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Joshua 15:1 – The allotment for the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans reached southward to the boundary of Edom, to the wilderness of Zin at the farthest south.

Welcome back, readers! The book of Joshua can be divided into two sections.  The first part tells us how God worked with his people to bring them into the Promised Land and helped them take possession of it by defeating the Canaanites. 

The second section of the book goes into great historical detail about the division of the land and the inheritance of each tribe. As we noted in our last post, the allotment of each tribe was determined by both lot and council.

The lot was determined by God and it designated the general location of each tribe within the land.  In other words, it determined which tribes would be by the Mediterranean Sea, which would be near the southern desert, which would be high in the mountains, etc. 

After that determination had been made, a council determined the exact borders of each tribe, based on the number of people in the tribe and other factors.  We also noted that the council was made up of a priest (Eleazar), Joshua, and one representative from each of the tribes who were going to inherit land west of the Jordan.  These men had been hand-picked by God before Israel ever even entered the land.

The tribe of Judah is the first to be assigned their inheritance.  The details are recorded here in chapter 15.

Joshua 15:2-4 – And their south boundary ran from the end of the Salt Sea, from the bay that faces southward.  It goes out southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, passes along to Zin, and goes up south of Kadesh-barnea, along by Hezron, up to Addar, turns about to Karka, passes along to Azmon, goes out by the Brook of Egypt, and comes to its end at the sea.  This shall be your south boundary.

I want to begin by saying that our study is NOT going to involve an intricate study of each and every city mentioned in the text. There are two main reasons for this.

First of all, that is an exercise that would best take place in a classroom setting, where detailed maps could be seen by all.  But even in that environment this is a most difficult task, as numerous changes have taken place between then and now. 

Many of the ancient towns and villages had their names changed when ownership/possession changed. Other cities have been obliterated and lie buried beneath thousands of years of dirt and rubble with nothing to show where they were once located.

And to make things even harder, we have many instances where multiple cities adopted the same name, making it extremely difficult to pinpoint the exact locations of all the cities named in our text. (Nevertheless, it should be noted that we can identify enough of the cities and/or ruins to confirm the truth of the scriptures.)

Secondly, unless you are a professional bible scholar, that kind of detailed study won't bring you joy or bear a lot of spiritual fruit in your life.  Realistically speaking, it would be much more likely to cause you to fall asleep!

So instead of attempting to delineate the exact borders for this tribe, we will give a general description of its location.  If you want a more detailed study, you can find many wonderful maps and resources online.

The tribe of Judah occupied the southern-most portion of the Promised Land.  We know this because the description of the southern border of Judah given in Joshua 15 corresponds to the description of the southern border of the entire Promised Land, as detailed in Numbers 34:3-5.

Its southern border began next to the Salt Sea (the Dead Sea) and ran west all the way to the Mediterranean.

Joshua 15:5 – And the east boundary is the Salt Sea, to the mouth of the Jordan.  And the boundary on the north side runs from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan.

Judah's eastern boundary was determined by water – it began at the mouth of the Jordan River and extended southward down the length of the Salt (Dead) Sea.

Joshua 15:6-8 – And the boundary goes up to Beth-hoglah and passes along north of Beth-arabah, then the boundary goes up by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem).  And the boundary goes up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the Valley of Hinnom, on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.

These verses mention two important places which are found elsewhere in the scriptures:

Jerusalem:  We are all familiar with Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel.  Its original Canaanite name was Jebus after the Jebusites who built it.  Jebus was actually located on the boundary between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, on the summit of two rocky hilltops.

One of the hills was called Zion, which is why Jerusalem is also sometimes referred to as the city of Zion. This is a natural place for a fortified city because it is surrounded by ravines on three sides.The city actually extended to the next hill/mountain top called Mount Moriah, where the temple was eventually built by King Solomon.

Although each tribe (Benjamin and Judah) probably attacked the city of Jebus numerous times, neither one was able to fully drive out the Jebusites (Joshua 15:63, Judges 1:21).  As a result, the strong hold of Jebus remained in the hands of the Canaanites until the time of David.  After he conquered the city, he renamed it Jerusalem (city of peace/possession of peace) and made it the capital city of Israel.

Once David made the city Israel's capital, he also moved the tabernacle to that location.  Later, David's son Solomon built a permanent (and very lavish) temple for the Ark of the Covenant, which was where God's presence dwelt.  The temple was so incredible that it took seven full years to build it!

I Kings 6:37-38 – In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv.  And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications.  He (Solomon) was seven years in building it.

You can read all the details of the building in I Kings chapter 6. 

Unfortunately, Jerusalem did not remain in the hands of the Jews forever.  Because the Jews cast God aside and worshiped false idols, God sent them into exile.  This occurred in 586 BC.  At that time, the city and the temple were both destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians. 

After 70 years the captivity ended and the city and the temple were eventually rebuilt during the time of Nehemiah, although they had none of their former splendor.

Hundreds of years later, during the time of Jesus, Jerusalem was ruled by the Romans.  Herod the great, king of Judea, had invested enormous sums of time, labor and money remodeling the temple in hopes of winning political support from the Jews.  For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as Herod's temple. 

However, all his efforts were for nothing. Eventually the Jews rebelled against him anyway and during the insurrection, Titus and his troops destroyed both Jerusalem and the second temple. These events occurred in 70 AD.

Although the city recovered and still thrives today, the temple was never rebuilt.  Nevertheless, we know that one day it will be, because a third temple will be in place during the great tribulation period, spoken of in the book of Daniel (Daniel 11:1).  

Valley of Hinnom:  This valley was a deep and narrow ravine on the south side of Jerusalem.  Its name means 'son of Hinnom'.  It was probably named after a hero among the Canaanites, although we know nothing about him or his exploits. 

During the era of the kings, an evil image of the pagan god Molech (the god of the Ammonites) was set up in this valley.  King Ahaz, King Manasseh and many of the common Jews sacrificed their children to this demonic power (II Chronicles 28:3, II Chronicles 33:6, Jeremiah 7:31-32). 

The image was set up on a particular spot within the valley which eventually became known as Tophet (Hebrew for timbrel) because drums and/or percussion instruments were constantly played there to drown out the screams of the dying children.  

When Josiah (one of the few righteous kings) came to power, he purged Israel of almost all idol worship.  He desecrated the valley and tore down the image of Molech, so that no more children could be sacrificed there (II Kings 16:1-15).

From that point forward, the valley of Hinnom became the common cesspool for the city. Raw sewage was pumped there and eventually it was carried off by the waters of the Kidron River.

The valley was also used as a public cemetery.  The fortunate were buried in tombs cut out of the mountainside.  The bodies of criminals and dead animals were often simply dumped there without any burial at all.  However, this wasn't much of an issue since the valley also served as the general garbage dump for the city.

Fires were kept constantly burning there in order to try and consume anything combustible.  Wild dogs often scavenged there.  Can you picture the constant fires, the rotting bodies and the swarms of insects and worms?  Can you imagine the smell?  All in all, it was a place of horrors.  No Jew could enter it without becoming ceremonially unclean. 

The Jews associated this valley with two clear ideas. One was the suffering of the victims (children) that had been sacrificed there. The other was perpetual filth and corruption. Thus, the valley of Hinnom eventually became a symbol of destruction and punishment – the place of the wicked/damned which burned with perpetual fire.

The Hebrew word 'Hinnom' is translated as 'Gehenna' in the New Testament (because the New Testament was written in Greek). Both words are translated as 'hell' in our English bibles. Thus, we have a picture of hell as a stinking, fiery place of death, destruction and perpetual despair. The word is used in the context of future punishment by Jesus himself on several occasions (Matthew 23:33, Mark 9:43 &45, Luke 12:5, etc).

As you read through the Old and New testaments, you will certainly see multiple references to Jerusalem as well as Hinnom/Gehenna or hell.

Joshua 15:9-12 – Then the boundary extends from the top of the mountain to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, and from there  the boundary comes to an end at the sea. And the west boundary was the Great Sea with its coastline.  This is the boundary around the people of Judah according to their clans.

Verses 9-12 mention a number of cities and landmarks, but the end result is that the southern boundary of the tribe of Judah ended at the Mediterranean Sea, while the coastline of the sea was Judah's western boundary.

Joshua 15:13 – According to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah, Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). 

In verses 13-19, we have another reference to the special request that Caleb made back in chapter 14. As you recall, Caleb and the elders of the tribe of Judah approached Joshua about a promise that was made to Caleb 45 years earlier.

At that time, Moses told Caleb that because of his faith in God, he would eventually win a victory over the giants that lived in Hebron and he would inherit the city and its surrounding land as his own possession.���

As we saw in chapter 14, Joshua listened to the claim of Caleb and ruled in his favor.  This is exactly what we would expect, since Joshua was present on the occasion in question and he no doubt fully remembered the promise.

Joshua 15:14 – And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak.

The scripture gives us the names of four giants, however, there were likely many more than just four.� Each of the men listed in this verse were chiefs - the heads of families or branches of families within the race of Anakim.� Therefore, it is almost certain that there were many more giants than just these four.�

Regardless of the number, Caleb and the men of Judah were successful in driving the giants from Hebron and its surrounding territories.  Their success was based on working hand-in-hand with God and their utter dependence on him: 

Joshua 14:12 - Now therefore give me this mountain, of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.

It is perfectly clear that Caleb and the men of Judah defeated the Anakim.  In fact, we have an almost verbatim record of their victory in Judges 1:10-15.  This second account in the book of Judges raises some questions among scholars. Let me explain.

As you recall from one of our earlier posts, the writers in the ancient east did not always present information in chronological order.  Instead they grouped similar or related events together.  This is where the question arises. 

The events in the book of Joshua occurred during the conquest of the land.  Since one record of Caleb's victory is listed here, the assumption is that he drove the Anakim out of the land during that period of time.

However, the book of Judges deals with events that occurred years later - after the death of Joshua.  Since Caleb's victory is also listed there (almost verbatim) this raises the question of when he defeated the giants. 

Commentators have offered various theories in answer to this question:�

• One theory says that Caleb defeated the giants and their offspring during the conquest of the Promised Land.� Those who believe this theory claim that the writer of the book of Judges was using some of the same source materials as the writer of Joshua, and he included this event in his writing because it was pertinent to his overall subject matter.� (Some of the prominent themes of Judges include Israel's need for godly leaders, the importance of God's law as our standard for living, faith in God's promises, God's faithfulness to his people, etc).�

• A second theory says that Caleb did not defeat the Anakim until after the death of Joshua, which means that the victory in Hebron actually occurred during the era of the judges.� This theory maintains that Caleb's victory was recorded in the book of Joshua because it was historically and geographically linked to the conquest of the land, even though it took place years later.

• A third theory says that conquering Hebron and defeating the Anakim was a two-step process.� Those who believe this theory say that during the initial conquest of the land, Caleb 'chased away' or 'drove out' enough of the giants for him to occupy Hebron.� However, the giants returned and re-took the city.� Then, after the death of Joshua, Caleb and the men of Judah once again conquered the city and at that time, they put the giants to death.

Regardless of which theory you believe is correct, the end result is the same – Caleb believed the promises of God and stepped out in faith to battle the giants.  As he did, God gave him the victory!

Joshua 15:15 –And he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir.  Now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher.

After his victory at Hebron, Caleb went to war against the Canaanites in Debir.� Although there were actually three different cities of that name, Caleb was fighting with the one that was about 10 miles south of Hebron.�

Debir was also referred to as 'Kirjath-Sannah' which means the city of law/city of sacred learning.  And Debir had a third name as well - 'Kiriath-sepher' which means 'book city'.  This city is believed to have been an ancient seat of Canaanite learning.  It may have had a university or a famous library which contained a depository of the sacred books of the Anakim.

Joshua 15:16-17 – And Caleb said, "Whoever strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife."  And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it.  And he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

In ancient Israel, the fathers assumed the absolute right to choose a marriage partner for their children.� There are many examples of this in the Old Testament, although capturing a city was not always a requirement for marriage!

From Caleb's point of view, this public offer was a sound decision.  It would ensure that the future husband of his daughter was a strong and courageous man.  It also meant that his future son-in-law knew how to hear the Lord and follow him, because that was the only way anyone could defeat the fortifications of Debir.

Scripture tells us that the man who was successful was the brother of Caleb.  In the Old Testament, 'brother' was a generic term that meant 'close male relative'.  Those who have traced the family lines tell us that Othniel, son of Kenaz was actually Caleb's nephew.  This meant that Achsah married one of her cousins, not an elderly uncle.

Interestingly, God not only used this circumstance to bless Othniel, he also used it as a training exercise.  In the book of Judges, we find that after the death of Joshua, the Israelites abandoned the Lord and served false idols.  For this reason, God allowed them to be oppressed by a foreign power.  When they repented and sought the Lord, God used Othniel to deliver them.  He was the very first judge of Israel (Judges 3:7-11).

Joshua 15:18-19 – When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field.� And she got off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What do you want?"� She said to him, "Give me a blessing.� Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water."� And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

The day came when it was time for Achsah to leave her father's house and be the wife of Othniel.  As she was leaving, she unexpectedly dismounted her donkey and approached her father.  Caleb could see that she clearly had something on her mind, so he asked her what she wanted.

She acknowledges that her father had given her 'land in the Negeb'.  This means Caleb gave the couple a parcel of land which had a southern exposure.  As such, it was comparatively arid and barren.  Therefore, she asked her father to also give her the adjoining parcel, which had a spring of water on it.  This would make all of their land fruitful and valuable. 

Caleb not only grants her request, he gives her twice as much as she asked for - he gives her both the upper and lower springs. 

This is a picture of the generosity of God.� If earthly parents are ready and willing to bestow good gifts on their children, how much more will our heavenly Father do for us?� The apostle Paul discusses this very idea in the book of Romans:

Romans 8:31-32 – What shall we then say to these things?  If God be for us, who can be against us?  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Think about these verses for a minute.  The blood of Christ is priceless.  It is the only thing that can redeem us from sin, and there was no way we could possibly obtain it for ourselves.  We could only receive it as a gift from God. 

If God, our loving heavenly Father, has already given us the most expensive and precious gift possible, why would he withhold lesser things from us?

Achsah found herself in a situation where she needed something extra to make her land fruitful.  Because of the good relationship she had with her father, she felt confident reaching out and asking him for a blessing.  He responded by giving her double what she requested.

What areas in your spiritual life and/or natural life are unfruitful?� What do you need in order for that to change?� Because of your relationship with Christ, you should feel comfortable in asking God for what you need.� Because of your faith in him, you should feel confident that he will freely and generously supply whatever you need.

Joshua 15:20-32 – This is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans.  The cities belonging to the tribe of the people of Judah in the extreme south, toward the boundary of Edom, were Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, � Ain and Rimmon:  In all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.

Joshua 15:33-47 - And in the lowland, Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, � and Makkedah: sixteen cities with their villages.  Libnah, Ether, Ashan, � Ekron, with its towns and its villages; from Ekron to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages.  Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages, to the Brook of Egypt, and the Great Sea with its coastline.

Joshua 15:47-63 -And in the hill country, Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, � In the wilderness, Beth-arabah, � and Engedi: six cities with their villages. But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

In this chapter we find a list of 114 cities that stood in the territory of the inheritance of Judah.  (Although it should be noted that later on, some of these cities will be reassigned to the tribe of Simeon and the tribe of Benjamin). 

The list definitely served as a historical record.  But it had another purpose as well – it was a challenge.  The list was to inspire the people of Judah to continue trusting the Lord and fighting their enemies until all these cities were possessed by them. 

The wars that Israel had already fought should have taught them one thing: God wanted Israel to have success and he was ready to assist them in both ordinary and supernatural ways to take possession of the land.  The only thing left for them to do was to accept God's offer by rising up and going to war. 

Yet, we find that many of the cities on this list remained in the hands of the Canaanites.  We make particular note of the cities of Ekron, Ashdod and Gaza because these were three of the five cities of the Philistines, who were long and bitter enemies of Israel.  Jerusalem, the holy city of God, was also on this list. 

There can be no doubt that Israel was responsible for the failure in taking possession of these cities.� Had they done everything God commanded them and exerted all their strength against these opponents and still failed, dishonor would have fallen on God and his word.� We know that this could never be the case; God had promised that he would continue with them until they had full possession of all the Promised Land.

Therefore, our only conclusion is that Israel did NOT fully comply with all that God commanded and/or they did not continue fighting until their foes were vanquished.  Whether through laziness, fear, weariness or unbelief they allowed many of the Canaanites to dwell alongside them in their inheritance.

How does this apply to us? 

We know that the battles Israel faced in taking the Promised Land are a picture of the spiritual warfare we face in this generation. 

With that in mind, what cities, territories or people groups has God assigned to your home church or your ministry?� Are you actively seeking wisdom and direction from God on how best to conquer that stronghold?� Have you drawn up a battle plan and set it in motion?

I admit, these are some really tough questions.  But I encourage each one of us to consider them.  We know that if we follow the leading of God, step out in faith and fight the enemy, God will give us victory.  So, let's press our attack against the enemy and gain victory for Christ!

Let me offer you some encouragement, relief and strength:

Victory in our lives can only be obtained through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Have you established that relationship with him yet?  It's not a hard thing to do;   the bible tells us that if we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God has raised him from the dead, we are saved:

Romans 10:9-10 - � if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 

If you believe Jesus is Lord and you want to establish a relationship with him right now, please pray this prayer out loud:

Dear Jesus, I confess to you that I am a sinner.� I am sorry for all the wrong things I have done and I ask you to forgive me.� I believe that you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross and rose again, and that your blood paid the price for my sin.� I invite you to come into my heart and life and to be my Lord and Savior.� I commit myself to you right now.� Thank you for saving me from death and giving me the gift of eternal life.� Amen.

If you prayed this prayer and sincerely meant it, then you have received the gift of salvation from Jesus Christ!  Please share this good news with some of your friends and family.

Your next steps are to find a local church to attend, read your bible and continue to fellowship with God in prayer. �As you grow in your faith, God will teach you how to fight for him in the spiritual realm.

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Joshua 14:1-2 – These are the inheritances that the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel gave them to inherit. Their inheritance was by lot, just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine and one-half tribes.

