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Bible Reading Notes
January 2012
Friday, January 27th - Joshua 8: 23
The army of Ai had been lured out of its city and destroyed by Israel’s men of war. Yet, the king of Ai, who had led his army to its destruction (v.14), was spared by the Israelite soldiers and brought to Joshua alive. It was not pity or carnal indulgence that prompted Israel to spare this king. Joshua had special plans for the execution of Ai’s king that would indicate to Israel and to the world the cursed status of that king and all Canaanite kings he represented (v.29). Our God, by His holy judgment, will not destroy the body of the wicked while leaving the head alive. Satan and all of his wicked servants will be judged and rightly condemned in the final day of the Lord’s reckoning.
Saturday, January 28th - Joshua 8: 24-26
There is righteous ruthlessness evident in the killing described in these verses. Not only were the soldiers of Ai who were caught in Israel’s vise killed, but also the fighting men of Israel returned to the city of Ai to kill all of the people who remained there. This was not senseless slaughter, however. It was a judicial execution carried out under the orders of Joshua who had himself been ordered by no less authority than God to kill all of the Aites (Josh. 8:1,2). We do well to recall also the character of these Canaanites whose judgment day had come upon them when they were expecting an easy victory. That judgment fell upon them from the hand of the Lord in His timing due to the fullness of their iniquity (Gen. 15:16). On the final day, divine judgment will come upon all of the wicked who have ever lived when they least expect it (Rev. 6: 12-17; 18:4-24). How great should be our gratitude for the gracious divine deliverance we have received in Christ from that day of ruthless righteousness.
Sunday, January 29th – Joshua 8: 27
Unlike the prohibition the Lord placed upon Israel at Jericho, here at Ai God allowed His people to partake of the spoils of their victory. The ban at Jericho served to make clear to God’s people that victory is always the Lord’s while the spoil the Israelites are now granted teaches the Church in all ages that her only safe and satisfying blessing is not that which her members take by their own power or cunning but rather is that which they receive gratefully from their wise and loving Lord. Matthew Henry well remarks on this in his commentary when he writes: The way to have the comfort of what God allows us is to forebear what He forbids us.
Monday, January 30th - Joshua 8: 28, 29
It would seem that the killing of the Aites and taking of their spoil would complete Israel’s victory. However, Joshua takes steps in these verses to display to all with eyes rightly to see that Ai was thoroughly desolated by righteous Israel due to the wickedness of the Aites who refused to submit to the God who had made them. Furthermore, Ai’s king was hanged on a tree to reveal the cursed nature of the wicked government of all natural men (Dt. 27:26). Our heavenly King was hanged on a tree to save His people (Gal. 3:10,13); but the kings of the earth lead their people and themselves to death, destruction, and desolation, unless they humble themselves and lead their people to trust in the King of kings.
Tuesday, January 31st - Joshua 8: 28, 29
We read in these verses of Joshua making the burned remains of Ai into a heap forever and of his raising over the destroyed city and its dead and cursed king an enduring heap of stones. Accordingly, Joshua erected not only a memorial to Israel’s complete victory over her enemies, but also an enduring warning to all of the wicked in all ages that while it is appointed by God that all people die, there comes after death a judgment and eternal condemnation of the wicked (Heb. 9:27).
Wednesday, February 1st - Joshua 8: 30, 31
After their conquest of Jericho and Ai, the people of Israel take what appears to be a non-strategic detour. The entire nation moved from its base in Gilgal (Josh. 4:19; 5:9,10; 9:6) to Mount Ebal near Shechem about 30 miles north of Ai. The Israelites moved not to destroy more of their enemies but to dedicate themselves to their saving God. Therefore, although this move was a detour from the work of battle, it was actually the main design of Israel’s entrance into and conquest of Canaan. The people of Israel, who knew and worshipped the one true and living God, were called out of Egypt and into the Promised Land so that they might worship and serve their saving Lord according to His revealed will in the land that He had given to them for that purpose (Ex. 5:1; Josh. 1:2-8). Our God who lays upon us the duty of our work (Gen. 3:19) also calls us to the delight of our worship of and holy rest in Him.
