Reading from Tuesday, April 20

Hey-O. Today was freaking insane. I had meetings all day along with other various production work I needed to complete. Plus I have other things that need to get done before my best friend's wedding this weekend. PLUS - I got a notice from the tax office that I owed them a thousand dollars - which I don't - so I had to work that out, too. When I get home I have cleaning the entire apartment to look forward to as well as finishing the work I couldn't do during the day because I was in freaking meetings.

Reading for April 20
Joshua 21:1-22:20
Wow. That sneaky land distribution. I forgot about the Levites. Chapter 21 is all about the distribution of land to the Levites, and once again, it's boring to a maddening degree. However, the end of this chapter does give a nice breath of fresh air to the book of Joshua - check it:

 ⁴³ So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. ⁴⁴ The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. ⁴⁵ Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

The reason all of this text about the distribution of land exists is to show that God always delivers on his promises, as summarized here in the last few verses. So this is kinda 'the end justifies the means' I guess - God promised a certain piece of land to the Israelites, so to deliver on that promise he had them murder a large number of other people. Obviously from my point of view, the end does not justify the means. I know a few of you commented some new thoughts about the genocides which I haven't had a chance to look at and digest yet, but its obviously not something that has an easy answer.

Either way - this last paragraph sounds like a "OK - now you can rest. You have inherited the promised land, enjoy!" But - the very next chapter it shows a group of Israelites building an altar to another god right in the promised land! After all of the reminders to avoid this very thing, after multiple smites from God for people doing the same thing, after being told over and over and over to worship only God or they will be hell to pay - this group of morons goes ahead and sets up an altar to another God.

God either doesn't see it right away or simply doesn't react to it right away, but the entire nation of Israel comes to this group of people saying "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?! DIDN'T YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME SOMEONE DID THIS??! BOOM! DEAD TOWN! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED, DUMMIES!!"

Unfortunately, this is where the chapter ends, so we'll see what happens to them in the next reading.

Luke 20:1-26
Jesus was an extremely smooth talker. There's a scene that appears in the other Gospels, where the teachers of the law try to trick Jesus into saying that people shouldn't pay taxes. Here's how it played out:

²¹So the spies questioned him: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²²Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
 ²³He saw through their duplicity and said to them, ²⁴"Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?"
 ²⁵"Caesar's," they replied.
      He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
 ²⁶They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

Boom. Jesus'd. 

Psalm 89:1-13
This psalm is incredibly positive toward God. A complete psalm full of praising God for his goodness and love of humanity. It talks about his power and majesty over the entire earth. Where other psalms are full of despair and asking God where he is and hey he had abandoned the psalmist. Or sometimes, especially in the psalms of David, it starts with a statement of despair and then a turn towards praise. It's just nice to see a full psalm with all positive language about God and about life.

Proverbs 13:15-16
 ¹⁵ Good understanding wins favor,
       but the way of the unfaithful is hard. ^[a]
 16 Every prudent man acts out of knowledge,
       but a fool exposes his folly.

OK Great. I'm almost caught up. Sweet sweetness.