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June 10th: Joshua 8 & Luke 22:39-53

Alastair Roberts
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June 10th: Joshua 8 & Luke 22:39-53

June 10, 2020
Alastair Roberts
Alastair Roberts

Victory over Ai. The agony in Gethsemane.

Reflections upon the readings from the ACNA Book of Common Prayer (http://bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net/).

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Transcript

Joshua 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not fear, and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land.
And you shall do to Ai and its king as you
did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.
So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai, and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night. And he commanded them, Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready.
And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city,
and when they come out against us, just as before, we shall flee before them. And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, They are fleeing from us, just as before.
So we will flee before them. Then you shall
rise up from the ambush, and seize the city. For the Lord your God will give it into your hand.
And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall
do according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.
So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush, and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people. Joshua arose early in the morning, and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
And all the fighting men who were with him went up,
and drew near before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city, and its rear-guard west of the city.
But Joshua spent that night in the valley.
And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place, toward the Araba, to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
And Joshua and
all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled in the direction of the wilderness. So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them. And as they pursued Joshua, they were drawn away from the city.
Not a man was left in Ai, or Bethel,
who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel. Then the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.
And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward
the city. And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire.
So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up
to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai, and the others came out from the city against them. So they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side.
And Israel
struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped. But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua. When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword.
And all who fell that day, both men and women, were
twelve thousand, all the people of Ai. But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction. Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the Lord that he commanded Joshua.
So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it forever a
heap of ruins, as it is to this day. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.
At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel,
on Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool. And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. And there in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
And all Israel, sojourner
as well as native-born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at first to bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.
Joshua chapter 8 is a one piece with chapter 7,
continuing the account of Ai. Israel suffered a humiliating defeat there as a result of Achan's sin, but Achan was destroyed with his family. The evil in their midst now dealt with, Israel is in a position to go up and take the city.
Joshua's strategy for taking Ai exploits the tactics of
the men of Ai from the preceding chapter, when they had pursued Israel away from the town. This is the lengthiest description of a battle in the book of Joshua. It is difficult to piece the exact order and interrelation of the events in the battle.
Were there two ambush forces sent
out on different days, the first in verses 3-9 and the second in verses 11-13? Was one of the ambush forces 30,000 men strong? How would a force of such a great size hide? Were they hanging around for two and a half days before springing the trap? There are a number of possibilities here. First, perhaps there were two separate ambush groups, with one of 30,000 men and one of 5,000 men. This is a bit strange though, because they're dealing with a town of only 12,000 people, from which most of the men would have departed.
Perhaps the extra men were stationed there to
deal with enemies from Bethel. Perhaps there is a copyist error and the 30,000 men are actually the same group as the 5,000. Others have suggested that perhaps the numbers aren't as large as we think, and that it refers not to 30,000 and 5,000, but to 30 units and 5 units.
Perhaps the 30,000
men are the main fighting force with Joshua. This is the approach that I take. We could then read the narrative as follows.
Verses 11-13 expand on verses 3-9, with verse 14 then resuming the
narrative. The events play out in the following order. First, Joshua sends a group of 5,000 elite fighting men to ambush Ai to its west.
Joshua goes with the main body of the 30,000 troops to the
north of the city and spends the night there. Then, going to the city in the morning, they are seen by the king of Ai, who brings out the men of Ai to meet them in battle. The Israelites pretend to flee, drawing the men of Ai, and the trap is sprung.
Joshua then stretches out his javelin,
and the 5,000 men take the city and burn it, taking the cattle and spoil for themselves, which they had been allowed to do this time. The king of Ai and his men then are defeated, and the king of Ai is killed and his body publicly humiliated, before it is buried under a heap of stones for a testimony. This, it seems to me, is the best way of fitting all the information together.
Joshua chapter 8 begins with an assurance to Joshua and Israel that the Lord is with them, and that he will give the city of Ai into their hands. After the events of the preceding chapter, they are to be encouraged to take heart, not to be afraid. On this occasion, the Lord grants them the right to take the spoil for themselves from the city.
This wasn't a right that they could just
assume. The Lord gave it to them as a special dispensation on this occasion. The ambush forces situate themselves between Bethel and Ai.
We should have a thrill of remembrance at this point,
as this place had been mentioned once before in scripture, in Genesis 12 and 13, where it is the second place where Abraham goes to in the land. In verses 6 to 8 of chapter 12, Abraham passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, to your offspring I will give this land.
So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.
