The One Year Bible TLB (83 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
A lazy man won’t even dress the game he gets while hunting, but the diligent man makes good use of everything he finds.
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The path of the godly leads to life. So why fear death?
April 12When the nations west of the Jordan River—the Amorites and Canaanites who lived along the Mediterranean coast—heard that the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, their courage melted away completely and they were paralyzed with fear.
2-3
The Lord then told Joshua to set aside a day to circumcise the entire male population of Israel. (It was the second time in Israel’s history that this was done.) The Lord instructed them to manufacture flint knives for this purpose. The place where the circumcision rite took place was named “The Hill of the Foreskins.”
4-5
The reason for this second circumcision ceremony was that although when Israel left Egypt all of the men who had been old enough to bear arms had been circumcised, that entire generation had died during the years in the wilderness, and none of the boys born since that time had been circumcised.
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For the nation of Israel had traveled back and forth across the wilderness for forty years until all the men who had been old enough to bear arms when they left Egypt were dead; they had not obeyed the Lord, and he vowed that he wouldn’t let them enter the land he had promised to Israel—a land that “flowed with milk and honey.”
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So now Joshua circumcised their children—the men who had grown up to take their fathers’ places.
8-9
And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have ended your shame of not being circumcised.”
*
So the place where this was done was called Gilgal (meaning, “to end”), and is still called that today. After the ceremony the entire nation rested in camp until the raw flesh of their wounds had been healed.
10
While they were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover during the evening of April first.
*
11-12
The next day they began to eat from the gardens and grain fields which they invaded, and they made unleavened bread. The following day no manna fell, and it was never seen again! So from that time on they lived on the crops of Canaan.
13
As Joshua was sizing up the city of Jericho, a man appeared nearby with a drawn sword. Joshua strode over to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?”
14
“I am the Commander-in-Chief of the Lord’s army,” he replied.
Joshua fell to the ground before him and worshiped him and said, “Give me your commands.”
15
“Take off your shoes,” the Commander told him, “for this is holy ground.” And Joshua did.
6:
1
The gates of Jericho were kept tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelis; no one was allowed to go in or out.
2
But the Lord said to Joshua, “Jericho and its king and all its mighty warriors are already defeated, for I have given them to you!
3-4
Your entire army is to walk around the city once a day for six days, followed by seven priests walking ahead of the Ark, each carrying a trumpet made from a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to walk around the city seven times, with the priests blowing their trumpets.
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Then, when they give one long, loud blast, all the people are to give a mighty shout, and the walls of the city will fall down; then move in upon the city from every direction.”
6-9
So Joshua summoned the priests and gave them their instructions: the armed men would lead the procession, followed by seven priests blowing continually on their trumpets. Behind them would come the priests carrying the Ark, followed by a rear guard.
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“Let there be complete silence except for the trumpets,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout; then
shout!”
11
The Ark was carried around the city once that day, after which everyone returned to the camp again and spent the night there.
12-14
At dawn the next morning they went around again and returned again to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.
15
At dawn of the seventh day they started out again, but this time they went around the city not once, but seven times.
16
The seventh time, as the priests blew a long, loud trumpet blast, Joshua yelled to the people,
“Shout!
The Lord has given us the city!”
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(He had told them previously, “Kill everyone except Rahab the prostitute and anyone in her house, for she protected our spies.
18
Don’t take any loot, for everything is to be destroyed. If it isn’t, disaster will fall upon the entire nation of Israel.
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But all the silver and gold and the utensils of bronze and iron will be dedicated to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.”)
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So when the people heard the trumpet blast, they shouted as loud as they could. And suddenly the walls of Jericho crumbled and fell before them, and the people of Israel poured into the city from every side and captured it!
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They destroyed everything in it—men and women, young and old; oxen; sheep; donkeys—everything.
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Meanwhile Joshua had said to the two spies, “Keep your promise. Go and rescue the prostitute and everyone with her.”
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The young men found her and rescued her, along with her father, mother, brothers, and other relatives who were with her. Arrangements were made for them to live outside the camp of Israel.
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Then the Israelis burned the city and everything in it except that the silver and gold and the bronze and iron utensils were kept for the Lord’s treasury.
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Thus Joshua saved Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, and they still live among the Israelites because she hid the spies sent to Jericho by Joshua.
