Leadership lessons from Joshua

Joshua 5: 1 -2, 8

1 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until they[a] had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites. 2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” …8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.

Sun Tzu in his hugely influential book the Art of War said that “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.” What remarkable insight Sun Tzu conveys here…in the world, successful warfare is based on deception. We see Joshua use deception to defeat Ai. As the Hebrews cross the west side of the Jordan, it seems as thought they are taking a page right out of Sun Tzu’s book again. If you look at vs. 1 the key phrase is “their hearts melted in fear and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.” The enemy is terrified and has no will to fight just by the mere mention of God’s power. This seems like it would be a great time for Joshua to attack, but look at God’s command to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” Now if the Lord would have told Joshua to “appear as though you were going to circumcise yourselves to lure them in and destroy them,” I would have said ‘man Sun Tzu principles were universal and for every satiation. But, God tells the Hebrews to circumcise themselves. This is a major problem because doing so would make them vulnerable to attack, even annihilation. Why? Well, you can not fight when you have recently been circumcised. The healing process takes three-weeks. In vs. 8 of chapter 5 the text says, “And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed. It seems as though the decision to circumcise is an act of deception to lure their enemies in for the attack. But, nothing could be further from the truth. God is more interested in the covenant than He is with them quickly winning the war. For God the war could wait, but to be in a “right” relationship with Him could not. I can not imagine how difficult it was for Joshua to obey this command. Seemingly, obedience to this command could result in certain death if the enemy rallied and attacked them in this circumcised state. The Kingdom leader must always remember that God is more interested in maintaining His relationships than He is in us fulfilling our calling. Sun Tzu has remarkable insight…successful warfare is based on deception. However, Joshua is asked to circumcise the men of Israel making them vulnerable to attack, which is not an act of deception. Obedience could lead to certain death. Yet for a kingdom leader Obedience to God, which maintains a healthy relationship with Him, is his or her priority when leading God’s people.