The fear of the LORD is spreading and so is the Kingdom of Israel! One nation after the other has heard of the great and mighty acts of God. With that, each and every nation trembles at the thought of battling this great nation. Kingdoms fall. Kings are trampled upon. Cities are destroyed. Israel now has a place to call their own. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have now been fully realized.
For us, we realize that we are just about half way through the Book of Joshua. Perhaps we should turn to thebibleproject.com for their thoughts on the story of Joshua.
We made it to the Promised Land!!!!! Although, I feel like I’m still stuck in the wilderness. I got the same crud that my son had last week. Two days on the couch with body aches and a couch. Unfortunately that means there hasn’t been much celebrating as we arrived in the Promised Land. Never the less, a few insights to share.
Rahab the prostitute . . . Besides a questionable career choice, did you know she was rewarded for hosting the spies from Israel? Along with her family being spared as Jericho came tumbling down, she was rewarded in another way. Check out Matthew 1:5 where our Gospel Writer gives us the linage of Jesus from Abraham to Joseph.
and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,
In just this one verse, there are several great names (which we’ll recognize in the months to come) that all tie in to the birth of Jesus. There, listed along with them is our heroine Rahab, who aided the spies as Jericho was about to be taken.
Then there is the fall of Jericho. This takes me back to my high school days and singing for solo and ensemble. Each year I went prepared to sing, “Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho.” Being raised in a faith filled family I was proud to be singing something faithful. Sadly I was never proud of my scores. My poor adolescence voice could never figure out how to hit some of those notes. I tried. Like the walls of Jericho, my scores always seemed to fall. Still a great song . . .
After four books, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, our journey with Moses comes to an end. Our faithful leader, our ever present guide, our ‘hero’ who led us through the Red Sea and the wandering path of the wilderness has died.
And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Deuteronomy 34:5-6, NIV
Interesting to note . . . God took the time to come and bury Moses. What an honor! Yet, no one knows where is grave is, or so they say. Out of that, my curiosity was sparked and I had to do a quick little search to find Moses’ grave. Here’s what I found:
Whoops, wrong picture . . . but still a good laugh! Here’s what I meant to post, from the top of Mount Nebo:
I guess his burial site, didn’t stay unknown for too long! Many thanks Moses for your faithfulness!
Moses’ farewell speech to the Israelites comes to a close. In his final thoughts he shares several blessings and woes, and plenty of warnings.
If you obey these commandants and heed my words . . . God will bless you.
If you disobey these commandants and go astray . . . you will find hardship.
Which one do you think the people followed? Let’s just say, as much as these will always be God’s chosen people, they don’t always tend to choose God. Even as they don’t, (and we don’t either) God still loves them (and us) and offers forgiveness through the promised redeemer. Good news for us . . . Good news for the Israelites. Even if all of Moses’ predictions are about to come true, (Unfaithfulness, hardship, exile, release, return, rebuilding . . . its all going to happen) God still shows mercy and love!
Finally I’ll close with a fun venture for you. Its from thebricktestament.com. Yes, I’m a Lego maniac! Its a great website and someone has taken the time to put many of our favorite Bible moments into Lego form. Feel free to look and explore! This one highlights Deuteronomy 29, “Following your own moral compass.”
Today is March 8, 2019 also know as International Women’s Day. If I could figure out how, I’d change all my text to purple, but I can’t so I didn’t. Never the less, the thought is there. Just as much as the Spirit was leading and guiding us to this text as many lift up International Women’s Day.
It might not seem like much, but as Moses is giving his farewell speech to the people, women are given some rights! How about that! Perhaps it is more in the line of protection and well being, but still, its there. We see it in 24:1-5 and again in the curses of 27:15-26. Repeatedly, we see something to the effect of, “if a man does to a woman . . .” and the punishment or curse is directed back to the man.
Considering women weren’t considered much more of value than a servant or a slave, this is a huge step. One worthy of pondering as we reflect today some 3500 years later. Definitely progress has been made and of course there’s still plenty of room for progress, even today. But who would have thought, we could trace some rights and respect for all the women in our lives, all the way back to Moses!
