Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Loving kindness and truth go before you. Psalm 89:14

Joshua 22-23

Joshua 22

Tribes beyond the Jordan Return

¹ Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh ² and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you. ³ You have not abandoned your brothers all this time, even to this day, but have performed the duty of the commandment of the Lord your God.

⁴ Now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, just as he said to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan. ⁵ Only diligently heed the commandments and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

⁶ So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. ⁷ Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given an inheritance in Bashan, but Joshua gave to the other half among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them ⁸ and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much wealth to your tents, with a great deal of livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with a great deal of clothing. Divide the plunder of your enemies with your brothers.”

⁹ The Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the Israelites out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they owned, according to the commandment of the Lord through Moses.

The Offensive Alter

¹⁰ When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at. ¹¹ The Israelites heard this, “The Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the region around the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the Israelites.” ¹² When the Israelites heard of it, the whole congregation of the Israelites gathered together at Shiloh, to wage war against them.

¹³ The Israelites sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead. ¹⁴ With him were ten leaders, one family leader for each of the tribes of Israel, and they were each head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel.

¹⁵ They came to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, ¹⁶ “The whole congregation of the Lord says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following the Lord, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against the Lord? ¹⁷ Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of the Lord, ¹⁸ that you must turn away today from following the Lord? It will be, since you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. ¹⁹ However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of the Lord, in which the Lord’s tabernacle dwells and take possession among us, but do not rebel against the Lord, nor rebel against us in building an altar other than the alter of the Lord our God. ²⁰ Did Achan the son of Zerah not commit a trespass in the devoted thing and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man did not perish alone in his iniquity.’ ”

²¹ Then the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel, ²² “The Lord God of gods! The Lord God of gods! He knows, and Israel shall know. Do not save us today if it was in rebellion, or if it was in trespass against the Lord, ²³ that we have built ourselves an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if it was to offer burnt offering or grain offering, or if it was to offer sacrifices of peace offerings, let the Lord himself hold us accountable for it.

²⁴ “We have done this for a reason, out of concern for our descendants, saying, ‘In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying: What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? ²⁵ For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you, Reubenites and Gadites. You have no portion in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease from fearing the Lord.’

²⁶ Therefore we said, ‘Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, ²⁷ but it will be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings,’ that your descendants may not tell our desendants in time to come: You have no portion in the Lord.

²⁸ Therefore we said, ‘It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say: The pattern of the Lord’s altar, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, but it is a witness between us and you.’

²⁹ Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away today from following the Lord, to build an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering, or for sacrifice, besides the alter of the Lord our God, that is before his tabernacle!”

³⁰ When Phinehas the priest, and the leaders of the congregation, the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the Reuben and Gadites and the descendants of Manasseh spoke, they were very pleased. ³¹ Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is among us because you have not committed this trespass against the Lord. Now you have delivered the Israelites out of the Lord’s hand.”

³² Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and from the Gadites, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the Israelites, and brought word back to them. ³³ This pleased the Israelites, and the Israelites blessed the Lord and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and the Gadites lived. ³⁴ The Reubenites and the Gadites named the altar “A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.”

Joshua 23

Joshua’s Charge to Leaders

¹ After many days, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around them, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, ² Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, “I am old and well advanced in years. ³ You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. ⁴ I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, to the great sea toward the sunset. ⁵ The Lord your God will thrust them out from before you and drive them from out of your sight. You shall possess their land, as the Lord your God spoke to you.

⁶ Therefore be very courageous and be careful to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn away from it to the right or to the left, ⁷ that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you. Neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor swear by them. Neither serve them, nor bow down to them, ⁸ but hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.

⁹ For the Lord has driven great and strong nations out from before you. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day. ¹⁰ One of you shall chase a thousand, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you, as he has spoken to you. ¹¹ Take careful heed therefore, to love the Lord your God.

¹² But if you do at all go back and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, these who remain among you and enter into marriages with them and go in to them and they to you, ¹³ know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight, but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁴ Today I am going the way of all the earth. All of you know in your heart and soul that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. Of everything that has been promised to you, not one thing is unfulfilled. ¹⁵ It shall happen that as all the good things that have come to you of which the Lord your God spoke to you, so the Lord will bring to you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you, ¹⁶ when you disobey the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”

Luke 20:27-47

Sadducees Question the Resurrection

²⁷ Some of the Sadducees (those who deny that there is a resurrection) came to Jesus. ²⁸ They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother. ²⁹ There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless. ³⁰ The second took her as wife, and he died childless. ³¹ The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died. ³² Afterward the woman also died. ³³ Therefore in the resurrection, of all of the men, whose wife will she be? For seven of them had her as a wife.”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ For they cannot die any more, for they are like the angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. ³⁷ But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  ³⁸ Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”

³⁹ Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.”  ⁴⁰ They did not dare to ask him any more questions.

Whose Son is the Messiah

⁴¹ He said to them, “Why do they say that the Messiah is the son of David? ⁴² David himself says in the book of Psalms,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
⁴³ until I make your enemies
the footstool of your feet.” ’ ^a

⁴⁴ “David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”

Beware of the Scribes

⁴⁵ In the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware of those scribes who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts; ⁴⁷ who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these will receive greater condemnation.”

^{a Psalm 110:1}

Psalm 89:14-37

¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Loving kindness and truth go before you.
¹⁵ Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you.
They walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.
¹⁶ In your name they rejoice all day.
In your righteousness, they are exalted.
¹⁷ For you are the glory of their strength.
In your favor, our horn will be exalted.
¹⁸ For our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹ Then you spoke in vision to your saints,
and said, “I have given strength to the warrior.
I have exalted a young man from the people.
²⁰ I have found David, my servant.
I have anointed him with my holy oil,
²¹ with whom my hand shall be established.
My arm will also strengthen him.
²² No enemy will tax him.
No wicked man will oppress him.
²³ I will beat down his adversaries before him,
and strike those who hate him.
²⁴ But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him.
In my name, his horn will be exalted.
²⁵ I will set his hand also on the sea,
and his right hand on the rivers.
²⁶ He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
²⁷ I will also appoint him my firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
²⁸ I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more.
My covenant will stand firm with him.
²⁹ I will also make his offspring endure forever,
and his throne as the days of heaven.
³⁰ If his children forsake my law,
and do not walk in my ordinances;
³¹ if they break my statutes,
and do not keep my commandments;
³² then I will punish their sin with the rod,
and their iniquity with stripes.
³³ But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him,
nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
³⁴ I will not break my covenant,
nor alter what my lips have uttered.
³⁵ Once I have sworn by my holiness,
I will not lie to David.
³⁶ His offspring will endure forever,
his throne like the sun before me.
³⁷ It will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky.”

Proverbs 13:17-19

¹⁷ A wicked messenger falls into trouble,
but a trustworthy envoy gains healing.
¹⁸ Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline,
but he who heeds correction shall be honored.
¹⁹ Longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,
but fools detest turning from evil.

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