Partial Obedience Leaves Future Problems

Transcript

GRS 207
7/18/21
Partial Obedience Leaves Future Problems
Joshua 10-17
Gil Rugh

We’re going to be looking into Joshua chapter 10 and the subsequent chapters as we sort of pull together Joshua’s conquering the land of Canaan, that which God had promised to them. Now the conquering there will be a thorough final of the land and all its parts, but really, it will break the back, if you will, of the opposition to the Israelites coming into the land under Joshua’s leadership. Opposition and resistance will go on as long as Israel is there, really. They’ll get progressively more and more of a hold in the land.

Let’s just start out by looking at the first map, which will give us the overview of Israel conquering the land of Canaan. Here you just see where the line coming across the middle, the red line… It’s about the middle of the land, dividing it north and south. Then you’re going to see they’re going to come down and they’ll be spreading out and they’ll be taking various places along the way, but there will be a lot of land that they don’t conquer, as you can see just reaching out into the various areas here. That red line sort of comes down the middle of the territory and across the middle. That will be the substance, really, of chapter 10—Israel moving from the land of Gibeon, which is about halfway along here, then across and down. Then there will be forays into the different areas, conquering the major points of opposition and resistance. Then, if you put up the second map there, we’ll move to the northern tribes, and you’ll see they come up the north, again, from that old region, if you will, that they’ve established. They’ve made their way into the land of Jericho and Gilgal, then moved over to Ai. They have that basic region, but now they’re coming up. Here’s the Sea of Galilee in the northern part of the land. They come all the way up and again, they’re more focused. They’ll be on the coast but dealing with major opposition centers throughout the land.

Come up to the third map if you will. You can see something of the layout of the land. Down here in the south you have Simeon, then up in the north you’ll have Asher and Naphtali. On the east side over here, they had two tribes, Reuben and Gad—Reuben down here then Gad. Then the half-tribe of Manasseh and the other half of Manasseh over here, because all of this was region, all the way over beyond what we have here. But this is the heart of the land. So, the fact that the Jordan River, coming from the Dead Sea and up into the Sea of Galilee, makes a dividing line. Really, both sides belong to Israel coming down here, so it’s fine there’s land given on both sides. There’s more land over here that is included in what is given to them, but their primary focus is in this region. This is the realm they’ve conquered, so chapter 10 will encompass the southern portion of the land. Then we’ll have the northern portion and then we’ll have what is to take place over the next hundreds of years. We’re about 1,400 years before Christ, then we’ll go down 400 years and we’ll get to the time of David, about 1000 B.C., a thousand years before Christ. So, we have a time here of about 400 years, roughly, 350 to 400 years of conquering and inhabiting the land. What happens after Israel has its control of the land is it begins to lose some of its drive to take all of the land in. We’ll see that with the land of Israel down in the southern part when you get down toward the area of Judah and Benjamin. They just won’t really take Jerusalem as a city, conquered and belonging to the Jews, until the time of David. So, we start here around 1400 B.C., and we’re going to be down to about 1000 B.C. when we get to David, and he’ll finally control Jerusalem. So, Israel conquers the land, but they don’t have total possession of everything. As we’ll see, they make peace along the way with different tribes instead of conquering them as God said. They start out fine under Joshua and they’re wiping out cities, but there’s a lot to be done. When it’s divided up into its various parts, as you see on this map, but every tribe has its own area to finish conquering and taking possession of. They’ll begin to have negotiations and tribes will survive and become a problem for the nation over time.

Okay, let’s look into chapter 10 of the book of Joshua. There we have the remainder… In chapter 9 we had the conquering of that portion of the land, but chapter 10 tells us that some of the tribes that now live in the land are agreed together that they have to unite to defeat Israel. So, chapter 10 talks about that when it opens up. “Now it came about when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai, and had utterly destroyed it (just as he had done to Jericho).” So those two are important victories as Israel came into Canaan—foreboding to the rest of the tribes there. So, he gets his people together, five tribes altogether. They each have their ruler and their king, down in Joshua 10:3. “Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron and to” the king of Jarmuth and then to the king of Lachish and then to the king of Eglon, and you get these five kings together. They’re going to say, we’ve got to stop Israel. They’ve made a significant impact into the land, and we’ve got to stop them before they do more. They are defeated. God promises Joshua down in Joshua 10:8, “’Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands; not one of them shall stand before you.’” So you’ve had the move into the land.; the first city’s destroyed. It just collapses and Israel goes in and takes it over. Then Ai, you had a little bit more hesitation. Israel wasn’t quite ready, so they suffered defeat. After they rectify that with the Lord, then they’re ready to go in and take that.

