SFJ Bible Reading Plan

Joshua 7

Israel Defeated at Ai

7:1 But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the LORD burned against the people of Israel.

2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” 4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, 5 and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! 8 O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”

The Sin of Achan

10 The LORD said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction.¹ I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 13 Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the LORD takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the LORD takes shall come near by households. And the household that the LORD takes shall come near man by man. 15 And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’”

16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD God of Israel and give praise² to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” 20 And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels,³ then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. 23 And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the LORD. 24 And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.⁴

Footnotes

[1] 7:12 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)

[2] 7:19 Or and make confession

[3] 7:21 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams

[4] 7:26 Achor means trouble

(ESV)

Joshua 6

The Fall of Jericho

6:1 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat,¹ and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” 6 So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.” 7 And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the LORD.”

8 And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD following them. 9 The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. 10 But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” 11 So he caused the ark of the LORD to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

12 Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets blew continually. 14 And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.

15 On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. 16 And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city. 17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction.² Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.” 20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. 21 Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

22 But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25 But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

26 Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.

  “At the cost of his firstborn shall he
    lay its foundation,
  and at the cost of his youngest son
    shall he set up its gates.”

27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

Footnotes

[1] 6:5 Hebrew under itself; also verse 20

[2] 6:17 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verses 18, 21

(ESV)

Joshua 5

The New Generation Circumcised

5:1 As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.¹ 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD; the LORD swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal² to this day.

First Passover in Canaan

10 While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. 11 And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

The Commander of the Lord‘s Army

13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped³ and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Footnotes

[1] 5:3 Gibeath-haaraloth means the hill of the foreskins

[2] 5:9 Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew for to roll

[3] 5:14 Or and paid homage

(ESV)

Exodus 40 & Joshua 1-4  (2-5-22)

This week we began our reading in Joshua. This is the book I have chosen to represent the Conquest Era in this year’s Bible Reading Plan.

I love the book of Joshua, and not just because of my namesake, but because I love what God did in and through Joshua and the Israelites in the Conquest Era. It was truly awesome to recount, and it was very important in God’s overall redemptive plan. Consider with me the following:

The Lord God promised Abraham and his descendants four things:

• they would be blessed and become a blessing;
• they would grow to become a great nation;
• they would be given a land of their own;
• and these blessings would be enjoyed in the context of a close covenant relationship with God.

By the end of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), Israel (who was God’s Old Covenant chosen people) has been brought into the blessing of covenant relationship with the Lord and has become a great people. But they remain outside the Land of Promise, on the plains of Moab. Now, after so many years of wandering, Joshua, the new leader of God’s people, is ordained to lead God’s people into the land, take it, and divide it among them as their inheritance from the Lord.

The book of Joshua can be divided into four main sections; however, we will study it in five parts:

Guidance   Joshua 1-5

Conquest   Joshua 6-12 

Dominion    Joshua 13-21

Service       Joshua 22-24

Today, we delve into the guidance that Joshua gave the people, as they prepared to go into battle and claim their land.

Listen to God’s words:

Joshua 1:7-8 “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

This is counsel from the Lord to one of the truly great and godly leaders of the Old Testament. Notice that His emphasis is on a carefulness to do all that God has given to them through the law—to not even turn from it slightly to the left or right.

If you are honest with yourself, how critical is it that you know and follow God’s word? I believe that many will be quick to say they hold high this practice, but what does your life say? What do the priorities of your days say? Do you truly work to know God’s word and then to not depart from it even in the slightest? The book of Joshua is saying, “This is critical to a life of success.” It is surely critical to a life that is honoring of God.

He goes on to say that the Book of the Law shall not depart from our mouths. What does that mean? It means we are speaking the truths and wisdom of God and not the ideas and wisdom of man. It means we value and speak of and bless others with God’s word. What better word is there than God’s word?

This leads into the next point, which is to “meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” What does it mean to meditate on God’s word?

