Mon.’s Devo - A New Passover

Read: Joshua 5:1-7:15; Luke 15:1-32; Psalm 81:1-16; Proverbs 13:1 All the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Caananite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard about how the Israelites crossed the Jordan so they were paralyzed in fear. These were all the people that lived in the Promise Land. So all of the land was afraid of them. God told Joshua to circumcise this new crop of warriors. They were in Gilgal which means “to roll”. God told them that he had rolled away the shame of their fathers who didn’t enter because of unbelief. It was time to celebrate the Passover which was like giving them a brand new start. They hadn’t passed over after the first passover but they were now being given a second chance. This time they passed over and went to battle. God sent an angel that told Joshua the same thing the angel told Moses when he first called him to go and deliver Egypt, and that was to take off his shoes because the ground he was standing on was holy. I think that God was establishing in Moses and Joshua that this was not their battle or their plan, this was all God’s. Then, God gave Joshua the plan to take down Jericho. He was to have the priest lead the charge and they were to walk around Jericho once every day and on the seventh they were to march with the priests blowing trumpets. When they had walked around seven times, the priests were to blow a long blast and the people were to shout. The walls would collapse and they could take the city. That is exactly what happened. Just as they promised, they saved Rahab and her family. They were not to take any of the spoils. They were to destroy everything but the silver, gold, bronze and iron. It was to be brought into the sanctuary and given to the Lord. It was to be their tithe. If they kept anything it would bring trouble on the camp of Israel. Joshua invoked a curse on anyone who would try to rebuild the town of Jericho. They would lose their firstborn when they laid the foundation and their youngest son when they set up the gates. This curse is still in affect. Achan took some of the things they were suppose to give to the Lord and hid them. The next town was Ai and it was so small that only 3,000 men were sent to take it. Instead of taking it, they chased and killed the Israelites. Joshua was shocked so he went to the Lord and God told him that there was a curse on them because someone had kept some of the spoil from Jericho. He told Joshua that they would never defeat their enemies until they removed the things that had been stolen. God told him that he would show Joshua who had stolen it in the morning. In Luke, the Pharisees and teachers of the law complained because Jesus allowed tax-collectors and notorious sinners to come and listen to his teaching. Jesus gave them three stories to reveal their hearts. The first was about a shepherd who had 100 sheep. One sheep wandered off from the herd. He asked them, “Wouldn’t he leave the ninety-nine and go search for the one who was lost?” When he found it, “Wouldn’t he rejoice?” The next was the story of the woman who had 10 coins and lost one. He asked, “Wouldn’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search until she found it?” When she found it, “Wouldn’t she rejoice?” The last was a man who had 2 sons. One ran away to spend his inheritance on sinful living. When he finally came home repentant, the father threw a party and rejoiced. Then Jesus got to the point of his parables. The older son saw the party going on and was so upset that he had always done what the father required and he was jealous of all the rejoicing the father was doing over his sinful brother. The older son was them. Instead of rejoicing that the sinners were finding truth, they were jealous that they were even invited. Lord, help us to guard our hearts and love like you love.