The Land was subdued

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Joshua 18:1, “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.”

This short passage gives us the Lord’s opinion of Joshua and the task he was called to perform. There are many people today who criticise Joshua and say that he was a failure because he failed to mentor a younger man to replace him as leader. Mentor was known as a man left to care for Odysseus’ son Telemachus when Odysseus went to fight the Trojan war. This war is generally believed to have taken place from 1194-1184. Moses was training Joshua to replace him as leader from about 1440-1400 so why people talk about a Mentor rather than a Moses is a mystery. Of course having a Moses is far more important for anyone who wants to follow the Lord because Moses gave Joshua significant spiritual input while Mentor didn’t so the same for Telemachus. However, Moses was the leader of united Israel and the Lord called him to bring Israel out of slavery and to the Promised Land. Moses was prevented from entering the Promised Land because he didn’t obey the Lord at one stage and the Lord ordained Joshua to complete the task of invading the Land. When the invasion was complete Israel was required to possess the Land as well. Each tribe, family by family and clan by clan, had to take possession of their own inheritance so there was no need for a united nation until such time as the tribes completed their individual tasks. This passage reminds us that he was successful in completing the task the the Lord assigned him and he was not required to prepare a leader for the entire nation because the national task was finished. On the other hand they set up the Tabernacle showing that the nation was united under the Lord and the Priests were called upon to do their job in uniting the nation in worship before the Lord. Joshua was not a Priest so he wasn’t in a position to train priests.

The hill is not enough for us

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Joshua 17:14–18, “And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as the LORD hath blessed me hitherto? And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee. And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel. And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power: thou shalt not have one lot only: But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.”

The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh wanted to get a special deal. They were exactly the same as everybody is today. We are all very happy for the rules to apply to everyone else but we want to have special exemptions to suit our own personal prejudices. These tribes were given enough land to inherit, according to rules that the Lord had laid down. However, they didn’t want to do any of the hard work required to take possession of their land so they asked Joshua to give them extra land and save them the effort of taking possession. However, Joshua told them to go out and do the hard work like everyone else.

The coast of Manasseh

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Joshua 17:7–13, “And the coast of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah, that lieth before Shechem; and the border went along on the right hand unto the inhabitants of Entappuah. Now Manasseh had the land of Tappuah: but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim; And the coast descended unto the river Kanah, southward of the river: these cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh: the coast of Manasseh also was on the north side of the river, and the outgoings of it were at the sea: Southward it was Ephraim’s, and northward it was Manasseh’s, and the sea is his border; and they met together in Asher on the north, and in Issachar on the east. And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Bethshean and her towns, and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, even three countries. Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out.”

for Manasseh, the Lord gave the general outline of the land but He also gave the particular details as well. The Lord cared for Israel as a nation but also for each family and individual of each tribe as well. The same is as true today as it was when they first entered the Promised Land.

Manasseh

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Sinking Sand

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Joshua 17:1–6, “There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh; for he was the firstborn of Joseph; to wit, for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead: because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan. There was also a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh by their families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph by their families. But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters: and these are the names of his daughters, Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren. Therefore according to the commandment of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brethren of their father. And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, beside the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side Jordan; Because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons: and the rest of Manasseh’s sons had the land of Gilead.”

Even though Manasseh was Joseph’s older son, he was treated as the second son in terms of inheritance. Never the less, each of the tribes, except Levi, were given exactly the same amount of inheritance in the Promised Land, according to the population according to the last census. Manasseh was the only tribe with a divided inheritance, some on each side of the Jordan river. This was also a tribe that included special consideration because one man was the father of daughters and not sons. The regular inheritance rights involved sons but not daughters but the leaders of this tribe were concerned that they, as a tribe, might lose some of their Land when these daughters were married so special rules were made to keep the integrity of the tribal inheritance.

The Canaanites dwelt among them

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Joshua 16:5–10, “And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Atarothaddar, unto Bethhoron the upper; And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanathshiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah; And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan. The border went out from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families. And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute.”

While Joshua was a good and a godly leader and did the job the Lord gave him. The individual tribes didn’t really do their job. They were told to take full possession of the Promised Land so that they previous inhabitants who had debased the Land would not be in a position to debase Israel as well. However, they were too undisciplined to follow through with the tedious work of taking their entire heritage by going to every hamlet and every village and driving the previous inhabitants from every hill and every valley. This was the beginning of Israel’s problem; they refused to obey the Lord to the last letter of the Law.

The children of Joseph

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Joshua 16:1–4, “And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, unto the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout mount Bethel, And goeth out from Bethel to Luz, and passeth along unto the borders of Archi to Ataroth, And goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti, unto the coast of Bethhoron the nether, and to Gezer: and the goings out thereof are at the sea. So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.”

Joseph was represented by two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. (Gen 48:22, “Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”) They were given inheritance according to their numbers as were the rest of the tribes.

The inheritance of Judah

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Joshua 15:20–63, “This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families. And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, And Kinah, and Dimonah, and Adadah, And Kedesh, and Hazor, and Ithnan, Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth, And Hazor, Hadattah, and Kerioth, and Hezron, which is Hazor, Amam, and Shema, and Moladah, And Hazargaddah, and Heshmon, and Bethpalet, And Hazarshual, and Beersheba, and Bizjothjah, Baalah, and Iim, and Azem, And Eltolad, and Chesil, and Hormah, And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, And Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon: all the cities are twenty and nine, with their villages: And in the valley, Eshtaol, and Zoreah, and Ashnah, And Zanoah, and Engannim, Tappuah, and Enam, Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah, And Sharaim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages: Zenan, and Hadashah, and Migdalgad, And Dilean, and Mizpeh, and Joktheel, Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon, And Cabbon, and Lahmam, and Kithlish, And Gederoth, Bethdagon, and Naamah, and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages: Libnah, and Ether, and Ashan, And Jiphtah, and Ashnah, and Nezib, And Keilah, and Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages: Ekron, with her towns and her villages: From Ekron even unto the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their villages: Ashdod with her towns and her villages, Gaza with her towns and her villages, unto the river of Egypt, and the great sea, and the border thereof: And in the mountains, Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh, And Dannah, and Kirjathsannah, which is Debir, And Anab, and Eshtemoh, and Anim, And Goshen, and Holon, and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages: Arab, and Dumah, and Eshean, And Janum, and Bethtappuah, and Aphekah, And Humtah, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, and Zior; nine cities with their villages: Maon, Carmel, and Ziph, and Juttah, And Jezreel, and Jokdeam, and Zanoah, Cain, Gibeah, and Timnah; ten cities with their villages: Halhul, Bethzur, and Gedor, And Maarath, and Bethanoth, and Eltekon; six cities with their villages: Kirjathbaal, which is Kirjathjearim, and Rabbah; two cities with their villages: In the wilderness, Betharabah, Middin, and Secacah, And Nibshan, and the city of Salt, and Engedi; six cities with their villages. As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day.”

We have, previously, been told about the borders of Judah’s territory but in this section their inheritance was listed town by town. We know that the Lord God is the God of the whole earth but He is also the God of every individual in the whole earth as well. (see Isaiah 54:5, “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”) Not only did the Lord remember Caleb, Judah’s great hero of that period, he also remembered each individual and cared for them personally. So much so that, to use modern terminology, He knew the address of every individual in the entire tribe as well. Not only this we can also see that the passage was written at a very early date because all the names are given without any explanation. King David finally conquered Jerusalem and took that city as his capital so this book was complete before his time. (2 Sam 5:6–10, “And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David. And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him.”)