THE RECORD OF
Y'hoshua
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THE RECORD OFY'hoshua
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CHAPTER 11. Now what took place after the death of Moshe, servant of YHWH, was [that] YHWH spoke to Y'hoshua the son of Nun--the one who waited on Moshe--saying,Who waited on Moshe: his assistant, a menial servant, one who contributes to what another is doing. Instead of saying, "Now I'm in charge and we're going to do things the right way!", Y'hoshua describes himself humbly as one who was a small part of what Moshe was about. It is not about himself, or even about Moshe, but about taking Israel home.2. "Moshe My servant is dead, so get up and cross over this Yarden--you and this whole people--into the Land that I am giving to them (to the sons of Israel).
My servant: Only Avraham, Iyov, Kalev, David, and a very few others are directly called YHWH's servants. Only the very faithful merit this title. So this is a true compliment from YHWH. Cross over: This Y'hoshua has been in the Land before--ahead of the rest--just as Yahshua has gone on before us into the Kingdom. But he did not cross the Yarden to get there the first time; he came up the mountain ridge from the south instead. This Yarden (See photo): This phraseology indicates that there is another people who at another time will cross over with another Y'hoshua. I am giving: While for a moment Moshe took credit for what YHWH was doing (Num. 20:10)--and paid a high price for it--he was really only a vessel YHWH used, and YHWH is reminding Y'hoshua from the start that the same is true of him. In this sense, Moshe symbolizes the Torah and Y'hoshua, of course, represents the later Yahshua. Both Torah and Yahshua were the means YHWH used. While they both deserve immense respect since they are above us in most respects, and as our king Yahshua deserves a different type of "worship", neither is to be treated as on the same level as YHWH, for that is idolatry. One would not eat the pot because the spaghetti sauce it held tasted so delicious, would he? Yahshua showed us how to accept YHWH's offer of the Torah by His own example.3. "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given to you, as I told Moshe. Your …to you: plural in both cases. YHWH does not give us what we only hope for or dream about, or even what we "proclaim the blood" over, but what we walk out. He offers us the Kingdom, but if we do not walk into it, we will never have it. If we do not invest our lives in it now, we will never receive anything from Him in its fullness. When we take the first step, He will come out to meet us. The more we walk, the more we receive. The more we are merciful, the more we will obtain mercy. The more we allow ourselves to be corrected, the better we will be able to see to correct others. Only as we walk into the sea will He prove that it was He who called us to step out in faith.4. "From the uninhabited land and this Levanon and as far as the great river (the River Ferath), the whole land of the Chittites and as far as the Great Sea of the Sunset will become your territory. This Levanon: or possibly, this great snow-capped range, since the term generically means "whitest". This was just before Passover and at that time, prior to the great 6-degree polar shift of 701 B.C.E., the climate at this latitude was cooler than it is today, and there very well might have been a snow cover on Mt. Nevo, where Israel was camped at this time. Great River: At that time the climate may have made the Ferath (Euphrates) an even larger river than it is today. In any case, that it is called "this" Levanon indicates that there is another. And indeed, we can see a significance on the level of the meanings of all these places: the uninhabited land (wilderness) means "place of the word". Levanon means "great whiteness". Ferath is from a word meaning "fruitful". Chittites means "terrorizers". If we walk out what YHWH has given us from His word, we will become very pure and bear much fruit--and dispossess all terrorists! He will not make us pure by magic, if we are not walking in purity, nor will He make us wiser if we do not use the wisdom He has already given. The Holy Spirit cannot recall to our memory things form YHWH's Word that we never learned.5. "Not a man will be able to keep himself standing before you all the days of your life! As I was with Moshe, I will be with you. I will not let you drop nor will I abandon you. Could there be any promise that could instill courage more effectively than this? As I was with: Moshe was a prophet (Deut. 18:15), a priest of a different order than Aharon (having set up and dedicated the Tabernacle, offering the inauguratory sacrifices), and king (Deut. 33:4-5),6. "Keep your grip strong and [your heart] firm, because you will enable this people to receive as an inheritance the land that I swore to their ancestors that I would give them. Because YHWH's grip on us is firm (v. 5), He can ask us to hold on tightly as well. Firm: or persistent. Enable: or cause. Why would this be such a difficult task? Wouldn't they be eager to inherit? Yet the terms said they had to work for it, and this they did not desire. That work included killing even the youngest of the nations that had reached their limit of sin, and they may not have been so sure they wanted the Land that badly. Yahshua, too, said He had come to bring a sword rather than peace, at first. He would divide us from some of our family members, from our possessions, from our own goals. He in one sense inherited the Kingdom for us; we cannot go in without Him, but we also cannot send Him in to do all the work for us, instead of us. They would have plenty of excuses, so Y'hoshua had to be ready to overcome these.7. "Just keep your grip strong and be very determined to be careful to act in accordance with the whole instruction about which My servant Moshe gave you orders. Do not turn from it to the right hand or the left, in order that you may cause [them] to act prudently in every [place] you go. Act prudently: or prosper, have success, act wisely, have insight, walk circumspectly--that is, be aware of every angle on what you are doing and what may be coming at you from any direction. Compare Ephesians 5:15.8. "This legal document of the Torah must not recede from your mouth, but you must muse on it by day and by night, in order that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that it written in it, because then you will advance your march and then you will cause [them] to act prudently. From your mouth: Even a kosher diet can teach us much and remind us of the rest of His commandments. Most kosher animals chew the cud, and this is a picture of what He is talking about here: digesting what we can, absorbing what we can understand into our lifestyles, then coming back to the parts we could not comprehend the first time. With His word in our mouths, there is no room for gossip, useless communication (Eph. 4:29), or the names of pagan deities. (Ex. 23:13) Muse: think and meditate about, with the additional aspect of speaking about it. This way it does not just remain in one person's mind, but inspires others within Israel to act on it as well. Advance your march: or, make progress in your journey, make your way successful, prosperous, or profitable. There are many definitions of prosperity that the Church has claimed, but which are not warranted by Scripture. The kind of progress YHWH promises is Israel spreading out and taking over His Land again. Other kinds of prosperity often stand in the way.9. "Haven't I [already] given you the order? Keep your grip strong and [your heart] firm! Do not be in dread or lose your composure, because YHWH your Elohim is [the One who goes] with you in every [place] you go." The order: Not a suggestion. We need to "take the bull by the horns." It will indeed buck, because the Kingdom is the biggest threat to the power that men currently hold, but He leaves us no excuse to let go. The easiest way for it to impede our progress is to make us comfortable where we are. This was why so few returned from Babylon with Nekhemyah. They were respected and placed in high positions there, so life was much easier than in a land full of the ruins of war. The "other abundant" life is what keeps us from the inheritance YHWH intends for us. It keeps us wrapped up in responsibilities on the Sabbath, or even with morals that remind us to take care of our children before matters of the Kingdom. But YHWH can take better care of them than we can, and His reputation is at stake if He does not, so who will we trust? We need to learn to recognize the traps. Christianity, too, deters us by telling us that the Torah is dangerous, but the consequences of not stepping out are more frightening than the risks of doing so. Be in dread: or, regard with awe (the armies of the nations he is being sent to conquer). Lose your composure: literally, "go to pieces" or be shattered. We must not be intimidated by anything but YHWH. Only He is worthy to make our jaws drop. Go: literally, walk (as in v. 7 also). 10. Then Y'hoshua gave orders to the officers of the people, saying, Officers: from a word meaning to write or record. We cannot enter the Land without leaders. No matter how badly we have been "burned" before, Israel cannot travel without order, with everyone doing what is right in his own eyes. YHWH will not tolerate a chaotic mess in His Land. This fact behooves us to raise up leaders who will be faithful to love the sheep more than wealth, which has made so many people's ministry go "to the dogs".11. "Pass through the inside of the camp and give orders to the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves because within another three days you are crossing over this Yarden to go in to seize the Land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you to take possession of.'" One of the things it means to enter the Land is to be able to "pack your own lunch"--to get what we need out of YHWH's Word, because the manna will stop falling, and there will be no one else to feed us. We will need to interact with the Land itself. This is a new level of responsibility. Will we starve without the manna, or will we be able to hunt out our own provision in a kosher manner? Remember what the five virgins who had prepared enough oil said to those who had not: "Go buy your own!" (Mat. 25:1ff) Being unprepared, they missed the appointment with the Bridegroom.12. Then Y'hoshua spoke to the Re'uvenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Menashe, saying, 13. "Remember the matter about which Moshe, the servant of YHWH, gave you orders, saying, 'YHWH your Elohim is letting you settle down, and has granted you this land. Granted: permitted, since they had asked for it. (Deut. 3:19) The servant of YHWH: thus, as His representative, to be treated with the same respect YHWH is given.14. "'Your wives, your toddlers, and your livestock may remain on the land that Moshe granted you across the Yarden, but you must cross over armed in front of your brothers--all the brave men of the army--and you must help them Armed: literally, by fives. This is apparently the order in which they were arranged to be ready for battle. Mystically, it is obvious that the way to be armed is to know the five books of Moshe inside and out.15. "'until YHWH has given rest to your brothers as [He has] to you, and they too have taken possession of the Land that YHWH your Elohim is assigning to them. Then you may come back to the land you have taken possession of, and occupy it, as Moshe the servant of YHWH permitted you on the other side of the Yarden, where the sun rises." 16. And they answered Y'hoshua, saying, "All that you have commanded us, we will do, and we will go anywhere you may send us. 17. "In anything about which we listened to Moshe, we will listen to you in the same way; only may YHWH your Elohim be with you just as He has been with Moshe. Like the Bereans (Acts 17), though they were eager, they only promised to be loyal to Y'hoshua as long as YHWH was with him--that is, as long as he remained loyal to YHWH. The moment it became about Y'hoshua, they would not be there for him, because Moshe was not about Moshe but about YHWH. And finally, they echo what YHWH has already told Y'hoshua three times:18. "Any man who resists your mouth and will not listen to your words, for all that you may command him, may be killed. Just keep your grip strong and [your heart] firm!" CHAPTER 21. So Y'hoshua the son of Nun [began by] quietly sending two men on foot from the Acacias, saying, "Go, observe the Land and Y'rikho." So they went and entered the house of a woman--a prostitute--and her name was Rahav. And they lodged there.Men: the LXX adds that they were young. Tha Acacias:They had been in this place before (Num. 25:1), and had ended up being persuaded to worship Moavite elohim. The name in Hebrew actually means "sticks", because the acacia is a tree largely made up of thorny twigs rather than something lumber can be obtained from. Yet the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabel of the Bread of the Faces, and the understructure of the brazen altar were all made of this wood. It would necessitate fitting together many carefully-planed pieces--a picture of Israel in unity. Alone, the pieces are nearly useless, together the performed an awesome function. The last time Israel was here, many chose to act as individuals, but this time they remained in unity. Observe: LXX, spy out. He may have only sent two, because only two of the twelve sent 38 years earlier (of which Y'hoshua himself was one) had given a favorable report, after there had been much publicity among the nation about their mission. Quietly: or secretly, not so much so that the enemies would not be as alert to their approach, as that Israel would not begin to fear because they thought Y'hoshua needed extra reassurance about the condition of the Land. This was a reconnaissance mission in order to know the best means to defeat the city, not to decide whether or not to do so. Y'rikho is an oasis town about four miles west of the Yarden River, and no more than two miles east of the edge of the Great Rift Valley. Rahav means "broad", hence the colloquial term for a prostitute, related also to the type of wall in which she had her home, termed a Broad Wall. Lodged: relaxed or lay down; also often a euphemistic term for having sexual relations. (Gen. 39:11, et al) Though it is a foolish thing to expose oneself to because of how easily it leads us into selfish indulgence and diverts us from higher priorities, the Torah never forbids men from visiting unmarried prostitutes, except when it is in the context of pagan religious worship, which was nevertheless very common. This may have been part of their ruse, and possibly the best place in