Bible History Umasked: Canaan Conquests: Joshua’s Battles, Judgment, and Mercy

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and this is Faith on the Go, where you take the word with you

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on your drive to work, while you're getting ready in the morning,

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or even in those quiet moments before prayer.

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Real life, real word, and real growth, all while you are on the go.

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Before we get into today's word, let's take a moment to center ourselves with a familiar prayer.

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The prayer of Jabez.

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Oh, that you will bless me indeed and enlarge my territory.

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Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.

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Father God, we come before you this day asking that you will indeed bless us,

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not just with what we have, but in who we are becoming.

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Enlarge our territory, Lord. Lord, expand our capacity, our mindset,

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and our ability to receive what you have for us.

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Let your hand be upon us, guiding us, covering us, and leading us in every decision we make.

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And Father, keep us from harm, physically, emotionally, and spiritually,

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that we may walk in peace and not in pain.

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And Lord, just as you heard Jabez when he cried out to you, hear us now.

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Your word says that you granted his request, and we believe that you are the same God today.

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So we come boldly before you, knowing that you hear us, knowing that you see

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us, and knowing that you respond to the prayers of your people.

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Have your way in this moment as we sit, listen, and receive your word.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Hello, welcome back to the Bible History Unmasked. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and this is the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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We're at episode three, Canaanite Wars and Israel Conquest.

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I hope you're enjoying the series as much as I am.

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We're going to dive into the ites, the giants of the Bible, and we're going

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to get into their ethnicity and why there was so much war in the Bible.

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We know that God doesn't close his eyes to sin, but we also don't want to think

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that he's sitting on the sidelines and want everybody to be nicey-nicey.

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He is a God of war. It says the Lord of hosts is his name, is one of his names.

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So the Lord of hosts don't have a host of angels just sitting around there getting

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their nails and feet done.

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They are working. They are warring. And many times in the earth, we have an enemy.

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We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We don't even wrestle against the

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ites, but we do wrestle against an unknown power that uses personalities

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to cause war, unrest, conflict, chaos in the land.

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And so we're going to cover the Canaanite wars. And the star of the day is Joshua,

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because he was one of the two spies that said that we are well able to handle

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it when Moses sent them in to check out the land.

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Yes, there were giants in the land. But Joshua had an idea. He had a heart to win.

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And when Moses died, guess who God put in charge?

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He put Joshua in charge. Caleb was probably his sidekick.

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We don't see what Caleb did, but I'm quite sure Caleb was still his supporting

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partner in all of this. So let's get through the introduction.

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Of Canaanite wars and Israel conquest. We're going to talk a lot about the entering

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of Canaan, and we're going to talk about where Canaan is. Why was Canaan cursed?

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We covered that in great detail with Noah. And so we're going to have a little

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bit of that, the conquest of the promised land, Canaanite kings,

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and the cities and biblical history. So let's get started.

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I want to welcome you all back to the Black History on Mass,

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where we trace the nations, the bloodlines, the cities, the conflicts,

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name it in scripture, and allow the word of God to tell the story.

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The last episode we covered, we examined Goliath of Gath.

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But I want you to know that Goliath did not appear in isolation,

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and neither did the Philistines.

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His story belongs to a much larger biblical world filled with ancient people and nations.

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Many of the same people scripture identified generations before the Israel ever entered into Canaan.

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Throughout Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, we encounter the names

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of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites,

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the Hittites, the Jebusites,

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and the Girgashites, and all the surrounding nations. Where do we get those names from?

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They should sound very familiar. So I want you to go with me to Genesis chapter 10.

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And I'm going to read to you through verse 15 through 18 because it should sound familiar to you.

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And Canaan beget Sidon, his firstborn in Heth, and the Jebusites,

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and the Amorites, and the Gergesites, and the Hivites, and the Archites, and the Sinites,

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and the Arbidites, and the Zemorites, and the Hamathites.

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And afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

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So we see this is from our main scripture on nations. And so we knew we were

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going to get here, and we have made it to the ice section, okay?

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So when God starts to talk to us about the Bible, if you ever notice the flow,

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He doesn't leave anyone out.

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There's always something that the Israelites were fighting against or fighting for.

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We live in a world, even in today's time, a world of chaotic things that are happening.

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And we not going to have an easy way because we're not in heaven.

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The fight is on this earth.

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And what is the fight for? It's for your freedom. Yes, Jesus won it,

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but he says, occupy until I come. So let's continue.

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So what begins in Genesis as a genealogy eventually becomes geography.

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So that's where we're at. We're building the, not just names,

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not, but we're building our geography of the Bible.

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And we start thinking about the families. We start thinking about the nations.

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And we start thinking about the cities, the territories, and the kings,

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armies, and the culture.

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And by the time Joshua leads Israel across the Jordan, these people are firmly

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established throughout the land.

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So the ice were already there. Isn't that interesting?

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Already there, a test of the bravery of God's people.

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Go with me to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 1.

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And it reads, When the Lord thy God should bring thee unto the land,

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whether thou goest to possess it, and has cast out many nations before thee,

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the Hittites and the Gergesites and the Amorites and the Canaanites

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and the Perizzites and the Hittites and the Jebusites, seven natures greater and mightier than thou.

