Finally Joseph's bones rest in Shechem, modern day Nablus. Interesting link to a 2008 article concerning Joseph's tomb.http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56238

According to other historical writings the bones of all Jacob's sons were brought back and buried in Israel, in the area of their inheritances.  Something to ponder...at Jesus' crucifixion.
Matthew 27:50-53
And crying again with a loud voice, Jesus released His spirit. And, behold! The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And the earth quaked, and the rocks were sheared, and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose, and coming out of the tomb after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 

Are the holy ones, raised at Jesus' crucifixion the patriarchs of the past - Abraham, Sarah, Isaac,
Rebekah, Jacob's wives and sons?  

Judges 1:1
After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, "Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?"
God had already told them earlier that He (God) would do their fighting for them (Joshua 23).  A better question for them to ask would have been, "Who will be the first to go into the land?"

The Lord answered with, "Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands."  And yet, the men of Judah asked their brothers the Simeonites to go and fight with them. Then Judah and Simeon join forces and fight for Jerusalem, a city in Benjamin's territory. They were unsuccessful in part because they were influenced with pagan culture in the land. Not so sure that Jerusalem was supposed to be burned.  And where was the tribe of Benjamin?  Why wasn't his tribe helping take Jerusalem?

The people were again disobedient in part and suffered the consequence of being unable to drive out some of the inhabitants of the land.

The commentary in the Chronological Bible, "The danger of incomplete conquest is the lingering presence of pagan influence." Not much difference today.  The Israelites were fascinated with the pagan culture around them.  Again, not much difference for us today.  Many people are fascinated with paganism, witchcraft, and the occult (at times even in the Christian church portrayed as innocent events).

Judah and Simeon join forces and attack the Canaanites and Perizzites. A rather unique thing happens with a ruler named Adoni-Bezek.
Judges 1:6
And Adoni-bezek fled. And they ran after him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
This makes a person rather handicapped. He can no longer run or wield a sword or bow.

Interesting connection with the angel of the Lord in Judges 2:1-5 and the angel of the Lord in Exodus 23:20-22. Seems as if we are seeing a pattern here.

Another pattern emerges as well. The people were told to break down the altars of the pagan gods. They did not and the gods became a snare. The people wept when the Angel of the Lord revealed this to them and they offered sacrifices to the Lord. The question remains. Were they only giving "lip-service"?

In Joshua's farewell address, he reminds the people then, and us Believers today, of the following:
1. Love the Lord your God
2. Walk in all His ways
3. Obey His commands
4. Hold fast to Him
5. Serve Him with all your heart and soul

How are we as Believers doing on these five things? Loving the Lord is easy, holding fast to Him is easy, serving Him is another matter, and walking in His ways and obeying His commands... well that's another matter entirely.

Oops, guess we forgot about Deuteronomy 30:1.
"The command that I am giving you today is not too difficult or beyond your reach.

However, in order to walk in His ways and obey His commands, we must know what they are. We know that by studying His word and listening to the Holy Spirit speak.

Joshua also reminds the people...
Joshua 23:6
And be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the Law of Moses, so that you do not turn aside from it to the right or to the left;

To keep those five things listed above, we must be courageous. We must be different. There will always be something there on the left or the right for us to turn to. That takes many forms today.

God offers again to push the current inhabitants out of the land if only His people would obey His laws and commandments.  He had already prepared the land for them.  All they had to do was to go in and claim it as their own.  It seems as if God is, in effect saying that even though they have been disobedient in the past, He is offering them a "do-over", a chance to obey Him and start over. But do they take Him up on His offer?  They said they would and even set up a monument of stone as a witness.

The Eastern tribes (those who wanted to settle on the eastern side of the Jordan River - the half-tribe of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad) built an altar by the Jordan.  This angered all the other tribes because they thought the altar was for sacrificing.  They knew that sacrificing was to be done at the tabernacle by the Levites. In truth, the Eastern tribes wanted the altar there as a reminder, a memorial and not for sacrificing.

What great words from Joshua, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”Joshua was the decision maker for his family. He was the spiritual leader of his house. Again, how are we as Believers doing with that one? We must choose every day, even several times a day, whether or not we will serve the Lord. When we are tempted to turn to the right or to the left, we must choose to serve Him. He's given us this promise.
Isaiah 30:21
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

“He is a holy God; he is a jealous God.”God tells us early on that He views our relationship with Him as a   marriage. He doesn’t want any other “god” taking our attention. We (Phil and Patti) find great comfort in that!

