The USA and Israel have much in common

 December 3, 2020

 

Judges 3:7-11

 

 

Othniel

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.   Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.   But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.   The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.   So, the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

 

God had mercy on the people after they had been slaves for eight years.  After eight years, we understand why God allowed them to be taken into the king of Mesopotamia, hands for they had gone after the Baals and the Asheroth.  What were they; Ashtoreth is the preeminent goddess in the Bible, and the plural Ashtaroth is a generic term for goddesses, used together with *Baal as a collective term for illicit worship (e.g., Judg. 2:13.”  God who does not change made it clear He was a jealous God and yet His chosen people, forgot God and chased after the false gods of this world.

 

I ask why eight years, it took that long before they came to a place of examining themselves, and repenting, and I’m fearful that the people of the United States may find themselves where God has had a gut full of us.  We are not Israel, for we live in a nation that many have never known the God of Abraham, nor His only Son, Jesus Christ.  We who go by the title of Christian, have not changed our world, nor have we told our neighbors of the hope we have in Christ.  We have been quiet, good neighbors who just wanted to get along.  But that is not what Jesus instructed us to do, was it?

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

The Value of training in the ways of God

  

 

Judges 3:1-6

 

“Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan.   It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.   These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.   They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.   So, the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.   And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.”

 

Often, way too often you and I read Scripture without giving thought to or asking the Spirit that lives in us to open our minds to what we have read.  Why did God want the people that had not experienced war, to understand the cost of being a people of God?  If you look at a person like me, drafted into the Army back in the dark ages of the 1960s to today's no draft and most of them would have a heart attack if you ask them to get off the couch and turn off the phone, for a few minutes. 

 

So, as you observe this upside-down world we are enduring, at this time in our great history, of freedom, and how easy the ignorant youth are willing to allow the government to be their provider, but have no understanding of the cost because they have never had any skin in the game.

 

It is apparent, their parents did not parent, as mine did at a very young age, I was taught the value of honesty, learning, of work, and that God loves me and wants a personal relationship with me.  Look at this chart of 33% in Gallup surveys conducted in 2019 to date say they have no religious affiliation.

Not only are millennials less likely than older Americans to identify with a religion, but millennials who are religious are significantly less likely to belong to a church. Fifty-seven percent of religious millennials belong to a church, compared with 65% or more in older generations.

And that is why Israel did not follow the laws that Moses had left, because they sought the gods of their neighbors, and paid a great price for doing so.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Yellow Line Faith or Hebrews 11:1 Faith

 November 21, 2021

 

You have a lot more Faith than you  may understand

 

Have you heard the term people of faith, and they are meaning they are very religious, they may be people who are moral and spiritual people, they may be “Followers of Jesus Christ”, but I must tell you it has become clear to me that everyone has faith. 

 

Looking up the word “Faith” you find definitions: trust, belief, confidence, conviction, credence, reliance, dependence, optimism, hopefulness, hope, expectation.   I must share that you use faith in so many everyday things, one that jumps off the page is a yellow line that runs down the road of most streets and highways.  I’ve been on those roads in a lot of places in this world and it matters not where the custom is to drive on the right side of that line or the left, it is a small yellow line you have put trust into keeping the guy coming at you at seventy, or eighty miles an hour to not cross and kill you and your family.  If you did not trust, belief, have confidence, and have conviction, in that small yellow line, you would never get into a car.

 

Now the good news is most people honor that thin yellow line and stay on their side of it, but the truth is some do not, and it may be too many adult beverages, drugs, legal and illegal, texting, and just not paying attention. 

 

But the Bible gives a much different definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  The yellow line you can see is not hoped for, the only hope is that the guys who come eighty do not cross it.  So, it does not meet the requirement of Hebrews 11:1, in fact, this faith has the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.  That is a very different kind of faith, the yellow line you put faith in has no assurance that the other driver will not have a heart attack and come into your lane, or a tire blowout and cause him to hit you head-on.  So maybe it is time to explore Hebrews 11:1 faith.

 

Chapter 11 in Hebrews is full of wonderful insights to people who walk by faith, and 11:6, is a great place to start;  ^“And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  Faith in God's written word is not blind, no it is not even something one can obtain without first asking for the childlike faith to believe that He exists.  In the book of James 1:6, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”  One wonders if the abstinence of belief that God will do what He has promised is why the church often has no power.  For years I struggled with believing God could love a person like me, I knew He knew all about me, and my friend Jack Archer showed me in the Scripture that even a rascal like me was loved by God.

 

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.   And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  (James 1:2-4)  I have yet to meet a person that signs up for trials, and I am including myself.  I’m like many people, I want an easy life of blessing and trials I’ve often seemed to do repeatedly to get the response of not my will but yours Father.

