ARCHAEOLOGY: Curse Tablet of Mt. Ebal

"Archaeologists missed a tiny lead tablet when they excavated a site on Mount Ebal 40 years ago, but it was found during the wet sifting process in the re-excavation of a dump pile. 

And folded inside the tablet was a message that scholars say they have been able to reveal with a CAT scan.

According to Scott Stripling, the head of the team from Associates for Biblical Research, the tablet has Hebrew writing that reads, 

“Cursed, cursed, cursed—cursed by the God YHW. You will be cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW—cursed, cursed, cursed.” 

---The two uses of the divine name and the chiastic structure are remarkable, and the text could also be the oldest existing example of Hebrew writing by several hundred years. 

---The curse tablet appears to date from 1200 to 1400 B.C., which would link it roughly to the time that Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal and pronounced a curse on those who turn from God and worship idols ( Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,....And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings...Joshua 8:30,34)." 

 BiblicalArchaeology

Looking the Church in the Ai

"I HAVE taken two texts from two successive chapters of the book of Joshua. 

 

The first is from Joshua the seventh, at the third verse. The spies

who were sent to Ai returned to Joshua and said to him, "Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai." 

This policy led to a disastrous defeat and our other text gives us the Lord's command concerning the new attack. 

You will find it in the eighth of Joshua and the first verse—"The Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be dismayed: take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land." 

 

***The two texts may be condensed into—first, the advice of the spies, to employ only a part of the people in the assault upon Ai—"Let not all the people go up." And, secondly, the command of God to let every fighting man go forth to the war—"Take all the people of war with you." 

 

Brethren, like Israel, we are called to war and we have a greater than Joshua at our head, in whose name we conquer!

I. Let us consider THE ADVICE OF THE SPIES which led to such a shameful defeat. 

And here we shall have to deal with the error of supposing that

only a part of the Church will be sufficient to perform the work of the whole—that a large proportion may be idle—and that the rest will be quite enough to fight the Lord's battles. I feel it to be an error which, though not perhaps theoretically held by any of us, is practically to be seen abroad in our Churches and needs to be met and put to an end.

In Joshua's day this error sprang up among the Israelites because, on account of their sins, God was displeased with them. The commencement of the chapter tells us that the Lord God was angry because the children of Israel had committed a trespass in the accursed thing. Because of the sin of Achan, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people. That was the real reason of their defeat before Ai, but out of that secret cause grew the more manifest source of defeat—because God was displeased with them, they were left to themselves and, therefore, they adopted a fatal policy. 

  

II. In the second place, my text contains THE COMMAND THAT ALL ISRAEL SHOULD GO FORTH TO THE FIGHT. "Take all the men of war with you." 

I will mainly address myself to my Brothers in Christ and what I

have to say to them I say humbly, speaking mainly to myself. Brothers, we must have all our Church members go to the war. The baggage of our army is too heavy. The camp followers are too many. We need to turn out the drones and we need an increase of true working bees. 

Q: How is it to be done? 

A: We must be, ourselves, deeply impressed with the evil brought upon idle Christians by their idleness and the evil which they bring upon the rest of the Church."

Charles Spurgeon

Calvin's Excellent Breakdown of Joshua 24:2

 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. Joshua 24:2

"Your fathers dwelt on the other side, etc He begins his address by

referring to their gratuitous adoption by which God had anticipated any application on their part, so that they could not boast of any peculiar excellence or merit. For God had bound them to himself by a closer tie, having, while they were no better than others, gathered them together to be his peculiar people, from no respect to anything but his mere good pleasure. ..... he leads them back to their origin, and reminds them how their fathers had dwelt in Chaldea, 

--worshiping idols in common with others, 

--and differing in nothing from the great body of their countrymen. Hence it is inferred that Abraham, when he was plunged in idolatry, was raised up, as it were, from the lowest deep.

 

But if we attend to the words of the inspired writer, we shall see that he is no more exempted from the guilt of the popular idolatry than Terah and Nachor. 

For why is it said that the fathers of the people served strange gods, and that Abraham was rescued from the country, but just to show how the free mercy of God was displayed in their very origin? 

*Had Abraham been unlike the rest of his countrymen, his own piety would distinguish him. The opposite, however, is expressly mentioned to show that he had no peculiar excellence of his own which could diminish the grace bestowed upon him, and that therefore his posterity behooved to acknowledge that when he was lost, he was raised up from death unto life.

It seems almost an incredible and monstrous thing, that while Noah was yet alive, idolatry had not only spread everywhere over the world, but even penetrated into the family of Shem, in which at least, a purer religion ought to have flourished. 

How insane and indomitable human infatuation is in this respect, is proved by the fact that the holy Patriarch, on whom the divine blessing had been specially bestowed, was unable to curb his posterity, and prevent them from abandoning the true God, and prostituting themselves to superstition." Calvin

Lessons from Joshua's Farewell Speech

"Joshua declared to the people that his work among them was done; for he was soon to die. He appealed to themselves as witnesses that God had faithfully fulfilled his promises to them.
 
The Lord has not changed. His character is the same to-day as in the days of Joshua.

He is

*true,

*merciful,

*compassionate,

*faithful in the performance of his word,

 --both in promises and threatenings.--

One of the greatest dangers that besets the people of God to-day, is that of association with the ungodly; especially in uniting themselves in marriage with unbelievers. With many, the love for the human eclipses the love for the divine. They take the first step in backsliding by venturing to disregard the Lord's express command; and complete apostasy is too often the result. It has ever proved a dangerous thing for men to carry out their own will in opposition to the requirements of God. Yet it is a hard lesson for men to learn that God means what he says.

As a rule, those who choose for their friends and companions, persons who reject Christ and trample upon God's law, eventually become of the same mind and spirit."
Signs of the Times 1893, E.G.W.

 ...choose you this day whom ye will serve;

whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood,

or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell:

but as for me and my house,

we will serve the LORD.

Joshua 24:15

JOSHUA-the etymology & symbolism of the name

The name "Joshua" is the Hebrew form of the Greek version of the name "Jesus".
So as Joshua led his people into the promised land, one can see the symbolism-  Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Deuteronomy 1:38
2 elements of the name Joshua
1) The first element is , which is the commonly accepted abbreviated form of , which is YHWH, the Name of the Lord.
2) The interesting word group that starts with the familiar Hebrew verb (yasha), meaning to be saved or delivered. The feminine noun (yeshua) means salvation. The masuline noun (yesha) means salvation...

And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. Joshua 1:16