Chapters 18-21 of the book of Joshua are filled with specifications for the land allotments of the tribes.  Remember, this land allotment was significantly smaller than the land promised to Abraham.  The land would have been much larger had Abraham only walked the land promised to him.  That land would have extended from Turkey to the Persian Gulf following the Euphrates River, from the Persian Gulf to the Nile River, up the Mediterranean coast and back to Turkey.  Because of their disobedience, the land promised to them was never claimed and what they did have eventually was taken away from them and the people were taken into captivity.  There are consequences to disobedience then and now.

Only the tribe of Dan is listed as having difficulty taking possession of their territory. The tribe of Dan took property that was not given to them by God. They will pay for this sin later. None of the other tribes seemed to have had any problems.

Six cities are named as Cities of Refuge. This appears to be a foreshadowing of the places of safety that will be provided during the last days and also a foreshadowing of the protection from the wrath of God that only Jesus can provide. Notice that for each of Aaron's descendants is a City of Refuge.

Going back to the tribe of Dan and their difficulty in taking their God-given land, could it be that they did not trust the Lord's provisions for them? We have this promise listed , “Not one of the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”

God kept His promises then. He keeps His promises now. Here are a few of our favorite promises. John 14:15-18, John 14:1-3, I Corinthians 12, Isaiah 35:10, I John 5:14-15, John 14:27.

Claiming His promises is all about trust! We trust Him, we obey Him, He keeps His promises.  Pretty simple!

The commentary in the Chronological Bible for today's reading contains this sentence, "For some unknown reason, the tribes of Judah and Ephraim, and the remaining half-tribe of Manasseh, are given a preferential portion of the land..."  The reason IS known.  Look at pages 92-94 (Genesis 48-49).  Jacob blessed these tribes more than the others.  We can track these blessings all the way back to Abraham and the promises God made to him (Genesis 15:17-21 - page 30).  The blessings continue with Isaac (Genesis 25:29-34 -page 53 and Genesis 27:26-29 - page 56).  And the blessings continue until today and on into our future.  All the blessings will be fulfilled in the Millennium.

Shortly after a general conquest of the land of Canaan, we are told of the land allotment by tribes, all the tribes that is except the tribe of Levi.
Joshua 13:33
But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as He spoke unto them.

The tribe of Levi was given no land allotment. The Lord was their inheritance. Compare that to our lives as believers today.
1Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that you might speak of the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

What a delightful inheritance (pun intended) we have with Him! We are His royal priesthood, a holy nation, His possession. And what are we to do for Him? Praise Him. He has called us out of darkness of sin and into a life of light.

Caleb was 40 years old when he went in to explore the land of Canaan. He, along with Joshua were the only two of the original multitude (fighting age and above) who were able to go into the land of promise. Why? Because Joshua and Caleb trusted in God’s promises. When Caleb settled in the land (Hebron) he was 85 years old, strong and vigorous.  He personally inherited the land he actually walked when he went into the land as one of the spies.  It is in Hebron where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, and Jacob are buried and a hotly contested site between Muslims and Jews. A Muslim mosque now covers the site.  We must wonder why this is so special to the Muslims since Hagar and Ishmael are not buried there but Sarah and Isaac are - important for Jews but not for Muslims.

In the division of the land Zelophehad of the tribe of Manasseh had no sons and so the daughters petitioned Joshua and the leaders for the right to have an inheritance. This will be extremely significant later. In the culture and customs of that day, the women basically counted for nothing, except for having children. Yet if we read the gospels, Jesus certainly elevated women. He had many women followers. No need for us women to be concerned with Women's Lib!

The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are numerous and they petition Joshua for more land.  Joshua makes this prophetic statement.
Joshua 18:17b-18a
"You are numerous and very powerful.  You will have not only one allotment but the forested hill country as well.  Clear it and its farthest limits will be yours..." 
The tribes were given the farthest limits.  This included more than just the land of Israel!  More details when we reach the reading of the book of Jeremiah.

We are reminded once again from the readings for today that the Israelites had to fight for the land as a result of not obeying God in the beginning.  Had they been obedient, they could have gone straight into the land with no fighting at all.  God had already told them He would drive the inhabitants from the land.  For example, had they been obedient earlier, they could have gone into Jericho without crumbling down the walls.