Once we look at our Lord's action as a man, it was always Father, not my will but yours.  In the final hour before being taken to the Priest for a setup trial, Jesus asks, Father is there another way, but not my will but yours. 

 

There is no yellow line in the faith talked about in Hebrews 11:1, no it is the kind of faith we find in 1 Peter 1:8-9, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

 

If you have not experienced 1 Peter 1:8-9 and  Hebrews 11:1, faith, and only have the yellow line faith, you may need to act on Romans 10:9-10,  ^“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.   For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

The Lord Raises Up Judges

 

Judges 2:16-23

 

The Lord Raises Up Judges

Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.   Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so.  Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.   But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them, and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.   So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice,  I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.”   So, the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

 

In the sixteen hundreds the first people that put a foot on this great land we call America, were going to try something new.  Everyone would live in a community, all would share no one owning anything.  And guess what it did not work, some worked very hard while others did not, and their numbers were getting smaller and smaller, and the governor William Bradford said we are going to change the plan, each family will own their land, and do with it as they see best.  And history tells us that plan was very successful.

 

Did I tell you these people were people of faith, and their faith was not in self or government, but in God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ?  But like the people of Israel who chased after other gods so have the USA, and as stated in an earlier paper, many very ignorant people are looking to the government to be that god who will make all things equal.  

 

I got some sad, sad, news.  It did not work in 1600, and it has never worked, but you, like these blind people of Israel, will learn that only in Christ Jesus is their life in full.  I am going to end with this word from Scripture in 1 John 2:17, “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Israel's Unfaithfulness

 

 

Judges 2:11-15

 

Israel's Unfaithfulness

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.   And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.   They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.   So, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.   Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

 

As I read this account I recalled in my youth, Sunday was a day of worship, rest, and family time.  We have come a long way baby, for today the majority of people in this great nation use Sunday for a day to shop, to play golf, or select sports, among many other things, for they have replaced the worship of God with a little god they like better.

 

But as we have stated in an earlier paper, a new generation has come and they choose the god of shopping and entertainment and no longer have time for the God of creation,   So the story above could just as easily be titled the USA Unfaithfulness.  For we like Israel have forsaken the God who is and choose these little gods, that have enslaved us.  As I gave more thought to the main god that is worshiped; it is the god of self,   Our theme could be, number one, yes, that is the world’s focus, it is all about my desires and wants, and the God of creation is not part of that plan.

 From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Death of Joshua

 

Judges 2, 6-10

 

The Death of Joshua

When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land.   And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.   And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years.   And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.   And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Joshua, died and the generation that saw all that God had done through Joshua, and Moses, also died, and the very next generation did not know the Lord or the work that He had done for Israel; why?  For the same reason we the people of the United States of America, have forsaken God, and chosen little gods, that enslave us to seek things of no eternal value.  The parents then and the parents now forgot who was their source of blessing and they wanted enjoyment and stuff, and with those things they lost the joy of worship, of work, of blessing, of hope.

They became like the USA is today, everyone seeking their desires with no understanding of our history, of the blessing of God, of what God has done for us.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Buried in the Promised Land

 

Joshua 24: 29-33

 

 

Buried in the Promised Land

After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten.   And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.  Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.

And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.  And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

 

If you have the desire to be a leader, you would be wise to model Joshua.  He was a faithful servant of Moses, and he learned to fear God, and obey all that God had told Moses.  Someone, not sure who to give the credit to but as a child I heard my dad often says the proof is in the pudding.  One would have to taste the pudding to know if it was of good quality.  Too often today we put our hope in things but often they do not meet the claims.  That is very true with people, but not so with Joshua, he was the real thing, and the value of his life is found in this verse.  “Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.”

 

It is a reminder to us who have a few years on us, we have enjoyed freedom, always knowing it was a gift from God, and now a new group has shown up that has no understanding of the cost of freedom and have bought into the lies the media and politicians are telling them that socialism is going to work here when it has never worked before.  The people of Israel wanted to be like all the nations around them, and God let them have what they wanted.  And I believe He is going to let us have the hell we are asking for as a nation.  One of the biggest lies is it is free, it does not cost anything, are you that stupid?