In chapter 13, we were given a description of the division of the land east of the Jordan River.  This land was given to the Transjordan tribes – Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh. 

The book of Joshua now goes on to describe the division of the official Promised Land (west of the Jordan River) among the remaining tribes.  After a brief introduction in verses 1-5, the author will pause in his narrative and give us an update on the story of Caleb.  The official record of land distribution will then resume in chapter 15.

The author begins with a statement that seems like a contradiction - we are told that the land was divided by a council, yet we are also told it was awarded by lot.  Which was it?  Could it be possible that both were used to determine the inheritance of the tribes?

Let's begin by examining the council.

Eleazar the priest was on the council because he represented God's authority. As evidenced by the recent victories in war, the nation of Israel was not directed by the earthly wisdom of men; it was governed by the will of God. Therefore, God would certainly have a representative on the council. Because he was a priest of God, he was considered honest, just and fair.

Joshua was on the council because he was the supreme authority in all civil matters relating to the nation.  The people of Israel had already pledged their allegiance to him, so they would trust his decisions in this matter.

Ten representatives (one from each of the tribes who were going to split the land west of the river) were also selected for this committee. You can find their full names in Numbers 34:19-28. Obviously, Reuben and Gad did not have a representative as they had already received their inheritance.

It is important that we understand that these ten officials were not selected by popular vote. They were not chosen because of friendship with Joshua or kinship to Eleazar. There were specifically commissioned by God to perform the task of dividing the land.

Therefore, the people of the nation could be assured that no fraud or deceit was practiced in the division of the land.  No matter what territory they wound up with (and no matter what its size), they could be assured that it was the exact land that God chose to give them.

Now back to our original question – how can it be said that the land was divided by a council and yet by lot?

In our last post we pointed out that God does not give gifts that are one-size-fits-all.  He gives specific gifts to specific people.  In this case, God had a specific region that he desired to give to each unique tribe.  For instance, some tribes were going to wind up on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, where they could facilitate shipping and trading.  Some tribes would inherit land high in the mountains, which were rich in timber and ore.  Some would inherit foothills perfect for vineyards.  Others would have extremely fertile land perfect for farming and grazing. 

The lot was used to determine the general area/location of each specific tribe (by the sea, in the mountains, south toward the desert, etc). 

Although we are not specifically told how the lot was cast, most scholars believe it was done according to the pattern that was used during the lifetime of Moses (Numbers 27:21, Deuteronomy 17:9).

This meant that the lot was cast by the priest (Eleazar) at the entrance to the tabernacle.  With the council in attendance, two vessels were prepared for the casting of the lot.  One held the names of the tribes, while the other held descriptions of the various locations.    

As civil leader of the nation, Joshua would pull the name of a tribe from one vessel.  He would then approach Eleazar and request that he ask the Lord to assign them a location.  After consulting with the Lord, Eleazar would draw a lot from the second vessel, which determined the area/location for that tribe with the ten representatives witnessing the procedure.  Thus, the location of each tribe was determined by the will of God through the lot.

The role of the council/committee was to determine the borders of each territory that had been determined by God through the lot. The size or number of people in the tribe as well as their individual economic strengths/talents had a great deal to do with their decisions.

For example, the lot placed the tribe of Benjamin right next to the tribe of Judah, with Judah being much bigger (having a greater population).  It was up to the council to determine where the border would fall between these two tribes.  Based on population and other factors, they would determine which cities, pastures, bodies of water, etc fell into the territory of each tribe. 

This explains how the land was divided by lot (which determined the general location of each tribe) as well as by the council (which determined the actual borders of each tribe, based on need and strengths).

This unique method of division prevented any jealousy, animosity or quarrels among the tribes in regard to the quality of their land, the quantity of their inheritance or the number of Canaanites still living in their new territory.

As we will see in the next chapter, some of these borders were adjusted as the land was conquered (Numbers 26:53, 33:54). We will also see in the next chapters that the casting of the ten lots did not all occur on the same day. The tribe of Judah drew the first lot and it seems as though they were settled in their inheritance before others were drawn. We will also see that the camp/headquarters of Israel was moved from Gilgal to Shiloh.

Joshua 14:3-4 – For Moses had given an inheritance to the two and one-half tribes beyond the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. For the people of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion was given to the Levites in the land, but only cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and their substance.

This is the third time that note has been made of the fact that the Levites did not inherit a specific territory.  It is also yet another reminder that Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh received land east of the Jordan.  No further comment is necessary on these verses because we have already examined them at length.

Joshua 14:5 – The people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses; they allotted the land.

The process of dividing the land into general locations was probably more difficult than it seems. In our day, we would send a drone over the territory, feed the data into a computer and wind up with a detailed map that showed all the specifics of the land. And we could do it all from the comfort of our own home!

But back in that day, the only option was to send groups of men out with pencil and paper to lay eyes on the land. They had to manually chart thousands and thousands of acres of land, making note of the landscape (hills, mountains, valleys), the resources (vineyards, standing timber, mines, pasture lands, etc) and bodies of water. They would also have recorded the number, size and value of the major cities. No doubt note was also made of how many Canaanites were still occupying these territories.

We are not told how much time was taken up in the task of examining the land.  However, we know that it did happen: the divisions were made, accepted by the council/committee, placed into the vessel and set before the priest so the lot could be cast as commanded by God.

Joshua 14:6 – Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal.  And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me."

The author interrupts his account of the division of the land with a narrative about Caleb, son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah.

Basically, Caleb is about to stake a personal claim on the city of Hebron and its surrounding territory.  The claim that Caleb is making is based on a verbal promise from Moses, who has now been dead for quite some time. 

At this point, what we want to understand is the time-frame connected to Caleb's request. The author tells us 'then' Caleb and some of the men of Judah came to see Joshua. What time-period is the author referring to?

Keep in mind that Western cultures (like ours) always present events in chronological order. Because of this, you and I would assume that Caleb approached Joshua with his request just as the lots were being cast at the tabernacle.

However, writers in ancient Eastern cultures did not write that way.  They often presented information by lumping relevant people, ideas or events together, regardless of when they occurred.  Therefore, we cannot assume that Caleb's request occurred when the lots were being cast.  It is probably mentioned here simply because it relates to the division of the land west of the Jordan.

In fact, as we examine his claim, it becomes very clear that this request was made much, much earlier than the casting of the lots.  As we will see, circumstances dictate that it had to have occurred during the years of warfare, before the period of rest and before God prodded Joshua to divide the land.

So, at some point during the period of active warfare, Caleb approaches Joshua at the camp in Gilgal along with several of the other leaders of Judah.  He proceeds to bring up a conversation that occurred just after Israel refused to enter the Promised Land the first time.

Joshua 14:7-9 – "I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart.  But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.

As you recall, Moses sent 12 men to spy out the Promised Land before Israel entered it. When they returned, Joshua and Caleb encouraged the people to move forward immediately, because God was giving them a good land, flowing with milk and honey.

But ten of the spies brought back an evil report of a land that had well-trained troops and fortified walls.  They were particularly afraid of the giants which they saw in the land (Numbers 13:33).  They discouraged Israel and blasphemed God by saying there was no hope of conquering the land. 

During this whole discussion between Israel and the spies, Joshua and Caleb argued numerous times that Israel should be courageous and trust in God.  He had promised them the land; there was no reason to fear the people of Canaan or the giants who lived there:

Numbers 14:9 – Only do not rebel against the Lord.  And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.

It has been speculated that during these discussions, when the ten spies made mention of the Anakim (giants) in order to frighten the people, Caleb responded by saying that he would attack the giants of Hebron himself, and keep their land as his inheritance, provided the rest of the Israelites would agree to step out in faith and enter the land.  

Israel refused to take Caleb up on his offer to slay the giants of Hebron.  However, God heard it, and he rewarded Caleb's faith by promising him and his descendants 'the land on which your foot has trodden' for an inheritance forever:

Joshua 14:9 - And Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.'"

Although the city of Hebron is not specifically mentioned by Moses, the context of the conversation implies this was the case (Numbers 14:24.  See also Deuteronomy 1:36).  Furthermore, Joshua (who was present at the time) clearly believes and acknowledges that God's promise to Caleb referred to the city of Hebron.

This 45-year-old promise is the reason Caleb has come to see Joshua.  Despite the long delay, he still plans to slay the giants of Hebron and take their land as his possession.  What remarkable faith he has!

Joshua 14:10 – "And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness.  And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old."

Let's pause and think about this meeting for a moment.

We have Joshua and Caleb, the two oldest men in Israel and the only survivors from their generation.  The mere sight of them must have been a testimony to the younger generation because their very presence was proof of God's judgment concerning the unbelieving generation (who were all dead), as well as his gracious promises to those who put their faith in his word. 

And despite the passage of more than four decades, Joshua and Caleb were just as strong, just as energetic, just as mentally sharp, and just as youthful as they had been in their prime. Their youth was obviously a blessing from God for their faith in his promises.

As we think about Joshua, Caleb and the other ten spies, we are reminded that each of us carries the ability to influence others.

One of the ways we influence others is through our words.  The effects of what we speak can be very profound.  The ten spies are a perfect example.  Their testimony to Israel was one of fear and defeat.  Despite the fact that God had never broken a promise to them, they did not believe he would take them into the land and help them defeat the Canaanites and the Anakim.  The fear, worry and unbelief that they spoke infected the rest of the nation like a plague!  As a result, the men of that generation died while wandering in the wilderness. 

In the same way, your words can influence those around you.  This might be a good time to stop and consider what you are saying.  Are your words building people up in their faith?  Are you using your daily conversations to testify about God keeping his promises to you?  Are you dispelling fear and doubt in those you speak to at work, school or out in the public arena?  If not, you should consider changing your ways:

Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

We can also influence those around us through our actions. Caleb was so confident about defeating the giants, he set up that special meeting with Joshua, taking the leaders of Judah with him. After receiving Joshua's approval, he moved forward in faith and confidence to take Hebron, even though he was 85 years old! His actions sent a message to all of Israel – if Caleb can slay the giants with the help of God at age 85, what is possible in my life? Why do I fear the giants?

Consider your own actions for a moment.  What are you doing to build faith in your family and friends?  Are you fearlessly praying?  Are you voting?  Are you financially supporting the gospel?  Passing out copies of God's word?  Debating issues in the public sector that display your faith in God?  If not, why not look for ways to be involved?

Joshua 14:11 – "I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming."

Caleb adamantly asserts that he is just as strong and virile at 85 years of age as he was at 40, due to the mercy of God. Therefore, despite his age, he is still ready and willing to march forth and fight with the giants of Hebron.

In doing so, he will glorify God and create a testimony for the rest of the nation.  He will also give God an opportunity to bless him as he steps out in faith to take on the enemy.

Joshua 14:12-13 – "So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities.  It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said."  Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.

It is obvious from these verses that the city of Hebron and its surrounding territory had not yet been subdued by Israel as they were still full of terrifying giants.  This confirms the fact that the meeting between Joshua and Caleb did not take place during the time when the lots were cast; it occurred as Israel was still gaining possession of the land. 

In fact, it must have occurred just before the battle against the five kings of the south, as recorded in Joshua 10:36-37.  Although the account of the war in chapter 10 does not specifically mention Caleb, we are told in Joshua 15:13-14 that Caleb was the man who killed the giants of Hebron.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  In the initial meeting between Joshua, Caleb and the men of Judah, Caleb is basically asking Joshua for two things:

One, that he be given the chance to fight/slay the giants of Hebron. This was an opportunity that he should have had 40+ years earlier, and despite the long delay, he never gave up hope that he would one day have the chance to defeat them in battle.

This shows that Caleb had a promise from God down deep in his heart and he wasn't going to let it go, no matter how long it took!  I am sure there were days when it seemed like his opportunity was never going to come, but he didn't let his faith fail.  Despite the circumstances, he never gave up.  

I think that he kept that promise alive by meditating on it all the years that Israel wandered in the wilderness.  I bet he laid in bed at night, making battle plans and rehearsing his victory as he fell asleep under the stars.  And now his faith was being rewarded with that long awaited opportunity!

Two, Caleb was also asking for an assurance from Joshua that when he slew the giants of Hebron, the land would be his personal inheritance.

Up until this point, all the land that was conquered was waiting to be divided up among the nation.  Caleb did not want Hebron to get lumped into the general territory of one of the tribes.  That particular piece of real estate had been promised to him by God and he wanted to make sure there would be no question of ownership after he conquered it. 

After listening to his request, Joshua blessed Caleb. In other words, he acknowledged his right to the city of Hebron, consented to his making a conquest of it, and also prayed for his friend and colleague to have favor with God, who would give him victory in this endeavor.

All of these interactions took place in the presence of the men of Judah, who served as witnesses to Caleb's right to Hebron.  (Also, because Caleb was the representative of Judah on the council that divided the land, it was best to have these witnesses so that people did not suspect anything underhanded was happening when it came time to divide the land.)

Joshua 14:14 – Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.

Those who follow the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength are always blessed of God.  They will always be victorious in the kingdom of God and they will always serve as a righteous testimony not only to those around them, but to future generations as well.  Hallelujah!

Joshua 14:15 – Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim).� And the land had rest from war.

Kiriath-arba literally means 'the city of the four'.  This city is believed to be so named because of four exceptionally powerful giants (Anakim) who either founded the city or conquered it.  It is further believed that the four were three brothers along with their father:

Numbers 13:22 And they ascended through the South, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

As we will see in our study of chapter 15, Caleb will indeed be victorious over these giants.

The writer ends this chapter by coming full circle back to the time when Israel had finished its general conquest of the land and was enjoying a period of rest, when God prodded Joshua to assemble the council and divide the land.   

Let me offer you some encouragement:

God never, ever fails to keep any of his promises.  However, their fulfillment isn't always instantaneous.  The entire book of Joshua is an example of this. 

God had promised to give Israel the land and he absolutely did - but not overnight.  The Israelites had to fight, rest and fight again on numerous occasions over a 5-7 year period.  During that entire time, God fought alongside his people, protecting them, providing for them, giving them wisdom and assisting them in battle until the promise was fulfilled.

The story of Caleb presents us with another example.  God had promised to give Caleb the territory of Hebron, the land of the four formidable giants.  Due to the unbelief of Israel, that promised was delayed 45 years. 

But God's promise was not affected by Israel's folly.  God went so far as to give Caleb miraculous youth until such time as he was able to grant him the promise.

What promise(s) has God given to you? Are you still holding to them tightly, dreaming about them at night and waiting on God to make them possible? If you have a promise from God that seems to be taking forever, I strongly encourage you to stay in faith, because your story isn't over yet – God will prevail in your situation!

Let me offer you some relief:

We sometimes have a tendency to think that God is unable to fulfill a promise because of a mistake or failure on our part.  As a result of that kind of thinking, we give up on the promise God gave us. 

Do you realize that that kind of thinking makes you greater and more powerful than God? Seriously – think about it. If you have the ability to thwart or demolish the promises/plans of God by simply making a mistake, what does that say about God?

If the enemy has duped you into thinking that way, let me give you some relief – God is bigger, greater and more powerful than your mistakes and he is well able to keep the promises that he made to you! 

So stop believing the lies of satan.  Ask the Lord for forgiveness and allow him to restore hope within your soul for the thing he has promised to you.  Once you get it back, never let go until you experience its fulfillment.

Let me offer you some strength:

What is strength? Webster's dictionary defines it as the ability to do or to bear; the capacity for exertion or endurance whether physical, intellectual or moral.

Given this definition, we can conclude that:

• God gave Joshua the strength to lead Israel over the Jordan, into the land, and through 5-7 years of constant warfare.

• God gave Caleb miraculous strength and youth so he could defeat the giants.

• God will also give you the mental, physical, emotional and financial strength you need in order to fulfill the destiny that he has designed for you!

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Joshua 13:7 – Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh."

In out last post, God spoke to Joshua and instructed him to stop thinking and planning for further conquest of the Promised Land.  Instead, he was to move forward with dividing up the land amongst the tribes.  At that point, it would be up to each individual tribe to subdue any enemies that remained in their new territory.

Does the division of the entire land seem like a big job to you?  It probably did to Joshua as well.  Fortunately for him, he was not alone in this task.  God himself had already hand-picked a council to assist him.  The council consisted of one priest (Eleazar) and one leader from each of the tribes:

Numbers 34:17-18 -These are the names of the men who shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun.  And you shall take one leader of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance.

In case you are interested, Numbers 34:19-29 provides a complete list of the men who were chosen.  Although we don't know anything about them, God certainly knew who they were.  Each of the men on the list were gifted by God to assist Joshua in this enormous and difficult task. 

Notice that the Lord instructs them to divide up the land among the '9 tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh'. Why was the land being divided up into 9 districts instead of 12?

Joshua 13:8 – With the other half of the tribe of Manasseh, the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them:

Basically, two tribes (Reuben and Gad) along with half of the tribe of Manasseh, had already been allotted a portion of land as their inheritance.  This had been done by Moses, before they crossed the Jordan.

In order to better understand the division of the land, let's review some of the main points about the tribes of Israel. 

God called Abraham out from among his people to be the father of the Hebrews. Abraham had a son named Isaac, and Isaac had a son named Jacob. At one point, Jacob had an intense encounter with the Lord, in which they wrestled all night. At the end of that encounter, the Lord changed his name from Jacob (to supplant or circumvent) to Israel (God perseveres) (Genesis 32:25-30).

Israel (formerly Jacob) had two wives and two concubines and together they bore him 12 sons.  The names of his sons were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.  The offspring of these twelve men became the tribes of Israel.

Right about now, I picture you with a questioning look on your face because you know that there is no such thing as the tribe of Joseph.  What happened in that case?

Joseph was the favorite son of his father Israel; as you recall he was given a coat of many colors (Genesis 37:3).  Because of their father's favoritism, the other sons of Israel were very jealous of Joseph.  Eventually Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery in the land of Egypt (Genesis 37:12-28).  But God's hand was upon Joseph, and he became very powerful - second in command under Pharaoh.

During the time Joseph lived in Egypt, he had two sons: Ephraim and Manasseh.  Once Joseph's family was reunited with him, Israel essentially claimed his two grandsons as his own offspring. 

