November 2022
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 06
J O S H U A
The land of God’s promise to Abraham had been relatively quickly subdued. The important Cannanite kings, their cities and villages had been conquered by Joshua, and many thousands of the Cannaites had lost their lives … but not ALL of them. We are at a point, some seven years after that initial flurry of success, where seven of the tribes had not had their land allotment specified. So, whilst generally allotted, much of it still not settled by them. As you read the Scripture passage this week, the map will provide a glimpse of the territory in the south. Land which was eventually allotted to Ephraim, Dan, Benjamin, Judah and Simeon. Then, to the north of this were Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, Asher, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Further, to the East on the other side of the Jordan River, the other half tribe of Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben had a land allotment when Moses was still alive. The tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, with specific ministry duties were allotted cities within the land, their sustenance provided by the LORD, from the sacrificial and gift offerings brought by the people.
Now, within the specific land allotment, it was left for the elders of each tribe to designate the precise parcel of land assigned to each “family” within that tribe. And each of those “families” was headed by a son of one of the elders. The daughters were assumed to be cared for as they got married and shared their husband’s home and land. However, Zelophehad, one of Manasseh’s descendants, had died on the wilderness journey without having sons of his own, but he had five daughters. They had foreseen that they would be disinherited in the promised land as a result (Numbers 27:1-11) and took the matter to Moses. He interceded before the LORD and thus the laws of inheritance were changed to accomodate the situation. That had significant implications on the land apportionment which resulted in the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh being allotted additional land in the mountainous regions of what became known as Samaria (the northern kingdom) when Israel was divided after the death of King Solomon centuries later.
Much is made of the Brook Kanah (Kanaan), which forms the boundary between Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph. (Certainly by the people of Yaqir, a settlement a few miles from Ariel, which sits right on that very border, at Brook Kanaan today) They were charged by Joshua to take possession of the mountainous country as well as the fertile land they were allotted, in order accommodate their “families’. Joshua reminded them of God’s promises, and challenged them with the words “IF you are a great people etc etc, go and take the land and clear it for your families to settle” But, the Bible tells us that, instead of driving the Canaanites off the land, they chose instead to enslave them with “forced labour”. One may only speculate today what are the ramifications which follow that decision.
During this “settlement” period, Joshua had set up the tabernacle, which they had carried with them throughout their wilderness journey. Shiloh (about 30 km north of Jerusalem), being very roughly central to the land being settled, was chosen as its location. It seems a little confusing, but seven of the tribes still had not had their land inheritance spelled out in detail. So, when the whole congregation was meeting at Shiloh, Joshua commissioned the Israelites to choose three men from each tribe and charged them to “Go, walk through the land, survey it, and come back to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh”. Thus it was that the remaining ‘unsettled’ land was surveyed in detail. There was no partiality, hence no dispute, and was THEN apportioned, by lot, among those seven tribes.
The territorial boundaries, having been surveyed carefully, one presumes to include a liveable area of land, then became the duty of each nominee tribe to settle and divide among that tribe’s families. In order of allocation, the seven lots fell to Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. The details of the boundaries are recorded in Chapter 18 of our text. However, that is not the end of the story, as we will discover when we come to the Book of the Judges. Dan in particular, seemingly had great difficulty in dislodging the Canaanites from their coastal land, where Tel Aviv lies today, and were confined to the mountainous regions of their land allocation in the east of their allotment. One assumes, for this reason, that the Danites, moved further north, even above the land where Naphtali was allotted, and settled there.
Finally, the Israelites decided that Joshua, their esteemed leader, deserved an inheritance of his own. And just as Joshua had assigned the city of Hebron to his friend and colleague Caleb, so the Israelites gave Joshua “according to the word of the LORD” the city of Timnath Serah, “which he had asked for” in the mountains of Ephraim. Not too far from Shiloh.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
Image Reference:
Source:
https://www.preceptaustin.org/biblical_maps
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 05
J O S H U A
Last week, we noted that the ‘subduing’ of the land had only taken about one year from the time of the crossing of the Jordan River. But a further five years or so would pass before the Israelites properly “settled’ in the land. Joshua is reminded by God, that he was now ‘advanced in years” (so nicely put) and there was still much to be accomplished before the congregation of Israel could properly “possess” the land.. Notwithstanding the enormity of the victorious land and city gains we ‘reflected’ on last week, ’possession’ of the land meant living in the land in a lifestyle of some normality. Furthermore, there were still some areas of land, specifically that occupied by the Philistines on the coast, and by a group called Gebalites in the North, as well as the Geshurites who occupied land also in the North but East of the Jordan River, which had not already been taken by Moses, which he had promised to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh (Deuteronomy 29:8). We note that the land area described in this passage of Scripture vastly exceeds that which we know as Israel today. However, we also take note, that (we might assume for compassionate reasons) “Nevertheless the children of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites, or the Maacathites, but the Geshurites and the Maacathites dwell among the Israelites until this day”. And we (I confess to speculation here) are left to wonder whether or not this (disobedience) is a major reason for the ongoing land disputes which are part and parcel of everyday life for Israel, even today.
