Skip to main content

The Importance of Shechem


            After teaching three or four lessons per week for almost 22 years, there are not many things in the Bible that I have not seen.  Imagine my surprise, then, when last week I came across a story that I had never heard before (and I am guessing you have not either). 

            Joshua and the people of God have just crossed into the Promised Land and have successfully conquered the first two towns; Jericho and Ai.  Momentum is on their side.  If I was Joshua, I would continue to attack.  Instead, Joshua marches his people to the centre of the land, to a place called Shechem.

            Shechem sits in a valley between two mountains that are about a mile apart.  When Joshua arrives, he takes half of the people and puts them on one mountain (Mount Gerizim) and he takes the other half and put them on the other mountain (Mount Ebal).  Then, “Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law” (Joshua 8:34).   He read the “curses” (the “If you do not follow God, here is the punishment that you will face” part) to the people standing on Mount Ebal and he read the “Blessings” (the “Here is how God will care for you if you follow him” portion) to the people on Mount Gerizim.  After each line, he had them agree to the terms by saying “Amen” which means “So be it” (See Deuteronomy 27-29).  After renewing their commitment to God, the people go back to conquering the land.

Now, maybe you are thinking, “Ok… so what?”  Well, this was not the first time that God’s people renewed their commitment at Shechem.  In fact, years earlier, God met Abraham at Shechem and assured him of the blessing he had received (Genesis 12:6-7).  Years later, at the end of his life, when Joshua wants to make sure that the people of God are still committed to their faith, he brings them back to Shechem (Joshua 24:1) and challenges them with these words, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Verse 15).

My point:  Times of reassessment and recommitment are important.  Once in a while, we all need to remember and restate what we believe, to whom we belong and where our hope is found. 

In our faith, as with riding a bicycle, if we coast too long, we will eventually stop.  

Have you been to Shechem lately?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Consider This: Who Needs Worship?

  Why does God need our worship? The events of Matthew 14 provide at least one answer.   This chapter starts with the beheading of John the Baptist (verses 1-12). This is the first in a series of events that indicate things are about to become much more difficult for the believers. Next, the scene shifts to a crowd gathered on a hillside in Galilee. After listening to Jesus teach all day, the apostles realized that these people had nothing to eat. They brought the problem to Jesus. He took a child’s lunch and fed the entire group of five thousand men plus women and children. Afterwards, they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers (verses 13-21).   Then Jesus told them to get in a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee. As they went, a storm arose, and the apostles were scared. They struggled along until Jesus came to them walking on the water. Peter tried walking on the water too and sank. After Jesus rescued Peter, they got into the boat, and the storm immediately s...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Spiritual Makeover (1 Peter 1:13-16)

 Three responses to the new life God has given us.  https://youtu.be/FmqX5-3jOKc  
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Something to Hold On To

      If you have never stopped to see the Swinging Bridge in Souris, Manitoba, you should add it to your list of things to do. I like it. Others do not. It feels wobbly. It bounces up and down. I have seen people in the middle of the bridge holding on and screaming because it feels too unstable. Of course, there is nothing to fear. The bridge has huge anchors at each end and is secured by steel cables, but sometimes, our feelings make us forget the facts. Peter knows that his readers are about to face some scary situations. He does not want their feelings to obscure everything else, so he outlines three truths they need to remember. First, their hope is greater than their troubles. “For a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold… may be proved genuine and result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7). Not...
Post a Comment
Read more