In the book of Joshua, God fights the battles. God is the one who defends his people. God is the one who fights the enemies. Just looking at the battle of Jericho is enough because this was no ordinary battle. It wasn't being fought in the common patterns [of war]. In fact, lots of people who saw the Israelites walk might have thought that they were ridiculous. We, on the other hand, can talk about faith and obedience, and about Joshua who obeyed God and a people that followed God in obedience. In effect, Joshua had to go to the battlefield, and the people had to go to the battlefield, but it was demonstrated on that day, and for the future, that God is the one who gives victory. God is the one who fights for his people, who made the walls fall down, who handed his enemies into the hands of those who saw them as so great and powerful that they thought they couldn't face them, the ones that, years before, the spies had said, "We are like grasshoppers compared to them." In 5:13, Joshua has the opportunity to see a sensational scene of a man with a drawn sword. He asks him, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" And the answer is magnificent. He said he had come as a prince of Yahweh to fight. Joshua kneeled down and worshiped. He was seeing a revelation of Christ himself in the New Testament. It was being demonstrated that God is the one who fights for his people. In 23:8-11, when Joshua is reminding the people about the things God had done, he's telling them that there will be such a blessing from God that, "One man of you puts to flight a thousand [enemies]," because God is with you and, just as he said, he will fight for you. The whole book, from beginning to end is talking about a people who obey, a people who need to follow God, but a God who fights, a God who gives victory.