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Then Joshua declared a terrible curse upon anyone who might rebuild Jericho, warning that when the foundation was laid, the builder’s oldest son would die, and when the gates were set up, his youngest son would die.
*
27
So the Lord was with Joshua, and his name became famous everywhere.
7:
1
But there was sin among the Israelis. God’s command to destroy everything except that which was reserved for the Lord’s treasury was disobeyed. For Achan (the son of Carmi, grandson of Zabdi, and great-grandson of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah) took some loot for himself, and the Lord was very angry with the entire nation of Israel because of this.
2
Soon after Jericho’s defeat, Joshua sent some of his men to spy on the city of Ai, east of Bethel.
3
Upon their return they told Joshua, “It’s a small city and it won’t take more than two or three thousand of us to destroy it; there’s no point in all of us going there.”
4
So approximately three thousand soldiers were sent—and they were soundly defeated.
5
About thirty-six of the Israelis were killed during the attack, and many others died while being chased by the men of Ai as far as the quarries. The Israeli army was paralyzed with fear at this turn of events.
6
Joshua and the elders of Israel tore their clothing and lay prostrate before the Ark of the Lord until evening, with dust on their heads.
7
Joshua cried out to the Lord, “O Jehovah, why have you brought us over the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us? Why weren’t we content with what we had? Why didn’t we stay on the other side?
8
O Lord, what am I to do now that Israel has fled from her enemies!
9
For when the Canaanites and the other nearby nations hear about it, they will surround us and attack us and wipe us out. And then what will happen to the honor of your great name?”
10-11
But the Lord said to Joshua, “Get up off your face! Israel has sinned and disobeyed my commandment and has taken loot when I said it was not to be taken; and they have not only taken it, they have lied about it and have hidden it among their belongings.
12
That is why the people of Israel are being defeated. That is why your men are running from their enemies—for they are cursed.
*
I will not stay with you any longer unless you completely rid yourselves of this sin.
13
“Get up! Tell the people, ‘Each of you must undergo purification rites in preparation for tomorrow, for the Lord your God of Israel says that someone has stolen from him, and you cannot defeat your enemies until you deal with this sin.
14
In the morning you must come by tribes, and the Lord will point out the tribe to which the guilty man belongs. And that tribe must come by its clans and the Lord will point out the guilty clan; and the clan must come by its families, and then each member of the guilty family must come one by one.
15
And the one who has stolen that which belongs to the Lord shall be burned with fire, along with everything he has, for he has violated the covenant of the Lord and has brought calamity upon all of Israel.’”
Dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus’ sermons;
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but this caused complaints from the Jewish religious leaders and the experts on Jewish law because he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them!
3-4
So Jesus used this illustration:
“If you had a hundred sheep and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it?
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And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders.
6
When you arrived you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found.
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“Well, in the same way heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who haven’t strayed away!
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“Or take another illustration: A woman has ten valuable silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and look in every corner of the house and sweep every nook and cranny until she finds it?
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And then won’t she call in her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her?
10
In the same way there is joy in the presence of the angels of God when one sinner repents.”
11
To further illustrate the point, he told them this story:
“A man had two sons.
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When the younger told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die!’ his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13
“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there wasted all his money on parties and prostitutes.
14
About the time his money was gone a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.
15
He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs.
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The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the swine looked good to him. And no one gave him anything.
17
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired men have food enough and to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger!
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I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,
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and am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man.”’
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“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming, and was filled with loving pity and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
21
“His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you, and am not worthy of being called your son—’
22
“But his father said to the slaves, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. And a jeweled ring for his finger; and shoes!
23
And kill the calf we have in the fattening pen. We must celebrate with a feast,
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for this son of mine was dead and has returned to life. He was lost and is found.’ So the party began.
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“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working; when he returned home, he heard dance music coming from the house,
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and he asked one of the servants what was going on.
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“‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the calf we were fattening and has prepared a great feast to celebrate his coming home again unharmed.’
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“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him,
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but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve worked hard for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to; and in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends.
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Yet when this son of yours comes back after spending your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the finest calf we have on the place.’
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“‘Look, dear son,’ his father said to him, ‘you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours.
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But it is right to celebrate. For he is your brother; and he was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!’”