Joshua 23-24
This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey!
Scripture Thought (What I Learned):
Chapter 23: Keep the Commandments and Love God
Joshua
speaks to Israel and encourages them to be courageous in keeping the
commandments of God. He advises that the Israelites keep the commandments and
LOVE God. He commands them not marry the remnants of the Canaanites, for if
they do they will be brought down and destroyed for the evil that they have
committed. If Israel serves other gods they will be cursed and destroyed.
We must
follow the laws of Moses: Verse 6. But do we have to follow them today? I would
say no. But can we learn a lot from the laws? Yes. Many things like eating of pork
and other animals are not an issue today. But the general laws of doing good in
the sight of God is something we must hold to.
Chapter 24: Serve the Lord God
Joshua
gathers Israel and recalls how the Lord has blessed and led Israel throughout
the years. Joshua and all the people make a covenant to choose serve the Lord
only and no other gods. Joshua and Eleazer die. Joshua dies at the age of 110
(verse 29). The bones of Joseph are taken from Egypt and buried in Shechem.
I am
including the actual text from chapter 24, only because I think it serves as a
great summary of what the Lord has done for Israel since the beginning. Verses
1-13;
"And Joshua gathered all
the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for
their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented
themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the
flood in old time,even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of
Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from
the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and
multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and
Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his
children went down into Egypt. I sent Moses also and Aaron, and
I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and
afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt:
and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with
chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea. And when they cried unto
the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and
brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I
have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season. And I brought
you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan;
and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess
their land; and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of
Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called
Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: But I would not hearken unto Balaam;
therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand. And ye went
over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against
you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into
your hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out
from before you, even the two kings of the
Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. And I
have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which
ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye
planted not do ye eat." (Joshua 24:1-13)
Joshua asks the Israelites "...choose you this day whom ye will
serve..." (Joshua 24:15). Joshua warns that if "...ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, they he will turn
and do you hurt... after that he hath done you good" (Joshua 24:20). I
find this to be very true, if we chose to disobey God's commandments and serve
other gods (which can be putting material things before him) then we will be
hurt. We can take a look at the world today and see that people are suffering
everywhere... why? Because they are not following the commandments of God.
Don't have sexual relations outside of marriage... and then when people do that
and get diseases and have unwanted pregnancies they look to God and say
"there is no God" or that "How could God cause such horrible
things to happen?"
You
want to know the answer? He doesn't cause bad things to happen, he always warns
us, but if we don't listen... WE ARE THE ONES LETTING BAD THINGS HAPPEN!! God hates
to see us suffer, but like in the end of the verse "...he hath done you good." (Joshua 24:20). Why has he done
you good, by hurting you? Because you have to learn. Just like a parent telling
their child to not touch the stove, but after the constant pursuit to touch the
stove, the parent gives up and lets the child do what they want. The result? A crying
child. God sees us the same way. Honestly we are all a bunch of crying babies in
his eyes, and if we want something bad enough, eventually he won't intervene, in
fact he gave us agency to choose for ourselves. Remember Adam and Eve? He let Adam
make his own decision. We too can make our own decision, as long as we are prepared
to face the consequences of our decisions.
