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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses — an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses, which he had written. All Israel, aliens and citizens alike, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing those who carried it — the priests, who were Levites. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.
Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law — the blessings and the curses — just as it is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the aliens who lived among them.
Joshua 8:30-35
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool upon them. Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God. And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up." Deuteronomy 27:1-8
As we see in today’s passage from the closing verses of Joshua, chapter 8, this demand from “Moses and the elders of Israel” didn’t get forgotten after the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and won victories over the cities of Jericho and Ai. For we read that “Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites”, doing so exactly per the specifications given by Moses before his death. Indeed, Joshua performed the acts ”according to what (was) written in the Book of the Law of Moses”, constructing “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool had been used”.
Once the altar was constructed, the scriptures tell us that the Israelites “offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings” before “Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses…in the presence of the Israelites” who were “were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing those who carried it — the priests, who were Levites”. “Half of the people” stood in “front of Mount Gerizim” and the other half “in front of Mount Ebal…as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded” We read where Joshua then “read all the words of the law — the blessings and the curses — just as it is written in the Book of the Law”. We know he didn’t skip anything for “there was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the aliens who lived among them”. No one was absent and so there wasn’t anybody who wasn’t reminded of what God commanded and expected from His people. This also meant that there wasn’t a single person who didn’t understand that there would be harsh consequences doled out for disobedience and/or worshipping any other god than God Himself.
The bottom line was that this event on Mount Ebal amounted to a refresher course for the Israelite people, a reminder of what the Lord expected straight out of His Word.
So why did the people of Israel need reminded?
Well, for starters it would be impossible to completely remember everything that God had commanded. So having His commands read regularly would keep His expectations fresh on the minds of His people.
Maybe just as good a reason, if not more so, was Israel’s high rate of failure. For despite being told by God not to do certain actions, Israel historically didn’t listen, blatantly disobeying the Lord over and over again leading to His disfavor and punishment. Now, as Joshua wrote down all the words of God, the hope was that they would remain fresh on the hearts and minds of the Israelites, leading to a lower failure rate while choosing righteousness over sinfulness.
So how about us as believers today? Do we do a good job of keeping our hearts and minds refreshed with the Word of God?
My concern is that we don’t do it nearly enough. In fact, I’m afraid that a lot of Christians fail to even open and read their bibles up outside of church on Sundays and that simply doesn’t cut it when we are on the spiritual battlefield every day against an enemy like Satan.
For when we fail to read the Word of God every day, it is the same as going up against the enemy unarmed and that’s not going to allow anyone to defend themselves against the devil. It’s of little wonder that we see people falling into sin so much.
The Apostle Paul addresses this matter of being properly armed for spiritual self defense when he writes this in the seventeenth verse of Ephesians, chapter 6:
“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Need an example of someone using this weapon to perfection?
Go to the fourth chapter of Matthew and you will find this from our Savior Jesus:
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. The tempter came to Him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took Him to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down. For it is written:
‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give You,” he said, “if You will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from Me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”
Then the devil left Him, and angels came and attended Him. Vv.1-12
As in every other area of life, Jesus shows us how to use the scriptures to protect ourselves and fend off Satan. We see Him leading by example in regard to defending ourselves when Satan tries to tempt us and we should note that each time Jesus invoked the Word of God, Satan stopped that particular attack and tried a different approach. After the third unsuccessful try, he fled and the angels attended to Jesus.
My brothers and sisters, if we’re going to have any hope in fending off the devil’s advances, we need to be grounded in the scriptures each and every day. We must know the Word well enough that we can pull out just the right verse to use against the enemy to fend off the attack he chooses, just as Jesus did.
To that end, we need to know and trust that Jesus is ready to equip us with the right words at the right time when we have the scriptures embedded in our hearts and minds. We only need to draw near to Him every day, so near that there’s no room for the enemy to operate when he decides to come upon us.
There is unbelievable, wonder-working power found in the Word of God but it’s up to us to use it. Don’t let a day pass without making it central to your life.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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