Well, Joshua 7 is a sad story. The Israelites move on to their next victim only to find defeat. Joshua goes before the Lord to find out what happened, only to find out that someone broke the covenant with the Lord. I knew it would happen, it just had to happen. I mean everyone saw it coming with the whole line about we will obey you as we did Moses. I really do not feel sorry for this person, even if he was stoned to death. The punishments in this time was always severe and God always got his man. I cannot imagine ever going against God or breaking his covenant.
In Joshua 8, though, the Lord shows Joshua his power by allowing Joshua to overtake the city of Ai. By luring all the men out of the city with part of his army of 30,000 the other part of the army was given access to the city. Taking it's provisions & livestock for themselves the rest was burned and everyone in the city was killed, including the women (and I assume, the children) lest the king who was taken to Joshua. Following God's command Joshua kept his army going until every citizen of Ai had been slain and then he hung the king. I find it interesting that the Word comments several times on how the city of Ai is still a pile of rumble and that the king was thrown in the city entrance and piled on with rocks that are still there today. The taken of this city under Joshua, by God's command, would be a historical event--one that enables us to prove the Word is true.
After his victory, Joshua gave all the glory back to the Lord by building an alter for sacrificing and writing and reading the words of the law for all of Israel to hear.
Joshua 9 starts by telling us that all the other kings west of the Jordan River planned to make war against Joshua and his country for what he did to Ai, except for the Gibeonites who planned instead to lie to save their hides. They made Joshua believe they were from far away and they were very poor and would become the Isrealites servants & that they'd follow the name Joshua had made in the Lord's name. The Bible points out that, while Joshua made a treaty of peace with the Gibeonites, he did not consult with the Lord first...oops (how many times have we done that in our lives?). When the Isrealites found out the truth--that the Gibeonites were their neighbors & had lied to them because they feared their lives--they didn't attack them because of the peace treaty, but Joshua & the leaders did put them under the curse of being lowly woodcutters & water carriers (hard laborers) from them on.
To finish off of Luke 9 we read about a young boy that was filled with an evil spirit. This evil spirit was doing harm to the boy by throwing him into convulsions. If I remember correctly from reading this story in other chapters it would do this and throw him into fires and similar things. The next little portion is about the disciples arguing between themselves and showing a little bit of jealousy. The little story about their traveling to Jerusalem kind of confuses me. I don't fully understand the thought of the disciples wanting to call down fire on the city because they would not except Jesus. Seems like a pretty severe punishment coming from the disciples. The last portion of this chapter stands out a lot to me. Jesus shows us that it is not simple to follow Him. He makes it know that we have to give up a lot to do what is right.
Tomorrow's reading is:
Joshua 10, 11, 12 and Luke 10:1-24
7. I'm, quite frankly, amazed had how many chances God gives the Israelites. Their on strike 9,000 or so and they sill aren't out.
ReplyDelete8. 18 "Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai; for I will give it into your hand." The javelin that is you hand, kind of gives you goose bumps doesn't it.
9. I thought that the treaty with the Gibeonites was interesting. In today's times if you enter into a agreement under false pretenses that agreement would be null and void and I kind of think the same rules should apply here. I suppose it's lucky for the Gibeonites that Joshua was such an honorable man.
9. I feel bad for Jesus on a human level in this chapter. Jesus' time on earth must have been very lonely and frustrating, I think we get a little glimpse of that in this chapter.