Joshua 6: Jericho Taken and Destroyed
Joshua 7: The Sin of Achan and Its Punishment
Joshua 8: Ai Captured by a Stratagem and Destroyed / Joshua Renews the Covenant
It would be a good idea to listen to what the Lord has said. Also, sit turns out Moses is the perfect role model for anyone who wishes to be a charismatic leader among the Israelites. After all, there was no one like him before and there will be no one like him after.
Jericho Taken and Destroyed: Joshua 6
The good news: the Israelites have holed the residents of Jericho within the fortified city. The bad news: the residents of Jericho are all behind an impenetrable wall. Fortunately, the Lord has handed Jericho over to the Israelites - and they will win it in a unique way. The Lord tells Joshya that the warriors should march the perimeter of the city once a day for six days, accompanied by priests bearing the ark and seven trumpets made of rams' horns. On the seventh day the priests will blast the horns and all the people will shout, causing the walls of the city to come down so that the people can attack.
The Israelites do this, and on the seventh day take all of the inhabitants of the city except for Rahab, who helped out the Israelite spies in Joshua 2. Before the trumpets are blown, however, Joshua commands the people to not take anything that shall go into the treasury of the Lord: silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron.
The people take the city, killing every living thing: "men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys. And of course, Rahab is spared by the very spies that she saved. The Israelites then burn the city, completely removing any trace of it. Joshua recites a short oath/poem cursing anyone who tries to rebuild the city.
The chapter ends on a high note: "So the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land" (Josh. 6.27).
The Sin of Achan and Its Punishment Joshua 7
This first sentence of this chapter starts us off on a low note, in direct contrast to the last line of the previous chapter. The Israelites - all the Israelites - are said to have broken faith with the Lord in regard to devoted things. This breaking of faith can be traced back to one individual: Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah. He took some of the devoted things, and Israel suffers the anger of the Lord because of it. This information is privy to the reader only - and sets up a dramatic irony with the story that follows.
Joshua sends men to spy out the land of Ai. The men return with a report that Israel will need only two or three thousand to conquer the land. Three thousand men go, and are routed. Thirty-six Israelites are killed as they flee from the men of Ai. Now the Israelites' hearts melt and turn to water.
Joshua exhibits the traditional signs of mourning: he tears his clothes and falls on his face to the ground. He and the elders put dust on their heads. Then Joshua laments in a manner very similar to the Israelites as they complained in the wilderness:
Ah! Lord God! Why have you brought this people across the Jordan at all, to hand us over to the Amorites so as to destroy us? Would that we had been content to settle beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned their backs to their enemies! The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?"...Joshua's a bit of a worrier, eh? He has lost 36 men in a battle that he should have won, but his thoughts turn to the utter destruction of the Israelites. His fear, in fact, is directed at God. Rather than wondering whether Israel has done any wrong, Joshua assumes God is inadequate in protecting his people - just as the generation in the wilderness assumed God was inadequate in providing for them.
(Josh. 7-9)
The Lord command Joshua to stand up and informs him that Israel was defeated in battle because they have "transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them" by taking the things that were to be devoted to the Lord. This causes the Israelites to have great fear before their enemies. The Lord warns "I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you." The Lord then instructs Joshua on how to rectify the situation. The people are to sanctify themselves and come forward tribe by tribe. The Lord will choose a tribe, and from that tribe a clan, and from that clan a household, and from that household an individual. That individual is to be burned with all his possessions for transgressing the covenant of the Lord.
Sure enough, the next day Achan son of Carmi (household) son of Zabdi (family) son of Zerah (clan) is chosen from among the people. Joshua admits his transgression, and reveals that he has buried in his tent a beautiful mantle, two hundred shekels of silver, and a fifty-shekel bar of gold. Joshua sends messengers to the tent to verify. When this is found to be true, Achan is stoned to death - perhaps along with his family; the bible is not specific. Achan is to bring out all his possessions, livestock, and family, and "all Israel stoned him to death; they burned them with fire, cast stones on them, and raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. So who was it?
In any case, the stoning and burning is enough that the Lord turns away from his burning anger.
Ai Captured by a Stratagem and Destroyed: Joshua 8.1-29
The Israelites take Ai by a clever stratagem - but only after being told by the Lord that the city has been delivered into their hands. Israel breaks itself into groups: one croup (30,000 men in one tradition and 5,000 in another) waits in ambush to the west of Ai, while the other men along with Joshua remain in the valley to the north. The king of Ai attacks the group to the north, and when the Israelites make like they are being beaten and flee, the residents of Ai pour out of the city to pursue them. The Israelites that were waiting in ambush attack and burn the city while the men of Ai are fighting. Soon the men of Ai are surrounded by Israelites, and every one of them is killed, except for the king. The entire population of Ai - 12,000 people - dies that day. The king is hung on a tree and buried under a great heap of stones at the gates of the city.
Joshua Renews the Covenant: Joshua 8.30-35
Joshua builds on Mount Ebal the "altar of unhewn stones, on which no iron tool has been used" as the Lord had commanded Moses to write in the book of the law. Joshua is further connected with Moses in his next action: Joshua writes on stones a copy of the law of Moses. The people of Israel then stand in two formations between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and the ark passes before them, carried by the priests, "as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.
Afterwards Joshua reads the book of the law to the entire congregation, which has been perfectly copied from Moses' commands. This too reveals the striking parallels between Joshua as leader and Moses as leader.
One exception though: whereas Moses had a staff (befitting of a shepherd) that was able to guide and perform miracles, Joshua's object of leadership is a sword.
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