Thursday, February 2nd - Joshua 8: 30, 31
Joshua erected an altar to the Lord at Ebal, near Shechem. It was fitting that an altar should have been built in the place where Abraham was first informed by God that he was in the land the Lord had promised to him (Gen. 12:6,7). The action of Joshua and Israel in their going to Shechem, riding the wave of two decisive victories over their enemies in the Promised Land, was indicative of the fact that the work God begins for, in, and through His people, He brings to completion in His perfect time and way (Phil. 1:6).
Friday, February 3rd - Joshua 8: 30, 31
Joshua led Israel to Shechem in general but to Ebal in particular. Ebal was a mountain near to another mountain named Gerizim. Moses gave specific instructions to Israel to go to these two mountains, dividing themselves with half of their tribes on Mount Gerizim to bless the people and the other half of their tribes on Mount Ebal to curse the people (Dt. 11:19; 27:11-13). These blessings and cursings were to be pronounced as the consequences that would issue from Israel’s obedience to God’s holy Law (for blessing) or her disobedience (for cursing). Accordingly, the people of God were to have impressed upon them the critical reality that whether they were blessed or cursed depended upon their being in vital and holy communion with and obedience to their God, and not upon whatever victories or defeats they experienced. Such devotion to the just God who curses all sin and who blesses sinners with His justifying grace is the secret of satisfying and lasting contentment, whether we abound or are abased in our circumstances (Phil. 4:10-13).
Saturday, February 4th - Joshua 8: 30, 31
Joshua built the altar on Ebal, the mount of cursing, rather than on Gerizim the mount of blessing. This was in accordance with the specific instructions of the Lord through Moses (Dt. 27:1-8). Our blessing comes to us because God has provided Himself a sacrificial offering vicariously to bear the cursing and punishment His people deserve due to their manifold violations of His holy Law. Believers live lives of abundant blessing because God has made His Son, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, bearing the full curse of God’s holy wrath, so that we in Him might become the righteous ones (2 Cor. 5:21).
Sunday, February 5th - Joshua 8: 30, 31
Joshua built the altar not only in the place specified by God through Moses, but also he constructed the altar in strict accordance with the specifications of the Lord (Dt. 27:5,6). It was to be made of rough stones, unaltered by the hand and artistry of man. Such an altar best pointed to the rough cross upon which the Lamb of God poured out His life to take away the sins of His people. Sinners neither know how to go about saving themselves, nor do they have power or even desire to do so even if they knew how. We are saved by God alone, in His way alone, through His redeeming sacrifice of His Son alone.
Monday, February 6th - Joshua 8: 30, 31
From the whole range of offerings God instructed His people to perform in the Book of Leviticus, only two types were offered by Joshua and Israel on the Mount Ebal altar. The burnt offerings represented the whole punishment of the people’s sins and the complete acceptance by God of the sacrifice (Lev. 1). The peace offerings represented the results of the burnt offerings, namely, reconciliation of God to the sinner through this offering and blessed peace between the Lord and His people (Lev. 3). These two offerings most clearly typified the accomplishment and application of redemption through the death of Christ.
Tuesday, February 7th - Joshua 8: 30, 31
Joshua and all Israel took careful and exact steps to go to Shechem, to build an altar on Mount Ebal, and to offer specific sacrifices on that altar. All of those steps were directed by and in accordance with God’s Word given to them through Moses. All of those steps were so carefully and blessedly taken by the people of God in Joshua’s day and they pertained only to the shadows and types of salvation. Should we not be more intent upon our devotion to the living, loving substance of our salvation, now that He has come and died so that we might have eternal and abundant life?
