Read: Deuteronomy 34:1-Joshua 2:24; Luke 13:22-14:6; Psalm 79:1-13; Proverbs 12:26
Moses went up on Mt. Nebo to view the whole land that God had given them. Mt. Nebo means “his prophecy”. God said that there has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. His prophecy has lived on for ever.
God buried him in a valley near Beth-peor which means “house of opening”. God was the only one at Moses funeral and he opened the earth to bury his body. I would have loved to see how God performed a funeral. I bet it was joyous!
Moses had laid hands on Joshua before he died and imparted the wisdom God had given him to Joshua. God promised Joshua that no one would be able to stand against him as long as he lived, because God was with him and would not fail him. He gave him two orders: don’t be afraid and don’t disobey the commandments, or do be courageous and do obey the commandments. God’s commands can be negative to us or positive.
Joshua responded with a hearty “amen” to both. I’m thinking that since only two of the 12 spies sent out last time came back with a good report, he only sent two to spy the land. He also sent them out secretly just in case he didn’t like their report. He probably didn’t want them to be able to put fear in the people’s heart because he knew what he was going to do no matter what.
The two spies stayed at Rahab’s house who hid them and gave them safety. Her kindness bought her salvation for herself and her whole household. She would end up marrying Salmon and having a son named Boaz who would marry Ruth and be in the lineage of Jesus.
The two spies came back with great news that everyone was terrified of them and they would be easy to take. They said, “The Lord has given us the whole land.” Joshua had sent the right two!
In Luke, Jesus refused to be afraid of what Herod might do to him. He knew his timeline and there was nothing that “fox” could do to out-smart God. Jesus would continue to heal and cast out demons until the day God appointed for him to die. He knew that he would die in Jerusalem because that was where all the prophets died that were killed by man.
Jesus was eating at the home of one of the leading Pharisees and there was a man there who had dropsy. Jesus looked at the lawyers and Pharisees and asked them if it was lawful to heal on the sabbath day. They refused to answer. He healed the man and told them that if one of their ox fell into a pit on the sabbath that they would pull him out, so this was not any different. But, they were too busy straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel to try to understand it.
Lord, help us not to be blinded to what you are doing. Don’t let our pride blind us to the fact that we need to repent and stay repentant. We pray that you would heal our nation and reset us to walk in all of your ways. Help us to be courageous.
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