Now they’re ready to move on into the rest of, basically, the Southern Kingdom, and take the rest of the southern half that will belong to the Jews. The people there are ready for battle. Joshua 10:8, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands; not one of them shall stand before you.’ So Joshua came upon them suddenly by marching all night from Gilgal. And the Lord confounded them before Israel.” The defeat now is a given thing. It just is a matter of accomplishing it. As part of it, the Lord rains hail down on the enemy in verse 11. “The Lord threw large stones from heaven on them…there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.” So you have this hail with huge hailstones just crushing the enemy, killing them. I mean, here they are out there prepared for battle the best they can, but you have hailstones as well as the battles of Israelites.

Then verses 12, 13, and 14 are going to talk about a unique day because verse 12 tells us, “Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up…the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, ‘O sun, stand still at Gibeon. And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.’ So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation avenged themselves on their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar,” which we don’t have a copy of. “And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel. Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal.” You see this miraculous intervention of God. The sun stops; the moon stops. It’s evidently a local phenomenon, but it is a miracle. There in that part, some, if you read, will talk about well, the sun’s reflections continued there under the direction of God. However it happens, it’s a local phenomenon. There’s no indication this happens in other places of the world, but for this part of the world, the sun stops. Whether it continues to move, but the Lord continues to reflect the rays back into Israel… However, we have a miracle. It’s going to stay daylight so that Israel can continue the destruction of the enemy. Night won’t provide any relief or any opportunity for delay for reuniting and pulling together for a little greater battle. So, it’s a miracle, and I take it, it’s a local miracle. We don’t particularly look to find it in other places of the world. If you do some reading, you’ll find some debate on maybe it happened here or maybe it happened here. Both end up being just projections, but not really anything of substance. What happens here, I take it, takes place in that part of the land so Israel can finish their victory.

Joshua 10:16 summarizes it. “Now these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in the cave at Makkedah.” So, Joshua tells his people to roll up the stones. Cover the entrance to that cave, and let the man stay there. Leave a guard there and we’ll move on until we’ve defeated the rest. Verse 19, “’But do not stay there yourselves; pursue your enemies and attack them in the rear. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand.’” Then when the Lord had finished the slaughter, then you come on down to verse 22. “Then Joshua said, ‘Open the mouth of the cave’” where the five kings had hidden and now were entombed, in effect. They weren’t able to get out until they’re brought out. They put their feet on the necks of these kings to show their victory over them, and then Joshua said in verse 25, “’Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight.’” Now every city, every town, is not taken then, but the back of the enemy is broken. The major opponents have been dealt with, so that when they divide up the land, then each individual tribe becomes responsible for a clean up of the land. There is a failure there, but during the days of Joshua, they are primarily effective in doing what God tells them to do.

In verses 29 to 39, you have recorded then the rest of the subjugation of the southern part of Palestine, as we saw with Israel coming across the middle then going south. You’ll see the various towns and so on in there. So Joshua 10:40, “Thus Joshua struck all the land, the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings…just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea even as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen even as far as Gibeon. Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. So Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.” So they’re back at Gilgal now. They’ve had victory. In effect, the southern part of Palestine is conquered. It’s under the control of the Jews. It’s to be their land now; God had promised it to them over 400 years ago, pushing to 500 years ago, with Abraham—about 2,000 years before Christ. Now, the sin of the inhabiting nations had developed to the point God is willing to the nation Israel. So verse 42, “Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.” Now they can go back to Gilgal, which is sort of in the middle.

