The book of Joshua and Prayer: Introduction
The book of Joshua is an interesting book because of the seemingly contradictory issues or themes. On one hand, the story demonstrates God’s faithfulness to his people. He had promised them their own land, and, in the book of Joshua, he gives it to them. On the other hand, the book is filled with instances of the people not following God’s directions, greed, and relying on themselves rather than God.
These themes are reflected in the prayers in the book. Prayers are rare. In fact, God speaks to Joshua (and others) on his own volition more often than they speak to him![1. See the frequent “And God said to Joshua” references: 1.1; 3.7; 4.1, 4.15; 5.2; 7.10; 8.1, 18; 10.10; 11.6; 13.1; 30.1. See also 5.6.] God is frequently angry at his people in the story. Perhaps the key passage concerning prayer in the book is not a prayer at all, but a mention of no prayer: “So the leaders partook of their provisions, and did not ask direction from the LORD” (9.14). It is clear from later events that they should have prayed.
There are eight prayers in the entire book. While there are two blessings, there is not much to them, merely “Joshua blessed him/them.” Other than the blessings, there is one each of intercession, a curse, a lament, a confession, a vow, and a petition. One might even question whether the confession is really a prayer of confession: a man is asked to confess to God, yet he does not offer a prayer, he simply confesses what he did. Even the rest of the prayers are short, shallow. We are rarely told what the person actually said to God.
All of this fits with the purpose of the book of Joshua. God kept his promises, but the people were often selfish and sinful, and frequently ignored God. What can we learn about prayer from such a book. Perhaps a good bit about what not to do in prayer!
The book of Joshua can be divided into six sections: the Israelites enter into the land of Canaan (1.1–5.12), the wars against the people of Canaan (5.13–11.23), the division of the land among the Israelite tribes (12.1–19.15), a call to keep the law as handed down by Moses (20.1–21.45), a threat of a civil war (22.1–34), and a conclusion at the end of Joshua’s life (23.1–24.33). Most of the prayers come during the wars and the civil war.
The paucity and shallowness of the prayers is not to say that they are not sincere. Most do seem to be so. Yet those praying seem distracted, as if they are too busy to spend much time on prayer. Or perhaps the author of the book did not think prayer was important to his story. Yet the book of Judges, coming right after Joshua, is filled with prayers that are more like the other books we have studied so far. Most scholars think that both Joshua and Judges were either written by the same person, or at heavily edited by the same person. This, together with the fact that God speaks to people in Joshua more often than they speak to him, indicates that the author is teaching us something about prayer: treat it lightly at your own peril!
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Thanks for the comment, Cory, and for your kind words.
The actions of the people marching around Jericho is full of symbolism, and I think that is part of what is going on. Ancient people paid a lot of attention to the symbol of numbers, and seven was an important one to Jews and Christians. It symbolized completeness or fulfillment, maybe “fullness.” So marching for seven days (and then seven times on the seventh day) appears to emphasize the idea that God is behind the actions of the people and the destruction that comes. It is not their power, it is God’s. It is not their victory, it is God’s—completely and fully. I think there is also the sense that God promised his people that he would give them their land, and the “sevens” in all of this emphatically show that God keeps his promises in a big way.
So I think you are onto something. Some people might say, “well, that’s just some ancient mystical thinking about numbers.” Yet who knows? Maybe there is something mystical and spiritual about the number 7 that is baked into creation. Even if there isn’t, just imitating that act connects us to God’s people and God’s acts in history. WE are God’s people, just like those Hebrews; he acts through us today, just like he did back then. I think those connections are important to help us remember that we are part of a long, long line of God’s people throughout history and all over the world.
What are your thoughts on the part where they march around Jericho once a day for 6 days and then on the 7th day they march around it 7 times and shout and the walls come down? Im personally trying to find more to what the significance is there. i feel there is an important lesson there but havent learned it yet. I have started with practical application, by walking around places or people 7 times while praying and declaring things in the name of Jesus. It seems to always shift the atmosphere drastically. There is always a movement of God when this is done. Anyway, thought I would drop this comment here. Thanks for the wonderful words and the time effort that was put into this post and the many more I am sure this website has to provide.