Prayer:
Father, Help us to place our trust in you, to do what you want.
Canaan had been a battlefield for about 400 years when the Children of Israel where leaving Egypt. The Canaanites had just managed to get things back into shape when...
... Joshua and the Children of Israel landed on their doorstep. The first question is why. The answer to that is recorded quite a few times. Basically it was because of the people's practises over their false gods, the violence which they committed and their failure to recognise the true God. Sound familiar?
The first stop after crossing the river Jordan was at Jericho. It was a fairly major city in the area, although by city it may have been considerably smaller than the cities we know of today. Unlike most battles fought then or now this one was special. Normally when trying to capture a city the invaders would try to breach the walls (a very costly action in terms of lives – remember they didn't have canons or similar) or try to starve the inhabitants out. Either way the defenders usually have a great advantage. This time it was different.
Instead of charging up to the walls and trying to batter them down, the Children of Israel marched around the city, once for six day then seven times on the seventh. On the seventh circuit the horns where sounded, the people shouted and the walls fell down flat. Not many battles are won that easily.
Thinking they were doing this so well they went on to the next city, Ai. Ai was a very small city, or least had a very small population. Archaeological digs show that Ai was mainly rubble even before Joshua finished it off. It had been destroyed in the battle between the Egyptians and the Assyrians quite a few years earlier. It looks as if the walls had been fortified but the city itself was mainly derelict. To the Children of Israel this would be easy. But unfortunately for them God's aim was to teach people a lesson and they had to learn that lesson as well. The lesson was that God expects people to do what he asks.
But things didn't turn out quite a planned. A handful of soldiers from Ai pushed the army of Israel back. God had shown that only those who trusted in him would succeed, it didn't matter about the size of the army.
We need to learn the same lesson (so does the world around us). God will destroy the wicked, but will reward those who follow him.
Jesus is going to come back soon and any army that tries to stand against him is going to be destroyed.
We can estimate the size of the city if we assume that soldiers march at 4mph and if they completed 7 circuits in a 12 hour period. Assuming the city was roughly square have large would it be?
How does this compare with where you live?
Why did the walls of Jericho fall out, not in?
Who was the only person (along with her family) to be saved inside the city of Jericho?
Why did the attack on Ai fail?