The word “meditation” in Hebrew means basically to speak or to mutter. When this is done in the heart, it is called musing or meditation. So, meditating on the word of God day and night means to speak to yourself the word of God day and night. It’s not just something you do for five minutes; it’s something you do throughout the day. This is why Bible memorization is so helpful, so we can mediate on it day and night. This is why it is so essential we are in the word of God every day, so it is fresh, and we are able to recall what we read and muse on it all day. This is how the Holy Spirit speaks to us—not with new revelation but with drawing to our minds and hearts the words of Scripture, of God’s word. The word of God is the Holy Spirit’s word to us.

Another Scripture that is very similar to Joshua’s exhortation here is found in the first Psalm:

Psalm 1:1-6 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1:2 says, “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Delight means it gets priority time. You make room to give it priority in your days. You don’t just try to squeeze it in; you hunger after God and want to hear from Him. You want Him to shape you and grow you, so you delight in His word.  

The New Testament teaching is that we are to hold fast to God’s word. To hold fast to God’s word is to get your roots deep into His truth. To hold fast is to read His word daily, putting it deep into the soil of your heart so that your roots are deep, grounded, and secure in the truth of God. So when then wind blows and the storms rage, you remain!   

How do we delight or hold fast to God’s word? You have to get time in it! Holding fast is regular time eating at the table of God, listening to Him speak life into you. We make prioritized time to eat food, dress, and prepare ourselves for our day. We even prioritize our “down time” to refill our tanks by watching TV, cruising the internet, or playing games, but we often neglect the true food of life, the true preparation of our day, and the true rest for our souls by not spending time fanning the flame of our faith by hearing God’s word.

The text goes on to say that only when we are mediating on God’s word day and night will we “be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

God’s word truly is the light to our path. We will not know the best way if we do not know His way. We will slip into sin and the ways of man if not regularly rooted in God’s word.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  

So when the word of God is in my life, it is now a living word that brings me into the bigger story of God. It illuminates my understanding of who God is, and therefore who I am in relationship to Him. God’s word helps illuminate the depth of my depravity, my wickedness, and my rebellion from God; and at the same time, it raises within me a deep appreciation and gratefulness for His grace, love, and the new life that Jesus brings through His life, death, and resurrection. 

Here is the key: When this deeper understanding and relationship happens, now I can make a deeper connection by faith and worship into Jesus—who is the vine, and who is life, and by whom the power for change comes!

Do you see it? When I hold fast to the Scriptures, it pulls me into Him. He is now at work in and through me; He is my power, He is my authority, He is my hope, He is my LIFE! I worship Him, I trust in Him, I lean on Him, and I enjoy Him!

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

Proverbs 13:13 says, “Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.”

You will not prosper or be rewarded if you despise or ignore or deny the word of God. The word of God is too central to your life and growth and focus to ignore it.

Please hear this teaching today. You cannot thrive in the Christian life without a steady diet of God’s holy word. This is what God wanted Joshua and His people to know and not miss. This was His linchpin emphasis before sending them into war and the land before them.

This is so critical for us still today. Why? Because we are so vulnerable to slipping into the ways of man and adapting to the things that seem to make sense to us or that our flesh longs for.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

Surely these times are among us, so let’s heed the counsel in the book of Joshua and make it an absolute and non-negotiable priority to “meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

By His grace and for His glory,

-Shepherd

Soldiers for Jesus MC

Chaplain Council

Joshua 4

Twelve Memorial Stones from the Jordan

4:1 When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, 2 “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’” 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

8 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the LORD told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down¹ there. 9 And Joshua set up² twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day. 10 For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua.

The people passed over in haste. 11 And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the LORD and the priests passed over before the people. 12 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them. 13 About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho. 14 On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

15 And the LORD said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.” 17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” 18 And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.

19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”³

Footnotes

[1] 4:8 Or to rest

[2] 4:9 Or Joshua had set up

[3] 4:24 Or all the days

(ESV)