As Moses continues his farewell speech (and maybe seems to rehash all of Leviticus in the process) I thought I’d change things up today with another visit from our friends at TheBibleProject.com.
Were you challenged by the idea of creating three specialized cities as proposed in chapter 19? I was. These weren’t any ordinary cities. These were cities where individuals could flee to if they had unintentionally killed some one. There is a key work there is “unintentionally.” How do you prove that one? Add to that the implied, ‘you will be safe as long as you can get there first . . . but in the mean time, vengeance is may be fair game.” All in all it struck me as odd.
Its not to say that it wouldn’t work, or didn’t, but just think of that in our own day and time. A city of refuge for murders. How would that work? Probably not too well. Then, one can’t help but wonder what the crime rate may have been in those three cities. I guess you travel and vacation at your own risk?
Then, as Moses has been doing all throughout his farewell speech, the reiterated warning comes again in chapter 20. You are about to overtake a new land. “Annihilate” is the word used in vs. 17. A pretty striking word with drastic consequences. Annihilate everything you see. Why? So that you will not be tempted to fall into their sinful ways.
A fitting way to end on this Ash Wednesday, even from the Garden of Eden, to the shores of the Jordan River, all the way to you and me, temptations lurks on. Praise be to God, Jesus has died for our sins, so that we might be one with God!
Even in the midst of temptation, remember . . . “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
I’ve gotten a bit behind, sorry about that. I’ve been faithfully reading a few chapters each night, but I haven’t taken the time to post a few thoughts. Things are a bit crazy right now. My wife had a birthday. Our oldest has been home sick for the past three days. Tonight I’m flipping pancakes for our youth Pancake Dinner, and tomorrow is this little thing called Ash Wednesday. So . . . I’ve been busy. That’s life, and those are my excuses. Still doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about all of your.
On to some thoughts . . .
A little over a year ago, I started a diet. At that point is was more of medical emergency as I learn an cope with being a diabetic. Diet, exercise, a health coach, and all the other good stuff helped me to loose 30 pounds. Although this winter has been hard, and a few of those have crept back on, but I’m still down over 20 from where I started!
In the midst of getting started, my health coach gave simple advice, “If there are sweets in the house, get rid of them.” Sounds easy enough, except that I have two teenage boys and they wouldn’t tolerate “no sweets” all too well. Add to that, when I got started nearly a year ago, Easter was soon upon us. Of course of all the goodies swapped and traded between our two boys as they sorted through their Easter Baskets were one of my favorites, a caramel Cadbury Easter egg.
Soon I heard, “Here you should have this dad!” as one of the boys gave it to me. Temptation, now lay in my hands. Was I ever tempted. Truth be told, I never ate it. It sits on the top of my dresser. Shiny and gold, just waiting to be eaten. Serving as a daily reminder, I can do this! There have been times, when I thought I needed a pick me up, but I’ve resisted. Still its hard. Every day, as I am in and out of my dresser, it’s there. Waiting!
Now you may think that doesn’t have anything to do with the Israelites and our Biblical story, but I think it does. How often have we heard Moses and/or God give warning to the people, with words that essentially say,
You are about to enter a new land. When you do, destroy everything. Do not leave their temples. Do not worship their gods. Tear down their idols. Remove their men, women, children from your midst What ever you do, remove it all!
I realize that is a huge paraphrase of many of the past chapters, but the point remains the same. If this is going to work, you have to be able to start fresh, and follow faithfully. For me, it’s like my health coach saying, “remove all the sweets.” Let’s face it, in the end what’s going to happen? One day I’m probably going to eat that Easter Egg. In much the same way, the Israelites are going to find themselves worshiping false gods, loosing sight of the God of our Salvation.
We will soon realize that despite the constant reminder given by Moses in this farewell speech, the temptation is too much. Sin creeps back in. The people goof up. Exile awaits. Then for us, (as much as it was for the people back then), as Ash Wednesday approaches, the need for a savior grows ever more present, each and every day!