We also note that specific mention is made of Baalam, who was ‘killed by the sword’. He was the prophet, described here as a soothsayer, paid by Balak the Moabite king, to place a curse on the children of Israel during their wilderness journey (Numbers 22). I am reminded here (Genesis 12:3) of the promise God made to Abram in regard to a persons ‘attitude’ towards Israel. We are left with the supposition that those who lost their lives in the various battles as Joshua swept through the land, was the judgment which God, for reasons we may not understand, visited upon those people.
The remainder of our reading today deals with the actual apportionment of land, with specific geographical boundaries, among the tribes of Israel. The apportionment was not by equal land area, but “according to their families”. That speaks of an apportionment according to need, because the tribes were of varying numerical size. It would be incumbent on each family to engage in farming their land apportionment to sustain that family. It is also important to remember that the Israel many of us might visit today in tour groups, is vastly different (after about 1,800 years of drought which did not end until approx. 130 years ago) in its fertility, than it was in the days of Joshua. At that time, the consensus of the 12 spies sent to check out the land was “It truly flows with milk and honey , and this is (a sample of) its fruit” (Numbers 13:27).
The nine and a half tribes who were to be accommodated in this land apportionment did not include the Levites. They had been chosen by God for “special duties” (Exodus 32:29) as priests at the time of the ‘golden calf’ incident. Also, there is NO tribe of Joseph. His place in the tribal history of Jacob is taken by Joseph’s TWO sons, born to him in Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh. Now Moses had already apportioned land (in present day Jordan and Syria) which he had acquired in encounters with the Ammonites and Moabites, to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh (half tribe). Many Bibles conveniently publish maps at the end of the book, one of which is usually entitled “The Twelve Tribes”. If you have such, look it up and take note of the variation in land size each tribe occupied. (The tribe of Dan later re-located themselves to the Northern border above Naphtali. Dan was numerically the second largest tribe, but was apportioned one of the the smallest, albeit very fertile, land mass! More about Dan as we proceed through our ‘reflections’).
Our Bible tells us that Joshua was instructed by Moses, at the LORD’s command, to apportion the land “by lot”. (If we were doing that today we would probably put all the names in a hat and draw them out one at a time). But during this process, Caleb, a Judean, who, like Joshua, had been faithful in his report and recommendation after the spying mission 45 years earlier, reminded Joshua that God had promised him that, for his faithfulness, (Numbers 14:24) he would have an inheritance in the land. So Caleb made a request for a specific place. As a result the Judeans inherited the high country where Jerusalem now stands, and specifically for Caleb, the area of Hebron, a few miles just south of there. However, in the process of “settlement”, the Judeans were not able to drive the Jebusites out of the city of Jerusalem. This would have an impact on events some hundreds of years later, because David, as king, was obliged to purchase the “threshing floor” of Araunah for fifty shekels of silver. That has significance even today, because there are THREE places mentioned in our Bibles where the Israelites PURCHASED land, as opposed to just taking it over in the settlement. The tomb in which the bones of Joseph were placed (Joshua 24:32), and the burial plot in Hebron, (Genesis 23:15-18) bought by Abraham are the other two.
