Joshua 9 Dear RTB’ers, The Gibeonites. One key verse today; I’m sure it jumped off the page for all of you: So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the LORD. (v. 14) No doubt multiple thousands of sermons have been preached on this chapter and the Israelites’ mistake …
Author Archives: Fred
August 9 / Joshua 8
Joshua 8 Dear RTB’ers, The battle for Ai – actually, not much of a battle!! After Ai’s defeat of Israel in yesterday’s reading, the people of Ai had gotten a bit overconfident – not knowing that their gods could not do serious battle with Israel’s God. Then you shall rise up from the ambush and …
August 8 / Joshua 7
Joshua 7 Dear RTB’ers, Does today’s story surprise you? Everything has been going so well for the Israelites, and then: …about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them… (vv. 4-5a). One …
August 7 / Joshua 5-6
Joshua 5-6 Dear RTB’ers, Two chapters today – preparation and conquest. The preparation was two-fold; the first was the circumcision of all adult males and the second was the celebration of the Passover. My Study Bible indicates that neither of these covenant activities had been celebrated since the Israelites had celebrated the Passover at Sinai. …
August 6 / Joshua 3-4
Joshua 3-4 Dear RTB’ers, Israel crossing the Jordan River. I was first going to re-tell the story a bit, but then thought to have the rest of you do that–finding all the differences between Israel’s Exodus crossing of the Red Sea and their crossing the Jordan River today. There are many. I’ll hope to hear …
August 5 / Joshua 2
Joshua 2 Dear RTB’ers, Today’s key verse (Rahab speaking): … for the LORD your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. (v. 11b) Today’s reading is a good example of God at work in our lives – with His work done alongside our efforts. Consider man’s contribution: Joshua’s leadership, …
August 4 / Joshua 1
Joshua 1 Dear RTB’ers, Joshua. A person. The first five books in the Bible are named for events or time frames. Joshua is the first book named after a person, Joshua. We met Joshua once before in Exodus 17:9-16, when Moses had put him in charge of a battle the Israelites had with the Amalekites. …
August 3 / II Thessalonians 2:13-3:18
II Thessalonians 2:13-3:18 Dear RTB’ers, I have a problem with food – I eat more than I need. Mostly it’s not a problem at mealtimes; the bigger problem is between meals when I am being lazy or when I’m bored, when I’m just sitting around not doing much. But contrast, when I am outside working …
August 2 / II Thessalonians 2:1-12
II Thessalonians 2:1-12 Dear RTB’ers, So, what’s going on in today’s reading? Paul’s complex sentence structures often make it difficult to follow his intended teaching; repeated reading will help our understanding of what he is saying. Here’s my shortened take on today’s reading. There is a “man of lawlessness” who has not yet been revealed, …
August 1 / II Thessalonians 1
II Thessalonians 1 Dear RTB’ers, Many Bible scholars maintain that II Thessalonians was written not long after I Thessalonians (maybe six month or so). Presumably Paul had sent Silas and Timothy to Thessalonica with his first letter; then when they returned (with more questions!) he wrote this second letter. The “end-times” dominates this second letter. …