“34 Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.”
I am guilty of not reading all of the instructions, especially on recipes. I will read the ingredients and just throw them all together. Yes, I was rebuked by my wife for not reading the entire set of instructions. We had to start over because there is a process to baking and mixing the ingrediencies that I did not read.
Joshua and the Israelites were in the same spot. Achan had not listened to all the directions from Joshua and had taken some things holy to the Lord and it cost them. Not only did a small village route 3000 men of Israel, 35 men died fleeing. Achan and all he had was stoned for this. The message to the Israelites after this: God means business!
Correcting this was no small task. Before Achan was stoned, the Lord told Joshua to go clan by clan, family by family and the Lord would choose the wrong doer. The lot fell on Achan. This had to have taken days or maybe even months to fully go through all of Israel. Meanwhile, the punishment for this wrong doing had have been on the minds of everyone coming forward. My mom used to say, “Guilt is written all over your face”.
Problem solved, the Israelites take Ai and burn the entire city, kill everyone in it and take the spoil for themselves under the direction of Lord. Jericho was holy to the Lord, but Ai was to be given to the people. Can I just say if you give God the first fruits of all you have, He will provide everything we need (Philippians 4:19). It is always better to follow the Lord than to disobey. For the Israelites, seeing Achan must have branded all their minds with how serious God was when He gave a set of instructions. After Joshua and the Israelites sack Ai, an alter was set up near the city and they sacrificed to the Lord there. Joshua wrote the law on those rocks and he read the entire book of the Law to the Israelites – the blessing and curses just as Moses had commanded.
How does this relate to us today? We don’t go around taking cities for Jesus and killing everyone in it. We live in a different world today. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us, “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” We must, however, use then entire Bible and all that is in it and not take anything from it when being instructed. Revelation 22:18-19 tells us, “18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” God is serious about His Word.
Be careful not to pick and choose which parts of Holy scripture you want to learn because it fits your life. The Word is inspired by God and we should take “all” of in and study all of it. If you run across parts that are difficult to understand, go to a trusted source to interpret those hard passages. The Bible tells is that the Holy Spirit will reveal the hidden mysteries of Bible to us if we just ask. Remember, the one who inspired men to write the Bible is the best one to help you interpret it. Joshua read “the whole law” to the Israelites that day and we should never pick and choose which verses we agree with, that is Satan speaking to you going against the Bible’s instructions. John 8:32 tells us that the whole truth will set us free but we must “know the whole truth” first. Get to know the Bible and become a student of it today.
Prayer: Father I pray that all of us will become students of the Bible and everything in it. I pray the we never pick and choose which verses we agree with but rather use all of them in our walk of faith speaking your Word. In victory in Jesus name.
Let It Go 
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