(Remember, this isn’t a script, per se. The audio version is always better. Citations, as always are at the end)
There’s an old hymn from the late 1800s that begins like this:
Standing on the promises of Christ my king,
through eternal ages let his praises ring;
glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
standing on the promises of God.Refrain:
Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior;
standing, standing, I’m standing on the promises of God.
I share this with you because, as Christians in the 21st century, we are part of the Kingdom of God that is a “now and not yet” experience for us as we await Jesus’ return.
But as we’ve been reading through Joshua, we’ve also seen this parallel – a typology – of the Israelites who are moving into the land of promise and not always having success. Similarly, God’s made a promise to you…and sometimes we do and don’t have success in how we deal with the foe of sin.
Today we’re going to reflect on what we’ve read in Joshua this week.
18:1–10 Distributing the Land from Shiloh
The people set up the tabernacle at Shiloh, giving evidence that Israel had gained control of the land. However, seven tribes had not made their claim, and Joshua chided them for their reluctance.
18:11–19:48 The Last Tribes
The land was apportioned to Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. The inheritance of Benjamin was small but strategic (18:11–28); it was a buffer zone between the mighty states of Judah and Ephraim. Its cities of Bethel and Jerusalem were the most influential cities in the worship of Israel. King Saul and the apostle Paul were Benjamites.
The inheritance of Simeon (19:1–9) was absorbed by the tribe of Judah according to Jacob’s blessing (Gen 49:7). Simeon may have lost its blessing as a result of Simeon and Levi’s murder of Shechem (Gen 34:25).
The final lot fell to the Danites (Josh 19:40–48). Its territory was very small, and the Amorites were too great for them (compare Judg 1:34). Yet even they succeeded in having a portion with Israel by possessing Leshem, which they renamed Dan (compare Judg 18).
19:49–51 Joshua the Builder
The courageous leader Joshua was the last to receive his portion. The people triumphantly gave Joshua his allotment in Ephraim. Joshua was not only a defender of the land but also a builder.[1]
And from DA Carson:
This (josh. 18–19) is a good time to reflect on the many chapters of Joshua that have been devoted to the dividing up of the land.
(1) Focusing on the division of the land, these chapters implicitly focus on the land itself. After all, the land was an irreducible component of the promise to Abraham, of the Sinai covenant, of the release of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. It is now distributed by God’s providential supervision of the “lot.”
(2) The inevitable conclusion is that God is faithful to his promises. That point is explicitly drawn for us a bare two chapters on: “So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled” (21:43–45).
(3) These chapters also explain how entrance into the Promised Land did not proceed in a wave of unbroken triumph. Earlier God had warned that he would not give the Israelites the whole thing at once. Now we are repeatedly told that this tribe or that could not dislodge certain Canaanites, and they continue there “to this day.” For instance, “Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah” (15:63; cf. Judg. 1:21). In fact, Jerusalem was taken (Judg. 1:8), but not all the Jebusites were dislodged. Details of this sort help to explain how the tussle between fidelity and syncretism could occupy so much of Israel’s history.
(4) Some of the elements in these chapters bring earlier strands of the narrative to closure. For instance, Caleb surfaces again. He was Joshua’s colleague among the initial group of twelve spies; they were the only two who at Kadesh Barnea, at the first approach to the Promised Land, urged the people to enter it boldly and trust God. In consequence they are the only two of their generation who are still alive to witness the Promised Land for themselves. And now in Joshua 15, Caleb is still looking for new worlds to conquer and receives his inheritance. Similarly, chapters 20–21 detail the designation of the cities of refuge and of the towns set aside for the Levites—steps mandated by the Mosaic Code.
(5) There is trouble ahead. The ambiguities of the situation, and the memories of the final warnings of Moses, signal the reader that these relative victories, good though they are, cannot possibly be God’s final or ultimate provision.[2] (emphases mine)
What does that mean for us?
Even as we read the Old Testament we see God’s hand at work and are reminded that our time and timing is not his time and timing. But even weird stories in the Old Testament serve to be what he has preserved for us to remind us of who he is. It was his choice to love us and communicate with us this way…and he loves us in a way we don’t always understand.
But we can trust that the ground we stand on is holy ground. Promised ground. Imperfect now, but fully in the hands of the promise maker.
Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
listening every moment to the Spirit’s call,
resting in my Savior as my all in all,
standing on the promises of God. [Refrain]
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
[1] David S. Dockery, ed., Holman Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 203.
[2] D. A. Carson, For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word., vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 25.