To The Word – Day 62

₁Then Joshua called together the people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. ₂He said to them, “You have done everything that Moses the LORD's servant ordered you to do, and you have obeyed all my commands. ₃All this time you have never once deserted your fellow-Israelites. You have been careful to obey the commands of the LORD your God. ₄Now, as he promised, the LORD your God has given your fellow-Israelites peace. So go back home to the land which you claimed for your own, the land on the east side of the Jordan, that Moses, the LORD's servant, gave you. ₅Make sure you obey the law that Moses commanded you: love the LORD your God, do his will, obey his commandments, be faithful to him, and serve him with all your heart and soul.” _6-8Joshua sent them home with his blessing and with these words: “You are going back home very rich, with a lot of livestock, silver, gold, bronze, iron, and many clothes. Share with your fellow-tribesmen what you took from your enemies.” Then they left for home.

Moses had given land east of the Jordan to one half of the tribe of Manasseh, but to the other half Joshua had given land west of the Jordan, along with the other tribes.

₉So the people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh went back home. They left the rest of the people of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and started out for their own land, the land of Gilead, which they had taken as the LORD had commanded them through Moses.

₁₀When the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh arrived at Geliloth, still on the west side of the Jordan, they built a large, impressive altar there by the river. ₁₁The rest of the people of Israel were told, “Listen! The people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh have built an altar at Geliloth, on our side of the Jordan!” ₁₂When the people of Israel heard this, the whole community came together at Shiloh to go to war against the eastern tribes.

₁₃Then the people of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh in the land of Gilead. ₁₄Ten leading men went with Phinehas, one from each of the western tribes and each one the head of a family among the clans. ₁₅They came to the land of Gilead, to the people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh, ₁₆and speaking for the whole community of the LORD, they said to them, “Why have you done this evil thing against the God of Israel? You have rebelled against the LORD by building this altar for yourselves! You are no longer following him! ₁₇Remember our sin at Peor, when the LORD punished his own people with an epidemic? We are still suffering because of that. Wasn't that sin enough? ₁₈Are you going to refuse to follow him now? If you rebel against the LORD today, he will be angry with everyone in Israel tomorrow. ₁₉Now then, if your land is not fit to worship in, come over into the LORD's land, where his Tent is. Claim some land among us. But don't rebel against the LORD or make rebels out of us by building an altar in addition to the altar of the LORD our God. ₂₀Remember how Achan son of Zerah refused to obey the command about the things condemned to destruction; the whole community of Israel was punished for that. Achan was not the only one who died because of his sin.”

₂₁The people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered the heads of the families of the western tribes: ₂₂“The Mighty One is God! He is the LORD! The Mighty One is God! He is the LORD! He knows why we did this, and we want you to know too! If we rebelled and did not keep faith with the LORD, do not let us live any longer! ₂₃If we disobeyed the LORD and built our own altar to burn sacrifices on or to use for grain offerings or fellowship offerings, let the LORD himself punish us. ₂₄No! We did it because we were afraid that in the future your descendants would say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? ₂₅He made the Jordan a boundary between us and you people of Reuben and Gad. You have nothing to do with the LORD.’ Then your descendants might make our descendants stop worshipping the LORD. ₂₆So we built an altar, not to burn sacrifices or make offerings, ₂₇but instead, as a sign for our people and yours, and for the generations after us, that we do indeed worship the LORD before his sacred Tent with our offerings to be burnt and with sacrifices and fellowship offerings. This was to keep your descendants from saying that ours have nothing to do with the LORD. ₂₈It was our idea that, if this should ever happen, our descendants could say, ‘Look! Our ancestors made an altar just like the LORD's altar. It was not for burning offerings or for sacrifice, but as a sign for our people and yours.’ ₂₉We would certainly not rebel against the LORD or stop following him now by building an altar to burn offerings on or for grain offerings or sacrifices. We would not build any other altar than the altar of the LORD our God that stands in front of the Tent of his presence.”

₃₀Phinehas the priest and the ten leading men of the community who were with him, the heads of families of the western tribes, heard what the people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh had to say, and they were satisfied. ₃₁Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, said to them, “Now we know that the LORD is with us. You have not rebelled against him, and so you have saved the people of Israel from the LORD's punishment.”

₃₂Then Phinehas and the leaders left the people of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead and went back to Canaan, to the people of Israel, and reported to them. ₃₃The Israelites were satisfied and praised God. They no longer talked about going to war to devastate the land where the people of Reuben and Gad had settled.

₃₄The people of Reuben and Gad said, “This altar is a witness to all of us that the LORD is God.” And so they named it “Witness”.