their estimation to hear the gossip that would help them gauge the city's readiness for war. Or it may have been as result of the atmosphere of whoredom that hung over the location due to what took place the former time they had encamped there. (Num. 25:1) In any case, it turned out to be an appointment from YHWH.2. And the king of Y'rikho was told, "Look here! Men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the Land!" Search out: or explore. How would they know these were Israelites? By how they dressed, specifically their tzitziyoth. (Num. 15:38-39) Undoubtedly many of the peoples in this region had been watching this spectacle of a several-million strong war camp surrounding the Tabernacle from their hilltop watch-posts. The news about them got around. (v. 9ff)3. So the king of Y'rikho sent [word] to Rahav to say, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house! They have come to search out the whole Land!" 4. Now the woman had taken the two men and hidden them away. And she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had originated from. 5. "When the gate began to be shut at dark, the men went out. I don't know where the men have gone. Quickly, chase after them, because you can catch up with them!" She must have had some clout in this city and certainly a great deal of boldness to lie to her king. This is also indicated by the fact that the he did not send soldiers to storm the house, but only sent her a request to release the men. Again, this goes against modern Christian ethics, but both the writer to the Hebrews (11:31) and Yaaqov (James 2:25) commend her for both her faith and the works that evidenced it. She was even found worthy to be an ancestress of both King David and the Messiah. (Mat. 1:5) This may be one reason Yahshua was particularly patient with prostitutes and saw more potential in them than others did. She was not bearing false witness in court against her neighbors, and even the Renewed Covenant only commands us not to lie to one another--that is, among fellow Israelites (Colossians 3:9, nearly an exact quote of Lev. 19:11), though habitual liars will not inherit Yahshua's Kingdom because truthfulness is a characteristic of Israel. As in the Holocaust, there may be times when it is necessary to lie to those we judge as evil in order to save someone's life, as Rahav did here. YHWH judges us on based on whether we love our neighbors as ourselves, and protecting our innocent brothers is definitely one way to do that.6. (Now she had had them go up on the roof, and had concealed them with flax--the stalks that were arranged in order for herself on the roof.) Flax is used to spin thread to make linen. Stalks: Aramaic, loads, as if they had been delivered in bundles. The Hebrew term actually means "trees", and it may be a reference to bolts of linen. A house of prostitution would be expected to need a constant supply of clean sheets.7. So the men chased after them in the direction of the Yarden around the fords, and they shut the gate afterwards, when the pursuers hade gone out after them. Fords: They would not find the camp of Israel there, because YHWH would provide a special arrangement to have them cross the river at a place not normally used for crossing over, though it came to be called "the place of the crossing" (Beyth-Abarah) and Yochanan the Immerser would use this historical site as a visual aid in his message that it was time to repent (i.e., enter a new level of holiness, as the Yarden symbolized).8. Now [as for] them: before they lay down, she had come up to them on the roof, 9. and she had said to the men, "I have recognized that YHWH has given you the Land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the Land have gone soft because of your presence YHWH's fame had preceded them. It is clear that Israel was using His actual name and not a substitute when the Kanaanite spies overheard them speaking about Him! Gone soft: fainted or dissolved. Aramaic, shattered. They "had no fight left in them". They recognized that they were beaten before Israel even lifted a finger. The timing for the conquest of the Land was thus perfect.10. "because we have heard how YHWH dried up the water of the Reed Sea from in front of you as you were leaving Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Emorites who [were] across the Yarden--to Sikhon and to Og--how you devoted them to destruction. Devoted them to destruction: i.e., took no spoils. This would tell the people of the Land that it was for the purpose of justice and not plunder or expansionism that this people was on the move, and they knew they deserved the same, because four generations earlier, YHWH had emplaced Avraham there--not to mention Melkhitzedeq--to teach them the right way, and the Emorites in particular had allowed their "cup" of sins to fill up instead. (Gen. 15:16)11. "When we heard, our courage melted away, and spirit has not risen up again in [any] man because of your presence, because YHWH your Elohim--He is Elohim in the heavens above and the earth below! Courage: literally, heart (singular). Spirit: or vigor, breath; i.e., they were "breathless"! When Israel is gathered in YHWH's presence, it is obvious to everyone else that they cannot stand against it.12. "So now, please swear to me by YHWH that, since I have acted mercifully toward you, you will deal mercifully with my father's household, and give me a token of reliability, Token: the sign of a pledge.13. "and let my father and my mother, my brothers and my sisters live, along with all that is theirs, and that you will cause our souls to be recovered from death!" Recovered: snatched away, as if being plucked out of a fire already set.14. So the men told her, "Our soul in exchange for yours, to death! If you do not report this matter of ours, then it will be [the case that] when YHWH gives us the Land, we will deal with you in mercy and truthfulness." Aramaic, "Our lives are handed over in place of your lives to die." They were doing what Yahshua would later say, inquiring who was worthy (Mat. 10:11) Someone who bears witness to YHWH, even a prostitute, was therefore worthy of their consideration as a recipient for the glad news of the Kingdom. She has recognized who He is and that Israel is blessed by Him (v. 11), and has sided with Israel even against her own people. It seems she was waiting for someone to bring her into Israel. The fact that Israel was acting in unity (see note on v. 1) earned them allies even within the walled cities of the enemy!15. Then she let them down with a rope through the window, because her house was in the dug-out part of the wall; that is, she lived on the wall. It may have been common to lower garbage in baskets from the wall by night, and not attracted any attention. Paul's disciples used the same method with him. (Acts 9:23-25)16. And she told them, "Go onto the mountain [range] to avoid having the pursuers meet up with you, and stay hidden there three days until the pursuers return; then you can go your way." 17. And the men told her, "We will be exempt from [obligation to] this oath of yours which you have had us swear. 18. "Look! We are coming into the Land! You must tie this collection of scarlet thread into the window by which you let us down, and gather your father, your mother, your brothers, and all of your father's household to yourself in the house, There has to be a sign of redemption on her house, like the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt. Collection: the same as the word for "hope" in Hebrew, and the name of Israel's national anthem; Aramaic, band. As a three-fold cord is not easily broken (Qoheleth/Eccles.4:12), our hope is made up of many threads bound together and covered with the Blood of the Lamb. It was not a tiny single thread; it had to be something Israel could see when they arrived at the city. Our hope for the salvation of the nation is not only in Yahshua and YHWH, but also in one another. There have to be enough of us bound together to be noticeable, or YHWH may be released from the oath He made to us.19. "and if anyone should go abroad outside the doors of your house, his blood is on his own head, and we [will be held] innocent, but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood is on our head if a hand comes upon him. Like Noakh's Ark, there was refuge in only one place. (Compare Yochanan 14:6) They had to remain in the house (a picture of being part of the House of Israel), not out on their own. If they went back to being part of the people of Kanaan, they would be killed along with them. When Y'hoshua is on the border, only those bound together and under the Blood will be spared. The spies took responsibility to ensure that no one else in Israel would kill this family.20. "But if you report this matter of ours, then we will be exempt from the oath that you have made us swear." 21. And she said, "According to your words, so it [will be]." And she sent them off, and they left, and she tied the collection of scarlet in the window. She did not wait until the last minute to obey their condition, but moved into it right away, though she might have run the risk of someone asking what this thread was for, and exposing the fact that she had lied to the king. But she identified with Israel anyway, and was true to who she now was even if her countrymen said she could not.22. And they walked, and arrived at the mountain-range and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. Now the pursuers had searched along the whole road, but had not found them. 23. So both of the men turned back and came down from the mountain-range, and crossed over and came to Y'hoshua the son of Nun and recounted to Y'hoshua the son of Nun everything that had befallen them. 24. And they told Y'hoshua, "…because YHWH has given the whole Land into our hands, and all the inhabitants of the Land have even gone soft because of our presence!" They repaired the error of the previous generation by giving a unanimously-favorable report. The whole land: based on what the king 's messengers told Rahav, they deduced that the rest of the Kanaanites were just as fearful as those who inhabited Y'rikho. CHAPTER 31. And Y'hoshua had them rise early [in the morning] and set out from the Acacias, and they came as far as the Yarden--he and all the descendants of Israel--and they lodged there before crossing over.2. Then when they had reached the end of three days, the recording officials passed through the middle of the camp, Three days: the time Yonah was in the belly of the fish and that Yahshua was in the heart of the earth. It is thus symbolic of the need to die to self before we can move on into a higher degree of YHWH's presence. They also had an appointment about which they did not know, and had to wait for the right time even to cross the river.3. and gave the people orders, saying, "As you see the ark of the covenant of YHWH your Elohim and the cohanim of the Levites carrying it, then pull up stakes from your place and walk behind it. They had to travel light to be ready to break camp so quickly. We will be shaken up when His presence moves, because this is not yet our resting-place. But if the ark has not moved, we should not allow our fears or desires or other emotions to drag us in any direction. All Israel must set out together, remaining in His presence, rather than traveling as individuals who are merely seeking His "presents".4. "However, there must be a distance between you and it--about two thousand cubits by the measurement; you must not come any closer to it, in order that you may be familiar with the direction in which you are to walk, because you have not passed this way before." Two thousand cubits: about 3,000 feet or close to one kilometer. The only other place in Scripture that this measurement appears is the distance from the center of a Levitical city to the end of the first zone outside the city within which their animals were kept, but stopping short of where their crops grew. (Num. 35:1-5) The tradition of a "Sabbath Day's journey" (alluded to in the Renewed Covenant but not directly defined anywhere in Scripture) was based on this, for since their animals also rested on the Sabbath, they could go that far from the city for bodily necessities, but not as far as the place that would get their minds back on their daily work. The Levites were established as the example for all Israel, so what YHWH has established for them is to teach us. What this tells us is that when YHWH appears to be leading, it may be a test. We must not implement our interpretations of Scripture too quickly, but wait at least until the next Sabbath, where they can be presented to gathered Israel and our own blind spots tested against the pooled wisdom of others who know the Torah. There is wisdom in much counsel. You have not passed this way before: The Kingdom interrupts our routines. This is especially true of Efrayim, who, unlike Yehudah, has espoused traditions, customs, and holy days completely different from those prescribed by the Torah. These became a strange thing to us. (Hos. 8:12) Moving toward His Kingdom will certainly change our habits. We will worship on a different day, stop eating some foods or cutting our beards, change the way we dress, and fill the role of a kingdom of priests as we have never done before. So we must not be hasty, but watch closely to be sure it is really the covenant that is leading us and that it is really heading in a certain direction rather than just sidestepping an obstacle first. Also, walking too close to the ark can "burn" us if we are not those so designated by YHWH. (2 Shmu'el 6:6-7)5. Then Y'hoshua told the people, "Keep yourselves set apart, because tomorrow YHWH will do extraordinary things among you!" Keep…set aspart: Aramaic, prepare yourselves; compare Ex. 19:15 and Acts 1:4. Extraordinary things: wonders, things difficult or beyond your power. The converse is also axiomatic: If we set ourselves apart, He will be able to do wonders among us. He has appointed us to be a set-apart people, but if we remain in our other pursuits, it will not actually be true of us, just as someone appointed to a government post could not claim that as his title if he did not leave his other employer, move to the seat of his office, and start doing that job.6. And Y'hoshua spoke to the cohanim, saying, "Pick up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people." So they picked up the ark of the covenant and walked ahead of the people. 