So it was that the Israelites began to possess the land of God’s promise to them.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
Image Reference:
Source:
www.bible.ca/maps - Steve Rudd - (2019)
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 04
J O S H U A
It is worthy of note that the events we have ‘reflected’ upon so far, and those which we ‘reflect’ on now, all occurred within the first year after the Israelites entered the land. There could not have been anyone living in that land who was not aware of the Israelites rapid conquering progress. When the kings of the people (Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite) learned about the capture of Jericho and Ai, they were scared out of their minds. So they concocted a plan to combine their armies to fight together against the Israelites. However, the Gibeonites, centred a little to the north of Jerusalem,“worked craftily” my Bible says! They pretended, “because of the name of the LORD your God” to have come from a very far country to make a peace treaty with the Israelites. They dressed in old clothes and carried mouldy food and worn out wineskins as a sign of the length of their journey. Naively, the Israelites accepted the story and made a treaty which guaranteed that the imposters and their clan would not suffer the same treatment as the inhabitants of Jericho and Ai. Three days later the truth was revealed. The imposters were not from a ‘very far country’, but a short couple of days journey away. Chapter 9 of our text has the full story. The result was that Joshua placed upon them the curse of lifelong servitude, doing menial but worthwhile tasks of cutting wood and drawing water. (A glance at the inset map will show the amount of territory the Israelites had covered in just a few days, with much more to quickly follow, even though the main congregation of the Israelite tribes remained camped at Gilgal near Jericho).
Gibeon, a city much larger than Ai, was a short distance north of Jerusalem. And with Gibeon now having a treaty with the Israelites, the Amorite king of Jerusalem, Adoni-Zedek, with the cooperation of other Amorite kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, decided to attack Gibeon. Chapter 10 of our text fills in the details. The Gibeonites turned to Joshua for help. It is quite a remarkable story. The result was a resounding victory for Joshua, and a devastating defeat for the Amorite kings. The consequence, of course, was that huge tracts of land and more cities came under Joshua’s control. The promise of God, “to be with Joshua” was amply demonstrated by two miraculous events. First, the Bible tells us that more Amorites died that day in a hailstorm, than were killed by Joshua’s army. But it is the second phenomenon which had not happened before or since (NASA scientists were reported to have discovered a ‘missing day’ in history while charting spacecraft trajectory paths in 1999), and is a matter of endless dispute. The day of that battle, when Joshua chased the invading armies as they were put to flight, was long and arduous. As light began to fade, with a prospect of the fleeing armies escaping in the darkness, Joshua spoke to the LORD, requesting that the light not fade. “So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day”. The five kings were found hiding in a cave, and were summarily dealt with later. In short order, the surrounding cities of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Gezer, Eglon, Hebron, the mountain country and the lowlands to the South from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza, all fell into the hands of Joshua. The scale of that victory is incredible. And it all came about, at God’s hands, because Joshua had made a ‘treaty of peace’ with the Gibeonites because of their blatant deception! I wonder if the writer to the Hebrews might have considered this event when he wrote “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”. (Hebrews 10:31) Furthermore, I also take note that the way in which the land was won, and the hostile nations defeated, was due, largely, by those nations waging war in attack against the children of Israel, not the other way around! Does that speak to you, as it does to me, of a future event, prophesied in Joel 3:2. “I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land.”
So it was that most of the southern part of the Canaanite land was under Joshua’s control. The main encampment of the children of Israel remained on the plains at Gilgal. Then Jabin, who was king of Hazor, a large Canaanite city about 10 Km north of the sea of Galilee, persuaded a number of kings of the north of the nation (Joshua 11:1-5) to join with him in a mighty battle against Joshua’s armies. The battle ground was north of the sea of Galilee, near Hazor. “But the LORD said to Joshua,’ Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel”.
Then, perhaps the best lesson any of us could learn from this whole event. “As the LORD commanded Moses His servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses. Thus Joshua took all this land: the mountain country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, and the Jordan plain - the mountains of Israel and its lowlands”. Mission accomplished. All within one year of crossing the Jordan River to enter the land. And in addition to that, there was the land that Moses had taken on the East side of the River. Areas we know today as the Golan and West Jordan (what was Bashan). The remainder of our text specifies the thirty one kings whose land had been taken. It now remained for stewardship of that land to be properly, and fairly, allocated among the tribes who had been part of Joshua’s victorious army.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
Image Reference:
Source:
https://emp.byui.edu/SATTERFIELDB/Ancient%20Israel/Gibeon.htm
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 03
J O S H U A
“So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea (Mediterranean), heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel”. Exactly what Rahab had told the spies.