Genesis 48:5 -And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born unto you [Joseph] in the land of Egypt before I [Israel] came unto you into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

Thus, Joseph's posterity received a double portion of inheritance from Israel. The offspring of Ephraim and Manasseh became tribes of Israel instead of their father Joseph.

Of course, this presents us with yet another difficulty.  If we remove Joseph from the list of 12 sons, and then add in Ephraim and Manasseh, that gives us a total of 13 tribes, instead of 12!

But that problem is easily explained.  There are certain circumstances in scripture where the tribes are counted or treated differently.  The division of the land is a good example.  Long before Israel crossed the Jordan, God had decreed that the priestly tribe of Levi would not inherit a portion of land similar to the other tribes.  Instead of being given a territory, they were eventually assigned specific cities within each of the other tribes. 

The tribes that received allotments in Canaan west of the Jordan River were: Ephraim, half of Manasseh, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulon, Naphtali, Dan, Judah, Benjamin, Simeon and Issachar.  We will examine their inheritance in the next chapter.

Meanwhile, the remainder of Joshua chapter 13 records the land that was allotted to Reuben, Gad and the other half of the tribe of Manasseh, east of the Jordan River.

Scholars have noted that a disproportionate amount of attention seems to be given to the description of the inheritance of the two-and-a-half tribes east of the Jordan, especially since the book of Joshua centers on the conquest of the land west of the river.  This may have been an attempt by the author to emphasize the unity of the twelve tribes, even though their inheritance was split apart by the Jordan.

At any rate, the author gives us the following description of the land in verses 9-13:

Joshua 13:9-13 -  from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland of Medeba as far as Dibon; and all the cities of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the Ammonites; and Gilead, and the region of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah;

All the kingdoms of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); these Moses had struck and driven out.  Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.

As an FYI, the two-and-a-half tribes that received an inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River are often referred to as the Transjordan tribes. If you come across this term in your personal studies, keep in mind that it refers to Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh.

The rest of the book of Joshua (including chapter 13) contains a seemingly endless list of cities, towns, mountains, and bodies of water which elucidate the borders/boundaries of the tribes.

While this may seem somewhat boring to us, it was vitally important to Israel.  The information in this account became the official record of land distribution.  It was used to settle any disputes that arose over borders/ownership of the land.

Having said that, we must also keep in mind that the borders of the tribes were somewhat fluid in the beginning, because some tribes needed more space (and some less) than what was allotted. We will look at this topic in greater detail in our next post.

I would also like to mention that we are not going to attempt to pinpoint or discuss all the cities, mountains and valleys described in the land distribution.� Instead, we will refer to the general boundaries of the tribes.

To begin with, let's get a general idea of the boundaries of the entire Promised Land.  When doing so, it is helpful to consider the main bodies of water in the region. 

The western border of the Promised Land (Israel) is the Mediterranean Sea.  The eastern border was technically the Jordan River, although the allotment of the two-and-a-half tribes was east of the river.  The Dead Sea is at the southern tip of the Jordan, while the Sea of Galilee is to the north.  Both seas fall within the Promised Land.  We can easily pinpoint the Jabbok River and the Arnon River, which flow into the Jordan from the east.  These rivers mark the general boundaries of the Transjordan tribes. 

Based on these landmarks, the following map shows the general boundaries of the Promised Land, as well as the approximate inheritance of the twelve tribes:

On the eastern side of the Jordan, we find that Reuben had the territory to the south, with Gad nearer the Jabbok River and Manasseh in the north. All this land was formerly held by the kingdoms of Sihon and Og.

However, we cannot help but notice that while the scriptures focus on the promises of God and the victories of Israel, there were times when God's promises were limited by Israel's failure to fully obey the commands of the Lord.

For instance, the Transjordan tribes failed to drive out the Canaanite kingdoms of Geshur and Maacath.  Therefore, these heathen nations continued living in the land, not only causing trouble, but enjoying the blessings that should have been for Israel alone.  Why would the tribes allow their enemies to remain in the land?

It has been speculated that Israel simply grew content with what they had.  They lost the desire to possess all the blessings that God had in store for them.  In other words, they settled for second best.

 

Do you think that is a sad commentary on the children of Israel?  I do.  But then I must immediately examine myself.  Have I accepted/received every temporal and spiritual gift that God wants to give me?  Or have I reached a point where I am content with what I have and what I have accomplished for the kingdom of heaven? If so, what amazing gifts and opportunities have I left on the table?

These are questions worthy of our consideration/meditation.

Here is something else for us to think about: There are many Christians who continue to think of God as a stingy tyrant. They believe one must cry and beg God in order to receive the smallest and meanest blessings. THIS IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE.

Our heavenly Father is warm, generous, and loving.  He desires to bless us at a level beyond our comprehension. 

Ask yourself this question – what is the most priceless gift in the universe? It's the blood of God's only Son, Jesus, right? Well, God freely gave us that gift already. Since that is the case, why would he deny you a lesser gift/blessing?

Romans 8:32 – He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Instead of picturing God as a mean tyrant, picture him seated on his eternal throne with countless stacks of blessings at his side. Picture him trying to get your attention long enough to give you something astonishing.

Imagine the joy, laughter, intimacy and pleasure you will share with him as you use and enjoy that gift. Whatever you are picturing right now is more accurate than your concept of God as a stingy ogre!

God has begun a shaking of our world.  This shaking will destroy the institutions of man and leave the lost searching for a sure foundation for their lives.  You and I need to be fully equipped and ready to reap the harvest of souls for the kingdom of God.  Let's make sure we aren't leaving behind any gifts or equipment we may need for this task.  Let's not settle for second best.

Joshua 13:14 – To the tribe of Levi alone Moses gave no inheritance.  The offerings by fire to the Lord God of Israel are their inheritance, as he said to him.

In this official account of the division of the Promised Land, the tribe of Levi did not receive an allotment of land as their brothers did.  Instead, Levi inherited the offerings made to the Lord.  They also received individual cities which were scattered throughout the Promised Land, on both sides of the Jordan River. 

Why do you suppose God treated the Levites differently?

Keep in mind that it was the job of the Levites and priests to operate/maintain the tabernacle and act as the religious instructors for the rest of the nation.  They were what we would call 'full time pastors'.  They were to be about the business of spreading knowledge of the Word of God throughout the nation, stirring up their brethren to a devout religious life, and enforcing the laws of God. 

In order to perform these duties, they needed time to do the work of the tabernacle, time to study and time to minister to others. If they were constantly at war trying to remove Canaanites from a territory or working to get their homes and cities built up, they would not have any time for the spiritual duties which God had assigned them.

For this reason, God blessed the Levites with a portion of his offerings - the first fruits and tithes as well as the showbread, etc.  These offerings were used to sustain/provide for the Levites:

Numbers 18:20 - And the LORD spoke unto Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any part among them: I am your part and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

(See also Deuteronomy 18:1-2, Numbers 18:23-24). So, we find that God did not just bless his people with a one-size-fits-all kind of gift. Instead, he blessed each tribe with the gifts that were in their best interest.

The remainder of this chapter is a more detailed look at the exact cities and villages that were assigned to the specific families within the two-and-a-half tribes.  Feel free to read it if you like; I have briefly summarized them below. 

Again, these lists serve as an official record of ownership.  They also prove that God did exactly has he promised; he brought his people into the land flowing with milk and honey!

Joshua 13:15-23 – And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the people of Reuben according to their clans.So their territory was from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon.  And the border of the people of Reuben was the Jordan as a boundary.  This was the inheritance of the people of Reuben, according to their clans with their cities and villages.

Joshua 13:24-28 – Moses gave an inheritance also to the tribe of Gad, to the people of Gad, according to their clans. This is the inheritance of the people of Gad according to their clans, with their cities and villages.

Joshua 13:29-32 – And Moses gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh.  It was allotted to the half-tribe of the people of Manasseh according to their clans... These are the inheritances that Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho.

Joshua 13:33 – But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them.

 

Let me offer you some encouragement:

Have you ever received a corporate gift from your employer that you didn't really enjoy that much?  I know I have.  That normally occurs because the corporation is attempting to pick out a single gift that would be pleasing to everyone, which is an impossible task.  No matter what they do, someone will wind up being unhappy or disappointed.

Here is a word to encourage you:  Our God never gives one-size-fits-all gifts!

God gave a unique inheritance to each of the tribes, especially the tribe of Levi. In the same way, God has created each one of us with a unique combination of gifts, talents and desires. Holy Spirit then blesses us with spiritual gifts that will compliment the way God made us, so that we can be effective in his kingdom:

I Corinthians 12:1, 4-7 – Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.  Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Wow!  What a blessing.  I encourage you to be confident in the gifts God has given you.  Don't be afraid to be you – in other words, don't bury or hide your gifts because they seem different or unique.  Be sure to use them because God has created you to be a blessing to the body of Christ!

Let me offer you some relief:

Nobody is perfect, not even Moses or Joshua.  But these great men of God did have one thing in common – they were faithful to God.  They faithfully and steadily continued in the work that God had given them until the very end of their lives.  God is always pleased with this kind of faithfulness.

In the New Testament, we find the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30).  As you recall, one servant received 10 talents, another 5 and another one.  Their mission was to use the talents for the benefit of their master and his kingdom. 

When the master returned, the servants were not judged on the amount of profit they made. They were rewarded for faithfully using the talents he had given them. The only servant to be judged as wicked was the one who buried his talent and refused to use it.

This parable plainly shows that God grants each of us different talents and abilities.  It is our job to use what we have for his kingdom.  Even though we may make mistakes, as long as we are faithful and do our best, God will ensure that we 'make a profit' for his kingdom.  The only way to truly fail is to give up or never use your talent at all.

Therefore, as the apostle Paul advises us, let's put our mistakes behind us and continue in the work of the kingdom:

Philippians 3:13-14 – Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.  But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Let me offer you some strength:

The division of the land was an enormous job, and Joshua wasn't a young man anymore.  (Let's face it – when God says you are old, you are old!)  This leads us to two important conclusions. 

One, you are never too old to work for the Lord!  Perhaps you are reading this post right now and you consider yourself to be old.  If that is the case, you should rejoice!  Folks in that season of life have a lot of advantages:

• You are retired – you have a flexible schedule allowing you to devote more time to prayer and the work of the Lord.

• You are finished raising children – you are no longer 'tied down' at home where you need to make sure your children are educated and chauffeured around!

• You have wisdom – you understand life in a way that can only come with experience.

• You have finances – having worked throughout life, you have the resources to be a real support to ministries and/or you have the ability to embark on mission trips, etc.

All these advantages make 'old' Christians extremely valuable to the kingdom!

Conclusion number two - if you are still here on planet earth, then God has something for you to do! 

God uses people of all ages, so no matter what your season of life, find the task that God has commissioned you to perform, and be faithful to it.  Regardless of the size of the job, I assure you he will give you the strength to get it done, just as he did for Joshua!

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Joshua 13:1 – Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, "You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess."

Welcome back, dear readers! We are studying the book of Joshua, which gives us the details of how Israel partnered with God to gain possession of the Promised Land.

This passage begins with the Lord telling Joshua that he is old.  Specifically, he is described as being 'advanced' or 'stricken' in years.  What does that signify?

According to the tradition of the Jews, old age consisted of three stages:

• The first stage was from the age of 60-70 and it entailed the commencement of old age.  In other words, you weren't quite old yet, but you were getting there!

• The second stage of old age was from 70-80 years old. It was considered the "hoary-headed' age which means the period of white or gray hair (assuming you had hair!). When you hit this stage, you were definitely an 'elder' and as such you were supposed to possess a certain amount of truth and wisdom which you had gained during your life experiences. Because of this, people in this group were treated with respect; their opinions were taken seriously.

• The third stage of old age commenced at 80 and extended until death. This stage was called 'advanced age'. People who made it to this category were also referred to as 'stricken in years'.

What can we determine about the age of Joshua?

Scholars generally consider Joshua to have been about 45 years old (give or take a couple of years) when he left Egypt.  This estimation is based on the age of his colleague, Caleb.  Then, there were 40 years of wandering in the desert.  Once Israel entered the Promised Land, it took 5-7 years for Canaan to be conquered.  This would make Joshua 90-92 years of age when Israel's period of rest began.  That period of rest is universally accepted as being to 7-8 years long.  This would make Joshua 100 years old or, according to the Jews, 'advanced/stricken in years'.

Scripture tells us that Joshua died at the age of 110 (Joshua 24:29).  This means that Joshua only had about 10 years to finish his God-given assignment – to both conquer and divide the Promised Land.

Conquering the land and dividing it were two completely different/separate things.  So let's stop here and consider Joshua's assignment. 

CONQUEST: Obviously Joshua made significant military in-roads into the Promised Land. Under his leadership Israel overthrew a large number of kings/kingdoms along with their fortified cities and strongholds. Their people were destroyed, and possession of their land/houses/goods reverted to Israel.

However, that does not mean that the entirety of the territory was under Israel's control. What Joshua effectively did was to establish a firm foothold for Israel through the center of the land. But he did not remove/exterminate the Canaanites from every portion of the land. As we will discuss shortly, many of these enemies were left in place for future generations of Israelites to overcome.

Overall, it is apparent that Joshua's job was to bring about a significant yet limited conquest of Canaan.  He brought Israel across the Jordan, confirmed the covenant of God as the law of the new nation (Joshua 8:30-35), and gave Israel a strong foothold in the land.  However, ultimate/complete dominion over the land was left for others to finish.  

DIVISION:  The second half of Joshua's divine commission was to divide the entire land into different territories and assign them to the individual tribes.  These assignments included ALL of the Promised Land – those areas that had been subdued as well as those that were still held by the Canaanites.  These unconquered territories were under the control of groups such as the Philistines, Sidonians, Geshurites, etc. 

Despite the fact that much of the land was still in control of the Canaanites, the Lord instructed Joshua to get on with the task of dividing and assigning parcels of land to the remaining tribes.  This brings up two questions. 

First, why do you suppose Joshua hadn't done that yet?

It's possible that Joshua didn't fully understand the plans of God.  He may have been under the impression that he was to continue fighting until the entire Promised Land was under the firm control of Israel, and that the land could not be divided until that time. 

Or, he may simply have been tired.  After all, he was very old and during the years of rest he may have lost some of his initiative for getting the work done.

The second question that comes to mind is this: how can you divide up land when you don't have full control of it?  

Although we will look at this question in greater detail, there is a simple answer – once the land was divided and assigned, each individual tribe would be responsible for subduing all the Canaanite kings/kingdoms that lived in their territory. 

Of course, there were exceptions to this rule; there were times when the entire nation was called out to fight a common enemy.  This was particularly true during the frequent wars with the Philistines.

Joshua 13:2-3 – "This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron), and those of the Avvim.

Verses 2-6 make it clear that there were still many strong, fierce and well organized Canaanites living in the land, and all of them were to be defeated by Israel. As the individual tribes began to clear and possess their inheritance, were there any rules they had to follow?

Yes, there were.  Scripture gives us three main commands that Israel was to use when engaging the Canaanites in warfare.  They are found at various places in Deuteronomy (chapters seven and twelve), as well as in portions of Joshua:

RULE #1: There was to be complete extermination of the nations (people) whenever God delivered the Canaanites up to Israel. This is significant, because it means that people did not die at the whim or pleasure of Israel, but by the divine decree of God. Thus, Israel cannot be accused of slaughtering innocent people.

The signal for extermination was generally an organized, premeditated, unprovoked attack upon the people of Israel.  Once a foreign kingdom made such an attack, Israel was to engage them in battle until they were utterly destroyed.  God refers to this as 'giving them up' to Israel.  

Joshua 11:20 – For it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Those who did not attack Israel were generally left alone, until such time as they challenged the people of God.

RULE #2: All traces of idols and idolatry in the conquered territory were to be utterly destroyed.

Deuteronomy 12:1-3 – These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess.  You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire.  You shall chop down the carved images of the gods and destroy their name out of that place.    

(See also Deuteronomy 7:5, 7:25 and 12:30). Israel was forbidden to serve the Lord in the same manner as the false gods of Canaan were served. Therefore, all traces of idolatry had to be destroyed so they did not become a snare to Israel. Nothing was to be spared, no matter how impressive, valuable or beautiful it may be.

I don't know about you, but I see a spiritual parallel in this command. At times we are tempted to allow 'small' sins to remain in our lives. For some reason, we often feel like we can control these secret pleasurable sins, however, that is not the case.

That sin may seem innocuous, but in reality, it isn't.  It is despicable and deadly.  If you allow it into your life, it will sink deep and tangled roots into every aspect of your being.

Before you know it, it will bring forth a harvest of death and destruction (James 1:15).  So don't be fooled into thinking you are in control of it.  If you have a secret sin in your life, get rid of it immediately, before it becomes a snare to you!

RULE #3: No covenant or treaty was to be made between Israel and any of the nations of Canaan. This not only included peace agreements, it extended to business practices as well as intermarriage of Israelites with Canaanites.

Deuteronomy 7:2-3 – ...when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction.  You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.  You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons.

Why was it so important for Israel not to make any agreements or marriages with the Canaanites? 

Because God knew that if Israel formed bonds or relationships with those who worshiped false gods, they would be influenced to stop serving Him (Deuteronomy 7:4).

This was especially true in the case of marriage. For example, if an Israelite woman married a Canaanite man, she would go live in his house, be immersed in his culture and be expected to serve his idols.

Eventually, it would seem natural to her to serve these gods. Furthermore, any children the marriage produced would be trained to serve false gods as they grew up. Worship of the True God would either cease completely or be corrupted.

Likewise, if an Israelite man married a Canaanite woman, she would slowly introduce false teachings and false worship practices into the home, corrupting the true worship of God (Joshua 23:12-13).  Much later in Israel's history, King Solomon fell into this exact sin – his foreign wives tempted him into serving idols.

1 Kings 11:4 - For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

If intermarriage occurred, Israel would be completely corrupted and/or assimilated into other heathen nations in just a few short generations; they would cease to exist as the peculiar covenant people of God.

Satan would have loved to see that happen, because if Israel ceased to exist, the Messiah could not come and destroy his kingdom.  Man would be lost in sin with no hope of redemption; we would be forced to serve Satan for all of eternity. 

Looking at the bigger picture, it isn't hard to see that rule #3 was vitally important!

