but now he is on the way back to Egypt to do it, “At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
The family consists of Moses, his wife Zipporah, and their two sons. As the family is making their way from Midian to Egypt, they stop at an inn. While they are at the inn, something happens to Moses that the family comes to realize is a life threatening and is directly coming from the Lord. “However, the real question is not how God assaulted Moses but why?”[4]
Those that had wanted to kill Moses in Egypt are dead, but now God is his enemy? God had just given him another round of instructions for what to do when he had gathered the elders of Israel together (vv. 21-23). Moses was the one who God appeared to in the burning bush, and called to lead God’s people out of Egypt – why now, would God seek to kill him?
This passage has many challenges to interpretation – but there is one big idea that anyone seeking to understand what is going on here sees. Circumcision is important to God at this moment in history.
Genesis 17:9-14 helps us to understand what is happening, “And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Moses had not circumcised his son – he had not kept the covenant. So, Zipporah grabs a stone knife and circumcises the son Gershom, and then places the piece of skin at Moses’ feet. When Moses gives excuse after excuse God patiently gives answers and seeks to reassure Moses, “I will be with you.” But when Moses neglects to circumcise his son, that becomes a matter of life and death. By Moses not following the word of God given to Abraham he “shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Moses almost lost his life because he did not follow the Word of God.
God’s people are identified as His people by the following of His law.
Moses has incurred the wrath of God upon his life because he didn’t pay attention to what was required. What are we supposed to get from this passage? We have to pay attention as we enter into the presence of God (Moses and Joshua removing their sandals), and we have to pay attention as we enter into service of God (Moses as he travels to Egypt and Joshua before going into battle). We ignore God’s Word to our peril.
Zipporah takes the bloody piece of skin and smears it across Moses’ foot. Later, God’s people will take blood from a lamb and smear it across their doorposts. These are blood signs that they are seeking to follow God’s commands (circumcision and lamb’s blood). Jesus’ blood would be smeared across an old rugged cross. What must God’s people do to be saved from the angel of death? What must Moses do to be saved from God’s wrath? What does Joshua have to do be victorious in the Promised Land? Blood has to be shed in a way that God accepts.
“Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with his people. Within the covenant there is grace and life. Outside the covenant are judgement and death. Moses by not circumcising his son is acting like an Egyptian, rather than a member of God’s covenant people.”[5] These two groups go all the way through human history and on which side of the line you are standing on is eternally important – on one side will be eternal grace and life, and on the other will be eternal judgement and death.
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There is a fundamental life lesson that Moses needs to learn before he leads God’s people. God has established a blood covenant with His people. “First, God showed Moses the wages of sin by placing him under the wrath of God. But then God’s deadly wrath was turned aside – or “propitiated,” by the blood of circumcision. Blood is mentioned specifically because of a sacrifice and thereby identified with it. It was not a full sacrifice, but it represented Gershom’s entire person, offered in Moses’ place. Moses was saved from God’s wrath by the shed blood of a substitute.”[6]
Hebrews 9:22 “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
God is wanting to show His people how to be saved. This salvation story goes all throughout all of the Bible, but it includes the Abrahamic covenant – which Moses apparently ignored and failed to keep. Every human being is a sinner who stands under the wrath of God. The only way to be saved from eternal death is for God’s wrath to be turned aside, which can only be done through an act of blood.
By Jesus dying in our place, he turned aside the wrath of God against us. For the Israelites their covenant sign was circumcision – this is an act done to associate themselves with God and with His covenant. But what about Christians? How do we (today) show our association with God?
Colossians 2:11 “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” In the OT the covenant of association was circumcision and in the NT the covenant of association is baptism. But just like circumcision doesn’t make you a follower of God, getting wet in baptism doesn’t make you a Christian – it has always been and will always be a matter of the heart.
The Covenant of the Passover Meal – Remembering (vv. 8-12)
8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. 10 While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. 11 And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
(v. 9) “And so the name of that place is called Gilgal,” the word Gilgal means “rolling” but was rolling away? God explains it, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” The reproach was that they had not done what God said was to be done for those who wish to be called His people. An entire generation now are following the law. There is reproach from God when His people don’t follow His ways.
Then they celebrate the Passover; they remember the covenant that God has made with them, and how they are to live as His people. But they can’t celebrate the Seder meal (remembering how they had been slaves) until they had been circumcised (the God given way of identifying themselves as God’s people). God’s people were saved from slavery – they remember, as God’s people, how God had saved them.
And from that day forward “the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land.” God stops the manna and the quail – but how are about two million people going to eat? They are now in “the land flowing with milk and honey.” They would be expected to plant crops and follow God’s law regarding planting and harvesting.
Two principles come together – 1) God expects his people to have the right heart and 2) he will give you what you need to accomplish the task (a land flowing with milk and honey) but he expects you to the work (of conquering). The manna has stopped, if they don’t fight and move forward, they don’t eat.
We tend to think that what we do is the most important, but just as important as what we do, is who we are as a person. There are thousands of soldiers lined up to fight this battle – but God would rather have their hearts, more than their swords.
The Battle Will Always be the Lord’s (13-15)
13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
There are two clues to who “the commander of the army of the Lord” is: 1) “Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped” If it were an angel he would told him to stop worshipping him, so this being allowed Joshua to worship, which would only be right if it were God, and 2) ““Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy” This reminds us of Moses and his encounter with God at the burning bush where Moses is also told to take off his sandals (Ex. 3:5).
Notice the commander’s response to Joshua’s question, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” The commander says, “no” I am not for you, and I am not for your enemy – “I am here to lead God’s army. I have come” What is far more important than sides, is who does God identify as His own – who is fighting with Him.
God’s Plan Will Be Accomplished –
Pray that you can be apart of it.
Joshua and God’s army would be fighting together, but make not mistake who was leading (God has arrived and He is in charge) – Joshua and the people have to have the ability to discern God’s voice to know what to do. What you are on the inside, guides the actions you take on the outside – it gives you the ability to hear God’s voice.
2 Kings 6:17 Elisha’s helper woke up early one morning and when he looked up he was surrounded by enemy forces, and he was afraid, “Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
Matthew 26:552-3 when Judas has come to betray Jesus with a kiss, Peter draws his sword, then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”
God wants us to have eyes to see the bigger picture going on around us –
So God meets with Joshua and when Joshua asks, “What does my lord say to his servant?” He tells him that where he is standing is holy ground (take off your shoes). What makes is holy is the presence of God. Worship is appropriate, questions are tolerated (two swings and two misses) but shoes need to be removed. Then the commander tell him (chapter 6) the plan to conquer Jericho.
1) Identifying as God’s People (circumcision/baptism) 2) Following God’s Commands (The Passover Meal/The Lord’s Supper) 3) Worshipping and Receiving Instructions.
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[1] James Montgomery Boice, Joshua We Will Serve the Lord (Old Tappan, New Jersey; Fleming H. Revell Company, 1989) 57.
[2] For the effects of circumcision on an army see Gen. 34.
[3] Boice, 57.
[4] Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word, Exodus (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2015) 117.
[5] Chester, 49.
[6] Ryken, 119.