They had arrived in the land, but the LORD was not ready for them to begin the occupation of the land yet. We note that the Israelites had left Egypt on the night of the tenth plague with which God demonstrated His great power to the Egyptian Pharaoh 40 years earlier. At that time, all the Israelite males bore in their body the (Genesis 17:9-14) Abrahamic covenant sign of circumcision. But during their wilderness journey, that practise had not been kept, so males under 40 years of age, who had been born during their journey were not “kosher”….. Yet! That matter was corrected before the land occupation commenced. Furthermore, in God’s perfect timing, it just ‘happened’ to be just before the “mo’ed” (appointed time) of Passover. Isn’t it interesting how God arranged the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea (on dry land). just after the very first Passover, and now the people had miraculously crossed the Jordan (on dry land), just before it was time to celebrate the first Passover in their new land. Albeit not before all the males bore in their body that Abrahamic covenant sign of circumcision.
But there’s more! We tend to forget that right up to that very time, God was still providing “manna” each day, and a double portion on a Sabbath. The very next day after the Passover was the “mo’ed” of Unleavened bread. On that day, and for the next seven days, they ate unleavened bread which they made from grain which they collected from the plains of Jordan in which they now camped. From that day forward, God’s provision of the daily “manna” ceased. Then the challenge of occupying the land began. It really became a survival issue for the people as God’s provision of daily food had ceased.
Before them was the city of Jericho. What was Joshua to do? Their squabbles on the journey over the previous 40 years had for the most part been among themselves. Yes! They had prevailed over various marauding people as they drew near the promised land. Amorites, Amalekites, Midianites, Balaamites and the like as the LORD led them under Moses command. But Jericho was a walled fortified city. A decidedly different proposition. Then Joshua saw him. A man with a drawn sword. “The Commander of the army of the LORD!” no less. His presence was immensely reassuring to Joshua. The actual fall and conquer of Jericho is one of the most well known stories in our Bible. No-one who ever attended a Sunday school could fail to recite the main elements of the story. Read it again, with awe, in Chapter 6 of our text. It ends with Joshua pronouncing a curse on anyone who rebuilds the city in the future. Evidently, in time it was reoccupied, because King David caused his men to reside there while their beards regrew after their humiliation at the hands of the Ammonite king, Hanun (2 Samuel 10:5). And later still, in Elijah’s days, the Israelite king Ahab allowed Hiel to rebuild Jericho, losing his oldest and youngest sons in the process (1 Kings 16:34).
During the conquest of Jericho, God had declared that the vessels of gold, silver, bronze, and iron were to be consecrated to the LORD’s treasury. Everything else was “accursed”, and was to be destroyed. Well, Achan of the tribe of Judah, thought no-one would know if he helped himself to a few bits and pieces which he found attractive. Am I the only one who can see a very human lesson here? There are numerous examples which could be cited here from society today (cheating on pensions, expenses, GST payments and many more) which constitute God’s list of “accursed things”. What Achan thought was ‘in secret’ (as it may well have been to those around him) was ‘in plain sight’ to God, Who sees what man hides in his heart.
The city of AI, where Abram had built an altar centuries earlier (Genesis 12:8), was the next place to be taken. Joshua again sent spies to survey the scene and to determine a strategy to conquer it. The spies reported AI to be an easy target and not to expend too many resources in the attack. However, God wanted to show Joshua that He was angry at the wanton disobedience of Achan at Jericho. The conversation Joshua had with the LORD, recorded in Chapter 7 of our text is worth reading aloud. It speaks of the manner in which the LORD expects those who make covenant with Him to order their lives, in secret and in public. (Yeshua, in His “sermon on the Mount” address, makes reference to this, albeit speaking about private prayer in particular, in Matthew 6:6).
But having the matter dealt with so publicly, try to imagine the effect on the rest of the Israelites as they continued in their task of securing the land? And so it was that the LORD gave instructions to Joshua to take ALL the men who bore arms into battle against a revitalised king of AI. After the conquest, Joshua built another memorial altar to the LORD. Then before the nearby mountains of Ebal and Gerazim, Joshua assembled the whole congregation of the Israelites and read to them EVERY word of the Torah which God had given to Moses as the “instruction for living righteously”, together and before others. It hasn’t changed, even to this day!
Shabbat Shalom
RS
Image Reference:
Source:
http://godswarplan.com/battle-of-ai-joshua-8-achan-sin-stealing-the-plun...