Josué 22

Josué 22

Vernon McGee - On the surface, the building of this altar sounds like a good idea, and many commentators have placed their seal of approval upon it. However, let’s take more than a cursory look at this altar called “Ed.” In the tabernacle was the brazen altar for sacrifices. There was to be no other. Deuteronomy 12:27 says, “And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.” Israel was told to destroy all other altars. “But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves” (Ex 34:13). There was to be but one exception, in Deuteronomy 27:4–8, where Israel is told to take twelve stones out of the Jordan River and put them up as a memorial. The two and one–half tribes never crossed over Jordan, and the river actually divided them from their brethren. This altar recognized that division. This altar was prima facie evidence that they were divided. It made way for the division later on. Right now Israel is divided east and west. It is nine and one–half tribes versus two and one–half tribes at this point, but later on it will be a north and south division with ten tribes in the north against two tribes in the south. The brazen altar in the tabernacle, typifying the redemptive work of Christ, was a place of unity. And friend, I can meet with any man who will exalt Jesus Christ. In John 17:20–21 Jesus prayed, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” There is an organic unity of those who are in Christ. The altar speaks of the death of Christ as a sacrifice. As the two and one–half tribes built a bloodless altar which had divided Israel, today those who are liberal in their theology have divided the church. They have accused fundamentalists of being schismatic, but it is liberalism that has departed from the cross and the deity of Christ. They do not like an altar with blood. They have put up an “Ed,” if you please. They worship at an altar where no sacrifice is to be offered. They have a “bloodless” Christ. Like the two and one–half tribes, their conduct reveals that they have departed from the truth. Our Lord said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits …” (Matt. 7:16). Several hundred years later the Lord Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee and came to the country of the Gadarenes. The people living there were from the tribe of Gad, and they were still living on the wrong side of the Jordan River. Our Lord came upon a demon–possessed man dwelling in the tombs, and He cast the demons out of the man and gave them permission to enter a herd of pigs nearby. The Gadarenes were in the pig business! Can you imagine an Orthodox Jew in the pig business? They had failed to follow the commandments of God. They were on the wrong side of Jordan. Liberalism has indeed divided the church. It has erected a beautiful altar, a “bloodless” Christ, one who never actually lived, one without deity, one without ability to save humanity. My friend, have you crossed over Jordan? Have you entered into the rest of redemption which Christ offers? Sidlow Baxter has an interesting observation - How many there are who, like these two and a half tribes, want to feel quite sure that they have their part with God's Israel, yet are content to live just outside the land! No doubt this altar "Ed" (HEBREW WORD FOR WITNESS) was well meant; but was it not needless if the Divine command were obeyed that three times each year all the males of Israel should appear before the Lord, in Shiloh? Was it not also presumptuous? No pattern for its shape had been given of God, and no direction for its construction. Nor, apparently, had the counsel of the Lord been as much as thought of! Now here is a noteworthy lesson concerning the unity of faith. Had Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh settled west of the Jordan with the other tribes, in the promised place of blessing, no such artificial monument of their oneness with Israel would have been required. True unity is not outward but inward. It is not achieved, nor even preserved, by external memorials. It consists in a oneness of inward and spiritual experience. The trend among the various denominations in the organised Church of today is to seek an imposing outward union by the formulation of a common creed and the inclusion of all sections in some single visible body with impressive proportions and social prestige. This is the building of a modern "altar Ed." It is the confusing of unity with mere uniformity. The only true unity is that of a common inward life, a common spiritual experience, and a common heart-loyalty. Those who are really living "in the land," in the enjoyment of that spiritual Canaan which is in Christ, are conscious of their spiritual oneness with all the elect of God in Christ, whatever outward denominational differentiations may exist between them. Speaking of this true unity, the late Dr. F.B. Meyer, in a