The Rest of the Old, Old Story

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Friday’s) Bible reading is Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges, beginning with chapters 1 through 5 on Monday.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Joshua 21

Chapter 21 describes the assignment of cities to the Levites. Notice that the Levites are divided into three families: Kohathites, Gershonite, and Merarites.

Aaron’s descendants, who were the priests, were part of the Kohathite family. It’s hard to see how his descendants needed 10 cities, since Aaron was only born 125 to 130 years earlier. Perhaps the priests had lots of servants or other Levites were with them as helpers to their work.

It’s also interesting to me that the priests received cities in Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon, while the rest of the Kohathites received cities in Ephraim. The Tabernacle had come to rest in Shiloh, which is in Ephraim, and it required service from priests for the daily sacrifices. Perhaps the priests had some sort of rotating schedule of service in Shiloh.

Joshua 21:43-45: All-Inclusive Language Revisited

I’ve been pointing out on a regular basis that all-inclusive language in the Scriptures is not always all inclusive. The reason I do this is because we as Christians often take confident stands on things that we ought not to be so certain about.

Verses 43 to 45 are an excellent example. We’re told that "none of their enemies could resist them" (v.44b, NET), yet we saw yesterday that the tribe of Dan couldn’t capture or dwell in their assigned territory. They wound up as far away from it as they could possibly get, in the northern tip of Israel, even though their assigned land was south of Judah! (This map shows both territories.)

Further, we’ve been reading about various people that the Israelites were not able to overcome (e.g., the Jebusites—Joshua 15:63).

So why does this passage say their enemies could not resist them? The reason is that it is generally true. The nation of Israel came straight out of the wilderness and destroyed all the nations of the Canaanites to take possession of the Promised Land in a few short years. They settled into it and grew in strength and power for centuries.

In other words, the Lord had provided for them exactly what he promised.

But!

But we need to beware that we don’t snatch a passage like Joshua 21:43-45 and hold to a literal meaning that doesn’t match the facts. Taking a stand on words like "all" and "every" is almost certain to lead you into error.

Joshua 22

Joshua 22 has an interesting story about the altar built by Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who had land on the east side of the Jordan.

There are two things I want to point out.

Notice that it is at Shiloh that all Israel gathered against their brothers. This is because the Tabernacle was at Shiloh (18:1).

Finally, this passage, especially as we head into Judges, 1 Samuel, and 2 Samuel, is another lesson about taking too strong a stand on what we think we know about Scripture. It is clear that all Israel took God’s command about only sacrificing at the Tabernacle very seriously. They were going to war with their brothers because they believed their brothers had set up an alternative altar to the one at the Tabernacle of the Lord in Shiloh.

As we read through the histories, however, we will find that when a man finds favor with God, he can flex the rules a bit. The prophet Samuel was offering sacrifices on a high place when he met Saul and anointed him the first king of Israel (1 Samuel 9). He built a separate altar for the Lord in his home town of Ramah (1 Sam. 7:17). King David offered sacrifices on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (one of the races Judah was unable to drive out) in order to stave off a plague of the Lord (2 Sam. 24). Neither of these men were Levites, much less priests, yet apparently they were guiltless before the Lord.

Joshua 23

At the end of his life, Joshua exhorts the Israelites to continue following God. It’s interesting to me that this was an emphasis of Paul and Barnabas when they returned to visit the churches they started (Acts 14:22). Scripture says we need to be encouraged "every day, as long as it is called today," to continue in God’s ways (Heb. 3:13).

Joshua 24

Joshua asks for a recommitment to the Lord from the tribes of Israel, and they give it. They only kept this commitment until Joshua and other elders who had seen the miracles of the Lord firsthand had died (v. 31).

Apparently, they weren’t good at teaching the Lord’s statutes "diligently to your children" and speaking of them "when you sit in the house, when you walk on the road, when you lay down, and when you get up" (Deut. 6:7).

It is horribly common for the Lord’s work to only last one generation because the saints are unable to pass real faith to their children. Do we speak of our faith in the house, on the road, as we go to bed, and beginning when we rise in the morning? Are we good examples of the faith we possess?

