FROM TODAY’S RECAP: - Numbers 25:7-15 - Genesis 50:25 - Genesis 12 - Video: Judges Overview - TBR Bookshelf Graphics - Finishers Page - TBR Resource: How to identify idolatry in your heart Note: We provide links to specific resources; this is not an endorsement of the entire website, author, organization, etc. Their views may not represent our own. SHOW NOTES: - Follow The Bible Recap: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube - Follow Tara-Leigh Cobble: Instagram - Read/listen on the Bible App or Dwell App - Learn more at our Start Page - Become a RECAPtain - Shop the TBR Store - Credits PARTNER MINISTRIES: D-Group International Israelux The God Shot TLC Writing & Speaking DISCLAIMER: The Bible Recap, Tara-Leigh Cobble, and affiliates are not a church, pastor, spiritual authority, or counseling service. Listeners and viewers consume this content on a voluntary basis and assume all responsibility for the resulting consequences and impact.
Full Episode
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today we wrapped up our seventh book of the Bible. Can you believe it? We're a quarter of the way through the Bible. I've learned so much in the past 88 days, and I can't wait to see what He teaches me about Himself in the next 277 days we have left.
Yesterday, God finished divvying up the land for all the tribes in the cities of refuge. Today, now that the land has been sufficiently conquered, the 2.5 trans-Jordan tribes have fulfilled their promise to fight for the land among the other tribes. Joshua affirms them, reminds them to be loyal only to Yahweh, then he blesses them and sends them east across the Jordan River to their homes.
On the way there, the 2.5 tribes decide to build an altar on the west side of the Jordan River, and it's huge. When the western tribes hear about it, they're ready to fight. You can't just go building altars wherever you want. Yahweh said he would establish a central location for worship, and this seems to be in direct defiance of his words.
They send a delegation headed up by Phineas, the son of Eleazar the high priest, whom you may remember as the one who stabbed the two people in Numbers 25. It was probably fairly alarming to have him show up because he does not play around when it comes to sin.
The Western delegation accuses the Transjordan tribes of turning away from God, and they're afraid God will send judgment on all of Israel because of it. They want an explanation, and they even offer the Transjordan tribes a really gracious option for repentance— Come live with us on the western side of the Jordan River instead of turning away from God.
But as soon as the Transjordan tribes have a chance to talk, they clear things up pretty quickly. They aren't rebelling against God or setting up an altar for worship. They're doing this as a monument of the relationship between them and the Western tribes, connecting them. They're afraid that in the years to come, the Western tribes will disown them and their children.
So they want something to serve as a witness for this relationship, a way to help them stay connected to something far away, establishing that they are worshipers of Yahweh too. The western tribes are reasonable, and they're satisfied with this explanation, so they head back home, very relieved, I'm sure. The last thing they want is to lose the land they finally just got settled into.
After a lot of time passes, when Joshua is nearing 110 years old, he calls all the leaders of Israel and tells them he's about to die. He reminds them that God is the one who has accomplished these good things for them. And he also reminds them that there is still work to be done. They still need to drive out the lingering Canaanites in the land.
Moses was very nervous about the Israelites turning away from God to worship pagan gods, and he spent a lot of time in the final chapters of Deuteronomy warning the Israelites about it. And here, Joshua leans on the same concerns, and he reminds them that God has equipped them with all they need to obey him.
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