And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. He returns to this site in Genesis chapter 13 verses 3 to 4, and it seems that it is there that he parts ways from Lot, and the land is promised to him. And he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first.
And there Abraham called upon the name of the Lord. So Israel is now treading
on and about to take land that had been promised to their father Abraham centuries before. The men of Ai are caught in Joshua's ruse and they're joined by the men of Bethel, who presumably recognize that they need to fight with the men of Ai as they are the next city in the Israelites' path.
Joshua is instructed by the Lord to stretch out the javelin in his hand towards Ai. The men in ambush rise up and overwhelm the city. And all of this is reminiscent of Exodus chapter 17 verses 8 to 13, when Israel fought against Amalek and Moses held out his hand with the staff of the Lord in it.
Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.
So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek. While Moses, Aaron and
Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed.
And whenever
he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him. And he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side.
So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed
Amalek and his people with the sword. But this story reminds me of one even more than that.
It reminds me of the defeat of the Egyptians at the Red Sea in Exodus chapter 14 verses 22 to 28. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen.
And in the morning watch the Lord
in the pillar of fire and of cloud look down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, Let us flee from before Israel for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea.
Not one of them remained. In both of these cases, a force pursuing Israel seemingly enjoying the upper hand is tempted into a position of mortal danger. The Lord instructs Moses to stretch out his hand bearing his staff over the sea, and it returns overwhelming the Egyptians.
The Lord
instructs Joshua to stretch out his hand bearing his javelin, and the ambush force overwhelms the city of Ai. The fact that the Lord instructs Joshua to do this, as he instructed Moses concerning his hand bearing the staff, suggests that this is not just a clever military strategy or a military signal on Joshua's part, but that something more is going on here. Perhaps we could even connect the smoke of the city, sending the people of Ai into a panic with the pillar of cloud and fire.
As at the Red Sea, the entirety of the opposing force, no man excluded, is drawn into the trap. Israel then strikes down all the people of Ai, men, women, and children with the sword. Joshua continues to stretch out his hand until Ai is completely destroyed, much as Moses continued to hold up his hand with the staff until the Amalekites were defeated.
The javelin then seems
to function as more than simply a human signal. Rather, Joshua's javelin is an equivalent to Moses' rod. If Moses was the shepherd of Israel bearing a shepherd's rod, Joshua is the javelin bearing warrior.
Joshua is the one holding out the javelin, rather than directly participating in the fighting,
as Joshua taking on the role that Moses played in Exodus chapter 17, when Joshua was the one leading the people in the actual fighting of the battle. Ai was burned and reduced to rubble, and the king of Ai was exposed by hanging, then taken down by sunset, according to the instruction of Deuteronomy chapter 21, verses 22 to 23. Like Achan, the body of the king of Ai is then covered up by a heap of stones.
The symmetry between the two men, and between Achan and the city of Ai, itself is important.
The victory at Ai is one in which Israel is more directly active than they were in the defeat of the Lord brought the walls down. We might pause here to reflect for a moment upon the troubling character of the complete destruction that the Lord brought upon the Canaanites.
This was a
destruction that wasn't only a complete destruction of the men, but also included the women and the children. The Lord declared that the sins of the Canaanites were especially heinous. They were guilty of abominable sexual sins, such as incest and bestiality, ritual prostitution, and they also performed child sacrifice to their false gods.
The Lord did not bring destruction upon them
immediately in the days of Abram. He allowed centuries to pass for their sins to reach their full height, without repentance, before they were cut off. Israel had to wait for a long time before the Lord sent them to destroy the Canaanites, and when he did, it was very clear that the sort of warfare they were called to, in the case of the Canaanites, was categorically different from that which they were to practice elsewhere.
As with Pharaoh, the Lord also hardened the Canaanites'
hearts so that they stubbornly sought to make war with Israel, to their own doom. In Joshua 11, 19-20 There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle.
For it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that
they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction, and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses. The Canaanites knew well in advance that Israel was coming. They'd heard about the events in Egypt.
They knew that
the Most High God was with them, and they presumably knew that as a result they were facing judgment for their sins. And they could have learned all of this from paying attention to Egypt. Some Canaanites did respond.
Rahab turned to assist Israel and became part of the nation.
The Gibeonites, in the following chapter, sought to deceive Israel and ended up being spared. There are some societies that have given themselves over to such great evil, and to such a great extent, that they place themselves in jeopardy of a general death sentence.
