Daily Devotions

Judges 2:6-3:6  - The heart of the problem There are few things more disturbing to witness than the sight of people who have lost their memories. Familiar faces, preferred routines, even loved ones and the person’s own name become unfamiliar. We need to be able to remember in order to function as people. Our memories provide us with a sense of who we are; they orient us to life. Forgetting can render us helpless and disorientated, unable to act in our best interests. Remembering was critical to Israel’s life in the land, because her very existence was founded upon knowing God and what he had done to save her. It was this knowledge that enabled Israel to understand who she was. It enabled her to live the way she was supposed to. When Israel forgot God and forgot what God had done for her, she put her life in peril. Judges 2:6-3:6 is a snapshot of the entire history of the Judges era. It begins with an event that occurred before those related in chapter 1, and ends with the outcom...

Judges 1:1-2:5 - Starting with potential Israel’s story in the Old Testament started with enormous potential. There were amazing promises given to Abraham that God would bless Israel and, through Israel, the world. Israel experienced a mighty redemption from slavery, with great signs and miracles under Moses. The initial entry into the Promised Land under Joshua went from strength to strength. By the time of Joshua’s death, Israel was established in the Land. Yet, from this point on, things go sour. Israel’s conquest stalls during the time of the judges and is only completed centuries later under David. Yet even David’s victory is temporary—under David’s descendants, Israel first suffers division into two separate kingdoms and then Exile from the Promised Land. All hopes have apparently been dashed and God’s promises are unfulfilled. Why did such a great story turn so bad? The book of Judges shows us why, and provides us with powerful warnings along the way. Yet it does more than tha...

Joshua 22-24 - God's promises stand forever  With praise for God’s great faithfulness still ringing in our ears (Josh 21:43-45), what happens next in Joshua can come as a bit of a shock. Israel’s enemies have been conquered, the land has been allotted and the future looks great, but then—once again—it seems like the Israelites are about to grasp defeat out of the jaws of victory: they’re about to turn on one another! Yet again, the trans-Jordan tribes are at the centre of things. Remember them? Their land was given to them first, back on the east side of the Jordan, but they’ve been helping their brother Israelites take the west side. Now, at last, Joshua tells them it’s time to go home. We can imagine the emotion of the moment—brothers who have fought together against a common enemy for years, now parting, not knowing when they will see each other again. But the trans-Jordan tribes don’t go home empty-handed. Before they leave for their families and land east of the Jordan, Josh...

Joshua 12-21 - The Land of Promise This long, and maybe slightly dull, section of Joshua details the division and allocation of land in Canaan, tribe by tribe. Israel’s military successes are summarised in Joshua 11:23: "So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war."  Now all that’s left to do is the ‘mopping up’; then there will be room for all the tribes to find prosperity and rest as God’s promises are fulfilled. You might not be very enthusiastic about reading all of these chapters but in your own time it would be worthwhile making the effort to read the section as a whole. Maybe it won’t be as painful as you think, especially if you like reading the real estate section of the newspaper or you’re good with maps. There’s a lot of repetition as each tribe is named and their allotment boundaries are described, but keep a...

Joshua 9-11 - King of Kings The city of Jericho has fallen, and the town of Ai has been defeated in a strategic masterstroke. Now we find that news travels fast and people respond in different ways to the coming kingdom of God. Perhaps it will seem like it’s a no-win situation for them—a choice between a pile of rocks and a hard place! But as you read through these chapters, think carefully about the way many people respond to God today. At the heart of this section is the cunning deception of the Gibeonites, who trick Joshua into a covenant agreement to ensure the survival of their people—an agreement that’s soon put to the test.  In Joshua 9, it can be hard to work out whether Joshua and the leaders are to blame for what happens next. It’s a complex problem. It’s not only in the book of Joshua that the Gibeonites appear; they are mentioned again in the time of King David (2 Sam 21:1-14) and they are included in the record of people who return from Israel’s exile in Babylo...

Joshua 8 - Devoted to the Lord By the end of Joshua 8, there will be two more stone memorials standing as permanent reminders for God’s people, Israel. This chapter deals with the events leading up to the construction of these two memorials, including the violent and deadly overthrow of a city. The level of violence recorded here, and in the Old Testament in general, can leave readers today feeling very uncomfortable. So, to help you think it through biblically, this topic is addressed at the end of the study—see the brief article ‘Some confronting truths’. God’s sovereignty over all things is a continuing theme in the book of Joshua. Clearly, he can shape history and steer events according to his will, giving ample evidence of this power. But he also exercises his might through human agents like Joshua and the nation of Israel. This raises the issue of how God’s sovereignty interacts with human responsibility. Some Christians say we should simply ‘let go, and let God’, but is that ...