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Now, this is a story we know in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy was Moses telling the

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Israelites what they're going

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to have to conquer before they can actually get to the promised land.

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We know that the first group didn't make it.

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They didn't believe God and God ended up destroying them, really killing them in the wilderness.

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Remember he said their carcass will be in the land.

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So now he's talking, this is a story in Deuteronomy, Moses telling the Israelites,

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the younger Israelites, what they're going to have to cover.

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And what they're going to have to defeat are these ites. And that's what this

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section of the series is going to be about.

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How did these ites get defeated?

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When we think about these names, these names are not just random names.

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They are names in this biblical story. These are the nations that Israel is about to encounter.

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But before we move into battle, we must ask an important question.

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Why was Joshua led to destroy the cities such as Jericho?

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Remember, we covered Jericho with Rahab. Rahab lived in Jericho.

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Remember, she lived on the wall.

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Because if we skip that question, we miss the biblical explanation for the conquest.

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Joshua did not wake up one morning and decide he wanted Jericho.

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He was not leading the people on a campaign of a personal expansion.

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According to scripture, Israel entrance into Canaan was connected to something

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God has spoken centuries earlier.

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So let's go to Genesis 15 to see what he was speaking. I want to get you updated.

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So when we go conquering this land, we're not just kind of covering Bible land.

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I'm taking you through the Bible bit by bit, chapter and verse at a time so

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that we can understand what God was doing and why he was doing it.

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Genesis 15 verses 13 to 16, it says this.

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And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed should be a stranger

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in a land that is not theirs, and should serve them, and they should afflict

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them 400 years. He's already warning that there's going to be slavery, right? Verse 14.

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And also that the nation whom I serve will I judge and afterwards till they

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come out with great substance.

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So after the slavery, they're going to come out with great substance.

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We know that's going to be in Exodus and we know that story.

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And thou should go to thy fathers in peace and thou should be buried at a ripe old age.

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God was prophesying to Abraham about what was to come, right?

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He said, this is what's going to have to happen.

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There's going to be slavery. There's.

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Going to be restoration. And there's going to be a long life where you're going to get buried.

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But before we get to all the good stuff, there's going to be war, right?

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So God told Abraham that his descendants will first live as strangers in the

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land and suffer oppression.

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Sounds like America, right? For people of color.

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And he said, but in the fourth generation, they should come hither again,

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for the iniquity of the Amorites is not full yet.

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Notice the words, not yet. God has promised the land to Abraham's descendants,

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but he did not immediately remove the people living there. Generations passed.

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The descendants of Abraham went into Egypt. Israel was enslaved. Moses led them out.

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And during those generations, according to the biblical text,

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the wickedness of the nation in Canaan continued until judgment came.

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So when Israel entered Canaan under Joshua, scripture presents two things happening at the same time.

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God is fulfilling his covenant promise to Abraham and God is bringing judgment

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upon the nations occupying the land.

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Moses makes this very clear. Think about that God can do two things at once. Wow.

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He's taking care of business for his people, but he's also judging the people who are in the land.

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Let's go to Deuteronomy 9, verses 4 and 5.

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Speak not thou in thy heart, after that the Lord thy God has cast him out before

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thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess the

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land. to possess the lamb.

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But the wickedness of these nations, the Lord does drive them out from before thee.

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Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thy heart does thou go to possess their lamb.

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But for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy God does drive them out

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from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord swore unto

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the fathers, fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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God says, that's why I am doing this. I am doing this, not for your sake,

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but for my sake, for my righteousness. He said, I'm doing it for myself.

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I promised this land to the people, and I'm going to get the land to the people.

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We see here that Israel was specifically warned, do not think this is happening

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because you are righteous.

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That is important. God is not telling Israel that they were morally superior.

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Than everyone around them.

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In fact, Moses repeatedly reminded Israel of his own rebellion.

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The conquest was about judgment and covenant, not ethnic superiority.

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And that brings us to Jericho. So we're thinking about why did they go take care of Jericho?

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Because God said, is for my righteousness. Nothing you have done deserves what you did.

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But just because I'm righteous, I'm going to do this thing.

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I want to read Joshua chapter 6 verses 1 and 2.

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It says, now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel.

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None went out and none came in.

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And the Lord said unto Joshua, see, I have given unto thy hand Jericho and the

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king, therefore, and the mighty men of value.

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So God already told Joshua.

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He told Moses, he told Abraham, and now he's telling Joshua.

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He says, I am going to do this for you.

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I have given you this land. And so now we see why we're at Jericho.

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Wasn't a random place. It was the first war for Joshua.

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And so now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel.

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None went out and none came in.

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And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given unto you the hand into the

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hand of Jericho, and the kings and the mighty men of value.

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So I'm giving you this whole city, everybody in it. the kings, the mighty men of value.

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Jericho was not simply attacked because Joshua wanted to do it.

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This was a command from God. And even the battle strategy makes that clear.

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Israel did not conquer Jericho through conventional military assault.

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For six days, they marched around the city. On the seventh day,

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they marched seven times and the priests blew the trumpet.

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The people shouted and the walls fell. Go to Joshua 6 verse 20.

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Let's see what happened here.

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And the people shouted when the priest blew with the trumpet.