fine passage, says: "Coming from all points of the compass, fired by the same hopes, suppliants at the same meeting-place, reliant upon the same blood, the common attraction establishes an organic unity like that of the tree, the multiplicity of whose parts is subsidiary to the one life-force; or like that of the body, the variety of whose members is subordinate to the one animating soul. "The nearer we get to Christ, the more clearly we discern our unity with all who belong to Him. We learn to think less of points of divergence, and more about those of agreement. We find that the idiosyncrasies by which each believer is fitted for his specific work do not materially affect those depths of the inner life which in all saints abut on the nature of the living Saviour. As the scattered sheep browse their way up towards a common summit, they converge on each other, and there is one flock, as there is one Shepherd. "It is the supreme vision of the Bible, granted to the most eminent saints, that though the new Jerusalem comprehends the names of the tribes of Israel and of the Apostles of the Lamb, is garnished by jewels of many hues, and has gates facing in an directions, it yet is one, 'the Bride, the Lamb's wife.' What wonder, then, that the world, and sometimes the professing Church, supposes that the Lord's prayer is not fulfilled, and that the unity has yet to be made? The unity is made; but only the spiritual with spiritual discernment can detect its symmetry." We cannot make spiritual unity. The unity of the sanctified in Christ is a spiritual reality wrought by the Holy Spirit Himself. The secret, of Christian unity lies in our being west of Jordan - with the baptismal burial, of that Jordan flood passed through, and the experience of the Spirit's fulness entered into. Give us back that Canaan experience of spiritual fulness which came at Pentecost, and then the overflowing consciousness of spiritual unity among Christ's own will submerge all artificial barriers. Israel's true unity lay in a common life and a common experience of God which found concentrated expression in that one altar of sacrifice at Shiloh. Even so, the true unity of the Lord's own today lies in - and is only realized according to their common experience of life in Christ, finding its vital centre in the Cross and person of the Redeemer. Let this twenty-second chapter of Joshua, then, speak to us its message on the true unity of faith. (Explore the Book - pdf) MORE NOTES ON CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART These are notes from multiple sources that speak in some way about the meaning of circumcision of the heart. Steven Lawson on Deuteronomy 30:6 - Moses presented God’s sovereign work of grace as a spiritual circumcision, a cutting away of the foreskin of the unbelieving heart. It is a penetrating work of grace that removes man’s inability to believe and replaces it with true repentance and faith. Regeneration is open-heart surgery, a soul-reviving work of the Spirit that probes to the deepest level of a person’s being. Concerning this work of regeneration, Anthony Hoekema writes, “What does the Bible teach about regeneration? Already in the Old Testament we are taught that only God can bring about the radical change which is necessary to enable fallen human beings again to do what is pleasing in His sight. In Deuteronomy 30:6 we find our spiritual renewal figuratively described as a circumcision of the heart.… Since the heart is the inner core of the person, the passage teaches that God must cleanse us within before we can truly love Him.” Explaining the irresistible nature of this divine work, Craigie writes, “It is seen rather to be an act of God and thus indicates the new covenant, when God would in His grace deal with man’s basic spiritual problem. When God ‘operated’ on the heart, then indeed the people would be able to love the Lord and live.” (Foundations of Grace) Life Application Commentary - Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law.NRSV Circumcision was fundamental to the Jews-it symbolized the covenant between God and Abraham's descendants (Genesis 17:9-14). It was the expression of Israel's national identity and was a requirement for all Jewish men. Circumcision was a physical reminder to Jews of their national heritage and privilege. Many were confident that it sealed their position with God. But just as having the law did not make a person right before God, neither was circumcision in itself a cause for confidence. To be circumcised was only worthwhile if God's law was followed (see Galatians 5:3). To be circumcised and yet break God's law was no better than not being circumcised at all. What God desires is a pure and obedient heart. The futility of substituting the symbol for the reality it represents was clear even in the Old Testament. Moses knew that obedience was much more than submitting to