Sun.’s Devo - Jericho

Read: Joshua 5:1-7:15; Luke 15:1-32; Psalm 81:1-16; Proverbs 13:1
The people of Canaan were paralyzed in fear of the Israelites but they were not ready to fight until they have made a blood sacrifice that costs them something. So Joshua had them circumcised in case any of them died in battle. He wanted them atoned for, to save their soul in the resurrection. On the third day after their circumcision, God said that today, he had rolled away the shame of their slavery in Egypt. On the third day the angels rolled away the stone and Jesus rose from the dead triumphantly rolling away our shame of sin forever.
They celebrated Passover to remember their great deliverance from Egypt and in preparation of their great success in Canaan.
The first town they were to take was Jericho. Joshua met the commander of the Lord’s army and he told them the strategy of taking the city. As they walked around the city seven times quietly, the army of God was doing something in another realm. I would have loved to see what they were doing but we only know that on the seventh day, when the priests blew the trumpets and the people shouted as loud as they could, the walls of Jericho collapsed.
They were to destroy everything except Rahab and her family and the things that weren’t silver, gold, bronze, or iron because they were sacred to God and were to be brought for the treasury.
Joshua cursed anyone who would try to rebuild the city. It would cost them the life of their firstborn when they laid the foundation and their youngest son when they set the gates. Many have tried to rebuild Jericho over the years and have seen that this curse is still alive.
Achan violated the instruction of God and brought an idol he has seen into his house and hid it. It was brought to light when they were defeated in the next town of Ai. When Joshua went to the Lord to ask why they were so badly defeated over such a little town. God told him it was because someone had sinned at Jericho. Joshua was to bring out a representative of each tribe and in the morning, He would show him who was guilt. God would punish that person and his whole family with fire. I bet Achan didn’t have a very sound sleep that night.
In Luke, the religious teachers and lawyers complained that Jesus ate and associated with sinners…instead of them. Jesus gave them three parables. The first was about one lost sheep out of a hundred. The next was about a woman who had ten coins and lost one. The other was about a man who had two sons and lost one. It didn’t matter the percentage, all were equally as important to the one who lost them. God had lost his people and Jesus was helping them to return to Him.
The Pharisees were just as lost, only they weren’t looking for a way back. They had no idea they were lost.
Lord, bring our nation back to you. Bring the world back to you. Help us to see the spiritual condition we are in and repent.