2012-05-04
Good Morning Dear Ones,
You’ll remember that in last week’s message, I wrote about how the Israelites had entered into a faulty covenant, one agreed upon as a result of a ruse played on the Jews by their Hivite neighbors, the clan of Gibeon, or Gibeonites. God was not consulted first before the covenant was made, but it was made before Him. Thus those making it had to comply with all the rules and regulations set down in DT 7: 1-2. “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations-the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you – and when the Lord your God ahs delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally and show them no mercy.” From this it is easy to see the disobedience involved in not only not destroying the Gibeonites, but in entering into a covenant with them! God was not being blood-thirsty in making this command. Instead, He was trying to rid the area called the Land of the evil practice of Pagan polytheism-belief in many gods. As with any covenant, one must expect there will be tests of it. Those tests may be allowed by God Himself or be founded in the malevolence of Israel’s enemies.
Then, five Amorite kings united to attack Gibeon, a city larger than Ai, a city that Joshua had taken and totally destroyed [JS 10: 1-2b,5-6]. JS 10: 8, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them; I have given them to your hand. No one of them will be able to withstand you.’” After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua’s army soundly defeated in a surprise attack the Amorites at Gibeon. God had thrown the enemy into confusion there (9-10). (11-12) “As the enemy soldiers fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones on the from the sky, killing more of them than the Israelites did with their swords.” Then something amazing and quite supernatural happened. “Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel, ‘O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.’ So the sun stood still and the moon stopped till the nation avenged itself on its enemies.” It was God Who brought this about, not Joshua, but God was listening to Joshua’s request. Never before or since has God listened to such a request from a man. It was clear, He was on the side of His chosen people, the Israelites.
It should be understood that God was willing to give Joshua this victory, because of his obedience to Him at Ai and his willingness to keep the covenant with the Gibeonites. In other words, God meets us at the point of our obedience. My own experience with this is first-hand. There were plenty of times when the temptation was there in my own first marriage of fifteen years to be unfaithful, but I refused. When that ill-fated marriage finally did dissolve, I was given time to heal emotionally and then met Peter, with whom I’ve been very happily married for 35 years so far. God does watch over us, even when we are going through tremendous tests or are even oblivious of His presence through them. I’m reminded of 1 COR 10: 13, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man . And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will provide you with a way out, so that you can stand up under it.” We can find some comfort in that.
The five Amorite kings went to hide in the cave at Makkedah, a town near Azekah in the western foothills where Joshua’s troops had camped. The five Amorite kings were trapped in the cave by the Israelites, and then they were brought to Joshua at the latter’s command (JS 10: 16, 22, 24-25). These kings were then killed by the Jewish soldiers. Joshua and his men took the city of Makkedah, leaving no survivors (26-28). We can mine this story for the lessons in it, and we can examine what God did, despite the imperfections of Israel’s disobedience in making a faulty covenant. Like us, the Israelites were learning how to keep a covenant, seeing the importance of making covenants carefully, and the positive consequences of keeping them. Once this is seen, then it’s necessary to consider the negative consequences of not keeping them.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your mighty throne to say “thank You” for giving us the guidance contained in Your word. Through the experiences of others- the stories of people in the Bible and what we can glean from what goes on around us-we are able to avoid some of the pitfalls that happen to people. Our challenge is to learn from the mistakes and the victories of the past-something mankind doesn’t often do well. There are times when You use evil for good. GN 50: 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Every Jewish person and Gentile believers too know the importance of the Shema, DT 6: 4-5, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” This extends into every aspect of our lives. This requires knowing Your will and being obedient to it, even if the choice to do so is difficult. Often, we must face opposition, sometimes even from within our own families, to be obedient. But we must stand firm. PS 111: 10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding. To Him belongs eternal praise.” You place enough value in human obedience to Him that the book of Ecclesiastes concludes with ECCL 12: 13-14, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God [meaning have reverence for Him] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing where it is good or evil.” In the book of Joshua, namely JS 1: 8-9, You are both our Advisor and our Paraclete [Encourager]. “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” We thank You again and again for Your patience with our attempts to be obedient and with being open to Christ’s intercession for us. It is our intention to improve in our obedience, our willingness to continue studying Your word, and our making a habit frequent prayer where we listen first for what You have to say. We offer this prayer in the holy/mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We’re going to try to examine what God did and what He reveals to us about Himself in this story of Joshua’s victory over the five Amorite kings in JS 10. In the meanwhile, we need to examine what God, through Christ’s teaching and the action of the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives. Each of us must make this examination for himself. I look back at my own past and see a person without faith, without any inkling that the Lord is present in her life until I was age 25. Then, slowly but surely, the Lord becomes a part of my conscious existence, and I realize just how unhappy and flawed I am. I become dissatisfied with my status quo and desire to make big changes in my life to improve it. As I begin to become more and more familiar with the Scriptures, I begin to see what God has to teach me. Then, He makes it clear, especially in IS 53: 1-12 and in other places in the OT, that I should pay attention to the NT. It was like being in kindergarten all over again! Concepts new to me, like those found in JN 1: 1-5 [the nature of God and Christ] and JN 13: 34-35 [the New Commandment], begin to make sense. The Lord gives me a hunger for the teachings of the NT, although I will take several years before I finally study the book of Revelation. My life changes; my outlook becomes hopeful and far more positive. After awhile, I decide to be baptized, made new and whole for the first time in my life. I no longer exist, but now I live! Does this mean I’m perfect? Of course not! Far from it! But it means that God is taking an imperfect sample of ore and is slowly and surely working on purifying it through the Refiner’s fire. Once more pure enough, then He slowly polishes each facet one at a time until His light can shine through it. As I become older, I discover the great blessings of serving Him, something which I can do, because I have submitted to Him. 2 COR 9: 8, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” PS 31: 5, “For into Your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.” I still face trials and challenges that are sometimes very painful. But I never have to worry that I’m doing this alone. That is because our God never abandons His people [PS 9: 9-10]. Neither does anyone who seeks the Lord in obedience to Him and has abiding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise and thanks be to Him forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 14: 15