Joshua 8:1 Yahveh said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all the troops with you and attack Ai. Notice, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land.
Joshua 8:2 Treat Ai and its king as you did Jericho and its king, except that you may plunder its spoil and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
Joshua 8:3 So Joshua and all the troops set out to attack Ai. Joshua selected thirty thousand of his most capable soldiers and sent them out at night.
Joshua 8:4 He commanded them: “Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready.
Joshua 8:5 Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will run from them.
Joshua 8:6 They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city because they will say, ‘They are running from us like before.’ While we are running from them,
Joshua 8:7 you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city. Yahveh, your God will hand it over to you.
Joshua 8:8 After taking the city, set it on fire. Follow Yahveh’s command – see that you do as I have ordered you.”
Joshua 8:9 So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.
Joshua 8:10 Joshua started early the next morning and mobilized them. Then, he and the elders of Israel led the troops up to Ai.
Joshua 8:11 All those with him went up and approached the city, arriving opposite Ai, and camped to the north of it, with a valley between them and the city.
Joshua 8:12 Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
Joshua 8:13 The troops were positioned as follows: the main camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the town. That night, Joshua went into the valley.
Joshua 8:14 When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, the men of the city hurried and went out early in the morning so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle at a suitable place facing the Arabah. But he did not know there was an ambush waiting for him behind the city.
Joshua 8:15 Joshua and all of Israel pretended to be beaten back by them and ran toward the wilderness.
Joshua 8:16 Then all the troops of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
Joshua 8:17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city exposed while they pursued Israel.
Joshua 8:18 Then Yahveh said to Joshua, “Hold out the javelin in your hand toward Ai because I will hand the city over to you.” So Joshua held out his javelin toward it.
Joshua 8:19 When he held out his hand, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position. They ran, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
Joshua 8:20 The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.
Joshua 8:21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.
Joshua 8:22 Then men in ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces, some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained,
Joshua 8:23 but they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
Joshua 8:24 When Israel had finished killing everyone living in Ai who had pursued them into the open country, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the sword.
Joshua 8:25 The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was twelve thousand – all the people of Ai.
Joshua 8:26 Joshua drew back his hand that was holding the javelin when all the inhabitants of Ai were set apart for destruction.
Joshua 8:27 Israel plundered only the cattle and spoil of that city for themselves, according to Yahveh’s command that he had given Joshua.
Joshua 8:28 Joshua burned Ai and left it a permanent mound of ruins, still a sinister desolation today.
Joshua 8:29 He hung the body of the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset, Joshua commanded that they take his body down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and put a large pile of rocks over it, which remains today.
Joshua 8:30 At that time, Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to Yahveh, the God of Israel,
Joshua 8:31 just like Moses Yahveh’s slave had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. Then, they offered burnt offerings to Yahveh and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it.
Joshua 8:32 There on the stones, Joshua copied the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the Israelites.
Joshua 8:33 All Israel – resident alien and citizen alike – with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark of Yahveh’s covenant facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses Yahveh’s slave had commanded earlier concerning blessing the people of Israel.
Joshua 8:34 Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of instruction—the blessings as well as the curses—according to what was written in the book of instruction.
Joshua 8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, the dependents, and the resident aliens who lived among them.
10 Joy and happiness disappear from the orchards, and in the vineyards no one rejoices or shouts; no one treads out juice in the wine vats — I have brought the joyful shouts to an end. 11 So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, my inner being sighs for Kir Hareseth. 12 When the Moabites plead with all their might at their high places, and enter their temples to pray, their prayers will be ineffective!
When we studied the poetry of the Bible, such as the Psalms, we primarily examined words coming from humans directed toward or about God. But now we’re looking at a different genre. We are focusing on literature that is mostly directly from God through a human prophet. It’s important to understand that the direction differs in prophecy. Prophecy involves words from God through the prophet, whereas poetry involves words from humans about God or to God.
All of these words in the Bible come directly from God, the Holy Spirit, in that He inspired them. He inspired poets to say what was needed for the songs to be written. In the Old Testament’s prophecy section, we see words from God the Holy Spirit as a testimony from God Himself. Today, we often use the word prophecy to refer to predictions. Some of these are found in the Old Testament prophets. For example, messianic prophecies throughout the Bible predict the coming Messiah; many were fulfilled at Jesus’ first advent when He was born. Others were fulfilled during His earthly ministry, and some are yet to be fulfilled at His second coming. The second coming is a primary focus of Old Testament prophecy. While many messianic prophecies appear in the Old Testament prophets, most prophecies focus on the Day of the Lord, which is the second advent.
