Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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If someone asked you, what are the most amazing wonders God has ever done, how would you answer?
Maybe, when God freed Israel from their slavery to Egypt?
When God parted the Red Sea?
When God raised Jesus from the dead?
If you were an Israelite answering this question, one of the first things you would say, is when Israel crossed the Jordan River in Joshua 3-4.
This story is a big deal.
One of the clues that helps us see how important this story is, is the amount of space and time AJ (=Author of Joshua) gives to it.
He takes two full chapters to describe these events, and their significance.
When we tell stories, one of the things we do, maybe without fully realizing it, is decide the pace that we tell them at-- how fast or slow.
When you get home from work, and your spouse asks you how your day was, some of you can summarize your day in a single (incomplete) sentence.
"Pretty good."
"Okay."
My dad, classically, would say, "It was productive."
Nothing very important or exciting happened, so you keep it short.
Once in a while, though, something will happen in your life that's really significant.
Maybe it marks a turning point in your life--your life was turned completely upside down, for good or bad.
If you're telling the story of where you met your spouse, or of when you decided to submit to Jesus as King, these are big deals.
Or, negatively, if you lost a very good friend because of a huge fight, and you're telling someone about it, it's going to be a long story.
When something really important happens, for good or bad, you want to help people understand the significance of it.
You do this in part by slowing down the pace.
You maybe give more background information.
You maybe quote what people said to each other.
When biblical authors, especially in the OT, tell stories, they tell them the same way.
Story telling is an art, and OT authors are very good at what they do.
Sometimes, decades of Israel's life can be summed up in a single sentence.
Nothing happened that was very important.
Other times, it takes 2 chapters to cross a river.
When AJ thinks about the crossing of the Jordan, he knows that this story is a big deal.
And so he stretches out the way he tells this story, mostly by telling us what people said.
What people say in these chapters--and what Yahweh says-- is just as important as what people, and Yahweh, do.
The other thing AJ does to help us see how important this is, is build suspense.
A good story will often keep important details from you.
The goal is to suck you into the story, and make you wonder what's coming.
But the important thing to know, up front, is that if it takes 2 chapters to cross the Jordan River, this story is a big deal.
There is something going on here that AJ is determined to make his readers to understand.
What is this?
What do we absolutely need to know?
We'll just have to read to find out.
(vs.
1-3)
(1) And Joshua rose early in the morning,
And they went out from Shittim,
And they came to the Jordan-- he, and all the sons of Israel,
And they spent the night there before they were crossing over.
(2) And then after three days, the officers crossed over in the midst of the camp,
(3) And they commanded the people, saying,
"As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God,
while the Levitical priests are carrying it,
you shall set out from your place,
and you shall walk after it.
In chapter 1, Joshua had told the officers to walk in the midst of the people, and tell them that in three days, it would be time to get up, and cross over the Jordan.
Three days have passed, and the officers are commanding the people to be ready.
But there is something new here-- the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God.
(WHAT I SHOULD DO HERE IS USE POWERPOINT IF UP FRONT; OR COLORING PICTURE IF SOMEWHERE ELSE).
If I showed you a picture, of 4 priests carrying an ark, where do you focus your attention?
You might find yourselves looking at the priests, and their clothing.
Or maybe, you look at the ark.
You're not sure where to focus, right?
Verse 3 is deliberately worded in a way that puts the focus on the ark.
When the ark moves, it's not through levitation.
Priests are carrying it.
But the people are supposed to be looking for the ark.
When you see the ark, you have to leave your place, and walk after.... walk after what?
Walk after "it."
It'd be natural here to think that the Israelites are supposed to follow the priests.
They're the ones walking.
But it's the ark that's the focus.
Everyone needs to look at the ark, and follow the ark.
The Israelites know all about the ark at this point in their history.
But for most of us, everything we know about the ark of the covenant, we learned from Indiana Jones.
Which, surprisingly, doesn't quite get it right.
Probably the best verses for helping us to think about the ark are in Numbers 10:33-36.
33 So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days' journey.
And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for them.
34 And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp.
35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.”36
And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”
So the ark goes before the people.
Why?
The ark is seeking out a resting place for them.
How is this possible?
How can a box seek out a resting place?
And then, in verse 35, whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, "Arise, O Yahweh."
And whenever it rested, he would say, "Return, O Yahweh."
The ark, and Yahweh's presence, are tied together.
It almost sounds like the ark is Yahweh.
What's going on here?
Now let's turn to Psalm 132:7-8.
“Let us go to his dwelling place;
let us worship at his footstool!”
8 Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
Yahweh has a throne on earth.
And the footstool for his throne, is the ark.
Some of us maybe think the ark is a symbol of Yahweh's presence.
But if we say this, we are watering down the biblical language.
Yahweh has chosen to be present, in a special, powerful way, with his ark.
It's not that he's in the ark-- Indiana Jones isn't right.
The ark is the footstool to Yahweh's heavenly throne.
When the ark is moving, it means Yahweh has risen from his throne, and is leading the people.
When the ark stops, it means Yahweh is sitting on his throne.
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