Wednesday, February 8th - Joshua 8: 30, 31
The steps Joshua and all Israel took as described in these verses typified the promise of redemption accomplished through the atoning sacrifice of the Savior. The salvation, blessing, and lasting security of the people of God involved but did not depend upon their defeating all of their earthly enemies. The supreme blessing of the chosen people of God depended upon God giving Himself as the atoning sacrifice for their sins, and God’s establishing peace, thereby, between Himself and His people. We do well to understand this because we are prone to seek our blessing and joy, our security and peace, in our attempts to fashion circumstances to our liking, rather than in our gratefully receiving and resting upon the person and work of our Savior, and faithfully conforming our attitudes and actions to Him and to His will revealed to us in His Word.
Thursday, February 9th - Joshua 8: 32-35
The matters recounted in vv.30,31 pertain to the accomplishment of salvation that had been promised by God and would be in due course provided through Christ. The matters recorded in vv.32-35 deal with the application and working out of salvation in the lives of God’s people. It is of greatest significance that we find the writing and reading of the Law of Moses following the sacrifices on the altar that point to the person and work of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of His people by His own atoning death. The invariable order we are given in Scripture and in all formulations of the genuine gospel is that God’s reconciling work through Christ always precedes and provides the foundation for believers’ good works according to the regulation of God’s Law. We are saved by God’s infinitely costly sacrifice of His Son, and as fruits of our having received such gracious salvation we love and endeavor to regulate our lives by the holy Law of God.
Friday, February 10th - Joshua 8: 32
We find in Deuteronomy 27:1-4 the basis for Joshua’s writing the Law of Moses on the stones mentioned in this verse. From the passage in Deuteronomy we are informed that Joshua was to set up stones in addition to those used for the altar, and that it was upon those stones, covered with lime, that Joshua was to write this copy of the Law of Moses. No explanation is given in Scripture as to whether there is any significance in a comparison between how Moses delivered this Law and how Joshua produced this copy. Much of our understanding would depend upon whether the phrase, Law of Moses signifies the Ten Commandments or the entirety or a selected portion of the Pentateuch. Certainly if we are to compare the Ten Commandments, engraved directly by the finger of God into tablets of enduring stone, with Joshua’s lime-coated stones having the Law written on the white surface that covered those stones, we might see a hint of the eventual superficiality of Israel’s grasp and application of the Law that was to develop in her future generations. It is also intriguing to consider that while the Law was clearly written for the foundational generations of Israelites entering the Promised Land with Joshua, its transmission to future generations would depend, by God’s design, upon the fidelity of the living stones of the covenant nation in their knowing, obeying, and instructing their children in God’s Law. The clear fact is that whatever might be the significance of the form God through Moses to Joshua chose to use for the writing of this copy of the Law, Israel’s love for and living by that Law did fade increasingly over the course of her history because that law was not engraved on the hearts of her people. May we never be superficial hearers and readers of God’s Word only, but rather let us be effectual and sincere doers of the Word.
Saturday, February 11th - Joshua 8: 32, 33
After Joshua produced his copy of the Law of Moses on lime-coated stones, the living stones of Israel positioned themselves in accordance with the Law of Moses that had previously been recorded in Deuteronomy 27:12,13. That positioning of the tribes of the covenant nation was a matter of God’s determination just as it had been the Lord who determined the positioning of His people in the battles of Jericho and Ai. However, in her warfare, Israel’s positioning had been strategic and largely practical. Now in her worship, Israel’s positioning is intended to portray spiritual significance. That significance is that all of Israel neither has been nor ever will be the true and eternally blessed Israel. These divided tribes do not present the literal reality that all of the tribes placed on Mount Ebal, the mount of cursing, were actually cursed. Instead, this divinely sanctioned drama vividly warns the Church in every age that it is not he who merely hears the Word but rather it is the one who effectually heeds it that is saved (Mt. 7:21; Jas. 1:21-25; 2 Pet. 1:5-11).