But the prophets spoke directly from God to the people, culture, and time in which they lived. That explains why we have passages like today’s text, which speaks directly to the nation of Moab and is a prophecy from God to that nation. Although Israel was God’s chosen people to bring about redemption for all humanity, that does not mean Israel was God’s only concern. Even in the Old Testament, we see reflections of a God who is the God of all nations and cares about them all. Today’s text reflects that because it is about a nation other than Israel.
You might remember that Moab, as a nation, consisted of people who were relatives of the Israelites. Moab came from Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Both the Moabites and the Ammonites are descendants of Lot. You might recall that Lot’s daughters got their father drunk and slept with him. They both became pregnant and gave birth to the ancestors of those two nations. The names of these nations reflect this fact. The name Ammon means “my people,” and the name Moab means “from the father.” Moab was the ancestor of the Moabites to whom God speaks in today’s text.
Even if we only consider the three verses from today’s passage, we can still learn something about Moab as a nation. We find that they are a nation of vineyard owners and orchard keepers. Evidently, the land they possess is well-suited for fruit trees and vineyards. They also appear to derive great pleasure and joy from this way of life.
Another thing we learn from today’s passage about the Moabites is that they are very religious. They don’t worship at the temple in Jerusalem, but they have their own temples and high places where they pray and make sacrifices. They didn’t follow in Abraham’s footsteps; they have their own religion. However, we see from today’s text that they are very dedicated to practicing it. But we also learn from today’s passage in Isaiah that their devotion to their religion will not influence God. Isaiah declares judgment upon Moab.
The Lord will end the joy of the heathen.
Isaiah says that joy and happiness will disappear from the orchards. He explains that in the vineyards, no one will be rejoicing or shouting. The reason is that the labor that brings about joy will come to an end. No one will be treading out juice in the wine vats. Isaiah, speaking for God, says that God has brought the joyful shout to an end.
It’s essential to examine a passage like this, especially in today’s season. Christians around the world during this Advent season are talking about joy from the Lord. We have every right to speak about joy from the Lord. But we must remember that the joy that comes from the Lord is a joy for those whom the Lord is pleased with. Just as the peace that God promised when He sent Jesus into the world, the joy He promises is also explicitly directed toward those who will accept Christ. The joy entering the world only comes to those who receive Jesus Christ as King. This is the message of the Old and New Testaments.
The prophecy Isaiah shares in today’s passage concerns the destruction of Moab as a nation. There is no Moab today, so that prophecy has been fulfilled. However, there’s more to this passage than just the prediction and its fulfillment. God gave us that message not only because of the Moabites, but because what happened to them will happen to all the heathen nations that haven’t accepted Christ. He will take away the joy from those nations and remove all who claim to have a relationship with God but have not come to His Son and accepted Him as their King.
Last Sunday night, we watched a movie during the evening service. The film showed a tribe living in the jungle that had not yet learned about Jesus. Some of you have talked to me afterward and said that the movie really shook you up. You couldn’t understand how people could live like that. It’s important to remember that there are still people in the world living without Christ and without hope. They are living in darkness and have not yet experienced the light of Christ.
We are still living in an age where our primary focus should be on reaching the lost. There are not only many individuals who need salvation, but also thousands of people groups who have never heard the name of Christ. Some of these might be experiencing temporary joy in their current lives, but as the Moabites did, that joy will be short-lived and ultimately disrupted by the judgment of Almighty God. We must have compassion for these people and strive to get the gospel to them. If the only way to reach them is by sending our sons and daughters, that is what we must do.
The reality of God’s judgment upon the nations remains unchanged. The heathen are still lost regardless of what happens to us. They need to hear the word of God and to listen to it from the Church of God. Yes, God loves them, but He also hates their sin. Just as God pronounced judgment upon Moab, many people groups around the world are facing God’s judgment.
The Lord has no joy in doing this.
Isaiah, speaking for God in today’s passage, says that His heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp. His inner being sighs for Kir Harosheth, one of the Moabite cities. Isaiah opens a window into God’s mind, revealing His heart. He shows a God whose heart is breaking because He must destroy the wicked. You see, God is a God of justice. When something is wrong, He must correct it. As the ruler of this universe, He is responsible for fixing mistakes. But God is also compassionate. He does not want to destroy the lost. He is not willing that anyone should perish, but He desires all to come to repentance. However, He has set a date for judging the great and the small. When that day arrives, there will be no more time for mercy. When the trumpet sounds and time ends, those who are lost will be forever lost.
Why does God tell us that he has no joy in destroying Moab? Specifically, why is this statement included in the Israelite scriptures? Why does God speak this through the mouth of an Israelite prophet? There must be a reason this is relevant to the children of Israel. It reveals the heart of their God. It shows that their God is not a respecter of persons. He loves the children of Israel, but also loves the children of Moab. He loves the followers of the Christian Bible, but also cares for those who follow other Bibles and have not yet seen the truth in his holy word. God’s heart extends beyond just those who consider themselves his. His heart cries out for us to reach those who don’t see themselves as his. He takes no joy in their destruction—he took no joy in the destruction of Moab. He takes no pleasure in the destruction of those who rebel against his truth. He considers them his children, even if they are prodigal children. He eagerly waits for the day when the prodigal son will come to himself and return home.
