Weekly Recap #9 - Deut 19 thru Joshua 6

It seems like Friday rolls around awfully fast!!!

I'm not sure that it's a "time flies when you're having fun" sorta thing....but more that the older I get the more I see my "life flashing before my eyes".

Anyway....our scripture reading this week has been soooooo good!!!  I cannot stress enough how much I'm enjoying reading the Bible along with my husband.  Once we got out of all the rules and regulations listed in the beginning chapters of Deuteronomy....then, we got into some really meaty reading....so....let's get started....because I've gotta lot to say this week!! 

Some of my "recap"....is gonna be some of the scriptures that really stood out to me....and touched my heart!!!

~~~Deuteronomy 20:4

For the Lord your God is going with you.  He will fight for you against your enemies and He will give you victory.

Now....isn't that exactly what He is still doing for us today?!?!?

A few of the scriptures that I read this week....well, I've gotta admit....I just found some humor in them....

~~~This verse of scripture was regarding going to fight a battle:

Deuteronomy 20:8

Then the officers will say, "Is anyone here afraid or worried?  If you are, you may go home before you frighten anyone else."

(It was a good thing that only the men fought because that statement would have eliminated about every woman I know!!!)

~~~In Deuteronomy 25:7-10, if a man died, his brother was to marry his wife (sister-in-law).  If her  brother-in-law refused to marry her, and give his brother children, she would go to the elders with her  case.  If he still refused, then she would walk over to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal from his foot and spit in his face...then, forever more in Israel, his family would be referred to as "the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off".

How many of you are reminded of an old Monty Python movie when you read that.....or, am I the only one with a totally warped sense of humor?!?!?

(don't answer that!!!)

~~~Deuteronomy 28:1

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all of his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.  You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God.

This verse just makes me want to shout....

...."WAKE UP, AMERICA"!!!

~~~6 of the tribes of Israel stood on top of Mt. Gerizim and 6 stood on top of Mt. Ebal while the Levites stood in the valley of Shechem and read the covenant.  The valley served as an amphitheater so that all could hear what was being read.

After something was read, all the people would shout "AMEN".

Now...did you know....that  the word "AMEN" is a Hebrew term that means "may it be so"?!?

~~~Even after spending 40 years in the wilderness....the clothes and sandals of the people DID NOT WEAR OUT!!!

~~~Deuteronomy 29:14 & 15

But you are not the only ones with whom I am making this covenant with its curses.  I am making this covenant both with you who stand here today in the presence of the Lord our God, and also with the future generations who are not standing here today.

~~~Deuteronomy 29:19

Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves thinking "I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart."  This would lead to utter ruin.

~~~Deuteronomy 29:29

The Lord our God has secrets known to no one.  We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.

He wasn't just speaking to the children of Israel...these command still apply to us today, too!

~~~The Lord spoke to Moses and told him that it was time for him to die.  He told Moses to take Joshua and go to the Tabernacle and He met with them there.  He told Moses that after his death, the people would abandon Him and break the covenant.  The Lord would become angry and abandon them, too.  The Lord gave Moses a song to write down and teach to the children of Israel.  Moses wrote the entire body of instructions in a book and gave the command to the Levites to place it beside the Ark of the Covenant.

~~~Deuteronomy 32

This entire chapter was called "The Song of Moses".

Here are the words that I liked:

"Let my teaching fall on you like rain, let my speech settle like dew."

....and....

"The rock (small r) of our enemies is not like our Rock" (BIG R)!!!

~~~Moses went up to Mt. Nebo and climbed Pisgah Peak across from Jericho.  The Lord showed him the whole land and allowed him to see it with his own eyes, but would not let him enter in. 

Moses died in the land of Moab at 120 years old....and.....this part really gets to me....THE LORD BURIED HIM in a valley.  Moses' eyesight was still clear and he was as strong as ever.  The people of Israel mourned him for 30 days. 

"There was never another prophet in Israel like Moses whom the Lord knew face to face."

