Teaching resource for Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson for June 28

Ideas and questions to help group member and leaders to prepare for Joshua 5:13–15; 6:1–25.

First, ask group member to get in pairs.

Second, ask the following icebreaker question: The Lord made it clear that the battle of Jericho was his and not Israel’s. Have there been battles in your life that you have tried to fight that the Lord never intended for you to fight because they were his? Did there come a point when you finally surrendered it to him?

Joshua 5:13–15

1. Who appeared to Joshua near Jericho? The commander of the Lord’s army.
2. Was he the commander of an angelic army or a theophany? Commentators make arguments for both. I tend to agree with Keil and Delitchze that the host of Jehovah is synonymous with the host of heaven (I Kings 22:19) and signifies angels. See Psalm 148:2 and 103:21.
3. What did he tell Joshua to do? To take off his sandals because he was on holy ground.
4. What other Old Testament character was told the same thing? Moses in Exodus 3:5.
5. Do you recall other accounts when an angel had a drawn sword? At the gate of paradise in Genesis 3:24 and Balaam’s donkey in Numbers 22:31.
6.  What was the purpose of his appearing to Joshua? Ellicot says that to help him see that this was not Israel’s battle in which God would assist, but that Israel and Joshua are but one division of his host.  

Joshua 6:1–11

1. What promise did the Lord make to Joshua? That he had already delivered Jericho into his hands.
2. What do you think about asking the Lord to give us a city, school, family for Jesus? Sometimes he tells people that he has given certain groups into their hands, and sometimes we must claim them. Missionaries sometimes do this when they enter a foreign country or people group. Just as the Israelites had to fight through to have Canaan, we must engage in spiritual warfare for those we claim for Jesus.
3. What were they to do for six days? Seven priests were to carry trumpets, blowing them, followed by the ark of the covenant. An armed guard were to go in front of the priests and a rear guard followed the ark. The people were to remain silent, not saying a word.  
4. In church life, are there times for being silent as well as time for shouting?
5. What were they instructed to do on the seventh and last day? March around the city seven times and when the trumpets made a long blast, all the people were to shout and the walls would fall.
6. What insight does Revelation give us about the use of trumpets to describe future events? Disasters take place at the sounding of each of the first six trumpets. Final trumpet meant the war was over. (Revelation 8:7–10, 12; 9:1, 13–15; 11:15)
7. Were there other significant times the shofar was blown in Israel’s history? In Leviticus 25 on the Day of Atonement during the year of Jubilee when slaves were released and debts were cancelled.
8. Was it important for Joshua to follow the Lord’s instruction exactly? Absolutely. 

Joshua 6:12–14

1. Did the people carry out Joshua’s orders? Yes.

Joshua 6:15–19

1. What promise did Joshua remind them of as he commanded them to shout? The Lord has given you the city.
2. How did Joshua describe everything in the city? It was set apart unto the Lord and was to be destroyed.
3. What was the one exception? Rahab and her family.
4. What warning was given to the people about the things that were set apart for destruction? Keep away from them and not take any of it or they would meet a similar fate.

Joshua 6:20–21

1. Many, especially unbelievers, have a difficult time understanding the destruction of every man and woman, both young and old in Jericho. Why was it necessary for them all to be destroyed? This is difficult to understand to the western mind thousands of years later. This was a warring culture. According to Genesis 15:13-16, the Lord had been patient with Canaan for generations, but the time for judgment had come. For further study, see Is God a Moral Monster? by Paul Copan.

Joshua 6:22–25

1. Who all in Rahab’s family was spared? Immediate family and all who belonged to her. 
2. What was done with the precious metals? Put into the treasury of the Lord’s house. What was the Lord’s house? The tabernacle because the temple had not been built yet.