Joshua 5-7 - Fear the Lord In chapter 1, God reassures Joshua that he will lead Israel into the Promised Land. Then in chapter 2, Israelite spies are sent into Jericho where Rahab protects them; she knows that the God of heaven and all the earth is fighting for Israel, and she too asks for protection when God’s judgement falls on the city. In chapters 3 and 4, God holds back the flooded Jordan River so the Israelites can cross over and begin their campaign to take possession of the land. As they go, Joshua builds a memorial with 12 river stones so that all the peoples of the earth will know God’s mighty power, and Israel will remember what God has done for them and rightly fear him. These are important lessons to learn—but does anyone other than Rahab actually understand? That’s what we’ll soon find out; we’re about to head towards the next stone memorial: a gravesite. It carries a stern warning. In Joshua’s day the people of Israel practised the rite of male circumcision, norm...

Joshua 2-4 - Crossing over The last time spies were sent to preview the Promised Land the results were disastrous (Numbers 13-14). Out of 12 spies, only Joshua and Caleb remained undaunted by the ‘giant’ inhabitants of the land. The other ten spies chose to overlook the obvious bounty of the land and instead spread fear and despair among the Israelites. As a result, they didn’t put their trust in God and he condemned them to 40 years in the wilderness, until that generation died out. Only Joshua and Caleb were left. Remembering this and the warning in Deuteronomy 31:16, the events in Joshua 2:1-2 appear to mark the beginning of another monumental failure—not only do Joshua’s two bumbling spies immediately visit a prostitute, but their undercover mission is quickly detected and reported to the king of Jericho! However, there’s more going on here than meets the eye. According to Rahab, one clear proof that God is going before Israel is the way he brought them through the Red Sea as the...

Deut 34 - Joshua 1 - Be strong and very courageous Following on from the death of Moses, the book of Joshua tells the riveting story of the end of Israel’s long and troubled journey from slavery in Egypt to claim the land God has promised to give them—the land God first promised to their ancestor Abraham.  Joshua is called by God to be strong and very courageous as he now leads God's people into the land. It’s a tale of adventure, with spies, armies, action and adventure aplenty, where God is the undisputed hero and Joshua (whose name means ‘God saves’) is his right-hand man. It’s also a story that raises big questions about the future. Will Israel remain faithful to God and enjoy his blessing in the land forever? Or will another ‘Joshua’ be needed one day? Leading a nation like Israel is a daunting task for Joshua. God will keep his covenant promises to his people, but they will need constant reminders to remember the Lord and keep their covenant promises to him. The narrativ...

Deuteronomy 31:14-32:20 - A fresh start? People pay a lot of attention to a dying person’s last words. We expect that on their deathbeds, they will speak their minds. Some will have hope; some despair. Either way, they will probably tell us what they really think. The Israelites must have wondered what Moses’ final message to them would be. What would God say for the last time through the mouth of Moses? Would he predict that they are to live happily ever after, secure in the land of prosperity and pleasure? The stage seems set for such a joyous and triumphant conclusion. Moses will die, but Israel seems set to succeed. Now Moses delivers God’s final words to them, in the form of a song. After hearing God’s commands and his offer of life, Israel might have been unpleasantly surprised by what they heard. If there is one thing that comes through in the final chapters of Deuteronomy, it is the insistence that Israel is again going to mess up her relationship with God. The whole of...

Deuteronomy 30:11-31:13 - What now? As we reach Moses’ third and final sermon in Deuteronomy (chapters 29-33), the unimaginable is about to happen. Moses is about to die. For Israel, Moses’ death would have been almost impossible to comprehend. Moses was Israel. The nation only existed because of Moses. Moses had been on the scene ever since the Exodus, and the political, religious, economic and social structures of Israel all depended on him. For Israel, the thought of being without Moses was very, very scary. But the unimaginable is about to happen, so the daunting question they must face is: “What now? How do we replace someone like Moses?” In one sense, they couldn’t replace Moses. Indeed, the book ends by saying just that (34:10-12). Israel will never get another Moses. He was unique. But life must go on. Israel can’t just fade away because Moses isn’t around any more. A replacement has to be found. Alternative strategies that don’t depend on Moses have to be put in place,...

Deuteronomy 12-26 - Obedience in the Land In the rest of his second sermon (right up to the end of chapter 26), Moses goes on to describe a lot of specific ways in which the Israelites are to obey God once they enter the Promised Land. For most people, this is where the reading gets tough. There are lots and lots of laws—and strange ones, like the one about the bird’s nest. Let’s look at these laws now and see if we can understand their place in the message of Deuteronomy. (You will probably need to skim read to get through these chapters.) If we look one by one at the laws in chapters 12-26, we will get not only exhausted but also confused and possibly despondent. Why are they so detailed? Why do they often refer to strange practices and customs that we know nothing about? Does God intend for us to follow these laws? A verse-by-verse approach may not be the most helpful here. If we try to look at the laws given as a package, we should be able to make more sense of them. Many of ...

