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May 20

Reading 1 - Joshua 5 & 6

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5 v.12 - God's provision is always there in time of need, but we should aim towards self-sufficiency too. We cannot expect God to feed us for ever - there is a need for us to feed of our own volition on the word of life. Neh.9:20-21, Rev.7:16-17, Isa.65:13-14.
Peter Cresswell
6 v.5 - It is worth considering what this meant. The people were to 'go straight before themselves' which means they had to be facing the wall. One would expect the wall around a round city to fall outwards - the way of least resistance. They had to believe that it would not, or it would have fallen on them. As soon as it went down they had to enter the city. Although this was a very strange way that God decreed to take this city, and although it seemed so easy for the people (compared with fighting), in fact it required a great deal of faith that God would perform this act.
Peter Cresswell

5 v.8 The circumcision of the men of war once they had entered the land of Canaan indicated that the deliverance was of Yahweh and not of man. We know that circumcision renders grown men weak and unable to defend themselves [Genesis 35:25]. Thus the willingness of these men to be circumcised in hostile territory advertises their faith in God’s power to save.

6 v.17 The way in which ‘all that were in the house’ of Rahab were saved is a forerunner of the way in which there were occasions in the Acts of the Apostles where whole families believed [16:15, 32 18:8] showing us that Yahweh is concerned with families.
Peter Forbes

5:14-15 Joshua doubtless believed that Yahweh was with him in the taking of the land of Canaan. However the appearance of the angel of the Lord provided him with tangible proof of this. Further Joshua was shown that he was the successor of Moses through the similarity between the events of Exodus 3 and here 'loose thy shoes … for the place … is holy'.

ch 6 - The way in which Jericho was taken is instructive. Israel were to march round the city but 6:10 'ye shall not shout'. This coupled with their obedience to the commandments of the Lord demonstrated to them - or it should have done - that the deliverance was not by their strength. In fact we know that the people did this in faith (Hebrews 11:30)

compass
Hebrews 11:30
Seventh day
Hebrews 11:30
wall fell down
Hebrews 11:30

Notice the precise way in which the writer to the Hebrews draws on this chapter to make his point.
Peter Forbes

5:2-7 That Israel had not circumcised their males in the wilderness matches Moses (Exodus 4:24) who had not circumcised his son - so why did the Lord tolerate this oversight without comment during the wilderness journey?

6:22 So one man brought Rahab out of the city. What did the other man bring out? Was he Achan and did he bring out the gold and garment?
Peter Forbes

CIRCUMCISE YOUR HEART

Before Israel were allowed to begin to take the land of Canaan, God commanded that all the men be circumcised. It should have been done when the baby boys were 8 days old, but it had not been done, so the conquering of the land was postponed a short time while the circumcisions and healing took place.

Circumcision is taken and compared in other places in the Bible with circumcision of the heart. It means to remove fleshly thoughts from our minds, to become pure, holy and devoted from our hearts to God. The physical act of circumcision does nothing for us spiritually, but the spiritual principle has huge implications in the life of the believer.

In a way, the story of Israel entering the promised land is a lot like us entering the kingdom of God. Now is our preparation time, the time to learn of God and become like him before we cross the Jordan to enter the land. It is also the time we should be circumcising our hearts and ridding ourselves of anything impure, or we could find that it is a painful process to go through before we enter the kingdom.