There is only one Way to the Lord.
There is a heretical teaching that continues to spread among Christian circles. This false teaching reflects everyone’s desire to be saved. Some say that as long as you are sincere in your belief, it doesn’t matter what that belief is. But we don’t see that idea in today’s passage. Isaiah says that when the Moabites plead with all their might at their high places and go into their temples to pray, their prayers will be ineffective. Isaiah shows that these Moabites are sincere in their belief and eager for God to save them, but they are going about it the wrong way.
The New Testament gospel communicates the same message. Jesus states that he is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and that no one comes to the Father except through him. Many of us struggle with this truth because we know there are many nations, many religions, and many ways people try to reach God. All around us, we hear people saying there are many ways to God. However, when they do so, they are not reflecting the Christian gospel. Today’s text reminds us that you can be sincerely seeking God and still not reach him. God has given us only one way of salvation: through the Lord Jesus Christ. That means many prayers will not be answered because they have not come through Jesus.
The joy we talk about at Christmas is a joy found only in Jesus Christ. The good news of the gospel is good news of great joy. However, the gospel is conditional, with Jesus Christ as the condition. This means that when Jesus comes, there will be joy in the world, but it will not reach everyone. As seen in other prophecies in the Old Testament, the coming of Christ will bring great fear and sorrow to those who have not accepted Him. That is why, when we proclaim the Christian joy of Christ’s coming, we must make it clear that the joy we speak of will only belong to those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Furthermore, the joy we speak of when we sing “Joy to the World” is a joy only experienced when our Lord returns. The joy we feel now is terrific, but it is only a preview of an even greater joy. The joy of Christ coming as a baby in Bethlehem was marvelous, but it was just the beginning. It was a joy for those who welcomed Christ into their hearts. It was a joy for Mary and Joseph. It was a joy for the shepherds. It was a joy for the wise men. It was a joy for Simeon and Anna.
The Advent season is a time for you and me to ask ourselves if we have room in our hearts for Jesus Christ. The joy of Christmas is ours if we can answer that question in the affirmative. Likewise, the joy of the second Advent is ours if we have found room in our hearts for Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Otherwise, like the Moabites, we will see that all we will eventually experience is loss, and even if we are sincere in our prayers, those prayers will never reach God. Even worse, when our Lord does come in his glory with all his angels, he will greet us not as our Lord and Savior but as our Judge.
If you want joy, absolute joy, incredible joy, let Jesus into your heart.
Matthew 1:1 A birth[1] record of Jesus Christ, a descendant of David, a descendant of Abraham.
Matthew 1:2 Abraham fathered[2] Isaac and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,
Matthew 1:3 and Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Ram,
Matthew 1:4 and Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon,
Matthew 1:5 and Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse,
Matthew 1:6 and Jesse fathered David, the king. And David fathered Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
Matthew 1:7 and Solomon fathered Rehoboam, and Rehoboam fathered Abijah, and Abijah fathered Asaph,
Matthew 1:8 and Asaph fathered Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, and Joram fathered Uzziah,
Matthew 1:9 and Uzziah fathered Jotham, and Jotham fathered Ahaz, and Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,
Matthew 1:10 and Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, and Manasseh fathered Amos, and Amos fathered Josiah,
Matthew 1:11 and Josiah fathered Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
Matthew 1:12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah fathered Shealtiel, and Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel,
Matthew 1:13 and Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, and Abiud fathered Eliakim, and Eliakim fathered Azor,
Matthew 1:14 and Azor fathered Zadok, and Zadok fathered Achim, and Achim fathered Eliud,
Matthew 1:15 and Eliud fathered Eleazar, and Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob,
Matthew 1:16 and Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
Matthew 1:17 Now all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
Matthew 1:18 and the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When Mary, his mother had been engaged to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be pregnant by the Sacred[3] Breath.[4]
Matthew 1:19 And her husband Joseph, being an honorable man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Matthew 1:20 But as he thought about these things, notice,[5] an agent[6] of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife because what has been fathered in her is from the Sacred Breath.
Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you will call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their failures.”[7]
Matthew 1:22 All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had predicted through the prophet:
Matthew 1:23 “Notice, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel” (which translates as ‘God with us’).[8]
Matthew 1:24 When Joseph woke up[9] from his sleep, he did as the agent of the Lord had instructed him: he took Mary as his wife,
Matthew 1:25 but did not have intimacy with[10] her until after she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
“Matthew offers three forms of proof—or witness—that Jesus qualifies as King. He first cites the lineage of Jesus, and he does it in accountant-like terms. Jesus is shown to be a direct descendant of both Abraham and David. Jesus is clearly proclaimed to be a Jew, with Abraham—the father of all who have faith—as both His spiritual and biological ancestor. (See Romans 4:16.) Jesus is also of the lineage of King David, to whom an everlasting throne was promised. (See 2 Samuel 7:13 and Isaiah 9:7.) Not only does Jesus fit the prescribed identity for Messiah, but, according to Matthew, Jesus appears in history after three sets of fourteen generations—these multiples of seven (in couplets representing the days of the patriarchs, the kings, and the prophets), had special numerical meaning to the Jewish people. Six groups of seven have passed, which puts Jesus at the threshold of the seventh seven—a numerical position of perfect rule, since seven is the biblical number that refers to perfection in Jewish tradition.”
Blackaby, Henry T. The Gospel of Matthew. Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007. p. 15.
“When God made the world in the beginning, we are told that his Spirit was brooding above the waters. In the silence of the world’s non-being, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, most glorious of creatures. Now the Spirit comes again, into the sheltering darkness of the womb of Mary, who was as open to the will of God as were the waters of the uncreated world. There, in a miracle of smallness and silence, Jesus is conceived, who will be the true light of the world, taking flesh to dwell among us. When on the sixth day of creation God made man, he did for Adam what he had not done for any other creature. The beasts were brought forth from the earth, but God himself breathed the breath of life into the dust of Adam, and he became a living soul. So now the new Adam breaks into the world by a breath, by the Spirit of God, so that all who unite themselves with the death and resurrection of Jesus will be new creations, and will have true life within them.”
Cameron, Peter John. Praying with Saint Matthew’s Gospel : Daily Reflections on the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Magnificat, 2010. p. 22.
“In recalling stories of Abraham, David, and the exile (to name but three), the audience learns something of the nature of God. This God constantly intervenes in human affairs. God took initiative in calling Abraham and selecting David. God promised Abraham land and descendants and David an eternal kingdom. God remained faithful to these promises even when both men failed. Abraham and Sarah’s age threatened the promise, as did the offering of Isaac as a sacrifice (Gen 18-22) and the devastating experience of God’s judgment in exile. Yet God remained faithful and acted powerfully to deliver on the promises. Continually God guided Israel forward into a new future.”
Carter, Warren. Matthew : Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist. Rev. ed, Hendrickson Publishers, 2004. p. 108.
“On the two other occasions in Matthew when a single angel appears — significantly, following Jesus’ birth and resurrection (chs. 2 and 28) — the figure is again identified as angelos Kyriou — a servant and messenger of Yahweh. The opening idou prepares readers for the startling and the significant; this will be true to a yet greater degree in 1:23: ‘Behold [Idou, for Hebrew hinéh] the virgin will conceive….’ In this passage, the angel is the only servant of God whose speech is directly reported. He addresses Joseph by name, and identifies him as ‘son of David’ (1:20). Then the angel discloses the manner of Mary’s conception, together with the name and’the mission of the child she will bear.”
Chamblin, J K. Matthew: A Mentor Commentary. Fearn, Tain: Christian Focus Pub, 2010. p. 197.
“Matthew portrays Joseph not as fearing to break the law through failure to divorce Mary, but as fearing to do wrong by taking Mary to wife when she was pregnant by divine causation. Then the statement in v 18, “she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit,’’ does not come as a piece of advance information to the reader, but bears its more natural sense that Joseph found out the reason for, as well as the fact of, Mary’s pregnancy early in the episode (and presumably from Mary; cf. Luke 1:26-45). That , not a wrong deduction, left Joseph in a quandary. In deference to the Holy Spirit he decided to divorce Mary. In consideration of Mary he planned to hand her the certificate of divorce without any witnesses at all. The Mosaic law did not require them, anyway. They had become customary to protect a man from a divorced wife’s false denial of divorce. But, according to Matthew, Joseph intended to waive that precaution. The angel will repeat what Joseph already believed both to assure him of its truth and to provide a basis for the command to marry. Meanwhile, readers of Matthew have no reason to suspect Mary of what not even Joseph suspected her.”
Gundry, Robert H. Matthew: A Commentary on His Literary and Theological Art. , 1983. p. 22.
“Matthew’s Gospel is a story about Jesus’ birth, public ministry, and his passion, death, and resurrection. Even the larger sections of Jesus’ teachings appear in the context of this overall story line. The Evangelist presents himself as a believer in Jesus’ special importance and as the all-knowing narrator whose words can be trusted. He wrote originally for a largely Jewish-Christian audience that wanted greater clarity about how their faith in Jesus related to their identity as Jews in the late first century.”
