Joshua 1-5
1. To whom was Joshua speaking in Joshua 1:12-15?
2. What was the agreement the Lord had made with these tribes? (Remember that we read about it in Numbers 32.)
3. What does the expression "beyond the Jordan" mean?
4. How many spies did Joshua send into Canaan, and what city was particularly the object of their mission?
5. To whose house did the spies come, and what was her profession?
6. What prominent individual heard that there were spies in Jericho?
7. Why didn't he find them?
8. Why was Rahab so willing to assist the spies?
9. Exactly where was Rahab's house situated?
10. How did she get the spies out of the city unobserved?
11. What was Rahab to do to identify her house to the army of Israel?
12. On which side of the Jordan was Israel while the spies were in Jericho?
13. As Israel prepared to cross the Jordan, they were told to stay how far behind the ark?
14. What time of year was it when Israel crossed the Jordan?
15. What was true of the Jordan River at that time of year?
Note the following quotation from Pulpit Commentary:
And that the Jordan is not merely full, but full to overflowing, at the harvest season, is proved by the statements of many travellers....Bartlett ('From Egypt to Palestine,' p. 451) remarks, "We were fortunate enough to see it in the state in which it is described in Joshua, 'overflowing all its banks' - that is, the whole line of its banks. The turbid stream rushed along like a mill-race, and though it had fallen from its greatest height, the proper banks of the channel were invisible, and indicated only by lines of oleanders and other shrubs and trees." This was on the 22nd of March.
The barley harvest took place about this time of year. Compare Leviticus 23:1-14.
16. Consider the significance of the time of year. Had this not been mentioned, what explanation might some offer for the fact that the Israelites were able to cross the Jordan "on dry ground"?
17. Describe the memorial of the Jordan crossing.
18. Before crossing the Jordan, what did the men of Israel have to do, because it had not been done while the people had been in the wilderness?
19. What is mentioned in Joshua 5:10-11 that is consistent with the reference in 3:15 to the Jordan overflowing its banks at the time of harvest?
20. Compare Joshua 5:11-12 with Exodus 16:35.
Joshua 6
1. In what posture did Israel find Jericho when they first came to the city?
2. What were the Lord's instructions to Joshua concerning the conquest of Jericho?
Specifically:
What were the people told to do each day?
For how many days?
What were they not to do each day?
On the seventh day, what were they to do?
What did the Lord say about survivors?
What did the Lord say about plunder?
3. After Jericho fell, what curse was pronounced upon the site?
4. Read 1 Kings 16:34. What does this passage have to do with the story in Joshua 6?
5. Read Hebrews 11:30 and answer the following questions:
Did Jericho fall due to the great military might of Israel?
Was Israel required to do anything in order to gain the victory over Jericho?
Can it be said that Israel was given the city of Jericho because of their faith?
If Israel had refused to march around the city, would it have been said that the walls fell down "by faith"?
Is it possible for you to receive something contingent upon your doing something else, and it still be said that you received it by faith?
If we are saved by faith, does that mean we do have to do something, or does that mean we don't have to do anything?
Joshua 7-8
1. Who had acted unfaithfully during the conquest of Jericho?
2. Was Joshua aware of this?
3. What was the next city to be conquered by the Israelites?
4. After the victory over Jericho, were the Israelites confident of victory over Ai, or not? Support your answer.
5. Were the Israelites successful in their first assault on Ai?
6. How many of the Israelites were killed at this time?
Does this sound like a high number?
How did this affect the people of Israel?
What does this suggest about the number of people lost at Jericho?
7. In response to Joshua's bewildered cry to the Lord (vss 6-9), the Lord said someone had sinned. Who did He say? (vs. 10)
8. What would be the consequence of this sin if it wasn't corrected?
9. Do you see a parallel to consequences for the whole congregation, if someone sins today and nothing is done about it? (1 Cor. 5:1-8)
10. Describe the process by which the guilty individual was identified.
11. Exactly what had Achan taken, and where had he hidden these things?
12. What happened to Achan, his children, his livestock, and all his belongings?
13. What became the name of the valley where Achan was stoned and burned? Why was it given this name?
14. Prior to the second attempt to conquer Ai, what did God say regarding plunder?
15. Diagram the conquest of Ai by means of a map which includes the following labeled features:
a. Ai
b. Bethel
c. The ambush party
d. Joshua's main army
e. Numbered arrows showing both the direction and sequence of the movement of the various forces (including the men of Ai).
f. North indicator
Joshua 9
1. In the New American Standard Version, Joshua 9:1 refers to "all the kings who were beyond the Jordan." On which side of the Jordan were these kings?
2. Locate Gibeon on a map. How far was Gibeon from Gilgal?
3. When the Gibeonites came to Joshua, from whence did they claim to have come?
4. List the various elements of the Gibeonites' ruse (for example, the sacks that they carried were worn out, as if they had been used on a long journey).
5. What did the Gibeonites claim to have heard? (Joshua 9:9) Do you suppose they really had heard what they claimed to have heard?
