In Joshua 4 and into the beginning of Joshua 5, we read of God’s command for the people of Israel to take twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes, from the middle of the Jordan River and to establish a memorial on the Promised Land side of the Jordan. It would remind the Israelites of God’s faithfulness and power in their coming to the land via a flooded river, which God stopped from flowing. They were also to put twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, which no one would see again, as an additional reminder. This great crossing of the Jordan put Joshua in the category of being revered as much as the people had revered Moses. We’re told at the beginning of chapter 5, the Kings of the Amorites and all the Canaanite kings heard of the Israelites crossing of the Jordan with the LORD’s help and they “lost heart and were paralyzed with fear.” Through the remainder of chapter five, Joshua had the Israelites reestablish Covenant ceremonies, including circumcision, because they hadn’t followed these commands while they were in the wilderness.
As chapter 5 closes, the Angel of the Lord confronted Joshua. When Joshua asked, “Are you friend or foe?” The Angel responded, “Neither one.” When he told Joshua who he was, Joshua fell on his face in reverence and promised to do whatever he commanded. The angel told Joshua to remove his sandals, because the ground where he stood was holy. This reminds us of God’s call to Moses in Exodus 3-4, when God told Moses to remove his sandals as he stood in the presence of the burning bush.
Chapter 6 records the Israelites’ defeat of Jericho. To say the “battle” was unorthodox is an understatement. Rather then send the Israelite troops into battle immediately, the LORD told him to gather the people and march around the city daily for seven days. Most of us have read about this unusual plan, or if we were every in children’s ministry when we were small have acted it out. The result of the Israelites marching around the city and blowing trumpets was on the seventh day the walls fell, and God delivered the people of Jericho into the Israelites hands. The Israelites honored their commitment to save Rahab and her family, and then they burned the town and everything in it. The only thing they kept were items made of silver, gold, bronze, and iron. They were kept to be placed in the Lord’s treasury. All looked to be well, but as we’ll see tomorrow when we read chapters 7-9 the Israelites never remained wholly faithful to God for long.
As we return to John 6, the account of Jesus feeding the 5,000, I’m reminded of how difficult it was for the people to accept Jesus’ claim to be the “Bread of Life,” and to follow Him fully. I wasn’t there, and I imagine if someone told me I needed to “eat his flesh and drink his blood” (John 6:53) in order to have eternal life, I would have struggled with the idea. But the evidence of Jesus’ power was clear. He had fed 5,000 men, plus the women and children with a few loaves of bread and fish. Who but God could do that? The majority of the crowd left Jesus at that point. The majority of Jesus “disciples” left Him at that point. Only the twelve remained with Him. We have the benefit of being able to look back over 2,000 years, of knowing Jesus died and rose again, of knowing Jesus wasn’t speaking literally about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. What would we have done were we there? Thankfully, we will never have to find out, because we live on the resurrection side of Easter. We have the assurance Jesus is the Son of God, the Bread of Life, and the source of salvation for all who believe in Him!