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And it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people

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shouted with a great shout

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and the walls fell flat, down flat, so that the people went up into the city,

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every man straight before them, and they took the city.

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So the walls fell down after the.

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The Israelites blew the trumpet. The father Jericho is therefore presented as

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a divine judgment, not by military strength.

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But there's another part of the story that we can't leave out, and that's Rahab.

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Because even in a city under judgment, mercy was available.

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And so we see here that Rahab helped the spies. Remember that she tells the

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spies, I know the Lord has given you the land.

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For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you.

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For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven and under earth. We know that she

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was like giving God all the shout outs.

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She's in the land that is about to be judged, but yet she knows who God is.

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Rahab believes in God. She protected the spies.

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And then when Jericho fell, her household, she and her household was saved.

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Verse 25, and Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive and her father's household and all that she had.

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And she dwelt in Israel even to this day because she hid the messengers which

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Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

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So God shows us a picture of judgment and mercy in the same breath.

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The city comes under judgment, but a woman inside the city responds in faith and is protected.

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And Rahab does not disappear from Scripture. She becomes part of Israel,

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and later Matthew includes her in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

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That is why the destruction of Jericho cannot be understood as simply Israel versus the Canaanites.

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The Bible story is more complex.

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There is judgment, there is covenant fulfilled, there is obedience,

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there is mercy, there is faith.

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And there is a preservation of an outsider who acknowledges the God of Israel.

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So we enter into episode three and we're going to examine the nation's Israel encounter.

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We're going to look at Jericho. We're going to look at Ai. We're going to look

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and examine the Canaanite kings and the cities.

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We're going to follow the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites,

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the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Gergesites, and other people through the biblical record.

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And we are going to ask not simply what happened, but why scripture says it happened.

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Because the conquest of Canaan is not just a story about war.

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It's a story about promise, patience, judgment, covenant, obedience,

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mercy, and the sovereign God over the nations.

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And Jericho becomes the first major demonstration of all of those themes. So let's get started.

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So we open up with the history here. And so for the sake of time,

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if I read all the scripture that contained to the conquest of what Joshua did,

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this would be a three hour or maybe.

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Three or four episodes. But just for the sake of time, I'm going to give you

00:18:29.880 --> 00:18:35.070
the introduction of what happened during those different wars and also a little

00:18:35.070 --> 00:18:37.699
ethnicity, because this is Black history unmasked.

00:18:37.925 --> 00:18:44.117
And so let's start out with Joshua chapter 6, 1 through 27. We just went over that outline.

00:18:44.326 --> 00:18:47.129
We went over that in great detail when we covered Rahab.

00:18:47.495 --> 00:18:52.969
So this first conquest was the fall of Jericho, which is found in Joshua 6.

00:18:53.255 --> 00:19:00.522
Jericho was a fortified Afro-Aseanic Canaanite city with thick defensive walls

00:19:00.794 --> 00:19:02.900
and a complex social structure.

00:19:02.900 --> 00:19:08.950
It is people descended from Canaan, son of Ham, giving them the African lineage.

00:19:08.950 --> 00:19:15.516
So we understand that Joshua conquered, it was a land of what? African people.

00:19:15.732 --> 00:19:20.520
It wasn't a land of European folks. When we think about Jericho through its.

00:19:21.338 --> 00:19:26.499
Ethnic and historical context, we see Jericho population was brown-skinned,

00:19:26.650 --> 00:19:31.102
Afro-Asianic, cultural tied to Egypt and Phoenicia.

00:19:31.305 --> 00:19:38.283
Archaeology reveals collapsed wall and burnt layers consistent with a sudden destruction.

00:19:38.579 --> 00:19:45.584
And we also see that Jericho was a gateway city controlling the routes between

00:19:45.706 --> 00:19:48.957
Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia.

00:19:49.329 --> 00:19:54.140
When we think about theology and the meaning of Joshua conquering of Jericho,

00:19:54.140 --> 00:19:57.380
we see here that this is, so listen to some things.

00:19:57.636 --> 00:19:59.592
Remember, we always got to remember the God factor.

00:20:00.017 --> 00:20:06.140
In our stories. So the theology commentary tells us that God's strategy was

00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:09.966
marching, trumpet, silence, and obedience.

00:20:10.088 --> 00:20:14.880
It demonstrates that victory is spiritual and not military. And we understand

00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:18.650
that because if we go to Ephesians 6.10, the Lord keeps telling us you're not

00:20:18.650 --> 00:20:23.033
fighting against flesh and blood, but yet people kill flesh and blood.

00:20:23.393 --> 00:20:28.260
You see what I'm saying? There's a spiritual entity behind the wars,

00:20:28.260 --> 00:20:29.669
behind the disobedience.

00:20:29.965 --> 00:20:35.170
We also see here that the ark presence shows God himself leads the battle.

00:20:35.170 --> 00:20:39.037
So when you study the wall of Jericho, they had the ark in front of them.

00:20:39.338 --> 00:20:43.036
They had to march around the wall. They had to keep their mouth shut.

00:20:43.396 --> 00:20:47.630
They only could speak on day seven, at the end of day seven,

00:20:47.630 --> 00:20:49.259
after they marched around seven times.

