MARCH 8 & 9 JUDGES 1-5

Judges 1-5

WARNING:  If you thought parts of Genesis were risqué, if you felt queasy at the detailed descriptions of some of the animal sacrifices in Leviticus, be warned: Judges is much worse.  In this book, we will see idolatry, murder, human sacrifice, suicide, genocide, gruesome deaths, sexual promiscuity and rape.  If you are especially squeamish, you may skip Judges 19 entirely.

The book of Judges has a theme, repeated twice: In those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6 and 21:25). 

This sad statement does not mean that there aren’t some moments of faith and greatness in the time of the Judges. It just means that such moments were short-lived.

Judges 1 highlights the incompleteness of their conquest of the Promised Land.  

 

Judges 2 admits to Israel’s forgetfulness and unfaithfulness after the death of Joshua (They didn’t keep those promises they made in Joshua 24!) This chapter also introduces the cycle: 

• The people abandon the Lord and worship idols.
• The Lord allows their enemies to plunder them.
• The people groan in their affliction.
• The Lord hears them and raises up a judge to deliver them

And the whole thing begins again.

Judges 3 introduces the first judges:  Othniel, Ehud (the left-handed judge; read to see why that’s important!) and Shamgar.

Judges 4 & 5 introduce us to two of the great women in the history of Israel:  Deborah, the only God-sanctioned female head-of-state the ancient Israelites ever had, and Jael, the spunky spike-driver who killed Sisera, the Canaanite king. Deborah’s song is a victory taunt, intended, it seems, for an international readership, as if to say:  Beware, kings and princes of the earth, the women of Israel are mighty!

Until Monday, when we meet Gideon!

Pastor Gary

MARCH 7 JOSHUA 22-24

Joshua 22-24

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).

We have had Joshua’s unwavering words prominently “plaqued” in our home since the boys were babes. We wanted them—and anyone else who entered the house—to know our Priority. And we wanted to remind ourselves, as well. This was the theme verse for our wedding—and it is the theme verse for our marriage.

What we have done on a small, family-sized scale, Joshua did on a massive national scale.

 Long after the Lord had given them “rest on every side (Joshua 21:44; 23:1),” and a certain amount of security in their new land, and after a major misunderstanding had been cleared up (Joshua 22:10-34), old Joshua summoned all Israel to Shechem, a city that lay between Mounts Ebal and Gerazim, where the Covenant of Blessings and Curses had been enacted years earlier. There, Joshua called the people to renew the Covenant. Chapters 23 and 24 contain some powerful exhortations that culminate with Joshua 24:14-15:

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Would that families and churches everywhere would join in truth with the ancient Jews who cried, “We will serve the Lord!” (Joshua 24:18, etc.)

But what Joshua said to them is true for us: You are not able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God (Joshua 24:19).

Their (and our) inability to save ourselves is yet another Old Testament cry for a Savior!

Until tomorrow, when we begin the sad cycle of Judges,
Pastor Gary

MARCH 6 JOSHUA 18-21

Joshua 18-21

Why name a church Shiloh United Methodist Church or Shiloh Baptist Church?

Joshua 18 begins with an assembly at Shiloh, where the “tent of meeting” had been set up. This is only the second time we see the word, Shiloh, in scripture, the first being Genesis 49:10, as Jacob was pronouncing a blessing on Judah.  Of Jacob’s 12 sons, Judah, the fourth, was chosen as the one through whom the Messiah would come.   Jacob said: The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.  The NIV makes it more understandable: the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs.  In other words, Judah’s house shall reign until the Messiah comes. 

If this interpretation is correct, to say Shiloh United Methodist Church is synonymous with saying Christ United Methodist Church.

This makes the gathering of the tribes at Shiloh a gathering of hope. There, the remaining tribes receive their inheritance, their allotments of land (Joshua 18-19); there the six cities of refuge are named (Joshua 20); and there the Levites’ cities and pasturelands are designated (Joshua 21). You see, the Promised Land divvied up at Shiloh was a down-payment on the rest of the promise, which included the Messiah! And the “cities of refuge” in Joshua 21 are themselves a picture of God as our refuge!

Until tomorrow,
Pastor Gary

MARCH 5 JOSHUA 13-17

Joshua 13-17

Now Joshua was old and advanced in years … What a sobering way for Joshua 13 to begin!

