Jan 1stDevotion Joshua 6:1-27 Those Who Trust Are Not Disappointed Part 2

Joshua 6:1-27 – Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.  2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”  6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” 7 And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.” 8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” 11 So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.  12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.  15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”  20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.  22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.  24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.  26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”  27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

Joshua 2:8-21 “Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.  12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”  14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”  15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”  17 Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. 20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”  21 “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”  So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

Rahab showed that a treaty with the Israelites was possible, but the people of Jericho did not try to negotiate a treaty with the Israelites.  Instead they trusted in their own means, their own plans and so they perished thinking they could trust in their own plans and resist God.  Isn’t that still the problem with non-believers even to our day?

Rahab lived in a terrified city.  She, like the rest of the residents of Jericho, were terrified at what was coming.  They had heard of the miraculous showing of God’s power in the parting of the Red Sea and the defeat of the two previous cities that had fallen to Israel.  In her words “When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”  (V11)

The residents of Jericho may have tried to convince themselves that they could resist God but it was a sham.  After all they were not terrified because they didn’t know the truth.  Yes they knew it.  Even though they didn’t follow the Lord God they knew of Him and that He could not be resisted.  They had heard of His power.  The people of Jericho did not fear for no reason as the Word reveals.  In their hearts they were terrified, whether they would admit it or not.  The peace in one’s heart, or the lack of it, is manifest for all to see.  False peace calms no heart.

Rahab submitted to the inevitable and so she was saved.  She made a peace agreement with the spies and so was saved.  She had acknowledged God and that there was none above Him.  She submitted herself to God and only asked that she and her family would be saved and as a result, she and they were.  It is the same for every person today.  Submit to God and be saved.  Resist God, fight against Him, and perish.  Salvation is through Jesus as planned by God, there is no other way. (Acts 4:12)  Rahab submitted and she and her family were saved.  Today many people choose to resist God and their loved ones follow them.  These people will perish and they drag their loved ones with them.

God appoints people ahead of time.  And those He appoints He has prepared.  God foreknew Rahab ahead of time.  He placed her in His will.  He prepared her to be a part of His eternal plan. (Hosea 2:23)  She had not lived a Godly life.  She had lived among an ungodly people.  Yet God who foreknew her preordained her to receive His eternal grace. (Romans 8:29)   She submitted to God, she helped the Israelites, she trusted God to be merciful and she obtained His mercy.  (Romans 10:13)

She not only received mercy from God but in her trusting God her sins were forgiven.  She was not only forgiven by God but He made His people to accept this former prostitute and she lived among them.  She not only lived among them but she married one of them.  And she not only married one of them but she became a part of the lineage of their Savior Jesus who saves all who come to Him in humble submission.  So the prostitute who lived amongst the enemies of God’s people and was saved from them to the grace from God that she was preordained to receive from Him, she was accepted by His people and she became an ancestor of Jesus. (Matthew 1:5)

The people that Rahab lived with did not submit to God, but against the overwhelming majority, Rahab did.  Like the majority of people that now live and reject God, we submit to Him.  She yielded to God and trusted Him to save her, and He did.  Just as today all those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.  In being saved, we who love Jesus will also become part of His family.  And so we understand that those who resist the plan of God are perishing, if they persist.  Yield to God and be accepted, saved, eternally become part of His family and live in peace with Him forever.  And, on a day ahead, He will acknowledge all who stand for Him and love Him, just as He did Rahab.  May we all be as Rahab was, forgiven sinners who are saved by His grace.  May we all receive the peace treaty from God, the Savior Jesus Christ.  Give up our plans for ourselves and choose His plans for us.  It turns out better that way.  Praise God who loves us so greatly.  Praise God!

Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!

Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.

Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.