00:20:49.660 --> 00:20:53.510
Otherwise, they can't walk around talking about anything. They had to keep their

00:20:53.510 --> 00:20:57.647
focus because they had a habit of doubting God.

00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:03.505
So God says, in order for us to win this, I need you to keep your mouth quiet.

00:21:03.789 --> 00:21:10.941
Rahab, a Canaanite woman, defies her city's idolatry and aligns with Israel's God.

00:21:11.173 --> 00:21:15.970
Her faith leads to her rescue. Another thing I want to cover is that I want

00:21:15.970 --> 00:21:20.362
you to remember that the destruction of Jericho is judgment on entrench,

00:21:20.734 --> 00:21:23.282
wickedness, not ethnicity.

00:21:23.509 --> 00:21:26.278
So it wasn't about black on black crime.

00:21:26.608 --> 00:21:32.622
This had a lot to do with what God wanted to be destroyed due to wickedness,

00:21:32.820 --> 00:21:35.542
due to ethnic, not ethnic hostility.

00:21:35.873 --> 00:21:40.420
So it wasn't about race. It was just about what God wanted. And we just heard

00:21:40.420 --> 00:21:46.222
that God's strategy was simple. It was marching, trumpet, silence, and obedience.

00:21:46.542 --> 00:21:50.158
When we talk about Rahab, we cover this in a great entirety.

00:21:50.506 --> 00:21:54.175
Rahab was a Canaanite woman, so we know that she was not a European.

00:21:54.628 --> 00:21:58.831
She was not white-skinned. She defies her city's idolatry.

00:21:59.574 --> 00:22:04.729
Israel's God. Her faith leads to a rescue, her integration into Israel,

00:22:05.048 --> 00:22:09.669
her marriage to Judah, her inclusion in Jesus' genealogy.

00:22:09.889 --> 00:22:16.043
Rahab proved that God's mercy crosses ethnic lines and that faith,

00:22:16.315 --> 00:22:20.396
not ethnicity, determines the covenant inclusion.

00:22:20.594 --> 00:22:23.322
I'm covering a lot about Black history in the Bible.

00:22:23.688 --> 00:22:28.359
That does not mean that only Black people will be saved. God's mercy covers

00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:30.665
everybody who believes.

00:22:30.944 --> 00:22:33.649
This has happened to be the topic that God placed on my heart.

00:22:33.649 --> 00:22:36.812
It has nothing to do with who's going to get saved in the end.

00:22:37.084 --> 00:22:43.557
I don't have no power over that. We see that God does not judge people by the color of their skin.

00:22:45.728 --> 00:22:52.868
He covers and protects those who actually believe in him. So let's not get that twisted.

00:22:53.350 --> 00:22:58.766
The second war that Joshua was involved in is found in Joshua chapter 7,

00:22:59.085 --> 00:23:06.162
verses 1 through 26. And this was about Achan's sin and Israel's defeat at Ai.

00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:10.782
Ai was a small Canaanite Afro-Asianic settlement.

00:23:10.985 --> 00:23:17.028
Israel expected an easy victory, but sin within the camp caused defeat.

00:23:17.330 --> 00:23:24.945
So this was an incident where Achan's sin caused Israel to be defeated. Let's continue.

00:23:25.202 --> 00:23:30.319
We talk about the historical content. Ai's people were part of the broader Canaanite

00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:36.827
ethnic world, brown skin, Afro-Asianic, and culturally tried to Jericho.

00:23:37.019 --> 00:23:41.018
So still remember he's on, they were in that, remember chapter six was Jericho.

00:23:41.285 --> 00:23:47.079
The next one was the land of Ai. They were pretty much probably as he's taking

00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:48.977
land, he's going forward.

00:23:49.238 --> 00:23:51.804
So they were pretty much connected, the Bible says.

00:23:52.314 --> 00:23:58.305
Israel's defeat shows that covenant disobedience disrupts divine protection.

00:23:58.688 --> 00:24:02.473
I hope you heard that. Just because you're on a covenant with God,

00:24:02.711 --> 00:24:07.070
just because you are listed in the Bible, just because God has his eye on you,

00:24:07.395 --> 00:24:10.599
God does not overrule sin.

00:24:10.808 --> 00:24:16.387
If you are disobedient, if there's sin in your life, it will disrupt your divine protection.

00:24:16.724 --> 00:24:20.624
You know, one of the shows that I love to watch is, I just started back watching

00:24:20.624 --> 00:24:22.834
it just for entertainment, but it's not really entertainment.

00:24:22.834 --> 00:24:25.362
People die on the first 48 hours.

00:24:25.565 --> 00:24:29.564
And you always wonder, like they say, I want to get my life together.

00:24:30.624 --> 00:24:33.667
The story always goes, they were about to get their life together.

00:24:33.958 --> 00:24:39.664
But for some reason, they died before they could. God wants us to stay in perfect covenant with him.

00:24:40.053 --> 00:24:43.629
And he wants us to be obedient.

00:24:43.762 --> 00:24:51.425
As we can see in Joshua 7, 1-2-6, that disobedience disrupted that divine protection.

00:24:51.715 --> 00:24:57.218
When we think about the theology factor of this, God holds Israel accountable

00:24:57.508 --> 00:25:00.016
just as he holds Canaan accountable.

00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:06.454
Israel's identity as God's people does not exempt them from judgment.

