Okay, so lesson three is entitled the conquest begins. We're only gonna be looking at chapters five and six There's a lot to talk about here, especially regarding the conquest of Jericho the purpose of conquering Jericho We need to discuss term warfare why it is that Moses commanded Israel to wipe out utterly wipe out today And having as the land men women children everything that breeze why he got allowed for this when you talk about all that stuff So we're only gonna talk about these two chapters and then a next lesson lesson for we'll continue on with the rest of the conquest So what we'd like to do first is kind of draw connection with last lesson We're at the end of chapter four It said specifically that people came up out of the Jordan River This is chapter four verse 19 on the 10th day of the first month Now that should be ringing alarm bells for us because that's a very important day That is the day in which the lambs are selected for the Passover you take the lamb on the 10th day And then you wait till the 14th day to slaughter it and celebrate this great feast So we got a segue here for the Passover because they're gonna celebrate the Passover's are gonna see but they have to do a couple of other little things first So chapter five really is gonna see the notes I've entitled it really covenant renewals in preparation for battle Israel needs to prepare for battle They're gonna start off with Jericho and all the rest of the various cities and they're gonna talk on the north and the south And all this stuff Jericho is first They got to prepare and the way in which they prepare for battle is not what you would normally expect They don't go out there doing their push-ups and their various military drills And they begin you know taking out their weapons sharpening their swords and all this kind of stuff jumping jacks except they don't do that They're not preparing for battle in any way in which you would expect they prepare for battle by renewing the covenant that they have with God That's what's happening here in chapter five and that's gonna be a connection with Passover So already is we open up with chapter five verse one already We can see God is preparing Israel for victory And what you see in chapter five verse one is that the kings the Amorites were beyond the Jordan to the West and the kings the king of the king So were by the sea they heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the sons of Israel until they had crossed over and their hearts Melted there was no longer any spirit within them because of the sons of Israel so word travels fast right everyone's emailing and tweeting and You know calling each other and word travels fast that Israel has now crossed over the Jordan River That was one of the purposes that miracle like I said in the last lesson is to scare the daylights out of them So here they are soiling themselves in fact if you compare this with what happened with Rahab Rahab told those two spies we heard what happened when you crossed the Red Sea Well, that was 40 years ago now This very weekend they crossed the Jordan River and now everybody heard it This is something that this isn't something that happened a generation ago happened yesterday this weekend like this week It just recently so everybody's afraid and this is really psychological warfare kind of everyone's really afraid Oh my gosh what we heard about the Red Sea just happened to us the Israelites are here God is their God is giving the land to them and they're gonna conquer So either you're gonna be like Rahab and you're going to repent and repudiate your false gods and make a statement of faith in the one true God Yahweh who is God of heaven above and earth below you do something like her or you're gonna fight against Israel and Unfortunately most of the canonites the vast majority of them fight there's a little story with the giving nights we'll talk about them In the next lesson so God's already preparing for victory the canonites are profoundly afraid just as Rahab said now It's even more so now that the cross of the Jordan River and now it's time to renew those covenants like I said Alright, so the first covenant that Joshua renews is the most foundational is the Abrahamic Covenant So what happens here? Let's go to verse two actually chapter five verse two at that time the Lord said to Joshua make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel again A second time so Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Givyath or alof and this is the reason why Joshua Circumcised them it goes on to say that all the males that left Egypt were circumcised But in verse five all the people who came out had been circumcised yet all the people that were born on the way the wilderness generation As if they had come out of Egypt they were not circumcised and that seems incredibly strange Why in the world were all the Hebrew boys who were born in the wilderness over these past 40 years? Why were they not circumcised?
