Joshua / Judges / Ruth | Lesson 3 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Joshua, chapters 6-12 |Taking the Land

I | INTRODUCTION / CONNECTIONS / CONTEXT

1 / In our first lesson, we set the historical timelines we are on this juncture in the Bible—and the historical/redemptive plan of God in His OT preparations to send Jesus Christ into our world to be the Savior of His people.

2 / We also provided an outline of the major narrative divisions of the book of Joshua. If you go to the last verses of these section ends, and the first verses of the next sections’ beginnings, you can see how the writer is developing his narrative and the transitional, connecting phrases he uses to keep the storyline intact and developing into its next series of events…

• chs 1-5: Crossing into the land
• chs 6-12: Taking the land
• chs 13-21: Dividing the land
• chs 22-24: Serving The LORD in the land

3 / So, in this lesson, we’ll cover the six chapters in the second division—chs 6-12: Taking the Land. Due to the amount of text we’ll need to survey in this one lesson, what I will do here is just give you the themes of each chapter and the major verse divisions in each. We’ll have to be content for now with just some few sentence summaries of each chapter’s narrative and how it advances the narrator’s writing plan for the whole book.

4 / What we will see is that the author of Joshua covers the whole span of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land in this section: “Taking the Land.” That miliary conquest will be comprised of three major military campaigns or ‘theaters’ of conquest:

• The Central Campaign / Jericho, Ai, Gibeon, and the anti-Gibeonite coalition / chs 6 – 10.28
• The Southern Campaign / ch 10.29-43
• The Northern Campaign / ch 11 

5 / And this will bring us to the end of this section in ch 11.23: “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that The LORD had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.” Then, this will lead us into the next section: Dividing the Land, chs 13-21.

6 / ALSO, I have included a map on page 4 that I hope will help us to visually follow the narratives of these conquest campaigns as they progress over these chapters. I have added some text boxes to help us locate the strategic places of action. And I have also highlighted the various theaters of the conquest campaigns and the portions of Joshua where they are narrated.

THE CENTRAL CAMPAIGN BEGINS [see map]

II | Joshua, chapter 6 | The Fall of Jericho

“See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor”

6.1: Jericho secured

6.2-14: Yahweh’s commands and Israel’s actions for days one through six—and for day seven

6.15-21: Yahweh’s commands and Israel’s actions on day seven—the fall of Jericho

6.22-25: The rescue and arrangements for Rahab

6.26: Jericho is cursed

6.27: Joshua affirmed

III | Joshua, chapter 7 | Rebellion and Restoration in Israel [Defeat at Ai and Achan]

“Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them … I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you … You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”

7.1: Sin in the camp

7.2-5: Israel’s first campaign against Ai—and their humiliating defeat

7.6-15: Joshua’s prayer to Yahweh and Yahweh’s response

7.16-25: Yahweh’s judgment against Achan and his punishment

7.26: Yahweh’s anger is abated

IV | Joshua, chapter 8 | The Second Campaign against Ai and the Covenant is Renewed

“Do not fear and do not be dismayed … arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land.”

8.1-2: Yahweh instructs Joshua with His battle strategy [ambush]

8.3-9: Joshua sets the ambush troops

8.10-29: The destruction of Ai

8.30-32: Joshua builds an altar and copies the Law [see Deuteronomy 27.1-13]

8.33: The groupings and positions of the people for the readings of the Law

8.34-35: Joshua reads the Law to the people [see Deuteronomy 27-28]

V | Joshua, chapter 9 | The Deceptive Ruse of the Gibeonites and How it was Resolved

“…but [they] did not ask counsel from The LORD…”

9.1-2: The Canaanite kings assemble to fight against Joshua and Israel

9.3-15: The Gibeonites trick Joshua and Israel into making a peace treaty with them

9.16-27: The Israelites discover their ruse and subject them to servitude

THE CENTRAL CAMPAIGN CONTINUES [see map]

VI | Joshua, chapter 10.1-28 | The war at Gibeon—where the sun stood still

“There has been no day like it before or since, when The LORD heeded the voice of a man, for The LORD fought for Israel.”

10.1-5: Five kings form a retaliatory coalition against Gibeon

10.6-8: The Gibeonites appeal to Joshua and Israel to come and save them

10.9-14: The LORD fights for Israel—Joshua prays for more daylight and the sun stands still

10.15: Israel returns to Gilgal [their base camp in the Promised Land]

10.16-28: The five Amorite kings are captured and executed, and their capitol city is captured

THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN [see map]

VII | Joshua, chapter 10.29-43 | The cities conquered in the Southern Campaign

“…because The LORD God of Israel fought for Israel.”

10.29-30: Libnah

10.31-33: Lachish with Gezer

10.34-35: Eglon

10.36-37: Hebron

10.38-39: Debir

10.40-42: Summary of the Southern Campaign conquests

10.43: Joshua and Israel return to their headquarters base–Gilgal

THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN [see map]

VIII | Joshua, chapter 11.1-15 | The Northern Campaign is detailed

“And The LORD gave them into the hand of Israel…”

11.1-5: The Northern coalition is formed

11.6-9: The battle at the Waters of Merom

11.10-15: Hazor and its allies are defeated

IX | Joshua, chapter 11.16-23 | Summary of all the land’s campaigns and conquests

“For it was The LORD’s doing…”

11.16-17: The geographical summary is repeated and updated

11.18-20: Yahweh’s purposes and promises [theological summary] is repeated and updated

11.21-22: The destruction of the Anakim is summarized

11.23: The Land had rest from war

X | Joshua, chapter 12 | Summaries of the kings Israel defeated since leaving Egypt

12.1-6: Kings defeated by Moses East of the Jordan

• Sihon, king of the Armorites
• Og, king of Bashan

12.7-24: Kings defeated by Joshua West of the Jordan

• 31 of them, listed with their kingdoms
• see v 24b: “in all, thirty-one kings”

NOTE: Throughout this outline, I have repeatedly used a sentence or phrase that includes some action by Yahweh to sum up what occurred in that section: “The LORD did…” or “The LORD gave them into their hand…” That is because, as we said in our introduction to this Book, Joshua may be the primary human agent and character of the events, but he is NOT the primary actor or ‘cause-er’ of the events—YAHWEH IS!

And this, too, points us to the promise of Christ who will come “in the fullness of time” as our NT Joshua to fight our battles for us, destroy all our enemies, and lead us into our eternal ‘inheritance’ and ‘rest’—God’s eternal Kingdom of the New Creation! [Hebrews 3-4]