7. Then YHWH said to Y'hoshua, "This day I will make a breakthrough in causing you to be great in the eyes of all Israel, so that they will know that just as I was with Moshe, I will be with you. A breakthrough: Though the preparation Y'hoshua received as Moshe's apprentice, and the authority conferred openly on him by Moshe, should have been enough to establish his role as unquestioned leader, YHWH knew that most of this generation needed a more spectacular sign, so in His mercy He would give them one that would make Y'hoshua an "instant celebrity" in their eyes. This would also curb anyone's jealousy of his position before it had time to fester. This, more than the need to get the people across a rushing river, was the stated purpose for the miracle He was about to perform.8. "And you must give orders to the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, 'When you arrive at the edge of the waters of the Yarden, you must stand still in the Yarden.'" The constituted ruler of Israel has authority over the priesthood. (2 Kings 22:3-5)9. So Y'hoshua said to the descendants of Israel, "Come close and listen to the words of YHWH your Elohim!" If we do not draw near to YHWH, we may think we heard Him say something different from what He actually said.10. Then Y'hoshua said, "By this you will recognize that the living El is in your midst, and [know that] He will certainly cause the Kanaanites, the Chittites, the Chiwites, the Prizzites, the Girgashites, the Emorites, and the Y'vusites to be dispossessed before you: 11. "Watch! The ark of the covenant of the Master of the whole earth is passing on ahead of you into the Yarden. Watch: or behold. We would unmistakably discern YHWH's presence by seeing the event that was about to take place. The people had asked Y'hoshua to be sure YHWH was with him (1:17), so this would be their evidence.12. "So now, fetch for yourselves twelve men out of the tribes of Israel--one man per tribe. Y'hoshua does not say what these men are being selected for. He may not have even found out until YHWH told him in chapter 4. But because he was walking in the right order and on the right path, doing YHWH's will was becoming natural to him, and he knew something was coming up that had to do with these men even before YHWH gave him orders in this regard. As we follow YHWH's statutes we will be inclined to be in the right place. (Psalm 119:9-16)13. "And when the soles of the feet of the cohanim who are carrying the ark of YHWH, the Master of the whole earth, come to rest in the waters of the Yarden, the waters of the Yarden will be cut off from the waters coming down from up[stream], and they will stand still as one swaying pile. Coming down: related to the word Yarden. 14. And as it turned out, when the people set out from their tents to cross the Yarden, the cohanim [were] carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of the people, 15. and as those who were carrying the ark arrived at the Yarden, and the feet of the cohanim who were carrying the ark were plunged into the edge of the water (and the Yarden was full, over[flowing] both its banks the whole period of the harvest), As this was apparently not long before Passover, this may have been just after the rainy season of the late winter. YHWH set them up for an even greater miracle by bringing them at the time when crossing the river looked even less possible than usual. Today the Yarden is a very small river, but at that time the climate was much wetter, and the river has shifted its course with every earthquake, being directly over a fault line. Infrared satellite photos show that the river's course has been much different and the river much wider in times past. At this time there were probably rapids.16. the waters of the Yarden [coming] from up[stream] stood still; they rose up in one swaying pile far in the distance above Adam, the city that is beside Tzarthan, and those [waters] going down into the sea of the Aravah (the Salt Sea) stopped, being blocked off, and the people crossed over opposite Y'rikho. Adam ("red") may refer to the color of the soil on the banks there. Tzarthan means "their distress". Someone had to step into the unsafe situation first, so those who were expected to be closest to YHWH took the lead. If we do not risk moving into what we fear, we will spend our whole lives waiting on the shore, because it will never look safe. The object of our faith is never proven if we stay in the easy places. YHWH does not begin to provide until we begin to do what we know we cannot do without Him. Tradition says the water of the Red Sea was all the way up to Moshe's nostrils before the water parted.17. While the priests who [were] carrying the ark of the covenant of YHWH remained standing firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Yarden, all Israel crossed over on dry ground until the whole nation had completely crossed the Yarden. The whole nation had to take the same steps. Each step we take should be for all Israel, and if we follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before us, we can be sure we are on the right path. Yahshua leads us across, but His going does not magically transport us to the other side. Once on the other side, they were now more vulnerable, apart from YHWH's presence--especially the four priests who were out ahead, because none of their countrymen could come within 2,000 cubits to rescue them should they be attacked. But the people of Y'rikho were already undermining the stability of their own walls as they trembled in fear of this huge multitude whom they undoubtedly saw from their wall! CHAPTER 41. Now what took place when the whole nation had finished crossing over the Yarden [was] that YHWH spoke to Y'hoshua, saying,2. "Pick for yourselves twelve men from the people--one man out of each tribe-- 3. "and give them orders, saying, "Pick up twelve stones for yourselves from this [site]--from within the middle of the Yarden, from where the priests' feet stood firm--and bring them across with you and set them down in the lodging-place where you spend the night." Stones often represent a witness to an encounter or event that has taken place on a particular site. Yaaqov used them to commemorate a vision he had of YHWH's house. (Gen. 28:18) He used a heap of stones as a monument to the peace treaty between himself and Lavan. (Gen. 31:45ff) The stones represented the men who had made the covenant, as if they themselves were there watching to ensure that it remained steadfast. Moshe sang, "Let [Your enemies] be as still as a stone until Your people pass over." (Ex. 15:16) He thus emphasized that a stone can do nothing (thus it is not to be worshipped), but it says of YHWH and His people, "I have been here." The Hebrew word for stone is related to both the word for "build" and the word for "son" or "offspring". Children are the "stones" that build up our "house", and thus these stones prepresented the children of Israel. (Ex. 28:12) Stones used to build an Israelite altar are not to have been altered by human tools (Ex. 20:25), for this profanes them; it represents being shaped by human doctrines rather than set apart to YHWH. Those taken from a river (which represents the water of the Word of YHWH) or deep underground would be the ones best suited for this job. Most of us have been shaped by human doctrines, so the only thing we can do to become suitable for His altar (which must be built before His Temple) is to get back into the river and let those edges be rounded back off, until there is not much of self left. The middle of the Yarden: This was the place where YHWH's provision was miraculously brought to light.4. So Y'hoshua called the twelve men of the sons of Israel whom he had prepared--a man out of each tribe-- Had prepared: Y'hoshua had been walking directly in Moshe's footsteps for nearly 40 years, so his steps had been established by the Torah. He had seen the pattern by which YHWH works, so he had anticipated that these men would be needed before YHWH said anything about them. (3:12) Even if YHWH had never said He needed them, it was better for Y'hoshua to have been prepared than to have been preoccupied with his own matters and not have been ready if they were needed. He knew there was a "house" to build, so he counted the cost in advance, taking inventory. As we are seeing today, one tribe alone cannot occupy the whole Land effectively; all twelve are needed in order to bear this burden. So there is no need to be apologetic to the Jews about being Efrayim and not converting to Judaism. We also do not need to apologize to Christians; they are the ones upon whom the burden of proofs rests. Rocks are not unobtrusive; they cannot just be kicked over, try as they may. But they also do not speak (though they will cry out if they need to), but just stand where they are and force those who want to get past them to deal with them. Who we are is clearly explained in the Book; all others are the ones who have to explain why theirs is not, yet they are trying to press us to accept it. We bear witness to what we accept as authoritative. Churches bear witness to paganism when they use its symbols, whether they know it or not. Pasted-on Christian smiles and refusal to judge anyone are really witnesses to humanism. Having fabulous homes and cars is a witness to Mammon. We have to be aware of where our priorities come from, and be sure we are bearing witness to the right things by our actions.5. And Y'hoshua told them, "Cross over in front of the ark of YHWH your Elohim to the middle of the Yarden, and each of you take up one stone on his shoulder for the number of the tribes of the descendants of Israel, They would literally "bear" witness of the twelve trobes having crossed over. To carry heavy stones on their shoulder, they could not have been much larger than a basketball. YHWH often chooses what is small to remind us His deeds. He chose one man (Avraham) rather than an existing empire to accomplish what He is still doing today through that man's descendants. The room where His presence was represented in the Tabernacle was the smallest of all. When Eliyahu was on the mountain, it was the still, small voice in which YHWH spoke, after the pomp and parade of more attention-getting things had already passed by. It only took one small stone to fell Golyath. As the one who sets the twelve tribes in order and commands the bringing of the stones, Y'hoshua is a precedent for the one who bears his name. eshua chose twelve unknown men (again representing the twelve tribes) whom others considered illiterate, and who clearly had never attended a Yeshiva. (Acts 4:13) Even though Yahshua was the rightful king of Israel, the throne had been stripped of all its wealth and power by that time. YHWH does not need His witnesses to be huge to accomplish His purposes; the smaller they are, the more easily we see that He is the one doing the work. Yahshua was called the stone that the builders rejected, yet who became the head of the corner--the one who ties together and sets in order the other building-blocks of Israel--a stumblingblock to some, but precious to those who make up the house of YHWH. (Mat. 21:23, 42; 1 Kefa 2:7, quoting Psalm 118:22)6. "in order that this may be a sign in your very midst later when your children ask, 'What are these stones to you?' Reminiscent of the Passover (Ex. 13:8), the witness is for the sake of the generations to come. Each generation must have a personal sense of the meaning of this event so they can present it to the next generation as if it had only recently taken place and it was fresh in mind. But these stones apparently mean nothing to the modern Israeli government, because they are trying to give away the very place on which these stones were deposited.7. "Then tell them that the waters of the Yarden were cut off from before the ark of the covenant of YHWH: 'When it passed through the Yarden, the waters of the Yarden were cut off, and these stones have become a memorial for the descendants of Israel into eternity." YHWH brought them across when the water was highest, so that there could be no doubt who had brought them over. Nothing could stand in His way. When He delivers us again, it will not be in a time when we can easily get to where He is taking us, but when there is a flood and the foundations are being washed away. Yet He will come through nonetheless, in a season of harvest when the twelve tribes are again all together. 8. So the descendants of Israel did just as Y'hoshua had ordered, and picked up twelve stones out of the middle of the Yarden, as YHWH had told Y'hoshua, for the number of the tribes of the descendants of Israel, brought them over with them to the lodging place, and set them down there. The witness to what YHWH had done also defined where Israel would camp, since the stones represent us. The witness must be brought from the place where YHWH acted into the camp where we dwell together.9. And Y'hoshua stood twelve stones up in the middle of the Yarden in the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood firm, and they remain there to this day. This is a second set of stones. YHWH did not tell Y'hoshua to do this, but he understood the need for a second witness. While it was important that one witness be where the people lived, it was also important to be able to point back to the where the witnesses had come from. This act of Y'hoshua's is Yahshua's authority to raise up a second set of twelve witnesses. But we need to constantly remember where they came from. Many who bear witness to the Scriptures today think only back to the last "old country" their ancestors came from, and thus think that this is the norm to which they need to shape those to whom they carry the message today. It makes all the difference in the world to remember that it is Israel from which weoriginally came. Signposts are needed to point us back to where we came from. (Yirmeyahu/Jer. 31:21) And indeed there are many signposts right in the "water"--the Word. One says YHWH will shepherd His lost sheep back from all the places He dispersed them. ((Yirm. 31:10; compare Y'hezq'el 34:12, 23) Another says both houses of Israel will again have one shepherd from the House of David. (Y'hezq'el 37:24) Another says Yahshua came only for the lost sheep of the House of Israel. (Mat. 15:48) Still another, that His sheep hear His voice. (Mat. 10:16-27) There is at least one place in the Renewed Covenant where we actually see someone referring to these stones. They are undoubtedly "these stones" to which Yochanan the Immerser appealed as a witness against those who trusted the fact that they were descendants of Avraham to be enough to spare them in the day of YHWH's wrath (Mat. 3:9), as at this time he was immersing at the "Place of the Crossing Over". (Yoch. 1:28) He said YHWH was able to raise up descendants of Avraham from these stones--i.e., the twelve tribes which they represented, not just Yehudah.10. And the priests who carried the ark [were] standing in the middle of the Yarden until every matter [about] which YHWH had told Y'hoshua to speak to the people was completed in accordance with all the orders that Moshe had given Y'hoshua, so the people had hurried when they crossed over! The ark was no light thing to carry, and they had to be careful not to touch it lest they die, yet several million people had to cross while they held it. They had a special calling from YHWH, and had to stay they no matter what. So the people were considerate of the priests' burden and did not dawdle as they walked. They took up this part of the burden themselves, and thus showed appreciation for those who had made it much easier for them to cross over, since they had no right to expect this act of mercy. Those who are the first to re-enter the realm of Torah may have to persevere in a similar way to blaze a trail for those who may not be grateful.11. And when all the people had finished crossing over, what took place [next was] that the ark of YHWH and the priests passed by to the front of the people. 