This is a huge huge problem So Joshua is gonna obviously remedy this in preparation for Passover in fact Here's a quote for you from your commentary it says blame for this negligence rests with their parents the faithless generation the faithless Exist generation it is important to remedy this problem before Passover since the Paschal meal which follows in verse 10 cannot be by the uncircumcised in quote so that's the connection here that the inter-chapter four they cross the Jordan River It's the 10th day they select the lambs But nobody can celebrate the Passover and presumably they hadn't celebrated the Passover either in the wilderness which I'll talk about I'm second if I can remember but they hadn't been circumcised and if you're uncircumcised you cannot celebrate Passover So it's really really important to make sure they're all circumcised and so this quote here says it rests with their parents The negligence rests with their parents Here's another quote in your footnote that I put in here for you as well from your Catholic introduction the Old Testament It says it is hard to know what to make of the fact that the second generation of Israelites have not even kept themselves The basic requirement of the Abrahamic Covenant although it reinforces the point made in the last chapter about the grave spiritual infidelity manifested by the second generation Is realized which Moses gave the book of the Deuteronomy in quotes so the point here with this quotes is that you know the parents of the second generation The parents who died in the wilderness they were gravely sinful All right In fact they were condemned to die in the wilderness for their rebellion and so Moses had a lot of problems with them They were disobedient left right and center and to remember the book of numbers it is a profound book of frustrations They're constantly rebellion against Moses and so part of their I mean it's in accordance to their nature part of the rebellion is not actually Surcompizing their sons now these quotes talk about the blame for the parents I'm just gonna add one interesting point here, which is I think maybe Moses is also to blame Moses is the leader he is supposed to ensure that they follow God's law granted He had a hard time doing that but he didn't ensure that those parents Circumcised their sons and it really recalls an episode if you go back to the first chapters of Exodus 4 to be specific Moses is going back home to Egypt after God appears to him in the burning bush And there's this weird episode there at the end of chapter 4 where the angel comes to kill this quote unquote him Because he wasn't circumcised so Zapora comes circumcises Gershim is first born son and says I'm a bright room of blood too You may remember that go back to Exodus 4 basically the point is Moses did not circumcise his own son The son that he had was Zapora for whatever reason right when you're in need into his immediate Do they need not circumcised their sons eight days old? So maybe thought it was a very important to put it off procrastinate But is still in Moses's character to put off circumcision he did it with his own son and now he's putting it off with his own people So I would totally say yes the parents are at fault But it's interesting to reflect on Moses involvement as well He should have had them circumcised maybe he tried and they were all against him He just gave up and that's like suppose possible if you're reading between the lines but in any case I think that's worth I'm meditating on so they do circumcise all of these males it's actually really kind of gross It says here in verse 5 that they did this at Gidhiathra aloth if you look at the little footnote down in your Bibles It's literally the hill of four skins. There are so many men who were circumcised They made a giant hill out of it right so they actually named the place the hill of four skins that's super gross But it really just points to the fact how negligent the Israelites were okay And so now after this was done we'll skip all the way down to verse 8 This is when the circumcising of all the nation was done They remained in their places in the camp till they were healed and the Lord said to Joshua this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you and so they named that place Gilgal Now we talked about how last week our last lesson I should say Gilgal has to do with that memorials the stones the 12 stones They made a memorial Gilgal means like a circle of stones your commentary will point out that there's kind of like a double meaning here A double on time by giving you a circle of stones, but it can also mean like the rolling away G'lal Gilgal from the Hebrew G'lal it's a rolling away of Egyptian reproach and it's all related like there's not contrary meanings here So the stone that place Gilgal If it's a memorial for it's a both ends a memorial for the crossing over the Jordan River the end of the Exodus and the end of Egypt's reproach The Exodus now is over. They're no longer in the wilderness God has given them the land the Exodus is over They have now stepped foot in the land themselves Egypt's reproach is gone and that's what the circle of stones that memorial memorializes.
Okay, so that's the connection there Alrighty, so keep in mind circumcision is a fundamental Abrahamic covenant if you're not circumcised and the eighth day you are this is the divine biblical Pun right you are cut off from the people of God if you're not circumcised that's God's pun not mine So you're cut off and so now they're able to be reincorporated into God's people right this end is Abraham for the purpose of Passover And that's what happens next so verse 10 the sons of Israel were encamped in Gilgal They kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho Okay, so chapter 5 verse 10 really synthesizes that here They this is the first Passover by the way in the promised land This is the third recorded Passover the first is the original back in Exodus Of course, then there's another second Passover one year later when they depart Mount Sinai and now 40 years later You've got the Passover that's celebrated here within the lands This is the very first Passover within the promised land, okay, and of course all of them had to heal So you can't you can't celebrate Passover not circumcised. Oh, by the way, that's one of the reasons why some commentators will point Out you've got this delay from the 10th day to the 14th day on the 10th day you select the lambs on the 14th day You sacrifice them why such a delay? Why not just select the lambs and sacrifice that night the answer for some is that if there's anybody within the camp who's Uncircumcised and wants to participate in the Passover they get circumcised Then they have time to heal before they participate in the Passover, okay? So kind of like a last-ditch effort like we've selected the lambs Does anybody want to participate in this especially if you are a foreigner and you want to convert then you have time to get circumcised And to heal up before you are incorporated into this great event the celebration of deliverance.