00:25:06.454 --> 00:25:13.629
Akon's sin reveals that internal corruption is more dangerous than external enemies.

00:25:13.971 --> 00:25:19.434
When there's sin in the camp, God cannot protect you. Sin in the camp,

00:25:19.434 --> 00:25:23.741
sin in your home, in your personal life, sin at your workplace.

00:25:24.107 --> 00:25:25.860
Things happen for a reason.

00:25:26.231 --> 00:25:29.854
And it shows that there's no divine protection.

00:25:30.137 --> 00:25:36.308
He tells us in his word, I will never ever leave you. I will never, ever leave you.

00:25:36.592 --> 00:25:40.249
But yet, if there's disobedience and if there's sin.

00:25:40.802 --> 00:25:46.171
He's not obligated to hold on to that. So before Israel can conquer nations,

00:25:46.340 --> 00:25:52.145
Israel must conquer its own sin. America must conquer its own sin.

00:25:52.371 --> 00:25:56.957
Whatever country you're in must conquer its own sin.

00:25:57.259 --> 00:26:00.945
So we see they lost that war to Ai because of sin.

00:26:01.698 --> 00:26:06.115
Let's go to Joshua chapter 10, verses 1 through 27.

00:26:06.330 --> 00:26:10.754
It's the southern campaign and the sun standing still.

00:26:10.992 --> 00:26:16.088
So here we go with five Amorite kings, their brown-skinned, Semitic,

00:26:16.280 --> 00:26:20.365
Afro-Asiatic rulers form a coalition against Israel.

00:26:20.365 --> 00:26:26.230
So you have these kings who have said, you're not going to come in my land.

00:26:26.415 --> 00:26:28.283
So this is one of those long fights.

00:26:28.498 --> 00:26:31.755
And Joshua prayed, if I can get to that one, that's a good one.

00:26:32.028 --> 00:26:34.170
Joshua prayed that he needed more time.

00:26:34.501 --> 00:26:39.481
And he asked the son to stand still and God granted his request.

00:26:39.772 --> 00:26:44.921
Verses 1 to 27, verse 17. And it was told that Joshua was saying the five kings

00:26:45.234 --> 00:26:47.893
are found hid in the cave of Machedah.

00:26:48.142 --> 00:26:51.736
In this chapter somewhere, you can't find it right now to outline it,

00:26:51.979 --> 00:26:54.592
that, okay, here we go. In verse, thank you, Lord.

00:26:54.824 --> 00:26:57.604
And let's go to verse 12, Joshua 10, verse 12.

00:26:57.988 --> 00:27:02.395
Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites

00:27:02.395 --> 00:27:03.746
before the children of Israel.

00:27:04.089 --> 00:27:10.439
And he said in the sight of Israel, Son, stand still upon Gibeon,

00:27:10.648 --> 00:27:13.095
and thou moon in the valley of Agilon.

00:27:13.095 --> 00:27:16.685
So this is Joshua spake to the Lord and said, Can we have some,

00:27:17.016 --> 00:27:19.797
we need to fight, but we don't want it to be knights. Hello.

00:27:20.174 --> 00:27:22.215
And the sun stood still, and the

00:27:22.215 --> 00:27:27.185
moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.

00:27:27.185 --> 00:27:30.695
Is it not written in the book of Jasher? See, they mentioned that book.

00:27:30.695 --> 00:27:35.285
Jasher is in the Ethiopian Bible. We need to probably pull that out and find

00:27:35.285 --> 00:27:36.891
out what he was talking about.

00:27:37.083 --> 00:27:44.066
So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hastened not to go down about a whole day.

00:27:44.432 --> 00:27:48.615
And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened

00:27:48.615 --> 00:27:53.871
unto the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. Girl,

00:27:53.871 --> 00:27:58.962
when God's fighting for you, you got the power of the sun, the moon, and the stars.

00:27:59.345 --> 00:28:03.836
Isn't that powerful? And so we see here that Joshua won this war against the

00:28:03.836 --> 00:28:08.407
five kings. They were coming at him and he was coming back. But guess who he had on his side?

00:28:08.732 --> 00:28:15.669
He had the Lord on his side. He learned from that first era that there cannot be any sin in the camp.

00:28:15.959 --> 00:28:19.813
And the story about Achan is Achan was killed. He had to be destroyed.

00:28:20.429 --> 00:28:26.196
Him and his family and all of his stuff because he was disobedient.

00:28:26.196 --> 00:28:30.186
And at that time, they weren't having that. Why would you keep him around?

00:28:30.430 --> 00:28:31.782
You couldn't trust him, right?

00:28:32.556 --> 00:28:37.146
If he sinned once, he might sin again. And we ain't got time to be losing,

00:28:37.691 --> 00:28:42.706
babysitting you, Mr. Akin, you know? So let's continue with the historical context.

00:28:43.002 --> 00:28:47.942
The Amorites were Semitic, part of the Afro-Asianic language family.

00:28:48.325 --> 00:28:56.546
Their cities, Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lakish, Eglon, were populated by Near

00:28:56.546 --> 00:28:59.877
Eastern people with African cultural connection.

00:29:00.144 --> 00:29:06.716
These kings feared Israel, growing influence. God intervenes by extending daylight.