Another example of  the consequences of disobedience is that they suffered as a result of making a treaty with the Gibeonites.  These are the descendants of the same people that the nation of Israel is dealing with today.  God told them not to make a treaty with the people living in the land.
Exodus 34:12-15
Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. "Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices.

Their problem was that they did not inquire of the Lord as to what to do. Big mistake! The people of Gibeon tricked Joshua into making a covenant with them claiming that they were from a distant country. Isn’t that just like Satan? He played on Joshua’s mercy. Even after Joshua realized that he had been tricked, he still wanted to hold on to the oath he had made with men rather than to please God. Not a good thing!

How often do we as Believers worry about what others think, and not so much about what God thinks? Shouldn't it be the other way around???

Also, as an application for today - how often do we as Believers make "treaties" with the ways of the world, give in to the "traditions of men" and compromise the truth?  The ways of the world can be just as much a snare to us today.

God's Word is definitely in black and white.  Why would we want to settle for gray?

Today's reading contains much foreshadowing of future events.  There are several connections to the fall of Jericho in the book of Joshua and the fall of evil on earth as recorded in the book of Revelation.  As recorded in Joshua 6, there are seven priests who carry seven trumpets in front of the ark.  On the seventh day, they march seven times around the city of Jericho. The people were to remain quiet until told to shout. On the seventh day on the seventh time around the city the people shouted as the seven priests blew the trumpets.  Then the walls of the city fell.  As recorded in Revelation 8 there is silence in heaven for about half an hour. There were seven angels.  One of the angels sent to the earth thunder, lightning and an earthquake.  Then the seven angles who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

The battle of Jericho is a foreshadowing of the beginning of the coming Millennium, the multiple "sevens" in Jericho and the multiple "sevens" in Revelation's seven seals. Even the point of the destruction of Jericho is a symbol of the destruction of evil on earth prior to the Millennium.  The walls of Jericho fell.  The Israelites went into the city, killed every living thing, and burned the remnants of the city, except for those who were protected (Rahab and her family) by going into Rahab's house - her place of safety.  They were brought out alive to live with the Israelites.  The prophecies about the beginning of the Millennium are very similar.  God's people will enter into their "places of safety" (Isaiah 26:20-21). Every other living thing on earth will be killed.  The face of the earth will be burned and only God's people will survive.  They will come out and "leap like calves in the ashes" (Malachi 4:2-3) and  will live with God's people during the Millennium. Other connections can be found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Rahab and her family were saved because of the scarlet rope.  Believers are saved because of the blood of Jesus.

Joshua 4:13 records that there were 40,000 fighting men who crossed the Jordan. When the people were marching around the city they were to keep a distance of 2,000 cubits away from the Ark of the Covenant.  Using the sacred measurements, that would be more than 1,000 yards, more like 1,388 yards both in front of the ark and behind the ark. (see the notes for March 1for clarification on the different measurements).  They encircled the city keeping that distance from the ark. They marched before the presence of the Lord. (Remember, Joshua had earlier encountered the Commander of the army of the Lord. (Joshua 5:13-15)

When the Israelites took Jericho they were told to keep away from the devoted (or accursed) things within the city. These would be things that the people devoted to false gods. Yet Achan acts unfaithfully and takes some of the devoted things. His one act of disobedience brought about God’s anger against all Israel.
A lesson for us today…when we sin others almost always get hurt. Sin has consequences.

In Joshua 7, Joshua prays a prayer similar to one that Moses prayed.  At the time Joshua prayed, it seems as if he was unaware of the sin of Achan so he may have been confused about why God allowed the routing of the Israelites by the men of Ai.  Or was it simply a statement of a slip in faith?

God reminds them that they will not be able to stand against their enemies unless they destroy the sin within the camp. Notice also that when God reveals the guilty party (Achan), He does it publicly.  Most likely the urim and thummim were used to ascertain the one responsible.

Joshua 8 records the battle to attack the city of Ai using an ambush called in today's military terms, "double envelopment".  This same tactic was used in such battles as the Revolutionary War battle of Cowpens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cowpens

Joshua pronounces curses on Jericho. The results of that prophecy happened during Ahab’s reign. Hiel laid the foundations at the cost of his firstborn, the gates at the cost of his youngest son, just exactly what Joshua had predicted as found in 1 Kings 16:34.