₁Much later the LORD gave Israel security from their enemies around them. By that time Joshua was very old, ₂so he called all Israel, the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of the people, and said, “I am very old now. ₃You have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you. The LORD your God has been fighting for you. ₄I have assigned as the possession of your tribes the land of the nations that are still left, as well as of all the nations that I have already conquered, from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. ₅The LORD your God will make them retreat from you, and he will drive them away as you advance. You shall have their land, as the LORD your God has promised you. ₆So be careful to obey and do everything that is written in the book of the Law of Moses. Do not neglect any part of it, ₇and then you will not associate with these peoples left among you or speak the names of their gods or use those names in taking vows or worship those gods or bow down to them. ₈Instead, be faithful to the LORD, as you have been till now. ₉The LORD has driven great and powerful nations out as you advanced and no one has ever been able to stand against you. ₁₀Any one of you can make a thousand men run away, because the LORD your God is fighting for you, just as he promised. ₁₁Be careful, then, to love the LORD your God. ₁₂If you are disloyal and join with the nations that are still left among you and intermarry with them, ₁₃you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive these nations out as you advance. Rather, they will be as dangerous for you as a trap or a pit and as painful as a whip on your back or thorns in your eyes. And this will last until none of you are left in this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

₁₄“Now my time has come to die. Every one of you knows in his heart and soul that the LORD your God has given you all the good things that he promised. Every promise he made has been kept; not one has failed. ₁₅But just as he kept every promise that he made to you, so he will carry out every threat. ₁₆If you do not keep the covenant which the LORD your God commanded you to keep and if you serve and worship other gods, then in his anger he will punish you, and soon none of you will be left in this good land that he has given you.”

₁Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem. He called the elders, the leaders, the judges, and the officers of Israel, and they came into the presence of God. ₂Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, has to say: ‘Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the River Euphrates and worshipped other gods. One of those ancestors was Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor. ₃Then I took Abraham, your ancestor, from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him through the whole land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, ₄and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Edom as his possession, but your ancestor Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. ₅Later I sent Moses and Aaron, and I brought great trouble on Egypt. But I led you out; ₆I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and cavalry. But when your ancestors got to the Red Sea ₇they cried out to me for help, and I put darkness between them and the Egyptians. I made the sea come rolling over the Egyptians and drown them. You know what I did to Egypt.

“ ‘You lived in the desert a long time. ₈Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the east side of the Jordan. They fought you, but I gave you victory over them. You took their land, and I destroyed them as you advanced. ₉Then the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, fought against you. He sent word to Balaam son of Beor and asked him to put a curse on you. ₁₀But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you, and in this way I rescued you from Balak. ₁₁You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I gave you victory over them all. ₁₂As you advanced, I threw them into panic in order to drive out the two Amorite kings. Your swords and bows had nothing to do with it. ₁₃I gave you a land that you had never cultivated and cities that you had not built. Now you are living there and eating grapes from vines that you did not plant, and olives from trees that you did not plant.’

₁₄“Now then,” Joshua continued, “honour the LORD and serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods which your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only the LORD. ₁₅If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshipped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the LORD.”

₁₆The people replied, “We would never leave the LORD to serve other gods! ₁₇The LORD our God brought our fathers and us out of slavery in Egypt, and we saw the miracles that he performed. He kept us safe wherever we went among all the nations through which we passed. ₁₈As we advanced into this land, the LORD drove out all the Amorites who lived here. So we also will serve the LORD; he is our God.”

₁₉Joshua said to the people, “But you may not be able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God and will not forgive your sins. He will tolerate no rivals, ₂₀and if you leave him to serve foreign gods, he will turn against you and punish you. He will destroy you, even though he was good to you before.”

₂₁The people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”

₂₂Joshua said to them, “You are your own witnesses to the fact that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”

“Yes,” they said, “we are witnesses.”

₂₃“Then get rid of those foreign gods that you have,” he demanded, “and pledge your loyalty to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

₂₄The people then said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God. We will obey his commands.”

₂₅So Joshua made a covenant for the people that day, and there at Shechem he gave them laws and rules to follow. ₂₆Joshua wrote these commands in the book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak tree in the LORD's sanctuary. ₂₇He said to all the people, “This stone will be our witness. It has heard all the words that the LORD has spoken to us. So it will be a witness against you, to keep you from rebelling against your God.” ₂₈Then Joshua sent the people away, and they all returned to their own part of the land.