 

My dad had a great impact on my life and he was famous for giving us one warning but never a second.  He would say you were warned, and I’m sure you do not want to do that again, but often we did and paid the price of a trip to the bathroom, and the belt.  I know that not in vogue today, a belt, but then neither is respect, honesty, truth, and many other social standards that have brought us to this point.  Put for what it is worth, if Muslims were in control, you would have no freedom, and you as a non-Muslims would be a slave to them at best.  If Hitler had won WW11 you would have no freedom and be speaking German and yes many died so that would not happen.  And if Russia or China ever get control, baby are you in for a surprise.  You, young people, need to study history, someone has always paid for freedom and it comes at a high price, God Himself understood the cost, he became a baby born to a woman and took on the form of a man, and always did His Father’s will, and died for your sins and mine.  So let me warn you once, it is a dead-end street you're on and you are not going to like the bathroom experience.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Choose Whom You Will Serve

 

Joshua 24: 14- 28

 

Choose Whom You Will Serve

“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.   And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed.   And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore, we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.  If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.”   And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.”   Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”   He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.”  And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.”   So, Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem.  And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.   And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore, it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.”   So, Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

I believe the Church of the USA as of this date 2020, is at a crossroad,  and it is the same question the people who had ender the promised land had to answer, Choose Whom You Will Serve.  As a nation we lost sight of what the Church is, it is not a building, nor a denomination.  We find the answer of its makeup in 1 Corinthians 12;12-14, Unity and Diversity in the Body

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.   For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so, the body is not made up of one part but of many.”   Also, in Ephesians 1:16-23, we see Jesus as the head of the Church, not anyone else.  ^“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,  having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,  and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,  which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

 

I wonder if you could worship a person who you have accepted as the head, but it is not Jesus.  If so God is a jealous God and that person has become an idol that God will not accept, so it is time to come back to the Bible and find out what is the Church of the Living God.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

The Covenant Renewal at Shechem

 Joshua 24: 1-13

 

The Covenant Renewal at Shechem

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And they presented themselves before God.   And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.   Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac.   And to Isaac, I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.   And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterward, I brought you out.

 

Do you have a Joshua in your life, are you a Joshua to family and others?  What is taking place in Shechem, is a very special thing, Joshua has no doubt his time on Planet Earth is coming to a close, his leadership role will soon be over, and he needs to remind the people of Israel of all that God has done.  Joshua understood the need for a leader to talk with, and get the buy-in of those who influence others, he had all the elders, the heads, the judges and the officers of Israel assemble at Shechem to enter into a Covenant renewal. 

 

Joshua begins with a reminder of where they as a people came from, he begins with Terah, the father of Abraham, who served other gods, and the call of Abram who became Abraham, and it was from his seed they came to be a great people.  He reminds them that Jacob had two sons, one was Esau who sold his first-born birthright to his brother Jacob, for a bowl of soup.  And how Esau stayed in the hill country of Seir, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.  He reminds them of how they became slaves and God sent Moses and Aaron to Egypt and God used plagues to show the people of God and the people of Egypt that He alone is God.

 

 “‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.   And when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time.   Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you.   Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you,  but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So, I delivered you out of his hand.   And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand.   And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow.   I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

 

Not one time did Joshua take credit for all he had done, for he did what God directed him to do, what a contrast from today's leadership.  But as a faithful servant of the LORD, he reminded them of all that God had done.

 

Are you that kind of leader, and yes if you are a dad you are a leader, a husband, or a follower of Christ, for someone, is watching your life to see who you are giving the credit to?

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders

 November 16, 2020

 

Joshua 23: 14-16

 

Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders

 

“And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.   But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

 

When a Godly leader talks to leaders he must warn them to be very careful to keep their eyes on what God has done, not on what man believes they have done.  He must warn the danger of looking elsewhere for guidance or direction, but to the covenants and command to only serve the LORD your God, and none other.

 

We the people of the USA have long forgotten what Joshua is telling the leaders of Israel, and like us, they also forgot.  And all that Joshua reminded them of happened to them when they went after the gods of this world.

 

I have never asked you to read a book other than the Bible to my knowledge, but if you are a citizen of the USA, you should read this book on our history; it is titled “The Great American Story: A Land of Hope.”

Much of this I had forgotten, and it gave me facts on why people from many countries came to this land we call America.  Many of the first came for freedom from bad kings, and rulers who were oppressive, also many came to be able to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac's, and Jacob.  They now understood that in Christ Jesus was the promise of life and life in all its fullness.

 But I’m not in the fear camp of putting my trust in the Government, or some doctor that has been wrong more than he has been right.  My trust is in the LORD, in Him I trust, not in the mask, or social distancing but in the God of promises.  If you will just read the Bible, it is clear, before you were God saw you, and He numbers all your days on this earth.