IKing 16:34
In Ahab's time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun.

After Ai was taken Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses (the Ten Commandments?), built an altar and read the total Book of the Law, every word to the whole assembly, including women, children, and aliens.

This is great encouragement to read the entire Bible on a regular basis. Just as all of us are doing this year.

Today's reading contains another reminder.  God gives the Israelites this promise before they enter into the land. He tells them, "I will give you every place where you set your foot..." In other words, in the cultural procedure of the day, whenever a person took ownership of a piece of land, that person would walk the land and claim the land. The problem is that the Israelites did not walk the entire land that God promised them. Look in Joshua 1 for the boundaries of the land. It is much larger than the land of Israel today, but much smaller than the original promise to Abraham.

The people are told to "meditate on the law day and night". This is a good reason to meditate on Scripture. There is a great promise that follows - so that you will be "prosperous and successful". 

Joshua sent two spies into Jericho. Now, was he supposed to do this - or just go in and take the land? The spies stayed at the house of a prostitute. Did the spies go into Rahab’s house because there were many people coming and going there and they wouldn’t be noticed?  How did they know to pick her house?

Rahab was instrumental in protecting the men and in effect helped the Israelites take Jericho.

Rahab said “…for your Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” She as well as many others in Jericho had seen or heard about the pillar of fire and the cloud that guided the Israelites.  Because of the miracles that were done, the people of the land were in fear of the Israelites.  This is one way that God drove the inhabitants out of the land so that the Israelites could take possession.

In Joshua 3, we are told that the focus of the Israelites is no longer on following the cloud and the pillar of fire. They are now to follow the Ark of the Covenant.

When they celebrated the Passover, they ate some of the produce of the land. The day after that, the manna stopped.

The story of Rahab is so significant. It is such a beautiful illustration that God can use ordinary people, even prostitutes to do extraordinary things!  Rahab was the mother of Boaz who was an ancestor of King David.

Joshua 1:16
..."Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go."...
Great verse for us to live by!  These words were spoken to Joshua by the people. However, they followed up this statement with the following;  "Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you."
Wait a minute...they didn't fully obey Moses! And they won't fully obey Joshua either.

Fascinating that most remember the parting of the Red Sea yet seldom remember the parting of the Jordan River – and at flood stage even! Notice that the priests stepped into the water without hesitation and look what happened. Talk about stepping out on faith.

How goes it with us as Believers? Are we obedient to where God is leading us? Do we step out in faith as we go where He leads?

After they crossed over the Jordan River they set up stones as a monument, a memorial or remembrance of the great miracle of the crossing of the Jordan.  What are some of our "memorial stones" today?

Isn't it interesting that Moses did not honor the covenant of circumcision during the forty years of wandering?

Another great story in today's reading is the appearance of the Divine Commander found in Joshua 5:13-15. Note the similarities to what happened with Moses and the burning bush. Joshua was allowed to see face to face...God the Son.

In Deuteronomy 32:48-52 God reminds Moses that he broke faith with Him at the waters of Meribah Kadesh. Because Moses did not uphold God's holiness among the Israelites he will not be allowed to enter into the land.

There are two different places called "Meribah" in the exodus route: The first is at Rephidim before they got to Sinai. It is here that God instructed Moses to strike the rock to bring forth water. (page 119) The second Meribah is at Kadesh Barnea where Moses sinned in striking the rock and taking glory for himself (page 180).  We are reminded of this incident in several other places in Scripture, such as..

Psalm 106:32-33
They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account, for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips. 

Compare Moses' blessing of the tribes with Jacob's blessings of the tribes (see pages 93-94 or Genesis 49). We noticed that when blessing the tribe of Levi, Moses relates that the Levites cared more for the keeping of the Word and the covenant than they did for their families. This illustrates the devotion of the Levites toward God and their duties.

God gives a great blessing to the tribe of Levi.
“Bless all his skills, O Lord, and be pleased with the work of his hands.”

Isn’t this a blessing that every Believer should want? No matter what our skills are; manual labor, missionary work, office work, teaching, ministering, nursing, housework, heads of corporations, etc. shouldn’t we want all our skills to be blessed?
Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

The people are reminded again that God will drive out their enemies, so that they can live in safety in a land full of grain and new wine.

