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More Joshua commentaries
Joshua 5:1-15
Preparing for Victory
Joshua 6:1-14
The Destruction of Jericho
Joshua 6:15-27
A shout that shattered the walls
Joshua 7:16-26
The destruction of the stolen goods
Joshua 8:1-29
Israel Destroys the Town of Ai
Joshua 8:30-35
Joshua leads the people to Shechem
Joshua 9:1-15
Tricked into believing the enemy
Joshua 9:16-27
Making your mistakes work for you
Joshua 10:1-15
The Lord wants to fight our battles
Joshua 10:16-28
Divide and conquer was Joshua’s strategy
Joshua 10:29-43
The Lord gives the victory
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Joshua leads the people to Shechem
Joshua 8:30–35
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
Sometimes we as Christians need to stop along life’s road and look back. Here’s how F. E. Marsh described what the Christian can see when he looks back:The deliverances the Lord has wrought (Deut. 5:15).The way He has led (Deut. 8:2).The blessings He has bestowed (Deut. 32:7-12). … More
When Israel was still encamped in Moab, waiting to cross over the Jordan into Canaan, Moses included as part of his last instructions to Joshua that an altar of stones be erected on Mount Ebal (Deuteronomy27:4). Following the victory at Ai, Joshua felt compelled to fulfill Moses command.
Without delay he led the men, women, children and their animals from Gilgal northward up the Jordan Valley approximately 30 miles to the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim near Shechem. Between these two mountains, each about 3,000 feet above sea level, lies a lovely valley about two miles wide. It was on Mount Ebal that an altar of sacrifice was to be made out of earthen stones (vv. 30-31) (Ex. 20:24-25). The altar was to be unadorned by craftsmanship. Altars with elaborate craftsmanship and elevated platforms with staircases were common in the worship of false deities.
After the altar was erected, half of the people were positioned on Mount Gerizim; the other half on Mount Ebal and the Ark of the Covenant, surrounded by priests, was in the valley between (vv. 32-35). The large amphitheater made it possible for the people to hear every word. When all of the people were in position, Joshua “read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the Law” (v. 34). As the curses of the Law were read, the 6 tribes on Mount Ebal responded, “Amen!” As the blessings were read, the 6 tribes on Mount Gerizim responded, By doing this, all of Israel affirmed that the Law of the Lord was indeed to be the law of the land.
Application
I need to read the Bible daily as a constant reminder of who God is and what I can become.
Joshua 8:30-35 (English Standard Version)
At that time Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, "an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool." And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings. And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.
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