₂₉After that, the LORD's servant Joshua son of Nun died at the age of 110. ₃₀They buried him on his own land at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

₃₁As long as Joshua lived, the people of Israel served the LORD, and after his death they continued to do so as long as those leaders were alive who had seen for themselves everything that the LORD had done for Israel.

₃₂The body of Joseph, which the people of Israel had brought from Egypt, was buried at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. This land was inherited by Joseph's descendants.

₃₃Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, the town in the hill country of Ephraim which had been given to his son Phinehas.

₁“My fellow-Jews, listen to me as I make my defence before you!” ₂When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even quieter; and Paul went on:

₃“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in Jerusalem as a student of Gamaliel. I received strict instruction in the Law of our ancestors and was just as dedicated to God as are all of you who are here today. ₄I persecuted to the death the people who followed this Way. I arrested men and women and threw them into prison. ₅The High Priest and the whole Council can prove that I am telling the truth. I received from them letters written to fellow-Jews in Damascus, so I went there to arrest these people and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem to be punished.

₆“As I was travelling and coming near Damascus, about midday a bright light from the sky flashed suddenly round me. ₇I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ ₈‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute,’ he said to me. ₉The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. ₁₀I asked, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ and the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that God has determined for you to do.’ ₁₁I was blind because of the bright light, and so my companions took me by the hand and led me into Damascus.

₁₂“In that city was a man named Ananias, a religious man who obeyed our Law and was highly respected by all the Jews living there. ₁₃He came to me, stood by me, and said, ‘Brother Saul, see again!’ At that very moment I saw again and looked at him. ₁₄He said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see his righteous Servant, and to hear him speaking with his own voice. ₁₅For you will be a witness for him to tell everyone what you have seen and heard. ₁₆And now, why wait any longer? Get up and be baptized and have your sins washed away by praying to him.’

₁₇“I went back to Jerusalem, and while I was praying in the Temple, I had a vision, ₁₈in which I saw the Lord, as he said to me, ‘Hurry and leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your witness about me.’ ₁₉‘Lord,’ I answered, ‘they know very well that I went to the synagogues and arrested and beat those who believe in you. ₂₀And when your witness Stephen was put to death, I myself was there, approving of his murder and taking care of the cloaks of his murderers.’ ₂₁‘Go,’ the Lord said to me, ‘for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

₂₂The people listened to Paul until he said this; but then they started shouting at the top of their voices, “Away with him! Kill him! He's not fit to live!” ₂₃They were screaming, waving their clothes, and throwing dust up in the air. ₂₄The Roman commander ordered his men to take Paul into the fort, and he told them to whip him in order to find out why the Jews were screaming like this against him. ₂₅But when they had tied him up to be whipped, Paul said to the officer standing there, “Is it lawful for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't even been tried for any crime?”

₂₆When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked him, “What are you doing? That man is a Roman citizen!”

₂₇So the commander went to Paul and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes,” answered Paul.

₂₈The commander said, “I became one by paying a large amount of money.”

“But I am one by birth,” Paul answered.

₂₉At once the men who were going to question Paul drew back from him; and the commander was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had put him in chains.

₃₀The commander wanted to find out for certain what the Jews were accusing Paul of; so the next day he had Paul's chains taken off and ordered the chief priests and the whole Council to meet. Then he took Paul and made him stand before them.

₁Paul looked straight at the Council and said, “My fellow-Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day.” ₂The High Priest Ananias ordered those who were standing close to Paul to strike him on the mouth. ₃Paul said to him, “God will certainly strike you — you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the Law, yet you break the Law by ordering them to strike me!”

₄The men close to Paul said to him, “You are insulting God's High Priest!”

₅Paul answered, “My fellow-Israelites, I did not know that he was the High Priest. The scripture says, ‘You must not speak evil of the ruler of your people.’ ”

₆When Paul saw that some of the group were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, he called out in the Council, “Fellow-Israelites! I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. I am on trial here because of the hope I have that the dead will rise to life!”

₇As soon as he said this, the Pharisees and Sadducees started to quarrel, and the group was divided. ₈(For the Sadducees say that people will not rise from death and that there are no angels or spirits; but the Pharisees believe in all three.) ₉The shouting became louder, and some of the teachers of the Law who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested strongly: “We cannot find anything wrong with this man! Perhaps a spirit or an angel really did speak to him!”

₁₀The argument became so violent that the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces. So he ordered his soldiers to go down into the group, get Paul away from them, and take him into the fort.

₁₁That night the Lord stood by Paul and said, “Don't be afraid! You have given your witness for me here in Jerusalem, and you must also do the same in Rome.”