 

We need forgiveness as a people, we have gone after a lie, we have lied to our children, telling them they were all winners, and all of them got the same trophy, and now they have reached a time of adulthood and they are not winners, and they are mad and confused that they have to get out of bed and go to work.  But not just go to work they have to add value, they have to compete, yes, and even measure up.  It has not been a good awakening for those who have been lied to, so now they are willing to listen to a bigger lie, vote for our agenda and we will make your life all good again, and they believed the lie.  It is not going to turn out well.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders

  

Joshua 23:1-13

 

Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders

A long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,  Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders, and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years.   And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you.   Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west.  The Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the Lord your God promised you.   Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left,  that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day.   For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day.   One man of you puts to flight a thousand since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.   Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.   For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them so that you associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.

 

Joshua is an example to anyone that expires to be a great leader, if he had an ego it was well in check, if he was prideful it was in a big God who he looked to and obeyed, and for many years Joshua was learning the ways of God, by serving Mosses.  Now it is time to leave, and even in doing so, he understood the need to remind the people of what God has done.  It was reported today that our ex-President Obama released his third book on his life and Presidentship, unlike Joshua, it was 700 pages all about him, and what he did, it speaks volumes about his leadership skills.  What does a leader who God's honor look like, someone who looks to Him, obeys all that He tells them, and I’m fearful, the USA, has no desire to follow such a leader?  With that said, if we desire the government to be our master, my prayer is, come LORD Jesus, and give the USA what it desires, hell on earth. 

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Ask Why before Actions

 

November 14, 2020

 

Joshua 22:24-29

 

 

The question was why are you building this altar, is it to go after the gods of the people our God drove out before us?

 

^“No, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?   For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So, your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord.   Therefore, we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we do perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’   And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.”’   Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

 

I would be the first to tell you set boundaries for yourself and your children is a good thing, even a must if you hope to live in victory.  But not the type of boundary like a river, but that is what drove this fear of at a later time, after the death of Joshua,  the people would forget what their brothers had done for them on the East side of the Jordan River.  The altar was a reminder to both the East and the West that they were one people with one God, and both sides of the Jordan had been blessed and we're one people.

 

“When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, it was good in their eyes.   And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is in our midst because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

 

The Lord is in our midst, and it was very clear these three tribes were faithful to the God of Israel and had the best of intentions in building the Altar.

 

When the leaders went back and gave a good report, the people were I’m sure very happy, have you noticed Joshua is not in the picture, he had no part in this.

And the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled.  The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

 

Maybe it is time to once more build some altars, not to burn animals on but as reminders of what God has done and is doing in our life, as a reminder to those who follow little gods, like self, or children, or wealth, or government, or even a building called a Church.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

The Eastern Tribes' Altar of Witness

 

November 13, 2020

 

Joshua 22:10-19

 

The Eastern Tribes' Altar of Witness

And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size.   And the people of Israel heard it said, “Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.”  And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.

 

When your intent is to do good and it was not received in that manner you find people often making knee-jerk reactions.  That is what is taking place, it was massive in size, and the ten tribes on the west side of the Jordan, make an assumption that they were going to do as the pagans and worship other gods.  The 10 tribes gather without anyone asking them to and were ready to go and fight their brothers who had fought many a battle for them.

 

Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,  and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel.   And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, “Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the Lord?   Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor from which even, yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord,  that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord? And if you too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.  But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord's land where the Lord's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. Only do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.

 

The ten tribes were ready to go to war on God’s behalf but notice there is no account of them seeking the counsel of God.  But God, once more God must have put in the minds of Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,  and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel, to go ask why.  Why are you building this altar, have you people forgotten the sin of Peor?

 

Now the rest of the story, tomorrow?

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Eastern Tribes Return Home

 Joshua 22:1-5

 

Eastern Tribes Return Home

Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded.  For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you.  Now that the Lord your God has given them rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan.  But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

 

Have you wondered what being a faithful person looks like?  If so you need not look anymore, for the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the haft-tribe of Manasseh were those kinds of men.  But it came at a cost, they were not there to show their son a trade, or teach them to learn how to become men, or instruct their daughters on how to do many things, but they believe God would be there for them and He was.  Paid close attention to verses 6-8, ^“Then Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their homes.   (To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan along with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them, saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing—and divide the plunder from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.”

 

Now be quick to take notice, it was God that gave them the land, it was God who protected their families while they were away for a long time doing His will, and it was God who sent them home with great wealth.  It was all God, so not only does being a faithful man in this life have great value in the eternal, but it also has God's blessing today.

 

You would have missed the message that the book of Joshua is teaching us if you believe it came without a personal cost to these men.  But what we have observed is that obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings heartache and great discipline.  

 

I do believe as we wait for our LORD to return soon, we are going to be tested, so it's time now before it comes into play, to choose, for me and my house we choose to be obedient and do what God tells us.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice