Skip to main content

Joshua 8:3 - What were we thinking? - Day 187

Got my days out of order while trying to catch up.  Just a few thoughts on what happens when Israel does not see the need to listen to God all the time.

Blessings

Jeff

The difference in tactics between first and second battle for Ai was what drew my interest.

While the Achan's sin is the real reason for Israel's defeat in the first battle, there are some other interesting differences.  If Achan had not sinned at Jericho, Israel would have captured Ai on the first attempt.

Number of soldiers First battle is 2000 or 3000 total.  Second is all the fighting men (This was the list of the people i.e. able body men, of Israel, 601,730. Numbers 26:51)  with 30,000 of them sent out to be the ambush.

Tactics - First battle - frontal attack.  Second - Deception and ambush.  Used the result of first battle to deceive men of Ai.

God's role - First - spies who came back with an overly optimistic report.  God was not consulted.  Second, God gives direction for the ambush, but without details.

Spoils - Have to compare Jericho and Ai as there were no spoils for the defeat.  Jericho - destroy everything. Ai - only people destroyed.  Israel can keep spoils and livestock.  Poor foolish Achan.  If he had just waited one battle he could have legally had silver, gold and clothing.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers, The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept. Blessings, Jeff The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's con...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 30:16-20 Hearts set to seek the Lord - Day 359

Good morning fellow members of the household of God, After writing the devotional, I am thinking about the Passover as a household event.  In ancient Israel, the physical household of man was covered by the blood of the lamb.  Now, it is the spiritual household of God that is covered by the blood of the Lamb. Blessings, Jeff The account of the greatest celebration of Passover since time of Solomon (v 26).   Observations: One of the things that made this one great is participation of some of the tribes from the northern kingdom.  Israel was a united kingdom and Solomon and now toward the end of the northern kingdom, there is at least a semblance of being united. God allows some exemptions: Who offers the sacrifice:  The original Passover was a family by family sacrifice of a lamb.  However in  Deuteronomy 16:5-6 this changed to a centralized location once they entered the promised land.  (You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more