Preached Sermons: Curses and blessings

Text Joshua 8:30-37 Time 26 07 20 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church (Zoom)

I want us to look this evening at the end of Joshua 8 - verses 30-37. In this section, without any announcement, we are not in Ai, where we were least week, but in Shechem or Sychar (modern Nablus on the West Bank), twenty miles away to the north. Some people are quick to find fault with the Bible and so they say, look this story is in the wrong place. It should be somewhere else. In fact that is not the case.

If you look carefully at the section that in our Bibles is in Chapters 5-8, although there is a lot about fighting and battles, it is bookended by two sections all about covenant keeping. Chapter 5:1-12 is all about circumcision and the Passover then this section in 8:30-37 rounds off with the renewal of the covenant at Shechem.

But how did they travel that distance without being attacked? That is to forget the fear the Canaanites had been gripped by. No, God's people had duties to perform and they wanted to get them done as soon as possible.

I have often alerted you to the fact that the covenant is important in the Bible. We touch the children that a covenant is an agreement between two or more persons and it is the way that God relates to people. You know that in the Bible there are two covenants old and new and all the way through the Bible there is this willingness on God's part to relate to us as by means of a covenant. He promises to be our God and we are to be his people with all that entails.

Here we are reminded of the importance of the covenant relationship. Yes, it is important to press on in the Christian life and to be faithful warriors in the war to overcome sin in our lives but if we do not stop and take things in on a regular basis we will be in trouble. That is why things like holidays and day offs are important. God has made us though that we work best when our lives are punctuated by times of sleep and rest - daily, weekly and so on. It is good for us to stop each day and simply to read the Bible and pray, reminding ourselves of the covenant relationship between God and his people.

It was common in Ancient Near Eastern covenants to have a ceremony of ratification and that is exactly what is carried out here. As for these verses themselves, I think we can get at them by asking five questions.

1. Where did it happen?

The section begins with a reference to Mount Ebal and in the second part of verse 33 we read that Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.

Shechem with the mountains of Ebal and Gerazim either side was described in the 19th century by Anglican Dean Stanley as “the most beautiful, perhaps it might be said the only very beautiful spot in central Palestine.” Ebal to the south is about 3000 feet and Gerizim to the north a little lower.

A natural amphitheatre, the place is an obvious one for the sort of thing that is described here.

Shechem is where Abraham first made sacrifice in the Promised Land and where Jacob first settled when he returned from Paddan Aram.

You can picture the scene then to some extent - the two mountains, the green grass, the narrow valley - less than 200 yards across. One traveller suggests that Gerizim is green and fruitful and Ebal, because it is beaten by the sun is much less so - it is parched and fruitless. I have looked at photographs from today and that is not obvious but may have been more obvious then.

2.What happened there?

There were three things.

1. An altar of uncut stones was erected and solemn sacrifices offered on it. 30, 31

Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses - an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the LORD burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.

All worship must be as God directs and so Joshua does that. Uncut stones were as far from idolatry as one can imagine.

Sacrifice is central here. This is a reminder that we can enter into the new covenant only because of the sacrificial death of our Saviour. He has been made a burnt offering to bring us into fellowhip with the Lord. We too must live lives of sacrifice to his praise.

2. The Law was inscribed on large stones which had been coated with plaster. These memorial stones were set up on Mount Ebal. It was common in Egypt to erect such writings.

32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses.There is more detail back in Deuteronomy 27:2-4, 8 When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. ... And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.

Exactly what was to be written on the stones is not clear – the Ten Commandments? The blessings and curses? Other portions from Deuteronomy? It is not likely to have been the whole of Deuteronomy. I would gues sit was the Ten Commandments written twice - for them and for God.

3. The priests with the Ark stood in the valley between Ebal and Gerizim, surrounded by the elders, officers and judges while the curses of the Law were read aloud by the Levites. Half the tribes situated on Mount Gerizim (Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin) responded to the blessings of the Law with a loud Amen, and then the other half on Mount Ebal (Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali) in the same way curses of the Law.

This is described in verses 33-35 All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel. 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. 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.

So imagine then further, the ark, the priests and Levites, the Law written up, the curses and blessings and the response from either side of the pass. It was intended to be most solemn and God exalting.

3. Why did it happen?

It happened, of course, because they were commanded to do this in Deuteronomy. Firstly in Deuteronomy 11:29, 30 we read

When the LORD your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses. As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.

Then in Deuteronomy 27 and 28 it is spelled out exactly what needed to be done and what the curses and blessings were. Scripture is always to guide us.

4. Who was present?

So Joshua took the lead here. He it is who set up the altar. He is alos the one who wrote out the law on the large stones and had them set up. In the middle of the valley was the ark of the covenant. Either side of the ark stood all the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges. In verse 33 the writer adds Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Carrying the ark were the Levites and other Levites appear to be with them. The people are divided into two groups - half in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal. One half pronounces on the curses and the other half on the blessings. It is Joshua who is said to read the curses and blessings here although in Deuteronomy it is the Levites who are commanded to do it.

5. What was said there?

The final thing I would like to make clear is something you will not find in the text but that can be found by going back to Deuteronomy 27 and 28.

Curses (12 of them)

"Cursed is anyone who makes an idol - a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of skilled hands - and sets it up in secret." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is anyone who dishonours their father or mother." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" "Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbour's boundary stone." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" "Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father's wife, for he dishonors his father's bed." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" "Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbour secretly." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" "Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" (27:15-26)

Blessings

There is no real equivalent of these curses but the sorts of blessings that come from God are spelled out in 28:1-14

If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock - the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in obedience to him. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity - in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground - in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.

The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

28:17-68 takes us back to the curses and contain a horrible catalogue of curses that are hard to believe unless you know the history of the Jews and their persecution down the years.

The new covenant like the old is a source of blessing to all who keep it through Christ but if we merely go through the motions it will lead rather to a curse.

We must not be crass about this and suppose that under the new covenant all believers will always be healthy and wealthy. There are other factors at work and sometimes obedience will lead us to be disadvantaged in worldly terms. We must always remember that not only wealth and health are gifts from God but also the ability to enjoy them. It is possible for someone poorer and less healthy than the next man to still be more blessed because he recognises where what good he has comes from while the other man does not. There are other things to bear in mind then but the general rule is that those who obey God's Word will know his blessing.

We deserve God's curses but because Christ has taken these curses on himself, we have hope that all will be well in him. Trust in him today.