There was a saint in our church in Metropolis, a true pillar, named Ella Mae Main. I was so excited when I discovered, quite accidentally, that we were shirt-tail relations:   her son-in-law was Becky’s second cousin.  When Ella Mae died, the family loaned me her Bible so that I could use the Scriptures that had touched her. One passage she had circled and underlined was Joshua 13:1.

Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.”
Ella Mae, in her later years, connected with these words, not just because she was old, but because there remained so much for her to do for God’s kingdom.

Despite the many battles and campaigns, Joshua was growing old and Israel had not completely secured the Promised Land.  This incomplete conquest would haunt God’s people for generations, and help cause the kind of turbulence that cycles through the book of Judges.

Another Israelite who was old and advanced in years, in fact the only other Israelite besides Joshua to survive the wilderness, was Caleb. I love his take on old age:   I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then. (Joshua 14:10-11).  With confidence Caleb lays claim to the allotment of land Moses had promised him:  Abraham’s old campsite, Hebron!

The rest of Joshua 16, 17 and 18 is pretty dry reading, mostly lists and allotments of land.   In the midst of these words, notice God’s kindness to women:  Achsah in Joshua 15:19 and the daughters of Zelophehad in Joshua 17. 

Man or woman, young or old, there is much to do in the kingdom of God!

Until tomorrow,
Pastor Gary

MARCH 4 JOSHUA 9-12

Joshua 9-12

Midway through Joshua 10, we read a summary of Israel’s conquests in the Promised Land, which continues through Joshua 12.  As we shall see, though their success was not complete, they were successful enough to establish their presence in the Promised Land for many hundreds of years.

Before that point, we read two more remarkable accounts. The first answers, in part, the question, “Why wasn't their success complete?”  It was because they were deceived by the Gibeonites.  These people were especially clever in their deception, disguising themselves as a people from a distant land; they tricked the Israelites into a treaty.  God had told them to destroy the nearer nations.  Though these people became the wood-cutters and water-carriers of God’s people, at least they were alive!  There is a kind of faith there; I, too, would rather be a water-boy in the house of God, than a leader in the kingdom of unrighteousness!

The second remarkable account is best titled, “The Day the Sun Stood Still!”   God made this happen—somehow—to give Joshua’s army more time to rout the Amalekites.  Moral:  God can do anything, if His obedient servants cry out to Him!

Until tomorrow,
Pastor Gary

MARCH 3 JOSHUA 6-8

Joshua 6-8

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…


Dickens was thinking simultaneously; I am thinking sequentially.

Best of times.  Fresh off the fabulous beginning we looked at yesterday, Joshua journeyed on to Jericho, the city doomed to be destroyed first.  Joshua fit the battle of Jericho…and the walls came a-tumblin’ down!  Joshua won the battle because he obeyed the Lord’s imaginative directives.  Did the people feel foolish marching around the city each day for seven days?  Did they feel extra foolish when Joshua commanded them to encircle the town seven times on the seventh day?  Maybe, but they did it.  At Joshua’s command, the trumpets blared and the people gave a shout…and the walls came a-tumblin’ down; all of them, except the small section that had a scarlet cord tied to the window.  That section stood by the faith of Rahab, who believed in God, trusted that God had chosen Israel, lived out her faith by hiding Joshua’s spies by tying the cord in the window.  She and everyone with her was saved and incorporated into the people of Israel!  Grace for believing Gentiles in the Old Testament!

Worst of times.  As great as their victory at Jericho was, so great was their fall at Ai, the small town with a small name.  Because Achan had disobeyed the “no spoils” command of God, the Israelites were pummeled by the tiny town.  As a child, when I read how Achan’s sin was exposed, I trembled with the truth:  Be sure your sin will find you out!   As the casting of the lot draws closer and closer, I could imagine Achan sweating.  Why was I so concerned?  Because his sin is no different from mine. Once Achan had been removed, victory over Ai was assured.  Nevertheless, Joshua rightly renewed the Covenant with that massive antiphonal responsive reading of the blessings and curses on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal! They needed this incredible reminder. Moses knew they would.

I guess God is constantly dealing with us in the best of times and the worst of times.

Until tomorrow,

Pastor Gary