If Israel faithfully observed the commands to destroy all traces of idolatry and refuse to enter into any contracts with the Canaanites, there would have eventually been outbreaks of hostility between Israel and the Canaanites.  In turn, this would have caused the Canaanites to attack Israel, who then had the 'green light' to engage them in battle and destroy them.  Thus, the entire conquest would have been completed in a very short amount of time. 

Unfortunately, rules #2 and #3 were often broken by Israel – mixed marriages were common and idolatry was maintained instead of being wiped out.  Because Israel mingled with the heathen, it became almost impossible for rule #1 to take effect, because you couldn't exterminate the heathen without inflicting serious injury on Israel.

Just as God predicted, the heathen that Israel refused to destroy became traps and snares to them, hurting their relationship with God and causing them a lot of pain and grief.

Joshua 13:4-5 - ... in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath.

At this point, let's stop and delve deeper into the question of dividing up the land. 

Does it seem at all odd to you that Joshua was instructed to divide up and allocate land that Israel did not even possess yet? Why would God insist upon dividing and assigning the land before it was completely under Israel's control?

One reason is because generally speaking, people quickly learn to adapt to their surroundings.

For example, at this point, Israel possessed numerous towns and cities. They had a reasonable foothold in the land. They might easily have convinced themselves to be content with what they had. After all, they were now a free people and they were living in the land. They were way better off than they were in Egypt. Why go back to war? Why not just settle for what they had?

Of course, 'settling for what they had' was NOT part of God's plan.  He did not intend for his people to 'make do' with limited space and resources.  His plan was for Israel to fully possess all the land and to fully enjoy all the 'milk and honey' the land provided.

To settle for second best was to reject or cast aside the awesome blessings that God desired to give his people.  So, the allocation of land which they did not control was a kind of incentive or 'earnest payment'.  It encouraged each tribe to seek after and obtain all that God had in store for them.

Another reason God assigned Israel unconquered territory was to keep them dependent upon him.  As we mentioned, Israel had already obtained numerous blessings from God.  Based on their current prosperity, they might have fallen away from serving the Lord and began trusting in their own wisdom and might. 

By forcing them to continue in various battles, God kept the next generation of Israelites faithful to him.  This also provided them with military practice. 

Thirdly, it was necessary to divide the land at this particular time, because the current generation of people had solemnly promised to do whatever Joshua instructed them to do (Joshua 1:16-8). 

And they were true to their word. They had whole-heartedly followed Joshua for years now. They followed him across the Jordan, they followed him during their many wars, and they followed him in serving the Lord. It would be very natural/easy for them to accept his division of the land.�By contrast, if the land was not divided until after the death of Joshua, future generations would have been much less inclined to agree or accept the decision of any new leader, because that leader would not possess the same divine authority that Joshua did.

Joshua 13:6 - ... all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians.  I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel.  Only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance as I have commanded you.

As we discuss the division of the land, we should keep a few things in mind: 

• God always keeps his promises.
• His will always prevails.
• He always sees the end or outcome of a matter before it ever begins:

Isaiah 46:9-10 -  I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

For example, when God commanded the land to be divided up between the tribes, he saw the land as already belonging to Israel even though the tribes did not have possession of all of it at that moment.  In his eyes, it was a 'done deal' because he always keeps his promises and his will always prevails.

All Israel needed to do to claim that promise was to believe God and step out in faith.  As they did, God would be right there to 'drive out' the Canaanites before his people.  God even gave them an extra assurance that this would be the case.  With God fighting on their side, victory was assured! 

Thus, Israel's next steps were very clear:

• Divide the land.
• Move forward in faith to conquer the land.
• Stick to the three rules.
• Stay close to God (keep the covenant).

Both present and future generations of God's people could be assured of success by sticking to this plan. 

In fact, so can you and I. God has not changed; when he promises you something, you can be 100% sure that he is ready, willing, and able to deliver. All you need to do is step out and claim your promise by faith. Remember, God already sees that thing as yours!

Let me offer you some encouragement and relief:

In this post, we looked at three rules that applied to the children of Israel:  Completely annihilate the Canaanites at the command of God, do not enter into any covenants with the Canaanites, and utterly destroy everything associated with idol worship. 

Do these rules apply to God's people in this generation? 

Well obviously, we don't annihilate people! Instead, we need to introduce them to Jesus!  Because it is the will of God for all people to find salvation, we should do everything within our power to rescue sinners from the clutches of Satan by introducing them to the gospel.  There are many ways to participate in this – personal witnessing, giving out copies of the gospel and supporting radio/TV ministries are just a few. 

As far as rule number two, Christians today should be very careful about entering into covenants/legal contracts with unbelievers. This is especially true in the realm of marriage.

If a Christian marries an unbeliever, they have opposing views in nearly every aspect of life.  They will not agree on issues such as how to raise the children, how to properly handle the family finances, what morals are acceptable in the home, or which religious practices are correct.  Essentially, such a marriage could be described as a divided house, which is always in danger of falling apart (Matthew 12:25).

If you are currently single, I strongly encourage you to hear from God before you enter into a marriage relationship.  You won't regret taking the time to find a spouse who also serves God. 

By contrast, those who foolishly enter into an unequally yoked relationship (II Corinthians 6:14) can expect heartache and trouble.  

However, if you are currently married to an unbeliever, do not give up hope! Ask the Lord how to best relate to your unbelieving spouse. Let the light of Christ shine in your marriage and believe God for the salvation of your family. Remember, nothing is impossible for God!

Let me offer you some strength:

In today's post, we noted that God did not want his people to settle for second best.  He assigned unconquered territory to Israel as an incentive for them to actively pursue all the blessings (land, resources, etc) that he had in store for them. 

What about you and me? God hasn't changed; he has many gifts available to his children and he wants you to have all the good things he has ordained for you. He takes great pleasure in giving you all that you need and much of what you want. When was the last time you got something new from your heavenly Father?

When you ask God for a gift don't think just in terms of temporal blessings.  Those are nice, but they have no lasting value – they will pass away.   

By contrast, the spiritual gifts God gives are of infinite value/worth.  For this reason, he won't give them to people who don't value and desire them (to do so would be to disrespect the blessing).  However, I want to emphasize that God is not stingy; he wants to give us spiritual gifts more than we want to receive them!

If you want to receive a spiritual gift from God, spend time in his presence through praise and worship.  Ask for a gift in faith, believing that you will receive it from him. 

Mark 11:24 - Therefore I say unto you, whatever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you shall have them.

Here is something to consider:  Has God placed you in a situation where you need to conquer something?  Perhaps he has done so as an incentive to you.  Maybe he wants you to do a mighty work or receive a special blessing that you wouldn't otherwise seek unless you had a need. 

In any case, remember that God's gifts are received by faith, through relationship with him.  If you desire a spiritual gift from him, spend time in his presence and ask in faith.  Then thank him for the gift and look for the manifestation of it in your life. 

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Joshua 12:1 – Now these are the kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated and took possession of their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, with all the Arabah eastward:

Thus far, we have seen how Israel crossed the Jordan and with the Lord's help conquered Jericho, Ai, the southern alliance and the northern confederacy.  These detailed battles give us insight into the way God moved on behalf of his people.

In the battle of Jericho, we found that the miraculous hand of God was very prevalent.  God went before his people and did things they could not do.  In these cases, Israel's army had a 'lesser' role in the victory, although they were still actively involved in the outcome.

In the battle of Ai, we find the opposite.  The labor of Israel is more prominent; God either chooses not to use miraculous intervention or his intervention is hidden from view.  However, this does not mean that Israel stood alone.  We know she was assisted by God at every step, even though there were times when her army had a more traditional role in the conquest of an enemy.

From the deception of the Gibeonites we learned that God's people must always consult him before engaging the enemy.  When we try to take the lead without him, it normally results in a mess, which God must fix! 

The defeat of the southern five-king alliance shows us that no matter how strong, powerful, well connected, well funded or untouchable our enemies may seem, they are no match for God!

The defeat of the northern confederacy, which consisted of 31 separate kingdoms, reminds us that our God is sovereign, and his will always comes to pass. No matter how impossible the situation looks from man's point of view, God is well able to defeat his enemies. God has never, and will never, lose a battle! He can turn any situation around in a split-second of time.

The entire book of Joshua also shows us that after a victory, God will often give us progressively tougher battles.  Each victory increases our faith and experience, which trains/prepares us to face stronger enemies.  Thus, we see that God always sets us up to succeed.  Plus, when we lean on him and gain victory for his kingdom, he rewards us for our service!  So, whatever you are facing right now, rest assured that God will use it for your good. 

As we read about the territories that Israel captured in battle, let's keep these facts in mind.  Let's also remember that God never changes (Hebrews 13:8), which means these truths apply not just to ancient Israel, but to the church as well.

Joshua 12:2-3 – Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the middle of the valley as far as the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites, that is, half of Gilead, and the Arabah to the Sea of Chinneroth eastward, and in the direction of Beth-jeshimoth, to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, southward to the foot of the slopes of Pisgah;

Here in Joshua chapter 12, we are presented with a historical record of Israel's conquests. The record begins with the victories over Sihon and Og. Both of these wars took place before Israel crossed the Jordan, while Moses was still leading Israel.

The first battle was against Sihon, king of the Amorites. Again, we find that Israel was not the aggressor in this war. As Israel came close to the Amorite kingdom, Moses sent messengers to Sihon asking him to allow Israel to pass through his territory on the way to the Promised Land.

Moses vowed that Israel would not engage them in battle, nor would they take any crops, animals, etc from the Amorites. In fact, they even promised not to leave the main road. All they wanted to do was to pass through the land peacefully.

But Sihon refused.  Instead of saving his kingdom by allowing Israel to quietly pass by, he gathered his army and attacked them.  Not surprisingly, he was defeated, and Israel took possession of all his land, which was east of the Jordan River. You can read the details of this battle in Deuteronomy 2:26-37.

Joshua 12:4-5 - � and Og,king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei and ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah and all Bashan to the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and over half of Gilead to the boundary of Sihon king of Heshbon.

Moses also led the battle against Og, king of Bashan, who was considered a very formidable opponent.  He attacked Israel as she came near Bashan. 

Og was a giant – a descendent of the Rephaim (or Anakim).  Scripture tells us that he had an iron bed that was 9 cubits (13.5 feet) long and 4 cubits (6 feet) wide (Deuteronomy 3:11)!

Scripture also tells us that many of the cities in his territory were fortified with high walls as well as iron gates and bars, yet the Lord delivered all 60 of his cities into the hands of Israel.  You can read the full account of this war in Deuteronomy 3:1-31.

In the eyes of the world, this was an astonishing victory for the untrained, ill-equipped army of Israel.  But in the eyes of the Lord, it was nothing!

Joshua 12:6 – Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the people of Israel defeated them.  And Moses the servant of the Lord gave their land for a possession to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

The land east of the Jordan river that formerly belonged to Sihon and Og then became the possession of Israel.

The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh asked Moses to give them this land for their inheritance (See Numbers chapter 32). After consulting with the Lord, their request was granted, with the stipulation that their armed men must cross the Jordan and assist the rest of the nation in conquering the land west of the river (which they did).

In general, we find Israel marching from victory to victory.  They entered the Promised Land, enjoyed the favor of God and reaped the fruit of their labor.  Their success was based upon faith in God. 

The opposite was true of the Canaanites.  They are continuously swept away in torrents of destruction.  Their ruin was based upon their unbelief - because they served false idols, no amount of earthly weapons or fortified walls could save them.

What was true in the natural realm then, is true in the spiritual realm now. 

Those who have placed their faith in God can expect to reap eternal life, glory, honor, peace and a meaningful existence. Those who cling to false idols can expect to reap wrath, tribulation, anguish and meaningless despair.

Joshua 12:7 – And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir (and Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their allotments...

The remainder of this chapter gives us a more detailed list of the kings and people that Israel vanquished and the territory they subdued. 

The limits of the territory they now controlled were, generally speaking, from the Jordan River on the east, to the Mediterranean Sea on the west.  It extended as far north as Baal-gad and as far south as Edom.  You can read more about their boundaries in Numbers 34:2-12.  But the main point being made here is that God was faithful to his word – he had given Israel possession of all the land that was promised to them through Moses.

Now take a moment to reflect upon some of the promises God has made to the church:

He promises that we will overcome and be victorious.  He promises to give us the gift of Holy Spirit.  He promises that the gates of hell will not prevail over us.  He promises that we will inherit an eternal kingdom.  He promises that at the appointed time, he will return to earth and take us to heaven.

The list goes on and on.  What promises can you think of?  Whatever they may be, we can be confident that God will keep all the promises he has made to us, just as he kept those made to Israel. 

Joshua 12:8 -  in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negeb, the land of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites);

Did you know that before Israel ever entered the Promised Land, God promised to give them the land of seven different nations/people groups?  

Deuteronomy 7:1 -When the LORD your God shall bring you into the land to which you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you;

Yet, when we read this verse (Joshua 12:8) we find only six nations mentioned.  Who is the seventh nation and why aren't they mentioned as being subdued by Israel?

If we compare the list of nations in Deuteronomy with the list here in Joshua, we find that the seventh nation is the Girgashites.

The tradition of the Jews says that when Israel came to conquer the land, they voluntarily withdrew into Africa, leaving their cities and lands to be possessed by Israel, thus saving their lives and retaining their possessions.  For this reason, they are not listed as being vanquished. 

Other explanations assert that over time the Girgashites were incorporated into one of the other six nations and ceased to exist as a separate group by the time Israel came into the land. 

Regardless of what actually happened, one thing is certain - the land God gave to Israel was truly flowing with milk and honey.

There were fruitful hills, perfect for growing olives, figs and other delights. There were fertile valleys suitable for growing corn, barley and wheat. There were areas of forest which provided lumbar and areas of wilderness in which to graze the flocks. There were also abundant springs of water. The land held everything that a flourishing nation could need or want!

Joshua 12:9-24 -  the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; the king of Tirzah, one: in all thirty-one kings.

Verses 9-24 give us a list of the 31 specific kings that were overthrown by Israel. As you can plainly see, I did not type out the names of every single king and kingdom because the individual names are not critical for today's study. However, if you have a chance you might want to check out a map of the region during this era, as many of the locations can still be pinpointed.

As you probably already noticed, the names appear in the order in which they were vanquished, beginning with the king of Jericho and ending with the king of Tirzah.

At this point, the bulk of the Promised Land had been conquered. That is not to say that the entirety of the property was under Israel's control. It merely indicates that there were no more major groups who were actively attacking or fighting against Israel. For the most part, any remaining kingdoms simply kept to themselves and did not seek to overthrow Israel.

God will now command Joshua to divide up the Promised Land among the twelve tribes.  Each tribe was then responsible for overthrowing any remaining Canaanite cities or kingdoms in their territory.

The division of the land was not accidental.  Scripture tells us that God alone determines the boundaries of every nation:

Acts 17:26 – And he [God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place...

The implications of this are clear.  God had ordained a set period of time for the Canaanite nations to occupy the land.  But now that time had come to an end; the land was turned over to Israel.  In addition, each individual tribe was allotted a specific space. God's purpose in determining the boundaries of the nations is very clear:

Acts 17:27 - that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. 

Although it may be past our understanding, Paul clearly tells us that the boundaries of each nation are divinely orchestrated to encourage the people to seek and find God. 

This in turn leads to the conclusion that God had divinely determined which spaces were best suited for each tribe. Each of them was given an allotment that would not only suit their needs, but challenge their faith, and lead them into a deeper relationship with God. Thus, they were given the opportunity to fulfill God's highest destiny for mankind: to seek and serve the living God.

We will discuss this concept more fully in our future posts, as we look at the division of the land.

Let me offer you some encouragement and some relief:

As we look at the conquest of the Promised Land, we notice that God always sets his people up for success; there is no situation that even comes close to exhausting the limits of God's power and authority. 

For instance, when the five-kingdom alliance came against Israel, God used that situation to increase Israel's faith. When the 31-nation confederacy was formed against them (complete with a cavalry and iron chariots), God simply used that situation to help Israel conquer the land faster. God uses every circumstance for our good, no matter how dark or frightening it may seem to us.

What was true for God's people then, is still true for God's people (the church) today. 

There can be no doubt that God has set the church up for victory: Jesus is the head of the church (Colossians 1:15-20); we operate in his power and authority, not our own. And since every name in heaven, on earth and even those under the earth must bow to him, we are assured of victory.

Philippians 2:9-11 – Therefore God has highly exalted him [Jesus] and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The only thing that remains for us to do is listen to the voice of God and then step out in faith to fight evil forces in the spiritual realm which are terrorizing our nation (Ephesians 6:12). 

The conquest of the Promised Land teaches us that we do not need to be afraid to do this, because God is with us.  If we will answer the call and engage the enemy through prayer and confession of the scriptures, God will give us the victory. 

Let me offer you some strength:

Scripture declares that each of us has been given a measure of faith (Romans 12:3) and some amount of talent (Matthew 25:14-30). It is God's will for his people to use their faith and talents, not hide them in the ground! As we do so, they strengthen, grow, mature and eventually bear fruit. Israel continuously exercised their faith while using their talents during the conquest of the land.

We too, must exercise our faith and put our talents to work.  If you are in the midst of a battle right now that seems impossible or that seems like it is taking forever, don't give up!  Remind yourself that the soldiers of Israel were no doubt tired or weary from time to time, but they never gave up.  They may not have seen a way to defeat the enemy, but God had a way already planned out.  The same is true in your situation.

When the time was right, God stepped in and turned their situation around in an instant, and he will do the same for you! 

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Joshua 11:10-11 – And Joshua turned back at that time and captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms.  And they struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to destruction; there was none left that breathed.  And he burned Hazor with fire.

Here we have the final outcome of those who participated in the war against Israel.  As we would expect, their ends were exactly the same as those of the southern alliance – they were defeated and destroyed.  The outcome at Hazor is particularly recorded because of its role as the organizer of the confederacy.

Jabin, king of Hazor, was the commander-in-chief.  He had apparently escaped the battle with his life and immediately retreated to what he thought was the safety of his walled city.  He must have felt particularly relieved when Israel left the area to pursue the troops to Sidon and Mizpah. 

