Tag: Joshua

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Should Church Be a Safe Place, Like a City of Refuge, in the Bible?

city of refuge

If We Don’t Protect the Innocent from Retribution, Who Will?

God tells Joshua to establish cities of refuge, a safe place for people to seek sanctuary. The specific context is that a city of refuge is a place for people to go if they accidentally kill someone.

Once these people make it to the city of refuge, they are legally protected from retaliation sought by the avenging relatives of the person killed. As long as they stay in the city of refuge, they are safe.

We don’t have cities of refuge anymore, but sometimes people do seek sanctuary in churches. Though I’ve never personally seen this happen, I have heard stories of it occurring. I wonder if seeking sanctuary in church should happen more often?

Certainly churches shouldn’t harbor the guilty from receiving judgment, but what about protecting the innocent from injustice?

What about offering a safe haven to those people wrongly pursued or protecting those folks pummeled by prejudice?

Sadly this may be too much of a stretch for many church attending people to bear.

They want their churches as sanctuary for them—but not so much for those on society’s fringe; “let them fend for themselves,” they say (or think) or perhaps “your problem is not my problem.

However, this is selfish. The church needs to be a safe place for everybody, physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. It needs to be like a city of refuge.

We have a long way to go to make this happen.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Joshua 19-21, and today’s post is on Joshua 20:2-3.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Women in the Bible: Rahab

Rahab

Learn about Rahab

Rahab is a prostitute who two spies stay with when they scope out Jericho. We don’t know if they seek her for her services, or if they merely want to get out of public view.

When the king of Jericho commands Rahab to turn the men over to him, she commits treason. She hides the men and lies to the king. she tells him that they already left, but she doesn’t know where they went.

Rahab knows God favors Israel and will give the city to them. So in exchange for her protecting the spies, she asks for the safety of her family when they raze the city.

In her list of who’s included as family, she mentions parents and siblings, but not a husband or any children. After securing their promise of protection, she helps the spies escape.

Later, Joshua confirms Rahab and her family will be spared when they take the city, while the rest of the city will be destroyed. She then lives with the Israelites.

Rahab in the New Testament

In the New Testament, Matthew reveals Rahab is one of Jesus’ direct ancestors and the great-great grandmother of King David (Matthew 1:5). She is honored as only one of four women mentioned in Jesus’ family tree.

Further, the book of Hebrews affirms her as a person of faith, one of only two women included in its impressive list (Hebrews 11:31).

Finally, James confirms she is righteous because of her actions in hiding and protecting the two spies (James 2:25).

While our reaction may be to judge this woman for her profession, God sees her differently, as a righteous woman of faith, rewarding her accordingly.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Joshua 4-6 and today’s post is on Joshua 6:17.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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How Soon They Forget God and the Things He Told Them to Do

forget God

So, Moses receives ten commandments from God and teaches them to the people. God gives other directions and instructions, too, which Moses also passes on.

But the people begin to disregard and forget God and what he told them to do.

This displeases him, so eventually, he sends a series of wake-up calls, first in the form of judges and later through prophets. Sometimes a foreign power is used to get their attention.

(There’s nothing like a crisis to send us scurrying back to God.)

This happens gradually, over time, right? Not necessarily.

They Forget God and His Commands in One Generation

Several hundred years after Moses, Nehemiah comes along and reinstates the “festival of booths”—which had not been practiced since the days of Joshua, Moses’ immediate successor.

(It is unclear if it is disregarded fully or partially or if it happens during Joshua’s watch or after, but either way, Joshua drops the ball for not perpetuating it.)

It didn’t take hundreds of years for the festival to be dismissed, but less than one generation. They forget God and what he instructed them to do.

Turn to God

In only one generation, a people can forget God and turn away from him—or turn towards him.

Which way do you want to turn?

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Nehemiah 8-10, and today’s post is on Nehemiah 8:14-17.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Can the God of Creation Control the Sun?

God’s power

Justifying Bible Accounts Through Human Reasoning Limits God’s Power

As Joshua leads the nation of Israel into the promised land, they defeat Gibeon in a most amazing battle. Though Joshua’s army does its part, God plays an even bigger role.

