Saturday, August 9, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Joshua 22-23
Key Verse
Joshua 22:26 — “Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice:”
Devotional Thought
The fighting is over, and Joshua gathers the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh to send them home. Years earlier they had asked Moses for land east of the Jordan, and Moses had granted it on one condition: their warriors must cross over first and fight alongside their brothers until the whole land was won. They kept that promise. Joshua blesses them, reminds them to love the LORD and cleave to Him, and sends them back across the river laden with silver, gold, cattle, and clothing. But at the Jordan they build a great altar, and word races back to Shiloh that the eastern tribes have set up a rival place of worship. Israel gathers for war. Phinehas and ten princes confront them—and the accusation is grave, because Peor and Achan were still fresh wounds. The altar, it turns out, was never for sacrifice. It was a witness, a memorial, so that future generations on both sides of the river would know they shared one God.
What strikes me here is how easily zeal becomes presumption, and how easily a good deed looks like a bad one from across the water. The western tribes were right to guard God’s worship; they had seen what compromise cost. Yet they were ready to march before they asked a single question. The eastern tribes, for their part, acted without explaining themselves, and nearly brought an army down on their own heads. How much strife among God’s people comes from this—from judging motives we have not bothered to inquire about, from building memorials no one understands? A conversation at the Jordan spared a war. Phinehas listened, the answer pleased him, and the congregation blessed God instead of taking up arms.
The second half of our reading is Joshua’s farewell. Old and stricken in age, he calls Israel’s elders, heads, judges, and officers, and speaks plainly: God has fought for you; not one thing has failed of all His good promises. Therefore be very courageous, keep the law, and do not intermarry with the nations that remain, nor mention the names of their gods. Cleave to the LORD. One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the LORD your God fights for you. But if you go back and cling to what remains of those nations, they will become snares, traps, scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes. Joshua knows he is going the way of all the earth. He has watched God be faithful for a lifetime, and he will not pretend the covenant has no conditions.
It is August, and perhaps the summer’s long days have made us careless—eased off in prayer, drifted toward the very things we once named as dangers. Joshua’s charge is for us too: take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God. The altar called Ed was a witness that the LORD is God. May our lives be the same witness, and may we be quick to ask before we accuse, and quick to listen before we contend.
Reflection
- When have you assumed the worst about a brother or sister’s motives, only to discover—as Israel did at the Jordan—that their intention was faithful all along?
- Joshua warns that the remaining nations would become snares and thorns. What “remnant” in your own life are you tolerating rather than putting away?
Prayer
Father, we thank You that not one thing has failed of all Your good promises. You have fought for us when we could not fight for ourselves. Give us courage to keep Your law and to cleave to You with all our heart and soul, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. Guard us from the snares and thorns that would quietly entangle us. Make us swift to hear and slow to accuse, that peace may be preserved among Your people. And let our lives stand as a witness, like that altar by Jordan, that the LORD is God. In Christ’s name, amen.