12. Now the sons of Re'uven, the sons of Gad, and half of the tribe of Menashe had crossed at the front of the sons of Israel, armed in battle array [by fives], as Moshe had told them. They fulfilled their promise to go first (Numbers 32:17)--after the Levites bearing the ark, of course. Had crossed: no different from simply "crossed" in Hebrew, so on the surface of the text itself it appears that there was a second crossing over by the sons of Israel. While literally this was not the case, there is a prophetic importance in the way it is written that applies to us today as we prepare to cross over again. First there is a crossing over in attitude--a choice to go through with it, coming to terms with what it means, so as to make the commitment firm; then the actual doing.13. About 40,000 men equipped for war passed in front of YHWH onto the steppe-plains of Y'rikho. 40,000: apparently only from these two and a half tribes, for the tribe of Gad alone was able to muster over 40,000 a short time prior to this. (Numbers 26:18) Passed in front of: He was reviewing His troops!14. On that day, YHWH made Y'hoshua great in the eyes of all Israel, and they respected him all the days of his life, just as they had respected Moshe. That day: identified in v. 19. Made great: Aramaic, magnified. Respected: or feared. It is right to fear those whom YHWH has chosen--to fear failing to deserve their leadership and certainly to fear slandering them. Remember what befell Miryam and Korach when they were not afraid to criticize Moshe. 15. Then YHWH spoke to Y'hoshua, saying, 16. "Order the priests who are carrying the ark of the testimony that they should come up out of the Yarden." 17. So Y'hoshua gave orders to the priests, saying, "Come up out of the Yarden!" He is thus a foreshadowing of the Yahshua who commands the servants who take their stand as guardians of Israel, as YHWH directs Him to.18. Then, when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of YHWH had come up out of the middle of the Yarden, and the soles of the feet of the priests had been pulled up onto the dry land, the waters of the Yarden began to return to their place and went up over both of its banks as [they had] previously. 19. And the people came up from the Yarden on the tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the outskirts of Y'rikho to the east One Aramaic translation leaves no doubt as to which of the two "first months" it is, specifying "Nisan" (the same as Aviv). This is the day the lamb is to be chosen for Passover, and on this day Israel accepted Yehoshua as their leader. (v. 14) This gives Paul a basis for saying the later Yahshua was our Passover. (1 Cor. 5:7) It was indeed on this same day that Yahshua was acknowledged as king. (Yochanan 12:12-15) East: literally "rising", usually used in connection with the sun.20. Thus Y'hoshua had those twelve stones that they had taken out of the Yarden set up in Gilgal. The history behind the name Gilgal will show up in the next chapter.21. Then he spoke to the descendants of Israel, saying, "After [this], whenever your children ask their parents, saying, 'What are these stones [for]?', 22. "then let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Yarden on dry ground', What YHWH has done for Israel is our heritage, and we are responsible to pass it on. It is much more important than your ancestor having been a Cherokee princess or having come over on the Mayflower--or a slave ship. We must embrace who we are, because it is who we are meant to be. The ground will be dried up again for those who bear the burden of what it means to be an Israelite; there is no such promise for anyone else. Our hope is that our children, who are being raised in a day when the signposts have been uncovered again, will have new stones to point out to their children from when we cross over this time. But regardless, as Paul says, our ancestors were there, and so all of us who were not yet there still crossed over while we were still within them. This is not just about them; it is about us. What YHWH does for Israel applies to every Israelite for eternity. Israel has already crossed over; why is any Israelite not living as one who has crossed over? We are not waiting for the Kingdom to come; it is waiting for us to become it.23. "as YHWH your Elohim dried up the waters of the Yarden from in front of you until you had crossed over, just as YHWH your Elohim had done to the Sea of Reeds, which He dried up from in front of us until we had crossed over, 24. "in order that all the people of the Land may recognize the hand of YHWH, because it is firm, so that you might fear YHWH your Elohim [for] all time." All time: literally, all the days. CHAPTER 51. Now when all the kings of the Emorites who were on the seaward side of the Yarden and all the kings of the Kanaanites who were on the sea heard that YHWH had dried up the waters of the Yarden from in front of the descendants of Israel until we had had crossed over, their courage began to melt, nor was there any more spirit in them due to the presence of the descendants of Israel.It was not the fact that there was an army on the march that terrified them as much as the fact that this army had "nature"--that is, the Elohim who controlled such things as rivers--on their side. In an army, you can find a weak point and take advantage of that, but how does one plot a military strategy against such unmatched power? Many have tried to outsmart YHWH, and could not, so they attack His people instead. Because Israel was walking in obedience to YHWH under the authority of the one He had put in place, there was no chink in their armor. If we follow our Yahshua in the same way, it leaves our enemies with no battle plan, as seen in Acts 5. But how did the enemies know YHWH was the one who did this? Throughout the journey Israelites on the fringe of the camp came in contact with the cultures all around them, and they did not withhold the accounts for fear of not being believed. The power of the testimony of what He has done defeats our enemies, the most present of which is self. The nations may be hard-hearted now, but some will recognize the wisdom of surrendering to His obviously-superior power. That is why Rahav was ready to throw in her lot with a nation that had been camping in the wilderness for 40 years rather than the king of an established culture in a walled city. This is why YHWH places so much emphasis on recounting His past acts to our children. One day everyone will stand in awe of Him; we need to start now to put self in awe of Him while it is still a voluntary choice.2. At that time, YHWH told Y'hoshua, "Make for yourself stone blades, and return [and] circumcise the sons of Israel a second time." Stone: traditionally it was specifically flint, but the text actually uses the generic word for a large rock. If bronze and iron tools were already common, why did they use this seemingly antiquated method? In part, to maintain their ancestors' tradition, but actually the flint knife was the way of mercy, because when broken along the right plane and filed to an edge, it is as sharp as any modern surgical instrument, and therefore less painful. It still was not pleasant for these people who were not circumcised on the eighth day, when the prothrombin and vitamin K are at their highest in one's lifetime and the blood clots readily. There was a price to pay for their parents' disobedience. Flint is not as easy to shape as metal, and thus the people had not continued making them once they were sentenced to die without entering the Promised Land. They probably assumed their children would also disqualify themselves since in their anger at being excluded, they probably saw YHWH as cruel and considered all the rest of His promises null and void. The fact that Y'hoshua had to make these knives shows that they did not have any, and thus that they sdid not intend to keep this command. A second time: no individuals needed to have it done a second time if they had been circumcised at the time of the Exodus, but the nation as a whole needed to re-establish this practice. If we do not have the sign of the covenant, we have broken the covenant itself, and where there is no sign, it means we are not "open for business", or at least that there is nothing in the "store" that is worth having. How can we say we are Israelites but not bear the identifying mark? It had been a standing command since the time of Avraham--a sign of the Covenant when done on the eighth day (Gen. 17:10ff), so circumcisions immediately after birth, though still more hygienic than leaving it undone, are not enough in a generation where we are again aware that we are Israel. Yahshua was circumcised on the eighth day, so how can we follow Him yet misinterpret Paul to say circumcision is no longer necessary? There are other signs of the covenant--unleavened bread in the right season (Ex. 13:7ff), the Sabbath (Ex. 31:13), and the affirmation that YHWH is both one and to be worshipped and loved to the exclusion of all others (Deut. 6:4) These are the very things Christianity discouraged us from doing, though we see Yahshua doing every one of them. He made it His practice to be in a synagogue every Sabbath (Luke 4:16), keeping the Passover (Mat. 28:16), and saying, "Not My will but Yours be done" at the ultimate test of whether He loved YHWH above even His own life. Circumcision is a removal of obstructing and unnecessary flesh, and it symbolizes removing any of our flesh that is not serving Him. Elsewhere in Scripture, we read of uncircumcised hearts, eyes, ears, and lips--i.e., anywhere there is flesh in a place that needs to be exposed to YHWH as the veil over our understanding is removed. (Rom. 11:25)3. So Y'hoshua made himself [some] stone blades and began circumcising the sons of Israel toward the Hill of Foreskins. This site received a new name, as most of the other places in the Land now would.4. And this is the reason that Y'hoshua circumcised all the people who came out of Egypt: The males--all the men of war--had died in the wilderness on the journey, as they came out from Egypt, Reason: literally, matter, affair or word.5. because all the people who had come out had been circumcised, but none of the people who had been born in the wilderness on the journey as they came out of Egypt had been circumcised, 6. since the sons of Israel had walked [for] forty years in the wilderness until the whole nation--the men of war who had come out of Egypt, who did not listen to the voice of YHWH, to whom YHWH had sworn not to let them see the Land that YHWH had sworn to their ancestors to give to us--a Land that gushes forth milk and honey. For 40 years, they were without the prescribed sign of the Covenant. YHWH had still dwelt among them and given them protection, provision, and the Torah for instruction. But these blessings only meant that He was extremely merciful. He upheld His side of the covenant for Avraham's sake. Just because things are "coming up roses" for us does not imply that we are doing everything right. Had Moshe known that no one was circumcising their children, he might have been less patient about it, though he himself had hesitated to carry out this practice (Ex. 4:24ff) because it did not sit well with his wife. But as when he was about to take up his role as leader, YHWH gave him no choice but to obey or die, now that the Israelites were in the Land and ready to carry out justice on the Kanaanites, they had to remove the splinter from their own eye to be on the moral high ground and more blameless than they. The season left no room for compromise or neglect, just like ours today.7. But He raised up sons in their place; them Y'hoshua circumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way. 8. And what took place when the whole nation was finished being circumcised was that they stayed in their places in the camp until they had revived. Revived: i.e., healed and regained their strength. Since the tenth and the fourteenth of the month are both identified (v.10 and 4:19), there are three days between at the end of which they revived, or "came back to life", a picture of Yahshua's resurrection on the third day. Indeed, circumcision is a picture of the death of the flesh. But note that they had to still be in the camp to be revived. Outside of true community, even if we seem to be effective individuals, we are actually hiding from having our flesh exposed and removed. The long delay before any attack would also serve to increase the fearfulness of the Y'rikhites.9. And YHWH told Y'hoshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from upon you." So he called the name of that place Gilgal to this day. Gilgal means "rolling" or a wheel. Reproach: shame or disgrace, but from a root word meaning to pull off or expose, or even to betrothe. Having a foreskin is thus a sign of being betrothed to Egypt. (1 Maccabees tells us that many Jews, when courting Greek culture to enhance their own standing in the world, actually had operations to make it appear that they had never undergone this ritual. YHWH was angry at Egypt for taking His wife into its harem (as it had done to Avram). Egypt is not kind to its betrothed; it enslaves them. B y this sign--the sign that symbolizes exposing our lives to one another--He removes the betrothals of Egypt from us, tearing down the wrong wall and building another in the right place. 