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"So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. Deuteronomy 28:34 NKJV
Today’s two-chapter Bible reading sounds strange to modern ears. Yet Joshua and the twelve tribes of Israel followed the instructions about blessings, and cursings in precise detail (Joshua 8:30-35).
The area, Shechem, is full of patriarchal history. In a sense, it was coming “home”. Shechem’s history includes Abraham building a memorial altar in Genesis 12:6-7 and Jacob (later renamed Israel) building another in Genesis 33:18-19. It also includes Jacob (Israel) exhorting his family to rid themselves of foreign idols in Genesis 35:2-4 and suffering through terrible tragedies involving his children in Genesis chapters 24 and 37. The place, therefore speaks of real-life blessings and cursings on the earliest Israelites.
Shechem’s geographical setting is between two mountains. Mount Ebel stands 8,080 feet tall north of Shechem, and Mount Gerizim stands 2,890 feet tall to the south. The two mountains offer a noteworthy contrast between blessings and cursings. Who, you might ask, would choose the latter? Only someone who is (or will be) insane. This isn’t mere history. It still happens today.
Prayer: Lord, You want me to make the only sane choice. I gladly do so again today.
Today’s two-chapter Bible reading sounds strange to modern ears. Yet Joshua and the twelve tribes of Israel followed the instructions about blessings, and cursings in precise detail (Joshua 8:30-35).
The area, Shechem, is full of patriarchal history. In a sense, it was coming “home”. Shechem’s history includes Abraham building a memorial altar in Genesis 12:6-7 and Jacob (later renamed Israel) building another in Genesis 33:18-19. It also includes Jacob (Israel) exhorting his family to rid themselves of foreign idols in Genesis 35:2-4 and suffering through terrible tragedies involving his children in Genesis chapters 24 and 37. The place, therefore speaks of real-life blessings and cursings on the earliest Israelites.
Shechem’s geographical setting is between two mountains. Mount Ebel stands 8,080 feet tall north of Shechem, and Mount Gerizim stands 2,890 feet tall to the south. The two mountains offer a noteworthy contrast between blessings and cursings. Who, you might ask, would choose the latter? Only someone who is (or will be) insane. This isn’t mere history. It still happens today.
Prayer: Lord, You want me to make the only sane choice. I gladly do so again today.