Sunday, February 12th - Joshua 8: 32, 33
We perceived the commendable faithfulness of the people of Israel when they followed the priests through the parted Jordan, when they marched repeatedly around Jericho, and when they repented of their sin at Ai, displaying the fruit of their repentance as they obediently followed the Lord’s strategy of victory over Ai. Here at Shechem we also perceive remarkable fidelity in the actions of the people of Israel when they follow to the letter and in the spirit all that the Lord had commanded them to do. Half of the tribes, by their willingness to portray themselves as accursed ones on Mount Ebal, serving as a vivid admonishment to the Church in every age, show the lovingly sacrificial spirit of the Apostle Paul when he declared his willingness to be accursed for the sake of the salvation of his brethren (Rom. 9:1-5). Let us, therefore, not refuse to take the part of lowly servants in the Lord’s kingdom if our so humbling ourselves is according to God’s Word and serves to help our brethren (Phil. 2:1-8).
Monday, February 13th – Joshua 8: 34, 35
Joshua did not only write the entire Law of Moses on the white-washed stones, he also read it all to a convocation of all Israel. Whether by the designation, Law of Moses, we are to understand the Ten Commandments, or the words of blessing and cursing in Deuteronomy 27, 28 or the Shema (Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!) that begins in Deuteronomy 6, or the entire Book of Deuteronomy or the entire Pentateuch, the essential thing that Joshua’s writing and reading the entire Law of Moses at Shechem teaches the Church in every age is that her charter is to be the whole counsel of God contained in all of Scripture (Acts 20:27; 2 Tim. 4:1,2). Reduced versions of Scripture reduce and distort the gospel of Christ and the God who reveals Himself to us in His Word.
Tuesday, February 14th - Joshua 8: 34, 35
These verses stress that all of the Law of Moses was not only written and read aloud by Joshua, but also that it was heard by all of the Lord’s covenant people. Israel was summoned to appear before Joshua to hear the reading of God’s Word. Israel responded to that summons, not in the form of her representative elders and tribal leaders, but, as v.35 makes quite clear, in the form of the entire body of the people. Not only did all the men gather, but they were joined by all of the women of Israel as well as by all of the children of the covenant. Even strangers, who would have been converts to the God of Israel gathered from the Egyptians and nations with which Israel had contact (some of it fighting contact!) through her 40-year wilderness trek (including Rahab), were gathered to hear the whole counsel of God read. Here is portrayed to us one of the fullest manifestations of the Church of God in its earthly sojourn. We, too, are summoned not to forsake our regularly assembling together to worship our saving God and to feed on the means of His grace (Heb. 10:24,25).
Wednesday, February 15th - Joshua 8:34, 35
We surely learn from these verses that the total commitment of the totality of the people of God to hear and heed the entire Word of God as it is ministered by the Lord’s duly appointed servants is the true calling of the Church not only in Joshua’s day but in every generation throughout all of this world’s history. Let us with grateful sincerity and hearty zeal take our rightful place in this glorious company of the redeemed, being committed hearers and effectual doers of God’s Word.
Thursday, February 16th - Joshua 9: 1, 2
As the people of Israel gathered at Shechem to worship the Lord through their offerings and to hear and apply to themselves the reading of God’s Word, the kings of Canaan were gathering as well. The timing of this gathering of the Canaanite kings is indicated by the word, when, in v.1. What determined this timing of the formation of this Canaanite confederacy? It was when these kings heard of it. Heard of what? Not only of Israel’s warfare but also and especially of her worship. The acting of the Church of God in the world will always beget a reaction from the world, usually one of persecution of the Church. And while the worldly hate and despise our good works, they especially hate and dread our worship of the God against whom they know they have sinned and to whom they refuse to submit. Let us determine to continue to act in reverence even in the face of the world’s rage. The God we revere sets a feast for us in the very faces of our snarling foes (Ps. 23:5).