10. As the descendants of Israel camped at Gilgal, they prepared the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, on the steppe-plains of Y'rikho. Thus at Gilgal they restored two of the signs of the covenant, circumcision and the Passover. Here they entered the Land, so we could call it the gateway to Israel. The prophets Eliyah and Elisha spent a great deal of time here. (2 Kings 2:1; 4;38) Shmu'el is said to have renewed the kingdom at Gilgal (1 Shmu'el 11), at the beginning of the reign of Sha'ul. But how could it be renewed if he was the first king of Israel? Because there had been a "king" confirmed here before--Y'hoshua, for the people confirmed their support for him here. (4:14) And here YHWH confirmed His support for the later Yahshua by calling Him "My Beloved Son"--an idiom for a king of Israel. (Psalm 2:7 et al) Not much later, we find idols at Gilgal. (Judges 3:19) We are told the stones set up in the river "are here to this day", but the same is not said of those on the shore at Gilgal, possibly because they became these idols that were worshipped there, much like the bronze serpent Moshe had made. Were the things YHWH gave as a memorial reshaped to suit a later generation's tastes? The event of Yahshua's immersion here has likewise been used to establish Mithraic forms of baptism, the doctrine of the trinity, etc. So this may be why Gilgal is a turning wheel: we need to leave Gilgal behind so we can return to it and re-establish the original witness that was there. Evening… steppe-plains: both words stem from the same root in Hebrew. The word means "to mix". One is the mixing of light and darkness, and the other is the transitional zone from desert to vegetated land.11. And they ate of the overflow of the Land the morning after the Passover--unleavened bread and parched grain on this same day. Overflow: We are not permitted to eat of new crops until after the firstfruits are brought the day after the Sabbath after Passover. (Lev. 23:14) Parched grain is specifically forbidden until "that same day"--the same phrase used here--suggesting that the Passover fell at the end of a Sabbath this year (meaning they could not roast a lamb until after sunset). This could be hinted at in v. 8 when compared with Ex. 16:29. The Aramaic text adds "the first fruits", reflecting the halakhic argument over when the sheaf is offered. But the term here for overflow (based on the word for crossing a boundary or going beyond, implies grain which was not needed for immediate use and therefore stored up. Thus it was old grain, which would not violate Lev. 23:14. There was a king of Gilgal (12:23), though it would be some time before he would be attacked. So there must have already been a town with storehouses near their camp. The Land was providing for Israel even before the first battle.12. And the manna stopped, [beginning] from the next day after they had eaten of the overflow of the Land. And there was no more manna for the descendants of Israel, but they ate from the produce of the land of Kanaan that year. Stopped: from the same root word as "Sabbath". YHWH made one form of provision cease, and began another, to remind us that He, not it, is what we depend on. But He continued providing by grace until we were in a position to take responsibility for working the land ourselves. This is how His "grace" works during our exile as well, but we are approaching a time when we will again be able to work, and thus responsible to do so. The honeymoon period will be over. He still has grain stored up for us, but we have to know how to search it out in His Word. 13. Now it came about that when Y'hoshua was at Y'rikho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo and behold, a man was standing right in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. So Y'hoshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" For us: Aramaic, coming to our aid.14. And he said, "No, because I have now come [as] the captain of the army of YHWH." And Y'hoshua fell to his face on the earth and bowed down and said to him, "What is my Master saying to His servant?" I.e., he was for neither, but only for YHWH. If Y'hoshua also lined up with YHWH's agenda, there would be no threat from him. Y'hoshua probably thought he himself was the captain of YHWH's army, because all Israel was following him, but he was never been called that. It is not enough to recognize that we are Israel; we need to take on all the signs of what this means, letting our light shine by being a people who love one another. After Israel has again begun walking in the signs of the covenant, they are given the offer of being part of something larger--the army of YHWH. It was no longer about them or even about bringing judgment on their enemies, but about YHWH. We need to keep the same perspective. Was this man Yahshua? Mikha'el the archangel? In bowing to him, Y'hoshua is not treating him as YHWH, but as His representative, who would have a message from Him. He probably was not a glowing "angel" as we think of them, because Y'hoshua was not terrified, and even challenged him, probably with his own sword drawn. He might have just been a descendant of Melkhitzedeq who came down from Yerushalayim, which is little more than 15 miles away. We are not told, so it is not necessary to know. The point is that Y'hoshua found him worthy of honor because, like Moshe in Egypt, he came in YHWH's name and was thus recognized as someone to lower himself before. This is not worship in the sense that we worship YHWH, but recognition of one's higher position--a concept we need to recover in our day in order for all things Israelite to be properly restored. Now he was master of Y'hoshua's army too.15. And the captain of the army of YHWH said to Y'hoshua, "Take your shoe off your foot, because the place where you are standing is set-apart." So Y'hoshua did so. His mentor Moshe had had the same experience at the burning bush (Ex. 3:5)--except that in his case, it was both shoes he needed to remove. Something is different here. The key is in Ruth 4:7. By Ruth's day the custom of confirming a redemption or exchange by removing and giving the other party one's sandal was already ancient. Y'hoshua had already said by his actions that he would join forces with this captain, so he essentially told Y'hoshua to "prove it" with this sign. If he walked back to the camp with only one of his 40-year-old sandals that did not wear out, he would have appeared to be limping like Yaaqov after his walk was changed by a similar encounter. (Gen. 32) CHAPTER 61. Then Y'rikho was closed up and shut in due to the presence of the descendants of Israel; there was no one going out and no one coming in.Israel had not sent any threats or terms of surrender, but still Y'rikho was under a self-imposed siege because of their fear! When Israel was walking in Torah and in unity, their mere presence terrified those around them, and they would not even dare show their face.2. And YHWH told Y'hoshua, "Look! I have given Y'rikho into your hand along with her king--brave heroes of the army! Along with her king: he represents the whole city-state, but when King Sha'ul spared the king of the Amaleqites (1 Shmu'el 15:8), it came back to haunt the tribe of Yehudah in a major way (Esther 9:24). The last phrase may be describing the Y'rikhite army mockingly, or it may be addressing the Israelites. Though like Gid'on (Judges 6:12-16) they might not have felt brave, it takes courage to live in a Torah-keeping community. Humans naturally run in clans, but in our day YHWH has given us a test in that our society allows us and encourages us to be self-sufficient. Though this is seen as a virtue today, it is what keeps our enemies thriving behind effective defenses. Only as Israel gathers together again can this change.3. "Now you will march a circuit around the city--all the mortal men of war--to encompass the city one time; you must do it this way [for] six days. Now you: YHWH has just said He had given them the city. He had made all the arrangements for it to be accomplished and removed all obstacles if they did it His way; if it did not come to pass, it would only be because they did not make it the ruin He had said it already was. Encompass: or, strike skin off of. This makes the underlying nerves extremely sensitive, and indeed it heightened the suspense for the citizens of Y'rikho to see these people marching around and doing nothing but blowing trumpets. It created fear in them, and once there was enough of that, they were already defeated. It gave them time to think of all the things they stood to lose. If we see our possessions as YHWH's, given to us only to use, they will not have such a hold on us. Like spiritual giftings, if we are not giving them away, we are not doing with them what He gave them to us for. This idea of striking off seems to be that of a repeated action necessary to accomplish the task, like peeling off the layers of an onion, around and around. This is upheld by the fact that the words for "one time" literally denote one (rhythmic) beat, with the assumption that there would be more. This may be a colorful description of how the city was undermined by the vibration of the ground at specific intervals, weakening it a little more each time. Thus there are two types of encirclings being described here. Just as both revolution and rotation are needed to sustain life on earth, Israel must both revolve around YHWH and keep his festival cycle, for the term for His festivals (khag) actually means to move in a circle, as in Hebraic dance. As the earth's rotation forms the needed gravity to keep us grounded, the festivals bring order to our love for YHWH by giving us a community to express His love to. Israel had tried to do without YHWH's calendar for 38 years, and many plagues and hardships resulted. They did not see themselves as a people, but as needy individuals.4. "Have seven priests carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark, and on the seventh day you must circle the city seven times, then the priests must give a blast on the trumpets. Seven trumpets of ram's horns: or, the seven shofars that are borne along, seven rams' horns of the yovel (jubilee). Seven is the number of completion in unity and purpose, and the Hebrew word comes from the word for swearing an oath. Hearing the number seven four times would remind Israel of the promises YHWH had kept and those they had made to Him. They marched around the city for seven days in a row, so one of them had to be the Sabbath. How can we make war on the day we are meant to rest? The answer will become clearer as the chapter progresses.5. "And when they make a prolonged [blast] with the horn that is borne along, what must take place is that when you hear the sound of the shofar, all the people must give a war-cry with a great shout, and the wall of the city will collapse [from] beneath it, and the people will climb up, [each] man directly in front of him." Collapse from beneath it: or, fall down where it stands/in its place; the Aramaic Targum adds, "and be swallowed up". In front of him: or, corresponding to him.6. So Y'hoshua the son of Nun summoned the priests and told them, "Pick up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of YHWH." 7. Then they said to the people, "Go over and march around the city, and those who are armed [for war] must go over in front of the ark of YHWH. 8. So it took place, as Y'hoshua was speaking to the people, that the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams' horns went over and gave a blast with the shofars, and the ark of the covenant of YHWH went behind them. 9. And whoever was armed went before the priests who were blowing the shofars, and the rear guard went after the ark, walking and blowing the shofars. Rear guard: literally, those who gather up; Aramaic, the tribe of the house of Dan, based on Num. 10:25ff (in which Asher and Nafthali were also included with Dan). It was the ark that was guarded, not the people as such, though the people of Y'rikho might have been able to rain any number of objects down on them from the top of the wall. Everyone was in this sense a "sapper"--those who risk their lives to undermine a city wall so it can be breached by the next wave of soldiers. But if the covenant is guarded, individual selves do not need to be.10. But to the people, Y'hoshua had given orders, saying, "You must not shout nor let your voice be heard, nor shall a word come out of your mouth until [the] day I tell you, 'Shout!' Then you will shout." Though they must have had an infinite number of questions about why they were doing this, they were to do their part, and no more. They were not to be heard until it was time, and Y'hoshua would let them know when that time was! YHWH did not command Y'hoshua to tell them this; he saw the need for it himself. When the Messiah beings justice to the entire earth, it will not be through noisy words, but through actions. (Yeshayahu/Isa. 42:1-4) A word spoken in season has great effects. (Prov. 15:23; 17:28; 25:11; compare Qoheleth/Eccles. 9:17) Yaaqov (James) says that if we can tame the tongue, we can stop sinning altogether, as it is the hardest member to bring into submission. So the people "fast from speaking", and the result is heavy-duty psychological warfare.11. So he had the ark of YHWH circle the city, encompassing it once, then they came into the camp, and spent the night in the camp. 12. And Y'hoshua rose early [to shoulder the burden] in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of YHWH, 13. and the seven priests who carried the seven trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark of YHWH proceeded to walk and gave a blast with the shofars, and whoever was armed walked ahead of them, and the rear guard went after the ark of YHWH. Walking and blowing the shofars, 14. they thus circled the city one time on the second day, then returned to the camp. They did this [same thing for] six days. 15. Now what took place on the seventh day [was that] they made an early [start] as the dawn came up and encircled the city in this [same] manner seven times; only on that day did they encircle the city seven times. We must not only look at all the "sevens"; they went around the city a total of thirteen times. The total numerical value of letters that make up the Hebrew word ekhad ("one" or "united") is 13. Unity is what wins battles when Israel is taking the Land, as will become even clearer in the next chapter.16. And what took place on the seventh time [around] was that the priests gave a blast with the shofars, and Y'hoshua told the people, "Shout! Because YHWH has given you the city! The way they made war on the Sabbath was by celebrating.17. "And the city will be devoted to YHWH--it and everything that is in it; only Rahav the prostitute may remain alive (she and all who are with her in the house), because she [secretly] hid the messengers whom we sent. Devoted to YHWH: that is, off limits to everyone else. In practicality this meant it would be completely destroyed, and everyone in it killed. Messengers: They are not called spies, for they came chiefly to bring a message of deliverance to Rahav when she proved her faith and loyalty. The term for messengers is the same as that for angels, so she entertained angels. This is the answer to whom outside of Israel can be saved: those who receive the message. There were two of them