Joshua 11-21 Recap | OT Ep 28

In this epidsode, Austin and Ashley continue the narrative in the Book of Joshua, exploring the historical context of the Israelites' conquest of Canaan, the significance of God's sovereignty, the distribution of land among the tribes, and the role of the Levites. The discussion highlights Caleb's faith, the consequences of incomplete conquests, and the concept of God's faithfulness to always keep His promises.

Land Allotment Map:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gMQltFK4PrwZrikjmtM6uICGWou7t-ym/view?usp=sharing

Reading Plan - Old Testament in One Year
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tSmSv3JOd-gCJS6VSFMtu-iv14NZ45_M/view?usp=sharing

Transcript

Hey everyone,

My name is Austin. And my name is Ashley. Welcome to the Clean Slate Podcast. Where we're finding Jesus in the Old Testament.

Welcome in friends to episode 28. Today we're going to be recapping Joshua chapters 11 through 21. So in the last episode, we left off at the end of chapter 10 with the conquest of Southern Canaan. Chapter 11 continues in similar fashion, but moves to the conquest of Northern Canaan. We see in the first section that multiple kings in the Northern kingdoms combined their forces and came out with what the Bible calls a great hoard in number like the sand on the seashore.

And seeing this, you could absolutely understand why the Israelites could potentially hit the panic button. But the Lord just cuts that off and in verse six, God tells them again, do not be afraid of them. And Joshua and the army have seen time after time now that God tells them, do not be afraid and they win the battle. while they might have noticed the number of soldiers, we see they jumped right into God's promise to them here and it holds true.

Joshua and his men defeat every single army that came out against them that day. Verse 16 kind of starts to reminisce on Joshua's conquests, listing all the land that he has captured. And since we reading this narrative recounted, it's easy to miss that this was years worth of conquest. But verse 18 tells us, Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.

what scholars believe to be about seven years based on other things that have dates, particularly Caleb's age, as revealed in various points of scripture.

Picking up in verse 19, it says, Now this is a spot worth stopping for.

We have this phrase here that we all need to deal with in the fact that man has responsibility for his actions, but God also has absolute sovereignty.

The Apostle Paul is a great resource for us on this and pretty much everything else. But Paul says this in Romans chapter 9 verses 14 through 18.

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

So you see friends, by hardening the hearts of those whose hearts are already set against the Lord, He allows the full extent of human sinfulness to show itself. We see this concept on full display on the cross. Acts 2.23 tells us, Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. He was crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Those people meant it for evil.

that God meant it for good. And that concept of God's sovereignty and being in absolute control has become the warm blanket for Austin and I through some very difficult seasons in our lives, and we're very thankful for it.

chapter closes with Joshua's army cutting off the Anakim. Now this is significant because remember, these were the giants whom the spies said compared to them, we are like grasshoppers and caused Israel to fear and doubt. So the very last verse in the chapter reads, 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 tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

Now let's not get confused here. Remember that Joshua was written as a narrative after these events occurred. So you'll see this concept in the next chapter also, but it kind of says what happens on a macro scale and then continues with the details of the land divisions and the conquering events in chapters 13 through 19.

So chapter 12, just like verse one says, is a verse by verse list of the kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated and took possession of their land beyond the Jordan. And if you read on, you see that there are some unfamiliar kings listed, a total of 31 kings. We haven't seen that many kings defeated yet, but again, we are gonna hear the details about the conquering of the rest of these kings in the coming chapters.

Chapter 13 begins with God speaking directly to Joshua from verse 1 to verse 7.

God is telling Joshua that he is old, so he and Israel need to get moving.

I'd like to remind us of how the tribes are talked about just in number. Remember, there are 12 tribes, but if you're counting in this chapter, you'll notice that there are actually 13 tribes mentioned. That's because Joseph's tribe is split into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. That's just helpful to remember as you're going through.

verse 8 to 32 are recounting of Moses giving inheritance to Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben east of the Jordan River before they entered the promised land.

Verse 33 ends with Joshua reminding us that Levi doesn't get a land inheritance, but they have,

quote, the Lord God of Israel, end quote, as their inheritance.

There are actually four different ways that this idea of the tribe of Levi's inheritance are described in both Joshua and Numbers.

one of those times that it's talked about,

It says the offerings by fire to the Lord are their inheritance. Another says the priesthood of the Lord is their heritage and so on.

is that the Levites don't get land, they get God as an inheritance, which I would say is a much better deal.

The Bible says to Christians, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

Believer, this is talking about you and I.

We are a priesthood called by God and like the Levites, our ultimate inheritance is not land, though land is good thing, which are fine, but we get Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit all the days of our life, which in Christ are never ending. I'll make that trade any day of the week.

In chapter 14, we see Caleb, remember the other spy that went into the land with Joshua four decades ago, is still alive and doing well.

You may notice how verse 6 tells us that Caleb is a Kenazite. I love that little detail there because this is yet again a non-Israelite that God has folded into his covenant people. I know Ashley has mentioned this a few times, but it cannot be overstated. God has always been about bringing people into his family.

Caleb tells Joshua that he is still strong and fit for fighting and coming in and going out.

Caleb asked Joshua to give him the hill country that he would go in and drive the people out of that land.

