Written by Paul J Bucknell on April, 05, 2022

Joshua 8:1-29 Recovering From Defeat

“Now the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king”” (Joshua 8:1-2a).

Joshua 8 follows Israel’s defeat against the walled city of Ai in Joshua 7. There was no significant loss of men—only 36, but it made them vulnerable before their enemies. It also stirred up a sinister fear within the Israelites’ hearts that they were now going to be wiped out by their surrounding enemies. The victory over Jericho dragged them into failure and defeat.

Joshua’s failure disillusioned him. See Joshua 7. He thought of himself as courageous when it turned out he was being flagrantly disobedient. At the end of Joshua 7, the Lord confronted Joshua and the people. God will never bless sin. Never, never, never. He has promised not to bless us when we sin. “He who hides sin will not prosper.” But having confessed and dealt with sin as God desires, He will bring us to victory. We dare not remain in the shadows of our past defeats.

Once they resolved the problem, judging Achan and his family for stealing against the ban, Joshua needed to take new courage and lead forward. This is a challenge; the spirit of defeat sometimes toys with us, allowing the guilt, despair, gloom, fears, and failures to bury our minds far from the light of God’s promises and truth.

Seek God; we will discover that God treats us well—even after our former disobedience and defeat.

Four guidelines aid us to think of ourselves after a stinging defeat properly.

A. Don’t be afraid (Joshua 8:1a)

Satan whispers negative thoughts: “You failed again”, “You’ll never get it right”, “How can God use you?”, “Failure!” All make us feel bad about what happened. It is right to own up to our mistakes. When we do, the Lord, according to His promise, removes the guilt (Ps 32:1-2; Ro 4:7-8). This is one big difference between how the Protestants and Roman Catholics treat sin. The Bible doesn’t talk about penance, that is, the use of time, money, or ceremony to cover the guilt. We can never overcome the wrongs of the past through our future good works.

The Lord counters the evil one by telling Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed.” The spiritual principles of forgiveness and restoration lie behind a new start. Learn to carve the principle of forgiveness into your soul. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity (unrighteousness)” (1 John 1:9). If God forgives our sins, then our sins are cleansed—thanks be to Jesus Christ.

Application

No longer live in fear of failure or as a coward. Admit that your loss came from your own sin and not because God turned on you. If we think that God will treat us differently because of a past failure, even if confessed, we are mistaken. This is Satan’s lie. If you fear doing what God wants or lack moral courage, perhaps you are still caught some defeat in the past. You somehow believe God has made you a second-rate Christian.

I know of a man, a former deacon, who committed adultery. But later, he confessed and repented of it. He sensed God wanted him to be a pastor. Now he is a faithful servant of God. We are too familiar with our failures and not sufficiently aware of how He brings us out of our shame, misery, and defeat into a life lived for His glory. Put your fears and doubts aside. God wants you to believe in forgiveness. If you cannot believe He has forgiven you, then three possibilities exist:

1) You are not saved nor believe in His forgiveness; there is no forgiveness.

2) You haven’t repented and confessed.

3) You are a deceived Christian and unsure of the truth.

But hopefully, the truth of how the Lord led Joshua in chapter 7 will convince you that you no longer need to live in fear of failure. You know the truth of forgiveness and freedom. Forgiveness brings liberation, such as in David’s life (e.g., Psalms).

B. Listen to what God says (Joshua 8:1b-2)

“¹ Now the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. ²You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it” (Joshua 8:1-2).

Once we know we don’t have to make ourselves miserable for so many days about our confessed sin, we can go right on as before, but hopefully much wiser to the evil one’s tactics. This is precisely what God asks Joshua and the people to do, but we must listen attentively. Sometimes, the instructions might differ slightly, or even differ greatly, but the point is the same. Pay attention to what God would have you do. Some might feel as if they need to compensate for their sin, so they go and try doubly hard and fail again. After a bout with the evil one, we need to be wise enough to go to God’s Word with a humble and open heart to see what He would have us do.

When we do this, we need to distinguish the need for faith and the tendency to doubt our minds. Real listening is accomplished not by convincing ourselves that we can do it but by faith. What does God want? Obey.

By faith, we become very aware that we cannot do what He asks by ourselves. Remember the lesson of Jericho? We humbly proceed, recognizing that it is only through Him we live and serve. If He has asked us, He will empower us. We might not feel like it or even see how it will work out, but it will.

Application

You might wonder whether this has to do with both special ministries or the average Christian life. It has to do with both. Our Christian lives must run off the Spirit’s power or our batteries will die quickly. We can imitate only so long. We desperately need His empowering and leading or we will be doing nothing for Him. Because of its demand, His work can never be accomplished through our flesh, but only through the Spirit. 1 John teaches the difference between worldly love (eros) and godly love (agape). There is no way we will be able to deal with our enemies lovingly apart from the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). We need to listen to the Lord with faith, or we will run from the job or misinterpret it.

For example, what if we just bought something out of covetousness. The Lord convicts us. We become very aware of being an idolater. We have gone after other things and haven’t paid attention to the Lord’s Word. We repent and confess our sin. Now some people would say you need to sell that thing immediately. My point is to be open for whatever the Lord would you have with that object bought in lust. Be open to His leading. If He wants you to sell it at a loss, sell it. But maybe He has other purposes for it. Listen with an open heart.

