Living in the Promised Land

To view this online as a video:  https://youtu.be/-Q6tfvujTus

 

Lesson Eighteen:  Apportionment continued

 

A.     Introduction

1.     Greetings 

2.     Overview. [For those online, see this book overview from The Bible Project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqJlFF_eU  )

B.              Today’s lesson: Chapters 18-19

I know it’s the first time we are looking at 2 chapters during our study, but be assured we will be faithful in delivering to you the full meaning of the texts today. We begin at chapter 18, verse 1 and I want to let you see a famous idiom and you will see its roots.

Here we see the whole congregation gathering, and the ohel moed was set up, and the land was ‘subdued’ before them. Those three phrases all say a significant amount. First, the whole congregation. That tells me the author is thinking in religious terms. It’s not the leaders of the tribes which might sound military. It’s not ‘all the tribes’ which would sound political. It’s congregation, which strikes a chord in my ears of religion. 

Then we see they are at Shiloh. That became the capital of the new federation; that’s the centre of religion and worship. That’s where they set up the Tent of Meeting. This is significant on many levels. The worship of God would be centering the people of God. Without worship and sacrifices, without offerings and prayers, we are merely a club, a mob, a political entity. It’s not the people of God are coming, it’s God is coming with his people, the 7 nations would cry. Our strength and our life, our help and our significance comes from God. He alone is our expression of life. He alone is our sustenance. He’s our shield, our strength, our strong tower. So without worship and the centerpoint of that worship, the ohel moed, we are only a nation. With him we are the chosen people, and anointed and equipped to do his will. And we are at Shiloh. Not Jerusalem, not yet. 

Then the third phrase is that the land was subdued. Hebrew is Kavash. Do you know the expression, the idiom, put the kabash on? That phrase according to the dictionary means “to stop or end (something) : to prevent (something) from happening or continuing His mother put the kibosh on his smoking habit.

That’s exactly what the meaning is here in verse 1. 

 

Early on in the Bible, we read Gen. 1:28 “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

 

            Subdue. Make it prevented from overtaking you. You overtake it, you rule over it; you make it subservient. 

 

            So here in verse 1, the land is subdued. It’s under control. You put the kabash on the land. Well done, Israel, and the 12 tribes. 

 

Verse 2 says, Now the final 7 will get their apportionment. The first five were: Reuben, Gad, Menasheh, Ephraim and Judah. The other 7 are all the sons of Jacob except Levi who already had cities, and the priesthood. 

            

Verse 3, Joshua tells the people to get it done. Look, the day is dawning. In fact, I see this whole episode as the dawning of a new era in Israel. Deut. 12 says this,

 “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.  “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God. But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. ^……

  “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes; for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you. When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, then it shall come about that the place in which the LORD your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the LORD. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.” (Deut. 12.1-12) 

What God said then through Moses, and the people under Joshua are doing now is to fulfill this, but get this. It’s only a first step, a down payment on the New Thing God will do. In other words, Shiloh is not the end. We later know Jewish history moved the capital under David to Jerusalem. But even that is not the end. 

Zechariah says that there is coming another place at another time. (Chap 14) and there Jerusalem will be split from north to south. There will be no light. The world will change in a heartbeat. A new day again will arise. 

Isaiah said he saw that day in his prophecy. Chapter 25:8 God will wipe away every tear. No more crying. No more death. A seriously new new day. 

John the Revelator saw that new day in chapter 21 with a new heaven and a new earth and no more tears. No more death. Swallowed up forever….the newest of new days. Are you looking for that day? I certainly am!

The land to be distributed

God wants the 7 nations to get theirs. This teaches that all Israel has a place. No one is left out. I think of elitism and professionalism that has crept into the community of faith and I am scandalized. We need each person to make it into the new heaven. Bring each other along. Help to bring others along. Be brought along! No Danite can say to the Ephraimite I have no need of you. No Simeonite can reject their brother from Issachar because, they aren’t from Simeon. We need one another. The Body of Messiah is a continuity of this people of God theme. And the Many Tribes, One Nation motif will be highlighted throughout Jewish history and to this day.

In Verse 3, Joshua says, “How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you.”

He chides Israel, perhaps all 12 tribes, but certainly the 7, by saying you are slack. “Put off” is the Hebrew. רָפָה, meaning to hang limp, sink down, be feeble;  to be lazy; to lower; discourage; to leave alone, abandon, withdraw; to show oneself slack.

It’s the same word in the beginning of Joshua, chapter 1, where God promises he will not drop us, or be slack concerning us. 

I love football and go to games when I can to see the Swans in the AFL. I even looked yesterday at my schedule in the US in late autumn to see if I can organize to go see

KC ….Chiefs….

