Study Desk

So Joshua had prepared his men for the fight. The main camp was north of the city. The other men were hiding to the west. That night Joshua went down into the valley.

The men from Ai looked back and saw their city burning. When they saw the smoke rising into the sky, they lost their strength and courage. They stopped chasing the men of Israel. The Israelites stopped running away. They turned and went to fight the men from Ai. There was no safe place for the men from Ai to run to.

The Israelites kept the animals and other things from the city for themselves. This is what the Lord said they could do when he gave Joshua the commands.

Then Joshua built an altar for the Lord , the God of Israel. He built the altar on Mount Ebal.

There Joshua copied onto the stones the law Moses had written down. This was for all the people of Israel to see.

So our elders and our people said to us, ‘Take enough food for your journey. Go and meet with the Israelites.' Tell them, ‘We are your servants. Make a peace agreement with us.'

So let them live, but they will be our servants. They will cut wood for us and carry water for all our people." So the leaders did not break their promise of peace to them.

Now, your people will have many troubles. All of your people will be slaves—they will have to cut wood and carry water for the house of God."

He made them slaves of the Israelites. They cut wood and carried water for the Israelites and for the altar of the Lord —wherever the Lord chose it to be. They are still slaves today.

So the sun did not move, and the moon stopped until the people defeated their enemies. This story is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky. It did not move for a full day.

That had never happened before, and it has never happened again. That was the day the Lord obeyed a man. The Lord really was fighting for Israel!

Joshua captured all these cities and their kings in one series of battles. He did this because the Lord , the God of Israel, was fighting for Israel.

All these kings met together at the small river of Merom. They joined their armies together into one camp and made plans for the battle against Israel.

The Israelites kept for themselves all the things and all the animals they found in the cities. But they killed all the people there. They left no one alive.

Joshua fought against them for many years.

When Joshua was very old, the Lord said to him, "Joshua you have grown old, but there is still much land for you to take control of.

"The people of Sidon are living in the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim. But I will force them out for the Israelites. Be sure to remember this land when you divide the land among the Israelites. Do this as I told you.

Moses did not give any land to the tribe of Levi. The Lord , God of Israel, promised that he himself would be the gift for the tribe of Levi.

The descendants of Joseph had divided into two tribes—Manasseh and Ephraim. Each of these tribes received some land; the tribe of Levi was not given any land. They were given only some towns scattered throughout the other tribes and some fields around those towns for their animals.

"Now the Lord has kept me alive for 45 more years—as he said he would. During that time we all wandered in the desert. Now, here I am, 85 years old.