Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / May 13 - Joshua 22

Transcript

May 13 - Joshua 22 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it's Wednesday, it's the
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  middle of the week and we are listening to this beautiful
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  music, my favourite of all the opening tracks that we use on
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  this podcast. And as I've been thinking about
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  music, I've realised that today is the day May the 13th, 259
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  years ago, would you believe that Mozart's very first opera
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  was premiered? An opera that he wrote when he
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  was 11 years old? Do you know any 11 year olds?
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  Can you imagine them penning an opera that would still be
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  performed more than 250 years later?
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  Kind of blows your mind, doesn't it?
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  And as beautiful as this little piece of music is, Sage the
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  Hunter, I'm not sure it's going to be topping the charts 2 1/2
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  centuries down the track. But anyway, that is the genius
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  of our mate Wolfgang Mozart. Amazing.
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  And today we will continue this epilogue of the story of Joshua.
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  Kind of the main work is now done and now people are heading
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  home. And it's kind of the final
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  comments for these last three chapters.
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  And this is the chapter where I don't know if you remember all
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  the way back at the start, they conquered the land to the east
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  of the Jordan River. And then they said, come on
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  armies, you've already got your land on that side, but come and
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  help us conquer the land on the other side of the Jordan and
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  then you can go home. And today is the day that they
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  get to go home. The work is and the borders are
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  secure, the land is theirs, and everyone gets to go home and
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  rest and begin their new life of peace and prosperity.
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  Oh, how wonderful is that. Let's read it together friends,
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  as we read Joshua chapter 22. Then Joshua called together the
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  tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh.
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  He told them, You have done as Moses the servant of the Lord
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  commanded you, and you have obeyed every order I gave you.
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  During all this time you have not deserted the other tribes.
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  You have been careful to obey the commands of the Lord your
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  God right up to the present day. And now the Lord your God has
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  given the other tribes rest as He promised them.
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  So go back home to the land that Moses the servant of the Lord,
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  gave you as your possession on the east side of the Jordan
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  River. But be very careful to obey all
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  the commands and the instructions that Moses gave to
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  you. Love the Lord your God, walk in
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  His ways, obey His commands, hold firmly to Him, and serve
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  him with all your heart and all your soul.
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  So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went home.
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  Moses had given the land of Bashan east of the Jordan River
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  to the half tribe of Manasseh. The other half of the tribe was
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  given land West of the Jordan. As Joshua sent them away and
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  blessed them, he said to them, Go back to your homes with the
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  great wealth you have taken from your enemies.
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  The vast herds of livestock, the silver, gold, bronze and iron,
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  and the large supply of clothing.
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  Share the plunder with your relatives.
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  So the men of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh left
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  the rest of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
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  They started the journey back to their own land of Gilead, the
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  territory that belonged to them according to the Lord's command
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  through Moses. But while they were still in
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  Canaan, and when they came to a place called Gelaloth near the
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  Jordan River, the men of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of
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  Manasseh stopped to build a large and imposing altar.
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  The rest of Israel heard that the people of Reuben, Gad and
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  the half tribe of Manasseh had built an altar at Gelaloth, at
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  the edge of the land of Canaan on the West side of the Jordan
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  River. So the whole community of Israel
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  gathered at Shiloh and prepared to go to war against them.
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  First, however, they sent a delegation led by Phineas, son
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  of Eleazar the priest, to talk with the tribes of Reuben, Gad
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  and the half tribe of Manasseh. In this delegation were 10
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  leaders of Israel, one from each of the 10 tribes and each the
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  head of his family within the clans of Israel.
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  When they arrived in the land of Gilead, they said to the tribes
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  of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh.
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  The whole community of the Lord demands to know why you are
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  betraying the God of Israel. How could you turn away from the
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  Lord and build an altar for yourselves in rebellion against
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  Him? Was our sin at Peor not enough?
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  To this day we are not fully cleansed of it, even after the
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  plague that struck the entire community of the Lord.
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  And yet today you are turning away from following the Lord.
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  If you rebel against the Lord today, He will be angry with all
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  of us tomorrow. If you need the altar because
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  the land you possess is defiled, then join us in the Lord's land
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  where the Tabernacle of the Lord is situated, and share our land
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  with us. Do not rebel against the Lord or
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  against us by building an altar other than the one true altar of
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  the Lord our God. Didn't divine anger fall on the
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  entire community of Israel when Akan, a member of the clan of
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  Zerah, sinned by stealing the things set apart for the Lord?
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  He was not the only one who died because of his sin.
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  Then the people of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh
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  answered the heads of the clans of Israel.
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  The Lord, the mighty One is God, The Lord, the mighty One is God.
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  He knows the truth, and may Israel know it too.
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  We have not built the altar in treacherous rebellion against
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  the Lord. If we have done so, do not spare
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  our lives this day. If we have built an altar for
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  ourselves to turn away from the Lord, or to offer burnt
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  offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings, may the Lord
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  Himself punish us. The truth is we have built this
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  altar because we fear that in the future your descendants will
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  say to ours, what right do you have to worship the Lord, the
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  God of Israel? The Lord has placed the Jordan
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  River as a barrier between our people and your people of Reuben
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  and Gad. You have no claim to the Lord,
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  so your descendants may prevent our descendants from worshipping
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  the Lord. So we decided to build the
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  altar, not the burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a
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  memorial. It will remind our descendants
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  and your descendants that we too have the right to worship the
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  Lord at His sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and
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  peace offerings. Then your descendants will not
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  be able to say to ours, you have no claim to the Lord.
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  If they say this, our descendants can reply.
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  Look at this copy of the Lord's altar that our ancestors made.
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  It is not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.
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  It is a reminder of the relationship both of us have
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  with the Lord. Far be it from us to rebel
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  against the Lord or turn away from Him by building our own
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  altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings or sacrifices.
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  Only the altar of the Lord our God that stands in front of the
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  Tabernacle may be used for that purpose.
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  When Phineas the priest, and the leaders of the community, the
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  heads of the clans of Israel, heard this from the tribes of
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  Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, they were
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  satisfied. Phineas son of Eleazar the
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  priest, replied to them. Today we know the Lord is among
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  us, because you have not committed this treachery against
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  the Lord as we thought. Instead you have rescued Israel
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  from being destroyed by the hand of the Lord.
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  Then Phineas son of Eleazar the priest, and the other leaders
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  left the tribes of Reuben and Gad in Gilead and returned to
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  the land of Canaan to tell the Israelites what had happened.
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  And all the Israelites were satisfied and praised God, and
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  spoke no more of war against Reuben and Gad.
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  The people of Reuben and Gad named the altar witness, for
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  they said it is a witness between us and them that the
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  Lord is our God too, our Lord.
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  What we see so beautifully in this reading today is that our
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  faith is not just our faith, but it is the faith of generations
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  to come. And we see these tribes
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  thinking, how do we make sure that we can continue to worship
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  our children and their children and their children's children's
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  children when geopolitics may have changed, They wanted to
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  make sure that they were still able to follow their faith in
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  God. Our Lord, I pray that you would
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  open up our concept of our faith, that it would not just be
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  ours, but that we too would see ourselves as part of this church
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  that has worshipped you throughout the generations for
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  thousands of years in the past and will do for thousands of
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  years to come. You are the eternal God and we
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  are your people throughout time, and we take our place in this
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  long line of Your people, loved and forgiven, cherished and
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  claimed as your special possession.
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  We are so grateful that you would love us the way that you
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  do. And so we love you back, and we
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  praise you, and we pray all of this in your name, Jesus, Amen.