Slack, dropping the ball, that’s not a divine characteristic and it’s not what we should do either. We should keep our hand to the plow, until the job is done, get it done. Keep focused. Learn and walk with God, and do what he says, then. 

Butler highlights it this way,

“Verse 3 continues this thought by addressing all Israel, not just the seven tribes. The first words of the address are totally unexpected. They lament the laziness and lack of courage displayed by Israel. The position at the beginning of the context and the unexpected content show that this is central to the message of the section. Israel is told that possession of land depends on her activity and courage (cf. chap. 1). No one can blame Yahweh, if Israel does not have her land. Yahweh has given it to her.”

I like what H.L. Ellison says in his commentary on Joshua. He is speaking about this take possession thing, that it’s ours by right, but we have to work to get it done. He uses the imagery that Yeshua says, “My yoke is easy”. That sounds great right, but a yoke is an instrument of work, that attaches two animals to one another for the sake not of rest, but of working together. Yeshua says “come to me…I will giv e you rest…my yoke is easy, my burden is light.” (Matthew 11).  Ellison says, 

“the slackness blamed by Joshua may well have been due to an unwillingness to settle down. It was fine to have a promised land, but the reality showed the need for learning new skills and engaging in hard work. That is for many the disappointing side of God’s gifts. They are always given that we may serve the better. Even his rest is linked with a yoke.”

So off go the 21 men to scout and write up reports on the land. They return and Joshua distributes the 7 tribes with their due. The precision is as before, one city, one border, one line, one river, along that path, and on and on it goes. 

God is to be center. Three times after the 21 go, they write up their journals and say, “Before the Lord.” (.6, 8, .10) He is to be the reason and the end result. 

The 7 tribes get theirs.

Then finally, 

 

“When they finished apportioning the land for inheritance by its borders, the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua the son of Nun. In accordance with the command of the LORD they gave him the city for which he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and settled in it.

These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.” (Joshua 19.49-51)

I like that individuals and tribes both get theirs. Caleb at the beginning asked. The daughters of Zelophehad asked and received. Joshua gets his. And each of the 12 tribes. Everyone is important; no one should be left out. 

Even you. 

Even your family.

Even your Jewish neighbours. And your Gentile neighbours. No one who is promised land should fail to receive it. 

The new day is dawning, the newest of new days is coming—what will you do to inherit God’s kingdom? Yeshua taught us to be born again to get in on this. 

Invitation

Dear friends, have you been born again? Do you look forward to the eternal day when there is no longer any night? When no more tears and no more death exist because the Lamb of God has conquered and given us his territory? Do you know that Yeshua initiated the New Covenant on Passover nearly 2000 years ago? Have you met the one who was cursed on the Roman tree for you in Jerusalem? if you have never asked Yeshua to be your Saviour, today as we keep learning from Joshua, would you choose to believe the Lord of life?   Would you be willing to take a stand for him who took a stand and died on a Roman cross for you? We love Yeshua because in his death he accomplished salvation for all people. He took the curse we deserved to give us his righteousness which he deserved. Forgiveness is available because of the death of our messiah. 

If you’d like to receive him today, just now, join me as we pray.

Say something like this: “Father in Yeshua’s name, forgive me my sin, I was wrong to dismiss you and to disbelieve in you. I need your mercy. I deserve punishment but you are kind and merciful and I receive your grace. I repent. I receive Yeshua as my saviour and Lord. I will live because of my faith in Messiah Yeshua. Amen.

If you prayed that, please let us know of your profession by writing straightaway, won’t you? Bob@JewsforJesus.org.au We’d love to hear from you.

 

Conclusion

We are delighted you have joined us today. Please join us next week and learn with the others how you can stay on track in 2021 and beyond.   I hope to see you next week as we continue our studies in Joshua.  You will certainly see yourself in the readings and in the lessons. Next week we will look at chapter 20, in what I call “Provisions (Part 1)” and see what lessons we can draw for ourselves from the scenes there!

Hope to see you then… until then, Shabbat shalom!

 

 

 

Bibliography

Butler, Trent C., Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 7. Joshua. Word, Waco, 1983.

Davis, Dale Ralph, Joshua: No Falling Words, Christian Focus, Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland, 2019.

Hess, Richard. Tyndale Commentary Complete. 

Meyer, F.B., Joshua and the Land of Promise, Christian Literature Crusade, Ft Washington PA, 1977.

Pritchard, James, “The Bible reports on Gibeon.” Penn Museum, Expedition, 1961. Volume 3, Issue 4.

Sanders, J. Oswald, Promised-Land Living, Moody Press, Chicago, 1984.

Toms, Paul, This land is your land. Gospel Light Publishing, Glendale CA, 1977.

Weirsbe, Warren. Be Strong: Putting God's Power to Work in Your Life. David C. Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs, 2010.