Finally, there’s some odd words in verses 25 and 26. Joshua, it says, gave the Israelites "a statute and an ordinance." That’s not odd, but the fact that he wrote it down in "the Law Scroll of God" is (v. 26, NET Bible). Did Joshua do some of the writing of the Law of Moses? Or is this merely a reference to the fact that Joshua 23 and 24, Joshua’s final exhortations to Israel, were written down and kept with the Law of Moses?

It’s also a little odd that there was a "sanctuary of the Lord" in Shechem (v.26, NASB). The NET Bible translates it as "the Lord’s shrine."

Joshua had gathered all the elders of Israel to Shechem, which might make us think the Tabernacle had been set up there. If that were the case, then that would explain "the sanctuary of the Lord." However, Judges 18:31 tells us that the "house of God" was still in Shiloh.

Hundreds of years passed between Joshua 18:1, when the Tabernacle was set up in Shiloh, and Judges 18:31, when it was still in Shiloh, so it’s not impossible that it was moved to Shechem, but there’s nothing about this passage in Joshua 24 to make us think that, other than the fact that "the sanctuary of the Lord" generally is a reference to the tabernacle. Obviously, the translators of the NET Bible felt that it’s not a reference to the Tabernacle because they chose to translate it as "shrine."

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Thursday’s) Bible reading is Joshua 16-20.
Friday, April 13: Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Joshua 16

A lot of today’s reading is just a description of the land allotted to each of the tribes. It’s best read with a map handy.

Here is a simple colored map of the tribal areas.

Here is an interactive map with city names.

Joshua 17

17:3-4 has the story of a family with no sons whose daughters were assigned land.

The descendants of Joseph got a double portion because his sons Manasseh and Ephraim each ended up with a tribe. Not satisfied with this double portion, they ask for more. Joshua gives it to them, but only if they go conquer the land themselves.

It’s surprising to me that they are willing to complain that this extra allotment might be too difficult to conquer because the inhabitants had chariots with iron wheels. After the entire congregation had wandered in the wilderness for over 38 extra years because of the fearful report of the spies, you would think that these sons of Joseph would be more frightened of God’s reaction than of the iron-wheeled chariots! Especially when they’re addressing Joshua, one of the two believing spies!

Joshua 18

The Tent of Meeting is set up at Shiloh, and Shiloh is an important city for a while. Keep in mind that there was no temple. That would have to wait four hundred years for Solomon. God still met Israel at the tabernacle the Israelites had made in the wilderness.

Thus, in a sense, Shiloh was the first capitol of Israel. Jerusalem would not be the capitol until King David, some 350 years later.

Joshua 19

Chapter 19 describes the land given to six of the tribes and Joshua. It may not be exciting to read all the city names when you don’t know where those cities are, but you should at least skim the chapter. There are always little tidbits hidden among the more "boring" stuff.

By the way, for advanced Bible students, there are sometimes amazing messages hidden in the names of the cities. If you get a computer Bible—I use the Online Bible, which is not online, but downloaded free to my computer—you can just click on the city name and see its translation. It’s very fast!

One of the tidbits in this chapter is that Judah’s land was too big for them. Thus, Simeon’s land was taken from Judah’s.

What’s interesting is that despite the fact that Simeon’s land was taken from the south of Judah, when the kingdom split under Rehoboam, ten tribes went with Israel, including Simeon. It was Judah and Benjamin that remained under the rule of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son.

Another interesting tidbit is that Dan was unable to capture their assigned lot. They were given the northern area of the Philistines, but when they failed, they moved completely across Israel to the north, winding up with a tiny portion of northernmost Israel. It’s only major city was Dan itself. (Look at the simple, colored map to see where those were.)

Joshua 20

Six cities were set aside as cities of refuge. A look at the map will show that they are well-spaced, one in the north, one central, and one in the south. Where you can’t find the specific city on the map, you can see where the tribal area was.

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Wednesday’s) Bible reading is Joshua 11-15.
Thursday, April 12: Joshua 16-20.
Friday, April 13: Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Joshua 11

Joshua 11 describes more of Israel’s conquests. Towards the end of the chapter, the "Anakim" are mentioned. They are mentioned because they were giants (Num. 13:33; Deut. 2:10-11).

The Anakim were destroyed in the land, but they were left in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod, which are Philistine cities. They were southwest of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean coast. It is likely that Goliath was a descendant of Anak.