And what are we going to do now in chapter 11? We have to conquer the northern part of the land. Again, it doesn’t mean taking every city, because they’re going to find then, after chapter 11, where every city is going to have to be taken by the Israelites and each one will have to finish up and clean up their land. Some of them are not going to, but that’s the plan. Chapter 11 records the account of the northern. If you have it titled in your Bible as I do, it’s titled “Northern Palestine Taken”. That’s the plan, that the north will now be taken because the south has been taken. There are cities there that haven’t been. Jerusalem is not mentioned because Jerusalem does not finally get taken and subjugated and ruled until the time of David in 2 Samuel. So there’s one of the examples, but other cities remain to be taken. In chapter 11 of Joshua, we have the mopping up now with the northern part of the land. When the ones in the north hear what happens in the south, then they form a coalition. They’re going to try to do what they can to restrain the Israelites. We don’t have the exact terminology of how many people, what they were, and so on recorded here, but Josephus—he’s all the way down to the first century, so he would be in the time when we have our New Testament completed—writes that there were 300,000 foot soldiers, 10,000 cavalry soldiers, and 20,000 chariots. So, that’s a first-century input into how many were joined in the northern alliance to try to protect and keep Israel from moving in and taking over the land.

Joshua 11:6, “Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.’” Joshua’s encouraged with the coming victory because the Lord will give it. You’ll have a part, but basically, the Lord’s going to give you the victory, and you’ll acknowledge that by destroying and hamstringing the horses. When you hamstring the horses, you don’t have to kill them, but you’ll render them non-effective in military battle. They’ll still be usable for your own purposes, but you’ll burn the chariots and hamstring the horses. They might use them for some of the grain moving, but by and large, they’ll not be used as they have been prepared for.

You keep on coming down. Joshua 11:8, “The Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, so that they defeated them.” That progressive victory. Down in verse 15, “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.” If we went back, you’d find that this is just a carrying out of what God had promised to Moses and passed on because Moses was not able to lead the children of Israel into this final conflict of taking the land. Remember, he was taken up on the mountain and shown the land, and then he was to turn it over to Joshua. Joshua was to do what the Lord had commanded him, so he does. Joshua 11:16 tells us, “Thus Joshua took all that land: the hill country and all the Negev, all that land of Goshen, the lowland, and Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowland from Mount Halak,” and on it goes. Verse 18, “Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings.” Verse 19, “There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon.” That was sort of the dividing point there between the North and the South. We saw that in the previous chapters, where they made their peace with the people of Israel, the people of Gibeon. “For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” So the defeat that the north will experience as well… There’s no mercy to be shown. They had rejected the God of Israel and His people, so for 400 years, from the time of Abraham down until this time, there had been a deterioration. They were not open to receive the God of Israel and any grace from Him. You conclude with Joshua 11:23, “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war.”

Now chapter 12 is a simple chapter which we won’t spend any time in. It just lists all the tribes that God had defeated and given victory to the Israelites. Israel now had possession of their land, so that you’re ready for chapter 13. This begins the second major division of the book. The first twelve chapters are taken up with Israel’s conquering the land. Now, the last twelve chapters are concerned with distributing the land among the Jews. We can see the breakdown of the land. We had that on the previous chart that was given. On the third, we showed the southern conquering of the people there, then the northern. Then we had that overall picture of the twelve tribes of Israel and where they’re going to get their land. That’s what will encompass the remaining twelve chapters relating to the twelve tribes.

Chapter 13 begins, “Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when the Lord said to him, ‘You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.’” They’d broken the back of opposition and had defeated the major towns and cities that were going to come together to oppose them, but they still had a lot of ground to take. It took them about seven years in conquering the land. Now, each tribe becomes responsible for its own area. Sometimes, one will help another, but very little of the overall land of Israel is in Israel’s hand at this point. The back of the opposition has been broken, but there’s much to be taken. That’s what you have in chapters 13 and following.

Chapter 13 tells you the problem is that Israel is under the leadership of Joshua, and Joshua’s getting old. How old? We’re not told exactly. It’s estimated about 90 years at this stage. He’s going to die at 110, so he has some years to go, 20 years or so, but they are the closing years of his life. You won’t have the land fully conquered. Down in Joshua 13:8 and following to verse 33, the area across the Jordan… Remember there are two and a half tribes. You have Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh that are all on the east side of the Jordan River. The other tribes have the west side of the Jordan River. I think you pretty well have that fixed in your mind. So chapter 13, down through the closing verses, just tells you about the land and territory involved. It recounts some of the conquest of that land.