Some great warnings come out of these three chapters in Deuteronomy. One that gives a cautious warning for us today, as much as it did nearly 3500 years ago. One that provides some clarity on events to come. And, one that is just a bit of fun.
Cautions for today (as much as yesterday) . . .
Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, Deut. 8:11-14
That’s rich! As much as we are blessed, as much as our sisters and brothers from Ancient Israel were blessed, how often we forget where those blessings come from. God indeed is good, gracious, and abundantly generous. Let us never forget where our abundance comes from. The true warning comes in verses 19 and 20. Essentially . . . if you forget this, you will perish. Holding true to that warning, Israel does forget and exile happens. Although we have several hundred years to read through before that happens.
Some clarity on what is about to happen next . . .
One of my faithful followers asked the question, “if one of the Commandments says, ‘thou shall not kill’, how is it that the Israelites are allowed to go in and destroy all these other nations?” Great question! Deuteronomy chapter 9 helps us to understand that just a bit more.
It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to occupy their land; but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is dispossessing them before you, in order to fulfill the promise that the Lord made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know, then, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to occupy because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people. Deut. 9:5-6
I wonder how much that stung when the people heard Moses speak it too them. Essentially saying, “you don’t deserve this, God knows it, you know it.” However, God is keeping the promises made, and cleansing the earth because of the wickedness of the other nations. If I remember right, God tried that once before, right? Oh, yes. Last time it was with a flood. This time its with people.
Does that make it right to kill. I still don’t think so, but it at least provides a bit of clarity on how we dodge the question around God’s Commandment.
Lastly something fun . . .
One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deut. 8:3b
Great words, how ever, words that could be modified. One does not live by bread alone, but with . . .
At least that’s what got me through most of my childhood! Good stuff, but the Word of God is so much better. So I think we should stay with the original text.
I will honestly have to admit, after reading chapters 3 and 4, I turned to my wife (who is sharing this journey with me) and said, “This is going to be a long few weeks of reading!” I long for story, depth, meaning. Not that these words aren’t important, but . . . it lacked the oomph to keep me exciting. Then I, set things aside, turned the page and started the readings for day 60! Now that is more like it!!
As Moses remembers the story of Israel, we come across the Ten Commandants. (See Day 24 for the original post) Once again, we come across the foundation of the Law upon which God expects us to live by. Yes, we have broken them all, that fact hasn’t changed. Perhaps we have broken them all, because we can’t remember them. So here’s a great little tool to help you remember the Ten Commandments. I’ll give credit to my internship year mentor, Pastor Gary Erdos, for teaching me this one as he was teaching Confirmation Class. I used it every year with my youth, and its a fun, way to remember all ten.
Visual Representation of the Ten Commandments
You have to start at the bottom of the picture, and work your way up from there.
#1 – there is only one God. I am the LORD your God, you shall have no other gods before me.
Weather Vane – “Do not take the name of the LORD in vain“
Bath Tub – Honor the Sabbath, and keep it holy.
Mom and Dad – Dressed in the tub: Honor your father and your mother.
Dad holding a gun – you shall not kill.
A tree with a baby doll, growing out of the tub – you shall not commit adultery. (a-doll-tree).
A Robber – You shall not steal.
The Robber holding a picket sign with a lion’s head and a red “no” circle – You shall not lie (No Lion)
The last two commandants are combined for this one. A convertible with your neighbor and all of your neighbor’s belongings – you shall not covet (convert) your neighbors wife, servant, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
So, I know there are some creative liberties taken on this one, but for all of you visual learners out there, this one works. Perhaps if we can remember them, maybe we can live by them.
Peace, Pastor Bailey
Our next reading: Deuteronomy 8 – 10
ps: Many thanks to my wife for her creative drawing, the last time I taught this to the confirmation youth! Didn’t she do great!
First Lutheran Tiffin Ohio 44883 