Possession And Division Of The Inheritance

by Trevor Sands, Barrow-in-Furness, U.K. | Category: Spiritual Lessons From Joshua | Sept 1985

1. PROMISED INHERITANCE

HOW large was the territory that God gave to Israel? Try looking at a present day map of the Middle East and marking on it the boundaries of Israel as you imagine them from your Old Testament reading. Then compare your ideas with God's promise of Joshua 13 with the help of a Bible Atlas. Vast areas of 20th century Jordan; Syria, Lebanon and possibly part of Egypt are encompassed in these verses.

The sad fact soon comes home to us that some of (his territory, such as the Zidonian area, was never exclusively possessed by God's people. Much else, as for example the Philistine coastal plain, has rarely been under Israelite sovereignty (see Judges 1:31; 3:3 etc.) The chapters for study this month (Joshua 13 to 19) are a view of the great and benevolent God's dealings with a small and sometimes timid people.

In our own day too, the Adversary longs to make us content with mediocrity in spiritual things. Like Israel at this period, we know the joy of a divine inheritance, but is all the "very much land" of divine promise really possessed? Are the years seeing erosion of reclaimed truth or the gaining of new land? The apostle Paul could say "stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13). In our next section we consider how such personal dedication must precede collective victory.

2. PERSONAL COMMITMENT

The people could not progress unless there were individuals whose loyalty was absolute. In Joshua 14, it is three times recorded of Caleb that he "wholly followed the LORD" (verses 8,9,14). After a long life of service, his amazing ambition at 85 was to dispossess the Anakim, those giants that the young men's hearts had melted at the thought of, 40 years previously. His old age was no more a barrier to victory than David's youth centuries later "Let no man's heart fail ... thy servant will go and fight". Personal commitment and spiritual victory are too often thought by the young to be the province of older people. Then, too, aged ones may imagine, as physical strength diminishes, that their day of opportunity is passed. Page after page of Scripture brings fresh proof that God chose "the foolish things ... the weak things ... the base things... the things that are despised ... yea and the things that are not, that He might

bring to naught the things that are" (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). How can this be? Note what Joshua 14:11 says about Caleb's strength. It was an enduring

strength, from youth to old age; and an enabling strength, for conflict and service. "And Caleb drove out thence the three sons of Anak" (Joshua 15:14). 3. POSITIVE VISION

In collective service for God, we need to be able to encourage others to realize their spiritual potential. We need to have the ability to pass on what we ourselves have received.

In Joshua chapter 15, we see Caleb in these roles. Firstly, the old man challenges the younger men to go forward in battle. They have all seen his example and Othniel is caught up in a mighty work. In later days, the children of Israel cried unto the Lord and Othniel, now a mature warrior, was raised up by God to be their saviour (Judges 3:9). What a service Caleb had rendered in encouraging, motivating and rewarding the young man who, unknown to him, was to be a future leader of God's people.

Then also, Achsah's request for a blessing was so graciously met in the gift of the springs of water. Caleb would have had nothing to give that day if he'd not acquired those springs and made them his own. But, having done so, the blessing could be passed on.

Among God's people, all of us need to be rejoicing in God's blessings through our personal study of the Word. Then we will really have something fresh and life-giving to pass on to others to encourage them in future days.

4. PROGRESSIVE DECLINE

Sadly, we must now pass on from Caleb's wonderful example - few of God's people were of his calibre. We have commented already on Israel's failure to fully possess their inheritance. One prominent feature was their neglect of the Lord's command of Deuteronomy 7:2. "And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them up (the nations) before thee and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them

The pattern of their disobedience in this respect is very instructive. It shows the Adversary's steady, eroding influence on the people's commitment to God's Word.

(i)Joshua 15:63: "the children of Judah could not drive them out"

Lack of strength was the first step. There was no renewed dedication to God or claiming of divine strength for the God-given task. Instead, there appears to have been an acceptance of a mingling of those who had received God's holy law with adherents of a false and abominable Canaanite religion. There is no place in any day for the fellowship of light and darkness. Separation from such people and things is not merely beneficial but essential for service to the Living God and for God's people to be well-pleasing to their Master.

(ii)Joshua 16:10 "they drove not out the Canaanites ... but the Canaanites became servants"

This incident is more serious, for the fact that the Canaanites in Gezer were reduced to slavery presupposes the military supremacy of the Israelites. In Jerusalem they mixed in Canaanite society, in Gezer the Canaanites mingled in their service.

(iii) Joshua 17:13 "When the children of Israel were waxed strong... they did not utterly drive them out"

Here we see the third stage of decline. They were a strong people, but their strength, like Samson's was allied to self-choosing. What weakness had allowed as a temporary expedient, strength tolerated as an excuse for idleness.

Later Old Testament history records the havoc these mistakes brought about. How important to be obedient even when God's reasons are not clear to us.

5. PRUDENT LEADERSHIP

Joshua's wise leadership shines through the account in many places. He was often faced with unenthusiastic and easily discouraged subordinates, yet his decisions have the sparkle of God-given wisdom.

I particularly like the incident where Joseph's leaders were grumbling about the acreage of their inheritance. They considered themselves "a great people" (Joshua 17:14-18). Joshua so skilfully takes up their own words "If thou be a great people, get thee up to the forest and cut down for thyself ... thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron".

How easy it is to focus on the problems and not look to the challenges, to see the needs of disciples in a church of God, but not their potential for victory.

6. PRICELESS OPPORTUNITIES

There seemed to come a day when the vast momentum of the early victory at "impregnable" Jericho had been all but lost. Amazingly, seven tribes had still to divide their inheritance but all sense of urgency seemed to have gone. Again Joshua's wise leadership was evident as three men for each of the seven tribes were sent out to survey the remaining country. As they walked these many miles, every detail of the country which previously they had only known by repute was imprinted on each mind. Perhaps it was with no small sense of shame that they came back to Joshua. Having seen with their eyes, they must have longed to make their homes there.

God's promise had been that He would drive the nations out "and make them to perish quickly" (Deut. 9:3). Joshua had need to ask "How long are ye slack?~' (Joshua 18:3). God still could not bless to the full, for the people were not able to receive it. Zebulun never entered into the fulness of Jacob's inspired vision (Gen. 49:13) the sea coast was never possessed. Perhaps it seems tedious to struggle through the names of all the cities and villages given by lot to each tribe. But God's inheritance is never a nebulous thing. Some may think the New Testament epistles are worthy only of acceptance in outline but their detailed exhortations and warnings chart the divine inheritance for today. It is something worth possessing to the full, worth fighting for and, like Naboth did centuries later, worth counting more precious than life itself.

Trevor Sands, Barrow-in-Furness, U.K. | Sept 1985
Spiritual Lessons From Joshua