The capture of the land of Canaan and the destruction of its inhabitants typifies deliverance from sin in our lives as Christians. The Canaanites that were left after Joshua’s campaigns led the children of Israel astray with the worship of false gods. In the same way, we must not leave any remnants of sin in ourselves. We must purge our own land so that sin, deceptive as it is (Heb. 3:13), does not creep back into our lives.

The term I’ve heard is that we must be "thorough" with ourselves, letting the Lord deal with every part of us.

Joshua 12

King Og of Bashan is said to be one of the few remaining Rephaites (v. 4). This is another race of giants. In fact, in most cases, the Hebrew word Rapha is simply translated "giant," though sometimes Bible translations leave it as Rapha or Rephaim (plural).

The Rephaim are mentioned along with the "Emim" in Genesis 14:5. The Emim are described as giants along with the Anakim in Deut. 2:10-11.

Joshua 13

It seems as though we’ve been told that Joshua has conquered all the land, but this chapter begins by telling us that much of the land remains to be conquered. Again, beware of taking all-inclusive language too literally.

Keep in mind that the Israelites were primarily taking possession of the narrow strip of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. God had promised them, however, all the land from the Euphrates to the Nile. Such an expansive kingdom would not happen until the time of David and Solomon and then never again.

This chapter gives the land divisions on the east of the Jordan, which Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh had asked for. Once the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean had been conquered for the remaining tribes, the men of those two-and-a-half tribes were free to return to their inheritance on the other side of the Jordan.

Joshua 14 and 15

Caleb was one of the two faithful spies—Joshua was the other—who went into the land when Moses first led the Israelites to Canaan. The people didn’t listen to Caleb and Joshua, so they were banished to the wilderness for 40 years until all the men over 20 died … except Caleb and Joshua.

Caleb was given Hebron, which was not just a city, but an area as well. We’ve already read that the city of Hebron was captured (10:36-37). Now we’re told that Caleb attacked Debir, but Debir had been already captured and destroyed as well (10:38-39).

My conclusion is that in chapter 10, we are reading an overview of the conquest of Canaan. Chapters 14 and 15 bring up Caleb’s part in that, and it was Caleb who led the capture of the cities of Hebron and Debir that we read about in chapter 10.

Chapter 15 begins a listing of the cities that were in Judah’s territories. In tomorrow’s reading, we’ll get the divisions given to the other tribes.

Obviously, these cities are unfamiliar to almost all of us. Reading through those cities is not going to be the most interesting reading, since you don’t know where hardly any of them are.

I recommend using a map. The internet has a real simple colored list of the tribal areas that can help give an overview, and then there’s an interactive map with lots of city names.

You don’t need to know all the cities, but it will be helpful to have an idea where Jerusalem is, as well as the five major Philistine cities: Ashdod, Gath, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron. They are major factors when we read about King David. You also should know the location of Samaria, the future capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Finally, take a look at Dan (far, far north), Bethel, and Shiloh, which are commonly mentioned cities throughout the histories we will read. Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, put golden calves in Dan and Bethel. Knowing where those cities are helps us understand why he chose those cities.

It wouldn’t hurt to note Mt. Hermon, considered the northern tip of Israel and mentioned throughout the Psalms, and Mt. Carmel (in the north on the coast), where Elijah has his famous battle with the priests of Baal.

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Tuesday’s) Bible reading is Joshua 6-10.
Wednesday’s is Joshua 11-15.
Thursday’s is Joshua 16-20.
Friday’s is Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Temporary New Bible Translation

Someone referred me to a Bible called the NET Bible. I haven’t had a chance to review it much, but I’m going to use it for this blog for a while.

I thought I’d give you the link in case you wanted to look at it, though.

What I liked about it, and the reason that someone recommended it to me, is that it actually lets you know that the Seraphim in Isaiah 6 are serpents. I have a page explaining why it’s a problem that most translations refer to these creatures as Seraphim in Isaiah 6, but then translate the word "seraphim" as serpents or snakes everywhere else it occurs in the Bible.

Joshua 6

This is the story of the conquest of Jericho.