Harrington, Daniel J. Meeting St. Matthew Today: Understanding the Man, His Mission, and His Message. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2010. p. 15.
“So the decisive moment has arrived. Israel’s long-awaited Shepherd King has come. How will the people respond? Matthew points to a sharp contrast. Jesus’ coming is an intrusion to some but a joy to others. King Herod and the residents of Jerusalem are “disturbed” —troubled, upset, scared—by news about a king of the Jews. By contrast, some strangers from the east joyfully open their hearts and their treasures to the child born to be King and Savior. Ironically, it is these outsiders who model the right way to respond to Jesus arrival. They recognize that something momentous is happening, and so they pursue him and kneel before him and offer him what they value most.”
Hiigel John L. Partnering with the King : Study the Gospel of Matthew and Become a Disciple of Jesus. Paraclete Press 2013. p. 19.
“The Gospel of Matthew does not begin at the birth of Jesus but with Jesus’ origins, with his ancestry and genealogy, going back to the beginnings of faith, to Abraham and his son Isaac. This long line will end with Joseph of the house of David, the earthly, legal father of Jesus. This listing, this history of believers who lived on the Word of God — the Torah — and its promises, is crucial to understanding who Jesus is. He is the culmination of this nation, his race, and the chosen people of Yahweh God. This is the Genesis of Jesus. As a Jew Matthew thinks, breathes, and lives in the shadow and the light of the Torah. Genesis first recounts creation, the beginnings of the heavens and the earth, then the generations of humankind (see Gn 4 and 5). Just so, Matthew’s Gospel begins with Jesus’ own roots in this people: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham….” He is the offspring of all these people. “Genealogy” signifies “origin,” “beginnings.” And Jesus himself will generate and bring forth a new people of God, those born again in his Spirit as his brothers and sisters, to the glory of our one Father.”
McKenna Megan. Matthew : The Book of Mercy. New City Press 2007. p. 34.
“The fact that Matthew never explicitly refers to Joseph as Jesus’ father reminds us that Jesus was born to an adoptive father. After being named and taken into the family by Joseph, legally, Jesus is Joseph’s son. And being Joseph’s son means that this adoption ties Jesus to the line of David as a royal son. Finally, in terms of how Jesus came, Matthew tells us that all of these things happened amidst a fallen world. Jesus came to a world of sin in need of salvation, which is why it is crucial to see that ultimately, Jesus is God’s Son. The problem of sin needed a divine solution.”
Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Matthew. , 2013. p. 20.
“Herod made many wrong choices. Although he built fortresses and palaces, he destroyed lives. And other people paid dearly for his bad choices. In contrast, Jesus made the right choices. Even though the devil tempted him directly and tried to lure him with offers of fame, power, and authority, Jesus chose correctly in every decision. Likewise, Joseph had only one desire whenever he was faced with decisions: to do what God wanted. Whatever God desired was Joseph’s desire. We learn from these examples that every opportunity to make a wrong choice is also an opportunity to make a right choice. The right choice will always honor God. How often do you consider God in your day-to-day choices?”
Wilson, Neil S. Matthew : Life Application Bible Studies. Tyndale, 2009. p. 92.
“Joseph was a righteous man, but he was also a compassionate man. He cared for Mary. He could not treat this matter lightly, and neither would he act vindictively. He demonstrates the struggle of a soul trying to be faithful. When a person has both convictions about principles and compassion for people, he or she often faces painful choices. At times neither side of a decision seems to be totally good. Joseph could not figure out how to move through this dilemma in a way that would settle his soul. He needed saving.”
Younger, Carol D. The Gospel of Matthew: Hope in the Resurrected Christ : Adult Bible Study Guide. Dallas, Tex: BaptistWay Press, 2008. p. 28.
1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the sky! Praise him in the heavens! 2 Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his heavenly assembly! 3 Praise him, O sun and moon! Praise him, all you shiny stars! 4 Praise him, O highest heaven, and you waters above the sky! 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he gave the command and they came into existence. 6 He established them so they would endure; he issued a decree that will not be revoked. 7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea creatures and all you ocean depths, 8 O fire and hail, snow and clouds, O stormy wind that carries out his orders, 9 you mountains and all you hills, you fruit trees and all you cedars, 10 you animals and all you cattle, you creeping things and birds, 11 you kings of the earth and all you nations, you princes and all you leaders on the earth, 12 you young men and young women, you elderly, along with you children! 13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty extends over the earth and sky. 14 He has made his people victorious, and given all his loyal followers reason to praise — the Israelites, the people who are close to him. Praise the LORD!
We are now into our eleventh month of reading through the Scriptures, two chapters a day. So far, we have encountered four main types of literature. We have read about the history of God’s people starting in Genesis and continuing through the historical books, ending with Esther. Along the way, we have read some of God’s instructions for his people. The LORD has taught his people how to live rightly and how to worship appropriately. In Job, we got a glimpse of another type of biblical writing: wisdom literature. Now that we are nearly finished with the Psalms, we have sampled the poetry of the Old Testament.
