See, circumcision was a manner to signify to God that you belonged to Him. Today, we have Baptism,...And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. Joshua 5:3
2. Obedience Is Remembering (Joshua 5:10–12)
...the Israelites then obeyed another of God’s commandments, which was to always remember the day when an angel went throughout the land of Egypt killing all the firstborn of any household, except for those who the angel would pass over if they marked their doors with the blood of a lamb. In the promised land, they celebrated the Passover on the day appointed by God, eating the sacrificial lamb....And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. Joshua 5:11
3. Obedience To God’s Servants (Joshua 5:13–15)
After the Israelits remembered the Lord their God, an angel, the “Commander of the Army of the Lord” commanded Joshua to heed the Lord’s words that he was about to declare.... but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Joshua 5:14,15
4. Obedience Is Complying Even When It Makes No Sense (Joshua Chapter 6)
God commanded as the tactic to overcome the city’s walled fortification. “March around the city” once a day for “six days” while blowing “trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark” and then on the “seventh day … march around the city seven times,” followed by another blow of trumpets and finally “all the people shall shout with a great shout.”
Really? Think about it. It doesn’t make sense.....And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. Joshua 6:2
5. Obedience Is Humility (Joshua 7:1–26)
Israel went to a city named Ai, which was beyond Jericho. But one of the men, Achan, violated God’s strict commandment not to take anything from the city, items which were considered “accursed.” After spying out the city and realizing it should be easy to defeat with just a few men, the Hebrews were actually unexpectedly overcome. God clarified that this was because someone violated His commandments.
First, Joshua got on his knees and put his head down to the ground in prayer and remorse until God spoke to him saying, “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?”
Then, after Joshua explained the reason for his situation, he is told by God to sanctify the people by finding the person who transgressed God’s covenant...Even though Achan admitted what he did, telling Joshua, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel,” and explained in detail what he did, he, his children, his livestock, and all that he had were stoned, burned, and a heap of stones was piled over them.
We learn of three actions of humility that can all be related to the practice of confession:
- Humility in understanding that you need God to defeat your sin (think of what Joshua did, falling on his knees and putting his face to the ground, asking God to help resolve the people’s weakness in defeating Ai; notice this posture is what we refer to as a prostration known as metanoia [a Greek word meaning change of mind], which sadly I’m finding few people actually do on a regular basis during prayer)
- Humility in admitting your mistakes (regardless of everything that happened, what Achan did when he was confronted by Joshua was remarkably humble)
- Accepting natural consequences / punishment / rebuke / discipline of our sins (this one is clear from the story, and in our own lives we have to be willing to accept the consequences of our sins.)....And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. Joshua 7:6