6. What did the men of Israel fail to do before making a covenant with the Gibeonites?
7. How long did it take the Israelites to discern that they had been had?
8. Once the deception was exposed, why did the Israelites not destroy the Gibeonites?
9. Thenceforth, how was the relationship of the Gibeonites to the Israelites defined?
10. Read 2 Samuel 21:1-9, and answer the following questions:
a. When Saul was King of Israel, what had he tried to do with regard to the Gibeonites?
b. How many years (approximately) passed between the time the Israelites entered Canaan and the time when Saul was king?
c. David reigned after Saul. During David's reign there was a famine that lasted three years. Why did the famine occur?
d. What was required in order to make things right?
11. Thought questions: on the basis of this lesson, what conclusions can you draw about each of the following:
a. To what extent should a Christian seek God's assistance and guidance in the affairs of his life?
b. What is one's obligation if he makes promise to do something and thereafter finds that what he has promised is to his disadvantage?
Joshua 10
1. Who was Adonizedek? What does Adonizedek mean? (Hint: Compare Hebrews 7:1-2.)
2. Explain what caused Adonizedek to fear, and what role the Gibeonites played in Adonizedek's fear.
3. Adonizedek's allies were from Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon.
a. Try to locate each of these cities on a map.
b. Explain the significance that two of these cities have elsewhere in the Old Testament.
4. All five of these kings are referred to as kings of whom?
5. Whom did Adonizedek wish to attack?
6. From whom did the Gibeonites seek assistance, and on what basis was it that they could do so?
7. Where was Israel camped when the request for help came?
8. How far was it from the place where Israel was camped to Gibeon?
9. How was it that Israel was able to come up "suddenly" to confront the five kings?
10. Most of the Amorites who were killed were killed by what means?
11. By what miracle was the battle prolonged, giving Israel more time to avenge themselves of the enemies?
12. What is the book of Jashar?
13. Trace Israel's pursuit of the five kings on a map, then sketch a map of this pursuit below. Be sure to include the site where the large stones from heaven fell, and the location of the cave where the kings hid.
Joshua 11-21
1. What did the Lord say should be done with the horses and the chariots of the conquered armies?
2. Why would the Lord have commanded such a thing? (Deuteronomy 17:16, Psalm 20:7, 32:16-19)
3. What do you know about the Anakim mentioned in Joshua 11:22? (Numbers 13:31-33, Deuteronomy 9:1-2)
4. What famous man was of the Rephaim, what did the Rephaim have in common with the Anakim? (Deuteronomy 3:11, 2:10-11)
5. After Joshua destroyed the cities of the Anakim, those of them that were left settled in what cities?
6. Later in history, what famous man would hail from one of these cities? (1 Samuel 17:4-7)
7. Beginning in chapter 15, the inheritance of each of the tribes is described. Was there any of the land that had not yet been conquered at the time the land was apportioned among the tribes? (Joshua 13:1-6)
8. The northern border of Judah was on which side of Jerusalem? (Joshua 15:8)
9. Who inhabited Jerusalem at that time?
10. On which side of Jerusalem did the southern border of Benjamin pass? (Joshua 18:16)
11. Jerusalem lay in the territory of what tribe?
12. Read Deuteronomy 19:1-13. According to this passage, in addition to the original three cities of refuge in the promised land, God would add three more cities as cities of refuge, if what condition two conditions were met?
13. What passage in Joshua tells about the addition of these cities, and what were the names of these cities?
14. Summarize the point of Joshua 21:43-45.
Joshua 21-24
1. The Levites can be divided into three families. List them (Joshua 21:1-8, Exodus 6:16, Numbers 3:17, 1 Chron. 6:1-3)
2. From which of these families did the Aaron and Moses descend? (Exodus 6:18-20, 1 Chron. 6:1-3)
3. From which of these families did the priests come? (Remember, the priests were descendants of Aaron.)
4. How many cities in total were given to the Levites?
5. How many of these cities were given to the sons of Aaron, that is, the priests?
6. The cities that were given to the sons of Aaron were all taken from among the inheritance of what three tribes? Be prepared to identify the general area in which these cities were located on a map.
7. Looking ahead in history, when the kingdom would divide after Solomon's death, which part of the divided kingdom would have most of the priests? What did this circumstance prompt Jeroboam to do?
8. List the cities of refuge and locate them on a map.
9. Do you remember the agreement that had involved Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh? Did these tribes keep their part of the bargain? Did they get what they wanted?
10. Who built an altar that became a source of conflict?
11. What was the cause for concern on the part of the tribes who settled west of the Jordan?
a. Hint: See Numbers 25 as background for the reference to Peor in 22:17, and read Leviticus 17:1-7.)
b. Notice the name of the man who leads the delegation that comes to protest the altar, and the name of the man whose action at Peor (Numbers 25) pleased God.
12. What did Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh ask the Lord to do (or not do) if their intentions had been rebellious? Why did they ask this?
13. In explaining their intentions, the tribes who built the altar said that it would not be used for ____________________________________?
14. Rather, they explained, it was merely intended to serve as a ____________?
15. After Joshua had rehearsed God's actions on behalf of Israel, he urged them to serve the LORD rather than other gods. What was the response of the people?
16. When Joshua told the people they would find it difficult to be faithful to the LORD, what was their response?
17. For how long after Joshua's death were the people faithful to the LORD?