The 16th chapter of Joshua concerns the children of Joseph, the land they were to be given. God decided such matters in ancient Israel. Of course the Tribe of Joseph basically consisted of his two son, Manasseh and Ephraim. In only 10 verses their “real estate” holdings are described.

But notice the last two verses of the chapter, sad really. Very informative, too. “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.” Joshua 16:9-10

The children of Ephraim (following the example of many of their brother tribes) did NOT expel all the heathen from their domain! They allowed the disastrous influence of such (wicked) people to stay close-by! The Ephraimites did not claim and did not act on God’s clear promise to “drive out” the enemies ahead of Israel’s approaching army! Read Deuteronomy 11:23 here. “The LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.”

That’s a sin, a failure of Israel’s faith, for sure! Remember Romans 14:23? “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin..”

But in today’s Bible Text there’s even more “danger” revealed, subtle danger in compromise!

“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.” Verse 10 again.

They have now turned the dangerous Canaanites into “money-making” opportunities! Collecting “tribute” (could be “taxes”) from them, or more likely … making them into “slaves” in order to coerce free labor from them!

Getting rich … off things that are wrong in the first place!

Now they will NEVER get rid of the Canaanites!

Too costly a decision!

Oh, does that remind me of America today!

One instance:

Abortion is wrong, period.

But it’s been turned into a multi-million (multi-billion) dollar industry these days! Too many people profiting by this dastardly procedure, really … “murder.”

To outlaw it now (unthinkable to most judges and politicians) would simply COST too much in jobs and scientific research and world esteem! And votes too, for unscrupulous lawmakers!

Some professing Christians too, deep into sins they should have mortified long ago, have turned their “enemies” into cuddly little “pets!”

Well, again … seems like Paul was right.

“For the LOVE OF MONEY is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:10

What an up-to-date Lesson from such an ancient Text!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

The fifteenth chapter of the Book of Joshua is filled with geography, nearly 100% so! The Tribe of Judah is being given his inheritance in the Land of Canaan. A gift from God to those people, I might add.

The people of the Old Testament often inherited Land (or crops or good health) as part of their faithful obedience to the Lord. We who accept the New Testament (and Jesus as Saviour) often inherit (not necessarily material goods) bountiful  spiritual blessings!

But (back to Judah) … within her parameters was the (ultimate) City (the location of) Jerusalem! But it was not yet officially called Jerusalem. It was, in fact, a heathen stronghold!

Joshua 15:63 explains: “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.”

Wow!

Now, many years later, David finally expelled those “Jebusites.” (2 Samuel chapter 5 tells the story.)

And the people of Israel began to peacefully inhabit that “choice” City!

What a Lesson we have right here before us!

The pesky little enemies that cannot be conquered today … stay faithful … tomorrow you might yet be able to overcome them!

Wow again!

Did Judah get stronger?

Was David that much superior in his leadership qualities?

Did Israel’s faith grow bolder?

I do not know, maybe a combination of all these.

But we do have an example here of a body of believers (the Jews) not getting weaker over the years… but rather getting stronger!

Defeating enemies who have held you at bay for a long time!

Dear reader this morning, is there anything in YOUR life that displeases God? Anything you once tried to dismiss from your behavior, character? Tried, but failed?

Then … try again!

Asking God for further strength!

Grow upward in your spiritual trajectory!

Don’t slide downward!

Our verse again … “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.”

Then watch David, years later … “And the king and his men went … 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 (JERUSALEM). And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and SMITETH THE JEBUSITES … that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain.” 2 Samuel 5:6-8

Hunt out and destroy (today) that sin that so easily besets you!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

As a young Pastor/Evangelist I preached about today’s “hero” dozens of times!

Caleb, “who wholly followed the Lord.”

Joshua 14:6-14 tells his story, at least as far as his “inheritance” is concerned.

“Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and CALEB the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: BUT I WHOLLY FOLLOWED THE LORD MY GOD. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God. And now, behold, THE LORD HATH KEPT ME ALIVE, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five (85) years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now therefore GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that HE WHOLLY FOLLOWED THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL.”

Wow!

I don’t know if the Bible account here needs much comment.

A man of faith, Caleb.

One of the original 12 spies whom Moses send to scout the Land of Canaan. One of the two who “believed” God, Joshua himself being the other.

And now that Israel is being “given” her various Land Grants (Tribe by Tribe, thus family by family) … Caleb asks for a particular place.

A dangerous place, a mountainous place and a (to Caleb) special place!