But his hope was built on the shifting sand.  His city was not an oasis of safety but a trap of death; it was subdued by Israel and burned to the ground.  He and all his remaining subjects were slain. 

On a side note, it is worth noting that this was not the end of Hazor. Other Canaanites eventually rebuilt it and settled there, establishing the same city and government. Hazor once again caused Israel trouble during the era of the judges (Judges 4:2). Interestingly, we find that during this later period they were still coming against Israel with cavalry and chariots.

Joshua 11:12-14 – And all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua captured, and struck them with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded.  But none of the cities that stood on the mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor alone; that Joshua burned.  And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the people of Israel took for their plunder.  But every person they struck with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed.

Every single kingdom that fought against Israel was defeated - no exceptions.  And every single person in those kingdoms received a sentence of death so that their worship of false gods and demonic powers would not corrupt the people of Israel (Deuteronomy 20:16-18).  The only kingdom to be spared was Gibeon, who became laborers in the service of the temple. 

However, not every city was burned as Hazor was.

Before Israel had even entered the Promised Land, God declared that he would give them the houses, food and possessions of their enemies:

 

Deuteronomy 6:10-11 - And it shall be, when the LORD your God shall have brought you into the land which he swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you great and beautiful cities, which you built not, and houses full of all good things, which you filled not, and wells dug, which you dug not, vineyards and olive trees, which you planted not...

It made no sense for Israel to completely destroy and/or burn these resources/blessings. Instead, they were enriched by the spoils of their enemies. The people of Israel possessed their homes, drew water from their wells, ate their crops and inherited their livestock.

These blessings allowed them to start a new and prosperous life in the land that flowed with milk and honey! This is an example of the wealth of the wicked being transferred to the just (Proverbs 13:22).

Joshua 11:15-16 – Just as the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did.  He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.  So Joshua took all that land, the hill country and all the Negeb and all the land of Goshen and the lowland and the Arabah and the hill country of Israel and its lowland.

This verse gives a general description of the land taken under the leadership of Joshua. Notice that it is a description, not a list of assets. Obviously, every single kingdom that was subdued by Israel is not mentioned here. The overall point is that God (and Joshua) continued in the work of the conquest, uninterrupted, until it was finished.

This is a very comforting thought.  We can be sure that God will faithfully continue his work in our generation too, because he never changes (Malachi 3:6).  This means that when he begins to subdue evil in our government, he will not stop until every foe of the church is vanquished.  When he begins to subdue evil in our school systems and universities, he will not stop until every foe of the church is vanquished.  When he begins to subdue evil forces that cloud the minds/hearts of sinners preventing them from accepting the gospel, he will not stop until every foe of the church is vanquished.  Hallelujah!

However, before we start a victory dance, let's remind ourselves that we (like Joshua) must continue to partner with God in this important work. We must faithfully and continuously work to elect godly men and women into government positions. We must support righteous people to serve on our school boards and act as trustees of colleges and trade schools. We must continue to do everything within our power to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation across the globe.

Here is some good news to keep in mind as you continue in the daily fight:  Although the battle may seem to last a long time, we have the assurance that we will be victorious, if we don't give up.

Galatians 6:9 – And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

God is not going to single-handedly transform our culture and our nation without including us in the process.

However, if we agree to partner with him, we can be sure he will both start and complete a good work in our midst. We can expect victory over darkness; we can be sure that the great revival which we hope for will become a reality.

Joshua 11:17-18 -  from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.  And he captured all their kings and struck them and put them to death.  Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.

We are not going to go into detail on the location of the places listed in verses 16-17.  Suffice to say, the scripture is telling us that God granted Joshua and the Israelite army control of the Promised Land. 

But it didn't happen overnight. Once Israel crossed the Jordan, they conquered Jericho, Ai and the five-nation southern alliance very quickly. However, the overall conquest of the land took 'a long time'.  What does that mean? Based on comments made by Caleb after the defeat of the confederacy, many scholars believe it took five years to finish the conquest (Joshua 14:10). Others, however, believe it took as long as seven years. 

One thing is clear - after the war with the southern alliance, God significantly slowed the pace at which Israel conquered other kingdoms.  Why would he do that?  Why didn't God give his people complete victory in about 18-24 months?

• For one thing, drawing out the conquest gave the remaining Canaanites time to repent. They heard about the God of Israel and they had seen evidence of his mercy towards the Gibeonites. If they had desired to do so, they too could have surrendered to Israel, which would have saved their lives and given them a chance to serve the Lord.

• Kingdoms that were not under attack or siege by Israel carried out their normal routines. This was especially important with regards to farming. The Canaanites would plant crops, and as Israel took the land little by little, there were always supplies readily at hand. We could say that the Canaanites essentially planted and harvested provisions for the continued support of the Israeli army. If Israel had conquered all of the kingdoms in about a year, they would have been left with no provisions and no time to plant crops. Famine would have ensued.

• The Lord told Israel long before they stepped foot into the Jordan that they would only take the land a little at a time because otherwise wild animals would multiply and destroy the land:

Deuteronomy 7:22 - And the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little: you may not consume them at once, lest the wild animals of the field become too numerous for you.

• God also caused the conquest to be drawn out to give Israel 'skin in the game'. In other words, people who obtain something without a sacrifice or investment on their part have little value for the thing they obtained. If God had miraculously given them the entire land quickly, they might not have valued their inheritance as much. But since they had blood, sweat and tears invested in the conquest, the land was very important to them.

• The drawn out warfare sharpened the military skills of Israel, which were necessary for them to hold the land.

• The protracted period of time also provided an opportunity for God to show/teach his people how to be persistent. They needed to learn the art of resting and trusting in him over time, because not every battle passes quickly.  This period of warfare exercised the patience, courage and perseverance of Israel as well as her faith in God.

Joshua 11:19-20 – There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon.  They took them all in battle.  For it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

At first glance, these verses seem difficult to understand.  The concept of the Lord hardening a heart so that it should be destroyed, is foreign to what we know about him:

Psalms 103:8 – The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in mercy.

How then, are we to understand this situation? What does it mean when the Lord 'hardens' a heart?

There is an analogy that effectively describes the hardening this way:  God is like the rays of the sun shining down on the world.  When the sun strikes wax, the wax softens and becomes pliant.  When the sun strikes clay, the clay is hardened and becomes brittle.  It is the same sun, but we get different results based on the makeup of the item the sun touches. 

So it is with the hearts of men.  God's mercy shines down on all.  Some will surrender to him (like Rahab) and become pliant.  They will repent and turn towards God.  Others (like the kings of Canaan) will harden their hearts and become brittle, refusing to repent.  By rejecting God, they seal their own destruction.      

For example, we read in the scriptures that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who then refused to allow Israel to go free (Exodus 7:13, 9:12, 14:17).  There can be no doubt that Pharaoh knew about Jehovah.  Moses had spoken of him and Pharaoh himself had seen numerous proofs of his existence and power. 

Consequently, Pharaoh had a choice to make – would he humble himself and surrender to the mercy of Jehovah, or haughtily continue to serve the false gods of Egypt?  One path led to life, the other to death.

Here is something else to consider: God could very easily have used any means at his disposal to frighten or intimidate Pharaoh into choosing him. Doing so would not have been a problem for God at all! But God did not do that. Instead, he stepped back and allowed Pharaoh to make his own choice.

As we know, Pharaoh chose to stick with false gods, who fed his inner desires of pride, control, greed and general perverseness.  Although he initially decided to let Israel go free (to give himself relief from the plagues), he changed his mind and pursued Israel with all the military might he possessed.  Once the Egyptians came against Israel in war, God stepped in and destroyed them. 

Thus, we can conclude the following:

• Pharaoh had knowledge of the true God.
• He had physical evidence which backed up that truth.
• He had a fair chance to make his own choice.
• He chose to reject God's mercy and thus his heart was hardened when touched by the light of God.
• Because of his choice, he attempted to destroy Israel and thus he sealed his own fate.

The 'hardening' of the Canaanites was very similar; the conquest of Canaan was never a massacre of innocent, non-resisting inhabitants.

The people of that land had been given a measure of spiritual insight. For instance, we are expressly told that Rahab (the woman of Jericho who assisted the spies) knew all about God and the wonders he performed on behalf of Israel (Joshua 2:9-11). According to her own testimony, so did everyone in Jericho. In fact, so did every kingdom in Canaan.

The inhabitants of Canaan had both seen and heard of the miracles the Lord had performed. These included Israel's freedom from Egypt, crossing the Red sea on dry land, the manna in the wilderness, the defeat of Sihon and Og, the crossing of the flooded Jordan River and the battle at Jericho.

At that point, all of the kings of Canaan had a choice to make. It was the same choice Pharaoh faced. They could choose to turn to Jehovah or keep serving their false idols. God stepped back and allowed them to make their choice.

All of them chose to resist God and as a result all of them were hardened by the light of God. All of them chose to aggressively attack Israel and try to destroy her. Once they did, they sealed their own fate because Israel had every right to fight back when attacked.

I cannot help but wonder if we are not seeing a similar scenario play out on the world's stage today.  At the writing of this post, terrorist groups have broken a peaceful situation by attacking the Israelites in Gaza.  Now Israel has the right to fight back.      

Joshua 11:21-22 – And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.

 

The Anakim or the sons of Anak, were a fierce race of giants which lived in various places in Canaan.  They are specifically mentioned here because they were one of the main excuses given by the men of Israel for not entering the Promised Land.  This happened during Israel's first opportunity to take the land under the leadership of Moses (Numbers 13:22, 31-33). 

Because the giants terrified the men of Israel so much, it was important that they be defeated so they didn't hinder the continued progress of Israel.

Think of it this way: If the Anakim remained in the land, they would always be a source of fear and terror to Israel. Whenever Israel saw them, they would be filled with anxiety and fear, thinking that their most difficult battles were still in the future. Their presence would obscure the glory of God and undermine the faith of Israel. Therefore, they had to be defeated sooner rather than later.

During this 5-7 year period, Joshua and his army put to death all the giants they could find. However, they were not completely destroyed. Some fled to the Philistine cities of Gaza, Gath and Ashdod which were located close to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Anakim continued to be an enemy of Israel for many years to come. You have no doubt heard of one of the more famous sons of Anak – Goliath of Gath, who was slain by king David.

 

Joshua 11:23 – So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses.  And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments.  And the land had rest from war.

It's important that we understand what this verse says and what it doesn't say. 

It tells us that Israel, under the command of Joshua, had overcome all overt resistance. All the kings and kingdoms that had declared war on Israel had been defeated. Israel had possession of many cities and towns which were a sufficient habitation for the people at that time.

It does not say that every single city or district within the Promised Land had been subdued and purged of Canaanites. Indeed, it would have been unwise to conquer more territory until the Israelites were peaceably settled in the land they already controlled.

Nevertheless, enough progress had been made so that Joshua could now divide the land up among the twelve tribes.  Once this was done, it would then be up to each tribe to subdue the Canaanites who lingered in their share of the inheritance.

As we mentioned previously, this plan allowed the land to be continuously cultivated and it kept the wild animals for overrunning the territory.  By allowing the Israelites to settle into communities, it also gave the families peace and rest.  Once they were ready, they could go back out to war and subdue more of their inheritance.

As for their part, the Canaanites offered no further organized resistance to the division of the land among the Israelite tribes; they seemed to be content to stay in their remaining cities.  This period of peace provided the opportunity to rest and to divide up the land.

When we study this account of the Promise Land, we are reminded that Joshua was a type of Christ.   He led Israel in battle until the people rested from war.  Similarly, Jesus is the commander-in-chief of God's army.  He is, and will continue, to lead the church in conquering the world for his kingdom until the time when God calls us home to heaven, where we will have eternal rest (Hebrews 4:8-10).   

Just as Israel's battles ended in victory, so will ours:

Victory has been promised to the people of God all through the scriptures. It began in the book of Genesis where God declared that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15), and it continues until God calls us home to a new heaven and earth in the book of Revelation.

Our victory is secured by God's help. As we studied Joshua chapters 1-11, it was evident that as Israel conquered the Promised Land, God was aiding his people every step of the way. In the same way, we are victorious in spiritual warfare because God is fighting for us (Psalms 118:6), because he is giving us strength to fight (Psalms 117:1) and because Christ has already conquered our enemies:

1 Corinthians 15:57 - But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Victory is obtained through battle. Just as Joshua and the Israelites had to fight to obtain the promises of God, we too must stand and fight against the principalities and powers of this age (I John 5:4, Ephesians 6:10-11), claiming God's promises and taking the kingdom of God by force (Matthew 11:12).

Let me offer you some encouragement:

The Anakim or the race of giants, are mentioned in today's post.  Fear of these giants was one of the main reasons Israel refused to step into the Promised Land on their first opportunity.  As a result of their rebellion against God, Israel was forced to wander in the desert for 40 years.

Let's examine that a bit more closely.  The claims of the 10 spies were accurate – the giants were very big, very fierce, very strong and very experienced.  They represented a very real threat/challenge.

The ten spies' mistake was not incorrectly assessing their enemy – it was in surrendering their hearts/minds to fear. The minute fear rose up within them, they should have fought it off with faith. Instead of fearing what might be true or what might happen, they should have reminded themselves of what they knew to be true and what they knew was going to occur:

• They were God's chosen people.
• God had promised to give them the land.
• God had proved his faithfulness by protecting them in the 40-year wandering and bringing them to the threshold of the Promised Land.
• God had promised never to leave them; he had instructed them to be strong and of good courage.

But instead of keeping their minds focused on these promises of God, they allowed fear to take over and rob them of their blessing. 

Stop and meditate on that for a minute:  Israel lost the battle in their mind first - long before they were defeated in the physical realm.  We can conclude that the way we think has a lot to do with our victory or defeat. 

Ask yourself this question: What are you filling your mind with?

The truth of the scriptures? Praise and worship songs? Testimonies of those who have overcome? Things that are good and perfect (Philippians 4:8)? Or with worldly thoughts, melodies and stories that have no lasting value?

I strongly encourage you to examine and gain control over the thoughts of your own mind. 

Let me offer you some relief:     

The church of Jesus Christ is facing some formidable opposition.  There are demonic forces that want to destroy our nation, our families and our children.  Their power and strength are very real. 

The good news is that when Jesus fights on our side, we cannot be defeated!  However, we cannot just sit by and do nothing.  We must partner with God through prayer, confession of his word and practical action.  When we engage the enemy in this fashion, God is sure to give us the victory, just as he did for Israel!

This also applies to our personal lives.  What 'giant' are you facing today?  Your foe may be powerful.  It may have been deeply entrenched in your situation for many years.  But it is not invincible!  It must bow to the name of Jesus Christ:

Philippians 2:10 - That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  

Remember – giants can be defeated if you follow God's commands and stay in faith!

Let me offer you some strength:

Scripture tells us that there is a time for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes).  Israel had seasons of war and seasons of peace.  They had seasons of 'enough' and seasons of prosperity.  They had seasons of intense labor and seasons of bountiful rest. 

The same is true in our lives.  For example, when we are younger, we have seasons of intense labor when we work, marry and raise children.  But this gives way to seasons when we are established in our careers, the children are grown, and we have more free time.  Some people are in a season where they must care for their parents or grandchildren.  Others are in a season of learning or training.  Some of us may find ourselves in a season of transition.      

 Regardless of what season you are now experiencing, know that God is with you.  He will never leave you, or forsake you.  He will never let you down.  He will give you rest, peace and strength, as he takes you safely from one season of life to the next.  

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Joshua 11:1-3 – When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaphand to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

Welcome back, dear readers! We are studying the book of Joshua, which relates the story of how Israel took the Promised Land – the territory of Canaan.

Keep in mind that Canaan was not a nation united under one king or central government. Instead, it was a conglomeration of small kingdom cities, each with its own ruler, its own military and its own agenda. These small kingdoms often fought against each other for various reasons. Nevertheless, they agreed to join together for the purpose of defeating their common enemy.

The church could learn a lesson from this confederacy – now is a good time for Christians of all denominations and classes to put our minor differences aside and unite against our common enemy, Satan.

In chapter 10, we found an alliance of five kingdoms led by Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem.  The kingdoms of this alliance were in the southern regions of the Promised Land, near the city Jebus, which would later be named Jerusalem.  This alliance of nations was utterly destroyed by Israel.

In chapter 11 we find a very similar narrative.  This time there is a confederacy of multiple kingdoms/nations led by Jabin, king of Hazor.   The kingdoms of the confederacy were located in the northern regions of the Promised Land.

Jabin: As we have seen in other instances, 'Jabin' is not a name but a title that was used by the kings of Hazor. The word/title literally means 'he shall understand' and is equivalent to 'the wise' or 'intelligent'.

Hazor: 'Hazor' means 'enclosed' or 'fortified'. There were at least three cities in Canaan with this name. Two were located in the south and were part of the inheritance of Judah. However, the city involved in the confederacy of chapter 11 was a major city in the northern part of Canaan. It would later fall into the inheritance of the tribe of Napthtali (Joshua 19:36). It was believed to be the strongest fortress in the north.

Although Joshua will destroy and burn it to the ground (Joshua 11:11), it will eventually be rebuilt by the Canaanites and once again become a powerful center of government and military might� About 130 years after Joshua dies, we find another 'Jabin' sitting on the throne who kept Israel under slavery for twenty years before God rescued his people by the hands of Deborah and Barak (Judges 4 and 5).

At the time of the events recorded in Joshua, Hazor was powerful enough to have a number of smaller tributary cities/kingdoms under their control. These are the unnamed kingdoms referred to in verses 1-3. These may be the same kingdoms mentioned later in Joshua 12:9-24, where 31 different kings are mentioned.

So Jabin, upon learning of the defeat of the alliance led by Adoni-Zedek, forms a military confederacy of the northern nations.  The purpose of the confederacy was the same as that of the defeated southern alliance – to subdue or destroy the children of Israel.

Joshua 11:4-5 – And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.  And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

The phrase 'the sand upon the sea shore' is a hyperbole often found in scripture.  It conveys the idea of a vast number; far too many to actually count or even estimate.  God himself uses this phrase when describing the number of descendants of Abraham:

Genesis 22:17 -That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies;

However, in this case it is used to describe the overwhelming number of troops that were coming against Israel.