C. Do what the Lord would have you do (Joshua 8:3-23)

“³ So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. ⁴ He commanded them, saying, “See, you are going to ambush the city from behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. ⁵ Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as at the first, we will flee before them. ⁶ They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ So we will flee before them.” (Joshua 8:3-6)

Are you a person that hears but doesn’t follow through and do? Too many of us put off what needs to be done. Obedience is always important. Our sin clutters our hearts. No recovery from defeat can be complete without it. What He might ask seems impossible, but God calls us to live by faith. It is one thing to hear what we should do and a whole different matter to do it, especially with defeat in our background. God is again calling us to live by faith.

The lack of faith becomes very evident. We still will not advance and do it; we will lay back in our sin (Mat 7:21). We would rather live in fear, doubt, despair, and defeat. God has His mission. We cannot claim exemption because of a certain predisposition, background interference or even childhood abuse. These might make it impossible to do on our own strength, but God wants us to march forward, as in this battle. We will see ourselves strengthened by the Holy Spirit. However, we must obey. There are no exceptions or excuses in the Lord’s work.

Joshua and the Israelites obeyed the Lord and the city of Ai was taken. Joshua immediately responded and chose 30,000 men. He had the greatest plan and sent out the best with a great ambush plan. With the Lord’s help, Joshua the wise general utilized Ai’s pride. They were so confident of their former victory that they thought they could wipe out the Israelites as easily as before. After all, these were the trained soldiers at Ai; “The Israelites didn’t know anything about warfare.”

The ambush worked fine. What appeared to be true, wasn’t. The Israelites’ sin contributed to their enemy’s fall—pride and presumption. They couldn’t see clearly. Look at verse 17. They were total fools to leave their city gate wide open.

Application

At this point, Satan will come in and try to convince us that we can’t do it. He will remind us of our failures, temperament, dependence on drugs or being around others. He will even make us feel like we are hypocrites. We don’t live up to what we believe. If these thoughts are familiar, they are just Plan A with which Satan’s helpers come and bother God’s people.

We must refuse to go by our feelings or fears rather by His purpose. We are not hypocrites because we have failed. Our confession has testified that we want His purpose in our lives. So focus on your will to obey, recognize the task, plead for help, and do it. When coming out of defeat, find a brother or sister who will pray and stand by your side. We need each other’s prayers and encouragement. These relationships should become possible as you regularly meet in a ministry or fellowship group. By staying alone, we put ourselves in danger.

D. Finish in a way that glorifies God (Joshua 8:24-29)

“²⁴ Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵ All who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000—all the people of Ai. ²⁶ For Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷ Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He had commanded Joshua. ²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation until this day. ²⁹ He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave command and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day” (Joshua 8:24-29).

If we remember the first battle with Ai, the sin came at the end of the battle, not in its middle. After they fought the “real war,” they let their guard down. The clean-up, however, is at least as necessary as the battle itself. Some of us can work well in emergency mode. We perform wonderfully if we are called on to do some great work.

If, however, we are called on to do the normal, the regular, the less spectacular, then we do poorly. We dare not think the heat of the battle is the most important. When the pressure is off, our decisions become a big temptation point (eg. Elijah’s depression after his big victory). Lots of future decisions will determine our ongoing faithfulness to our Lord.

√ All warriors killed

√ All inhabitants killed

√ Only proper plunder was taken (27)

√ Ai was burned.

√ The king was properly executed.

Application

Don’t forget that you are apt to make your most foolish decisions after the battle when your pride has usurped the place of your faith. Beware and remember how important your finish is. Satan is trying to get his revenge. Finish school faithfully. Don’t give up; don’t cheat; finish that project for His glory. Remember, former sin often creeps in unaware. Beware when you think you are doing well, for you only stand when you persist in living by faith. Complete recovery doesn’t allow one stone be unturned. You restore every detail to His glory!

Conclusion

Recovering from defeat is essential. Follow the simple principles. All doubt and depression is from the evil one; God wants your best. You might have to live through some consequences of sin, even AIDS, etc., but you have determined to be a faithful follower. You no longer want your sin. You don’t want to live in defeat, nor do you have to. We are free and must subject every muscle, motion, and thought to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Do we not believe He has forgiven us? Then let us not live in guilt and live for the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Confession is our biggest problem. We don’t want to confess; we cover up our sin, and try to persuade others that it is not so bad. There is true forgiveness for our sin and real freedom to trust God for all that we need. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven.

How can we continue to live in defeat rather than conquer through His promises?

God doesn’t go around killing off everyone who has sinned, but He eliminated Achan’s family to demonstrate His attitude to deliberate sin. Beware of those who hide sin instead of confessing it. Achan could have confessed earlier, even when the clan and family were chosen. Instead, he waited until he was exposed as the culprit.

We somehow make ourselves an exception. “God doesn’t really care about me.” But with that kind of attitude, the terror of our sin has not yet broken our pride. We lack the fear of the Lord. Because we cannot smell the stench of someone’s flesh next door being judged by God, we think God doesn’t pay attention to us. “He is so far away.” But God does care. Your sin, which leads you into despair, is terrible. But so is false humility, the cover-up. May God grant us grace, as He did with Joshua, to chase that sin out until it is completely gone.

Bible Study Questions on Joshua 8:1-29

Share a time you felt defeated.
What happened in Joshua 7 that made Joshua and the Israelites defeated and worried?
What words does the Lord speak to Joshua in verse 8:1a?
Why does forgiveness play such an important point in recovering from defeat?
What is God’s attitude toward Joshua’s failure as seen in verse 8:2?
How did Joshua and the Israelites obey the Lord (8:3ff.)?
What is the hardest part of obedience for you?
How did Joshua and the Israelites finish the battle of Ai (8:24-29)?
Why did they fail the first time (cf. Joshua 7)? Why were they successful this time?