Deuteronomy 33:29
Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord?  He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword.  Your enemies will cower before you and you will trample down their high places. 

Most often in Scripture when high places are mentioned, it refers to pagan altars.  In subsequent readings, we will find that God instructs His people repeatedly to destroy the high places and every remnant of anything pagan.  Some of the more modern versions of the Bible replace the phrase "high places" with other words, watering down the meaning.  Can we make connections with "high places" in our lives today?

Scripture says that when Moses died “his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.”
Sounds as if he was still healthy and strong. It's just that his time was up. His eyes must have been pretty strong to be able to see all that land from the top of Mount Nebo! Moses was able to “see” from the tip of the Dead Sea (Zoar) to way north of the Sea of Galilee (Dan and Naphalti).
Pretty impressive! But even more impressive than that is the following:

"...no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face..."
Now that's impressive!

Numerous points to ponder and current applications in today's reading.

In Deuteronomy 31 God tells Moses that His people will soon turn away from him and break the covenant.  In verse 17 God says, "I will forsake them...I will hide my face from them."  God is telling Moses that He will remove His hand of protection and allow them to suffer the consequences of their disobedience.

Deuteronomy 31:26
Take this book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, so that it may be there for a witness against you.
God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on stone.  Moses wrote all the other commandments, laws, decrees, etc at the dictation of God.  The Ten Commandments were placed inside the Ark of the Covenant. Exodus 25:16  And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you. 
But God instructed Moses to place what he wrote beside the Ark of the Covenant.  It seems that the Ten Commandments will be preserved forever.

The Song of Moses gave us "food for thought". God told Moses that this song will testify against the Israelites when they sin. It is a judgment against Israel and also a judgment against us as individual believers and us as a church and a nation.

Here is a great verse to ponder.
"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants."
God is telling us that even though He chastises us, it will be good for us because it gives us an opportunity to change.

Deuteronomy 32:15-22 has a verse hidden away, "...gods that recently appeared..." We thought about many "gods" that have recently appeared in our culture today...sports, leisure activities, rock stars, movie stars, politicians, etc. We can "fill in the blank" with anything that pulls us away from an abiding relationship with HIM.

There are some definite modern day applications to the next few verses.
Deuteronomy 32:23-27,
"wasting famine, consuming pestilence, deadly plague" - sounds like addictions, Aids, STDs, etc.
"in their homes terror will reign" - home invasions?
perish- "infants and gray haired men." - abortions and euthanasia?
"a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them." - bad political and economic decisions, arming our enemies?
"Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah" -homosexuality, sexual perversion?

There is a warning in Deuteronomy 32:34-38 but in Deuteronomy 32:47a God reminds them about the words of the law.
"They are not just idle words for you - they are your life."
How very true!

There is a great book we would recommend, The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn and the video The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment. It relates prophecies for Israel with America today.

In all of our spiritual battles, this promise should empower and encourage us. “The Lord himself goes before you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” 
Of course, we should obey Him to truly benefit from these promises.

Discouragement is one of the Devil’s Deadly Ds. If we give in to discouragement it inevitably leads to doubt. Satan will whisper in our ears the same thing he whispered to Eve, “Did God really say….”

God warns Moses that the people will be unfaithful. He calls it prostitution. When we are unfaithful to God, with some gain for us, that is spiritual prostitution.  When we engage in sinful activities or profit in some way from sinful activities we are committing spiritual prostitution.

The Song of Moses is mentioned again in Revelation 15. John saw those who had been victorious over the beast and his image. They were singing the Song of Moses.
Revelation 15:3-4
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are Your ways, O King of saints. Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You only are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your righteousnesses were made known. 
Compare this song in Revelation to the one in Deuteronomy.  Quite a contrast!

Deuteronomy 32:18
You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Ever wonder who the Rock was? Paul tells us.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

Here's a great little verse giving us assurance that our salvation is secure!
Deuteronomy 32:39
"See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.

Oh, and here's another one...
2 Corinthians 1:21-22
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Assurance of salvation?  Any doubts???