Deuteronomy 8-9 - Obedience Israel is meant to love Yahweh out of thankfulness for all that he has done for her. This love is meant to be shown through Israel’s trust in God. Now Moses goes on to explain that Israel’s love for God should also express itself through her obedience to God. In our last study, we learnt that the experience with the manna in the wilderness should have shown the Israelites that they can trust God. Indeed, if in the future they fail to trust Yahweh, they will get themselves into deep trouble (8:19-20). In Deuteronomy 11, Moses emphasizes that, in the same way, Israel should be obedient to God. The chapter opens with the story of Dathan and Abiram, who had disobeyed God in the desert and paid the penalty. They treated Yahweh with contempt, complaining about Moses’ leadership and being ungrateful for God’s provision in the wilderness. They broke their covenant with God, and as punishment the earth literally swallowed them up. (The whole story is in Numbers...

Deuteronomy 6 - Love God So far, Deuteronomy has painted a very impressive picture of God. We’ve seen that Yahweh is the one and only God. He is the unique Creator of the world, who alone has the right to tell us what to do. We have also seen that God is personal, that he gets involved with his creation and that he has generously initiated a contract with the Israelites so as to make them his people. As Moses’ second sermon progresses however, the focus of Deuteronomy begins to change. The spotlight now starts to fall not on God, but on Israel. Now, in some ways this division is a little bit artificial. Really, ever since chapter 1, Moses has been explaining to the Israelites various things that they ought to be doing for God. But nevertheless, in Deuteronomy 5-6 a shift in focus develops. No longer is most attention given to what God has done for Israel. Now most attention is on what Israel should do for God. Chapter 6 is a pivotal chapter in Deuteronomy. In these verses, Moses poin...

Deuteronomy 5 - A gracious God Traditionally, only in a leap year - on the 29 February - may a woman may ask for a man’s hand in marriage. Thankfully it’s a tradition not much followed these days—many modern men need a prod and many modern women aren’t willing to wait four years to do it! But traditionally, a man is supposed to take the romantic lead in proposing to his beloved. He takes the initiative of proposing that they enter into something like a marriage contract. Other types of relationships have stricter rules about who takes the initiative in proposing a ‘contract’. A boss promises a job to a nervous interviewee. A couple agrees to care for an orphan. The way in which the contract is made, and who takes the first step, tells us a lot about the way the two parties relate to each other. In Deuteronomy 5, Moses launches into his second sermon. This sermon is by far the longest in Deuteronomy. It stretches all the way from chapter 5 to chapter 28. Although it is long, the sermo...

Deuteronomy 4 - The One and Only A while ago, so the story goes, a swimming pool attendant in Europe caught a woman swimming in an area that had been roped off for the swimming squad. Apparently that’s the sort of thing that really annoys pool attendants. The angered attendant dragged the woman out of the pool and told her off in quite colourful language. It was then pointed out to him that he was talking to Diana, Princess of Wales! Needless to say, the attendant almost lost his job and the Princess was allowed to go back to her swimming. It goes to show that you need to know who it is you’re dealing with or you can really put your foot in it! And that is pretty much Moses’ main lesson in his first sermon in Deuteronomy. In this first sermon, Moses spends a lot of time reminding Israel of what has been happening during that time in the wilderness. He does this because he wants to highlight what God is like. He wants to remind the Israelites about the way God does things so that th...

Deuteronomy 2-3 - Holiness + Love = Grace In Chapters 2-3, Moses changes tack in his sermon to give a whistle stop tour of what happened when they had stood there the first time 40 years beforehand. When in 2:1 they actually start moving again but this time the journey actually goes into reverse. They don’t just stay there on the edge. They go in the wrong direction. And the incredible thing about this account of their zig-zagging is the way in which Moses speaks about the surrounding nations. Why didn’t Israel go into the promised land. It’s because the blokes in there were too big. See what Moses is doing. He says , "You are God’s people. God gave you the land. Go in and take it". They say, "Not likely, it’s full of big blokes!". And then Moses says, "Look at Esau, God gave them their land, and they took it, even though there were big blokes. Look at Moab, they did the same. And you're going back into the desert? Even though the living G...

Deuteronomy 1 - Moses' greatest sermon It’s an awesome thing to hear the voice of the living God. Deuteronomy is a book where you can just feel the impact of the text. In beautiful simplicity, Deuteronomy emphasises the holiness and the love of God, to show us the grace of God. God’s people are on the boundary of the promised land and he looks beyond that boundary to what lies in store as they move into the future with God. It presents a God of sovereign worldwide purpose and a people with a sharp spiritual mandate and moral agenda. Deuteronomy bends every rhetorical, literary, emotional, and moral skill to the task of equipping and motivating God’s people to live for the purposes of God in each generation. God speaks to his people and says NOW CHOOSE LIFE (30:19). That’s what it’s all about. God in Deuteronomy says to each of us - Now choose life. So Deuteronomy is the book that we need to give us a key for understanding the rest of the bible. This is a book that Jesus rea...