While we
should very rightly question whether, for instance, firebombing Dresden or the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan were justified actions on the Allied Nations' part, it is arguable to believe that nations that had collectively given themselves over to such extreme evil, called down a holocaust upon themselves and all their members, men, women and children. Nations that give themselves to such wickedness put themselves in a terrifying position. As before the flood, evil can be so rampant that destruction is general.
This is certainly the sort of way in which
scripture frames matters concerning the Canaanites. The absolute destruction of the Canaanites is a judicial action of the Holy God, an act of dread justice, a death sentence upon a culture, with Israel as the law's instrument. It is not provoked by the mere ethnic identity of the people of the land, but solely on account of their moral character and their continued wickedness without repentance.
Canaanites could join Israel if they repented. We read of characters like Rahab,
Uriah the Hittite and Ornan the Jebusite as righteous people in the land, people living among Israel. Conversely, Israelites and Israelite cities who gave themselves over to the way of the Canaanites suffered every bit as devastating a fate as the Canaanites themselves, as we see in the example of Achan.
It is also imperative to notice that Israel did not take this right of
judgment upon themselves. Rather, the Lord required it of them and punished them when they fell short of it. The destruction of the Canaanites then was not merely for Israel's national self-interest.
It was for the will of God, with Israel as the Lord's servant. Joshua chapter 8 ends with the performance of a covenant ceremony that Moses had instructed Israel to perform back in Deuteronomy chapter 27 verses 1 to 8 and 11 to 13. Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people saying keep the whole commandment that I command you today and on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God has given you you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster and you shall write on them all the words of this law when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God has given you a land flown with milk and honey as the Lord the God of your fathers has promised you and when you have crossed over the Jordan you shall set up these stones concerning which I command you today on Mount Ebal and you shall plaster them with plaster and there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God an altar of stones you shall wield no iron tool on them you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones and you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God and you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly that day Moses charged the people saying when you have crossed over the Jordan these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people Simeon Levi Judah Issachar Joseph and Benjamin and these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse Reuben Gad Asher Zebulun Dan and Naphtali this ritual was performed near Shechem between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim the blessing and the curse were then declared the blessing from Gerizim and the curse from Ebal as Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 29 prescribed this was a general covenant ritual it was not just for the men of the assembly but for the entire body of the people including women children and sojourners the whole nation was to commit themselves to the Lord as they entered into the land after they had won these great initial victories at Jericho and Ai they were to commit themselves as the covenant people of God these were the terms on which they would live faithfully within the land a question to consider what might have been some of the significance of the site of Shechem for the performance of the covenant renewal ritual Luke chapter 22 verses 39 to 53 and he came out and went as was his custom to the mount of Olives and the disciples followed him and when he came to the place he said to them pray that you may not enter into temptation and he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed saying father if you are willing remove this cup from me nevertheless not my will but yours be done and there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him and being in agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground and when he rose from prayer he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow and he said to them why are you sleeping rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation while he was still speaking there came a crowd and the man called Judas one of the twelve was leading them he drew near to Jesus to kiss him but Jesus said to him Judas would you betray the son of man with a kiss and when those who were around him saw what would follow they said lord shall we strike with the sword and one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear but Jesus said no more of this and he touched his ear and healed him then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs when i was with you day after day in the temple you did not lay hands on me but this is your hour and the power of darkness moving into the latter part of Luke chapter 22 Jesus goes out to the mount of olives once again this continues Jesus pattern of movement between the temple mount of the city and the mount of olives this recalls also David leaving Jerusalem during the coup of Absalom in 2nd Samuel chapter 15 to 16 now Jesus is departing Jerusalem like David in 2nd Samuel chapter 15 to 16 we can see some of these verses that remind us of the story of Christ then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem arise and let us flee or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom go quickly lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword and the king went out and all the people after him and they halted at the last house and all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by and the king crossed the brook Kidron and all the people passed on toward the wilderness but David went up the ascent of the mount of olives weeping as he went barefoot and with his head covered and all the people who were with him covered their heads and they went up weeping as they went and it was told David Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom and David said oh lord please turn the council of Ahithophel into foolishness as it was for David his father the mount of olives is a place of mourning weeping and agony for Jesus his trusted friend Judas is conspiring with his enemies as David's friend Ahithophel conspired with his when David had passed a little beyond the summit Zeba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of donkeys saddled bearing 200 loaves of bread a hundred bunches of raisins a hundred of summer fruits and a skin of wine and the king said to Zeba why have you brought these Zeba answered the donkeys are for the king's household to ride on the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat and the wine for those who faint in the wilderness to drink like David was ministered to by Zeba Jesus is ministered to by the angel when King David came to behorim there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei the son of Gerar and as he came he cursed continually and he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left David was assaulted by Shimei and a crowd led by the comes out to assault Jesus Shimei throws stones and Jesus prays at a stone's throw away from the disciples and Abishai the son of Zerariah said to the king why should this