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May 11 - Joshua 20 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's a Monday, it's the 11th of
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  May, it's the start of a new week and you, you clever thing,
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  you have invited me into the beginning of your week so that
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  we can continue on our journey in God's word.
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  That's not a journey through God's word, but a journey in
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  God's word. We are not trying to get from
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  one end to the other. We our goal is just to spend
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  time in God's Word, letting the rhythm punctuate our day, let it
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  colour our lens, let it become the foundation upon which we
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  live and breathe and move. What a beautiful thing, friends.
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  And this week is our last week that we will spend in the book
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  of Joshua. Next week.
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  We'll finish off the very last chapter and then move on.
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  But this is the last week and we have given all the land to all
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  the different tribes. And so now we're talking about
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  other things that will be happening in this promised land
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  that might not be typical use of land, but this is what the use
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  of that land will look like under God's reign and God's
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  plan. So let's dive in and continue
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  this journey, shall we? As we read together Joshua
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  chapter 20, the Lord said to Joshua, Now
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  tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge.
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  As I instructed Moses, anyone who kills another person
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  accidentally and unintentionally can run to one of these cities.
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  They will be places of refuge from relatives seeking revenge
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  for the person who was killed. Upon reaching one of these
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  cities, the one who caused the death will appear before the
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  elders at the city gate and present his case.
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  They must allow him to enter the city and give him a place to
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  live among them. If the relatives of the victim
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  come to avenge the killing, the leaders must not release the
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  Slayer to them, for he killed the other person unintentionally
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  and without previous hostility. But the Slayer must stay in that
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  city and be tried by the local assembly, which will render A
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  judgement, and he must continue to live in that city until the
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  death of the high priest who was in office at the time of the
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  accident. After that he is free to return
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  to his own home in the town from which he fled.
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  The following cities were designated as cities of refuge.
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  Kadesh of Galilee in the Hill Country of Naftali, Shechem in
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  the Hill Country of Ephraim and Kiriath ABBA, that is, Hebron in
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  the Hill Country of Judah on the east side of the Jordan River
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  across from Jericho. The following cities were
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  designated Beza in the wilderness plain of the tribe of
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  Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the territory of the tribe of Gad,
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  and Golan in Bashan in the land of the tribe of Manasseh.
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  These cities were set apart for all the Israelites as well as
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  the foreigners living among them.
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  Anyone who accidentally killed another person could take refuge
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  in one of these cities. In this way, they could escape
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  being killed in revenge prior to standing trial before the local
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  assembly. Our Lord, you are a thorough God
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  and you think of everything, and as you set up this place to be
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  the land of your gift to your people, you want to make sure
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  that your people are cared for and that if an accident happens
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  that there is a space that people can be safe so they don't
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  have vengeance enacted upon them before they can be tried.
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  All right, Lord, we see so clearly that you are a just God.
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  You are a God of order and a God of structure.
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  We thank you for creating a world that follows an orderly
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  pattern. Even at the moment as we look in
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  the news, it doesn't seem to be orderly.
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  It seems to be completely out of hand with things kind of
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  stretching into new territory in so many different ways that are
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  not good. But Lord, we rest in the
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  knowledge that ultimately you are supreme, you and your
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  ordered way of being. And in that new order that Jesus
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  has brought, we are loved and forgiven people, and we thank
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  you that that is utterly dependable.
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  So we just praise you and lift you up and pray all of these
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  things in that mighty name of Jesus, Amen.