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D-Groups for this week

1)              Monday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse

2)              Monday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White

(Contact our office for zoom details)

If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details. It’s time to step up. Ponder this—who will be in your D-Group?

 

The Book of Joshua:   Outline.

 

C.     Entering the Land (Chapters 1-4)

a.     Chapter 1: A funeral and a promise (Leadership Lesson 1)

b.     Chapter 2: A harlot saves the day 

c.      Chapter 3: Go against the flow (Part 1)

d.     Chapter 4: Go against the flow (Part 2)

 

D.    Taking the Land (5-12)

a.     Chapter 5: Roll away iniquity: a study in sacraments 

b.     Chapter 6: Joshua fit d’battle ob Jericho

c.      Chapter 7: Getting it very wrong: Achan and his mistakes

d.     Chapter 8: Combat and Covenant

e.     Chapter 9: Common sense is not so common

f.      Chapter 10: Southern dominance

g.     Chapter 11: How not to win

h.     Chapter 12: God is faithful

 

E.     Possessing the Land (13-21)

a.     Chapter 13: Inheritance lessons

b.     Chapter 14:  Caleb as an example with a side of contentment

c.      Chapter 15: Geography lesson

d.     Chapter 16: God’s ways are not our ways

e.     Chapter 17: Promise vs compromise

f.      Chapter 18-19: Apportionment continued

g.     Chapter 20: Provisions (Part 1)

h.     Chapter 21: Provisions (Part 2)

 

F.     Retaining the Land (22-24)

a.     Chapter 22: Can an altar alter anything?

b.     Chapter 23: Staying on edge

c.      Chapter 24: Three funerals and Renewing the covenant

 

The Seven Nations

 

1.     Amorite

2.     Canaanite

3.     Girgashite

4.     Hittite

5.     Hivite

6.     Jebusite 

7.     Perizzite 

 

Josh. 18:1   Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at ^aShiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them.

 

Josh. 18:2   There remained among the sons of Israel seven tribes who had not divided their inheritance. ³ So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “^aHow long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you? ⁴ “Provide for yourselves three men from ¹each tribe that I may send them, and that they may arise and walk through the land and write a description of it according to their inheritance; then they shall ²return to me. ⁵ “They shall divide it into seven portions; ^aJudah shall stay in its territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall stay in their territory on the north. ⁶ “You shall describe the land in seven divisions, and bring the description here to me. ^aI will cast lots for you here before the LORD our God. ⁷ “For ^athe Levites have no portion among you, because the priesthood of the LORD is ¹their inheritance. Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh also have received their inheritance eastward beyond the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them.”

 

Josh. 18:8   Then the men arose and went, and Joshua commanded those who went to describe the land, saying, “Go and walk through the land and describe it, and return to me; then I will cast lots for you here before the LORD in ^aShiloh.” ⁹ So the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities in seven divisions in a book; and they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰ And ^aJoshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD, and there Joshua divided the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions.

 

Josh. 18:11   Now the lot of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the territory of their lot ¹lay between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph. ^12 aTheir border on the north side was from the Jordan, then the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the hill country westward, and ¹it ended at the wilderness of Beth-aven. ¹³ From there the border continued to ^aLuz, to the side of Luz (that is, Bethel) southward; and the border went down to Ataroth-addar, near the hill which lies on the south of ^blower Beth-horon. ¹⁴ The border extended from there and turned round on the west side southward, from the hill which liesbefore Beth-horon southward; and ¹it ended at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city of the sons of Judah. Thiswas the west side. ¹⁵ Then the ^asouth side was from the edge of Kiriath-jearim, and the border went westward and went to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah. ¹⁶ The border went down to the edge of the hill which is in the ^avalley of Ben-hinnom, which is in the valley of Rephaim northward; and it went down to the valley of Hinnom, to the slope of the Jebusite southward, and went down to En-rogel. ¹⁷ It extended northward and went to En-shemesh and went to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, and it went down to the ^astone of Bohan the son of Reuben. ¹⁸ It continued to the side in front of the Arabah northward and went down to the Arabah. ¹⁹ The border continued to the side of Beth-hoglah northward; and the ¹border ended at the north bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the south border. ²⁰ Moreover, the Jordan was its border on the east side. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin, according to their families and according to its borders all around.

 

Josh. 18:21   Now the cities of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho and Beth-hoglah and Emek-keziz, ²² and Beth-arabah and Zemaraim and Bethel, ²³ and Avvim and Parah and Ophrah, ²⁴and Chephar-ammoni and Ophni and ^aGeba; twelve cities with their villages. ²⁵ Gibeon and Ramah and Beeroth, ²⁶and Mizpeh and Chephirah and Mozah, ²⁷ and Rekem and Irpeel and Taralah, ²⁸ and ^aZelah, Haeleph and the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, Kiriath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the ^bsons of Benjamin according to their families.

