ALL THE WORDS OF THE LAW

Joshua 8:1-35

Key Verse 8:34-35

1. Read vs. 1-2 and compare this passage with Joshua 6:17-19. In the case of Jericho the Lord did not allow the Israelites to take material things, but in the case of Ai, the Lord allowed them to take them. What does this difference suggest to us about the difference between the battle of Jericho and that of Ai?  

2. Read vs. 1-2 again and describe the significance of the following statements in conducting the battle against Ai: 

1) Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged (Jer 12:5; 2Ti 4:10-18); 

2) Take the whole army with you (Eph 6:10-18); 

3) Go up and attack Ai (Gen 1:28; Rm 1:5); 

4) I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land (Jn 19:30); 

5) You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king (Gal 6:14; Rm 8:13); 

6) You may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves (Gen 13:7-9); and 

7) Set up an ambush behind the city (Rm 7:11).

3. Skim through vs. 3-29. What do the following statements teach us in waging the Lord's battles in our generation: 

1) "They will say, 'They are running away from us as they did before’" (6); 

2) "Do what the Lord has commanded" (8b); 

3) "But he did not know that an ambush has been set against him behind the city" (2Pe 3:7-10); and 

4) "Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand" (Rev 2:16)? 

4. Read vs. 30-39. Why do you think Joshua put the Israelites through a Bible conference like this (Pro 16:18)? What can we learn from Joshua who "copied" the law of Moses onto the stones? In what respect might it not have been easy for Joshua to read "all" the laws of Moses? Yet why do you think he bothered to do this? What can we learn from him in waging the Lord's battle in this so-called ‘Information Age’?