Chapter nine records what was probably Joshua’s weakest moment as Israel’s leader. Through Moses, God had made a distinction between cities that would be far away from Israel’s new land and those located within the land (Deuteronomy 20:10-18). If the city was far away, Israel was allowed to make a peace treaty with them, making […]
Chapter eight shows the result of Achan’s sin being discovered and punished. Rather than sending only 3,000 warriors (Joshua 7:4) to attack head-on, Joshua sent 30,000 warriors to set an ambush for Ai (Joshua 8:1-9). Joshua would take a contingent against Ai, then pretend as if he were retreating, like the previous time. Again the
Chapter seven contains the sad story of Israel’s first defeat in Canaan. God had specifically commanded that all of the treasure taken from Jericho would be put into God’s treasury, not be taken by any individuals. However, Achan did steal some, which brought God’s judgment on the entire nation (Joshua 7:1). Not knowing about this,
