Joshua 7-9 - Ai Given to Israel

Israel Struck Down at Ai

Jos 7:1 LSB - [1] But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things devoted to destruction. Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things; therefore the anger of Yahweh burned against the sons of Israel.

The Sin of Achan

Jos 7:25 LSB - [25] And Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? Yahweh will trouble you this day." And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

Ai Given to Israel

Jos 8:1-2 LSB - [1] Now Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. [2] "So you shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it."

Jos 8:18, 26 LSB - [18] Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand." So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. ... [26] For Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted to destruction all the inhabitants of Ai.

The Gibeonites Act Craftily

Jos 9:14-15 LSB - [14] So the men [of Israel] took some of their provisions, but they did not ask for the command of Yahweh. [15] And Joshua made peace with them and cut a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore [an oath] to them.

Joshua 4-6 - The Destruction of Jericho

Memorial Stones from the Jordan

Jos 4:9 LSB - [9] But Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day.

Jos 4:20 LSB - [20] And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.

The twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan and those at Gilgal may be two different sets of twelve.

Jos 4:21-24 LSB - [21] Then he said to the sons of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean?' [22] then you shall make your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed this Jordan on dry land.' [23] "For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as Yahweh your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed, [24] that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of Yahweh is strong, so that you may fear Yahweh your God forever."

The Men of Israel Circumcised

Jos 5:1 LSB - [1] Now it happened when all the kings of the Amorites who [were] beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who [were] by the sea, heard how Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until they had crossed, that their hearts melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the sons of Israel.

Jos 5:2-3 LSB - [2] At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, "Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time." [3] So Joshua made himself flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.

Jos 5:9 LSB - [9] Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." So the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.

Jos 5:10 LSB - [10] Then the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal and celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho.

Jos 5:11-12 LSB - [11] And on the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the yield of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted [grain]. [12] Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the produce of the land of Canaan during that year.

Commander of Yahweh’s Host

Jos 5:14-15 LSB - [14] He said, "No! Rather I indeed come now [as] commander of the host of Yahweh." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his slave?" [15] The commander of the host of Yahweh said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

The Destruction of Jericho

Jos 6:15-16 LSB - [15] Then it happened that on the seventh day they rose early at the breaking of dawn and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times. [16] Now it happened that on the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city.

Jos 6:25 LSB - [25] However, Rahab the harlot and her father's household and all she had, Joshua preserved alive; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Heb 11:31 LSB - [31] By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after welcoming the spies in peace.

Mat 1:5 LSB - [5] And Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed was the father of Jesse.

Jas 2:25 LSB - [25] And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Jos 6:26 LSB - [26] Then Joshua made them swear [an oath] at that time, saying, "Cursed before Yahweh is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with [the loss of] his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with [the loss of] his youngest son he shall set up its gates."

1Ki 16:34 LSB - [34] In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the [loss of] Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the [loss of] his youngest son Segub, according to the word of Yahweh, which He spoke by the hand of Joshua the son of Nun.

Joshua 1-3 - Israel Crosses the Jordan

Yahweh’s Commands to Joshua

Jos 1:1-2 LSB - [1] Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh, that Yahweh spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' attendant, saying, [2] "Moses My servant is dead; so now arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.

Heb 3:1-6 LSB - [1] Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession--Jesus, [2] who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. [3] For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, in so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. [4] For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. [5] Now MOSES WAS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS HOUSE AS A SERVANT, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later, [6] but Christ [was faithful] as a Son over His house--whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope.

Jos 1:5-7 LSB - [5] "No man will [be able to] stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. [6] "Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. [7] "Only be strong and very courageous to be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn aside from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be prosperous wherever you go.

Yahweh was really concerned about Joshua. He reminded Joshua over and over showing how much He cared for him. Be strong and courageous!

Jos 1:8 LSB - [8] "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way successful, and then you will be prosperous.

Psa 37:30-31 LSB - [30] PE The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, And his tongue speaks justice. [31] The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.

Psa 1:2 LSB - [2] But his delight is in the law of Yahweh, And in His law he meditates day and night.

Psa 19:14 LSB - [14] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Yahweh, my rock and my Redeemer.

Col 3:16 LSB - [16] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms [and] hymns [and] spiritual songs, singing with gratefulness in your hearts to God.

 

Joshua’s Command to the Officers

Jos 1:18 LSB - [18] "Anyone who rebels against your command and does not listen to your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous."

"Be strong and courageous." The Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh repeated what Yahweh had told Joshua earlier. 

 

Rahab Hides the Spies

Jos 2:1 LSB - [1] Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, "Go, see the land, especially Jericho." So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab and lodged there.

Jos 2:10-13 LSB - [10] "For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. [11] "Indeed we heard [it], and our hearts melted, and a [courageous] spirit no longer rose up in [any] man because of you; for Yahweh your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. [12] "So now, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have shown lovingkindness to you, that you also will show lovingkindness to my father's household and give me a pledge of truth, [13] and preserve my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters alive, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death."