We can conclude that the forces of the confederacy were not only greater in number, but they were better equipped and therefore much more formidable than those of the alliance. In addition to foot soldiers, they also had a cavalry and chariots – the ancient equivalent of an armored car!

Cavalry: Obviously, a soldier riding an enormous war horse has a big advantage in battle.According to the noted historian Josephus, the confederacy had 10,000 cavalry soldiers. Other historians tell us that Egypt supplied the Canaanites with these animals.

Chariots: The war chariots were probably like those of Egypt which were made of wood and tipped with iron. It has been reported that the chariots had forward facing, iron tipped spikes attached to the yokes of their horses.  In addition, they were made with strongly fortified wheels and had iron scythes attached to poles projecting from the center of the wheel. As the chariot flew through the enemy ranks, these iron implements mortally wounded anyone who did not get out of the way.

Without the Lord on their side, the Israeli soldiers would certainly have been terrified, especially considering that their own army consisted entirely of foot soldiers.

All of Israel's previous battles had been fought man-to-man in the mountainous terrain near Jerusalem.  The battle for the north, however, took place near water on a flat plain.  This made it feasible for the enemy to use chariots.  Scripture tells us the name of the lake was Merom, but it exact location is unknown.

Nevertheless, it is always good for the people of God to remember that even though the majority of us cannot see into the spiritual realm, we can be assured that those who are for us are greater than those who are against us (II Kings 6:16). 

Joshua 11:6 – And the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel.  You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire."

Before this epic battle, Joshua did not fail to stop and consult the Lord.  God, in his great mercy, reassures Joshua that due to his intervention, Israel would once again be victorious over her enemies, just as he had promised:

Deuteronomy 20:1 -When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and a people more than you, be not afraid of them: for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Even though they enemy was to be slain by the swords of Israel, the scriptures give the credit to God; he was the one who delivered them into the hands of Israel.� Without his presence and protection, Israel would have been defeated.

We cannot help but notice that God reiterates his promises of victory to Joshua over and over and over again.  Why does God do that?

He does it because our faith is in constant need of nourishment.  If we regularly meditate on the past victories God has given to us personally, to the church and to our nation, it keeps our faith healthy and strong.

We can also feed our faith through testimonies. There can be no doubt that testimonies are extremely powerful in the spiritual realm.  Scripture tells us that the combination of the blood of Jesus with the word of our testimony defeats our enemy, Satan:

Revelation 12:11 -And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death.

Let me say it again:  Your testimony is powerful!  Open your mouth and proclaim what God has done for you!  Doing so will prepare you for the next battle you face.  It is also important that you share it with others because your testimony will feed their faith too.  After all, if God has delivered you, he will do it for others as well!

God goes on to remind Joshua that two things must be done after the victory:

One, Israel was to hamstring the horses.  This means that they were to cut the hamstring tendons in the thigh of the horse.  Once severed, this sinew cannot be healed, so the horse would be lame or unable to walk/run properly. 

Second, they are to not only destroy but burn all the enemy's chariots.

Why would God make Israel do that?

The answer is simple – because God did not want Israel to adopt the methods of warfare used by the heathen nations.  If they became adept with these weapons, they would soon begin to trust in their own strength and power, which would eventually fail them.  Victory for God's people can only come through depending on Him (Psalms 20:7). 

Before we move on, let's discuss the word 'tomorrow'. In this verse God says that 'tomorrow' at the same time, he would give the enemy into Joshua's hands. We know that Hazor was approximately 60-80 miles from Gilgal, the base camp of Israel. Josephus tells us that Joshua spent five days traveling from Gilgal to the encampment of the kings.

So, either Joshua was already near to the enemy camp when God spoke to him, or the word 'tomorrow' is used in a general sense meaning soon or immediately.

Joshua 11:7 – So Joshua and all his warriors came suddenly against them by the waters of Merom and fell upon them.

Just as in the battle with the southern alliance, Israel catches the northern confederacy by surprise.  They believed Israel was still miles away, but they suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere! 

Israel caught them off guard while they were garrisoned between the mountains and the lake.  Because of this position, the horses and chariots would not have had room to deploy effectively, and the confederacy had no time to organize them into a fighting position.  Before they could do anything, Israel attacked.   

Joshua 11:8 – And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh.  And he struck them until he left none remaining.

First of all, we cannot overstate the hand of God in the conquest of the Promised Land. The kingdoms cities in Canaan were in close enough proximity that they could have solidified as a single fighting unit the minute that Israel crossed the Jordan.�But because of the influence of God, they didn't.  Even Jericho, who was the first kingdom to fight the unknown invaders, did not request reinforcements from the other kingdoms. 

After that miraculous victory, it could only have been the mercy and goodness of God which caused the Canaanites to form a southern alliance and a northern confederacy, dividing Israel's enemies so they could be defeated more easily.

Just as with the southern alliance, the slaughter of the northern confederacy was swift and sure.  As the fighting intensified, the confederate soldiers turned and fled as fast as possible to one of two distant locations.

Some fled northwest to the metropolis of Sidon.  In ancient times, Sidon was the capital city of Phoenicia.  You may have read about this city other places in the scriptures.  It is often mentioned in conjunction with its nearby neighbor, Tyre (Matthew 23:11, Mark 7:31, Luke 10:13-14, etc).  Sidon is described as 'great', which refers to its wealth, its importance as a commercial/trading hub, and its overall size.  As a well-fortified city, it was a logical place for the fleeing soldiers to seek refuge (or so they thought).

The scriptures indicate that survivors of the confederacy also fled to Misrephoth-maim. The location and significance of this city is unknown. The meaning of its name is 'burning waters'. This leads to speculation that the area was either a natural hot springs, or a place filled with ditches where salt was manufactured through the evaporation of water.

Despite their efforts to flee, the men of Israel continued to pursue and destroy their enemies until none were left.  However, this was only because they had rejected the mercy of God.

The people of the northern confederacy had ample opportunities to surrender to Israel.  But they rejected the chance to become proselytes and vassals/tributaries of Israel, where they could have experienced God's grace.  Therefore, God delivered them into the hands of Israel who became his instruments of justice.

Other soldiers fled northeast to the valley of Mizpeh, but their efforts were also in vain.    

Joshua 11:9 – And Joshua did to them just as the Lord said to him:  he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

As previously mentioned, the confederacy was unable to use their horses or their chariots because of Israel's surprise attack. So, once they fled the battle in fear, Israel was free to enter their base camp, destroy their horses and burn their chariots.

Again, this was done according to the command of God, who did not want Israel to develop a trust in their own abilities; he wanted Israel to remain dependent on him for their military victories.

But it served another purpose as well - to teach Israel not to be afraid of man-made weapons/war implements.  The disabled horses and charred chariots were clear evidence that no weapon of man could defeat the children of God, regardless of how formidable it may seem at first.  For the children of Israel, seeing the destruction of the horses and chariots served the same purpose as putting their feet upon the necks of the five kings – it reminded them that no weapon formed against them could defeat the living God!

Isaiah 54:17 – No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication is from me, declares the Lord.

The conquest of the Promised Land also demonstrates how God builds up or matures his people spiritually. When Israel first crossed into the Promised Land, their faith was not exceptionally strong. God used the smaller battles against Jericho and Ai to build up the faith of his people, so they could withstand the tests that were still to come.

The next war involved a much bigger enemy – the alliance of the five southern kings. Again, we see that God encouraged his people to go to war because he would be with them, just as he had in Jericho. Victory in this greater war caused Israel's faith to grow even stronger and deeper. Their fighting skills also increased at the same time.

It was only after this growth that they were in a position to take on the extremely formidable northern confederacy which had both cavalry and chariot divisions.

It has been observed that God proportions our trials to our strength and our strength to our trials.  How true this is!

In other words, God trains his people in such a way that each battle the church faces makes us stronger and fuller of faith.  This in turn sets us up for even greater victories for the kingdom of heaven.  The same principle holds true in our personal lives as well.

So, the next time you encounter a battle, instead of thinking, 'why me', think, 'what is God doing in my life through this moment', because you can be sure he intends that battle to be for your good!    

Let me offer you some encouragement and relief:

In this narrative, we find that the enemies of Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore.  They were also better equipped and better trained.  When looking at the situation from the natural point of view, Israel had every reason to be afraid of losing the battle – but they were victorious!

We know that God never sets us up to fail.  If he brings you to a battle, he will never leave you; he will fight on your behalf just as he did for Israel. 

Deuteronomy 31:8 – The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.� Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

The key is that we must do our part.  For example, suppose there was an issue with your local school board.  Suppose they decided to adopt a practice that was completely against the word of God. 

This would qualify as an example of God bringing you to a battle.  The established school board may be bigger, more organized and have more resources on their side, just like the northern confederacy.  In the natural, it may seem like you don't have a chance.

But don't look at things from the natural point of view; see them as God sees them.

Start by emulating Joshua - spend time praying and if necessary, fasting. Confess the word of God over the situation.  Then formulate a plan – schedule a meeting or come to the next meeting prepared to give a succinct, well written rebuttal to the issue at hand. Wait for your turn to speak and make your case.

If the battle isn't won at that point, be persistent.  Calmly find out what the next step should be.  Gather other Christians and people of the community who are on your side and continue to fight through social media, news outlets or other public forums.  Then watch for God to bring you the victory.

Let me offer you some strength:

We all go through seasons where everything in life seems difficult.  Accomplishing even a simple goal seems almost impossible due to numerous obstacles!  But instead of complaining, giving up or lamenting 'why me', let's begin to look at these situations from another point of view.

We know that God often stretches and grows our faith through trials and difficulties.  This somewhat painful process is for our good:

• It matures our faith so we can be even more effective in the kingdom of heaven.
• During the process, we come to know God in a deeper and greater way.
• By winning battle after battle, we will be earning greater and greater rewards in heaven.
• Our victories will be a testimony which helps others overcome.

The list of benefits goes on and on.

The next time you find yourself in that kind of a situation, why not just ask Holy Spirit what he is trying to teach you through that difficulty? If we work with him instead of against him, we will undoubtedly get through the process must faster, which is what we want anyway!

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Psalm 116:17 - I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

Hello readers!  We are taking a quick break from our study of Joshua to take a timely look at the topic of thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is the act of rendering thanks or expressing gratitude for favors and mercies we have already received or will receive in the future. 

While we set aside a special day each year to be thankful, the truth is that Christians should be living a lifestyle of thankfulness to God because he bestows boundless gifts and mercy upon us every single day!

Below is a list of things to be thankful for.   Keep in mind that these suggestions are merely starting points; as you begin to meditate on them, let your heart lead you into greater and newer realms of thanksgiving and praise based on your personal relationship with Jesus!

First and foremost, Christians are thankful for the forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ:

1 Peter 1:18-19 - Since you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  

What good things are you enjoying today?  Family, friends, a successful business, good health, retirement, or a child you never thought you could have?  What about peace, joy, the promise of eternal life or spiritual gifts? 

The sacrifice of Christ is the basis for all the blessings we will ever receive.  His blood broke the authority of satan in our lives, atoned for our sin, and reunited us with Father God, who is the source of all good things (James 1:17).

We should never let a single day go by without being thankful for the sacrifice he made on the cross!   

 

Christians can be thankful that we will receive an inheritance in heaven:

I Peter 1:3-4 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

As good as life on earth is for most of us, it doesn't compare with the wonders of heaven!  Some people mistakenly think that heaven will be boring.  They think Christians will sit on clouds all day, just playing harps! 

But the scriptures give us a very different picture of life in heaven.  We will be living in a city, enjoying the company of God and others, engaging in fruitful/meaningful work and exploring new realms.  In fact, scripture tells us that we cannot even begin to fathom how stupendous our next life is going to be (Isaiah 64:4, 1 Corinthians 2:9)!

So regardless of what difficulties or disappointments you may have in this life, be thankful that God has prepared a place for you in heaven; and one day you will be with him forevermore (John 14:2-3).

Christians can be thankful that we do not walk through life alone:

Isaiah 43:1-2 - But now thus says the LORD that created you, O Jacob, and he that formed you, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame scorch you.    

Wow! What a wonderful promise from God! 

We are all well aware that life is not a bed of roses.  At some point, each of us will encounter tough circumstances which threaten to overwhelm us.  And sometimes the people we count on for help fail us or abandon us. 

But thankfully, that is never the case with God.  He is not a 'fair weather' friend; he is our all powerful, all knowing, faithful King, who walks with us in every circumstance (even in the valley of the shadow of death - Psalms 23:4).  He will never leave us or forsake us; he will not allow us to be overwhelmed, as long as we trust in him. 

Christians can be thankful for spiritual armor:

Ephesians 6:14-17 - Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

God has not left us defenseless in this world; he has provided us with the weapons we need to partner with him and defeat the enemy of our soul.  Now there is a reason to be thankful!

One of our strongest defensive weapons is the shield of faith.  So, what is faith, and how do we use it as a shield? 

In simple terms, faith is believing what God says; its trusting that what he promises us will come to pass because he faithfully keeps his word.  When satan tries to attack us with lies, fear, worries/anxieties or any other evil, we can open the bible and remind ourselves of God's promises of peace, safety, healing and deliverance.  When we stand firm believing the word of God, our faith firmly blocks the attacks of the devil.

As wonderful as that is, there is even more good news – you can increase your faith.  Think of it this way:  Faith is a lot like your muscles.  If you exercise your muscles, they expand and grow, making you stronger.  In the same way, if you exercise your faith by believing in God during a trial, your faith will expand and grow, making you spiritually stronger.  This prepares you for greater spiritual victories.    

In Hebrews chapter 11, we have a listing of some of the astonishing things that people have done with their faith.  Take a few minutes and read through it; your own faith will be strengthened by it!

Our armor also includes an exceptionally powerful offensive weapon – the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.

This is a weapon which we wield with our mouths.  By praying and declaring the promises of God over every situation in our lives, we can gain the victory over satan and change the circumstances of our lives and the lives of those we love.  The ability to pray and declare the word of God is a gift that we should be thankful for each and every day!

Christians can be thankful for each other:

Romans 12:4-5 - For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

In the book of Romans and again in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul describes the church as the body of Christ.  

Our bodies are made up of very different parts like hands, feet, kidneys, brains, etc.  Each part has an essential duty to perform and together they make up a complete, fully functioning body.

So it is with the body of Christ.  Each Christian has a different yet essential role in the body of Christ.  Some of the people in your church will have the gift of prophesy or tongues or healing.  Others will be gifted in preaching, teaching, worship or administration.  It takes all of the members working together to make a fully functional church.

Today is a good day to be thankful for the individuals in your church who allow God to work through them to minister to you!  It's also a good day to be thankful for the gifts and talents God has given to you.  Thank him for the opportunities you have to minister to others.

Let me offer you some encouragement, relief and strength:

Scripture tells us that with God all things are possible.  Because that is the case, Christians will always have limitless reasons to thank, praise and worship our God.

This raises an important question - What methods can we use to express our thanksgiving?

• We can use our mouths to vocally give thanks to God for what he has done.  While verbal thanksgiving is an essential part of our prayer life, we can give thanks to God at any time.  You can do it while driving, while mowing the lawn or while falling asleep at night.

• We can also express our thankfulness by using the gifts God has given us.  For example, we can show our thankfulness for the word/promises of God by using them in spiritual warfare.  We can show thankfulness for the body of Christ by showing up at church each week and participating in the service.

• We can actively demonstrate thankfulness for our blessings by ministering to the poor.  Jesus says that when we feed the hungry, visit the sick or provide for the needy, it is the same as ministering to him (Matthew 25:40).

• We can show our thankfulness by spreading/sharing the gospel message with the lost so that they too can enjoy eternal life and all of the other blessings of God. 

May you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day!                     

 

 

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Joshua 10:16 – These five kings fled and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah.

The narrative of the Canaanite alliance now continues.  As you recall, five of the kingdoms in Canaan (Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon) formed a military alliance against Israel.  They were led by Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem.

Instead of directly attacking Israel, they decided to attack Gibeon, the new vassal state of Israel. There was some strategy to this maneuver. In their minds, there was a good chance that Israel wouldn't even come to fight, since the treaty with Gibeon was based on deceit. And even if Israel did show up, they couldn't defeat a five-army alliance. So either way, the five kings felt they had a good chance to win this battle and put a halt to the progress of Israel, who was pushing forward into the center of Canaan.

But Israel did honor their treaty with Gibeon.  God instructed Joshua to take the fighting men and enter into battle against the alliance, for he was giving all five nations into the hands of Israel (Joshua 10:8). 

As we would expect, God kept his promise!  He sent a tremendous thunderstorm which put fear into the soldiers of the alliance.  Once the battle started, and Israel was becoming the clear winner, the enemy soldiers turned and fled.  At that moment, God rained hailstones upon them and they died.  Scripture tells us that more died from the hailstones than from the swords of the men of Israel (Joshua 10:11).

Not surprisingly, the kings of the alliance also fled from the battle.  Escaping both the swords of Israel and the hailstones from heaven, they took refuge in one of the many caves in the region near Makkedah. 

I am sure the kings felt they would be safe in the cave; but there is no escaping from the eyes of God! 

Jeremiah 23:24 – "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?" says the LORD.  "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD.

The Lord knew exactly where these men were; indeed it was only by his sovereign hand that they were able to avoid death long enough to make it to the cave. But their respite was temporary; God was reserving them for a more public judgment and execution that he might show his power through the situation. This was the same thing we saw in Egypt when Pharaoh survived all ten plagues, only to die in the Red Sea (Exodus 9:16).

This brings up a point we don't want to miss: God is continually aware of where his children are, what they are facing and how they are doing.  In Psalms 139, David tells us that God:

• Knows when we sit down and when we stand up.
• Knows our thoughts before we think them.
• Knows every word that is ever formed by our tongues.
• Saw us when we were still in our mother's womb.
• Knows the number of our days before we are born.

That Psalm goes on to say that there is no place in hell, heaven or on earth where God cannot find us; no matter where we are he is there to lead us and hold us:

Psalm 139:10 - Even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

What an encouraging thought! God loves us more than we can ever know! If you are facing a battle today or if you are feeling a little discouraged, please stop and read Psalms 139. It will take less than 5 minute and I guarantee it will become one of your favorite Psalms.