who went into a house to see if anyone there was worthy--a precedent for Yahshua, who sent His disciples out two by two to preach repentance in the same manner. (Mark 6:7-12) He said He only did what He saw His Father doing. (Yochanan 5:19) Where did He see this? In the Scriptures, not in a mystical trance. Therefore we can do the same.18. "But you, by all means keep [clear] of what is off limits, lest you make yourselves dedicated to destruction by taking from what is dedicated to destruction and you appoint the camp of Israel for destruction and bring calamity to it. What one partakes of affects all of Israel. Appoint for destruction: the same term as "off limits", "dedicated", and "devoted" above. Recall that it was the fact that Israel had put the cities across the river "under the ban" that struck fear in the Y'rikhites (2:10) They knew Israel was coming for the purpose of judgment, not booty. Bear this in mind, for (as per note on verse 3) we see the whole festival year walked out within a matter of days. They observed Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, then they walked out a cycle of seven within seven, a microcosm of the seven weeks of counting the days until Shavuoth. The next thing they do is blow trumpets, which is what Yom T'ruah is all about. Judgment follows on Yom Kippur, which by tradition also features a scarlet cord like the one Rahav hung in her window. Afterward follows the salvation of those from other nations, a prominent theme of Sukkoth, the next and final prescribed feast.19. "But all silver and gold and articles of copper or iron, they are set apart for YHWH; they will go into YHWH's treasury." The pagan objects made from these metals could be melted down and their form changed completely. But note that all the Mammon (wealth) still belongs to YHWH. 20. So the people shouted and blew the shofars, and it did turn out that when the people heard the sound of the shofar, the people raised a great shout, and the wall collapsed under it, and the people went up into the city, each directly in front of [where] he [was], and they captured the city! 21. And they dedicated everything that was in the city--including both men and women, from young to old, as well as ox and lamb and donkey--to the mouth of the sword. It is not even easy to kill an animal we are going to eat, but they had to kill everything that lived, for they would be a stumblingblock to Israel if they were just left to coexist in the Land. The people of Y'rikho had done nothing against Israel in particular, so this was not their vengeance, nor was it a defensive battle. Israel was the aggressor--a very unchristian concept, and one that does not meet the "standards" of modern humanism. What earned them this judgment was the fact that they had built a pagan city in a Land that belonged to YHWH and which He had promised to Avraham's descendants. They were in the way of this promise being fulfilled, so they had to go.22. Now to the two men who had explored the Land by foot, Y'hoshua said, "Go to the house of the woman--the prostitute--and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her." 23. So the young men who had explored the Land on foot went in and brought out Rahav, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had--that is, they brought all her family [member]s and let them rest outside the camp of Israel. 24. Then they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver, gold, and articles of copper and iron they entrusted to the treasury of the House of YHWH. 25. And Y'hoshua allowed Rahav the prostitute, and her father's household and all who belonged to her, to remain alive, and she dwells in the innermost part of Israel to this day, because she held back the messengers whom Y'hoshua had sent to go about Y'rikho on foot. Her father's household: This does not fit with the "personal salvation" formula, for they rode in on the coattails of another, but it is a concept the first believers in Yahshua espoused. (Acts 11:14; 16:31) This is because they were not thinking about a mere spiritual salvation, but establishing a physical kingdom under the rulership of Y'hoshua. In ancient Israel, the most basic societal unit was the father's household, so as the Kingdom is re-established, it makes perfect sense to build it again of father's houses, not just individuals.26. And at that time Y'hoshua made them swear, saying, "Cursed before YHWH is [any] man who may raise up and rebuilt this city, Y'rikho. May he lay the foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest may he stand its gates up!" This indeed came to pass in the days of Akhav, king of Israel. A man from Beyth-El named Khi'el ("El lives") lost his eldest and youngest sons in the process, just as YHWH had said through Y'hoshua. (1 Kings 16:34) This took place immediately before the rise of Eliyahu the prophet to prominence, and seeing this prophecy fulfilled may have even been a catalyst that helped him find the confidence to go ahead and dare to prophesy the message he had been given--that it would not rain again until he said so! Y'rikho means "his (own) moon". The new moon is what determines when the biblical festivals will be, so the cycle of feasts is what conquers the city with this name. This "city" has been "rebuilt" by the Rabbis, who chose their own way of determining when they would be observed,, so anyone who follows this calendar will usually be doing things in the wrong season, until the authority they usurped, which really belongs to the moon, is taken back aggressively by Torah-observant Israel.27. And YHWH came to be with Y'hoshua, and his fame went throughout all the Land. CHAPTER 71. But the descendants of Israel committed a trespass in [regard to] what was off-limits [in that] Akhan the son of Karmi the son of Zavdi the son of Zerakh, for the tribe of Yehudah, took [some] of the things devoted [to YHWH], and the anger of YHWH grew heated against the descendants of Israel.On this rare occasion, all of Israel was unified, so the sin of one was counted as the sin of all. We are our brothers' keeper. Committed a trespass: from a root word meaning "over or above", suggesting that arrogance is the central concept. As a community they overstepped the boundary simply because one man among them had done so. Akhan's name means "troublemaker." It may have reflected a slight change from his original name, as was sometimes done with Hebrew names, as from Ben Kosiba to Bar Kochba, once it became known that he was responsible for what took place. His forefathers are mentioned, for what he did reflected on them as well as bringing disgrace to Y'hoshua and guilt to all of Israel corporately. The fact that one man's sin can bring the whole nation into a sinful state (compare Romans 5:12) makes the whole doctrine of original sin a moot point. What we do also reflects on our Y'hoshua. Jews today will rarely speak His name because of the crusades. They did this is "Jesus'" name; now that we know His true name, we have a higher responsibility to bring it honor.2. When Y'hoshua sent men from Y'rikho [to] the Ay that is with Beyth-Awen eastward from Beyth-El, and told them, "Go up and explore the territory on foot." So the men went up and explored Ay on foot. Ay means "a heap of ruins". It may have had a different meaning in the Emorite language. Beyth-Aven means "house of vanity (wickedness, sorrow, trouble, or idolatry)". Beyth-El: a city, not the place Yaaqov had named Beyth-El, which was later the Temple Mount north of Yerushalayim. Explore: or spy out. Y'hoshua was clearly not yet aware that YHWH was upset. Should he have checked with YHWH first? He already had standing orders to conquer the whole Land, so it should not have been necessary. He had a right to expect Israel to do the right thing, though their record did not particularly make this a realistic assumption.3. When they returned to Y'hoshua, they told him, "Not all the people should go up; about two or three thousand men can go up, and they can beat Ay. Don't weary all the people with [the trouble of going] there, because they are [so] few." They did not need to bother making the whole army work so hard for a victory that a small percentage of them should have been easily able to accomplish.4. So of the people about three thousand men went up there, but they would [end up] fleeing before the men of Ay. 5. The men of Ay even struck down about thirty-six men, and chased them from the gate as far as the Breaches, and started killing them on the steep slope. And the heart of the people melted and turned into water. As far as the Breaches: possibly to a specific gap in the mountains, or, "to the point of crushing [them]"; the Aramaic leans toward this latter possibility with "until they broke them". It was merciful of YHWH that they did send so few, for more might have been lost if they had sent more.6. And Y'hoshua tore his clothing and fell on his face on the ground in front of the ark of YHWH [all the way] until evening--[both] he and the elders of Israel--and they put dust up on their heads. 7. And Y'hoshua said, "Alas, Master YHWH! Why did you even have us cross the Yarden at all, [if it is just] to hand us over to the Emorites and have us destroyed? O, if only we had been willing to stay on the other side of the Yarden! At first he sounds like the whining Israelites in the wilderness, but then he turns, though unsuccessfully, to a tactic Moshe had used:8. "Please, Master, what can I say after Israel has turned her back before her enemies? 9. "When the Kanaanite and all the inhabitants of the Land hear, they will close in on us from around and cut off our name from the earth! So what will You do for Your great name?" 10. But YHWH told Y'hoshua, "Raise yourself up! Why are you fallen on your face [like] this? Something was clearly broken, but he should not "call the manufacturer before checking the instruction manual he had already been given." Also, none of Israel was welcome to bow before YHWH until this matter was resolved.11. "Israel has sinned and also transgressed My covenant about which I gave them orders, in that they have even taken from what was off limits, and also stolen and also acted deceitfully, having actually put it among their own equipment, Off limits: closed in, separated from us, something we are not supposed to be close to or partake of, yet it was right in our midst! It was dedicated to something other than to Israel. YHWH did not say He would rid us of it; we would have to be the ones to confront our brothers and eradicate the stumblingblock.12. "so the descendants of Israel have been unable to stand up to the faces of their enemies; they will turn their backs before their enemies, because they have come to be dedicated [to destruction]. I will not be with you again unless you eradicate from your midst what is off limits! I will not be with you: the most frightening prospect of all; Aramaic, I will not let My Memra (living Word) be your aid anymore.13. "Get up, set the people apart, and say, 'Set yourselves apart for tomorrow, because this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Something that is off limits is among you, Israel; you will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove what is off limits from your midst." 14. "'So you will be approached in the morning by your tribes, and what will come about is that the tribe that YHWH catches will approach by clans, and the clan that YHWH catches must approach by households, and the household that YHWH catches must approach [man] by man, Catches: takes, seizes, chooses; Aramaic, singles out. This would probably be done by casting lots, but instead of just pointing out who the culprit was, YHWH heightened the suspense so each would be searching his own heart and taking inventory of what he might have done wrong, and undoubtedly many people repented for lesser sins. Though most of them could breathe a sigh of relief when the lot did not fall to them, they would still all be able to identify with what the tribe that was "caught" was going through, and the fear of YHWH in each heart would be strengthened.15. "'and it will turn out that the one who is caught with the thing that is devoted [to YHWH] must be burned with fire--himself and all who belong to him, because he has transgressed YHWH's covenant and because he has acted disgracefully in Israel.'" Disgracefully: foolishly, shamefully, or senselessly; Aramaic, done what is not fitting. How sobering to realize that those who belong to us must also pay for our folly. No one in Israel can act in isolation. Very few people in Scripture are ever burned; normally it is only the daughter of a priest who is caught in adultery who would be executed in this way, so there must be a parallel here. YHWH feels betrayed by His bride because He made sure Y'hoshua told them not to do this very thing. (6:18) 16. So Y'hoshua rose up early [and shouldered the burden] in the morning and presented Israel by its tribes, and the tribe of Yehudah was caught, 17. so he had the clan[s] of Yehudah approach, and he caught the Zarkhite clan, so he had the clan of Zarkhi approach [man] by man, and Zavdi was caught, 18. so he had his household approach [man] by man, and Akhan, the son of Karmi, the son of Zavdi, the son of Zerakh, was caught for the tribe of Yehudah. 