One thing I want to make note of is that if you're reading this now or you go back and read it, in verse 12, Caleb is talking, and my translation says it this way, it says, it may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said. Now, the translations vary a little bit on what Caleb says, but the heart behind the statement is the same. Please note, this isn't Caleb doubting the Lord in some way. It is Caleb not speaking out of presumption.

to ask for anything that lines up with God's will and His plan in faith. But we must always steer clear of presumption.

One of my favorite places that you kind of see this concept that I'm talking about, you know, speaking in faith and not in presumption is Ezekiel chapter 37. And you know, we'll get there eventually, but that's another really good spot

So moving into chapter 15, that chapter records Judah's territory as well as Caleb being successful in his mission. Caleb and his men accomplished taking the cities he had asked Joshua about in the last chapter, showing that God was indeed with him.

The rest of chapter 15 is discussing Judah's territory, which is vast. We'll try to link a map since that really is a lot easier to understand than hearing someone talk about it.

Judah does wind up with the largest piece of land out of the tribes. And if you remember back to Genesis when Jacob, who is also called Israel, is blessing his sons, Judah actually gets the largest blessing. It makes sense then in one respect

that the tribe of Judah would wind up with the largest piece of land out of the twelve tribes.

In chapter 16, we're given the layout of the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh. In verse 10, we also get these words. Quote, however, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites had lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day, but had been made to do forced labor. I'll circle back the forced labor part in a bit.

Even though I haven't mentioned it yet, in the reading plan you've actually already seen similar verbiage a couple of times in the preceding chapters.

I wanted to point this out as we move forward because there is a pattern developing.

In chapter 17 we the daughters of Zalophehad, who we had covered in a past episode, approach Joshua and remind him of what they and Moses had discussed, and Joshua honored what Moses had agreed which was making sure that they had lands that their father's name would not end.

verse 12 and 13, we get another verse in our pattern that I mentioned just a moment ago. Quote, yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. Now, when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out. End quote.

And then the people of Manasseh and Ephraim came to Joshua and basically told him that there is enough room for them since God had blessed them and they had grown.

Joshua then sort of turns that back on him in verse 17 and says, well, you are a numerous people and you have great power. You shall not have one allotment only. Joshua essentially tells him another land that can go and conquer and have more room.

The tribes push back on Joshua, but Joshua doesn't yield.

Because if you think about it, this was the only solution to their problem other than Joshua giving them land from one of the other tribes, which he was certainly not going to do.

In chapter 18, the first 10 verses kind of show us this sort of a draft or lottery system that we're going to set up to divvy up the remaining land. In verse 3, Joshua asked the people of Israel, going in to take possession of land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you? I was listening to someone comment on this the day and he was explaining that in the Hebrew,

What Joshua said was something more akin to, how long will you be slack? So in other words, he was calling them slackers.

In verse 4, we see that three men from each tribe went out and surveyed the land,

and then Joshua divided it by casting lots among the remaining tribes who had not yet received their inheritance. Those that had already received their inheritance would remain in place.

The rest of Chapter 18, and all of 19, and almost all of 20 explain the plots of land that were divided up between the remaining tribes.

Again, I don't find it helpful to comment on that. It really is best to look at a map to try to kind get your head around where the tribes were.

I do want to end this session by talking about the pattern of the people of Israel not totally driving out the inhabitants of land.

We'll see sooner rather than later how much of an error that was. And remember, it was the Lord who had told them not to leave anyone remaining in the land. God warned them that the people would tempt them into worshipping other gods.

And if you recall our episode on Deuteronomy chapter 28, that will lead to disastrous consequences.

One final note on that pattern, in several places we're told that the Israelites made the people they left to do hard labor. Keep in mind, this is not what God commanded. This is another place that can cause confusion because at a glance, one might assume this is God signing off on slavery. It's not. This is an accounting of what happened. And what happened, as I've just said, is they failed to do what God commanded them to drive the people out of the land.

In chapter 20, the Lord reminds Joshua about the cities that he had appointed through Moses as cities of refuge. Remember that this is a beautiful gospel glimpse, and if you haven't heard me drone on about it, you can visit pretty much any other episode talking about cities of refuge, particularly in Deuteronomy chapter 4. Then in chapter 21, the Levites approach Joshua saying, the Lord commanded through Moses to give us not an inheritance,

but a place to live and for our herds to dwell and graze. And that happened in Numbers 35, that each tribe should give a portion of their inheritance for them to dwell in. And the most interesting thing is that the way the Lord laid this out, the Levites were to be given 48 cities, which include the six cities of refuge.

And those cities were scattered all throughout the tribes so that they could fulfill their duties of teaching the Israelites as a whole. We see the majority of the chapter is not only showing a historical record of what cities were given to them, but that each of the tribes did give up those cities as they were supposed to.

Now the chapter ends with this super encouraging summary of the Lord's faithfulness to keep His promises, and that while they are not free from enemies completely, the Lord has made sure that not one of their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. And to end it with verse 45, not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass.

And friends, we have a promise that the Lord has made to us also, that we can find forgiveness and restoration through Jesus. If you call upon his name for salvation and repent of your sins, that you will be saved. Praise the Lord that all his promises come to pass.

We're gonna pick back up with Joshua chapter 22 in our next episode. May his grace abound to you and to me as we study to find Jesus in the Old Testament.