Friday, February 17th - Joshua 9: 1, 2
When the covenant people act, the world does not merely react, but often reacts in a way that imitates the action of the Church. Therefore, as Israel had gathered her tribes and all the members thereof at Shechem, so these Canaanite kings gather themselves together into an alliance against Israel. But whereas the people of Israel freely gathered in a spirit of grateful reverence to devote themselves to their loving and saving Lord, and in a spirit of loving communion and cooperating together to edify one another, the Canaanites forced themselves to overcome their mutual animosities. Their cities were walled largely to ward off attacks from each other, not from Israel. Yet, their dread of Israel had overarched their petty infighting. The worldly are naturally at one another’s throats, until some greater dread drives them to cooperate temporarily. If they do succeed in overcoming their common threat, they will invariably return to their petty squabbles. Meanwhile, the Lord’s people are bound to their saving God and to each other with cords of love that are stronger than death.
Saturday, February 18th - Joshua 9: 1, 2
We are told of the resolve of these Canaanite kings in v.2. They gathered not faithfully and gratefully to devote themselves to God and lovingly to edify each other. Instead, they fearfully and with supreme regard for self-preservation gathered, each king looking to and expecting from the others protection from Israel, their common foe. Specifically, these kings resolved to fight against Joshua and Israel, the earthly leader and the corporate community of God’s chosen and redeemed people. Accordingly, these kings of Canaan follow the invariable pattern of the worldly in every age, who take counsel together against the Lord and His redeemed people (Ps. 2:1-3). Not only have the worldly ever counseled together against Christ and His people, they also have fought against the Head and body of the Church repeatedly throughout history and will continue to do so until the end of time. Recall Haman’s determination to kill Mordecai and all of the Jews of his day (Esther) and how the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles of Jesus’ day crucified our Savior and persecuted His Church (Mt. 23:22-25; Acts 9:1,2,4). The natural man as an individual ever kicks against the goads of God’s inviting grace. Such unregenerate individuals join together in fighting against the God who appeals to them to partake of His salvation and join with His people in their loving family ties.
Sunday, February 19th - Joshua 9: 1, 2
We clearly perceive how irrational as well as unrighteous is the resolve of the Canaanite confederacy of kings to fight against the covenant people who were being led and empowered by the King of kings. These petty earthly rulers actually thought that they could prevail against he people before whom the Jordan River had parted and the walls of Jericho had fallen. The Canaanite kings were seriously pitting their finite and fallible strategies against the infinite and infallible wisdom of the Lord, who always leads His people into triumphs over all of their enemies, as He had just done with His people at Ai. It is not only hard for people to kick against the goads of God’s grace, appealing to them through the lives and testimony of His people, it is a resistance of deadly stupidity.
Monday, February 20th - Joshua 9: 3-6
Not all of the inhabitants of Canaan joined the confederacy of the kings who opposed Israel. For the remainder of this ninth chapter our attention is focused upon the people of Gibeon and their cunning and successful attempt, not to fight against or flee from the covenant people of God, but rather to join them as servants among the servants of the Lord. Something different from the fearful but arrogant martial spirit of the kings of Canaan prompted these Gibeonites to seek to save themselves, not by their joining their natural neighbors in resisting Israel, but by their subtle persistence to join Israel as servants of the covenant people. What are we to make of this break in the Canaanite ranks? One thing immediately clear to us is that that the people of Gibeon profited more from their submission to God’s people than they would have from their resistance against the covenant nation.
Tuesday, February 21st - Joshua 9: 3-6
When the Canaanite kings heard of Israel’s worship of God at Shechem, they joined together to fight against Joshua and Israel (vv.1,2). Scripture makes no mention of the Canaanite kings knowingly fighting against Israel’s God, but rather gives us insight into the thoughts and intentions of the natural man, who foolishly says that there is no God, yet who determines to fight against all who devote themselves to the true and living God. The Gibeonites’ action was prompted not by a hatred of Israel’s worship so much as a dread of Israel’s works (v.3). They saw rightly in the victories of Israel over Jericho and Ai not the work of a deluded people whom they could destroy, but the hand of extraordinary wisdom and power to which they were determined to surrender. Those whom the Lord determines graciously to draw to Himself often have their eyes opened to see first the wondrous works of Christ’s people and then to give glory to the God who empowers His people to do such works (Mt. 5:16).
