Introduction: Are you surprised that one of our lessons on Joshua contains almost no readings from Joshua? That is our situation this week! Why is that? When my wife and I moved to the Virginia Beach area, she pointed out that we were now a prime target in a nuclear war because the world’s largest naval base, and home to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, is here in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Frankly, I felt safer here than when we lived in the Washington, D.C. area. Terrorists would target a civilian area like Washington, D.C., not a military area like the Atlantic Fleet. Professional soldiers fight other soldiers, they do not target women and children, right? And that is the reason why we need context to explain what we are reading in Joshua. Let’s plunge into our study of the Bible!

I. Devoted to Destruction

A. Read Joshua 8:24-26. The next city to fall after Jericho is the City of Ai. Are the Hebrews killing women and children? (Yes. They are killing everyone in Ai.)

B. Read Joshua 8:28-29. Is anything left of Ai? (No. The king is hanged and the city burned.)

1. Consider the introduction to this study. Is this what professional soldiers would do? Is this ethical? Or is this what terrorists would do?

II. Judgment or Terrorism?

A. Read Genesis 15:13-16. God tells Abram the future of his descendants. What is the good news and what is the bad news? (The bad news is that they will be “afflicted” as “servants” of another nation for four hundred years. The good news is that they will become rich and will enter the land promised to them by God.)

B. Look again at Genesis 15:16. What point about timing does God make to Abraham? (The four hundred year delay is somehow connected to the completion of the “iniquity of the Amorites.”)

1. Why would anyone want complete iniquity? (Our last lessons explore the spiritual side of life’s problems. A reference to complete iniquity is a reference to a spiritual matter.)

C. Read Leviticus 18:21-24. These verses refer to child sacrifice, male homosexual sex, and bestiality. What is the connection to the “nations I am driving out before you?” (The people the Israelites are defeating, like those living in Jericho and Ai, are “unclean” because of their “abominable” actions.)

D. Read Leviticus 18:25-29. When Israel defeats these cities and nations, is it merely a military contest? A fight over property? (No. It is punishment for iniquity. It is judgment. It is the land “vomiting” out the unclean.)

1. What is the punishment for a Hebrew that engaged in those actions? (They “shall be cut off” from the people.)

E. Read Ezra 9:10-12. What practical reason is given here for killing all those who lived in these pagan cities? (Their influence is bad. They must be banished.)

III. Authority to Judge

A. Read Romans 6:23. Do you accept that the death penalty is appropriate for sin?

1. Do you accept that for yourself?
2. What way out of the death penalty is given here? (Accepting the free gift of eternal life in Jesus.)
3. Do you think that God owed us the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf? (Hopefully you answered that God owes us nothing. Jesus’ gift is truly a gift, not an obligation.)
4. If you agree that Jesus’ coming on our behalf is not an obligation, would you also agree that Jesus’ sacrifice did not have to be offered to the pagan nations defeated by Israel?

IV. Two Tracks

A. Read Deuteronomy 20:10-11. What does God command His people here? (That they must offer peace to an enemy city.)

B. Read Deuteronomy 20:12-14. If we go back to our introduction, this seems how professional soldiers would fight. They would not kill women and children. How can God give these instructions? Isn’t this inconsistent with what Joshua is told to do to the cities in Canaan?

C. Read Deuteronomy 20:15-16. This is the key to God’s plan for conquest. How do you understand it? (If a city is “very far” then it is given the opportunity for peace. But the cities where the Hebrews were to live must be completely destroyed. We discussed earlier the problem about influence and the need for judgment, but this text in Deuteronomy clearly spells out God’s thinking in Joshua.)

D. Read Jonah 3:1-4 and Jonah 3:10. What does this reveal about the attitude of God towards a very evil people? (He allows them to repent.)

E. Read Jonah 4:1-2 and Jonah 4:10-11. What does the story of Jonah and Nineveh teach us about God, our Judge? (He is a compassionate judge and He acts righteously.)

F. Read Matthew 12:41. In this verse Jesus is speaking to Israel a thousand years after the time of Joshua. Jesus tells His people that they are worse than the Ninevites because the Ninevites repented. How would this apply to us today? (We would be more guilty if we rejected Jesus because we have generations before us who believed that Jesus was God.)

V. Separation From Evil

A. Read Exodus 23:23-24 and Exodus 23:28-29. These verses contain two ideas. First, that God will “blot out” the Canaanites. Second, that God will “drive out” the Canaanites by sending hornets. Are these two ideas consistent?

1. Would they fit into the “Two Tracks” explanation found in Deuteronomy 20?

B. Read Deuteronomy 7:20. This combines the idea of hornets driving out the Canaanites and destroying those who do not leave. Does this suggest an answer to the prior question? (Yes. God’s preferred plan was to have the pagans leave so that Abraham’s descendants could occupy the land and not be corrupted by their abominations. However, if they would not leave, then they must be destroyed.)

1. Is this answer consistent with the texts we studied that informed us the destruction of the Canaanites was judgment for their sins?

a. Could running and hiding have kept the Canaanites from judgment? (The real issue is the character of God. God would let them avoid immediate judgment by leaving. But if they would not leave, then total destruction was justified because they deserved judgment.)

VI. The Path to Peace

A. Read Isaiah 9:6-7. Who is this Child? (Jesus. Jesus brings peace between us and God. He paid the penalty for our sins so we could live forever with Him.)

B. Read Isaiah 60:18-21. Where is this that the sun and moon provide no light to the earth? (It is where God will be our light. This prophecy of the earth made new reflects Revelation 21:23.)

C. Friend, are you involved in evil? Are you entertaining evil and allowing it to change you? As we studied in this lesson, this is a serious problem. Jesus gives us the path to eternal life. Don’t be drawn away from Him to follow other gods. Will you commit to asking the Holy Spirit to help you leave evil behind? Why not do that right now?

VII. Next week: The Enemy Within.

Copr. 2025, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.

Print/PDF/Email