March 12, 2022: Day 55 – Joshua 16-18 and Acts 16-18

We continue along with our readings as they lay out the territories that are allotted to the Jews as they move into the promised land.  We begin with the allotment for the sons of Joseph which covers 16 and 17.  In 18 we see the division of the rest of the land by scouts going out and charting and mapping the land so that it could be divided evenly.  Not much more to say about Joshua in these chapters.

We can say a lot for these chapters in Acts.  We are introduced to Timothy in 16 who becomes an important figure in the life of Paul, as Paul becomes an important figure in Timothy’s life.  He considers Timothy his son in many ways and even writes two letters to him which we have in Scripture which are I and II Timothy.  These chapters are a series of events that seem to follow a pattern.  Paul and his entourage arrive in a city, they go to the synagogue and preach Jesus.  People believe in Jesus, the leaders get jealous and stir up the crowd and bring them to the authorities, the authorities do nothing about it and so the leaders gather a group of people and beat up Paul and the people that he is with.  Not a great routine, but at least it is a routine.  

Notice in chapter 18 when he gets to Corinth he ends up spending quite a bit of time there.  He loves the church there, but seems to consistently get frustrated with them.  That frustration comes out in his two letter to them: I and II Corinthians.  It is interesting that we now are able to see the beginning of the letters of Paul to churches and people and recognize how this man of faith was used by God to fill the majority of the New Testament that we have today.