Circumcise your heart today.
Robert Prins

Reading 2 - Isaiah 10

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v. 4 - What comfort here there is for us - to realise that his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. It came 3 times in yesterday's chapter (Isa.9:12,17,21) and before that in Isa.5:25. Although these words were not designed initially for our comfort, the wonder of God's word is such that we can still derive comfort from them, so let's do that.
Peter Cresswell
v.20 - the word 'stay' (08172) is also translated lean - but it is more than just lean, it is lean strongly - it is the word used by Samson when he asked the lad to show him the pillars that he might lean on them (Judg.16:26)
Peter Cresswell
v.2 The concern for the 'widows and the fatherless' echoes a major concern of the Father as can be seen from the following list of passages. Exodus 22:22 Deuteronomy 10:18 14:29 16:11,14 24:17,19,20,21 26:12,13 27:19 Psalm 94:6 109:9 146:9 Isaiah 1:17,23 Jeremiah 7:6 22:3 Ezekiel 22:7 Zechariah 7:10 Whilst there are no New testament passages we should not think the warning no longer applies. If we are unable to show compassion to the fatherless and the widow we should not expect the Father to show concern for us. For without him we are fatherless.
Peter Forbes
10:4 that God's anger was not turned away but that He was still holding out the hand to those who would repent marks the judgement and mercy of God and provides a way of escape to any that would humble themselves under His mighty hand. Actually this point has been made a number of times already in Isaiah in 9:12, 17, 21 and here in 10:4
Peter Forbes
:6 'to take the spoil and to take a prey' quotes 'Maher-shalal-hash-baz of Isaiah 8:1.
Peter Forbes
WHEN BAD PEOPLE SEEM TO GET AWAY WITH IT
Have you ever wondered why God seems to use bad people to punish his people? He did it to Israel when they turned away from him. When Israel's wickedness god so great God sent the Assyrian armies against them. They were not a godly people, yet God used them to punish his people. Why did he act this way? He had already said that this was how he would punish them if they went astray. Deuteronomy 28 v 25 promised it, that among other things, their enemies would defeat them when they turned against God. And in relation to our lives, he also uses unbelievers to set us on the right track through punishment or other actions. 1 Peter 2 v 13 - 20 explains that.
So the conclusions we can come to is that God does use unbelievers in the life of his people to bring them back to him. But sometimes the unbelievers go too far in their pride and their vengeance. They forget (or don't realise) that God is using them and believe that what they have done and what they have achieved has been by their own strength and not by God's design. This is what the Assyrians thought. But rest assured, God sees. He punished the Assyrians for their excessive force and he will not let other injustices go unnoticed either. God is just.
Robert Prins
10:4 May I suggest an alternate meaning to the phrase: "but his hand is stretched out still."? I suggest that God is saying that measures already meted are insufficient; therefore "his hand is stretched out still" to devour. I feel the context indicates this to be the sense of the phrase.
See also: Good News Bible, Jerusalem Bible, Amplified Bible, & New English Bible.
Bob Jennings

Reading 3 - 2Thessalonians 1 & 2

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1 v. 4,5 - Time after time Paul remind us of the worth of the sufferings that we must endure. Surely it is worth suffering anything, that we might be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God by that suffering. Phil.1:28, 1Pet.4:14-18, Jer.9:24, Dan.4:37, Acts 14:22, Rom.8:17, 2Tim.2:12, Heb.10:32,33, 12:11.
Peter Cresswell

1 v.1 The association of Paul Silvanus [Silas] both here and 1 Thessalonians 1:1 is most natural as they were together at Thessalonica. [Acts 16:19] Timothy seemed to be an almost constant companion of Paul, being sent on missions to see how things fared with the ecclesias that Paul had established.

2 v.3 'falling away' is not a casual departure from the faith. From the way that this and a related word are used in the New testament Matthew 5:31 19:7 divorcement Mark 10:4 divorcement Acts 21:21 forsake 2 Thessalonians 2:3 falling away we can see the terrible nature of forsaking Christ.
Peter Forbes

1:8 taking vengeance draws on Isaiah 61:2 which we know is the work of the lord Jesus (Luke 4:18) but to be finished at his return.

2:8 Consume with the spirit of his mouth echoes Isaiah 11:4 which speaks of the work of the Lord Jesus at his return.
Peter Forbes

1:9 'Glory of his power' quotes Isaiah 2:10, 19, 21) which clearly speaks of the establishment of the kingdom of God.

2:4 'exalteth … God' quotes Daniel 11:36 and so the brethren at Thessalonica would doubtless see Rome being a partial fulfilment of this area of Daniel 11.
Peter Forbes