Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 23-24.

When we read the account of Joshua’s farewell speech to the Israelites, we typically focus on the choice which Joshua gives them, and his decision on that same choice.  Those are good things for us to take to heart, because we have the same choice to make, but we often misstate what the choice is, or how we arrive at which options we have.  Actually, Joshua gives two speeches here.  It is not clear to me whether or not they were to different audiences, or, if perhaps, they were recorded by different people who were present and later compiled into the single account which is the Book of Joshua.

In any case, in both Joshua recounts the great things which God has done for the Israelites, things which he had witnessed (and which many of them had witnessed many of as well).  Then he tells them that they should faithfully obey the commands which God had given them.  If you are reading this, God has done great things to bring you to this point in your life, and He has probably done at least some of them in ways which you knew were Him blessing you as He did them, so, Joshua’s suggestion applies to you (and me) as well.  We should fear God, serve Him with all faithfulness, and destroy all other gods which we might be tempted to serve in His place.  However, if we think serving God is not desirable, we need to decide which set of gods we will serve instead.  Do we believe that if we serve the government, it will deliver a better life for us than what God will give us if we serve Him?  Will we be better off, if we just pick the right man, or woman, to be our ruler (or group of them to be our rulers)?  Or, maybe we will be better off if we spend our life in the pursuit of physical pleasures?  However, I agree with Joshua, as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 21-22.

When Joshua had finished dividing up the land among the tribes he summoned the warriors from the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half of Manasseh which had settled east of the Jordan.  He praised them for aiding the other tribes in conquering the land and dismissed them to return to their homes east of the Jordan.  Their work was completed, but Joshua reminded them that they should continue to love and obey God with all that they were.  These men took Joshua’s instructions to heart, and before they crossed back over the Jordan to their homes they built a memorial altar.  The purpose of the altar was to remind the descendants of those settling west of the Jordan that those living on the eastern side were their brothers and worshiped the same God.  Overall some important lessons there for us.  Even when we have finished the mission to which God called us we need to continue to love and obey Him.  And, it is important to build memorials to remind those who come after us that they are not the only ones who love and obey God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 15-17.

Todays passage discusses the territory given to the tribe of Judah and to the tribe of Joseph (as given to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh).  Contained within the description of the territory given to Judah is a partial account of Caleb receiving his portion.  It contains the story of Caleb promising his daughter in marriage to the man who takes a particular town and then his daughter asking Caleb for springs to go with the other land he gave to her and her husband.  I am not sure why the account about Caleb’s daughter is here rather than earlier in chapter 14 where the book first discusses Caleb claiming his portion.

Once the passage concludes describing the territory which was claimed by the tribe of Judah, it goes on to discuss the territory given to the tribe of Joseph to claim.  I am not quite sure what is going on here, this is one of the few places where the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are lumped together as the tribe of Joseph.  I think if I were to read this without any context from other parts of the Old Testament I would conclude that Joshua initially planned to give territory to Ephraim and Manasseh as if they were a single tribe.  A plan which was disrupted by the numbers of these two tribes and the difficulty which they had displacing the Canaanites living in the territory they were assigned.  And yet, part of this also reads as if they were already given two separate portions.  Perhaps, the way to read it would be that the portion of the tribe of Manasseh which did not settle east of the Jordan was being settled with the tribe of Ephraim , calling the combined group the “tribe of Joseph”.    In any case, both here, and earlier in the description of the territory assigned to Judah, we see indications of the problems which would later face the Israelites due to their failure to expel all of the peoples living in the land which they settled.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 12-14.

The first thing I noticed was that the Midianite kings whom Moses had killed because of their involvement with what happened at Baal-Peor were allied with Sihon.  Which clarifies some of the questions from what happened in that account in Numbers 31, and explains why Sihon attacked the Israelites when they requested to pass through his lands.  Overall, the passage describes the land which the Israelites were claiming as theirs, even though they did not yet control all of it.  Then the writer begins describing how the land was allocated to the various tribes, starting with the land east of the Jordan River.  After describing the basic division of the land, and that the Levites did not get a division, just some towns and cities within the land given to the other tribes.  Finally for today, it describes how Caleb obtained his portion.  I believe that description serves several purposes.  First it shows that Caleb, unlike everyone else of his generation except Joshua, did indeed get a portion of the land promised to the Israelites.  Second, it shows how the ability of the individuals to take their portion played a role in the land which they received.  Finally, it shows that Caleb was still a strong and powerful warrior at the same time his contemporary Joshua was entering into retirement.  We learn from that last piece that God chooses for some us to continue working as others enter into retirement.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 10-11.

I never quite know what to make of the battles described in today’s passage.  First pass casual reading leaves one with the impression that the battle against the five southern kings took place in a single, extended, day and all five cities were razed on that day.  Similarly, the battle and razing of the northern cities seems like a single day battle.  However, if you read a little more carefully you see that only the battle against the five southern kings is described as being in a single day, and that is only the battle to relieve Gibeon.  Once Joshua and the Israelites had defeated the armies which attacked Gideon, they moved on to raze the cities from which those armies had come.  The passage does not really give us any clues as to how long that took, except that it was fast enough that the northern kings did not have time to muster before Israel had completed razing the cities and returning to Gilgal on the plains of Jericho.  A quick casual read also leaves one with the impression that when the Israelites had finished defeating these two armies (or groups of armies) that they had completely conquered the land.  Yet later in the Book of Joshua it describes further battles of conquest to gain control of the land, and even in the Book of Judges there are areas which the Israelites do not yet control until the time of David.  However, if you take your time and read more carefully, you realize that the conquest of the southern kings was only over the Amorites living in that area.  And you have a similar limited conquest over the northern region.  So, while at the end of these two wars the Israelites have eliminated everyone who could be an organized threat to them in the area, large amounts of land are still controlled by non-Israelites in the land.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 8-9.