Moses and the Lord had an intimate relationship (and we can, too).   God said that He spoke to Moses face to face, clearly and not in riddles.

I've gotta admit right here that I was sad when Moses died.  I felt like I had gotten to know him from the time he was a little baby....thru all the plagues....and all the time that he went to bat for his people. 

Oh, that I could be that kind of friend!

~~~Joshua became the leader of the Israelites after Moses death.  He was full of the spirit of wisdom from Moses.  He told the officers of the children of Israel to have the people get ready to leave that in 3 days they would cross the Jordan River. 

~~~Joshua secretly sent 2 spies and instructed them to scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River.  They came to Rahab's house where they stayed the night.  Now...Rahab was a prostitute.  The King of Jericho found out about the spies and he sent orders to Rahab to bring the men out.  She had hidden them on the rooftop under  bundles of flax - but - she told the king's men they weren't there - that they had already left and if they hurried they might catch them.

(It bothered me that Rahab lied....but here was what I read in a commentary about Rahab:

In the house of a prostitute, strangers could avoid unwanted attention and she was possibly an innkeeper, too.  She may have had no concept of any ethical standards God had given Israel....or....the higher ethical value of saving lives might have been greater than being truthful.)

 Her words were:

"No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things.  For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the universe above and the earth  below."

Rahab wanted a guarantee that when Jericho was conquered that she and her family would be spared.  

The spies told her to hang a scarlet rope from her window as a reminder to the children of Israel to spare her and all the family in her house.

Now...what does that "scarlet" rope remind you of?

The blood of Jesus...that saves us still today!!!

A little about Rahab.....which we'll learn more about later on....but after Jericho was conquered by the Israelites, she married Salmon of the tribe of Judah.  She gave birth to a son named Boaz...sounding familiar...yes, Boaz married Ruth (remember Ruth and Naomi?!?).  So...Rahab was King David's great-great grandmother. 

 Isn't it amazing what God's grace can...and does....cover?!?!?

And...isn't it wonderful how scripture shows us that us women are worthy...and useful...in doing God's work?!?

~~~The priests of the tribe of Levi carried the Ark of the Covenant, leading the procession and guiding the Israelites.  The Lord told Joshua to instruct the priests to take a few steps into the river and stop there.  As soon as their feet touched the water....the flow of water was cut off upstream....and the river stood up like a wall....and the children of Israel crossed over on DRY GROUND!  The Jordan was overflowing its banks because it was the harvest season....which made it even more of a miracle....plus....this was the second time God had done this for His people!!!

I thought about all the people living along the river banks and what they must have thought. 

WOW!!!

~~~The Lord told Joshua to make flint knives to circumcise the 2nd generation of Israelites.  (there are some things that I'm really not sure I need to know).  But...circumcision was an outward sign of God's covenant relationship with His people.

~~~While camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated Passover.  The next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land....and manna no longer appeared for them after that day. 

I found this a bit sad, too!!!

~~~Joshua fought the battle of Jericho....and the walls came tumbling down.

Remember singing that little song when we were kids?

Well...here's what happened:

The city of Jericho was shut up tight, no one entering, or leaving.  The Lord told Joshua for the people to march around the city once a day for 6 days.  Seven priests walked ahead of the Ark of the Covenant, each carrying a ram's horn. 

On the 7th day....they marched around 7 times....with the priests blowing the horns.  When the priests gave one long blast of the horns....Joshua told the people "Shout for the Lord has given you the town."

This shout wasn't a shout to make the walls fall down....but it was a shout of faith that the walls were going to fall!!!

~~~During all of the violence and bloodshed....God's promise was kept to spare Rahab and her family!!!

WHEW!!!

My fingers are tired!!!

I want to leave you with these verses of scripture from this week's reading:

Deuteronomy 30:11-14

"This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach.  it is not kept in heaven so distant that you must ask, 'who will go to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey'?  It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, 'who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey' - no, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it."

AMEN....may it be so!!!

Blessings to you!!!

In His Most Precious Love....and with mine!!!