Jeremy R. Geerdes Posts

Joshua 11 marks a milestone in Israelite history. After marching into the promised land; capturing Jericho, Ai, and Gibeon; and confronting Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, and his allies in battle, Joshua launched an offensive which swept across the southern portion of the territory. Confronted with the prospect of Israel’s unmitigated success, Jabin, king of Hazor, […]

Barely a chapter after the Israelites had been fooled into allying themselves with the Gibeonites, that new alliance was causing problems. Having heard that his formidable neighbors to the north had essentially surrendered to the Israelites, and knowing that sooner or later, Israel would be coming for him and his people, Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, […]

Compromise is a part of every day life. There simply can be no getting around the fact that we will not always get everything we want, and so compromise is a part of business, commerce, politics, parenting and more. But is there ever a time when compromise is a bad thing?

After the distressing failure of Joshua 7, where Achan’s sin prevented Israel from defeating the city of Ai, the people were more resolved than ever. They had put Achan and his entire family to death, as commanded by the Lord, and thus put his sin – and theirs – behind them. Now, it was time […]

Having wiped the fortified city of Jericho from the map and secured a prominent foothold in the land of Canaan, Joshua and Israel in set their sites on the next town up the road. The city of Ai, a hop, skip, and a jump from Bethel and about 15 miles west of Jericho, was the […]

Every night on the news, you can hear about how warfare has changed over the years. Quite simply, we’ve come a long ways from the days of swords, spears, battle axes, archers, and catapults when it comes to fighting battles. Nowadays, we have things like machine guns, fighter jets, precision-guided bombs, unmanned aerial vehicles, and […]

Application Notes Application It’s interesting to see all that’s going on in Joshua 5. After the stopping of the Jordan River for just long enough that the entire nation of Israel could cross over, one would have thought that timing was critical. From a strategic standpoint, it was essential that the Israelites capitalize on this […]

Application Notes Application My wife will tell you that I have a short memory. I can say something or do something, and five minutes later have no memory of it whatsoever. It is not uncommon for me to walk into a room to get something, get distracted for just a second and then forget what […]

Application Notes Application Compared to the chapters before and after, Joshua 3 is short. And in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really cover a lot of ground. Indeed, time-wise it really only covers the three days that it took to prepare for the crossing and then the cross. Distance-wise, it only covers a […]

Application Notes Application Joshua 2 is an interesting study in leadership. While the rest of the Israelites prepared to cross the river, Joshua dispatches two unnamed spies to survey the promise land, focusing on the first strategic challenge the Israelites would face: Jericho.