He orchestrates a hailstorm that pelts the Gibeon army with huge hailstones, killing many of them, even more than Joshua’s army kills.

The Sun Stops Moving

Even more so, Joshua prays for more daylight to enable the fighting to continue. This will allow his army to secure a victory and prevent the remaining enemy forces from scurrying away under the cover of darkness.

Do you know what happens? God stops the sun from moving. Yep. It stays in the middle of the sky for a full day.

Some people read this account and don’t know what to make of it. It seems too incredible to accept. They attempt to explain away God’s power with man-made logic.

The Sun Moves Backwards

However, this isn’t the only time something like this happens. Much later we read about King Hezekiah. He becomes deathly ill and God tells him to put his affairs in order.

Hezekiah doesn’t. Instead he prays for more time. God hears his prayer and promises to give him fifteen more years.

To offer proof of God’s power to do as he promised, he makes the sun move backward for a while. Then everything returns to normal.

The sun moves forward again and Hezekiah lives another fifteen years (Isaiah 38:1-8 and also 2 Kings 20:8-11).

The God of Creation Can Do All Things

Again, some people try to explain away this incredible story of the sun moving backward. I don’t know why they try to do this. Yes, this is incredible, but so is God.

Trying to logically dismiss these two accounts and place human limits on God’s power doesn’t make sense.

If God created the reality that we live in, including the sun and the moon, can’t he cause them to stop moving for a couple of hours or to move the sun backward for a few minutes?

My God can. Can yours?

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Joshua 10-12, and today’s post is on Joshua 10:13.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Disobedience Can Have Long-Term Consequences

drive out the people in the promised land

When God Tells Us to Do Something He Has a Reason and We Should Obey

After Joshua leads the people of Israel into the Promised Land and takes control of it, he divides the territory among the tribes.

Though they have conquered enough of the area to occupy it, remnants of other people, such as the Canaanites, still live there. (It’s often called the land of Canaan.)

It’s up to each tribe to fully take control of their assigned region and drive out the people that live there.

We can debate who has the right to live there. Is it the Israelites who God promised could live in this land? Or is it the people who live there when the Israelites arrive?

Of course, if we go back a few centuries, we see that God first gave this land to Abraham.

This means Israel is merely reclaiming what God gave them through Abraham long ago. Who has a rightful claim to this land?

Drive Out the People Occupying the Promised Land

However, the discussion of rightful leadership isn’t the point in this post. The point is, what will the people of Israel do once they repossess the land? God tells them they are to drive out the people living there.

This is another item we could debate. Why can’t they peacefully coexist? Why can’t they get along? It seems fair, but God knows that these other nations will negatively influence his people, causing them to disobey him and turn from him.

Though we don’t want to make an isolationism theology based on this passage, we do see how important it is to guard ourselves against ungodly influence.

For the territory given to Ephraim and Manasseh, the Bible says that they didn’t dislodge the people who lived in Gezer.

As a result the Canaanites continued to live there. They caused great problems for God’s people in the coming years and centuries.

We see their reoccurring threat throughout the book of Judges, and they’re still around during the days of Ezekiel, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

The disobedience of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh to purge their area of ungodly influences cause problems for their descendants for centuries.

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is Joshua 16-18, and today’s post is on Joshua 16:10.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Moses Died and Then Good Things Happen

Moses Died and Then Good Things

The book of Joshua opens by confirming the death of Moses, followed by a curious instruction: Now you go into the Promised Land.

Imagine that, an entire nation was put on hold, unable to move—until Moses died. Moses had to die for them to receive what God had promised to give them.

What if Moses had stubbornly clung to life for another month, another year, or even longer, holding on to a vain hope that he would also be allowed to enter the Promised Land?

Then the people would have had to wait even longer. Or what if Moses had died a bit sooner?

Perhaps the people could have moved forward a bit sooner.

Though it seems morbid, Moses’ death was a good thing for the people. Though their faithful leader was gone, only then could they receive God’s promised provision. His death was a necessary requirement for their journey.

It’s kind of like receiving an inheritance. The person needs to die for the gift to be given. Their death releases what has been promised.

It’s kind of like Jesus. He, too, had to die for us to receive what God had in store for us. His death was sad and horrific, but it was necessary for what happened next—our salvation.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”
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