Remember, God sees you, he knows your trials and temptations, he is well aware of your burdens and he is there to help!

Joshua 10:17 – And it was told to Joshua, "The five kings have been found, hidden in the cave at Makkedah."

As the battle is winding down, Joshua apparently sent a detachment of men to scour the surrounding territory to look for any remaining stragglers that were not killed by the hail or by the swords of his men.

Israel wanted to find and slay these fugitives before they entered the safety of a walled city, where they could live to fight another day. 

As they were passing through the area surrounding Makkedah, one of two things happened.  Either the people of that town told them where the five kings were hiding, or the men of Israel found them as they searched the caves for fugitives.  In any case, I am sure there was great joy when the kings were discovered!

Notice that the five kings were found together.  It is highly unlikely that they would all flee to the same cave by chance.  The implication is that they had a backup plan to save themselves should the battle go in Israel's favor.  So at some point, they all fled together to a predetermined location, where they hoped to go undetected until they could flee to safety.

Joshua 10:18-19 – And Joshua said, "Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them but do not stay there yourselves. Pursue your enemies; attack their rear guard. Do not let them enter their cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand."

In our prior post we saw that Joshua asked the Lord to cause the sun to stand still so that Israel had enough time/daylight to vanquish all her enemies.  There would be time to deal with the kings later; for now a stone was rolled into place which effectively made their cave a jail cell.

Joshua then directs his men to continue pursuing the enemy troops of the alliance.  Remember, Israel had been instructed that anytime the Lord delivered an enemy into their hands, they were to utterly destroy that foe:

Deuteronomy 7:1-2 - When the LORD your God shall bring you into the land to which you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you, �and when the LORD your God shall deliver them over to you; you shall strike them, and utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them:

Since that was clearly the case in this conflict, Israel had a duty to track down as many remaining enemy soldiers as possible and kill them.

Joshua 10:20-21 – When Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking them with a great blow until they were wiped out, and when the remnant that remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, then all the people returned safe to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah.  Not a man moved his tongue against any of the people of Israel.

Eventually, as night fell, the men of Israel returned to their camp at Makkedah.  The text specifically states that ALL the men returned safely; none of them died or suffered an injury when fighting or chasing after their enemies.

That is an amazing statement!  Israel fought against an alliance of five highly trained, well equipped armies and not a single man died!  Only God could make that happen!   

Scripture also declares that 'not a man moved his tongue against any of the people of Israel'.  A similar expression is noted in Exodus 11:7.  In that verse, the author declares, 'against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue.'

Both phrases are proverbial expressions which basically describe freedom from alarm and immunity from assault. 

In other words, no person or nation was brave enough to challenge, threaten or accuse Israel after their victory. No one dared to cast any reproach upon them, to slander them or even to disagree with them. In fact, there was such a fear/respect for Israel among the Canaanites at that point, that not so much as a dog dared to bark at them!

Joshua 10:22-23 – Then Joshua said, "Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me from the cave."  And they did so, and brought those five kings out to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

The events of this verse undoubtedly occur the next day or even the day after that because it took time for the army to return after pursuing their enemies.  Plus, after such a long battle, exhaustion and hunger were very real issues for the men.  It was only after they had rested and recovered that they opened the cave and dealt with the kings of their enemies.

What do you think was going through the minds of the kings as they waited in the darkness of the cave?

Keep in mind, these were the first quiet moments they had for at least two days. As they reflected on the events of the last 48 hours, it must have seemed like they had stumbled into a nightmare!

Just the day before, they had been full of pride and confidence.  They felt their alliance and its plans couldn't be defeated.  They felt they had the upper hand.  They were already having dreams of taking spoil, enlarging their territories and having their names recorded in history. 

With great anticipation, they marched to Gibeon and set up camp.  They spent the night eating, drinking, trash-talking and waiting for daybreak so they could overtake the citizens of Gibeon.

But the morning light did not bring the easy victory the kings were counting on – instead it revealed the armies of Israel who immediately burst upon them!

The attack was so unexpected, so sudden and so ferocious, there was no time to organize or prepare. 

As the battle commenced, a storm of terrifying power broke over the battlefield.  There was darkness, wind, rain, thunder and lightning.  In vain the kings tried to shout instructions to their men, but no one could hear over the noise of the storm.  The five kings watched in horror as confusion and pandemonium flowed through their armies. 

As Israel gained the upper hand, those who had not been slaughtered literally turned and fled for their lives. There was nothing the kings could do to regain control of the situation, so they too turned and fled.

But even that did not stop the fear and terror of the Canaanites, for as soon as they fled, enormous hailstones fell from the heavens and killed more men that the sword!  How was it possible that these hailstones from the heavens killed every Canaanite but spared every Israelite? 

Desperately, the kings had prayed to the gods of the sun, moon and stars to hasten the coming of night so their men could escape.  Surely their gods, whom they faithfully worshiped, would save them.  But no - their gods were unwilling or incapable of helping them.  As the hours passed, both the sun and moon stood still in the heavens as silent witnesses of the Canaanite's destruction.    

As the kings sat in the darkness of the cave they must have been utterly astonished at how suddenly and completely their situation had changed.  Just a few short hours ago, they were anticipating a complete annihilation of Israel, but now they were huddled in fear, hoping their own lives would be spared.  

From Israel's point of view, the story was very different. 

God had allowed the five kings to form the alliance, and he had directed Joshua to fight them.  On the surface, it looked like a nearly impossible task.  Israel had definite reasons to fear the alliance: 

• The warriors of Canaan were experienced fighters, who were skilled and brave.
• Their numbers were huge.
• They were fighting on their own territory where they knew the terrain.

But God had assured Joshua of victory (Joshua 10:8).  Israel was not to fear – God had given the entire alliance into their hands; they just needed to step out in faith and engage the enemy.

So Joshua, acting in faith, marched his army straight to Gibeon.  There was nothing but surprise and fear in the eyes of their enemy; they were clearly not expecting Israel so soon.  No sooner had the battle started when God showed up in a big way, with a massive storm.  But the thunder and lightning which terrorized the Canaanites did not frighten them.  Instead, a supernatural peace was upon the whole army and they fought together as a cohesive unit. 

Their enemies, which just hours before had seemed so powerful and formidable, were now retreating in terror.  As Israel began to pursue them, God rained down tremendous hailstones from the sky.  Thousands of Canaanites had been killed by the stones, yet not a single man of Israel was injured.  Hallelujah!  God had kept his promises and come to the aid of his people yet again!  

Even the five kings, who had been found in a cave, had been taken captive.

The bottom line is that God had suddenly and completely changed the fortunes of his people.  What looked like a certain failure had turned into a victory of epic proportions.  It was astonishing to experience/watch God bring down the enemies of his people so swiftly – in less than 48 hours. 

Romans 8:31 - What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?    

The key was for God's people to keep their eyes on him, not on their circumstances.

What enemies are you facing today?  Have you been called to a battle where your enemy seems bigger, stronger and better equipped than you?  Does the situation look desperate?  If so, remember this:  If God is for you, no one can defeat you!  Keep your eyes fixed on the Lord, stand on his word in faith, and watch for your victory to manifest!

Joshua 10:24 – And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, "Come near; put your feet on the necks of these kings."  Then they came near and put their feet on their necks.

These events most likely occurred one or even two days after the battle. The stone was rolled away, and the five kings were led out to face Joshua, who commanded that they lay face down upon the ground.

The scripture tells us that all the men of Israel were present, obviously gathered as close to this scene as they could get.  Then Joshua called the 'chiefs' forward.  This refers to the lower or junior officers of the army - men who were the leaders during the actual battle.  We might think of them as captains or sergeants. 

Joshua then calls for the chiefs to form a line and one by one they were to literally place their feet upon the necks of these vanquished kings. 

This was not a new or unique practice. Many Assyrian and Egyptian monuments depict their military heroes doing the same thing.  However, they did it out of arrogance – as proof of their own superiority and strength.

But that was not the purpose in Israel's case. First, we notice that Joshua, the ultimate leader, did not place his feet upon the enemy. This reflects his modesty and speaks to the fact that God was the true leader of the nation.

Second, this was not for the glory of any one man.  It was a purely symbolic action which represented the complete subjection of the people of Canaan to the nation of Israel.  Or we could think of it this way:  It represented Israel's certain and complete triumph over all their adversaries (Deuteronomy 33:29, Malachi 4:3).

II Samuel 22:40-41 – For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.  Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.

It was very meaningful for the men of the nation to see this; it was an image of victory that their generation would never forget.  It was also very meaningful for the chiefs to participate in the event; those who bore the brunt of the labor deserved to share in the fruit of it.  This action would give them further strength and courage in the battles that Israel was yet to face. 

Although victory was the most obvious lesson in this act, there were others too. 

It was a reminder to Israel that God was sovereign, and his will always comes to pass.  No matter how impossible the situation looks from man's point of view, God is well able to defeat his enemies. 

It was also a reminder that the people of Israel were to execute the judgment of God exactly as he ordered. No one was to be spared based on their wealth, status, or job title. No one was spared out of pity. All were equal in the sight of God and all suffered the same judgment.

What principles can we find in this lesson that apply to our own lives?

First, remember that sin always brings ruin.  The Canaanite kings rejected Jehovah.  In fact, they were so arrogant they assumed they could easily conquer his people.  Sin clouded their thinking and filled them with the vain delusion that they could be victorious when fighting against God himself!  Then when things went wrong, they tried to hide themselves, not realizing that their sin will always find them out.

Numbers 32:23 -  behold, you have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.  

The five kings thought they were safe within the dark confines of the cave, but it became their prison and eventually their grave.  Sin promises the world, but only delivers death.  Don't be deceived by it!

Second, those who remain faithful to God will at last see their enemies subdued. The warriors of Israel endured a long march and a bitter conflict. But in the end, they were able to put their feet upon the necks of their enemies.

As of right now, the church is also in a long and bitter conflict with the enemy of our souls.  But in the end, God will place him under our feet just as surely as he did the five kings:

Romans 16:20 - And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.  

Sometimes the battle seems to take forever, but don't give up!  If we remain faithful and patient, God will reward us.

Joshua 10:25 – And Joshua said to them, Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous.  For thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight."

These are the same words that God spoke to Joshua before Israel crossed the flooded Jordan River near Jericho.

The most exciting and perhaps significant words in this verse are 'your' and 'you'. They show that the Israelites were not to attribute their victory/success to Joshua or any divine favor resting upon him as an individual. As long as the nation served God faithfully, his divine presence would be with them no matter who was at the helm of the nation. And if they were on God's side, success was assured.

For their part, God's people are called upon to be strong and courageous/brave.  The new covenant Christian is certainly to exhibit such graces as humility, meekness and forgiveness.  But that does not mean we are to be walked over like door mats.  We are to stand strong by resisting sin, conquering territory for God's kingdom and pulling down the strongholds of our enemy.  Our goal is to win the world for Christ, which will take both courage and bravery.     

Joshua 10:26-27 – And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees.  And they hung on the trees until evening.  But at the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves and they set large stones against the mouth of the cave, which remain to this very day.

As we have mentioned before, the Israelites did not hang people in the sense we think of it. They did not tie ropes around the necks of the five kings and drop them down so their necks broke.

Criminals (in this case the five kings) were killed in some other fashion, and their dead bodies were hung up for public display/disgrace/humiliation.  They were generally hung up by the wrists, not the neck.  The purpose was both to fulfill justice and to deter others from committing the same crimes. 

Dead bodies which were hung up were never left overnight.  There was really no benefit in doing so, because in the darkness of night, no one was looking upon the bodies as an example of justice or deterrence.

One day was enough to show people that justice had been executed and to admonish them to take heed.  Besides, God had decreed that if a body was let up overnight, it would defile the land (Deuteronomy 21:23), and no one wanted that.     

After throwing the bodies back into the cave, the entrance was filled with large boulders.  This stood as a memorial to Israel of their victory over the alliance.  It also prevented any remaining Canaanite soldiers from giving their kings an honorable burial.

Joshua 10:28-39 – As for Makkedah [and Libnah, and Lachish, and Eglon, and Hebron, and Debir] Joshua captured it on that day and struck it, and its king, with the edge of the sword. He devoted to destruction every person in it; he left none remaining.  And he did to the king of Makkedah [and Libnah, and Lachish, and Eglon, and Hebron, and Debir] just as he had done to the king of Jericho.

We are going to look at verses 28-39 as a whole, because they are essentially the same. Once Israel had defeated the armies of the alliance, Joshua and his troops immediately moved forward in taking several more cities in Canaan.

These are the specific cities which were taken at that time: Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron and Debir. 

In each case, Israel captured the city, killed its inhabitants (as commanded by the Lord), took everything else as plunder and set the place on fire.

The only other note in this history is found in verse 33, which tells us that the Horam, the king of Gezer, mustered his troops to go out and assist the king of Lachish.  Scripture tells us that Israel killed all his people during the battle against Lachish; not one was left standing.  

Incidentally, did you notice that two of the cities of the alliance (Jerusalem and Jarmuth) are not listed as being conquered by Israel?

We aren't entirely sure why that was the case. Some commentators speculate that Israel's army was so fatigued by all these battles that they simply couldn't fight any more. Others believe that Israel was simply satisfied with the progress they had made, and so they did not desire to go any further at that time.

If that was the case, they wasted a perfect chance to take those cities!  As we know, Jerusalem was not taken until much, much later with a great amount of difficulty.

Joshua 10:40-41 – So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded. And Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon.

The territory described in this verse is basically south of Jerusalem.  Later, when the land is divided up into parcels and assigned to the various tribes, most of this land falls to Judah.

The significant part of this verse is that Joshua 'devoted to destruction' or killed every single Canaanite person because God had commanded him to do so.

Had Joshua taken it upon himself to order the massacre of thousands of people including women and children, we would rightly brand him a monster. No excuse could justify his cruel actions.

However, because he is performing the command of God, his actions are justified.  And because it was a direct command of God, no one has the right to second guess this decision.  Although it seems to us as if many of these people (including women and children) were innocent, we need to remind ourselves that we don't know the whole story.  Only God knows the end from the beginning.  Only he can see the thoughts and intents of the heart.  He is the potter and human vessels of clay have no right to question his authority or the way he deals with the nations (Jeremiah 18:1-10, Romans 9:14-24).

Joshua 10:42 – And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. 

The phrase 'at one time' refers to one military campaign or expedition, which probably lasted a few weeks.

These conquests were so rapid and so stupendous they cannot be attributed solely to the military cunning of Joshua or the valor of Israel's army. The main cause of these victories was the fact that God fought for Israel. Indeed, when we look at this chapter as a whole, it becomes very evident that only God could have made this happen.

We must remind ourselves that God has not changed; he is still the master of the heavens and earth.  If we pray and ask for wisdom and strength to extend his kingdom in this generation, he will surely answer us:

Luke 11:9-10 - And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.

If that is the case, why don't we see more results?  Is it a lack of faith?  Do we ask for things that are too small?  Or are we more interested in obtaining the things of this earth rather than the things of heaven?

Joshua 10:43 – Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

At last, when the fierce battles were over, when the kings were subdued and their cities burned to the ground, the fighting men of Israel returned to their main camp at Gilgal. 

There they enjoyed a season of rest.  The plunder was divided up among the nation.  And most importantly, Israel returned to the tabernacle where they made sacrifices of worship and thanksgiving to God.

As one commentator noted, 'When we have completed our victories over the powers of sin and Satan, we shall return, under the conduct of our divine Joshua, to our eternal rest in the camp of God'.  Amen!

Let me offer you some encouragement and some relief:

In today's post we noted that the five kings tried to hide themselves in the darkness of a cave, but their efforts were in vain because God always knows where we are and what we are doing. 

While that was bad news for the kings, it is encouraging news for us!  God always knows where you are and what is happening with you.  No one else may know or understand your situation but God does!  Your current circumstances were filtered through him before they even touched you. 

Remember, God never sets his children up to fail.  Even though the situation seems dire, you can be assured that God has victory for you.  

If you find yourself in circumstances that look hopeless, just remember that Israel probably felt the same way as they faced the alliance, but God didn't let them down. He gave them an epic victory which benefited them and brought glory to his name. He is more than capable of bringing you to your victory too, and giving you a testimony that will help others and bring him glory.

Let me offer you some strength:

I don't know about you, but I feel that when God tells us something, it must be important, right?  If that is the case, how important would something be if God said it multiple times?

When we read through the scriptures, we find that God tells us over and over and over again not to fear our enemies or become dismayed by our circumstances.

Rather than looking directly at our circumstances, we need to see them through the 'glasses' or 'lenses' of God's word.  

For instance, you may have been diagnosed with an illness.  In the natural, that situation can look scary, expensive and even hopeless.  But when you remember that God has already paid for your healing by the stripes he took during the crucifixion, suddenly that illness looks a lot smaller.  Suddenly, it looks like an opportunity to for victory and a testimony.  Rather than a defeat, it becomes a chance to give God glory on this earth.

The next time you face a battle in life, put your faith in God and his promises and remember not to be afraid or dismayed!   

The same principle holds true for the church.  For years our enemy has slowly been eradicating God from society.  But enough is enough!  Now is the time for the church to stand up and boldly push back/fight against the forces of evil in our culture. 

We do not need to be afraid to do so, because we know that God fights on our behalf.  He will give us victory in the battle, just as he gave ancient Israel victory over the kings of Canaan, if only we will step out in faith and go to war with him.   

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Joshua 10:1-2 – As soon as Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were warriors.

Thus far we have seen Israel gain victory by a miracle (Jericho), a strategy (Ai) and a surrender (Gibeon).

In chapter 9, we examined the account of the Gibeonites who used deceit to trick Israel into making peace with them and sparing their lives. They became laborers who cut wood, hauled water and performed other menial tasks at the temple for the priests and Levites.

Since the four cities of Gibeon had entered into the treaty with Israel, it meant that Israel now had a very strong foothold in Canaan.  This caused a fresh wave of fear to crash over the remaining kingdoms in Canaan. 

Their fear was well founded.  Gibeon was a large, prosperous, well-fortified city and its warriors were brave and fierce.  If they surrendered to Israel, what chance did the remaining kingdoms have of victory?  

It was this fear of Israel that caused many of the other kings in Canaan to band together, forming a military alliance against Israel (Joshua 9:1-2).  The leader of the alliance was Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem.