He, though eighty-five years old, felt (with God’s Help) he could drive away the giants (Anakims) from the immediate territory … and settle there safely!

The man had faith when he was young!

The man still had faith when he is old!

What an example!

I called my Sermon fifty years ago “Caleb Christians.”

I’m quoting our protagonist: “If so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them (the huge enemies) out, as the LORD said.”

Lord God, grant us that kind of faith!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

By the way, the land Caleb settled was soon called “Hebron,” meaning “fellowship!” An association of like-minded followers! A company or band of brothers!

This too, a lifetime of fellowshipping with Almighty God!

Caleb, what a man.

 

Having conquered the “whole land,” according to Joshua 11:23 (“So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.”) … we now learn (in a very sad Passage) that numerous “hot spots” remained! In spite of all Joshua had done!

“Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” Joshua 13:1, Israel’s military “General” being now 95 years of age, approximately.

“Much land” to be possessed?

Little pockets of resistance, it seems.

Wow … I might could stop here and write a while. No matter how much we have accomplished (or feel we have accomplished) in our Christian lives … there is always more growth to be attained! More spiritual enemies to defeat, overcome! Little areas of opposition (from the devil) we have “missed!”

So true!

But (by chapter 13) it was time for Joshua to “divide” the Land to the Tribes of Israel. (Remember, 2 1/2 Tribes elected to live on the other side of the Jordan River. Where they for the most part had already settled.) So God commanded Joshua …

“Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine tribes, and the half tribe of Manasseh,” the remaining people will now be assigned their allotments! Joshua 13:7

With little pockets of “enemy aggression” embedded within the Tribes?

Yes, it clearly seems so!

Apparently God was going to now help each Tribe “clear” his respective Territory of Canaanite influence, deadly heathen culture. Or at least that was the ideal!

But, illustrating the (so often) incomplete obedience of humanity (you and me included) … “Nevertheless the children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites, nor the Maachathites: but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day.” Joshua 13:13, illustrating from the geography of the 2 1/2 Tribes now, east of Jordan. (The “Geshurites” have a name grammatically meaning “proud!” And the “Maachathites,” literally “oppressors!” Interesting!)

Wow!

A good bit of the remaining content of the Book of Joshua entails the proper dividing of the Land to its Jewish inhabitants, Land promised them by God Almighty hundreds of years before, around five centuries earlier! Remember … “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward.” 2 Peter 3:9, God never forgets a promise!

Probably tomorrow morning I need to write a Lesson on Joshua 13:22. But that will bring on other “surprising” acts of judgment on the part of God, some executed by His (at times) obedient people.

Folks, though it had not yet been written, Israel then needed to hear Solomon’s counsel from years later … “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Song of Solomon 2:15

“Little sins” often destroy great Christians!

Or those sins start “little,” anyway!

What do I mean?

Re-read verse 13. You’ll “get it”immediately. “Nevertheless the children of Israel EXPELLED NOT the Geshurites, nor the Maachathites: but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day.”

Better battle those little “inconsistencies” now … those “easily besetting sins” … because every single day they become more deeply “entrenched” in one’s life!

That’s enough for today.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Joshua chapter 12 is the mid-point of the Book. Yes, it contains 24 chapters.

And it, chapter 12,  is pure history!

The scoffers would wrongly say, “pure legend!”

It’s almost as if Joshua kept a daily “journal!”

Each battle, just as well say, each victory is precisely recorded.

Or at least listed!

As in verse 1: “Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east …” Then follow two well-known names, Sihon and Og. (“Sihon” means “warrior! And “Og” means “long necked,” with lots of vanity and pride to accompany it, one supposes!)

Verse 7 continues: “And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions …” And here are dozens of names, all triumphs for Israel!

Wow!

But what’s the point of all this?

Partly to prove the historical and geographical accuracy of the Bible, perhaps.

But undoubtedly, to teach us a lesson!

That being?

When God sends you a victory … record it!

Write it down somewhere!

Make a list!

And leave such a book (maybe books) for your children and grandchildren too, after you die and go to Heaven!

Your personal testimony … that God keeps His Word!

A documented validation of God being real in your life!

Paul must have done this, once cataloging the many deliverances God had sent his way! “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily …” 2 Corinthians 11:24-28

My list may not be as dramatic, but it can be every bit as personal, sincere, genuine!

Lesson over!

Go buy a notebook, then get busy recording, writing, listing!

And I promise, you’ll end up praising too!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

By the way, once your list is underway … anytime you get discouraged … go read that thing yourself! It will uplift you! Considering God’s “works” in your life! God’s Faithfulness!