₁₂The next morning some Jews met together and made a plan. They took a vow that they would not eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul. ₁₃There were more than forty who planned this together. ₁₄Then they went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have taken a solemn vow together not to eat a thing until we have killed Paul. ₁₅Now then, you and the Council send word to the Roman commander to bring Paul down to you, pretending that you want to get more accurate information about him. But we will be ready to kill him before he ever gets here.”

₁₆But the son of Paul's sister heard about the plot; so he went to the fort and told Paul. ₁₇Then Paul called one of the officers and said to him, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.” ₁₈The officer took him, led him to the commander, and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to say to you.”

₁₉The commander took him by the hand, led him off by himself, and asked him, “What have you got to tell me?”

₂₀He said, “The Jewish authorities have agreed to ask you tomorrow to take Paul down to the Council, pretending that the Council wants to get more accurate information about him. ₂₁But don't listen to them, because there are more than forty men who will be hiding and waiting for him. They have taken a vow not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are now ready to do it and are waiting for your decision.”

₂₂The commander said, “Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me.” And he sent the young man away.

₂₃Then the commander called two of his officers and said, “Get 200 soldiers ready to go to Caesarea, together with seventy horsemen and 200 spearmen, and be ready to leave by nine o'clock tonight. ₂₄Provide some horses for Paul to ride and get him safely through to the governor Felix.” ₂₅Then the commander wrote a letter that went like this:

₃₁The soldiers carried out their orders. They got Paul and took him that night as far as Antipatris. ₃₂The next day the foot soldiers returned to the fort and left the horsemen to go on with him. ₃₃They took him to Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and handed Paul over to him. ₃₄The governor read the letter and asked Paul what province he was from. When he found out that he was from Cilicia, ₃₅he said, “I will hear you when your accusers arrive.” Then he gave orders for Paul to be kept under guard in the governor's headquarters.

₁Five days later the High Priest Ananias went to Caesarea with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. They appeared before Felix and made their charges against Paul. ₂Then Paul was called in, and Tertullus began to make his accusation, as follows:

“Your Excellency! Your wise leadership has brought us a long period of peace, and many necessary reforms are being made for the good of our country. ₃We welcome this everywhere and at all times, and we are deeply grateful to you. ₄I do not want to take up too much of your time, however, so I beg you to be kind and listen to our brief account. ₅We found this man to be a dangerous nuisance; he starts riots among Jews all over the world and is a leader of the party of the Nazarenes. ₆He also tried to defile the Temple, and we arrested him. ₈If you question this man, you yourself will be able to learn from him all the things that we are accusing him of.” ₉The Jews joined in the accusation and said that all this was true.

₁₀The governor then motioned to Paul to speak, and Paul said,

“I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, and so I am happy to defend myself before you. ₁₁As you can find out for yourself, it was no more than twelve days ago that I went to Jerusalem to worship. ₁₂The Jews did not find me arguing with anyone in the Temple, nor did they find me stirring up the people, either in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. ₁₃Nor can they give you proof of the accusations they now bring against me. ₁₄I do admit this to you: I worship the God of our ancestors by following that Way which they say is false. But I also believe in everything written in the Law of Moses and the books of the prophets. ₁₅I have the same hope in God that these themselves have, namely, that all people, both the good and the bad, will rise from death. ₁₆And so I do my best always to have a clear conscience before God and human beings.

₁₇“After being away from Jerusalem for several years, I went there to take some money to my own people and to offer sacrifices. ₁₈It was while I was doing this that they found me in the Temple after I had completed the ceremony of purification. There was no crowd with me and no disorder. ₁₉But some Jews from the province of Asia were there; they themselves ought to come before you and make their accusations if they have anything against me. ₂₀Or let these who are here tell what crime they found me guilty of when I stood before the Council — ₂₁except for the one thing I called out when I stood before them: ‘I am being tried by you today for believing that the dead will rise to life.’ ”

₂₂Then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, brought the hearing to a close. “When Lysias the commander arrives,” he told them, “I will decide your case.” ₂₃He ordered the officer in charge of Paul to keep him under guard, but to give him some freedom and allow his friends to provide for his needs.

₂₄After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he talked about faith in Christ Jesus. ₂₅But as Paul went on discussing about goodness, self-control, and the coming Day of Judgement, Felix was afraid and said, “You may leave now. I will call you again when I get the chance.” ₂₆At the same time he was hoping that Paul would give him some money; and for this reason he would often send for him and talk with him.

₂₇After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix as governor. Felix wanted to gain favour with the Jews so he left Paul in prison.