You come to Joshua 14 and you get Caleb’s request for a portion of the land. You have mention of the territories. Joshua 14:1, “Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them for an inheritance.” Caleb was 40 years old when he was sent to spy out the land. He’s 85 now. When we add together the years, and add seven years for taking the land, so 40 plus 38 plus 7 brings us to 85 years old. In the first twelve verses of chapter 14, you have Caleb basically being the major speaker. Joshua 14:7, “’I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back,’” and so on. Now verse 10, “’Now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years…now behold, I am eighty-five years old today.’” You have that timeline set in for the Jews. Now it’s time for us to break up the land. I’d like my portion to be given to me, so in these first twelve verses… Verse 13 summarizes it. “So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore, Hebron became an inheritance of Caleb.” Verse 15 of Joshua 14, “Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba.” You basically have presented that major division. Now, it becomes Caleb’s, and it becomes his part to finish taking that portion of the land and driving out the rest of the Canaanites, executing them if you will.

You get to Joshua 15 and you have Judah. Judah is the first tribe on the west side of the Jordan to receive an inheritance. So now we’re going to the tribe of Judah. It will receive its portion of the west side of the Jordan. Come down to Joshua 15:63. “Now as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day.” That’s what I had mentioned earlier—the people inhabiting Jerusalem continue to inhabit it. You see there’s a breakdown in Israel driving out and annihilating the remaining Canaanites, those different tribes that inhabited the land of Canaan. They were responsible to drive them out, but they don’t. For the next 400 years or so, until we get to the time of David, it will be a Canaanite city. That happens within the tribes of Israel, that they don’t drive out the Canaanites.

In chapter 16 and 17, you have tribes descended from Joseph, the one half-tribe of Manasseh—God’s inheritance on one side of the Jordan and the other half on the east side of the Jordan. However, neither one was successful in driving out the Canaanites from the land. In Joshua 16:10 you’ll note, “But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites live in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.” So instead of driving out some of these, they just conquered them, but they decided to keep them because you know, we’ve got a lot of land here to fertilize and plant crops on, so we will defeat them, but we won’t annihilate them.

That happens in chapter 16. In chapter 17, you have the territory of Manasseh. He has a similar kind of approach. You come down to Joshua 17:12. “But the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities, because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land. It came about when the sons of Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.” You have this partial response of obedience to God. Even when they become powerful enough, they don’t drive them out. They keep them as forced laborers. The problem with that is you have them becoming part of the land that is to belong to Israel. That will become a growing problem with the passing of time. The rest of the book of Joshua will involve the giving of those portions of the land, but we’re going to stop there.

Chapter 18 opens up. “Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh and set up a tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them.” But, they have more division of it now to take place. You’ll realize that the land is still going to have a mixed entity and people in the land who will not be assimilated into Israel. Israel being unique and having a unique distinction. But instead of destroying the people of the land in accord with the plan of God, they maintain those people and they will become a source of problem for the Israelites often on down through their history, although Israel maintains their hold on the land. But, these problems, like I said, it’s going to be 400 years until we get to David, who finally takes control of the city of Jerusalem. You see what’s going on when Israel doesn’t follow through with what the plan of God is. Eventually, they find it useful to have the inhabitants of the land dwell with them—dwelling in the land.

Alright, we’re going to take our break there and have a word of prayer. We’ll take a few minutes if you have any questions before we go. Let’s pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your word. Thank You for its simplicity, its clarity, and the work of Your people faithful to You, to a point. Lord, the areas where they were not faithful will become an ongoing problem for them, and a reminder that complete obedience is always of the best and only importance-the best position for us to have. Thank You for Your word. In Christ’s name, amen.

[Question] Where were all women and children?

[Answer] It seems they stayed at Gibeon, where a contingent of the soldiers would stay to protect them, so they seemed to stay there while the rest is being… That’s why they can come back and divide out the land. That’s important to note; the women and children and a contingent of the army as well stay at Gibeon during that time. Okay, we’ll be dismissed.