Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 13, 1998
Joshua 3:1-14
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SERMON SUMMARY: As Israel entered the Promised Land it discovered God
can act in powerful ways, and we need to remind ourselves of this.
Believers can use religious rituals to reinforce their faith.
I. Moving out.
A. Travails of vacation get-away.
We plan on 6:00 am, lucky to leave by noon.
B. Jews are facing a more momentous move.
1) Permanent.
2) Into enemy territory.
3) To get anywhere in life, you must be prepared.
II. Take God with you.
A. Ark of Covenant. 3:3
1) Religious procession more than military maneuver.
2) Star of Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones movie.
a) Small - only two feet by two feet by four feet.
b) Covered in gold, with two cherubs (angels) on cover.
c) Symbolized God's presence among his people.
1> But didn't guarantee blessing.
2> Philistines captured it, and had to send it back.
3) Thousand yards distance - same as Sabbath day's journey. 3:4
a) Show respect for God.
B. Do you seek God's presence, guidance in your life?
1) We can consciously make God a part of our lives.
2) Put up a Bible verse or Christian calendar at work.
3) (Other ways to put God first.)
III. God can do amazing things. 3:5
A. Our God is a living God. 3:10
B. Getting across the hard way.
1) Authenticates Joshua as leader on same level as Moses. 3:7
2) Elements of miracle.
a) Note details of event:
1> River dammed up a distance away. 3:16
2> Mention of Adam.
b) The Jordan River has been naturally dammed up twice in
recent history, by clay banks collapsing around Adam.
c) Often triggered by an earthquake. (Other accounts in
Bible mention shaking of earth at this time.)
d) The fact that God may have used natural means does not
diminish the miraculous, because timing was perfect.
C. What kind of God do you have?
1) Is he alive for you, or just a story?
2) Do you trust him enough to be amazed?
IV. Remember God.
A. Stones in the river. 4:3
1) Common to raise memorials in the Old Testament.
2) We do the same thing.
During the days of the Gold Rush, a young man and his bride set
out across the country to make their fortunes.
Somewhere along the way, they drank some contaminated water and
the young bride became ill and died before they could reach
Fort Kearney in Nebraska.
Heartbroken, the young man took her body to the highest hill and
buried it, using the wagon bed to make a coffin.
He drove down some wooden stakes to mark the grave, thinking that
he would go on West and later come back.
But the more he thought about it, the more he was certain that
he couldn't go on.
He said to himself, "I'll forget where this is; I will never
remember it."
So, he retraced his steps all the way to St. Louis, Missouri.
He found a stonecutter and had him prepare a tombstone engraved
with the name "Susan Hale" along with the date of her birth
and death.
He tried in vain to get someone to haul it back for him, but all
the wagons going west were already overloaded, and no one would
help him.
Finally, he bought a wheelbarrow, put the stone in it, and walked
those weary miles back toward Fort Kearney, and set the stone up
on her grave.
It's a tender story.
The man knew that there was something he must never forget.
Here was a sacred spot on earth and he must always remember where
it was.
#3232
B. What do these stones mean? 4:6,21
1) Teaching tools for new generations.
a) Miracles in Bible not as common as some suppose.
b) Future generations needed a reminder.
2) What kind of spiritual events should YOU pass on?
a) Story of your conversion.
1> (visitors who remember being saved here)
b) Miraculous deliverances.
c) Episodes of failure and recommitment.
3) Rock reminders.
Paul Moede's family keeps a jar of smooth river stones
in the living room.
On each one a few words are written, and a date.
Wherever something spiritually significant happens in
their family, they write it down.
Some of the stones bring back strong memories of God's
protective power:
"July 4, 1989. God uses Ryan to save Adam from drowning."
Other stones show God's faithfulness in seemingly little
things:
"July 1993. Found Nana and PopPop after being separated
crossing the highway on vacation."
Even one of their preschoolers had a stone of faithfulness
which noted how God "turned an enemy into a friend."
Every family (and individual) needs a way to remember
God's acts in their behalf, some way to maintain the
perspective that He cares and is active in life.
#3205
V. Be committed to God.
A. Circumcision, a ritual of commitment. 5:7
1) Christian equivalent is baptism. Colossians 2:11-14
a) Circumcision is for babies - is baptism?
b) Physical babies, no, but spiritual babies, yes.
2) The physical procedure must have inner spiritual reality.
a) It begins in the heart. Romans 2:28-29
b) It shows we are set apart for God.