As the people prepare to go into the land of Canaan, God through Moses, renews His covenant with His people. There are multiple blessings if they obey and multiple curses if they do not. Look again at Leviticus 26:14-42 from yesterday's reading. Notice the progression of the punishment for their disobedience. Each stage of punishment gets worse than the one before ranging from diseases to hunger so intense that the people resort to eating their children. Finally, their punishment reaches a crescendo when the people no longer have peace. They will suffer physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. They live with an anxious mind and are in constant suspense, fearful of even a "windblown leaf". (Leviticus 26:36).  The biblical and historical record documents that this is exactly what happens to the nations of Israel and Judah.  Because of our national disobedience to God, what is the future for the United States?

And then Moses reminds the people of all that God has done for them. He reminds them that God sets before them "life and prosperity, death and destruction". (Deuteronomy 30:15)

All the promises made to Israel are also promises made to those who believe in Jesus.

Notice all the times the word "if" is used.  The use of the word "if" means the people are given a choice.

One of the curses of oppression found in Deuteronomy 28 was confusion of mind.  This is so prevalent in the religious establishment and in our churches today.  There is confusion. But there shouldn't be.  Truth never changes.  People's perception of the truth is dependent on whether or not they are listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The curses listed in today's reading are literal curses but if we really think about it, they are spiritual as well.
"The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder..." Reminiscent of the dust bowl of the 1930s in the US?  There was a famine in the land.  Is there a spiritual famine today - a famine of hearing the Word - of hearing the truth?

As we read about the curses of captivity in Deuteronomy 28, it seems as if things can't get much worse than this.  It is a description of a totally godless people.

The people are reminded to be cautious in turning to the right or to the left following other gods and serving them. Good advice for all of us today as well. There will always be something on each side for us to follow after instead of keeping our focus on Him.  The ways of the world are very seductive.

In Deuteronomy 27 Moses tells the people to"write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up."  What great advice for the people then.  Are the commands of God being taught clearly to us today?

Deuteronomy 27:15
Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol - a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of the craftsman's hands - and sets it up in secret."
Makes one think about the tradition that some people have of burying the statue of St. Joseph in the yard of a house for sale, and then praying for St. Joseph to intervene in the sale of the house.  Don't think that is pleasing to God for a number of reasons.

Have you ever really thought about the verse, “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”?

God never asks us to do anything that is beyond our capabilities. He does set a very high standard though doesn’t He? Sometimes we may think it is insurmountable but He promises us that it isn’t. Why?
“…the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”

How do we get the word in our mouth and in our heart? Would that be possible if we only spend a few minutes each week listening to a sermon? Or if we only spend a few minutes each week in prayer? Or if we only spend a few minutes each week in any kind of daily devotional? Or if we only spend a few minutes each week reading His Word?  Don’t think so!

In Leviticus 19:2 we are told to "Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy." 
Now this seems to be an impossible task.  What human (other than Jesus) could be holy as God is holy?  That's a rather tall order, wouldn't you say?   Well, of course it is if we try to do it on our own.  But in today's reading, we have this great promise in Leviticus 22.
"I am the Lord who makes you holy..."
Wow!  HE is the one to make us holy!

God again lays out the punishments for disobedience.  In Leviticus 26:27-35 some very specific consequences are spelled out.  All these consequences happened when Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem and the people were taken into Babylonian captivity.  The people were warned way ahead of time.  One of the things listed in this passage is that God collected on his seventy years of violated Sabbaths (in which they were not honored).

And yet another offer is presented from the Father to His children if they follow His decrees and commands. Just read again all the blessings of obedience listed in Leviticus 26:3-13. It sounds almost as a description of the Millennial Kingdom or the Garden of Eden. If they had obeyed, they would have entered the land under millennial conditions. This time He promises them all of this and once again, he promises “I will walk among you.”
2 Corinthians 6:16-18
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.""Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

As in yesterday's reading, we are reminded again of avoiding anything indecent. That means staying away from those who might pull us away from God. And again, we are reminded that we are to be different and separate from the world around us. This is not to say that we must remove ourselves from the world, but we are to show ourselves to the world to be different - different in God's ways!
Ephesians 5:11
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 

Have no fellowship with people and activities of a sinful nature.  Not to say that we shouldn't witness to them, but do not join in their activities. 

Even now He promises us an abundant life with Him if we only listen and obey!