The author of Hebrews wrote that God spoke long ago “in various portions and in various ways” (Hebrews 1:1). We should not be surprised that he did so. We learn different things through different teaching methods.
Some things are best learned through experience, but that doesn’t mean we have to have the experience. We can learn from other people’s experiences. That is what history is for. We should not all have to experience loss to know that loss is painful. The lessons of the past are there to help us in the future. Learning history is not like doing an autopsy, where all you can do is discover why the death happened. Learning history teaches us how to live today, without making the mistakes of the past. It helps us make wise choices. We imitate the best options and avoid the worst choices.
However, God has not given us a mere history book in the Bible. He has also taught us principles to help us live right and doctrines to help us think right. He has taught his people how to live rightly and how to worship appropriately. He has done this in the instructional and wisdom literature portions of the books we have read so far.
Some of you have struggled with what we have been reading for the past seventy-four days. Like me, you don’t read a lot of poetry, so it is hard to figure out what is being said and why. But I hope we all have learned to appreciate the creative way the biblical poets have communicated God’s truth. Like songs, poetry is designed to help us feel what we are learning. Poems make it easier to remember the things that we are being taught.
The Hebrew poetry of the Old Testament used repetition. It said the same thing in two or three different ways to ensure that the message sinks in. It painted pictures with words to give its readers images in their minds. It took some of those same historical stories taught in earlier passages of the Bible and poetically restated them. So, we relived the crossing of the Red Sea and the conquest of Canaan through the words of the psalmist.
It took some of the same doctrines taught in the Torah and expressed them using word pictures to help us apply them to our own lives. It taught us not the mere fact that God is everywhere. It expressed that truth by talking about the feeling of having nowhere to hide from the presence of God’s Spirit.
It took some of the wisdom literature and enabled us to understand not just the fact that we should live right, but the reasons we should. It taught us that living according to God’s truth would make us like a well-watered tree that never stops producing fruit.
The poetry in the Psalms has a variety of styles. We have listened to the psalmists complain, train, and explain. We have read the Psalms of Lament and the Psalms of Ascent. Many of the Psalms in this final book (107-150) are songs of praise. They are designed to incite believers to worship and praise God for who He is and what he has done. That is what today’s Psalm is doing. Psalm 148 focuses on the majesty of Almighty God.
The LORD’s MAJESTY extends from the sky (1-6).
The poet encourages his readers to go out and look up into the sky. He is encouraging praise from God’s people, but he is not saying that if they go out and look hard enough at the sky, then they will see God. No, notice that the phrase is “Praise the LORD from the sky!” Here is what the psalmist is doing. He is telling us that a praise concert is going on right now, and it is going on in the sky and in the heavenly assembly.
Who is praising God? All God’s angels are praising him. The sun and moon are praising him. The shiny stars are praising him. The waters above the sky are praising him.
Why is this concert going on in the sky and in heaven? Because he gave the command, and they came into existence. He established them so they would endure; he issued a decree that will not be revoked.
In Genesis 1, we read that God created this expanse, which he called the “sky.” But it was empty, so he filled up all the empty spots with lights, planets, suns, moons, and flying creatures. We read elsewhere that the highest heaven is filled with angelic beings who serve the Lord and minister in his name. What we are seeing here is a picture of all these created things and created beings breaking out in song and praising their creator.
This dark world in which we live often forgets to praise God. But if we could only look up and realize that praising God is not an unnatural thing that only the intensely religious fanatics do. Praise is the regular, ordinary, typical activity of the sky and its inhabitants.
Worship is going on in the sky right now. Praise is regular for the sky beings because they recognize that their creator is worthy of that praise. The majesty of our LORD extends from the sky. His throne is there, so it is understandable that he is exalted there.
Now, the poet who wrote this Psalm is telling us that we, creatures of the land, are lagging. The LORD is our creator as well, and we should join in the celebration that began out in the sky.
The LORD’s MAJESTY extends from the land (7-14).
The poet introduces a new praise celebration. Its choir consists of the sea creatures, fire, hail, snow, clouds, storm wind, mountains, hills, trees, animals, kings and princes, young men and women, older people, and children. Everything and every person on this planet should join in the praise for the LORD.
The same creator who made an empty sky and then filled it with wonders also created an empty land and filled it with amazing things and wonderful beings. The psalmist urges all of us who are part of that creation to praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty extends over the earth and sky.
The poet includes a final line in his writing, aimed at the people of Israel. His purpose is to add just one more thought. He reminds the Israelites that they have all the more reason to praise God, because they are the people who are close to him. Other nations hear about God’s miracles, but the Israelites have experienced those miracles. They of all people should be leading the praise celebration.