00:29:07.824 --> 00:29:10.315
Showing his authority over creation.

00:29:10.582 --> 00:29:16.044
The miracle emphasizes that Israel's victories are not human achievements.

00:29:16.300 --> 00:29:21.222
The battle reveals God's commitment to protecting his covenant people.

00:29:21.344 --> 00:29:27.186
God fights for Israel, not because of ethnicity, but because of the covenant

00:29:27.186 --> 00:29:32.163
purposes, preserving the line that leads to Jesus.

00:29:32.384 --> 00:29:37.719
And let's get to number four, Joshua chapter 11, verses 1 to 23.

00:29:38.183 --> 00:29:43.913
And this was his fight of the northern campaign and the destruction of Hazor.

00:29:44.133 --> 00:29:50.704
Hazor was the largest Canaanite Afro-Asianic city in the economic powerhouse.

00:29:50.884 --> 00:29:55.209
Hazor populated, descended from Ham through Canaan.

00:29:55.401 --> 00:30:01.397
Archaeology confirms that Hazor's destruction by fire around the biblical time frame.

00:30:01.629 --> 00:30:08.086
Hazor controlled trade routes linking Africa, Mesopotamia, and Mediterranean.

00:30:08.086 --> 00:30:09.722
Do you see what God was doing?

00:30:10.047 --> 00:30:17.489
He was clearing out some passageways of the people who were blocking the blessings from the Israelites.

00:30:17.727 --> 00:30:24.644
And then we go to the theological side that God dismantled oppressive systems, not just armies.

00:30:24.981 --> 00:30:29.886
The destruction of Hazar breaks the political economic power of the Canaanite

00:30:29.886 --> 00:30:34.996
kings because they were holding up traffic, literally. Israel's victory fulfills

00:30:34.996 --> 00:30:39.441
God's promise to Abraham to give his descendants the king.

00:30:39.959 --> 00:30:45.875
Land. Hazard's fall symbolizes the collapse of a corrupt system that resisted

00:30:45.875 --> 00:30:47.888
God's purpose. Look what he's doing, though.

00:30:48.393 --> 00:30:52.855
If we go back a little bit, let's just see what God is saying to us,

00:30:52.855 --> 00:30:56.120
not just learning ethnicity. Remember, there's a God factor.

00:30:56.381 --> 00:31:01.215
God is showing us what he wants and what is needed so that we too,

00:31:01.215 --> 00:31:07.991
as people of his, my people, right, can know how to conquer the land and also the giants and the land.

00:31:08.548 --> 00:31:12.652
The first one, we know that the fall of Jericho, what was going on in there?

00:31:12.937 --> 00:31:17.418
God told Jericho, told Joshua they need to know how to tackle their own sin.

00:31:17.778 --> 00:31:19.066
So we talk and we find that.

00:31:19.871 --> 00:31:23.741
You have to know how to fall to Jericho. It was more like, hello,

00:31:23.741 --> 00:31:25.903
I want not to fall that one, fall to Jericho.

00:31:26.193 --> 00:31:32.886
The whole theme on that one was showing that God's mercy crossed ethnic lines, right?

00:31:33.031 --> 00:31:37.701
And then we saw Achan's sin that we as people need to conquer our own sin.

00:31:37.701 --> 00:31:41.536
So we need to get over the color barrier, the race barrier, the ethnicity barrier.

00:31:41.832 --> 00:31:44.752
And we also, number two, is need to conquer our own sin.

00:31:45.077 --> 00:31:50.851
We see here that Joshua, when he conquered the southern campaign and the sun

00:31:50.851 --> 00:31:56.281
standing still, we learn here that God fights for us, not because of ethnicity,

00:31:56.281 --> 00:31:58.891
but because of the covenant he has.

00:31:58.891 --> 00:32:03.775
And it was important for this conquering to preserve the lineage of Jesus.

00:32:04.082 --> 00:32:08.813
They're making a pathway for Jesus. And now we're over here in the northern

00:32:09.109 --> 00:32:10.415
campaign and destruction.

00:32:10.729 --> 00:32:15.826
And we learn here that Hazard Falls symbolized the collapse of a corrupt system

00:32:16.110 --> 00:32:19.721
that resisted God's promises. If you've been watching the news,

00:32:19.721 --> 00:32:24.863
if you have insight into some things, you see that people are falling quick.

00:32:25.205 --> 00:32:30.281
If you are not with God, then he is clearing out a way for his people,

00:32:30.281 --> 00:32:34.488
he says, my people, to be victorious in the land.

00:32:34.824 --> 00:32:39.171
And Hazard gives that description of corruption. So if there's corruption in

00:32:39.171 --> 00:32:41.169
the land, that's got to go.

00:32:41.378 --> 00:32:46.891
And then number five, we're looking at Deuteronomy 20, and it's God's instruction

00:32:46.891 --> 00:32:51.873
for conquest, not just for Joshua, but for all the people he put in leadership.

00:32:52.019 --> 00:32:58.729
God commands Israel to destroy specific nations whose practices were destructive.

00:32:59.037 --> 00:33:02.828
These nations are listed were all Afro-Asianic people.

00:33:03.269 --> 00:33:08.174
We look at the Hittites. They were an Antilonian, Afro-Asianic blend.

