Joshua 24:1 SHECHEM!

 1Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

“This was a dramatic last gathering of Israel before the passing of Joshua. It may or may not be part of the same farewell described in Joshua 23. No specific place of gathering is mentioned in Joshua 23, so it could have been part of this same meeting at Shechem.” (Guzik)

Shechem is modern Tel Balata. “This ancient city was situated on the floor of a valley near its entrance, Mount Gerazim and Mount Ebal forming the respective walls. The contour of the land resulted in a natural amphitheater, the acoustics of which were so good that the human voice carried to exceptional distances.” (Pink)

“Shechem was a place of rich history for Israel. There were at least four notable events there in the lives of the patriarchs. In the first two instances, we see Shechem was a place of calling and commitment. In the second two, we see Shechem was a place of shame.” (Guzik)

Gen 12:6-7 NKJV - 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh.* And the Canaanites [were] then in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Gen 33:16-20 NKJV - 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.* 18 Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which [is] in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. 19 And he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for one hundred pieces of money. 20 Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.*

Gen 34 NKJV - 1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. 3 His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this young woman as a wife." 5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard [it]; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, a thing which ought not to be done.  

Gen 35:1-5 NKJV - 1 Then God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother." 2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who [were] with him, "Put away the foreign gods that [are] among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. 3 "Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone." 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which [were] in their hands, and the earrings which [were] in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which [was] by Shechem. 5 And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that [were] all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

Blessings!

Joshua 23:14-16 Don’t Bow Down To Them!

 14Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed. 15But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you. 16If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”

We relate to God under a different covenant, a new and better covenant (Hebrews 8:6-7), by which Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:10-14).

i. Therefore, in Jesus we no longer can experience God’s “faithfulness to curse us” as Israel knew it. Yet we do experience God’s faithfulness to correct us as a loving Father (Hebrews 12:7), and we do experience a lack of appropriated blessing if we do not abide in Jesus. (Guzik)

Don’t bow down to them!

When I was growing up most families I knew went to church and people were proud to say they we a Christian. A lot has changed in sixty years! More and more people seem to be bowing down to moloch and sacrificing their children to their god! 

Matthew 18: 6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 

Blessings 

Joshua 23:9-13 A Promise and a Warning!

 9The LORD has driven out great and powerful nations before you, and to this day no one can stand against you. 10One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised. 11Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God. 12For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them, 13know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.

A Promise and a Warning!

“LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised.”

“they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes”

Which would you choose if you had a choice, the promise or the scourge?

“How often we see that the temptation we have pampered and encouraged and indulged in has become a scourge and a thorn in our side. The compromising Christian is not a happy man. Let the enemy remain in a Christian life, let him have one foothold, and he soon becomes a scourge.” (Redpath)

Jas 1:27 NKJV - 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Are you keeping yourself unspotted from the world?

Blessings 

Joshua 23:6-8 Hold Fast To Him!

 6Be very strong, then, so that you can keep and obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left. 7So you are not to associate with these nations that remain among you. You must not call on the names of their gods or swear by them, and you must not serve them or bow down to them. 8Instead, you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.

“They need to be courageous, so they can be obedient. Following God and His word isn’t something for the faint of heart.” (Guzik)

“An old saying concerning criminal enterprises says something to the effect of, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer” but this is exactly what Christians are not to do. The normal Christian, by and large, is not called to become an expert in the cults or in heresy, but to become an expert in Jesus Christ – to hold fast to Him.” (Guzik)

Hold Fast To Him!

Brethren, in our fast decaying and sinful world, hold fast to Him! As Christian’s we shouldn’t embrace sin or accept it in any shape or form. The Bible is clear:

Genesis 5: 2He created them male and female, and blessed them and named them [a]Mankind at the time they were created.

Be courageous, be obedient and hold fast!

Blessings 

Joshua 23:4-5 Inheritance

 4See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea.a 5The LORD your God will push them out of your way and drive them out before you, so that you can take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.

“Under Joshua’s leadership, the army of Israel broke the back of the Canaanite military occupation. Now it remains for each individual tribe to fully possess what God has given them.” (Guzik)

Inheritance 

Eph 1:3 NKJV - 3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ,

I am holding on to Christ and His promise of inheritance in heaven! As the sin in the world increases, more and more I feel like a stranger! Do you remember a television series called the Twilight Zone? I feel like we are living out that television series and wondering if we’ll ever wake up from the nightmare! Our world, our government and the people are turning to the devil and attacking Christianity from all fronts! 

Brethren, stay strong in the faith and don’t follow the world because it only leads to destruction. Lord please give us the strength to continue to walk the narrow path. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray 🙏 Amen.

Blessings to you and yours.

Joshua 22:30-34 Unity!

 30When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation—the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him—heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were satisfied. 31Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this breach of faith against Him. Consequently, you have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.”

32Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, together with the other leaders, returned to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report regarding the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead. 33The Israelites were satisfied with the report, and they blessed God and spoke no more about going to war against them to destroy the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived. 34So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said,d “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

Unity!

“Phinehas could see that the LORD was among us, because unity had been restored among the people of Israel. This fulfilled the passage from Psalm 133:1: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Guzik)

“We should respond to misunderstanding in the same manner, according to these same principles.

· Respond with a concern for God’s holiness.

· Respond with the courage to confront in love.

· Respond with an attempt to reconcile before you fight.

· Determine that you are willing to sacrifice to help them; don’t confront unless you are willing to help.

· Determine that you will see the situation from the perspective of the other person.

· Determine that you will believe the best of one another.” (Guzik)

I would only add that when there is a misunderstanding, lift it up to the Lord first and ask that He show you way. 

Have you ever had a misunderstanding that could have been avoided?

Blessings 

Joshua 22:24-29 A Memorial!

 24But in fact we have done this for fear that in the future your descendants might say to ours, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? 25For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the LORD!’ So your descendants could cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.

26That is why we said, ‘Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices. 27Rather, let it be a witness between us and you and the generations to come, that we will worship the LORD in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings.’ Then in the future, your descendants cannot say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD!’

28Therefore we said, ‘If they ever say this to us or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the altar of the LORD that our fathers made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’

29Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God, which stands before His tabernacle.”

A Memorial!

“The eastern tribes recognized their distance from the center of worship in Israel, and that there was a natural barrier (the Jordan River) between them and the rest of the nation. So they built the altar as a memorial to link the two segments of the nation.” (Guzik)

“The eastern tribes again agree with the concern of the western tribes; but they explain that the western tribes have misunderstood the meaning of the great, impressive altar.” (Guzik)

And there you have it, a monumental misunderstanding! 

Blessings