dead dog curse my lord the king let me go over and take off his head but the king said what have I to do with you you sons of Zerariah if he is cursing because the lord has said to him curse David who then shall say why have you done so and David said to Abishai and to all his servants behold my own son seeks my life how much more may this benjaminite leave him alone and let him curse for the lord has told him to David's right hand man Abishai wants to strike Shimei but David prevents him like David Jesus prevents his disciples from striking out at the crowd in John's gospel we learn that the one who strikes out at the ear of the high priest servant was Peter Jesus warns the disciples to pray that they might not enter into temptation this is one of the petitions of the lord's prayer in Luke chapter 4 Jesus was led by the spirit into temptation into the testing of the wilderness temptation is the place where people are tested to their limits and may be beyond the time of temptation is the time when satan for instance will try to sift peter like wheat Jesus has not long before delivered the Olivet discourse where he warned the disciples of a time of great testing that was coming in that generation and of the imperative of keeping awake in this story the expected time of testing is coming in a more immediate and concentrated form with Jesus taking the time of testing upon himself so that his disciples do not this is one of the ways in which the story of the gospels can be seen as a story of substitutionary atonement Jesus is the shepherd who takes the blows upon himself while the sheep are scattered but saved from destruction the time of temptation is coming but Jesus bears it instead of the disciples while interceding for them that they be protected from it he warns them that they would be delivered up by friends and relatives in the coming testing that would come upon the land and he is about to be delivered up by his close friend he prays for the removal of the cup that if possible there be some way that he should be saved his fate however he submits to the will of the lord the cup is an image of divine judgment that we encounter on several occasions in the old testament as i chapter 51 verse 17 wake yourself wake yourself stand up oh jerusalem you who have drunk from the hand of the lord the cup of his wrath who have drunk to the dregs the bowl the cup of staggering jeremiah chapter 25 verses 15 to 18 thus the lord the god of israel said to me take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom i send you drink it they shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that i'm sending among them so i took the cup from the lord's hand and made all the nations to whom the lord sent me drink it jerusalem and the cities of judah its kings and officials to make them a desolation and a waste a hissing and a curse as at this day ezekiel chapter 23 verses 31 to 34 you have gone the way of your sister therefore i will give her cup into your hand thus says the lord god you shall drink your sister's cup that is deep and large you shall be laughed at and held in derision for it contains much you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow a cup of horror and desolation the cup of your sister samaria you shall drink it and drain it out and nor its shards and tear your breasts for i have spoken declares the lord god havoc chapter 2 verse 16 you will have your fill of shame instead of glory drink yourself and show your uncircumcision the cup in the lord's right hand will come around to you and utter shame will come upon your glory zechariah chapter 12 verse 2 behold i'm about to make jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples the siege of jerusalem will also be against judah in the book of revelation cup imagery reappears jerusalem and the worshippers of the beast will be made to drink the cup for their sins revelation chapter 14 verses 9 to 11 and another angel a third followed them saying with a loud voice if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand he also will drink the wine of god's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day or night these worshippers of the beast and its image and whoever receives the mark of its name chapter 16 verse 19 the great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and god remembered babylon the great to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath and chapter 18 verse 6 pay her back as she herself has paid back others and repay her double for her deeds mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed at the very beginning of his ministry jesus was tempted in the wilderness being presented with the decision to stick to the course that his father has set for him and to which he had committed himself the course all his human instinct would recall from or to abandon it for the easy route that satan placed before him here again he submits himself to the will of his father rather than the inclinations of his human nature here he provides an example of faithful prayer for those who face such temptation he is ministered to by an angel as he was after his temptation in mark's account he struggles in prayer in great agony it might be worth observing that luke describes much more the agony of jesus prayer in gethsemane than he does the agony of the crucifixion this in many ways is the heart of the struggle the place where the battle is most pitched this is where the power of satan's case is being pressed upon him and where he must wrestle against it with every single sinew of his being his sweat becomes like great drops of blood the agony of one in the most extreme exertion one wrestling in the darkness and faithfully submitting himself to the terrible will of god by contrast the disciples have fallen asleep failing in the basic charge of wakefulness that he gave in the olivet discourse soon after judas arrives with the mob judas is one of the 12 a fact that is stressed even though we already knew it we are to feel the sting of betrayal once more judas betrays jesus with a kiss much as joab the son of zeruiah did in second samuel chapter 20 verses 9 to 10 and joab said to amasa is it well with you my brother and joab took amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him but amasa did not observe the sword that was in joab's hand so joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow and he died then joab and abishai his brother pursued sheba the son of bikri if peter is like abishai the son of zeruiah judas is like joab the son of zeruiah one of those who was with jesus identified as peter elsewhere strikes the high priest servant's ear but jesus heals the servant even when jesus is most under assault he expresses his grace and his compassion jesus points out to those who take him that they could have taken him any time in the temple but this serves their need to arrest him by stealth to ensure that the crowds don't get worked up the scriptures also must be fulfilled in this way remember the reference to isaiah chapter 53 verse 12 in the instruction that jesus gave to his disciples to bring swords with them that verse declares therefore i will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors being taken by a mob as if he were with a group of bandits jesus is numbered with the transgressors a question to consider luke's gospel foregrounds the theme of prayer and presents us in an especially pronounced way with jesus as a man of prayer how does jesus prayer in the garden connect with his earlier teaching upon prayer and how does it develop from it

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Is It Problematic for a DJ to Play Songs That Are Contrary to His Christian Values?