00:33:08.424 --> 00:33:13.251
The Amorites was Semitic. Brown-skinned, a Canaanite was Hamitic,

00:33:13.251 --> 00:33:18.006
African-linked. The Perizzites were rural African-Asianic clans.

00:33:18.157 --> 00:33:21.379
The Hivites was a Hurrian-Canaanite mixture.

00:33:21.669 --> 00:33:26.104
And the Jebusites was a Canaanite inhabited of Jerusalem.

00:33:26.354 --> 00:33:31.375
We see here that God's judgment targets wickedness, not ethnicity.

00:33:31.625 --> 00:33:36.960
These nations practice child sacrifice, ritual prostitution, and violence.

00:33:37.128 --> 00:33:43.757
God's command protects Israel from adopting these destructive practices.

00:33:44.082 --> 00:33:48.964
What does God hate? That's in Proverbs. He ain't a haughty look, right?

00:33:49.858 --> 00:33:54.624
And he's saying this. He says, these nations that I'm destroying,

00:33:54.926 --> 00:33:56.946
it wasn't because they were giants.

00:33:57.109 --> 00:34:02.780
It wasn't because of their race. It was because of what they were doing.

00:34:03.251 --> 00:34:08.975
They were practicing child sacrifice. We hear that on the news today.

00:34:09.311 --> 00:34:14.023
And so we know at the end of that, there's going to be destruction.

00:34:14.157 --> 00:34:19.623
They also was practicing ritual prostitution, which means that those go together,

00:34:19.623 --> 00:34:21.906
the child sacrifice and ritual prostitution.

00:34:22.202 --> 00:34:26.333
If you know any backdrop, I'm not going to go into a lot of details and violence.

00:34:26.333 --> 00:34:28.838
So you got sacrifice, ritual prostitution and violence.

00:34:29.221 --> 00:34:36.692
Ritual prostitution can involve children. So why do you think God was like, this has to go?

00:34:37.092 --> 00:34:42.706
It's polluting my land. And God tells Israel, don't go copying them.

00:34:42.926 --> 00:34:47.907
Don't get caught up in their drama because I am going to judge them.

00:34:48.203 --> 00:34:55.686
God's justice is precise, is purposeful, and is aimed at preserving life and covenant holiness.

00:34:55.808 --> 00:35:01.003
So we see here that the ethnic, The ethnic reality of these conquests involved

00:35:01.003 --> 00:35:04.480
two different type of Afro-Asianic people.

00:35:04.741 --> 00:35:09.103
The Israelites was the Semitic, brown-skinned Near Eastern people,

00:35:09.103 --> 00:35:15.873
descendants of Shem, linguistically tied to Hebrew, Aromatic, and Arabic.

00:35:15.873 --> 00:35:19.880
Culturally connected to Africa through Egypt and Cush.

00:35:20.123 --> 00:35:22.643
And then we have the Canaanites, which is Hamitic.

00:35:22.927 --> 00:35:26.613
And it's brown-skinned Afro-Asianic people, descendants of Ham,

00:35:26.938 --> 00:35:34.642
connected to Egypt, Phoenicia, and North Africa, and occupied cities like Jericho, Hazar, and Jerusalem.

00:35:34.909 --> 00:35:39.506
The Bible world was African, Near Eastern, and Semitic.

00:35:39.964 --> 00:35:45.304
Not European. When we think of the world versus the Bible, the world treats

00:35:45.304 --> 00:35:50.099
the conquest as a myth, depicts Israelites and Canaanites as Europeans,

00:35:50.366 --> 00:35:53.606
and erases African and Near Eastern presence.

00:35:53.826 --> 00:35:58.284
However, the Bible names real African Asianic kings, cities,

00:35:58.284 --> 00:36:02.551
and nations, places African descendants, people at the center,

00:36:02.801 --> 00:36:08.048
shows God interacting with real brown-skinned people in real geography.

00:36:08.275 --> 00:36:14.427
And where does this place Jesus' lineage? Jesus' genealogy includes Afro-Asianic

00:36:14.653 --> 00:36:17.707
women, such as Rahab, who was Canaanite.

00:36:18.020 --> 00:36:22.676
Tamar was likely a Canaanite. Ruth was a Moabite Afro-Asianic.

00:36:22.838 --> 00:36:25.648
But Sheba was connected to Afro-Asianic lineage.

00:36:25.967 --> 00:36:31.708
The conquest preserves Israel, ensuring the survival of the covenant line.

00:36:31.929 --> 00:36:33.444
And this is just so powerful.

00:36:33.810 --> 00:36:37.774
Things you wanted to know but didn't know. I want to pray and then we're going

00:36:37.774 --> 00:36:41.704
to close this out and talk about what's coming next. Lord, Father God,

00:36:41.704 --> 00:36:45.611
in the name of Jesus, help us to understand your justice, your mercy,

00:36:45.925 --> 00:36:48.572
as shown in the conquest of Canaan.

00:36:48.781 --> 00:36:54.899
Teach us to see the real geography, ethnicity, and the people in your world,

00:36:55.097 --> 00:36:58.040
including African and Near Eastern nations.

00:36:58.307 --> 00:37:03.554
Help us to read scriptures through truth and honor the people that you recorded.