This really is a toda sacrifice It's a celebration of God's deliverance with the people So in the case it's kind of an interesting aside there of why there's a delay sure enough all of the man like a whole nation of males For the most part have got to heal and they celebrate Passover here, okay? All right, they celebrate Passover and then the next major event that happens in chapter 5 is the manna ceases It says in verse 12 the manna ceased on the next day when they're on the 8th the produce of the land and the sons of Israel Had manna no more the aid of the fruit of the land of Cain in that year All right, so the manna ceases if you imagine after eating manna for 40 years Especially if you were a child you've left Egypt as a child and of course therefore you didn't die in the wilderness But you've been eating manna for 40 years and then now all of a sudden the manna stops and you get to eat The produce of the land like that would be a great welcome change in your menu right in your diet It's finally we get to eat the produce of the land We have to understand that the manna stops here doesn't continue on because the manna itself was a pledge a forte literally right a forte of the promised land So once the promise is fulfilled once God gives them the land as he promised the pledge ceases You no longer need that manna once you're now in the land and that's what this quote here is saying It says quote in so far as the manna tasted like wafer is made with honey It offered a forte of the promised land and its abundance of milk and honey The end of the manna signals the beginning of a new era when Israel reeks the blessings of Canaan in quote here All right, so the manna does miraculous substance we talk a lot about that in the Exodus Bible study It was so miraculous of course because it shows up with a dew of heaven in the morning But it also according to wisdom it suited every man's taste so that you kind of like this taste of honey great It tastes like oil because you like that great it really adapted itself to your own preferences Which is amazing right it's a miraculous bread. Well now it sees because they're in the land I will say one more thing about that in terms of typology I didn't mention this in the Exodus Bible study, but the manna is a type of the Eucharist of course right so we Christians living in this life We're in the wilderness journeys of life the wilderness wanderings of life and God sustains us with heavenly supernatural food with a Eucharist The Eucharist is the fulfillment of the manna so while we are wandering this earth and the wilderness wanderings of life God gives us a literally a forte of the promise line of heaven convenient with Christ So once we get to heaven Eucharist no longer is needed right because once the promise is fulfilled the pledge ceases the Eucharist is a pledge It is the beginning and the promise of our future full participation communion with God with Christ in heaven So I heard it once said before I always struck me I forgot this but when you get up to heaven and you're seeing and you see Christ you don't walk up to Christ and ask him Hey, where's the communion line right? I'd like to receive the Eucharist you don't do that right because you're literally right in front of Jesus Right you have full perfect communion with God the Father Son and Holy Spirit the Eucharist the pledge has ceased All right, so it's a little parenthetical aside right there Just remembering the typology Joshua and his people are in the land the pledge ceases once we get to the promise line of heaven The pledge ceases we no longer have the Eucharist okay because the Eucharist is for our wayfaring days here on the earth Alright, it's enough about that.
So let's move on the manna has ceased But then some pretty cool happens Joshua's hang around you know Jericho or right in front of Jericho in verse 13 He'd kind of look up his eyes It says and you look and behold a man stood before him with his drawn sword in his hand and Joshua went to him and said Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said no But as commander of the army of Yahweh I have now come and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worship and said to him What does my Lord bid a servant and the commander said to Joshua put off your shoes from your feet for the place where you stand It's holy and Joshua did so this is a really awesome little story here So now what do we what do we have we have the renewal of the covenants the people really have been out of communion to a certain extent with God because they hadn't been circumcised they're presumably not celebrating Passover as well But just kind of traveling through the wilderness whining and complaining every step of the way So now that they've renewed the covenants now and only then does the commander of God's heavenly hosts show up Right the angelic commander of the Lord's army visits Joshua So it is interesting here because this teaches us that really God is the one who leads his people in battle We're gonna see that with Jericho here in the next chapter Obviously right God is the one who leads his people in battle Israel must stay in right relationship with God and obediently cooperate with his Grace is that's the big big lesson there and so our battle you know with our enemies specifically our spiritual enemies is not all On us God helps us and God sends his angelic messenger as what angel means as messenger to assist us we have regarding angels Like I really like the typology here But let me just share this other quote with you about how you've got really kind of the two arms the two forces of God's army Joshua leading the earthly army so to speak and this angelic commander leading the spiritual army so to speak okay And it says this quote the angel is to the hosts of heaven what Joshua is to the army of Israel The leaders of the Lord's fighting forces his appearance indicates that the seizure of Canaan involves an unseen dimension of spiritual warfare In quote that is that is so spot-on. There is this unseen element of spiritual warfare of liturgical warfare All right, so here Joshua realizes that God is leading the army and he removes his sandals He's in the presence of goddess angelic being here So just like Moses had to remove his sandals This is another point in which you see the parallel between Moses and Joshua Joshua moves his sandals like Moses did Well, what's the connection here? Well in both cases?