#STRask
July 10, 2025
Questions about whether it’s problematic for a DJ on a secular radio station to play songs with lyrics that are contrary to his Christian values, and
Licona vs. Fales: A Debate in 4 Parts – Part One: Can Historians Investigate Miracle Claims?
Licona vs. Fales: A Debate in 4 Parts – Part One: Can Historians Investigate Miracle Claims?
Risen Jesus
May 28, 2025
In this episode, we join a 2014 debate between Dr. Mike Licona and atheist philosopher Dr. Evan Fales on whether Jesus rose from the dead. In this fir
More on the Midwest and Midlife with Kevin, Collin, and Justin
More on the Midwest and Midlife with Kevin, Collin, and Justin
Life and Books and Everything
May 19, 2025
The triumvirate comes back together to wrap up another season of LBE. Along with the obligatory sports chatter, the three guys talk at length about th
Sean McDowell: The Fate of the Apostles
Sean McDowell: The Fate of the Apostles
Knight & Rose Show
May 10, 2025
Wintery Knight and Desert Rose welcome Dr. Sean McDowell to discuss the fate of the twelve Apostles, as well as Paul and James the brother of Jesus. M
What Are the Top Five Things to Consider Before Joining a Church?
What Are the Top Five Things to Consider Before Joining a Church?
#STRask
July 3, 2025
Questions about the top five things to consider before joining a church when coming out of the NAR movement, and thoughts regarding a church putting o
What Would You Say to Someone Who Believes in “Healing Frequencies”?
What Would You Say to Someone Who Believes in “Healing Frequencies”?
#STRask
May 8, 2025
Questions about what to say to someone who believes in “healing frequencies” in fabrics and music, whether Christians should use Oriental medicine tha
What Should I Say to Someone Who Believes Zodiac Signs Determine Personality?
What Should I Say to Someone Who Believes Zodiac Signs Determine Personality?
#STRask
June 5, 2025
Questions about how to respond to a family member who believes Zodiac signs determine personality and what to say to a co-worker who believes aliens c
What Would You Say to an Atheist Who Claims to Lack a Worldview?
What Would You Say to an Atheist Who Claims to Lack a Worldview?
#STRask
July 17, 2025
Questions about how to handle a conversation with an atheist who claims to lack a worldview, and how to respond to someone who accuses you of being “s
An Ex-Christian Disputes Jesus' Physical Resurrection: Licona vs. Barker - Part 1
An Ex-Christian Disputes Jesus' Physical Resurrection: Licona vs. Barker - Part 1
Risen Jesus
July 9, 2025
In this episode, we have Dr. Mike Licona's first-ever debate. In 2003, Licona sparred with Dan Barker at the University of Wisonsin-Madison. Once a Ch
What Would Be the Point of Getting Baptized After All This Time?
What Would Be the Point of Getting Baptized After All This Time?
#STRask
May 22, 2025
Questions about the point of getting baptized after being a Christian for over 60 years, the difference between a short prayer and an eloquent one, an
Are Works the Evidence or the Energizer of Faith?
Are Works the Evidence or the Energizer of Faith?
#STRask
June 30, 2025
Questions about whether faith is the evidence or the energizer of faith, and biblical support for the idea that good works are inevitable and always d