God Sent the Hornet

INTRO

It is amazing that this is our last lesson in Joshua. We have flown through the book of Joshua in 12 lessons. This has felt like an action movie, and it will continue into our study on Judges as well. The word we’ve focused on for the book of Joshua is Commander. Mindi’s painting brings into focus for us the breaking of the camp under the new leadership of Joshua and then moving into the Promised Land. Every battle they went into, they had the Commander, the Lord, with them. At the end of the book, Joshua encouraged them to build a memorial of stones as a constant reminder of all that God had done for them. In Joshua 23 and 24 there are two speeches. First, Joshua’s farewell address was given in which Joshua reminded the people of all that God had done (Joshua 23). This actually shows the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis. He encouraged the people to be strong and obedient to God because everything God had promised had been fulfilled (Joshua 23:14). The second speech is found in Joshua 24.

TEACHING

Joshua 24:1–5: Joshua brought together the 12 tribes, the leaders, and the judges, at Shechem (Genesis 12:6–7), where the tabernacle and God’s presence was located at that time (v. 1). Joshua explained God had used pagans (Terah and Nahor) in His plan (v. 2). God can use ANY of us. The first five verses provided a review of their history, covering Genesis through Exodus 15. George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And author Norman Cousins describes history as a “vast early warning system.” Sadly, the book of Judges is a cycle of sin and disobedience because the people didn’t heed the first five verses of Joshua 24.

Joshua began to outline God’s involvement with the Israelites through Terah, Nahor, and Abraham, through the journey from the land beyond the Euphrates River into Canaan, and through Abraham’s descendants (vv. 2–3a). Joshua outlined the progression of his heritage through Isaac, Jacob, and Esau (vv. 3b–4). Verses 4–5 include the timing of the Israelites’ move to Egypt. Joshua was telling the people what they already knew. They knew their history, but knowing about it did not mean they would remember all they had experienced, and all God had done for them. For some reason, the “memory stones” could not be lodged in their hearts. Joshua’s last message was, “Don’t forget all this!” It is almost as though Joshua knew what was to come.

Being at Shechem for his farewell address was significant. Clarence Macartney explained the significance of Shechem this way: “If you were to put Plymouth Rock and Yorktown and Lexington and Independence Hall together, you would not have what Shechem is to Israel.”¹Shechem was part of God’s prophetic word to Israel, and this event showed that they were now walking that prophecy out. We’ve all had those moments when God has spoken to us, and the place where we were, at that time, becomes our “Shechem.” The giving of Joshua’s words at Shechem is also a reminder to us to remember and treasure those places in our own lives.

Joshua 24:6–13: This provides another historical record, which covers Exodus 12 to Joshua 22 (with a little bit of historical backtracking). Joshua reminded his listeners (most had not been there when it happened) about God saving the Israelites from the Egyptian army by parting the Red Sea (vv. 6–7). In these verses, Joshua switched to third person, including his audience in what they had experienced. In verse 8, Joshua reminded them of going into the Promised Land and annihilating the people there. Joshua included the Amorites, Balak king of Moab, and Jericho, along with the other groups (vv. 9–11).

Verse 12 states God sent the “hornet” ahead. (Exodus 23:28.) God going ahead of the Israelites is a constant theme in Joshua. Here are a couple of options of what the hornet referred to: “(1) symbolic of the pharaoh of Egypt, whose symbols were a bee or a hornet; (2) symbolic of God’s terror or panic among the Canaanites; (3) actual hornets.”²(Joshua 2:9–11, 24; 5:1; 6:27). Whichever option is correct, clearly God was making a way for Israel.

Possibly the answer is found in Exodus 23:

Exodus 23:28: “I will send the hornet in front of you, and it will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites away from you.”

Exodus 23:20–23: “I am going to send an angel before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to him and listen to his voice. Do not defy him, because he will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for My name is in him. But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. For My angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.”

The Hebrew term for “hornet” could be a reference to the preincarnate Christ. Joshua 5:13–15 records Joshua encountering a man who had come as “commander of the Lord’s army.” Moses talked about God sending the hornet (Deuteronomy 7:17–22). The progression shows God sent an angel, later called a hornet, and possibly the preincarnate Christ.

This message was so important because Joshua wanted the people of Israel to understand that even though Joshua would not be with them, God would! The Commander of the Lord’s Army—the HORNET—would be with them.

This is a reminder to us in Revive School to slow down in our reading of Scripture and go deeper. When we go deeper, we are more prepared. In this case, Joshua was stripping away all the different messages to make one point—God was with them.

Joshua 24:15: This is the verse we see on walls and quilts and is the takeaway verse from Joshua: “As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.” That section of the verse comes after Joshua told the people they would have to decide who they were going to follow—Yahweh or the pagan gods of their forefathers. Then Joshua answered the question himself . . . he and his family chose Yahweh.

Joshua 24:26–33: Joshua set up a memorial stone to commemorate what God had done (vv. 26–27). Then he sent the Israelites away and died at the age of 110 (vv. 28–29). Joseph’s bones were brought up from Egypt (v. 32) and Eleazar, son of Aaron, died (v. 33). All of the leaders are now dead, and no one is left to take the baton.

CLOSING

If we are not careful, the church adds all this other stuff to the message that is not important. At the end of Joshua’s life, he wanted them to do one thing . . . to worship the Lord their God. Nothing else was as important to Joshua as that, and this was the message of his last words to the Israelites.