Slices
Prepare
Reflect on those who may have given you words of encouragement this past week. Spend time giving thanks for them, and their words of hope and life.
Bible passage
Ai destroyed
8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.’
3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4 with these orders: ‘Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, “They are running away from us as they did before.” So when we flee from them, 7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. 8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.’
9 Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai – but Joshua spent that night with the people.
10 Early the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai. 11 The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12 Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So the soldiers took up their positions – with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled towards the wilderness. 16 All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. 17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.
Explore
How easy do you find it to pick yourself up after you have had a setback? At such times we can feel flat and lack courage to move forward again. Consider then the encouragement Joshua must have felt when he heard the Lord’s promise of a fresh start for Israel after their previous defeat at Ai (v 1). Having reconsecrated themselves to the Lord, Israel can move forward in their conquest of the land.
The Lord leads his people into battle but notice the differences from the battle of Jericho. That had taken place in open daylight (6:15). This time there is a covert night operation (vs 3,9,13). With Jericho, the Lord was at the forefront (5:13–15). Here, God uses Joshua’s resourcefulness and strategic thinking (vs 12,13).
The key to every victory for Israel (and us) is a willingness to trust in the Lord and follow his instructions (vs 7,8). Only then can his promises be fulfilled.
Respond
In a book on leadership, Derek Tidball writes that ‘a temporary reversal does not spell an irreversible failure’.* What reversals are you currently facing? Pray for courage to keep on trusting God and not to fear.
*Derek Tidball, Lead Like Joshua: Lessons for Today, IVP, 2018, p88
Deeper Bible study
‘“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” who was, and is, and is to come.’1
Attack on Ai, take two: Action! Joshua receives reassurance from God and then a battle plan. God tells Joshua, ‘I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people’ etc (v 1), speaking in the past tense of a future event to assure Joshua of the certainty of victory. This time, Joshua avoided the mistakes of the earlier failed campaign. He sought the Lord’s help and followed the Lord’s plan. And, of course, the sin which had blighted the people’s relationship with God had been dealt with and God’s anger removed. The whole army was not really needed, but just as the whole community had been affected by Achan’s sin, so the whole army was restored to a right relationship with God and went out together.
We need to avoid the temptation to see Joshua 8 as a well-researched history textbook. The writer probably compiled this account from more than one ancient source. The difficulty of reconciling verses 3–8 and 10–13 or how the 5,000 relate to the 30,000 would not have bothered him and should not distract us from the main message of the chapter: namely, that Israel achieved a great victory because they obeyed God and he was with them.
The passage sheds light on what we might call ‘God’s part’ and ‘our part’. Joshua and the army had to fight the battle. They had to implement the military strategy but, ultimately, they won because God delivered the enemy into their hands and they were doing what God had told them to. The way God works has not changed. ‘God’s sovereignty and our responsibility are not polar opposites … but different sides of the same spiritual reality.’2 Our gifts and abilities come from God, but we are responsible for how we use what God has given us.
Reflect on the relationship between God’s part and ours. How do we balance using our gifts and abilities against waiting for God’s leading?
1 Rev 4:8 2 Jackman, 2014, p89
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Samuel 16,17; Psalm 48
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray that God will continue to help all our development workers to build strong relationships with churches and other partners and work with them to put together really effective mission activities for children and young people.