There are two points we want to make here.

First, 'Adoni-zedek' is not an actual name.  It is a title used by the Jebusite kings, similar to the title 'Pharaoh' which was used by the rulers of Egypt.

Second, this is a good time to stop and discuss the name 'Jerusalem'.  This city was originally called Salem (Genesis 14:18).  It was also known as 'Jebus' by the Jebusites who lived there.

When the Promised Land was split up between the tribes, this city technically fell to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:28), although it was right on the border between them and Judah. Judah, the bigger and more war-like tribe, eventually captured the lower part of the city. Still, the upper portion of the city, known as the stronghold of Zion, remained in possession of the Jebusites (Joshua 15:63, Judges 19:10-12).

It wasn't until much later that David stormed the stronghold of Zion, captured it, and renamed it the 'city of David' (II Samuel 5:6-9).  The actual name 'Jerusalem' only came into use once David had established the city as the religious and political capital of the nation.

So, at the time these events actually occurred, the city was being called 'Jebus'.

Joshua 10:3-4 – So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir, king of Eglon, saying, "Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon.  For it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel."

Here is a general idea of the placement of these five cities:

• Jerusalem – Again, this city existed as Jebus during the time of Joshua. Much later, during the era of the kings, David moved the tabernacle there and made it the capital city of Israel. [The tabernacle would later be replaced with the temple of Solomon, built by David's son.] The Jews considered Jerusalem the most important city in the Promised Land because it was the center of political and religious life. For this reason, the location of other cities is often given in relationship/proximity to it.

• Hebron – This city was located approximately 30 south of Jerusalem. It fell into the territory of Judah. Hebron has a rich and varied history in the scriptures; it is the city which Caleb will eventually conquer and keep for his possession.

• Jarmuth – There were actually two cities in Canaan with this name. The more northern city was within the eventual territory of Issachar (Joshua 21:29). But the one in the alliance against Israel was about 18 miles from Jerusalem and was within the territory of Judah.

• Lachish – This city is also very prominent in the scriptures and plays in important role in the history of Israel. For example, Amaziah king of Judah was assassinated in Lachish when he fled from Jerusalem (II Kings 14:19). Lachish was besieged by Sennacherib (II Kings 18:14-17) during the reign of Hezekiah, and by Nebuchadnezzar during the reign of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34:7). It too was in the territory of Judah.

• Debir – There is no definite information to indicate the exact location of this city. However, scripture does tell us that it fell within the territory of Judah (Joshua 15:39).

We know that some of the places/locations in this chapter (such as Jerusalem) were not so named until much later in Israel's history.  It can therefore be concluded that either the book of Joshua was penned (written down on paper) a long time after these events occurred or else a scribe went back and updated the material so later readers were able to identify the locations mentioned in the text.  

At any rate, the plan of the five kings is simple. Gibeon is now a vassal (slave) of Israel. Rather than attacking Israel directly, they attack Gibeon, knowing that if they overthrow Gibeon, they will not only punish them for abandoning the alliance, but they will also put a sudden halt to the advance of the Israelites. Re-taking the cities of Gibeon would be a significant blow to Israel both militarily and psychologically. In the natural realm, the strategy of the alliance is a good one.

What about Israel?  For their part, even though God has promised to give them the land, they do not aggressively move forward eager to destroy all those in their path.  In fact, Israel was never the aggressor in this war with the five kings; it was the Canaanite alliance that prompted this war and thus sealed their own destruction.

As for us, we see the hand of God at work in this alliance.  The five kings thought they would be stronger if they banded together.  But God turned this into an opportunity for Israel to subdue five nations all at once.  This is a good time to remind ourselves not to be overwhelmed by our circumstances.  If God is on our side, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)?

Joshua 10:5-6 – Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it.  And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal saying, "Do not relax your hand from your servants.  Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us."

We know that Jerusalem was inhabited by the Jebusites while the Hittites lived in Hebron.  Yet, in this verse, the five kings are described as being Amorites.  Why is that?

The Amorites were the most powerful and numerous tribe/people group within the territory of Canaan. For that reason, the people of the region were often referred to as simply the 'Amorites' or 'Canaanites'. Both terms are generic names for any of the tribes or people groups living in Canaan.

We know that Adoni-Zedec, the king of Jerusalem, was the leader of the alliance but we are not entirely sure why.  He may have been the most powerful among the five nations.  Or maybe the alliance was his idea.  Or perhaps the other kingdoms were dependent upon his kingdom in some way.  For instance, if Hebron or Elgon depended on Jerusalem for protection or certain crops or other economic reasons, they would have no choice but to submit to Adoni-Zedec's authority.    

Whatever the reason, the five kings gathered their armies and advanced on Gibeon with Adoni-Zedec leading the attack.

As we would expect, at the first sign of trouble the people of Gibeon immediately dispatched messengers to Joshua, calling for aid. Even though they had obtained their treaty with Israel by deceit, it was evident that the treaty was binding, so the Gibeonites felt that Joshua was obligated to help them. In truth, those who pay allegiance to another should reasonably be able to expect their protection.

And of course, we immediately see the spiritual parallel here: We are the servants of God; our allegiance is to him and him alone.  We are just as weak and undeserving as the Gibeonites, yet God has entered into a covenant with us.  Therefore, when the powers of darkness come against us, we can rely on our heavenly Father to come to our aid.  We can also take comfort knowing that he is infinitely stronger and wiser than our enemy.  Our God has NEVER lost a battle, and he never will!  We can place our faith in him with the utmost confidence.

Psalms 119:94 – I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.

When our spiritual enemies come against us and threaten to destroy us (as they surely will), let us seek the aid of God through prayer and stand in faith on his promises.

As an aside, what do you think went through Joshua's mind when the messengers of Gibeon arrived requesting help? 

Is it possible that he felt a sense of guilt or remorse? I believe Satan tried to convince him that he was personally responsible for this whole mess, because of the mistake he made in securing the treaty with Gibeon. I am also sure the enemy tried to fill him with regret and embarrassment. Maybe Satan even tried to convince Joshua that he was being chastised by God because of his mistakes. However, the reality is that none of that was true.

The events that were taking place were not because God was angry with Joshua or because he wanted to punish him.  They were happening to give Israel an astonishing victory and to bring glory to God.  In the natural, Israel could not defeat the alliance.  So when God blesses her with the victory, his name is glorified and the remaining heathen nations learn about him.  That is what God was accomplishing through this situation.  His plans are always so much bigger, greater and far-reaching than we ever imagine!

The enemy may try to attack you in the same way – by trying to fill your mind with doubt or feelings of unworthiness. He may suggest that God can't use you in ministry because of a mistake/sin you committed in the past. He may try to convince you that God is angry/disappointed in you and so you are unfit to be near him or participate in his kingdom.

If the enemy tries to put that kind of burden on you, do what Joshua did – go directly into the presence of God and 'clear the air'.  Get the reassurance you need to move forward into victory.  Whatever battle you are facing, you can be sure it isn't a punishment from God; it's a test of faith that is going to bless you, build your testimony and bring glory to God!

Joshua 10:7-8 – So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.  And the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands.  Not a man of them shall stand before you."

 

The kings of the alliance seemed very sure of victory at Gibeon (see verse 4).  Perhaps they believed that Israel would abandon Gibeon, since the treaty they made had been forged through deceit. After all, that's probably what they would have done, if they were in Joshua's shoes.

But Joshua does not rely on his own wisdom.  He seeks the will of God in this matter.  I am sure that because of his recent mistake, he made no move to leave Gilgal until he had clearly heard the voice/instruction of God.  But once he did, he promptly gathered his fighting men and immediately set out on the long march to Gibeon.  He went with the assurance that he had no reason to fear the enormous forces gathered against him, because God was going to give him victory.

There are two significant points here that we need to apply to our own lives.

First, we too must boldly place our faith in God, just as Joshua did. Instead of looking at our circumstances or the might of those who oppose us, let us keep our eyes fixed on God, who is bigger, wiser, richer, stronger and better equipped than any enemy we face. He is willing to lead us to victory, if only we will follow him.

Second, when we hear the voice of God, we must not wait to act! Joshua was assured of victory, but he did not use that as an excuse to delay marching to Gibeon. When God tells you to call and encourage someone, or to donate money, or to start a new program/ministry, DO NOT DELAY.

Follow his commands immediately and you will prosper. The voice of God should energize/spur you on to complete your work as opposed to giving you an excuse to be lazy.

And once again, we can't help but notice the mercy God displays towards the Gibeonites.  God could simply have abandoned them to destruction by the alliance, but instead they are spared which results in an opportunity for them and their future generations to know the Lord.

Joshua 10:9 – So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal.

The last time Israel made this journey, it took three days (Joshua 9:17).   Tradition says that this time, they made the march in a single night, although that is not confirmed.  All the scriptures really indicate is that Israel did not delay, but promptly answered the call of the Gibeonites.

Some commentators believe that Joshua completed the entire march from Gilgal to Gibeon in a single night.  This would be a distance of approximately 20 miles.  That is certainly possible for skilled warriors, but it would have been very tiring. 

Other commentators feel that this journey took longer.  The way the scripture is worded, it would be possible for Israel to have marched a day, camped overnight, marched the second day and instead of camping a second night, they could have marched all night and arrived at Gibeon 'suddenly' the next morning. 

In either case, it seems that the alliance was either not expecting Israel to come at all, or they were not expecting them for several days yet.  Israel's arrival threw the alliance into a state of fear and confusion. 

Joshua 10:10 – And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

How exactly did the Lord throw the enemies of Israel into a panic?  The men of the alliance may have been frightened simply by seeing the army of Israel arriving on the scene unexpectedly.  However, there may be another explanation as well. 

At other times, the Lord 'terrified' Israel's enemies with strong storms of lightening, thunder and wind:

1 Samuel 7:10 - And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and brought confusion upon them; and they were routed before Israel.

We know that God is shortly going to cast hailstones down on Israel's enemies, so it would make sense that a powerful storm would be brewing during this time, with strong winds, thick clouds and drastic changes in temperature.

I don't know about you, but I feel that storms can sometimes be very scary; especially if hail is falling and a tornado is nearby!  It would be one thing to hide inside/take cover during a storm like this, but to be out in the open and expected to fight in a battle would be very frightening indeed!

Nevertheless, the battle commenced and Israel 'struck a great blow' upon her enemies.  The soldiers of Israel continued to chase down the Canaanites even as they retreated.

We are told that the enemy soldiers ran up the ascent of Beth-horon. This is another reference to a city that did not exist during the time of this battle.

Beth-horon ('house of caves') actually consisted of two cities (upper/north and lower/south), which were founded by a descendent of Ephriam (I Chronicles 7:24).  The cities were located about 6-7 miles west of Gibeon on mountains with a steep pass between them.  It was this pass that the enemy soldiers were using to try and reach the higher ground of the mountain top in order to defend themselves (or hide in the caves). 

As we mentioned previously, a later scribe or editor gave us the names of these cities so we could know/understand the exact location of the battle.

And as it turns out, the location of the cities of Beth-horon were significant.  The main road from Jerusalem to the seacoast went through the pass described in this verse.  This makes both the pass and any cities located there very strategic and important to national security.  In fact, we find both cities being strongly fortified by King Solomon (II Chronicles 8:5).  Jewish tradition says this was the same spot where Israel later destroyed the forces of Sennacherib (II Kings 19:35). 

The point is that Israel's overwhelming victory was made possible by God, who was fighting on their side. In other words, Israel couldn't have accomplished this in her own strength. It was God working through (or in conjunction with) the soldiers of Israel which brought about this victory over the alliance:

Psalms 44:3 – For not by their own sword did they [Israel] win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you [God] delighted in them.

In the same way, we are powerless against the forces of evil that come against us.  However, if we listen to Holy Spirit and take action as he directs us, we can be sure that he will fight for us and victory will result.

It logically follows that God is the one who should receive the glory for not only the victories of ancient Israel, but also for the spiritual victories of the church in this age.

Joshua 10:11 – And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died.  There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

The soldiers of the alliance were already terrified by the storm which God brought upon them at the time of battle.  As if that were not enough, Israel was slaughtering them at will.  All hope was lost; those that were left began to flee for their lives.  They were heading for the top of the mountain in the hope of finding a cave or safe hiding place to spend the night. 

But they never made it to safety because at that moment, God again influences the battle. He caused large, deadly hailstones to fall upon the soldiers of the alliance. According to the scriptures, the number of men who died by the hailstones was greater than the number who were killed by Israel's army.

And as you may recall, this was not the first time God had used hail against the enemies of Israel. 

The seventh plague to befall the Egyptians was a plague of hail, with fire and thunder.  The storm and the hail were so bad, that any man or beast left outside was killed.  In addition, all of the trees and crops were also destroyed (Exodus 9:13-33).  Egypt suffered, but God protected his people from this disaster (Exodus 9:26).

Apparently, God keeps hailstones in storage just for occasions such as these:

Job 38:22-23 -Have you entered into the treasury of the snow? or have you seen the treasury of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

Some commentators have described these hailstones as God's bullets; God was like a sniper who was sure to hit whoever he aimed for, even when Israel was mixed up with the enemy.  Regardless of where the enemy soldiers ran for cover (Azekah or Makkedah or the mountain top), the hail pursued and overtook them.

Joshua 10:12-14 – At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.  Is this not written in the Book of Jashar?  The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.  There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.  

Joshua knew that many of Israel's enemies were being slaughtered, but he also understood that all those who escaped would regroup and as a result, Israel would have to battle them again at some point in the future. Clearly, it was in Israel's best interest to slay all of her enemies in one day, but sunset was not far off and Joshua did not think there would be time to finish the work.  Accordingly, he makes a God-inspired declaration of faith that the sun would stand still until Israel had annihilated the five armies of the alliance

Verses 12-13 have caused a lot of controversy in the academic community.  The question is this:  Did the sun and moon literally stand still for a day, or was this simply a poetical statement?

First, it's important to understand that when interpreting scripture, it is always best to seek a literal interpretation unless there is something in the text to indicate otherwise.

In this case, a literal interpretation would mean that God stopped the earth from spinning around the sun for roughly 24 hours. While we can't prove that happened, there is nothing to disprove it either.

Scientists can come up with all kinds of reasons why this could not have happened. But it can be argued that God is omnipotent; he who formed the earth and set it upon its axis is well able to make it pause or stop for a time, if he wished. He is also well able to address any adverse consequences that might arise as a result of the stoppage.

Conclusion: This scripture could be interpreted literally.

However, there is something in the text that causes us to suspect (or at least consider) a poetical interpretation.  It's the phrase 'Is this not written in the Book of Jashar'. 

'Jashar' literally means 'upright'.  The Book of Jashar was a kind of national sacred book which contained songs and poems in praise of the heroes of Israel.  It was essentially an anthology of the 'golden deeds' of Israel and her heroes.  New songs and poems were added in each generation. 

The point to be made here is that this book was a book of poems and songs. Since that is the case, the descriptions of the sun and moon standing still could easily be poetical imagery.

Conclusion: This scripture could be interpreted poetically; if that is the case, these events did not actually take place.

In the end, we are left with three possible explanations of the events of this memorable day:

First, it could have been a real and literal event in which God stopped the earth from rotating around the sun. This would have lengthened the day and given Israel a chance to defeat her enemies instead of allowing them to escape during the night.

Second, this could simply be a poetical description which indicates that time seemed to stand still as Israel fought the alliance.  This explanation says that Joshua 'poetically' asked God to give him time to defeat his enemies before nightfall.  God answered his prayer not by literally lengthening the day, but by assisting Israel in killing her enemies; before the close of the day the five kings and their armies were slain, which was an answer to Joshua's prayer.

Third, there are those who believe that God caused a refraction of light (or some other atmospheric phenomenon) to occur, causing the sun to appear above the horizon after its setting and which produced sufficient light to enable Israel to pursue and overcome her enemies.  This explanation still maintains that a miracle occurred; it just wasn't a pause in the earth's orbit of the sun.

What do you think? Which explanation seems most likely to you?

Joshua 10:15 – So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

This verse is out of place in the narrative.  Joshua and all of Israel did not return to Gilgal until after the end of this military campaign, which hasn't happened yet.  At the end of this day, they return to their military encampment at Makkedah, not Gilgal.

Let me offer you some encouragement:

No matter how strong, powerful, well connected, well funded or untouchable your enemies may seem, they are NOT greater than our God! 

The alliance of five kings appeared to be a very formidable enemy to Joshua and his troops.  Indeed, in their own strength they could not have defeated their enemies.  But Israel was assured of victory, because God fought on her behalf. 

Likewise, the forces of evil that are at work today in our society seem infinitely powerful. And it's true that in our own strength we cannot hope to uproot or defeat them. But thankfully, we are not just relying on ourselves. God fights on our behalf just as surely as he did for Israel and because of that we too are assured of victory.

Let me offer you some relief:

Joshua wasn't perfect; he made some mistakes, as we all do.  When you fall from grace or make a mistake the key is to repent, seek forgiveness and then move on.

Satan wants to hinder you from doing that.  He wants to keep reminding you of past failures to make you think you are unfit for God's service, or that God is harboring some kind of grudge against you.

But Satan is a liar, so don't let him deceive you.  If failure eliminated you from God's service, then no one would be serving God! Scripture tells us that a righteous person may fall, but he or she always gets back up again:

Proverbs 24:16 - For a just man falls seven times, and rises up again: but the wicked shall fall by calamity.

In other words, never give up!  Dust yourself off and get back into the service of the King immediately!  

Let me offer you some strength:

There are differing opinions on whether or not the sun actually stood still in the sky as Israel fought against the Canaanite alliance.  But one thing is absolutely indisputable – God fights on behalf of his people!

Psalm 18:17 - He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them who hated me: for they were too strong for me.

When Jesus returns to earth to get his bride (the church) he won't be coming to get a group of defeated, timid, weak or fearful people who are hiding in caves waiting to be rescued. He will be coming to get a victorious, confident, strong, brave, overcoming church who learned to partner with God to defeat the powers of darkness!

Whatever battle you are facing today, know this: When you are weak, God is strong on your behalf. The battle may not unfold the way you thought or hoped it would, but you can be sure that God will see you through to victory.