Read: Joshua 22:21-23:16; Luke 20:27-47; Psalm 89:14-37; Proverbs 13:17-19
The tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh went back to their side of the Jordan and built a memorial to the Lord. The other tribes despaired and came to them complaining that they had disobeyed the Lord by building an altar when God had told them not to. The Reubenites explained that they did not build an altar but a memorial in case the other tribes on the west of the Jordan turned away from the Lord and tried to get their descendants to follow. This memorial would remind them that God was their God and they would remember their history.
After hearing their reason for building the memorial, the other tribes were satisfied and went home.
After many years, the tribes had gotten most of their land and Joshua was old and about to die. He summoned everyone together to give his parting speech. He told them to be strong and careful to obey God’s law. He warned them against adopting the gods of the people in the land that still lived among them as their slaves. He warned them of intermarrying with them. If they did, they would become weak and their enemies would become strong.
The last thing he reminded them was that they had witnessed with their own eyes the way God stood by his word and it never failed. If they continued to walk in it, God would continue to honor it.
Today in Luke we hear from the Saducees. The Sadducee’s were a political group that believed that attending the synagogue readings was no necessary. They embraced Greek culture and believed they should assimilate into society. Their religious life consisted of having a Temple. They did not follow the Torah or the Oral law of the priests. They also didn’t believe that the books of the Prophets should be in the Bible. They consisted of mainly wealthy businessmen and the priests. King Herod and the High Priest, Caiaphas were Sadducees and were appointed by the Roman Government. They were politically minded.
So, when they asked Jesus the question about the wife and the seven husbands they were wanting to know Jesus view of the resurrection. He explained it in detail making them mad but pleasing the Pharisees for once. The Sadducees and the Pharisees were bitter enemies. The Pharisees were loved by the people and based their practice on the traditions of oral law mainly even though their foundation was the Torah. They had strayed from it with all their “add-ons”. They were the ones who followed Jesus and were more spiritually minded.
Jesus nailed both classes with his last statement about being hypocrites.
Lord, help us to honor your laws and your ways. This world will one day be over but what we do for you will last forever
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