 

Josh. 19:1   Then the second lot ¹fell to Simeon, to the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah. ² So they had as their inheritance Beersheba or ¹Sheba and Moladah, ³ and Hazar-shual and Balah and Ezem, ⁴ and Eltolad and Bethul and Hormah, ⁵ and Ziklag and Beth-marcaboth and Hazar-susah, ⁶ and Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages; ⁷ Ain, Rimmon and Ether and Ashan; four cities with their villages; ⁸ and all the villages which were around these cities as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the ¹Negev. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families. ⁹ The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance in the midst of ¹Judah’s inheritance.

 

Josh. 19:10   Now the third lot came up for the sons of Zebulun according to their families. And the territory of their inheritance was as far as Sarid. ¹¹ Then their border went up to the west and to Maralah, it then ¹touched Dabbesheth and reached to the ²brook that is before Jokneam. ¹² Then it turned from Sarid to the east toward the sunrise as far as the border of Chisloth-tabor, and it proceeded to Daberath and ¹up to Japhia. ¹³ From there it continued eastward toward the sunrise to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and it proceeded to Rimmon ¹which stretches to Neah. ¹⁴ The border circled around it on the north to Hannathon, and ¹it ended at the valley of Iphtahel. ¹⁵Included also were Kattah and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Bethlehem; twelve cities with their villages. ¹⁶This was the inheritance of the sons of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.

 

Josh. 19:17   The fourth lot ¹fell to Issachar, to the sons of Issachar according to their families. ¹⁸ Their territory was to Jezreel and included Chesulloth and ^aShunem, ¹⁹ and Hapharaim and Shion and Anaharath, ²⁰ and Rabbith and Kishion and Ebez, ²¹ and Remeth and En-gannim and En-haddah and Beth-pazzez. ²² The border reached to ^aTabor and Shahazumah and Beth-shemesh, and ¹their border ended at the Jordan; sixteen cities with their villages. ²³ This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Issachar according to their families, the cities with their villages.

 

Josh. 19:24   Now the fifth lot ¹fell to the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families. ²⁵ Their territory was Helkath and Hali and Beten and Achshaph, ²⁶ and Allammelech and Amad and Mishal; and it reached to Carmel on the west and to Shihor-libnath. ²⁷ It turned toward the ¹east to Beth-dagon and reached to Zebulun, and to the valley of Iphtahel northward to Beth-emek and Neiel; then it proceeded on ²north to ^aCabul, ²⁸ and Ebron and Rehob and Hammon and Kanah, as far as Great ^aSidon. ²⁹ The border turned to Ramah and to the fortified city of Tyre; then the border turned to Hosah, and ¹it ended at the sea by the region of ^aAchzib. ³⁰ Included also wereUmmah, and Aphek and Rehob; twenty-two cities with their villages. ³¹ This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.

 

Josh. 19:32   The sixth lot ¹fell to the sons of Naphtali; to the sons of Naphtali according to their families. ³³ Their border was from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim and Adami-nekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, and ¹it ended at the Jordan. ³⁴ Then the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor and proceeded from there to Hukkok; and it reached to Zebulun on the south and ¹touched Asher on the west, and to Judah at the Jordan toward the ²east. ³⁵The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer and ^aHammath, Rakkath and ^bChinnereth, ³⁶ and Adamah and Ramah and Hazor, ³⁷ and Kedesh and Edrei and En-hazor, ³⁸ and Yiron and Migdal-el, Horem and Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages. ³⁹ This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali according to their families, the cities with their villages.

 

Josh. 19:40   The seventh lot ¹fell to the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families. ⁴¹ The territory of their inheritance was Zorah and Eshtaol and Ir-shemesh, ⁴² and Shaalabbin and Aijalon and Ithlah, ⁴³ and Elon and Timnah and Ekron, ⁴⁴ and Eltekeh and Gibbethon and Baalath, ⁴⁵ and Jehud and Bene-berak and Gath-rimmon, ⁴⁶and Me-jarkon and Rakkon, with the territory over against ¹Joppa. ⁴⁷ The territory of the ^asons of Dan proceeded ¹beyond them; for the sons of Dan went up and fought with Leshem and captured it. Then they struck it with the edge of the sword and possessed it and ²settled in it; and they called ^3bLeshem Dan after the name of Dan their father. ⁴⁸ This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.

 

Josh. 19:49   When they finished apportioning the land for inheritance by its borders, the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua the son of Nun. ⁵⁰ In accordance with the ¹command of the LORD they gave him the city for which he asked, ^aTimnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and ²settled in it.

 

Josh. 19:51   ^aThese are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the ¹households of the tribes of the sons of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.