7.25.26 – The Book of Joshua, Chapter 5

I am in Joshua chapter 5. The children of Israel are on the verge of entering the Promised Land. And you would think they should get their weapons ready and prepare to go in and take the people of Jericho. One of the things we need to know about Jericho is that Jericho is kind of like Kansas City, kind of like New York, kind of like Los Angeles. The walls were doubly thick. People actually lived within the walls—we see that with Rahab. It was an international city. It was considered the gateway to the Promised Land. It was the head of Canaan, and the word Jericho comes from the Hebrew word for the moon, Yareach, which they were known for—all their paganism centered around moon worship, which back in that day, every idolatrous practice fit underneath Jericho's walls.

So when God gets ready to attack Jericho, He gives them the means to be able to do it, which are exactly the opposite of the way you would attack a city. Instead of with great noise, it was great silence. Instead of just attack, it was march around the wall seven times with seven priests and seven trumpets, and on the seventh day—which is really significant. But that is for the next chapter.

In chapter 5, we find out that when it comes to our enemies—and this is something that I need to grow in, and I am sure that all of us need to grow in, every believer today needs to grow in—we often worry about the enemy, or we create things in our mind to make up enemies in our mind. But if I look at chapter 5, verse 1: "The Amorites, the Canaanites, who lived by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel until we were passed over, that their hearts melted, neither was their spirit in them anymore because of the children of Israel." You see, the enemy is scared out of their heebie-jeebies, and this is even before Israel got there.

But before the attack, something else has to happen. I mean, they are on the threshold of fulfilling the prophecy that was given to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 15, Genesis chapter 17, Genesis chapter 22. Yes, they are on the cusp of fulfilling it. But first, they are going to have to surrender. Surrender to what? Surrender to the spiritual transformation process of actually making yourself weak so that God can become strong, from 2 Corinthians chapter 12. There is a spiritual transformation.

So before these men go into battle, at the time of Passover, God says, "First things first, boys and girls. Boys, you need to be circumcised. Take the covenant sign and be circumcised." Now, what does that do to a man? It makes him incredibly weak. I mean, you cut on the private parts. That guy is going to take a little bit of time to do some healing. Oh my stars, how difficult and how challenging that is. Before rushing in, check your obedience. What does God want?

So the children of Israel, all of them, were circumcised. Yes, it made them weak; it did not make them battle-ready—or did it? So when they came up, and they were circumcised, verse 8: "And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp till they were whole." So that takes a little bit of time.

Verse 9: "The Lord said unto Joshua, 'This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off of you.' Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day." The word Gilgal in Hebrew means "to roll away," "to expose." It comes from the Hebrew word galut, which means "exile." That is important.

So when you get ready to move into the next chapter of life, when you are ready to take the next step, oh, there is the mindset that we say, "Well, I have got to do it this way and this way and this way." But God says, "Hold it. Check what I want you to do. Circumcise, keep the Passover." And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. Wow. So before they did anything in the Promised Land, it was time for them to be obedient to the Torah, to Passover.

And they did eat the old corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the selfsame day. Ah, the miracles of the wilderness are over. The water from the rock—it is over. No more Moses. No more enemy behind them; now the enemy is in front of them. Instead of the clothes not wearing out, they will. Instead of the food being provided—the bread from heaven—they have to go out and get it themselves. They are moving from a world of miracles to a world of partnership with God. Because the manna ceased after they had eaten of the old corn of the land. Neither had the children of Israel manna anymore, but they did eat the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

Well, the city of Jericho is about to fall down. Before they do, Joshua has an encounter with the angel of the Lord. And Joshua says, "OK, whose side are you on? Are you on our side or are you on the enemy's side?" And the angel of the Lord responds in the most unique way. He says in verse 14, "Neither. But as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him—here is the key—"What says my Lord to his servant?" What do You want me to do? Whatever You want me to do, I am going to do it.

And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, "Loose your shoe from off your foot, for the place whereon you stand is holy." And Joshua did so. When Moses had his burning bush incident, it was "take off your shoes" plural. And here it is just "take off your shoe" singular, which tells us that he is going to walk in holiness like Moses did, but yet he is going to identify with the people unlike Moses did.

So what is the purpose of me actually sharing Joshua chapter 5 with you today? Life is filled with all kinds of decisions, new chapters, moving forward in life. There is a natural, cultural way of doing things, and there is a way of just asking the Lord, saying, "What would You have me to do?" And He says, "First of all, be obedient to My feasts." That is number one. Number two, prepare yourself for them, which is what we are doing right now. We are in the month of July, and it is not going to be long—two months away, and we will come to Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets; Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonements; and the Feast of Tabernacles, the Fall Feasts. And then we will come to Hanukkah, and what a wonderful way to close out the year.

God says, "Before you move forward, make sure that you are lined up with Me. Do not do it the way that everybody else does." And that is what we see in chapter 6. The weapons that God chooses in verses 4 and 5 are exactly the opposite of what the world would say. Just take seven priests with seven trumpets on the seventh day, and you will go about the city seven times, and the priests will blow the trumpets, and then everybody is going to shout, and bingo, bango, bongo—the walls are going to come down. Is that not incredible? God always chooses the things that we do not choose. What an amazing reality.

So I wanted to encourage you today with some thoughts—some thoughts from Joshua chapter 5. As you sit down and reflect upon the chapter and you think about going forward and conquering the domain that God wants you to conquer, He lays out some pretty significant, straightforward guidelines. That is how I am praying that on today, you will be able to do exactly what the Lord wants you to do. "What says my Lord to a servant?" Take off your shoe. 

Alan