Heb 11:31 LSB - [31] By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after welcoming the spies in peace.

Jas 2:25 LSB - [25] And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

 

The Oath to Rahab

Jos 2:24 LSB - [24] And they said to Joshua, "Surely Yahweh has given all the land into our hands; moreover, all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us."

Israel Crosses the Jordan

Jos 3:14-17 LSB - [14] So it happened that when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant before the people, [15] and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), [16] the waters which were flowing down from above stood [and] rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. [17] And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground until all the nation had completed crossing the Jordan.

 

2 Thessalonians 1-3 - God’s Righteous Judgment

Greetings of Grace and Thanksgiving

2Th 1:3-4 LSB - [3] We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is [only] fitting, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another increases [all the more], [4] so that we ourselves boast about you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.

Brothers. Your faith is not one person's faith. Your perseverance and faith are those of brothers in the church of the Thessalonians.

God’s Righteous Judgment

2Th 1:5 LSB - [5] [This is] a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.

"Your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions" is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment because through these "you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God".

2Th 1:6-8 LSB - [6] Since it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, [7] and [to give] rest to you who are afflicted and to us as well at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, [8] executing vengeance on those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

God will give rest to those who are afflicted.

2Th 1:11-12 LSB - [11] To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill all [your] good pleasure for goodness and the work of faith with power, [12] so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and [the] Lord Jesus Christ.

I have a calling. I have good pleasure for goodness and the work of faith. However it is our God who count me worthy of my calling and fulfil all my good pleasure for goodness and the work of faith with power. God enables me to have the name of our Lord Jesus be glorified in me.

The Man of Lawlessness

2Th 2:1-2 LSB - [1] Now we ask you, brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, [2] that you not be quickly shaken in your mind or be alarmed whether by a spirit or a word or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

Thessalonian brothers expected that the Lord was coming soon.

A Prophetic Distortion of the Second Coming

Don't Lost Your Head about the Second Coming

2Th 2:3-5 LSB - [3] Let no one in any way deceive you, for [it has not come] unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, [4] who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the sanctuary of God, exhibiting himself as being God. [5] Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?

2Th 2:13-14 LSB - [13] But we should always give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. [14] It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Disobedient Brothers

2Th 3:6 LSB - [6] Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who walks in an unruly manner and not according to the tradition which they received from us.

Job 40-42 - Job Repents in Dust and Ashes

Job Places His Hand over His Mouth

Job 40:1-2 LSB - [1] Then Yahweh answered Job and said, [2] "Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it."

Job 40:3-4 LSB - [3] Then Job answered Yahweh and said, [4] "Behold, I am insignificant; what can I respond to You? I place my hand over my mouth.

We must all be caused to see our “lightness” next to God. “Surely, if any man had a right to say I am not vile, it was Job; for, according to the testimony of God himself, he was ‘a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil.’ Yet we find even this eminent saint when by his nearness to God he had received light enough to discover his own condition, exclaiming, ‘Behold I am vile.’” (Spurgeon)

“Job said, ‘Behold, I am vile.’ That word ‘behold’ implies that he was astonished. The discovery was unexpected. There are special times with the Lord’s people, when they learn by experience that they are vile.” (Spurgeon)

Yahweh Will Ask Job

Job 40:8 LSB - [8] "Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?

Behold the Behemoth

Job 40:15 LSB - [15] "Behold now, Behemoth, which I made along with you; It eats grass like an ox.

Job 40:19 LSB - [19] "It is the first of the ways of God; Let its Maker bring near its sword.

Can You Draw Out Leviathan?

Job 41:1 LSB - [1] "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down its tongue with a cord?

Job 41:10-11 LSB - [10] "No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse it; Who then is he that can stand before Me? [11] "Who has given to Me that I should repay [him]? [Whatever] is under the whole heaven is Mine.

Job 41:28-29 LSB - [28] "The arrow cannot make it flee; Slingstones are turned into stubble for it. [29] "Clubs are regarded as stubble; It laughs at the rattling of the javelin.

Job Repents in Dust and Ashes

Job 42:3 LSB - [3] 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too marvelous for me, which I did not know.

“Job felt that what he had spoken concerning the Lord was in the main true; and the Lord himself said to Job’s three friends, ‘Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath’; but under a sense of the divine presence Job felt that even when he had spoken aright, he had spoken beyond his own proper knowledge, uttering speech whose depths of meaning he could not himself fathom.” (Spurgeon)

Job 42:4-6 LSB - [4] 'Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You make me know.' [5] "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; [6] Therefore I reject [myself], And I repent in dust and ashes."

What did Job have to repent of? In his sermon, Job Among the Ashes, Charles Spurgeon suggested several things:

• Job repented of the terrible curse he had pronounced upon the day of his birth.
• Job repented of his desire to die.
• Job repented of his complaints against and challenges to God.
• Job repented of his despair.
• Job repented that his statements had been a “darkening of wisdom by words without knowledge”; that he spoke beyond his knowledge and ability to know.

