Sin In The Camp

Last week we learned about the fall of Jericho, God's gracious gift of a mighty victory to his people, who watched in faith and obedience as the Lord carried out his covenant promise before them and the unbelieving world.  Chapter six ends with, "So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land."  How glorious.

And then we read the very next verse:

"But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel."  (Joshua 7:1)

The Fall of Jericho

This week's study covers Joshua 5:13-6:27.  We began by looking at Joshua's encounter with the commander of the army of the LORD.  Our first question was, who is this?   As James Montgomery Boice points out without equivocation, this is:

"...none the less than Jehovah speaking here in a preincarnate manifestation of the second Person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ."

Consecration and Covenant

In Bible study this week we looked at Joshua 5: 1-12.  After briefly reiterating the point that the Canaanites were quaking in fear at the miraculous crossing of the Jordan by the Israelites, we considered God's command to circumcise the sons of Israel.  We looked first at his wording of the command in verse 2, to "circumcise the people again."  

There's a Running Metaphor For That....

Now and then someone will ask me if I pray while I run, and I answer, "Sometimes."  Really though, when I pray I prefer to really focus on what I'm praying.  When I run, I have found that trying to focus on anything other than the running doesn't work.  Not that I am "focused" on every step I take, but, I get myself going, and while my body is focused on the running I allow my mind to wander here and there, free-association-style, bringing it back to the activity at hand when needed.  Sort of rambling through my "thinking" so my main energy can go to what I am "doing."

Even so, it is not time wasted.  For instance, as I ran this morning, here is where my mind rambled...