January 16


Joshua 11-15

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Today Drake joins me as we discuss the conquest of the Promised Land. We are using the New Living Translation as we return to the Nation Stream and the book of Joshua. The people of Israel have conquered the whole region of the south and have returned to Gilgal which is near Jericho. But Joshua is not done yet – there’s more work to do.

Here’s a map of the division of land amongst the tribes of Israel. The map was found at BibleStudy.org.

division-of-promised-land-to-ancient-israel (1)

Prayer

Lord God, we read of such extensive victory today.  You are the God that gives such victory and the assurance of it.  And let us not forget that Joshua sat in a tent with you for hours and days at a time over decades in the wilderness years.  Victory comes by sitting and listening with GOD.  Yes, there are incidental battle strategies that must be learned in life but guidance from you/God is what gives victory.  May we have ears that are ever open to hearing you – ever open.  Amen.

In our reading last week, Joshua had had the greatest phenomenal experience under earth and sky when the sun stayed in the sky for about 24 hours straight.  God did this so Joshua could finish off the enemies and their kings in the southern part of the Promised Land.  Once God displayed this favor He had more than proved His surety and resolve to assist Joshua with God’s battle plan to succeed.  And thus we see Joshua continuing to conquer the remainder of the country so to make it the new permanent home for the Hebrew people.  Remember, Joshua destroyed all the peoples of the southern half of the region in one campaign!

Chapter 11

11 – We are mid way in the campaign, and this wasn’t mentioned prior, but Joshua is employing a military strategy that is used by great minds of war throughout history.  He had attacked the country in the middle to split the forces north and south.  This isolated the peoples who were trying to unite themselves against Joshua and the Israelites.  Some get it that God is behind the Israelites who are conquering them.  Though most others continue to muster against them.  AS you surmise what the mentalities of the day were, remember we are reading this ca. 34 centuries after it happened.  So to be fair, without seeming jocular against the Canaanites, they are like first graders fighting against Army Rangers, Navy SEALS, Marine Reconnaisance, Delta Force specialists.  An elementary pip squeak has a greater chance of taking out Chuck Norris than the Canaanites and their neighbors do of stopping Israel.  But the Canaanites do not realize what is going down until they are dying; each of them personally dies.  God is with the Israelites and God promised victory.  The southern cities have been conquered and the northern cities with their kings are attempting to unite in hopes of stopping Israel.  Well, bully to them but that is like mustering more elementary kids with erasers as weapons to take on an army of hundreds of thousands of Chuck Norris doubles.  And then to hopefully flank this band of Chuck Norris’es. they hire mercenary second graders from the next county.  And these second graders don’t just have erasers to punch with they also have fistfuls of rubber bands to shoot with … some even attack with protractors – and look out for the #2 pencil squad! These kings of the north section are completely defeated.  

Chapter 12

12 – Look at the list of kings and their peoples listed one after the other while looking at a map of the area during this era.  Most Bibles have a map in the back pages entitled “Conquest of Canaan”, or “Joshua’s Campaign”.  It will be the map of the time immediately following The Exodus.  Joshua is doing all this ca. 1405 B.C. – 1380 B.C.  And all the kings he destroyed are gallantly listed in a victory report-card.  Joshua is 31-0 if we can make such a comparison to some prominent athlete today that brags on his record.  Only the temporary spanking at Ai (ch. 7) and mistakenly negotiating with the Gibeonites (ch. 9) were the only things that tainted Joshua’s march to glory.  His victories were decimating and expansive.  Maybe he is a precursor to Maximus Decimus Meridius.  Yes he was great and he finished all he could but the land was not completely taken and there were pockets of resistence.  As we shall see it was time to pause and reminisce a moment. Why? – – –

Chapter 13

13 – Because Joshua is well over 100 years old now [He lives to be 110], the battles that he was to lead are no more.  God wants him to assess and parlay what must happen in the coming generations.  It’s time for impartation.  So starting in chapter 13, begins the listing of the lands that are yet to be taken, parameters of the land and what areas are to be allotted to which tribes, which are to be refuge cities, which goes to the Levites and all that verbiage.  Yes, it can read like a governmental attorney’s documents.  First the land East of the Jordan was fully stated in its allotment.  These were Reuben, Gad and Manasseh’s east section.  Remember these three tribes were assured their share east of the Jordan (Joshua 1:12-16), yet they were admonished to cross over to the west side of the Jordan.  The soldiers at least were to help in securing Canaan.  Well they are allowed to go home when this initial battle phase is “done”.  And if it matters to anyone, the Israelites, even today, pronounce the tribe “Gad” as “God”.  We could on for pages about pronunciation and languages and the humor that gets created in translation and what gets lost in translation but you get it.  We say God when we are talking about the Almighty.  Israelis say “god” when they are referring to one of the tribes.

Chapter 14

14 – The stage is set to reiterate the land divisions and boundaries west of the Jordan but before that is launched into, … Uh, Remember Caleb? as in Joshua and Caleb?  He and Joshua were the only two spies that were true in their report and faithful to their assignment given back in Numbers 13.  Well Caleb was one of the good spies in that epochal mission that he and Joshua carried out successfully 63 years ago.  Now, Caleb needs a retirement package and for that he is given Hebron.  Hebron is where Patriarchs were buried 600 years ago so the place is filled with significance.  Why such a meaningful gift to Caleb?   “… Because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, whole-heartedly.” Josh. 14:14.  Imagine all that is granted to us as we follow the LORD, the God of Israel, whole-heartedly.

Chapter 15

15 – the entire chapter is to the specific ordering of Judah’s boundaries.  A master’s thesis and much more could be written on this chapter including geography, geology, elevations, fauna, flora, minerals, weather variations, topography and more.  It’s a massive tract of land, by Israeli standards, that has been sought after, fought over and is the stuff of folklore, fable, and legend for all history.  God planned it this way.  My husband has traveled through most of this territory, though not all of it was completely safe!  And for what it’s worth, Judah was the tribe that remained more faithful and therefore lasted 136 years longer than the northern tribes before being overtaken.  The Jewish Encyclopedia today is called “Encyclopedia Judaica” … it’s not Encyclopedia Manasseh, nor Encyclopedia Benjamin, et al.  You get the message.  Judah played up big in the history of the nation.  When Israel became a nation again in 1948 the name of the newly reorganized nation was going to be named one of three titles:

1) Israel, or  2) Zion, or  3) Judah. So here it is about 1380 B.C. and we are hearing of Judah’s boundaries.  And border to border it’s the largest tribe, they are the most numerous tribe.  They end up being the most prominent culturally and religiously.  So as the cities and lines are listed paragraph, try not to be weary.  Just know that this land and this tribe are going to shine bright in a big way for millennia.

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