I find the accounts of the two attacks on the city of Ai interesting.  The first attack, which was recounted in yesterday’s passage, only involved around 3,000 warriors and failed.  The Israelites were horrified by the defeat and investigated why God allowed it to happen, coming to the conclusion that it happened because Achan had taken for himself goods from Jericho which God had commanded them to destroy.  What makes this interesting is that, even after dealing with Achan, the Israelites not only sent a much larger force the second time, they also used a more complex strategy.  So, yesterday’s passage lays the blame for the Israelites initial defeat at Ai on Achan’s sin.  Yet when they went up against Ai a second time, after atoning for Achan’s sin, they used a different strategy.  This suggests that Achan’s sin was not the isolated sin of one man which brought the wrath of God on the entire people.  Rather Achan’s sin was the extreme expression of a sin which many of the people were guilty.  Or, perhaps to phrase that another way, Achan committed his sin, which was more extreme, because of a culture of sinfulness among the people.  In the same way, when we see what we perceive as extreme sins in others, we need to examine ourselves to see how sin in our lives may have led others to sin.  Then we need to change how we do things so that it doesn’t happen again.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 5-7.

I am not sure if I have written on this before, but one of the things which hits me when I read this passage is the length of time between the Israelites crossing the Jordan and the beginning of the siege of Jericho.  I am used to thinking that the Israelites crossed the Jordan and promptly besieged Jericho, but that is not what happened.  Or, maybe the siege did begin as soon as they crossed over, but if so that makes the passage even stranger.  So, the Israelites had spied out Jericho before crossing the Jordan.  Then they crossed the Jordan and camped on the plains of Jericho.  Once they were camped there, Joshua had all of the men circumcised.  That is strange in and of itself, why weren’t they circumcised shortly after they were born, while the Israelites were in the wilderness.  It is one of those details which leaves me wondering how anyone can perceive the Book of Joshua as just a “compilation of bedtime stories” rather than a record of events which actually happened.  If the Book of Joshua was made up in order to justify the control of the land by a particular group of people (usually postulated to be the “Returned Exiles”).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 1-4.

After Moses died and Joshua took over as leader of the Israelites, God told him to be strong and courageous, that He, God, would never leave him, Joshua, nor forsake him.  Then when Joshua spoke to the tribes which would settle east of the Jordan, reminding them that they were obligated to fight along their brothers to conquer west of the Jordan, they replied by telling him they were with him and he should be strong and courageous.  Just as God told Joshua, and the tribes also told him, we too should be strong and courageous in carrying out God’s will.  We need not be afraid, nor should we be discouraged, because God has promised that He will be with us wherever we go.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 23-24.

Today’s passage describes events which took place after all of those described earlier in this book.  The Israelites have all found land to live upon in the land.  While they have not driven all of the non-Israelites out of the land, for the most part they have destroyed all of the non-Israelite political power bases and are living at peace. Joshua realized that he would not be around much longer to provide the Israelites with guidance, so he calls an assembly of the leadership of the people.  First, I want to note that Chapter 23 appears to be a summary of the assembly which Joshua called with Chapter 24 going into more detail.  First Joshua reminded the people of all of the good things which God had done for them.  Then he called them to respond to those good things by faithfully serving God.  I am hoping that you, my readers, can agree with me, and Joshua, that the Lord has done wonderful things for you.  If that is the case, then I will join Joshua in calling on you to faithfully serve God.  Do not associate with the idol worship going on around us.  Do not serve the gods to which so many bow down and serve.  Hold fast to the Lord our God.  Just as there was a price to pay for the Israelites listening to Joshua, there is a price to pay for us if we choose to faithfully serve God.  But, there is a price to pay if you choose to serve the gods of those around us.  So, if you find the price of serving God too high, you must choose which other gods your will serve.  Our world offers many such gods, choose which ones you will serve!  Or, choose to serve the Lord of Lords, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Joshua chose to serve God, I choose to do likewise.  I hope you will join me in my choice, even with the high price which Jesus made clear to us.

Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. ⁸ But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 21-22.

For the last few days I have been commenting on how much of what was being described appears to me to have happened before the end of Chapter 11 where it says, “Then the land had rest from war.”  I believe that Chapter 22 describes wat happened immediately after that verse: the warriors of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh crossed back over the Jordan River to the east side.  In any case, the warriors returning to their homes east of the Jordan built an altar as a  monument declaring unity between themselves and their kindred settling west of the Jordan.  The other tribes took this altar as a declaration of separation both from themselves and from their God.  From there this story becomes an example of how to deal with conflict.  The tribes west of the Jordan were angry, they thought the tribes east of the Jordan were rejecting them and their God as not “good enough”, and they believed the actions of the tribes east of the Jordan would negatively impact them.  However, instead of immediately going to war in order to protect themselves and punish the eastern tribes, they selected a delegation to speak with them and find out what they were doing, offering a solution if the eastern tribes had a legitimate reason for rejecting them.  When the delegation came to the eastern tribes, they could have taken it as an insult and immediately mustered to make war on those who showed such little trust in them.  After all, the eastern tribes had just returned from spending a generation fighting alongside their brothers now living to the west of the Jordan River.  But that is not how they reacted.  Instead they explained the purpose of the altar which they had built, they told the delegates that the altar had been built as a declaration unity between the tribes living east of the Jordan and the tribes living west of the Jordan, not as a declaration of independence from them.  Because both sides were willing to talk, and to listen, misunderstandings were resolved and peace was obtained.  Of course, peace would likely not have been possible if the eastern tribes had actually intended what the western tribes thought they intended.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.