00:37:03.659 --> 00:37:05.998
And we thank you in Jesus' name, amen.

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The next episode, we will explore the Amokites and the surrounding nations,

00:37:11.216 --> 00:37:17.504
showing how Israel's enemies were also African and Near Eastern people and how

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God's plans preserve the Messiah's lineage even through conflict.

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So I wanna say thank you for listening.

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It's a lot. It was a mouthful. I gave you the scripture to go back to.

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I'm going to just do them real quick again.

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I'll go to Joshua 6, Joshua 7, Joshua 10, Joshua 11, Deuteronomy 20.

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It's only a couple of verses there.

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20 verses 16 and 18. And then you'll get the full story. And I will see you on the next episode.

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Before we close today, I don't want to take for granted that everyone listening

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knows Jesus personally.

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If you have listened to this episode or any other episodes and felt something

00:38:00.413 --> 00:38:05.527
stirring in your heart, maybe you know about God, but you're not sure you truly know him.

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Maybe you grew up in church, walked away, got hurt, became tired,

00:38:10.291 --> 00:38:12.623
and never fully surrendered your life to Jesus.

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I want you to know this. God loves you. He has not forgotten you.

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He is not waiting to shame you.

00:38:19.557 --> 00:38:26.133
He is calling you home. The Bible says in Romans 10, 9, if you declare with

00:38:26.133 --> 00:38:31.793
your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from

00:38:31.793 --> 00:38:34.190
the dead, you will be saved.

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Salvation is not about being perfect.

00:38:37.047 --> 00:38:39.920
It's about surrendering to the one who is perfect.

00:38:40.251 --> 00:38:47.664
Jesus died for your sins, rose again, and made a way for you to be forgiven, restored, and made new.

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So right where you are, you can pray this prayer with me.

00:38:51.448 --> 00:38:56.610
Lord Jesus, I come to you today with an open heart. I believe you are the Son of God.

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I believe you died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that God raised you from the dead.

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Today, I confess that I need you. I repent of my sins.

00:39:08.096 --> 00:39:14.557
I ask you to forgive me, cleanse me, and make me brand new. Jesus, come into my heart.

00:39:14.876 --> 00:39:20.414
Be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, and my King. I surrender my life to you.

00:39:20.606 --> 00:39:24.013
I give you my past, my present, and my future.

00:39:24.292 --> 00:39:28.216
Teach me how to walk with you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

00:39:28.489 --> 00:39:32.436
Lead me in truth, healing, obedience, and love.

00:39:32.756 --> 00:39:35.316
From this day forward, I belong to you.

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In Jesus' name, amen. If you pray that prayer from your heart,

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I want you to know that heaven has heard you. This is not the end.

00:39:44.516 --> 00:39:49.404
This is only the beginning of your walk with Jesus. Find a Bible-believing church.

00:39:49.572 --> 00:39:51.413
Begin reading the Word of God.

00:39:51.680 --> 00:39:54.750
Pray daily and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow.

00:39:55.023 --> 00:39:59.778
God is not looking for perfection from you. He is inviting you into relationship,

00:40:00.097 --> 00:40:03.648
transformation, and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

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And remember, you are loved, you are not forgotten, and God still has a purpose for your life.

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Thank you for listening to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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Until next time, keep walking in truth, faith, and freedom.

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Family, thank you for spending time with me today.

00:40:32.225 --> 00:40:35.885
To every woman listening who has ever felt hidden, overlooked,

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or pushed aside, hear me clearly.

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God has not forgotten you, and neither have I.

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Now let's go before the Lord and close this out with a word from God.

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Because someone out there needs this reminder today.

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Jeremiah 29, 11, verses 11 through 14.

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For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you

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and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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Then when you call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you,

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you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

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I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and bring you back from captivity.

00:41:23.710 --> 00:41:29.617
Father God, we thank you for your word, that it is true, that it is living, that it is for us.

00:41:29.769 --> 00:41:34.815
You said you know the plans you have for us, plans to prosper us and not to

00:41:34.815 --> 00:41:37.721
harm us, plans to give us hope and a future.

00:41:38.011 --> 00:41:42.313
So today we receive that, not just in our minds, but in our hearts.

00:41:42.540 --> 00:41:46.249
When we feel overlooked, remind us you still see us.

00:41:46.538 --> 00:41:51.775
When we feel forgotten, remind us you still have a plan. And when we feel hidden,

00:41:52.088 --> 00:41:54.306
remind us you are still working.

00:41:54.596 --> 00:41:57.754
Your word says that when we call on you, you will listen.

00:41:58.085 --> 00:42:01.277
So we call on you now. Hear us. Strengthen us.

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Guide us. Help us to seek you with our whole heart, not halfway,

00:42:06.062 --> 00:42:08.017
not sometimes, but fully.

00:42:08.313 --> 00:42:12.690
And as we seek you, let us find you in every season, in every place.

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Even the hidden mark. Restore what was lost, renew what feels broken,

00:42:18.739 --> 00:42:23.156
and remind us that nothing in our lives is wasted in your hand.

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Lord, we trust you, we believe you, and we stand on your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

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This is Diary of a Black Woman podcast, and I'm your host, Connie Morris,

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and I'll see you on the next episode.