But this Psalm is for us as well. Each of us can look up and see a sky full of reasons to praise our creator. Each of us can look around at the fantastic world we were born into and find a reason to be grateful to its maker. But we must also ask the question of personal application:
Does the LORD’s MAJESTY extend to your life?
God lovingly created you, but he did not go on vacation afterward. He stayed around and taught you a few things. But he was not satisfied with even that. He saw you at your worst—after sin had turned you into someone repulsive and degenerate. He could have turned his back on you and abandoned you to the repercussions you deserved. But our great God decided to redeem you.
He sent his only Son, unspoiled, untouched by sin himself. God sacrificed the life of his Son to pay the debt that you owed. Through the shed blood of Christ, you had access to the miracle of the ages – forgiveness. God, your creator, became God, your redeemer. He decided to extend his majesty to bless you in your lowliness and lift you into his greatness.
But our heavenly Father is a perfect gentleman. He will not force forgiveness on anyone who does not ask for it, and He will withhold His blessing from anyone who refuses to approach His throne in repentance. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. We all need Christ’s atoning work, but the time to come to Him and request it is drawing to a close.
That is why my final point for today’s sermon is a question. I cannot answer the question for you. God is a God of glory whose majesty extends over the earth and sky. He is also a God of grace who has made forgiveness possible for whoever asks for it. But the sand in the hourglass is running out. The tickets to the great party in eternity are getting scarce.
Does the LORD’s Majesty extend to your life? It can. All that God has in store for you is available. You only have to come to him once. He is near, right now, even at the door. Will you open that door today?
A Song of Ascents. Of David. 1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
Israelite pilgrims probably sang the songs of ascent as they traveled to Jerusalem to worship the Lord during the annual festivals. As the believers climbed toward Jerusalem, they prepared themselves spiritually for the importance of their visit to Mount Zion. This particular Psalm is attributed to David. It celebrates the unity of God’s people.
I believe we Christians should meditate on this Psalm. Unity is also a significant theme in the New Testament. Jesus prayed for us to live in harmony with one another when he asked the Father that we may be one, just as he and the Father are one (John 17:21). The Apostle Paul taught us not to focus on our differences but to see ourselves as one in Christ. He knew that the Christians in his time had a lot of diversity. They had ethnic diversity because the gospel had spread to many nations, and now there were Greek Christians as well as Jewish Christians. He knew the gospel had been preached to both high-class nobility and lower-class slaves. He also knew that the good news had been proclaimed to and by women as well as men. So, he taught that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female — for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).”
Our relationship with Christ allows us to overlook our differences and treat each other as He commanded us to. He taught us to love, respect, and be considerate of one another. In fact, we are warned that if we only claim to love God but do not love each other, we are hypocrites. When we consider all these things the New Testament teaches about unity, we would be surprised if the same principles are not found in the Old Testament, the Bible Jesus read.
Some of the oldest Bible stories actually depict unity in a negative light. Adam and Eve were united in their defiance against the Lord in the garden, and the people of Babel were united in their attempt to disobey God’s command to scatter across the Earth.
But as revelation progresses, it becomes clear that God is not against human unity. He wants to unify us in a way that is different from the way we want to unify ourselves. We want to unify ourselves against his plan and against his heart. He wants to unify us according to his plan and in line with his heart. The way he wants to do that is to unify us in the Messiah. He wants us to be one in Christ.
The final book of the Bible, Revelation, reveals what this will look like in eternity. It shows us a vision of the redeemed from every tribe, language, people, and nation. But this vast multitude of people is one despite their former ethnic, geographic, social, and economic differences. They are the redeemed in Christ, and they are one. That’s what God wants.
Now that we have surveyed the concept of unity in the Bible, let’s examine the teachings of this particular passage.
Unity is a good thing (1).
We don’t use the word “behold” very often now, but it was frequently used in Bible times. We use it when we want to attract people’s attention to something. When we write something, we can do this by changing the font, underlining the word, or putting it in bold print. We are telling our readers to notice this word or phrase because it is crucial.
David wanted his readers to see that fraternal unity was a good and pleasant thing. He paints a picture with his words, portraying the entire nation sitting together as one person. We can understand how David could feel that way as king. He did not want his kingdom to be divided, he did not want civil war, and he wanted peace and harmony among the citizens of his nation.
But his words are more general than that. Perhaps he is expressing his gratitude for the peace that he has known in the United Israel. But he wants us to notice that God wants this of every nation.
Here is where the rubber meets the road for us in 21st-century America. This psalm reminds us that our country’s name is the United States. You all know that I rarely talk politics in the pulpit because I don’t think that is what this pulpit is for. But I need to address the reality that is all too evident in this nation today. We are taking sides and attacking each other. We are defining ourselves as us and condemning them. The last time we were polarized to such an extent, it resulted in a civil war.
