Daily Morning Watch

July 30, 2022

King after king rose against Israel, (these were what we would call clan chieftains, not kings of whole countries) and all of them fell before the people of God. There’s a hint as to why in verse 20. Just like Pharaoh before them (and like clay in hot sun), the people’s hearts only got harder in the presence of God’s light, rather than softening like wax. At last, after years of war, the northern part of the Promised Land was conquered. The people had enough land to settle down and be at rest.

July 29, 2022

The Gibeonites were now in trouble with their neighbors for making peace with Israel. Other kings went against them in war, and they called to Joshua for help. This time, Joshua asked God, and God said to go. But the Israelites didn’t do that much fighting—God gave them the victory. There were two supernatural interventions in nature that day. What were they?

July 28, 2022

All the tribes around Jericho were now frightened of Israel and their God. They had several possible choices. They could fight back. (Most of them gathered to do this.) They could surrender to the God of Israel. Just think how the story would have changed! That would have been a smart move, but nobody but a few individuals like Rahab did that. Or…they could lie. Gibeon chose that. The Israelites, notice, didn’t ask God’s advice. Maybe the Gibeonites thought it was a good bargain, to be servants forever instead of fighting and dying. What do you think?

July 27, 2022

The first half of this chapter is an ugly one. Throughout the conquest of Canaan, we will see the consequences of entrenched sin. The people in the land had insisted on following their own demonic gods instead of the one true God. On the other hand, the Israelites continually disobey, too. But read closely the last verses, from 30 to the end. Isn’t this a beautiful picture of God’s people, humble for now, setting up a new place of worship in a new land promised for centuries to their father Abraham? The true conquest is always in the heart.

July 26, 2022

God had said that Jericho was entirely to be devoted to Him alone. But one man had seen something rich and beautiful, and coveted it. He allowed that sin to grow into the sin of theft—not just from a person, but from God! And because of it, a whole nation was brought down, and lost an easy battle for a small town. What kind of insights can you find in this story for contemporary times?

July 25, 2022

At the end of the last chapter and the beginning of this one, Joshua had an encounter with God. Just like Moses many years before, Joshua was told to take off his shoes in humility before God. Like Moses, he covenanted to obey. Jericho was the first result of this. The people didn’t go to war or besiege the city. God took it down with His own power. And He didn’t forget Rahab and her family. Many others could have been saved, too, if they had committed themselves to God.

July 24, 2022

The people nearby were full of awe when they heard what God had done for Israel. This was a sign to them that they, too, could come and follow God if they chose. Now that they were in the new land, the people had several things to do: they circumcised all the men and boys, took time for healing, kept the first Passover in their new land, and…they ate food grown in the Promised Land and that day, the manna stopped. What an event that must have been! How do you think they felt?

July 23, 2022

This is a lovely story. Once all the people had crossed, with the priests and the ark still in the middle, God had one representative from each tribe go get a stone from the middle of the river. They set these up as a permanent memorial on the riverbank, so that they could always point to them and say, “This is where we crossed; those stones used to be out there in the deepest water!” Verse 9 says they were still there when this book was written—don’t you wish they still were there now? What would you like to memorialize in your life?

July 22, 2022

These people have heard stories all their lives of the crossing of the Red Sea during the escape from Egypt. Some of them were children when it happened, and remember it. But remembering something from childhood is not the same thing as experiencing it as an adult. God did a miracle again, but a little differently. This time it was the priests and the ark of God that God used as the instrument of opening a way in the sea. How do you think they felt when, after spending a lifetime wandering all over the place, the finally crossed into the Promised Land?