Under the punishments for disobedience, in each stage of punishment, God gives them a chance to repent. Then when they disobey, each stage of the punishment gets worse than the one before. Look at the progression:
1. Sudden terror, diseases, and seeds don't grow
2. Punishment seven times over - soil will not yield
3. Multiple afflictions seven times over, wild animals devour children and cattle
4. Suffer the effects of multiple afflictions - plague, sent into enemies' hands, food cut off
5. Punishment seven times over - they will eat their children, cities are in ruin, land is laid waste, people are scattered among the nations
6. Anything left will live in constant fear even though no one is pursuing them
7. They will perish among the nations

Look at the progression from the first to the seventh. But God....

Leviticus 26:46
These are the decrees, laws, and the regulations that the Lord established on Mount Sinai...
All these were given to Moses during the trips up the mountain.  It all began with only the "Big 10".  God added more because of their disobedience.  Many lessons for us to learn from this!

In all the laws God gave to Moses for the people, He made provisions of benevolence toward others.  In the custom of gleaning, some remnants are left over for the alien, fatherless, and the widow, but the remnants were not picked and handed to them, they had to go gather them for themselves.  This was God's welfare system of that day. Unlike our welfare system today in which recipients are not required to work.  Our government does not always follow Biblical principles. No surprise there.

2 Thessalonians 3:10
For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, that if anyone would not work, neither should he eat. 
Paul was very clear as he related the practical application of the law.  However, there are those who are incapable of working and of course these are the exceptions.

It was through this custom of gleaning and providing for the alien and widow that Boaz was introduced to Ruth…and we know where that led.
Ruth 4:13
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
Ruth 4:17b
And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. (ancestor of Jesus)

Again God warns the Israelites about the nations teaching them to follow their detestable ways and not God's ways, the worst of which is the worship of other "gods", a direct violation of the first of the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 23:14
For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

Can we even begin to wrap our minds around this one? The Lord moves about in our "camp" to protect us and deliver our enemies to us, spiritually speaking. But in order for the Lord to do this for us, our "camp" must be holy, containing nothing indecent. When we do anything indecent, He will turn away. Makes a person want to evaluate everything; what we say, what we do, who we hang out with, what we watch on TV, what kinds of movies we watch, what kind of books we read, what kind of music we listen to etc.... Would anything we see, say, or do be considered indecent in the Lord's eyes?

Many of the dietary and health regulations listed in Deuteronomy and Leviticus are just plain common sense. It seems that many of the animals, fish, and birds listed as unclean are those who either eat meat or are scavengers.

Leviticus 17:11
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.
Couldn’t help but think of Jesus on this one. It is through His shed blood that we have atonement for our sins.

Colossians 1:19-20
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

While we may not want to commit to memory the qualifications for clean and unclean animals, it is good to have it there for us to refer back to, especially when telling the story of Noah's ark.  Not all the animals went into the ark in pairs of two only.
Genesis 7:2
You shall take with you every clean animal by sevens, the male and female. And take two of the animals that are not clean, the male and female. 

Rather a strange command concerning cooking a young goat in its mother's milk.  Mixtures of milk (or cheese) and meat are prohibited according to Jewish law.  Today, strict Jews do not eat cheeseburgers because it is a mixture of cheese and meat. Jesus freed us from that restriction.
According to the Talmud, these almost identical references are the basis for three distinct dietary laws:

• the prohibition against cooking a mixture of milk and meat
• the prohibition against eating a cooked mixture of milk and meat
• the prohibition against deriving any benefit from a cooked mixture of milk and meat.

And there is also this explanation.
"It was a custom with the ancient heathens, when they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a kid, and boil it in the dam's milk; and then in a magical way, to go about and sprinkle all their trees, and fields, and gardens, and orchards with it, thinking by these means, that they should make them fruitful, and bring forth more abundantly in the following year. Wherefore, God forbad his people, at the time of their in-gathering, to use any such superstitious or idolatrous rite.
Dr. Cudworth, from a MS. comment of a Karaïte Jew.

Many of the strict regulations concerning diet are to demonstrate to the nations that Gods people are to be different, that they are to stand out.
Leviticus 20:26
You are to be holy to Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and have set you apart from the nations, to be my own.

As we struggle through the reading of the laws and regulations, imagine what a struggle it was for the people to keep the law.
Romans 7:6-7a
But now we having been set free from the Law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter.  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Let it not be said! But I did not know sin except through the law. 

The prophet Amos wrote about a plumb line.

