Sun.’s Devo - Taking Jericho

Read: Joshua 5:1-7:15; Luke 15:1-32; Psalm 81:1-16; Proverbs 31:1 When the kings of the Canaanites heard how the Lord dried up the Jordan River for the Israelites to cross over, they were totally afraid to fight them. *** God commanded Joshua to circumcise all the men since they had not been circumcised yet. When he did this, God said he had removed the reproach of Egypt from them on that day. He named the place Gilgal which means “a wheel.” They had now rolled out of their sinful state into a state of righteousness. *** They celebrated the Passover which was given to them when they were leaving Egypt. This Passover, they were leaving the wilderness and entering into their promise. This was the last time they ate manna. They now ate food the promised land provided. *** The commander of the army of the Lord came and met with Joshua to give him strategy for taking Jericho. The first thing he told him was to take off his shoes because the ground he was standing on was holy. *** Joshua came back and gave the people the plan. The men who were fighting age were to walk around the city for six days. Seven priest were walk, blowing trumpets before the ark. On the seventh day, they were to walk around it seven times and when the priests were to blew a long blast on their trumpets, the people were to shout. The walls will fall down flat and they could take the city. *** Joshua gave the instructions to his men and told them to walk silently so the only thing heard would be the trumpets. *** Can you imagine the fear that was mounting in the city? They were already afraid of the Israelites and their God and now they had to watch them encircle them every day blowing their trumpets. This had to be greatly intimidating. *** On the seventh day, when they shouted, the walls fell flat. They took the city and were supposed to destroy everyone and everything in it. The two spies rescued Rahab and all who were in her house. They lived outside of the camp but became a part of Israel. Rahab married an Israelite and they had a son named Boaz. He married Ruth, a Moabite and became part of the lineage of the Messiah. *** Joshua made a curse that if anyone tried to rebuild Jericho, they would lose their first born son when they laid its foundation and their youngest son would die when they set up its gates. *** When we traveled to Israel, our guide told us that a few decades ago, a man was trying to rebuild Jericho. He had three sons and the first one died when he laid the foundation. His youngest son begged his father to stop so he wouldn’t die. His father stopped excavation. God’s Word is timeless and has no expiration date. *** Unknown to Joshua, Achan from the tribe of Judah took some of the idols of the city of Jericho and hid them. *** The next city before them was Ai. When their spies looked it over, they reported it was small and would only take about 3,000 of their men to take it. Instead of a clean victory, they lost 36 mean and fled before the people of Ai. *** Joshua was so upset, he tore his clothes and fell on his face before the Lord. God explained that they had lost because their was sin in the camp. Someone had taken some of the idols Canaan secretly. They would have no more victories till they dealt with the sin. *** God told them to consecrate themselves and then have every tribe stand before him and he would show the clan that took the things. *** In Luke, Jesus was accused of attracting and welcoming tax collectors and sinners. Jesus explained they were the lost sheep, and heaven rejoiced more over one of them coming to repentance than 99 righteous people coming in who didn’t need to repent. *** Jesus gave them the story of the lost coin and the prodigal son. The woman in the story of the lost coin didn’t do anything wrong to lose the coin, but was so thankful when she found it. The father in the story of the prodigal son didn’t do anything wrong to lose his son. The prodigal son, chose to walk away and squander his inheritance. It took losing everything for him to wake up and realized what a great father he had. The older son of the father had never lost anything, but had lived in the blessing of his father. He was like the Pharisees who walked in the works of righteousness but had no compassion for the unfortunate. The father pointed out, that he should celebrate because his son was dead and now alive. Jesus was making the same parallel about the tax collectors and sinners. They were once spiritually dead with no hope, but were coming to life with his teaching. The Pharisees should be happy instead of judging. *** Lord, may we not judge people by their circumstances and outward appearances, but may we see them as you see them. May we see them as how you want them to be, saved and forgiven and prospering in righteousness. Thank you that you saw our sinful state and had compassion on us.