SATURDAY 31st
Joshua 8:30-35
NIV (v35) – ‘There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.’
ESV (v35) – ‘There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.’
We return to the same verses as yesterday and the renewal of the covenant.
We note first in these verses that Joshua built an altar to the LORD, this was in obedience to what Moses had commanded the people of Israel. They then offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and then Joshua wrote on the stones that had been used to build the altar a copy of the law of Moses and then he read all the words of the law before all the assembly of Israel.
Notice the text, ‘There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel . . .’
Today I just want to remind us of the importance of the Word of God, I know we know, but it is still good to have constant reminders, in particular the importance of the WHOLE of the Word of God. Joshua did not leave anything out, he wasn’t selective, he didn’t pick and choose the bits he liked or favoured and leave out the rest, he read it all!
Paul reminds us in his letter to Timothy that ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’ (2 Timothy 3:16) While I have been doing these devotions, I have personally been challenged with regard to where would I normally turn to in the Scriptures for study and ministry preparation, and the truth would be there are some books that I perhaps would rarely turn to and yet ‘ALL SCRIPTURE is . . . and profitable for TEACHING . . .’ Again Paul says in the book of Romans, ‘For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.’ (15:4) When Joshua stood and read all that Moses had commanded to the people of Israel they would have been challenged, they may have been moved in repentance, but as Paul says they would have been encouraged and would have been given hope.
May we always treasure the Word of God, may we always remain faithful in the public reading of the Word of God and may we always be willing to receive its instruction, its counsel, its warning and its hope, for it is the living powerful Word of God. Referring back to yesterday’s devotion, and any risk of sin in the camp, or of sin in our lives, the cure is the Word of God, or should I say our commitment to the reading of it and obedience to the instruction found within it, for we are reminded in Hebrews 4:12 ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’ A regular dose of Scripture will help keeps us right before God. Again, in Psalm 119 the question is asked, ‘How shall a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.’ (v9) This is relevant to not just the young man, but also to the young woman, the older man, and the older woman, applicable to us all.