“Look, I am setting up a plumb line among my people…”

What a great visual He has given us. His Word is our plumb line that helps us to be aware of our sin. It shows us how far off we are.  It is with this plumb line that we can compare our lives, our actions, our motives, our thoughts. It is through the law that we know what actions and motives and thoughts are sinful. 

“You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean…”
Romans 7:7 spells it out very clearly.  How would the Israelites know what things were unclean if they did not have the law? We hear many sermons and can read many books about God's love, mercy, and grace but we hear few sermons or read few books about God's law.

In all the rituals concerning people with infectious diseases, leprosy, boils, burns, etc. there is no mention of a cure. They were simply separated from the general population. Jesus came with cures, not just for the physical but for the spiritual as well.

2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
If only we would keep ourselves separate from things that contaminate us.
Praise God, He sees us as "clean" through the blood of Jesus!

In today's reading, there is a provision for the Israelite men to marry foreign women. At first this sounds like a contradiction. Earlier God had warned them against marrying the inhabitants of the land saying that the foreigners would lure them away from Him. This provision is for marrying a captive woman. This woman would be considered "spoils of war"." The captive woman has no ties, no surviving family, or anyone to support her in drawing the man away from God.

At the heart of the marriage relationship is the idea of faithfulness to the vows of commitment. Faithfulness is important both in marriage and in the people's relationship with God. Their unfaithfulness to God is considered spiritual adultery."
-quote from the Chronological Bible comments

Spiritual adultery happens when believers in Jesus break their vows of commitment and follow after other gods.

In Leviticus 18 homosexual practices are forbidden. 
Leviticus 18:22
You shall not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination to God. 

This was confirmed by Paul in his letter to the Romans.
Romans 1:27
Likewise, their men have given up natural sexual relations with women and burn with lust for each other. Men commit indecent acts with men, so they experience among themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion. 
There is no room here for interpretation. It says what it says and means what it says!  Homosexuality is wrong!  It is an abomination to God.

Deuteronomy 22:5 forbids women to wear men's clothing and men to wear women's clothing.  Many people use this verse to say that women shouldn't wear pants. But what kind of clothing did men wear at the time this was written?  They didn't wear pants like men do today.  They wore tunics or robes.

According to the law, the penalty for adultery is the death of both parties involved.
(Deuteronomy 22:22, Leviticus 20:10)

There is a New Testament connection.  When the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery, notice they didn’t bring in the man with her. (John 8:3-11) Could it be that some of those men who were standing around the woman were guilty themselves? Is that what Jesus wrote on the ground…their names or their sins?  Was Jesus accusing them one at a time of having committed adultery with her by writing their names on the ground?  Is that why they dropped their stones and left? Just a thought...

All the woman's accusers left, one by one. Jesus told the woman that He didn't condemn her. But He also declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

The sin is condemned, but not the repentant sinner. Praise God for that!

A line in the commentary in today's reading on page 267 concerning God's laws on personal rights and remedies is "These civil laws are designed to regulate daily activities in a fair manner for each citizen and to instill a sense of order throughout society."  Today at times it seems as if there is little order in society. However, it we would obey God's laws we would enjoy an equitable, orderly society.  

One of the promises of obedience that God gave was this.
"...you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none..."
Deuteronomy 15:6
What connections can we make today to the United States in regards to borrowing from other nations?

A great welfare system that God put in place – be openhanded toward your brothers. This command from the Lord has some stipulations. It is based on three important words; brother, lend, and need. Open-handedness should be to the brothers (believers and relatives) first. This was to be a loan with the expectation of being paid back, without interest. And it was to be based on needs, not on wants. God said, “There will always be poor in the land.”

John also recorded these same words from Jesus.
John 12:8
You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

Jesus was probably talking in this case about the poor in worldly possessions. A woman had just poured out some costly perfume on Jesus (a year's wage to be exact).  Judas wanted the perfume sold and given to the poor (or at least that's what he said).  However, there are also spiritually poor among us. What is our responsibility to them?

We should feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty, but we should also tell them about the "Bread of Life" and the "Living Water".
We should house the homeless, but we should also tell them that in "our Father's house are many mansions".
We should clothe the naked, but we should also tell them about the "garments of righteousness".
We shouldn't really do one without the other.  God called us to do both, to take care of physical needs but to also take care of spiritual needs. Tall order!