3) Are you this committed?
a) Baptism is more than a ritual of growing up.
b) Make a public commitment to Christ.
B. Passover, a ritual of remembering. 5:10
1) Christian equivalent is Lord's Supper.
a) Note that these two are only rituals Jesus commanded.
b) Therefore Baptists call them ordinances.
2) Celebrating the passover tied them in with the past.
C. Encountering God. 5:13
1) Joshua meets supernatural general.
a) Dangerous mood is set.
b) Angel of the Lord?
2) Whose side are you on?
a) Angel's answer puts everything in perspective.
God is sovereign.
b) It is never a question whether God is on our side,
but whether we are on his. ARE YOU?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#3205, Discipleship Journal, #88, "Here I Raise My What? [Ebenezer]," by
Paul Moede, page 90, 7/1/95.
#3232, "Mastering The Old Testament: Exodus," by Maxie Dunnam, page 249,
1987.
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FURTHER NOTES, from Galaxie Software's "The Theological Journal Library CD,
version 2" (a superb value at $85: 1-800-425-2943).
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
31/4 (December 1988) 399-406
The Ebal Ceremony As Hebrew Land Grant?
Andrew E. Hill
The two-phase implementation of the land-grant ceremony within the treaty-
renewal structure of Deuteronomy as recorded in Joshua 4 and 8 also confirms
this basic understanding of Deuteronomy 27. Since the goal of Israel's
covenant relationship with Yahweh was possession of the land, Israel had to
be the legal heir of Yahweh before he could grant them Canaan in accordance
with the promise made to the patriarchs. As in the case of the ancient Near
Eastern king whose reign was legitimized by his adoption by the gods, so
Yahweh's adoption of Israel was necessary to legitimize their possession and
rule of the land of Canaan as his fief. Following convention similar to that
of the Aramean treaty, the rite of circumcision performed at Gilgal in Joshua
4 and 5 after Israel's initial penetration of Canaan is likely the equivalent
to the vassal's oath certifying total obedience to the exactions of the
overlord.17 Circumcision as Israel's oath of adoption (on Canaanite soil)
finalized their entrance into formal covenant relationship with Yahweh and
marked them (literally) as his people and treasured possession (Deut 26:17-
19; 27:9). The surprising lack of reference to the reading of the law (also
true in 27:1-13) or sacrifice along with the erection of duplicate pillars or
stone monuments seems to strengthen the contention that the focus of the rite
accomplishing the sign of the covenant was indeed the people of Israel and
the land of Canaan_not the law or covenant renewal. Even the duplicate
monuments raised in the middle of the Jordan and at Gilgal are strangely akin
to the duplicate documents of the royal land grant.18
The Israelite interpretation of the Ebal ceremony prescribed in Deuteronomy
27 is registered in Josh 8:30-35. The correspondence of the prescription
with the actual ritual is palpable, as the following outline illustrates:
Joshua 4 and 5 as Oath of Adoption in Canaan
Duplicate Stone Monuments, 4:4-7
Rite of Circumcision, 5:2-9
Joshua 8 as Land Grant and Covenant Renewal in Canaan
Construction of Altar/Offering of Sacrifices, 8:30-31 = Deut 27:5-7
Writing Law on Stele, 8:32 = Deut 27:2-8
Blessing the People/Ebal Ritual, 8:33 = Deut 27:11-26
Reading the Law, 8:34
In Joshua 4, Israel's oath of adoption formalized their relationship to
Yahweh as the people of his covenant. Here in Joshua 8 the second phase of
Israel's alliance by treaty with Yahweh is formalized after initial conquest
in Canaan (cf. Josh 6:1-8:29, the destruction of Jericho and Ai). Even as
the sign of covenant bound the people of Israel to Yahweh, so the enactment
of the land-grant ceremony bound the people of Yahweh to the land of Canaan.
The reading of the law at the conclusion of this combination land-grant and
covenant-renewal ceremony placed Israel and the land under the jurisdiction
of Yahweh's law and thus completed the purpose of covenant renewal in Canaan:
the joining of people to land to law under Yahweh as overlord. This entire
reconstruction is consonant with the intentions of the Deuteronomie
historian, and the consistent parallels to ancient Near Eastern treaty forms
attest both the antiquity of the documents utilized and the skill of the
Deuteronomist in composing a logical and balanced narrative tracing Israel's
"covenant history."
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