“THE BOOK OF JOSHUA ~ a Type & Shadow” A-030 (12-22-22) Joshua 6:22-27
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Joshua 6:22 (New English Translation) says, “Joshua told the two men who had spied on the land, “Enter the prostitute’s house and bring out the woman and all who belong to her as you promised her.”
● From the NET Bible, there is a translator’s note (tn) that says, the Hebrew reads, “the house of the woman, the prostitute.” But we also find a translator’s note (tn) showing that the Hebrew renders the last part of this verse to read, “and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her as you swore on oath to her.”
● Joshua 6:23 (NET) says, “So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside the Israelite camp.”
● This is what I love about the Old Testament where we see types and shadows that point to the New Testament as a type or ratification of Father’s eternal covenant that was established in eternity past. When an Old Testament people or any people rely on the human-experience to interpret the intentions of Father-God, every time they will see God as mean, destructive, and unforgiving.
● As for Rahab and her household, they were saved even as they joined their faith to the God of Israel and a willingness to follow through on what God’s messengers told them to do, which was to stay at the house with the scarlet cord hanging from the window.
● As the Israelites burned the city and all that was in it with fire, except for the silver and gold and precious things, this is an allegory for the consuming fire of Father’s love burning out the wandering thought that do not belong within us.
● Joshua 6:24 (NET) says, “But they burned the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury of the LORD’s house.”
● Next, about the treasury, we find another translator’s note (tn) saying that the Hebrew would read, “the treasury of the house of the LORD.” Technically the LORD did not have a “house” yet as established in the earthly appearance realm, so it is possible that this refers to the tabernacle using terminology that comes later.
● Joshua 6:25 (NET) says, “Yet Joshua spared {Heb. kept alive} Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family {Heb. the house of her father}, and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho.”
● Commentary says, “This shows that Joshua was written at the time of Joshua; yet this was not some whimsical re-construction of an imaginative writer working centuries after the fact.” Finally, Joshua curses the man who would re-fortify or rebuild the walls of Jericho. In other words, cursed be the man before the LORD who rises up and builds this city, Jericho.
● Joshua 6:26 (NET) says, “At that time Joshua made this solemn declaration {or, oath}: “The man who attempts to rebuild {or, raise up} this city of Jericho will stand condemned before the LORD. He will lose his firstborn son when he lays its foundations and his youngest son when he erects its gates!”
● I think there was a period of time after Adam, that God was adjusting to wayward mankind as they were learning through trial and error to be a better and God-like people. Joshua appears to be announcing the certain punishment of the violator.
● Joshua 6:27 (NET) says, “The LORD was with Joshua and he became famous throughout the land.”
● Even like in the New Testament, when we spread the message of the Eternal Christ, we find no need to make ourselves or our ministries famous. The need for fame comes from the unrenewed and from an egocentric mindset. If God makes you famous, so be it, but always leave that in the hands of Father.
● Sometimes the instructions of God do not seem to make any sense to the unrenewed mind, and even as you are walking out what you believe Father’s plan to be, and yet we always find that Father-knows-best when we walk according to His plan and His instructions. I hope you were enlightened and inspired to “dig deep into the well of Father’s mind within” as you watch this video lesson!