the ceremonial law. He wrote, "Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer" (Deuteronomy 10:16 NIV). Jeremiah echoed the same concern: "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 4:4 NIV). Jack Deere on Deuteronomy 10:16 - The proper response to their election by the sovereign Lord was to circumcise their hearts (cf. 30:6). An uncircumcised heart means a will that is hardened against God’s commands. It is another way of saying the person is stiff-necked or stubborn (cf. 9:6, 13; 31:27). Thus the command to circumcise their hearts assumes that human hearts are naturally rebellious and need correction. Though human hearts are slow to change, Moses warned the nation that no bribe or anything less than an inward transformation could satisfy the LORD, who is the great God. (Bible knowledge commentary) Norman Geisler - When Critics Ask PROBLEM: According to this verse, “the Lord your God will circumcise your heart.” However, earlier in the same book Moses called on Israel to “circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer” (Deut. 10:16). But how can we have it both ways? SOLUTION: The truth is that there is both an active and passive role for humans in salvation. We are active in receiving the gift, but we were not active in the giving of the gift. We actively submit our hearts to God, but we are not active in saving our own hearts. In short, while we are active in receiving or accepting salvation, we had absolutely nothing to do with providing or accomplishing salvation. Even though the one rescued is active in receiving the lifeline, nonetheless, he is passive in being rescued by the rescuer who pulls in the rope. Likewise, we actively submit to the life-saving operation, but we are passive in receiving the physician’s skillful surgery that saves our life. The situation can be summarized as follows: OUR ACTIVE ROLE IN SALVATION Reception of the gift Submitting to salvation Believing Accepting salvation OUR PASSIVE ROLE IN SALVATION Giving of the gift Being saved Being redeemed Accomplishing salvation Kendall Easley - Circumcision And he [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also. Romans 4:11-12 DEFINITION: Physical circumcision refers to the act of cutting off the foreskin of a male's reproductive organ. Spiritual circumcision refers to the inner change by which a person is enabled to trust, love, and obey God wholeheartedly. In recent times, circumcision has been widely practiced in the Western world as a medical procedure, done for its supposed health benefit later in life for the male and for his sexual partner(s). This practice should be kept entirely separate from the discussion of circumcision as a religious ritual. In the Bible, circumcision was first a ritual symbolizing the covenant God made with Abraham, and which his male descendants were supposed to practice (Gn 17:14). Later on, circumcision on the eighth day of an Israelite boy's life became mandatory (Lv 12:3). By Paul's time, circumcision was often interpreted by Jews to mean that every circumcised person was automatically right with God. This triggered an early Christian controversy about whether non-Jews who came into a right relationship with God by faith should be circumcised (Ac 15). Was circumcision a good work that contributed to one's standing before God? Paul answered with an emphatic no (Gl 5:1-12; 6:12-15; Rm 2:25-29; 4:10-12). The Old Testament emphasized the importance of bodily circumcision, yet a few texts pointed to the truth that Israelite circumcision should be considered a sign that one had experienced the inner spiritual cleansing that comes by faith (Dt 10:16; Jr 4:4). Most remarkable is the promise of Deuteronomy 30:6: “The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will live.” This provided the basis for Paul's argument in Romans 2:25-28 that circumcised persons who misbehave are worse off than uncircumcised men who do the right thing. This climaxed in his amazing announcement that “a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh” (Rm 2:28). Following Paul's lead, Christianity has rejected circumcision as a ritual to be practiced by churches: “Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter, but keeping God's commandments does” (1 Co 7:19). By commandments, Paul obviously meant God's moral commands rather than ceremonial rules, because circumcision was in fact commanded for all Jews (Lv 12:3). It is of some interest that of the New Testament epistles, circumcision is mentioned only in Paul's letters. Thus, the meaning of circumcision for Christians is found in Paul's advice to the Philippians: “We are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh” (Php 3:3; see Col 2:11). REFLECTION: Why have Gentile Christians rejected circumcision as a religious ritual? How would you explain the difference between physical circumcision and spiritual circumcision? Bob