It's been preparation for battle right? Moses God called Moses out of the burning bush told him to remove his sandals because he's preparing Moses for conquest over Egypt That's what the plagues are conquering Egypt and Egypt of all Scots So now here Joshua is before God's presence on holy ground and he must remove his sandals because he's preparing for conquest against the Canaanites So both men stand before the presence of God they humble themselves and then they're getting ready for conquest And I think that's the big takeaway point here There's humility before victory if you humble yourself before God if you renew the covenants with God and stay in his good Grace's in the state of grace We would call it then you're gonna have victory okay, and God will send his angelic hosts to help you Right, it's so beautiful. I'll wrap all that up a typological just a second before we do who is this commander? Who is this angelic commander?
He has got his sword drawn in his hand He is the commander of the Lord's hosts So some people will say St. Michael St. Michael is the one who has his sword drawn because if you go to like book a revelation Michael was the one who cast Satan out of heaven After Satan rebelled and disobeyed God Satan was the commander of the Lord's heavenly host So that's who it is here And so often you'll see St. Michael depicted with a sword fighting against Satan and there's a connection there So it could be St.
Michael and some people will say well not St. Michael is Israel's guardian angel because it's a consistent tradition of the church based in scripture of course Christian tradition that we all have guardian angels every single individual person every family every parish every city every nation like God sends his angels There's the gillions of gabillions of angels out there that protect us and guide us and help us to pursue the good and to avoid the evil So this would be Israel's guardian angel. I suppose I would say they're one and the same right obviously We don't know for sure But Israel guardian angel is St. Michael St.
Michael is the leader of God's heavenly hosts And therefore St. Michael is going to protect God's people and the same thing applies to the church the church is the new Israel It's the church is God's people now since Christ So St. Michael guards and protects us in a very special way and that makes time makes total sense to me That's probably what I would bet money on of course we don't know for sure. So that's who it might be St.
Michael helping Joshua lead the forces Now I kind of already talked the typologically. I want to wrap this up I talked I was ahead of myself a little bit here and there But it's really important for us as we apply this to our spiritual lives remember I've said this over the past couple of lessons Joshua teaches us so much about our conquest over our spiritual enemies our Conquest over sin within our souls so in order to conquer our spiritual enemies we must be like Israel does here We must renew our commitment to God's covenant. What does that mean? It means frequent the sacraments you got to frequent the sacraments regularly Go to mass daily if you can obviously you must go every week But go daily if you can and receive the whole Eucharist of red angels as often as you can like in a state of grace Obviously with great devotion and with great prayerfulness receive the Eucharist go to confession regularly not just once a year But once a month perhaps you know or maybe once a week if you really want to conquer those venial sins You might if you can try to slip in once a week But certainly once a month is a good practice but you got to renew your commitment to God's covenant Which is really expressed through the sacraments You must be in a state of grace and then and only then will you be able to cooperate with God's commands and also I would argue cooperate with God's Ingealic commanders see our guardian angels are always trying to tell us things about how we can pursue God's divine will But if we're not in a state of grace and we're not kind of attuned to the spiritual You know it helps in assistance.
We're not gonna hear them So after Israel gets right with God or renews the covenants then Saint Michael I would argue comes and helps them and directs them and Joshua receives all of this with great humility same thing with us You know we stay in a state of grace we renew our covenant with God through the sacraments and we can follow the holy Inspirations of our guardian angels. I think that's really beautiful and it's really helpful for us