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Having heard the accusations of his three friends, Job offers a summary defense of his life. He goes through a list of things that men do to be considered wicked and declares that he as never done any of them.
After the series of battles attendant to the 'long day', Joshua continued with the conquest of the south. With that complete, the King of Hazor gathered an army of all the peoples in the north. They gathered at the waters of Merom; very many horses and chariots. Joshua came up from the south and destroyed that army as well as all of the towns from which they had come.
Mark 12 begins with the Parable of the Wicked Tenants. This parable raises several questions. Who is it addressed to? There are at least three groups. In each context, what are the pathologies being addressed? What fruit does the owner expect in each context? How does this apply today?
Bildad expresses a common Christian belief, that it is inherently impossible for any man to be pure in God's eyes. Job answers that he understands the vast gap between man and God. He says, however that man is God's creation and is not inherently evil.
Gibeon lies in the Saddle of Benjamin astride the north- south ridge route as well as the east-west route from the Jordan Valley to the coastal plain. It was a major city in a very strategic location. After the destruction of Ai, the Gibeonites knew that they were next and so planned a deception to get Israel to make a covenant and spare them from destruction. Once that covenant was made, the southern Canaanite kings attacked Gibeon forcing Israel to defend it.
After observing humanity for over 1600 years, God was disappointed with His creation and decided to destroy it all and start over. The proximate reason for that decision was the state of the human heart - evil continually. After the flood, His assessment did not change. So what did change that prompted Him to decide not to re-flood the place?
Eliphaz accuses Job of acting like he believes he is doing God a favor by following His laws. He also believes that the calamity that his befallen Job is less than what his secret behavior deserves. Job's reply is that God is just but His timing is not in man's hands.
After the reduction of Jericho, Israel turned to capturing the Saddle of Benjamin, with Ai being the first target. Reconnaissance reported that Ai was a soft target and only a small force would be needed. Because a man in Israel had disobeyed God and taken spoil from Jericho, that force was routed. Once the sinner had been dealt with, Joshua took his entire force up and captured both Ai and BethEl. From there he turned north and went to Shechem and renewed to Covenant as commanded by Moses.
The first five and a half chapters of Genesis contain the entire Bible in a nutshell. There we learn the purpose of creation, the nature of God, the nature of humanity, the techniques of Satan and the entirety of the Gospel.
Zophar dogmatically asserts that God punishes the wicked and that Job's condition proves that he is unrighteous. Job counters with examples of the wicked prospering.
Jericho sat at the entrance to the route from the Jordan valley to the Saddle of Benjamin. As such it needed to be destroyed so that Joshua could leave the Israelite women and children behind in safety while the warriors moved west and fought the Canaanites. The events of the reduction of Jericho prefigure the seven trumpets of Revelation.
Succot means different things depending on who you believe yourself to be. For Jews, it is a remembrance of the time after the Exodus when God took them into the wilderness and they dwelt in tents. For most Christians it has very little significance. For Messianics, it has both historical meaning and prophetic significance. Historically, it is almost certainly when Christ was born. Prophetically, it may presage the Messianic Reign.
In his second speech, Bildad describes what the wise believe is in store for the wicked. Since those very things are happening to Job, his accusation is that, despite what everyone had believed about him, Job is a wicked man.
The crossing of the Jordan on dry ground and the meeting of the Commander of the Army of the LORD closes a chiasm that began with Moses at the burning bush and the crossing of the Red Sea. This was a definite morale booster for Israel and a source of great dismay to he inhabitants of Jericho who would have been able to watch the whole things from the city walls.
In Dt 32 Moses lays out what will happen to Israel should they abandon God and entertain foreign gods. The descent in that passage begins with their extreme prosperity under God's blessing. That prosperity tempts them to look for a 'better deal' with the gods of the surrounding nations. In Mk 10, the rich young man asks what he lacks to inherit eternal life. Y'shua's answer, "Sell all you have and follow Me." is more than the young man can manage. The Bible does not teach poverty, so what's going on here?
Eliphaz rebukes Job for insisting on his own wisdom. He says that Job's stiff neck is what is hindering God from showing him mercy.
The spies Joshua sent to Jericho had a very different focus than those Moses had sent 38 years before. Joshua's spies were to assess the morale and fighting spirit of the fortress Jericho that sat astride the route from the Jordan valley up to the saddle of Benjamin. Similarly, God stopped the flow of the Jordan so that Israel could cross dry shod. This served to assure the Israelites that God was indeed on their side and would help them to prevail.
The ten days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kipur are known as the days of awe. It is a time to take stock of what one has accomplished in the past year and plan for the future. In doing this, one can draw inspiration from Moses. His accomplishments during the last month of his life were truly great. One can also draw inspiration from the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk. That event has catalyzed believers all over America and may turn out to be one Satan's great mistakes.
Zophar, the third of Job's friends to speak, opines that Job is getting far less punishment than he deserves. In this Zophar is presuming to understand both the mind of God and the heart of Job. The first is logically impossible and the second is presumptuous.
The end of the Wilderness wandering and preparation for the conquest of the land. Discussion of geography. Why the location of Israel is important and why the invasion started from the east through Jericho instead of from the south as had previously been attempted under Moses.