Yahweh’s Anger Towards Job’s Friends

Job 42:7 LSB - [7] Now it happened after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, that Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My anger burns against you and against your two friends because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.

Yahweh Restores Job’s Fortunes

Job 42:17 LSB - [17] Then Job died, an old man and full of days.

“We are not all like Job, but we all have Job’s God. Though we have neither risen to Job’s wealth, nor will, probably, ever sink to Job’s poverty, yet there is the same God above us if we be high, and the same God with his everlasting arms beneath us if we be brought low; and what the Lord did for Job he will do for us, not precisely in the same form, but in the same spirit, and with like design.” (Spurgeon)

Job 37-39 - Yahweh Answers Job

Elihu Speaks of God’s Voice

Job 37:7 LSB - [7] "He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work.

i. “When the Lord seals up a man’s hand, he is unable to perform his labor. The Lord has an object in this, namely, ‘that, all men may know his work.’ When they cannot do their own work, they are intended to observe the works of God.” (Spurgeon)

 

Yahweh Answers Job

Job 38:1 LSB - [1] Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

Job 38:4 LSB - [4] "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell [Me], if you know understanding,

Job 38:36 LSB - [36] "Who has given wisdom in the innermost being Or given understanding to the mind?

Yahweh Answers Job, “Have You?”

Job 38:12-13 LSB - [12] "Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, [And] caused the dawn to know its place, [13] That it might seize the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it?

Job 38:16-17 LSB - [16] "Have you entered into the springs of the sea Or walked in the recesses of the deep? [17] "Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Job 38:22 LSB - [22] "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

Yahweh Answers Job, “Where Were You?”

Job 38:24 LSB - [24] "Where is the way that the light is divided, [Or] the east wind scattered on the earth?

Job 38:31 LSB - [31] "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion?

Job 39:1 LSB - [1] "Do you know the time the mountain goats give birth? Do you keep watch over the calving of the deer?

Job 39:17 LSB - [17] Because God has made her forget wisdom, And has not given her a share of understanding.

Job 39:26-27 LSB - [26] "Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, Stretching his wings toward the south? [27] "Is it at your command that the eagle goes on high And raises his nest high?

Job 34-36 - Elihu

Elihu Answers That God Will Be Just

Elihu Answers Job

Elihu Says God Gives the Afflicted Justice

Job 36:2 LSB - [2] "Wait for me a little, and I will show you That there is yet more to be said in God's behalf.

iii. “I admire Elihu’s attempt at brevity; I call it an attempt, for I am not quite sure that he succeeded, for he filled two chapters more. Yet he said, ‘Suffer me a little’; and thereby promised to make his oration as short as he could. Some lengthy divines, with their many divisions, their ‘Finallies,’ and ‘Lastlies,’ and concluding observations, spin and spin, and cause their congregations to suffer, and that not a little, but exceeding much. It is well when we have anything good to say to use as few words as possible, for if brevity be not the garment of grace it is the soul of wit, and all our wits should be set to work to put gospel teaching into such a form that it will be the better received. Assuredly, short and pointed addresses are more likely to reach the heart than long and dreary sermons.” (Spurgeon)

Job 36:5 LSB - [5] "Behold, God is mighty but does not reject; [He is] mighty in the power of [His] heart.

ii. “If God were little, he might despise the little; if he were weak he would disdain the weak; if he were untrue he would be supercilious to those about him; but, seeing he is none of these, but is God over all blessed for ever, the only wise God, we have to deal with one who, though he be high, hath respect unto the lowly; who, though he humbleth himself even to observe the things which are done in heaven, yet despiseth not the cry of the humble. The magnanimity of God is the reason why he despiseth not any.” (Spurgeon)

Job 31-33 - Covenant with My Eyes

Job Proclaims His Purity and Innocence

Job 31:1 LSB - [1] "I have cut a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin?

Psa 119:37 LSB - [37] Cause my eyes to turn away from looking at worthlessness, And revive me in Your ways.

Mat 5:28 LSB - [28] but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Job 31:15 LSB - [15] "Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?

Elihu Answers in Anger

Job 32:1-3 LSB - [1] Then these three men ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. [2] But the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned; against Job his anger burned because he was proving himself righteous before God. [3] And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

Job 32:8 LSB - [8] "But it is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.

Elihu Asks Job to Hear and Respond

Job 33:19 LSB - [19] "Man is also reproved with pain on his bed, And with unceasing contention in his bones,

i. “The chastisement of sickness and the flagellation of pain whip the sinner back to him who alone can save him. These are the black dogs of the Great Shepherd wherewith he brings back wandering sheep till they come again under his crook, and he leads them into green pastures.”

(Spurgeon)

Job 33:26-28 LSB -
[26] Then he will entreat God, and He will accept him,
And he will see His face with joyful shouts,
And He may restore His righteousness to man.
[27] "He will sing to men and say, 'I have sinned and perverted what is right,
But He has not done what is due to me.
[28] 'He has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit,
And my life shall see the light.'