JULY 3, 2016
TAKING AI
INTRODUCTION:
1. The first attempt to take Ai had ended in disaster. The reason for this awful tragedy was soon made known. There was sin in the camp, not just any sin, but one among them had taken of the accursed thing, thus bringing a curse upon the whole camp.
2. The process by which the guilty party should be discovered was revealed to Joshua, and carried out successfully the very next day.
3. Once Achan was found out, the next step was to destroy the troubler by stoning him and his house to death. With our physical bodies, sometimes life can be preserved only by surgically removing a diseased member. The fact that life is preferable to death makes the sacrifice of one member of the body reasonable. Such is also the case with respect to the spiritual body, the church. (Ch. 7:15; Matt. 5:29, 30; I Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:9)
4. The “operation” was difficult and painful, but happily it was successful in that God’s favor was restored to Israel. “So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger.” (Ch. 7:26) The prophet Hosea would reference this centuries later, when he spoke of Israel’s return from captivity, “and I will give her…the valley of Achor for a door of hope.” We come to our valleys of trouble because of our sins, but if it results in sin being put away, the valley of trouble becomes our door of hope.
5. With the painful ordeal now finally over, there was hope for a much brighter future.
I. WELCOME WORDS OF REASSURANCE RECEIVED. (VERSES 1, 2)
A. WORDS OF COMFORT. “FEAR NOT, NEITHER BE THOU DISMAYED.” (VERSE 1a)
1. Genuine repentance restores that comforting assurance which sin steals from us. This was restoration to the original confidence that Joshua had before. (Compare Joshua 1:9)
2. The basis for the renewed assurance was just the same as before. “The Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
3. The penitent may feel undeserving of this complete restoration (Luke 15:18, 19, 21), but “Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy.” (Prov. 28:13)
a) Satan would always prefer to keep the humbled saint “swallowed up with over-much sorrow.” (II Cor. 2:7)
b) Sorrow is good, but not if it keeps us from receiving comfort. (I John 1:9; Psa. 51:12)
B. WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. “TAKE ALL THE PEOPLE OF WAR WITH THEE, AND ARISE AND GO UP TO AI.” (VERSE 1b)
1. Joshua must now leave the place of prayer and go to the field of battle.
a) Prayer must precede all endeavors.
b) Though we must not leave the spirit of prayer (I Thess. 5:17), there comes a time when we must leave the prayer closet and go forth.
c) Notice, having restored His servant, the Lord sends him right back to the place of former defeat. Our failures are never without remedy if we return to the battle in the strength of the Lord. (Micah 7:8)
2. This time, Joshua does not go presumptuously, or in the wisdom of the flesh, but with divine direction.
a) He will not take 3,000 men, but rather all of the fighting men.
b) He will not foolishly try and storm the enemy, but shall follow a carefully planned strategy, giving himself every possible advantage afforded him in heaven and earth. God gives us means and common sense, and blesses the use of them to good ends.
3. As with Jericho, this time Joshua shall return to Ai with the promise of victory. “See I have given into thy hand the King of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.” (Verse 1c)
a) God alone can call those things that are not as though they are. (Rom. 4:17)
(1) He told the aged patriarch with a barren wife, “A father of many nations have I made thee.” (Gen. 17:5)
(2) While Joshua was gazing at the walls of a city that was straightly shut up in defiance of him, the Lord said, “See I have given Jericho into thine hand.”
(3) See also Exo. 14:13; Rom. 8:29, 30)
b) Therefore Joshua, like Paul, would so run not as uncertainly. (I Cor. 9:26) He would “Trust and not be afraid.” (Isa. 12:2)
C. A WORD OF PROMISE. (VERSE 2)
1. Though not by the same method, Ai would as surely fall to them as had Jericho.
2. Israel’s army would do a thorough work, just as they did at Jericho.
3. On this occasion there would be no prohibitions regarding the spoil.
II. A CLEVERLY DESIGNED STRATEGY LAID OUT. (VERSES 2b-8)
A. AN AMBUSH WAS TO BE PLANNED AND EXECUTED. (VERSE 2b)
1. Some believe that though the Lord told Joshua to prepare an ambush against Ai, the details of the strategy were left to Joshua. In other words, the specifics may not have been dictated from heaven. However, the record seems to suggest otherwise.
a) As Joshua related the details (Verses 3-8), he was apparently communicating that which he had received from the Lord.
b) As he did regarding Jericho, the writer first presents a condensed version, the details of which come out as Joshua revealed it to the people. (Compare Ch. 6:2-5; 6:16)
c) In this case, none of the details were given initially. (Verse 2b)
2. Conducting this plan would require all of the people. (Verse 1)
a) All posts did not require the same level of sill or involve the same degree of danger or responsibility, but all jobs were important. (Some were to be liers-in-wait; others were to provide a decoy; the most valiant were to take the front lines.)
b) In Christian warfare all believers are to be enlisted, though areas of service and levels of responsibility must of necessity differ.
B. THIS VICTORY, UNLIKE JERICHO, WOULD BE GAINED BY THE USE OF MORE CONVENTIONAL METHODS. (VERSES 3, 4)
1. Joshua and the people had witnessed how Jericho was delivered to them by a mighty miracle, but this victory will be given them through ordinary methods of war.
a) Either way, it was the Lord gave the victory, and no less or more in one than the other.
b) At Jericho we learned that God alone can tear down Satan’s strongholds, but at Ai we see how we are to work and plan and execute as though all were up to us. This is always a blessed combination to maintain.
c) All things are owing to God’s grace and providence, whether they come to us by great effort or no effort at all. (The manna in the wilderness was no more the gift of God than the corn in Canaan. Ch. 5:11, 12;James 1:17)
2. Joshua sent 30,000 troops ahead that night (Verse 3), 5,000 of which would eventually be used for the ambush. (Verse 12) perhaps Joshua had all 30,000 men to pitch on the west side of Ai until he came with the elders and the rest of the men the next morning. He may then have taken all but 5,000 around to the north side where he would set the plan in motion.
C. THE PLAN WAS DESIGNED TO TAKE THE ENEMY IN HIS OWN CONCEIT. (VERSES 5-8)
1. Man believes in himself. He says, “I have done it before, and I shall do it again,” but he fails to consider the one determining factor, if God wills.
2. Joshua’s troops would make it appear that the strategy was the same as before, thus alluring Ai’s army out into the valley while the liers-in-wait would take the city. (Verses 7, 8)
III. THE SUCCESSFUL EXECUTION OF A WELL-DESIGNED PLAN. (VERSES 9-23)
A. ALL WERE IN THEIR PLACES. (VERSES 9-12)
B. JOSHUA AND HIS TROOPS PUT THEMSELVES IN THE PATH OF GREAT DANGER IN ORDER TO DRAW AI’S MEN OUT AFTER THEM. (VERSES 13, 14)
C. ACCORDING TO PLAN, THEY FLED AS BEFORE. THE RESULT BEING EXACTLY WHAT WAS INTENDED. (VERSES 15-17)
D. JOSHUA GAVE THE SIGNAL TO THE AMBUSH AND THE REST WAS HISTORY. (VERSES 8-22)
E. NONE WERE ALLOWED TO LIVE OR ESCAPE. (VERSE 22b)
F. THOUGH THE KING WAS NOT SLAIN, HE WAS CAPTURED, AND BROUGHT TO JOSHUA. (VERSE 23)
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