Wednesday, February 22nd - Joshua 9: 3-6
The Gibeonites determine not to fight but rather to fool Israel. In many respects, the stratagem of the people of Gibeon resembles that which the Lord directed Joshua and Israel to employ against Ai. The Gibeonites disguise themselves as people from a distant land merely sojourning in Canaan, just as Israel and disguised themselves as cowards fearfully fleeing from the pursuing Aites. What would have led the people of Gibeon to adopt such a stratagem? They clearly knew about the Lord’s promise to give all of Canaan to His people and they further knew of the Lord’s directive to His people that they should slay all of the indigenous Canaanites. Accordingly, the Gibeonites fashioned their stratagem of disguise in accordance with what they knew about God’s Word and about the power of God working for His people. Despite all of their imperfections in their response to what they knew of God’s Word, these Gibeonites resemble not only the Israelites in their disguises, but they also resemble Rahab in her faith by which she feared the Lord and sought to be at peace with Him and with His people (Josh. 2:8-13). The truth is that all sinners who would be saved must disguise themselves, not ultimately by their own cunning but by their donning the perfect righteousness of Christ (Rom. 13:14). All who resolve to fight God in their natural filthy rags of unrighteousness must and will perish.
Thursday, February 23rd - Joshua 9: 3-6
As absurd as it is for the Canaanite kings to think they can fight and prevail against a people before whom a river parted and the strong walls of a great city fell, so it might seem to us absurd that these Gibeonites would think that they could disguise themselves successfully before a people whose God knows all things, including the thoughts and intentions of men. Yet we shall see that whereas the strong defiance of the former is crushed by the almighty hand of God, working for and through His people, the subtle disguise of the latter succeeds. Why is this so? Surely it is because the God of grace and salvation is not fooled by deceitful outer appearances but instead regards the true intention of men’s hearts. He is not offended by our foolish and imperfect attempts to appropriate His grace, but ignores the smoke in order to fan the smoldering wick into a brightly burning flame (Is. 42:3).
Friday, February 24th - Joshua 9: 3-6
Observe how carefully the Gibeonites have planned and prepared themselves credibly to resemble that of which they speak before Joshua and Israel. They treated the trash of their old and worn clothing and possessions as treasures upon which Israel’s acceptance of their lie would depend. The first words they speak to Joshua and Israel, as recorded in v.6, are deceitful: We have come from a far country. Because they were speaking a lie, they had to depend heavily upon their props. Yet they also expressed their true desire when they added the words: make a covenant with us. If these Gibeonites show such diligence in their attempt to live a convincing lie, should we who are truly in Christ not show greater diligence in our putting off our old selves and putting on the compassion, kindness, humility, and gentle patience of our new natures in Christ (Col. 3:12)?
Saturday, February 25th - Joshua 9: 6
The Gibeonite envoys express both a lie and a longing in their words to Joshua and the men of Israel. Their lie was their claim to have come from a distant country. Their longing was to be at peace with Israel and to confirm that peace through a covenant. What these poor, trembling Gibeonites joined together as what they regarded to be components essential to their survival, we shall see the Lord tearing asunder. For God will overrule both the lying of the Gibeonites and the credulity of Joshua and Israel in order graciously to grant what the hearts of Gibeon’s people desired while casting away the deceit uttered by their mouths and supported by their props. The Lord will make the Gibeonites truly to be citizens of heaven and to enjoy righteous peace securely made not by their pretense but by the holy passion of Christ. Let us learn from this that we need not lie to our Lord or to our brethren but we may speak the truth in love, knowing that our God hears the longing cries of our hearts and lovingly responds to all that we truly desire to have from Him.
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Sunday
Morning Worship 10:30 AM
Evening Worship
6:30 PM
Wednesday
Christian Education
7:00 PM
Saturday
Congregational Prayer Meeting
7:00 PM |
