Study Desk

"All the Israelites ask you: ‘Why did you turn against the God of Israel by building an altar for yourselves? You know that this is against God's law.

Remember what happened at Peor? We still suffer today because of that sin, for which God made many Israelites very sick.

If your land is unclean, come over into our land where the Lord 's Tent is. Share it with us. But don't turn against the Lord and us by building another altar for the Lord our God.

"We did not build it for that reason. We feared that someday your people would not accept us as part of your nation. Then they might say, ‘You cannot worship the Lord , the God of Israel.

"That is why we decided to build this altar. But it is not for burnt offerings and sacrifices.

"In the future if your children say that, our children can say, ‘See the altar made by our ancestors. It is exactly like the Lord 's altar, but we do not use it for sacrifices. It shows that we are part of Israel.'

"Truly, we don't want to be against the Lord or to stop following him by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices. We know the only true altar to the Lord our God is in front of the Holy Tent."

You have seen what the Lord has done to our enemies to help us. The Lord your God fought for you.

With his help, one Israelite could defeat a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, as he promised to do.

the Lord your God will not help you defeat your enemies. They will be like traps for you, like whips on your back and thorns in your eyes, and none of you will be left in this good land the Lord your God has given you.

"It's almost time for me to die. You know and fully believe that the Lord has done great things for you. You know that he has not failed to keep any of his promises.

So the people called out to the Lord . And I brought darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea to cover them. You yourselves saw what I did to the army of Egypt. After that, you lived in the desert for a long time.

But the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, prepared to fight against the Israelites. The king sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you,

but I refused to listen to Balaam. So he asked for good things to happen to you! I saved you and brought you out of his power.

But if you don't want to serve the Lord , you must choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. You may serve the gods that your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River, or you may serve the gods of the Amorites who lived in this land. As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord ."

It was the Lord our God who brought our ancestors out of Egypt. We were slaves in that land, but the Lord did great things for us there. He brought us out and protected us while we traveled through other lands.

On that day at Shechem Joshua made an agreement for the people. He made rules and laws for them to follow.

The Israelites served the Lord during the lifetime of Joshua and during the lifetimes of the elders who lived after Joshua who had seen what the Lord had done for Israel.

When the Israelites left Egypt, they carried the bones of Joseph with them. They buried them at Shechem, in the land Jacob had bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor (Hamor was the father of Shechem). This land now belonged to Joseph's children.

After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord , "Who will be first to go and fight for us against the Canaanites?"