Joshua 22:1-23:16
Joshua sends the Reubenites, Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh to the land that God had given them. He sends them with this statement;-
5 Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
This instruction is very similar to Jesus' statement in Luke 10:27 'And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”'
Obviously, there is the issue of following the law - an OT emphasis. Jesus refocusses this verse and sets a new covenant in place - he can because of what happens next.
To explain;-
The Old Testament covenant was characterised by following many rituals and trying to follow all of God's commandments. The New Testament held a very important difference which effectively turned everything on its head - Jesus has fulfilled all of the law - and He did it through living a perfect life before His father - Jesus was able to 'complete' the law by having done everything that God had required of man - to live a life of loving obedience and relationship with his creator God. When Jesus died and took our sin on himself, he opened the way for us to be seen as holy and blameless - as only Jesus truly is. So when Jesus re-emphases the importance of loving with al lour heart, mind, strength and soul - he is asking for everything - not to follow lots of rules, but instead, he's asking for everything of us. This is a big ask, but only Jesus deserves this and anyone who truly understands what Jesus has done should respond either in disbelief or total adoration. More on that some day later...
Verses 6-20
This passage describes a perceived rebellion on the part of the Reubenits, Gadites and the Half-Tribe of Mannaseh, who build an altar.
The remaining 9 and a half tribes of Israel all send leaders to the Reubenits, Gadites and the Half-Tribe of Mannaseh and ask what they think they're doing - God has specifically stated that they shouldn't build altars, that they must worship only Him. The concern of the majority of Israel is that if some of the tribes rebel against God, then God will respond against the entire community of Israel, rather than specifically selecting the sinners themselves and dealing harshly with them - no, if part of the community sins, then the whole community is liable for judgement. Jesus also deals with this question (Matt 18) - He states that if our hands cause us to sin, we should cut them off - the same is true of the eye. Of course, Jesus is using hyperbole - after all, we know that sin comes from the heart (Mark 7:14-23).
It is interesting to note that our society today is much more fractured - we don't really believe that God is interested in our reaction to the sins of our brothers, do we? Well, I think that we should!
I then love the response of the Gadites, Reubenites and 1/2 Manasseh - they state that if they are sinning then they should be destroyed - their heart is contrite, and the same as their brothers over the river! It is great to see that their reaction isn't a defensive - 'hey man, you're in my space - I'll explain it when I feel like it' - no! They react as brothers - 'Do not spare us today if it was in rebellion or treachery against the Lord that we built for ourselves and altar to turn away from Him. May the Lord Himself hold us accountable....' Brilliant.
Psalm 52:1-9
The very first verse of this passage throws me;-
Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
This psalm is written when Doeg kills the priests of Nob. Doeg does this on the command of Saul - the other men wouldn't kill the priests, but Doeg had no such difficulties of conscience. I can see a couple of ways of reading this - the evil man is Doeg, and David is asking why Doeg lies to Saul and describes the priests' support in the worst way he can. Yet the priests who love God and whom God loves are now in a better place - His love continues forever for those He loves. Alternatively, Saul could be the evil, mighty man - and God loves David. I possibly lean toward the former, but it could be a mixture of Doeg and David, rather than Doeg and priests.
Reading on, I think it is probably directed at Saul - he is the evil, mighty man and David is the one that God loves.
Proverbs 12:15-16
15 - A fool's way is right in his own eyes; but whoever listens to counsel is wise.
An easy one, really - a fool in this case would be someone proud - they know better. They 'but' that hinges the verse suggests that listening to counsel is being compared against a fool's way being right in his eyes - i.e. one who doesn't listen to counsel, who thinks he knows all the answers - is a fool.
16 - A fool's displeasure is known at once, but whoever ignores an insult is sensible.
Again, I think that these verses stand together because of the nature of this 'fool' being discussed. Clearly, one who reacts suddenly and violently to any and all provocation will simply be provoked by evil people around who like to cause trouble. Whoever ignores and insult and realises an evil person is not worth getting upset about will be insulted less because they get little if any rise out of them - classic 'sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me'.
Luke 19:1-27
Zacchaeus - ah, Zacchaeus.
A rich tax collector - we're already in dangerous territory! The jews (especially the zealots) would have seen any tax collector as being a sell-out, working for the Roman invaders. But a rich one? Insult upon insult. Jesus doesn't seem the slightest bit bothered by Zacchaeus' status, but has decided to stay at his home.
Why?
Zacchaeus is libelously accused of being evil and so offers to give half of all he has to the poor, and to payback four times anything that he has wrongfully extorted. Jesus recognises him as a son of Abraham - a spiritual son of God - not just a biological descendant of Abraham.
This is one of my favourite parables because I read it like this;- Jesus has gone away in order to receive the authority to be King (a strange comparison - after all, one is born King, is one not?) - he is the hard master, and in his leaving, he has left us with something that we can invest - this is usually our talents and skills, but may be money (our ability with money may be our skill!) - and upon returning, he wants to see what his people have done with what they have been given. Now, in Luke's account, the description is of minas, rather than talents, and the receipients are given 10 minas each, and are expected to do what they can with this investment.
This suggestion of equality is interesting - if all were given equaly, yet each received a different number through their investments, I read this as being the ackowledgement of our different capabilities - some can turn little profit, yet others can turn huge profits. The man who hides the investment shows a lack of wisdom and ability, but also knowledge of his master and faith - he should have known that the point wasn't to hide the money and give it straight back to the master - he is described as knowing that the master asks more than he gives. In our society, I think this is a hard lesson to learn - we are told often that the reasons for our shortcomings are not our fault - it's the fault of our parents, our schooling, our society... the list goes on. This passage, however seems to say the opposite - it doesn't matter what you're given - it's what you do with it that matters! God may seem a bit harsh, put like that - but let's be honest, it's people who see life in those terms who really do great things - not those who wallow in their mediocrity.
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