Joshua 7-8

How do you fix an Achan heart?; Joshua’s Interrupted Prayer; Hebrew words for “sin;” Consecrated Saints yet accursed; Consecrate

qadash; heap tel; Mount Ebal, Gerizim; Egyptian scarab; Shechem

Eric L Peterman With Karl & Margaret Poppelreiter — at Mendocino Headlands State Park.

Joshua 7Pastor Phil Winfield called his Joshua

7 sermon, “How to fix an Achan heart?”

Joshua 7:6, “tore his clothes”?

• NAU Joshua 7:6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.

• NAU Joshua 7:8 "O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies?

• NAU Joshua 23:10 "One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you.

Joshua 7:10, Interrupted Prayer

• NAU Joshua 7:10 So the LORD said to Joshua, "Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face?

• We call Daniel's prayer in chapter 9 “the interrupted prayer” but I often think that this one should be called that.

• How would you like to have your prayer interest to buy God when He says, “Get up, what are you doing?”

• Daniel got the most blessed prophecy, Joshua’s seems more like a rebuke.

Joshua 7:11, “sinned”• NAU Joshua 7:11 "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My

covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things.

• Some have said that Joshua chapter 7 is where you should start a word study of “sin”

• The Nelson Study Bible, page 365, says “Hebrew has several words for sin. Sinned means "missing the mark" of a standard set by God; transgressed means “crossing a boundary" set by God. This verse highlights the seriousness Achan’s offense, attributed here to the nation Israel, by referring to the sin in various ways: Israel had (1) Sinned, (2) transgressed the Lords covenant, (3) taken some of the accursed things, (4) stolen, (5) deceived, and (6) put the things among their own stuff. The quick, staccato accumulation of these verbs accentuates the severity of the action since it was essentially one act…”

Joshua 7:12, All Israel Is Accursed

• NAU Joshua 7:12 "Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst.

• NAU 1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. 2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

• NAU Revelation 3:1 "To the angel of the church in Sardis write:… 16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

Joshua 7:12, An Achan Heart?

• So, I repeat the question “How do we fix an Achan heart?”

• KJV Joshua 7:12 …destroy the accursed from among you.

• Find the sins in your life and stone them with stones; and burn “…them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.” Joshua 7:25

Joshua 7:13, Consecrate qadash (Holy)

• NAU Joshua 7:13 "Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the LORD, the God of Israel, has said, "There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst."

• 06942, qadash {kaw-dash'} Origin:…6944• Meaning: 1) to consecrate, sanctify, prepare,

dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate…

• Last time we looked at the word “holy” 6944 (qodesh);

Joshua 7:13, Consecrate (Holy)

• NAU Joshua 7:13 "Rise up! Consecrate… [imperative] ’Consecrate yourselves…

• Joshua has only 3 uses of the word “holy”, and only 3 uses of the word “consecrate”. NAU

• Leviticus 11:44 …Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy…

• This word, “holy,” is profoundly important in Leviticus. The requirements to have communion with the infinitely holy God has only one way, holiness, (John14:6, Isaiah 6:5, 59:2). NAU uses the word “holy” in Leviticus 76 X’s

• NAU has no NT uses of the word “consecrate”

Joshua 7:24, All Israel Is Accursed

• NAU Joshua 7:24 Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.

• A family like this could easily span 5 generations. • What is the penalty for sin? • That tells me that they all sinned. Highly unlikely that he

carried home those treasures and buried them in the floor of his tent without any family members being aware of it.

Joshua 7:24Age of Accountability

• A KJV’ism is NKJ Numbers 26:11 Nevertheless the children of Korah did not die.

• NAU Genesis 18:25 "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"

• Jeremiah 2:34, 19:4, Romans 5:11-17 • Romans 3:20… by the law is the knowledge of sin.• Romans 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world:

but sin is not imputed when there is no law…)

Joshua 8

Joshua 8:1, “Do not fear”

• NAU Joshua 8:1 Now the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

• I am sure that they all needed some encouragement after the sin of Achan.

• So God repeats is prior encouragement to Joshua, showing that He was with them, and that the offense have been dealt with. God is fair and just.

Joshua 8:1 Exodus 14:13, Do Not Fear!

• Exodus 14:13 But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.

Joshua 8:2, The Spoil

• NAU Joshua 8:2 "You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”

• Ironically, after the sin of Achan, God now allows the Israelites to plunder the spoil of Ai.

• If only we would be patient, and truly wait on the Lord. He wants the best for us.

Gibeon BibleOverview Rose

Joshua 8:8-11 • NAU Joshua 8:9 So Joshua sent

them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.

• NAU Joshua 8:11 Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city, and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.

Joshua 8:19, Burn It With Fire

• NAU Joshua 8:19 The men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city [Ai] and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire.

• Joshua only burned three cities;• Joshua 6:24 They burned the city [Jericho]

with fire…• NAU Joshua 11:11 …And he burned Hazor

with fire.

Joshua 8:26Did Not Withdraw His Hand

• NAU Joshua 8:26 For Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

• NAU Exodus 17:11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. 13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

• NAU 2 Kings 13:18 Then he said, "Take the arrows," and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground," and he struck it three times and stopped.

Joshua 8:28, A Heap Forever

• NAU Joshua 8:28 So Joshua burned Ai [probably means ruin] and made it a heap [tel] forever, a desolation until this day.

• 08510… tel {tale} • Meaning: 1) mound, heap, heap of ruins 1a)

mound (of ruin-heap of city) 1b) mound, hill (of elevation on which city stood) …

Joshua 8:30, Mount Ebal

• NAU Joshua 8:30 Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal,

• Ebal is only used 8 X’s in NAU, and only 5 of those uses are about Mount Ebal

• ISBE, 2855 Ebal, Mount,… : Rises North of the vale of Shechem, over against Mt. Gerizim on the South. The mountain (Arabic el-Iclamiyeh) reaches a height of 1,402 ft. above the floor of the valley, and 3,077 ft. above the level of the Mediterranean…

Joshua 8:28, Of Joshua and Jesus, Remarkable New Discoveries at Ai, Bible And Spade, Fall 2014, by Bryant G. Wood, photos by Michael C. Luddeni

• Page 95, "on the last day of the Spring 2013 season we made a rare find-an Egyptian scarab in a secure archaeological context… The 2013 came from a 2 inch layer of compacted soil lying on bedrock, along with four sherds of 15th century B.C. (Late bronze I) pottery. One of the sherds can be confidently dated to the second half of the 15th century BC,… All four sherds were refired, indicating that they had been heated to a high temperature subsequent to their manufacture, most likely in the burning of Ai recorded in Joshua 8:28.”

•"Initial research indicates that the scarab was made in Egypt in the reign of Amenhotep II (1455–1418 BC), thus confirming the late 15th century BC date for the destruction of Maqatir based on the pottery.… Because of the significance of the scarab in supporting the identification of Maqatir as Ai, it was named by Christianity Today as the number one find in biblical archaeology in 2013."

• "Left, the scarab found in 2013 depicting a falcon – headed sphinx with ankh (life) sign in front and a neter (god) sign above. Right, the scarab found in 2014 featuring eight sets of three concentric circles, and the ankh (life)and nb (lord) signs in the center

Deuteronomy 27:4= Joshua 8:30 • NAU Joshua 8:30 Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the

God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel.

• NAU Deuteronomy 27:4 "So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up on Mount Ebal, these stones, as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime.

Joshua 8:33mount gerizim and mount ebal

• NAU Joshua 8:33 All Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had given command at first to bless the people of Israel.

• Deuteronomy 11:29 "It shall come about, when the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

• Judges 9:7

Joshua 8:33Mt Ebal/Gerizim • NAU Joshua 8:33 All Israel

with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had given command at first to bless the people of Israel.

The City of Shechem

• Its name means “shoulder,” probably because the city was built mainly on the slope, or shoulder, of Mount Ebal.

• ThomasNelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary

• Some scholars say it means “saddleback.” A saddleback is curved in 2 directions. A place of decision.

The City of Shechem

• 17. MOUNT GERIZIM AND MOUNT EBAL These two mountains overlook the ancient city of Shechem, where Joseph’s bones were buried (see Josh. 24:32)

Joshua 17:2, Shechem

• Today's fabulous photo by Zev Rothkoff brings the Bible to life! A modern-day shepherd is overlooking the 4,000 year old city of Shechem, where the biblical Joseph is buried.

So, in conclusion;

Hermeneutics

THE END

Hermeneutics

DVD by ABR on Ai, Joshua 7-8

• Show DVD by ABR on Ai, Joshua 7-8• “Victory At Ai: Archaeology And Joshua 7-8”• Presented by: Dr. Bryant Wood

DVD, http://www.biblearchaeology.org/bookstore/product.aspx?id=72• The Second Great Battle of Jericho tells a story that affects every Christian today. For decades,

secular archaeologists have regularly announced discoveries that seem to contradict the Bible. A prime example of this was a conclusion by renowned archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, who stated publicly that the Biblical account of the conquest of Jericho could not possibly be factual.

• This eye-opening video shows how Biblical Archaeology uncovered the true story about the battle for Jericho. To experience the detective-like quest of Biblical Archaeology, viewers will join an actual dig in Israel to begin a search for Joshua's Ai at Khirbet el-Maqatir with Dr. Bryant Wood and Gary Byers, both staff members of ABR. Become part of the fascinating process of selecting the site, preparing for the excavation, and peeling back the layers of time to reveal the clues to ancient history.

• Watching the The Second Great Battle of Jericho will help Christians realize how and why the Bible is under attack today like never before! This faith-building presentation will encourage viewers not to be discouraged when they hear claims that contradict the Bible. It shows clearly how Biblical Archaeology is providing solid answers to both defend and promote the truth of God’s Word.

• Excellent for those interested in a more in-depth study of archaeology, Jericho and Ai.• Total time: 53 minutes, AVM Presentations• Copyright 1997

Ai Dig Pictures

• Digging at Khirbet el-Maqatir 2015: Week One• http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2015/0

6/07/Digging-at-Khirbet-el-Maqatir-2015-Week-One.aspx