Challenges From Joshua’s Conquests

Feature 1 – April 2022 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Challenges From Joshua’s Conquests

Why Study Joshua’s Conquests Of Canaan?
God promised the land of Canaan to the children of Israel before they even set out on their 40-year journey from Egypt to it. Speaking to Moses, “The Lord said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt … So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites’” (Ex. 3:7-8 NKJV ).

Israel’s national history provides many pictures of the Christian life. For example, “a land flowing with milk and honey” is one of the illustrations of “spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3), which Paul gave as a reason for blessing and praising God. But specifically, Joshua’s conquest to gain the promised inheritance shows what Christians must do to practically possess their spiritual blessings: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (6:12). Joshua’s conquests had to do with Israel fighting the inhabitants of Canaan, gaining victories, dispossessing the people and taking over their lands, towns and cities. By contrast, Christians “stand” victorious in the victory of Christ and engage in the spiritual battles of faith using the “whole armor of God” (v.13) to conquer their spiritual enemies.*

The book of Joshua, which records the battles for Canaan, divides into three main parts:

1. Israel’s entrance into Canaan (1:1–5:15),
2. The conquest of Canaan (6:1–12:24),
3. The division of Canaan (13:1–24:33).

Entering Canaan
When Joshua and the nation of Israel arrived at the Jordan, the river was overflowing its banks (3:15). Israel was able to get to the other side through the miraculous intervention of God: the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the river and “all Israel crossed over on dry ground” (v.17).

Israel camped at Gilgal (4:19). There they reinstituted the rite of circumcision, celebrated the Passover and ate the produce of the land (5:7-11). Joshua then went to survey the imposing city of Jericho. Suddenly he was found alone with a Man with a sword in His hand, who declared Himself to be the “Commander of the army of the LORD” (v.14). Joshua and Israel went forward in the knowledge that the Lord would be fighting for them!

This is the starting point for Christian warfare: to realize the Lord Jesus is the “Captain of [our] salvation” (Heb. 2:10). “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10). In our daily spiritual conflicts we go in the strength of Christ, our glorified Head, who we know by faith is at God’s right hand in the heavenly places (see 1:20-21).

Joshua’s Conquest Of Canaan
Jericho. Joshua’s victory at Jericho is well-known. That its “wall fell down flat” (Josh. 6:20) illustrates the fact that Christians can overcome every spiritual opposition against them. “We do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our [Christian] warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5). Obedience by faith in God’s word was the key to Joshua’s first victory.

The next battle, at Ai with its accompanying defeat, further illustrates this fact. Joshua had briefed his troops about Jericho: “You [must], by all means abstain from the accursed things” (Josh. 6:18). However, the first verse of Joshua 7 says, “But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan … took of the accursed things.” Defeat and the death of 36 warriors at Ai were followed by dismay in the camp at Gilgal (v.5). The LORD revealed the guilt of Achan. About his booty he confessed, “I saw … I coveted … [I] took … [I hid]” (v.21). He had not “put on the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6:11), thus allowing sin to take control of him.

The spiritual hosts of wickedness use sin as a weapon against believers. Strength to overcome the indwelling sin of covetousness is found by seeking the heavenly treasures in Christ and setting our affections on them and not on earthly things (see Col. 3:1-10).

Ai And The Gibeonites. Ai was easily defeated once Achan had been executed in the Valley of Achor (read Josh. 7–8). The book of the law of Moses was then read and established by Joshua upon Mounts Gerizim and Ebal. Thereafter, a military campaign was planned for the south of Canaan, where various armies had joined forces against Israel. However, the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and the rulers of Israel even before the southern campaign got started. These inhabitants of Gibeon “worked craftily” (Josh. 9:4) and came to the camp at Gilgal pretending to be from a far country. They established a covenant with Israel, who “did not ask counsel of the LORD” (v.14). Therefore Israel did not discover until it was too late that the Gibeonites were actually near neighbors (v.16).

These Gibeonites illustrate for Christians “the wiles of the Devil” (Eph. 6:11) and reveal the very devious tactics of this enemy of the people of God. Again, Israel failed to put on the whole armor of God – perhaps dependent prayer was the missing piece on that occasion.

Southern Canaan. A battle followed in the south of Canaan, standing out as a most remarkable event in history. The LORD routed the five kings of the Amorites in front of Israel, who had just marched all night, a distance of about 20 miles from the camp at Gilgal. The battle raged all day, but as evening approached the fleeing confederacy thought they could retreat to their fortified cities for the night. Joshua realized the urgency of the situation and made a unique request to the LORD to prolong the day, “Sun, stand still over Gibeon” (Josh. 10:12). Note the poignancy of the divine record: “So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies … So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel” (vv.13-14). Joshua then went forward “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10) and completely conquered the remainder of the south of Canaan.

The return of the whole army to Gilgal from Gibeon and then again at the end of the southern campaign (Josh. 10:15,43) is significant. Gilgal was the place where the children of Israel accepted, by the reintroduction of circumcision, that they were finally cut off from Egypt. Their return reminded them that the LORD had “rolled away the reproach of Egypt” (5:9) and their success was not through their military prowess but by God’s power.

Christians should have “no confidence in the flesh” (see Phil. 3:3). Perhaps this humble attitude is most at risk immediately following some success in our spiritual warfare. It is easy to be deceived by the flesh into thinking, “I won the battle,” when it was really won by the Lord! Self-judgment is a constant requirement “to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6:13).

Northern Canaan. Joshua finally conquered Canaan after a long campaign for the North. “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war” (Josh. 11:23). Chapter 12 concludes the conquests with the list of kings defeated by Israel under Moses on the east side of Jordan and the list of kings defeated by Israel in Canaan under Joshua’s leadership.

Conclusion
As I consider Joshua’s conquests, it is necessary that I face the practical challenges of God’s Word. First, when I read “the LORD said … ‘There remains very much land yet to be possessed’” (13:1), I should ask myself how many of the rich spiritual blessings I am missing out on through lack of diligence in the things of God. Would Joshua have to admonish me as he did Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the LORDd God of your fathers has given you?” (18:3).

Second, when I read in Joshua 22 that two and a half tribes returned to their inheritance on the eastern side of Jordan, the challenge is: Am I satisfied with a comfortable life in this world, which is without any conflict in the heavenly realms? Rather than going forth to acquire what God has provided, am I reluctant to fight for my inheritance in the mountain country as the house of Joseph was (Josh. 17:14-18)? May God’s Word challenge each one of us.

ENDNOTE
* “Here is a justifiable simplification. Canaan, in the earthly history of Joshua, corresponds to heavenly places in the spiritual teaching of Ephesians. The grapes of Eshcol, and the lovely fruits of Canaan, correspond to the spiritual blessings of Ephesians. The fighting to possess Canaan in Joshua corresponds to the Christians’ holy war in Ephesians 6:10-18” (J. S. Blackburn, Canaan Possessed, page 63, Scripture Truth Publications, Crewe, UK, 2020).

By David Anderson