19. So Y'hoshua said to Akhan, "My son, please direct honor to YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, and make confession before Him, and please make known to me what you have done; do not conceal [it] from me!" Make confession: or, give thanks; the word actually means to throw or gesture with one's hands. In this case, it would be the "I surrender" aspect of lifting his hands, since he was caught "red-handed".20. So Akhan answered Y'hoshua, and said, "I truly have sinned against YHWH the Elohim of Israel, and like this, like this I have done: 21. "When I saw among the spoils a robe [from] Shinar--a nice one, 200 sheqels of silver, and a tongue of gold--one with its weight fifty sheqels--I wanted them, and I snatched them up, and there they are, hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the money under it." Robe: the root word reveals that it was wide and majestic. In Scripture robes are symbolic of our works. When Yahshua speaks of keeping our garments (Rev. 16:15), He does not mean fancy attire. Those who do not "soil their garments" will walk with Him in white." (Rev. 3:3ff) To buy from Him white garments (3:17ff) speaks of our service to Israel, because white robes were worn by the priesthood when on duty. But Shinar is where the tower of Bavel was built. (Gen. 11) The builders used substitutionary building materials because they wanted to make the building flood-proof in case YHWH should decide to send judgment again. There was a unity there, but it was of such a nature that each person was pursuing his own interests. Thus they were united for the sake of finding ways around keeping YHWH's commands, and thought they could still get away with it. A robe from Shinar would symbolize one's best works within this context. Indeed, Christianity, which is full of highly-moral works, invented an "insurance policy" by which to evade His judgment and yet avoid doing the more difficult things He commanded. Each is thus given a right to keep doing what he wants to do--and it is even free! Why would this not be attractive? With a garment like this, one could pretend he was a king, but he would have to soothe his flesh with it when no one was looking. It was the hidden things that brought defeat and shame. What are you hiding away for yourself at the expense of all Israel? Dig them up and turn them over before He asks for them, and certainly before Israel's next battle! Otherwise none of us can enjoy our inheritance. A "tongue of gold" may have been broken off a golden idol. But it is a "golden tongue" that enables us to keep things hidden, always having an excuse available to justify our sins. Akhan does confess his sin, but seemed to be explaining why he really was not guilty. Wouldn't any man do the same thing? But the things he took indicate that he really did not trust YHWH. If anything will turn Israel away from the right walk correctly, it is the desire for wealth and security. But why would private security be needed if he was under the pillar of fire with all Israel, walking where he was meant to walk? Many serve security by working on the Sabbath because they think they cannot survive without doing so, but in doing so they write their own death sentence as Akhan did. (Ex. 35:2)22. So Y'hoshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and indeed it was hidden in his tent with the money under it. The money was not part of "it", and it was buried deepest, indicating that he valued it more highly than the rest. The reason is that the Hebrew word for money simply means "silver", and silver was always the means of exchange used in payment for human life or blood, and that of some animals as well. So it symbolizes his cherishing of his own life. Thus a person can either be ransomed by silver or by blood. But Yahshua says, "He who wants to save his life will lose it." (Mat. 16:35) Yahshua had a contentment about Him, though He knew He would suffer terribly, because He was not hanging onto His life and seeking "happiness", which is a shaky, unstable thing which is very easy to lose.23. So they took them from inside the tent and brought them to Y'hoshua and to all the descendants of Israel, and they poured them out before YHWH. 24. So Y'hoshua seized Akhan the son of Zerakh, and the silver and the robe and the tongue of gold, along with his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his donkeys and his sheep, as well as his tent and everything that he had. And [he] and all Israel with him brought them up to the Valley of Akhor, His wife is not mentioned, but if the two are one flesh, they could not kill him without killing his wife as well. His sons and daughters would undoubtedly have been the reason he wanted this personal security, so they had become idols to him. But for trying to maintain his security at the expense of obeying YHWH, he lost his "future" altogether, having no seed left to carry on his ways. Anything that bore the association with him had to be annihilated. Up to the valley: This sounds oxymoronic, but a place of righteous judgment, no matter how low-lying, is a step up from the place sin was committed. Akhor (related to Akhan's name) means "trouble, disturbance, calamity, grief." Y'hoshua then makes a play on these words:25. and Y'hoshua said, "How you have brought calamity on us! YHWH will bring calamity on you this day!" And all of Israel executed him [with] stone, then they burned them with fire when they had pelted them with stones. 26. And they raised over him a large round [heap] of stones [that have remained there] until this day. Then YHWH turned back from the heat of His anger. On account of this the name of that place is called the Valley of Akhor to this day. Heat: Aramaic, force. CHAPTER 81. Then YHWH told Y'hoshua, "Don't be afraid and don't be flustered. Take with you all the people of war, rise, and go up to Ay; look, I have handed over to you the king of Ay along with his people, his city, and his territory,Flustered: Moshe had often told Y'hoshua to be strong, so he may have been one who needed frequent encouragement. But the incident with Akhan that had just taken place could have really shattered his confidence. If they lost 36 innocent men when one sinned, what was the additional potential for loss if two or three of the millions of people he was leading did something wrong? He had even questioned YHWH when he thought He had abandoned him, and he certainly felt remorseful about that too, which further undermined his focus. But they were to recover their composure, because He was with them again, and that was the only factor that mattered. People of war: It does not say "men", but includes all of Israel. Israel had called YHWH a "man of war" (Ex. 15:3), and now, partly for Y'hoshua's sake, He reciprocates by calling us a people of war, further identifying us with Himself. Since the next stop was further up in the same direction, it appears that he took the whole nation along with him to Ay. They camped close to the battle site. (v. 9, 13) Rise, go up: or, stand firm, ascend. Before we are ready for battle, we need to move to a higher place, closer to YHWH, for He is always higher than where we are.2. "and you will do to Ay and to her king just what you did to Y'rikho and her king, except that you may take its spoils and its animals as plunder for yourselves. Set yourself an ambush for the city from behind it." The rules of engagement changed somewhat. If only Akhan had waited for YHWH's timing instead of desiring instant gratification, he would have spared himself and Israel so much grief--though if he had, then Ay might have been used as the test instead. Now that Israel was wide awake and the sin is removed from the camp, YHWH knows their hearts are right and it is safe to allow them a reward. Also, unlike Y'rikho, this city had taken Israelite lives, and so deserved to be plundered. We must do things in season, for what is allowable today may not be allowable when other factors change. Not even all the tribes are in the same place at the same time, so if it is not Torah, it should not be mailed down or written in stone.3. So Y'hoshua rose up along with all the people of war to go up to Ay, and Y'hoshua chose 30,000 men--capable, valiant ones--and sent them at night, Y'hoshua rose up: again a foreshadowing of Yahshua's resurrection. In the vision in revelation, He is the one leading His people to war. The leader must rise up first, but the people must follow closely behind, not lag back, waiting to see what becomes of him before proceeding. He also does not lead from a distance, but sets an example to follow. He only asks us to do what He has already done.4. and gave them orders, saying, "Look, you will be an ambush for the city from behind the city; don't go very far away from the city, but all of you be ready, Behind the city: This may imply that the city only had one gate. Be ready: a favorite phrase of the later Yahshua was "be watchful". Though we may have to await the readiness of the Kingdom, we are not to become so deeply involved in other pursuits that we do not notice when it is time to do what we really came here for. (Mat. 24:42-43; 25:13)5. "and I and all the people who are with me will approach the city, and what we will do when they come out to meet us like the first time is that we will run away in front of them 6. "when they come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city--because they will say, 'They are fleeing before us just like the first time!' So [once] we have run away in front of them, Drawn them away: also means to snap off or tear apart--i.e., take them far enough from the city that they are effectively cut off from being able to retreat into it.7. "then you must rise up from [where you are] waiting in ambush, and take possession of the city; thus YHWH your Elohim will hand it over to you. You: It is too big to conquer on our own, but He will not answer us before we take the first step. As Israel's "spouse", He wants us to trust Him, to say, "He can take care of me". His promises do not come to us; we have to go where He tells us they are. We will receive His provision after we start moving. But if we still worry at that point, that only delays the fulfillment, because He does not inhabit the fear of anything else. Take possession of: or, occupy, seize control, again so that they have no place to fall back to.8. "Then once you have captured the city, you must set the city on fire. You must do as YHWH has said; see, I have given you orders." Don't imagine the men of Ay do not have weapons; we have seen that they are fierce, though small. We have no promise of success if we do not do it His way.9. So Y'hoshua sent them off, and they went to [wait in] ambush, and they remained still between Beyth-El and Ay, to the west of Ay, and Y'hoshua passed that night in the midst of the people. Ay was about twelve miles west-northwest of Y'rikho; Beyth-El is on the ridge of the mountain range that forms the "backbone" of the Land of Israel. They could follow the base of the Aravah's western rim part of the way there, as the Aravah (Great Rift Valley) widens out north of Y'rikho, making it somewhat more passable, though we know from 7:3 that part of the way was laborious. After that they would have gone up one of the ravines, possibly the one mentioned in verse 11.10. Then Y'hoshua rose early in the morning [to shoulder the burden] and mustered the people, and he and the elders of Israel went up before the people of Ay, Mustered: or, inspected. Before: possibly in full view of the city's watchmen.11. and all the people of war who were with him went up and came near and arrived opposite the city, and encamped to the north of Ay, with the steep gorge between them and Ay. Came near: often used as a euphemism for intimacy with one's spouse; again we cannot win the wars of YHWH without first rising higher away from the world into further intimacy with Him, corporately as a people. Loving Him means keeping His commandments, and not keeping Him at arm's length. (Yeshayahu 64:6-7)12. Then he took about 5,000 men and set them as an ambush between Beyth-El and Ay to the west of the city, This is a second ambush group--further reinforcement.13. and they stationed the people--the whole camp that was to the north of the city--with its heel to the west of the city, and that night Y'hoshua walked into the middle of the gorge. 14. So then the king of Ay noticed, and the men of the city hurried and got up early to meet Israel for battle--he and all his people--at the appointed time in front of the Aravah, but he was not aware that [there was] an ambush for him from behind the city. Appointed time: Was this on one of YHWH's festival days? Or did the king just not want to go fight at night? Not aware: Their overconfidence made them grow slack concerning intelligence and reconnaissance.15. But Y'hoshua and all of Israel let themselves be "beaten back" before them--that is, they ran away by way of the wilderness. They used this tactic to "fake them out" so they would be in a better position to be surrounded.16. Then all the people who were in the city were called [to their aid] to pursue them, and they chased after Y'hoshua and were [thus] drawn away from the city, 17. and there was not a man left in Ay or Beyth-El who had not gone out after Israel, and they left the city open when they chased after Israel. Left: neglected or abandoned. Again they were assuming they had seen the whole army, because of how small it was the last time they had come up, and so they assumed they were between their city and all of the enemy. YHWH used this arrogance to Israel's advantage. Our gates--like the openings of our bodies--are our most vulnerable places. Like the Medieval castles, it is best to have a small re-closeable window cut into the gate so we can screen out who is at the door before we throw it wide open.18. Then YHWH told Y'hoshua, "Stretch forth the javelin that is in your hand toward Ay, because I will deliver it into your hand!" So Y'hoshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. YHWH gave them the general plan first, and the details as they were needed. Stretch forth: This was understood as his signal to attack, so it was probably pre-arranged:19. Then when he stretched out his hand, the ambush got up quickly from its place and ran and entered the city and captured it, and hurried and set the city on fire. 20. Then the men of Ay turned to look behind them, and they noticed that, lo and behold, the smoke of the city was rising into the skies, and there was no strength in them to escape this way or that. So the people who had "fled" to the uninhabited land turned themselves back toward the [group that was] pursuing. Strength: literally, hand. They could turn neither to the right hand nor the left. They were thrown off balance. Pursuing: singular in Hebrew.21. That is, when Y'hoshua and all Israel saw that the ambush [group] had captured the city and that the city was going up [in] smoke, they turned around and started striking down the men of Ay. 22. And those [others] came out of the city to meet them, and they ended up [right] in the middle of Israel--those from this [side] and those from that [side], and they struck then down until there was not a survivor or fugitive left to them. 23. But they took the king of Ay alive and made him approach Y'hoshua. 24. Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ay in the field--in the uninhabited land into which they had chased them--and all of them had fallen by the mouth of the sword until they were finished off when all Israel had turned back to Ay and struck it with the mouth of the sword. They must have last some women and children still in the city to kill, and possibly some animals that were not kosher and therefore not useful as booty.25. And all who fell that day, from men as well as women, came to 12,000--all the men of Ay. 26. And Y'hoshua did not withdraw his hand [with] which he held out the javelin until he had exterminated all the natives of Ay. 27. Israel only seized the animals and the spoils of that city for themselves, in compliance with YHWH's word [by] which He had given orders to Y'hoshua. How was there plunder if they had burned the city? In stone buildings, mainly the roofs would have burned, but the main thing they would have set on fire was the gates, further preventing the inhabitants from having a place to return to by "burning their bridges". This time they obeyed completely. They probably only took the spoils that had no association with idolatry, having learned the lesson from Akhan. They were probably very hesitant to even get close to any "garments from Shinar"!28. And Y'hoshua burned Ay up, and turned it into an everlasting mound of ruins--a desolate place to this day. And so it remains to THIS day. The ruins of Ay have been discovered by archaeologists, and the burned level that identifies it with this time included much gold that was left behind, because it was in the form of idols.29. And the king of Ay he hung on a tree until the time of evening, and as the sun went [down] Y'hoshua gave the order and they took his corpse down from the tree and threw it into the gap of the city's gates, and raised up over it a large [rounded] heap of stones to this day. 30. At that time, Y'hoshua built an altar to YHWH the Elohim of Israel, on Mount Eval, Mt. Eval: on the north side of Sh'khem, some twenty miles nearly due north of Ay and Beyth-El; they would have traveled along the mountain ridges to get there. Y'hoshua obeyed this command (Deut. 27:4ff) as soon as the path to the mountain was clear. This is probably the main reason they chose to take Ay second, because the first time they went, YHWH had not specified what city to take next. It seems that Y'hoshua surmised that Ay was the only major obstacle that stood in the way of obeying this command, so it was the logical choice of where to attack.31. as Moshe, the servant of YHWH, ordered the descendants of Israel [to do], as it is written in the scroll of the Torah of Moshe, "an altar of unaltered stones on which no iron [tool] has been wielded". And on it they caused ascending offerings to go up to YHWH and slaughtered peace [offerings]. Unaltered stones: symbolizing doctrines unshaped by the opinions of men. No sin offerings were made here because it was not the Tabernacle altar. They probably slaughtered many of the animals they had just taken as plunder out of thankfulness to YHWH that no man was lost. An altar has been found on Mount Eval that may well be this one.32. And he wrote there over the stones a copy of the Torah of Moshe which he had written, in front of the descendants of Israel, It was probably limed over so there would be a smooth surface to write all these words on.33. with all of Israel and its elders and its writing-officials and its judges standing on this [side] and that [side] of the Ark, paralleling the Levitical priests [who were] carrying the Ark of YHWH's covenant--the newcomer and those born [among the nation] alike, half close toward the front of Mount Grizim, an half of them close toward the front of Mount Eval, just as Moshe the servant of YHWH had commanded, to bless the people of Israel. Newcomer: like Rahav, there may have been others from surrounding towns who, knowing there would be no mercy once Israel arrived, joined them before they arrived at their towns and became counted as part of Israel. The same holds true today: Israel will bring down any philosophy that rises against Yahshua, so now is the time to surrender.34. And after [they did] thus, he read aloud all the words of the Torah, the blessing as well as the curse, according to whatever is written in the scroll of the Torah. This was commanded in Deut. 11:29.35. There was not a word of anything that Moshe commanded that Y'hoshua did not read right in front of the whole congregation of Israel, as well as the women, the toddlers, and the sojourners who were walking among them. Not just the men, and not in separate groups. All received the Torah and became responsible for it together. His word was what brought the victory, so going back to dwell in it was the next step before attempting any further battles. Among them: The particular word implies being close to the middle of the group, not on the sidelines. CHAPTER 91. Now what came about as all the kings who were beyond the Yarden on the mountain-range, in the foothills, and on the whole coast of the Great Sea toward the front of the Levanon [range]--the Chittite, the Emorite, the Kanaanite, the Prizzite, the Chiwite, and the Y'vusite--heardHeard what? What immediately precedes is the reading of the Torah, so they heard that Y'hoshua had a teacher, Moshe, who had heard from YHWH and whose directives he was following as he directed Israel. We must follow the same order today: YHWH, Moshe, our Yahshua, and the rest of Israel. Foothills: Heb., sh'felah, that is, where the land "falls".2. [was that] they collected themselves together with one mouth to fight with Y'hoshua and with Israel. With one mouth: the Aramaic targum explains this idiom as meaning "as one company". But "one mouth" means they are all telling the same story. Granted, each of these peoples had a personal interest, but they were all focusing on "the problem at hand". If they had only been fighting Israel, and not YHWH as well, this might have been enough in itself to defeat them. As at Bavel, the sought to use their unity to overcome YHWH's will, and again we see a worldwide unification shaping up which is built on sand instead of the rock of Torah, and it may accept "Jesus" as its figurehead (because a figment of their imagination who never really existed as they depict him can hardly have any power to stand in the way of their plans), but will oppose what the true Yahshua is doing, but He will "iron out" both their falsely-based unity and our differences that comes from each one wanting everyone else to bow down to his own ways. He will do this with His "rod of iron". But much of our disunity is unnecessary. Note that they were fighting Y'hoshua in particular, probably assuming that if the shepherd was struck, the sheep would scatter. But anyone who attacks Yahshua is attaching all who follow Him. Making war on the god-man "Jesus" actually upholds the true Yahshua's agenda, so do not be afraid to do so, thinking that in the process you might actually be attacking Yahshua. You are not, if your battling is based on Scriptural truth.3. When the inhabitants of Giv'on heard what Y'hoshua had done to Y'rikho and to Ay, This is an aside, showing that there was one exception to the unity seen in verses 1-2. One group of Chiwites had a different plan. Giv'on: only a few miles north of Yerushalayim, and not far south of Ay, they would be located only some twenty miles from where Israel was encamped. (v. 6) Y'hoshua did not do these feats alone, but the work accomplished by his people is credited to him. What we do also reflects on the Y'hoshua we serve (Yahshua). His enemies will hardly fear Him if we present Him as always gentle and compassionate, and never fierce as the Scripture presents Him. He was always in balance, but we have weighted Him only to one side. We must properly represent Him by doing what He did. The job of the Body is to go in the same direction as the Head, or everyone will see Him wrongly. Because pedophile priests have raped choir boys, "Jesus" has done this too. Because crusaders murdered thousands of Jews, "Jesus" did too; no wonder they avoid him! But thanks to YHWH, these evil representatives did not have His real name, so they were not representing the true Yahshua; but we do, so we have no margin for such errors. The result of our actions is meant to be that people know who YHWH is and acknowledge His authority. (Mat. 5:14-16) Note that we are to give light to those "in the house". The focus is not outside, but many lit-up houses cannot help but be a lit-up city that attracts those who need protection when the enemy is on the prowl. It did just that to Giv'on here:4. they too acted with shrewdness and, acting as if they were ambassadors , took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, wine skins that were worn through, cracked open, and tightened up, Shrewdness: with a more pejorative connotation of "cunning", "wiliness", "craftiness", or "guile"; the Aramaic targum euphemizes it to mere "wisdom". Indeed, in going straight to the camp of those who had come to kill them, they ended up in a better position than those who directly opposed Israel. Indeed, in the days to come, the only hope anyone has is to surrender to Israel.Yahshua told a parable in which He essentially said, "If only Israel were this smart." (Luqa 16:8) It was probably from this that He also drew His idiom about sending His followers out like sheep in the midst of wolves. Tightened up: that is, warped to the point of shrinking.5. worn-out and patched shoes on their feet, and worn-out clothing on themselves, and all the bread of their supply was dried-up and moldy, Moldy: or crumbling; the root word means "spotted".6. and came to Y'hoshua in the camp at Gilgal, and told him and a man of Israel, "We have come from a distant land, so now cut a covenant with us!" Apparently they returned to Gilgal after going to Mt. Eval because the terrain was much easier to camp on and the water supply was readily nearby. This became their "headquarters" throughout the campaign of conquest. (10:15) Though they were already in the Land of everyone's inherita |
The mountain [range]: scarcely two miles west of Y'rikho (see photo) is the front range of the plateau from which the Great Rift Valley split off and sank during the S'dom and Ghamorah catastrophe. At this point it is relatively easy to ascend, and is in the opposite direction from the fords to which she sent the pursuers. Being hidden for three days makes them a picture of Yahshua, our forerunner, whom death could not hold. But two unnamed men on a mountain remind us of Moshe and Eliyahu, whom Yahshua met on a mountain (Mat. 17). They represent the Torah and the prophets, and most specifically, the restoration of all things. (17:11) Not just the spirit of restoration, as important as that is, but the actualizing of it. They are the forerunners of Yahshua's return. So then who is the harlot who heard of YHWH in some sense before they arrived, who have become intimate with Moshe and Eliyahu who came to rescue her, and who received their message? The answer is in Yirmeyahu 3:6-15. It is the house of Israel, who even more than Yehudah will receive well-qualified teachers after she admits her error and repents. 
Rise early: Following in the footsteps of Avraham (Gen. 19:27; 21:14; 22:3), Yitzhaq (Gen. 26:31), Yaaqov (Gen. 28:18), Moshe (Ex. 8:20; 24:4), and as Elqanah and Hannah (1 Shmu'el 1:19) and David (1 Shmu'el 17:20) would do later, Y'hoshua rose early to do YHWH's business, even when it was something difficult He asked of them. But the term really means to shoulder a burden. He took up the weight of the day in the morning. This showed eagerness and commitment. He did not wait until the day was halfway gone or take care of other interests of his own first. That would be a form of idolatry. He got to His work as quickly as he could. The reason we get up each day should be consciously to do YHWH's will. Is there any profit for the Kingdom in the things we plan to do? Yahshua also warned us to take up the burden of only one day at a time. (Mat. 6:34) Worrying about tomorrow is a pagan act, because is it another form of worshipping that which is really nothing, like an idol. We wait until this day to bear this day's burden. The root word for "covenant" means to cut, so there will be pain, but the truth that will set us free at the other end will make it bearable. But a burden also need not mean something distasteful. Starting the day with prayer and reading YHWH's word can help us focus properly on YHWH's priorities. As the last place they camped before their staging-point, "the Acacias" symbolizes a place of preparation to enter the Land. Meaning "sticks" (you can see why from the photo of an acacia tree), its name implies that it is a place where we recognize that we are the "sticks" (Y'hezq'el 37:15-28) that form the whole House of Israel--that it is made up of many, and it is not just about myself. Here Pin'khas had established justice in Israel when we had committed harlotry with the elohim of Moav. For most people this unfaithfulness to YHWH consisted merely of eating with those people. As those whose name proclaimed that they were "from the Father", this symbolizes being tempted to fall in love again with Christianity again, as we may if we settle down at this pleasant stopping-place instead of continuing to long for the Promised Land. It is no longer our job to go after them on their territory if all of Israel is camped nearby where they can easily come join us. We can be content with our present situation if we are on the road toward His Land, but only when we reach Yerushalayim, the place where the first letter of Shaddai is written onto the topography, should we say, "Dai!" (enough!) and be satisfied to rest at last. Here at the Acacias, those who made up the army of Israel had been counted. Here Moshe had proclaimed Y'hoshua's authority, established the offerings and the laws about vows, confirmed YHWH's festival calendar, defeated Midyan, the people of strife. (Num. 25-32) These are the things we must again accomplish before we can leave the place of our preparation to enter the Land again. We have to see ourselves as in this same place again. Setting out from here meant the place had served its purpose, and was to be left behind for something better. His covenant does not change--it is carved in stone--but the place of walking it out moves often. Though we might have fought tooth and nail to establish the progress we made at this place, if we stayed when YHWH's presence moved on, it would become just another dry, dusty museum of a denomination. They stopped one more time--at the Yarden, which means "going down". It even terminates at the lowest point on the earth's surface. There will be low points before we cross over--tests to make sure we are strong enough for what lies ahead of us. But the lowest places are where the most water is, and just beyond them is Home. Every time we encounter a low place, we should go to the water--symbolic of the Word of YHWH. YHWH's strength is most fully known when we are weakest. (2 Cor. 12:9) Lodged: or spent the night, though it actually turned out to be three nights. This was such a significant moment that they could not rush into it. They were not merely preparing for a battle, as momentous as that would be. There is much symbolism in the crossing of the Yarden, but on the literal level, it meant they were entering holy ground, and many of the commands YHWH had given (which began with "When you have come into the Land which YHWH will give you…" ) would now begin to be applicable and binding on them. They were now responsible to higher standards, and there would be less grace. They needed to pause to reflect on the implications of this, recognize what they were getting into, and be sure they were ready.