God speaks to our current situation and calls us to peace, reconciliation, and unity. We need to recognize that unity is a good thing and that, as a nation, we are far from dwelling together in unity.
Unity is a calling (2).
David uses two similes to explain how good it is for brothers to be unified. In verse 2, he shows Aaron, the nation’s first high priest, being anointed with oil in his ordination ceremony. We watch as the anointing oil flows freely down Aaron’s head and drips down his beard to the collar of his robes. No one screams, “Somebody get a towel.” Nobody wants to clean up the mess. Why? Because this is the anointing oil. Aaron is the anointed of God. He is called to represent the people before God as their high priest.
Part of explaining Scripture is showing the connections between its words so that the readers understand how they relate. There are several connections here that are not obvious, so I need to point them out. First, as high priest, Aaron unified the whole nation of Israel. They were a multitude of people, coming from a dozen tribes, but they had only one high priest. When Aaron was anointed, he stood as a symbol of the unity of Israel.
Secondly, anointing oil was an ancient symbol of purity. People anointed their heads to cleanse them from impurity and keep bugs out. Thus, oil itself became a symbol of a promise to obey one’s calling with integrity. In the Ancient Near East, three types of people were ordained by an anointing ceremony: prophets, priests, and kings.
Each would be tempted to exercise their position in a self-centered way. Their anointing was a promise and commitment to avoid corruption and selfishness. The oil flowing down their heads was a symbol of a commitment to purity.
Thirdly, every prophet, priest, or king who was anointed realized that the Scriptures predicted a coming anointed one who would be God’s ultimate anointed one. He would be not just a prophet, not just a priest, and not just a king. He would be the prophet, the priest, and the king. He would be all three. He was called the Messiah: the Anointed One. Consequently, every anointing ceremony would itself be a foreshadowing of the great event of the coming of Christ. Thus, everyone who was anointed took on the responsibility of predicting Christ through their own life choices.
Unity is a calling. That is why the Apostle Paul called the church, “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours” (1 Corinthians 1:2). He says that we “were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).
We have not all been anointed with oil, but all of us have been anointed with God’s Holy Spirit. We have been given different gifts, but we are expected to use our gifts to build one another up “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God — a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature” Ephesians 4:13). So, just like Aaron in Psalm 133, every Christian is anointed. Our calling is to represent Christ as we grow to be more like him.
Unity is a blessing (3).
The simile changes in verse three. We are told that unity is like the dew of Hermon, but we don’t know who Hermon is. Mount Hermon is a high, snow-capped mountain located in the northern region. The picture is of the dew from this distant high mountain descending into the area of Zion, way to the South. We have heard of mountains being so large that they create their own weather. Something like that seems to be implied here. The difficulty is that there are numerous mountains in Israel, many of them in Judah itself, which is much closer to Jerusalem than Mount Hermon is. So, why did David draw attention to Mount Hermon?
I can only guess, but this is my guess. David chose a distant mountain to show us that the unity we can experience today is only an approximation of the unity we will experience when Christ returns. The dew from Hermon is a blessing upon all the pilgrims from the north as they make their way to Jerusalem for the feast. Our present unity is a blessing as well. But what we have in store when our Savior comes to reign is the blessing that the LORD commanded at Zion.
And what is that blessing? Life forevermore! Unity is good and pleasant, but the command of our God is more than unity. God wants more from us than merely getting along with others. He wants us all to make it to his destiny for us. As pilgrims together, we are blessed by the cooling dew from Mount Hermon, but we are all on our way to something even better. We are on our way to Zion. There the LORD has commanded the ultimate blessing: eternal life.
Some churches teach that we all already have eternal life. But that is not what this church teaches. The word of God speaks of a judgment day. The sheep and the goats will be separated. The goats will go to the punishment of permanent destruction, while the sheep will go to permanent life. The lost will die the second death, while the saved will get a second life. This second life will be the blessing that the LORD pronounced on Zion: life forevermore.
It is fitting that this short psalm about unity concludes by reminding us that something more important than unity exists. The unity in the Garden of Eden ended with our ancestors being expelled from paradise. The unity at Babel resulted in disorder and scattering. As we journey on this pilgrim path, we should all aim to get along with each other. However, our ultimate goal is not merely coexistence but to attain the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Communion Meditation:
Ephesians 2:15
“(Christ) nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace.”
After Christ’s death on the cross, there is only one people of God. He made forgiveness possible for both Jews and Gentiles. He enabled a unity based not on pedigree or works accomplished. His death made it possible for all of us to approach the throne of God based on his perfect work, not our imperfect works.
jeffersonvann 