Today we begin Joshua Chapter 23.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.
For the King James Bible, click HERE.
Joshua Chapter 23 is Joshua’s farewell address to the children of Israel.
There are 2 possibilities in terms of exactly where he delivered his goodbye speech.
One is Shiloh which at this time was both the civil and religious headquarters of Israel.
The other possibility is he was speaking from his home located in TIMNATH-SERAH on top of the mountains of Ephraim.
Given that Joshua was about 110 years old at this time, I think it’s safe to assume he probably delivered his final address from his home in TIMNATH-SERAH.
This seems logical because it certainly wasn’t easy to travel in those days.
And speaking of delivering his message from a mountaintop, Joshua was following in the same tradition of both Moses and Yeshua who delivered their most famous sermons from mountaintops.
Recall that Moses delivered his sermon (which is pretty much all of the book of Deuteronomy) from the top of Mount Moab on the east bank of the Jordan.
Yeshua’s famous “Sermon on the Mount” was delivered from a hilltop overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
And here we have Joshua delivering his final sermon from the top of Mount Ephraim.
In those days, a speech delivered from a hill or mountaintop was considered to carry divine authority and power.
This makes sense given that the 3 most important leaders of God delivered their seminal sermons from mountaintops.
Alright man, I’m done.
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