A Joshua 10 Selah Moment – Behold the Divine Warrior
According to the battle report, the news of the treaty created fear in the heart of the King, so much so that he formed an alliance with four other nations to defeat the rising nation of Israel (Joshua 10:1-2). This was the reaction of Adonizedek, King of Jerusalem, when he heard that Gibeon, one of the great royal cities, made a peace treaty with Israel. According to Joshua 10, the newly formed coalition of five nations attacked Gibeon. In keeping with the terms of the peace treaty made in chapter 9, Joshua and the nation of Israel came to...
read moreA Joshua 9 Selah Moment – Seeking the Lord
Joshua 9 recounts the treaty that Joshua made with the Gibeonites during Israel’s march into the Promised Land. It seemed like the right thing to do. After all the Gibeonites presented themselves to Joshua as a people from a far country. They had old sacks on their donkeys. Their wineskins were torn and mended. Their sandals were old and patched. Their bread was moldy. Since Joshua knew from the Law that people in the land were to be destroyed while people from far countries could be spared, he questioned them about who they were and where...
read moreA Joshua 8 Selah Moment
Joshua 8 opens with some of the most reassuring words found in the Bible, do not be afraid nor be dismayed. This is the first of four uses of this phrase in the book of Joshua (cf. 10:8,25; 11:6). Literally, these words are commands issued by the Lord to Joshua, the covenant leader of conquest prior to the defeat of Ai. In a grammatical sense, God is imposing His will upon the will of Joshua as the commander of the Promised Land conquest. This command not to fear is particularly reassuring after the failed attempt to defeat Ai in Joshua 7, as...
read moreA Joshua 7 Selah Moment
Joshua 7:1 opens with the sobering statement, “the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.” Although we do not find this statement very often in Scripture, we do see many Old and New Testament passages dealing with the wrath of God. The Joshua 7:1 statement is very graphic and could literally be translated, the nose of the Lord burned. What was the Lord burning about in Joshua 7? The Lord was angered over the covenant violation of the nation regarding how one Israelite by the name of Achan kept a Babylonian garment, fifty...
read moreA Joshua 6 Selah Moment
Don’t you love it when things work according to a plan? I love it when a plan comes together and a project is completed. Well, if you were an Israelite in the 1400’s you might have wondered if God’s plan regarding the capture of Jericho was really going to work. God’s plan to give Jericho to Israel in Joshua 6 was unconventional to say the least. The plan gave precedence to the Ark of the Lord and to the priests, along with the armed men of Israel. The narrative focus on the Ark of God emphasizes His place as Israel’s Divine Warrior in the...
read moreA Joshua 5 Selah Moment
Do you think we take the Lord and His Word as seriously as we should? Do you find yourself living with a yeah . . . but mindset? Yeah, I know what the Word of God says, or yeah I know what the Lord wants, but I am sure that it won’t apply to me. If this is you in manner of life or mindset, then consider the Joshua 5 narrative. The Joshua 5 passage affirms the commitment of God to His words of promise as well as His commitment to His words of judgment. For example, the instructions to circumcise the generation of Israelites born during the...
read moreA Joshua 4 Selah Moment
Joshua 4 anticipates the need to answer the curiosity of a future generation of children who will ask, “What do these stones mean?” (4:6, 21). Joshua 4 memorializes Israel’s crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land with the construction of a 12 stone memorial, one stone for each tribe of the Israelite nation. The stones were taken from the dry riverbed of the Jordan where the priests bearing of the ark of the covenant stood and were then set up by Joshua at Gilgal (3:17, 4:8, 17,22). The stones were to serve as a sign, a memorial...
read moreA Joshua 3 Selah Moment
Leadership, direction, (Joshua 3:3-4), assurance (Joshua 3:7), and victory (Joshua 3:9-10) are the key themes in Joshua 3 that are associated with the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant was a chest-like object that contained a pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the Law (Hebrews 9:4-5). The ark was more than an acacia wood chest, with a gold-plated lid, and cherubim placed on top. It was a symbol of the Lord’s presence guiding His people. This is how the ark functioned in Joshua 3. Twelve times in Joshua 3 the...
read moreA Joshua 2 Selah Moment
The statement “hearing is believing” is perhaps the biblical counterpart to the common expression “seeing is believing.” This statement, “hearing is believing,” definitely characterized the life of Rahab the harlot in Joshua 2. When she welcomed the spies and provided refuge for them from the King of Jericho’s men, she told them what she heard about their God and what she believed. Rahab never saw the Exodus nor did she ever see the march of Israel through the land of the Amorites east of the Jordan. Rahab said, I know that the Lord has given...
read moreSpeaking the Gospel into the Millennials of Generation Y.
I am a baby boomer who is continually fascinated with how the millennials think and live. My opportunity at Clearwater Christian College gives me plenty of access to these great people. As I live among them and read about them I am challenged and encouraged. They are a special generation with lots of potential. Let me preface my comments with an acknowledgement of the sources that have distinctively framed my thinking. First, there is a paper entitled “Millennials: Understanding and Discipling Them” that Dr. Jim Newcomer presented to the...
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