Chapter Seven—War and Peace
The Israelites were finally ready to enter into the promised land. Joshua was the new leader and he led the military battles as the people went in and conquered their enemies. Joshua followed the LORD and that is really important because it means that while Joshua was alive, the LORD was the commander-in-chief of their armies. As long as they followed him, they were blessed. Some other people were blessed along the way, too.
Remember Rahab? She was the prostitute who hid the 12 spies. She had heard about God and how he protected his people. Rahab needed protection too, and she wanted to part of that group. When it was time to go into Jericho, the LORD told Joshua to have all the men march around the city once each day for six days. On the 7th day, they were to march around the city 7 times with the priests blowing trumpets. After the seventh time, the priests blew a long blast on the ram’s horn (a kind of trumpet) and all the people shouted and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
The march around Jericho
There are some things you need to know about this. The Jews had a mathematical system called gematria. Each number had a special meaning and it could also be used to turn letters into numbers, so that words could have special meaning too. The number 7 means “complete.” You will see this number all over the Bible and you can see that it means complete. There were 7 days of creation. There were 7 priests with 7 trumpets marching for 7 days around Jericho. And in the book of Revelation, there 7s everywhere.
Trumpets also mean something special. A trumpet always gives a warning. In the case of Jericho, the trumpets were warning the inhabitants of Jericho that God was about to judge them. During the time of the prophets, the prophets voices were called trumpets because they were warning God’s people about coming judgment. And in the New Testament, the gospel is sometimes called a trumpet. The gospel is good news for those who believe, but to those who do not, it is a trumpet of judgment.
After the Israelites conquered Jericho, they went and conquered all their enemies for as long as Joshua was alive. They entered the Promised Land and each tribe received their inheritance. Maybe now that they reached the Promised Land, God would send the One who would restore Eden! It has been a really long time since God made that promise to Adam and Eve. And what better place to restore Eden than the Promised Land? It was beautiful—flowing with milk and honey. Surely it would happen soon!
After Joshua died, I would like to say the people lived happily ever after, but they did not. The people followed God for a little while, but then they forgot about him. When they forgot about him, they started to become disobedient and very very sinful, and then God would send their enemies to punish them. Then they would finally remember God. DUH! They cried out to him for deliverance, but do think God should give them deliverance after all the bad things they did? They did not deserve deliverance, but God delivered them anyway!
IT’S OUTRAGEOUS!
IT’S SCANDALOUS!
IT’S…GRACE.
God sent them judges who would fight their enemies and rule over them. The judges were their heroes. But when the judges died, their heroes were gone. God was waiting for them to ask him to be their hero, BUT THEY NEVER DID.
One of the last of the judges was Samuel. You might remember that his mother Hannah could not have children and she went to Shiloh to pray for a child. God finally gave her a little boy and do you know what she did? She gave him back to God!
Hannah brings Samuel to the temple
When Samuel was just a boy, God called him to speak his words first to Eli the priest and later to all the people of Israel. He was a prophet and he would also be the one who anointed the kings.
God called Samuel in the night
A time came when the Israelites asked God for a king who would rule over them and go out to battle with them. God could have been their king, but they wanted men. So if God was ever going to be their king, he would have to become a man.
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