Some interesting points:

• The priests blew ram’s horns all the way around the city, but the people were required to be silent until the final lap around the city on the seventh day.
• Israel actually walked around Jericho a total of thirteen times. One time each for six days, then seven times on the seventh day.
• The whole wall fell down. The warriors were all told to run straight ahead into the city. The exception was the portion of the wall where Rahab lived.
• Ancient Jericho was about 10 acres. It looks like it was about 3/4 of a mile around the city at the wall. Adding some distance to stay out of sling or bow shot from the wall would make the march at least a mile. So Israel attacked Jericho after walking at least 7 miles on the seventh day. There’s some interesting information here.
• Apparently, they marched on the Sabbath, too.

Rahab and her family were not only spared, but Rahab turned out to be King David’s great great grandmother (Matt. 1:5).

Joshua pronounced a curse on the site of Jericho, lest it be rebuilt (v. 26). This curse came to pass on a man named Hiel, from Bethel (1 Kings 16:34).

Joshua 7

Achan didn’t take the Lord’s warnings seriously concerning laying hands on Jericho’s riches. We’d do well to heed this, as one day we will all be judged by Jesus Christ. The great King is not an American, and merciful though he is, he will judge according to his word, not change it out of leniency.

It appears as well that the spies who spied out Ai hadn’t learned that strength is in the Lord, either. They decided that only 2 or 3,000 men were needed to take Ai. What they found is that no amount of people is enough when the Lord is against you.

That truth is worth meditating on. What are we able to do? Everything when Christ is with us (Php. 4:13), but apart from him we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5).

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit." You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. You ought to say instead, "If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (Jam. 4:13-16, NET Bible).

Joshua 8

Notice that God disagrees with the spies of chapter 7. He thinks the Israelites need 30,000 warriors, including 5,000 in ambush, to defeat the city of Ai.

It’s good to consult the Lord before you decide something is easy to do.

Joshua also has the people complete the ceremony of blessing and curses on Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim that Moses had mentioned in Deut. 27. (I misread Deut. 27 … and have misread it for 30 years! I thought the pronouncing of blessings and curses happened there in Deut. 27.)

Joshua 9

Joshua 9 drives home the point that we ought to consult the Lord in everything and not just trust what our eyes see.

Joshua 10

This chapter describes Joshua’s conquest of the rest of the land. Apparently, it wasn’t every city in the land because, as we will see tomorrow, there are more battles and more cities to take.

You can’t ever assume that all-inclusive language ("all the land"; v. 40, NASB) is all inclusive, as I’ve pointed out before. Very often, all-inclusive language concerns things that are just generally true.

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Monday’s) Bible Reading is Joshua 1-5.
Tuesday’s is Joshua 6-10.
Wednesday’s is Joshua 11-15.
Thursday’s is Joshua 16-20.
Friday’s is Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Joshua 1

The Book of Joshua is the story of the conquest of the land God promised to Israel. In this book and during the travels to the land of Canaan, it is primarily the land of Canaan, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, with which the Israelites were concerned. But notice in verse 4 that God has actually promised the Israelites all the land from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean.

That kind of expansion is for later, but it was reached under David and Solomon, when God was pleased with Israel and its leaders.

Joshua 1:8 is one of the more popular memory verses, and for good reason.

Joshua 2

This is the story of the 2 spies and Rahab. This is a prophecy that modern Christians do not miss, but know about. The spies have Rahab tie a scarlet cord in her window, which marks salvation not just for her, but for her whole houses.

The scarlet cord represents the blood of Christ, of course, and Rahab’s family will only be saved if they are in the room marked by the scarlet cord.

Joshua 3

Israel miraculously crosses the Jordan directly across from Jericho.

Imagine the faith it must have taken to send the Ark of the Covenant marching into the flooding Jordan River. Only someone with experience with God and the Word of God would have that kind of faith.

God promises Joshua that he will support him just as he supported Moses, and the Jordan River splits like the Red Sea did when the feet of the Levites hit the water.

Note, too, that the priests were standing on dry ground, not muddy ground, and the rest of the Israelite camp crossed on dry ground as well. This was a notable miracle performed by God.

Joshua 4

The Israelites set up an altar at their camp site after crossing the Jordan, and Joshua also set up stones in the middle of the Jordan at the priest’s feet. God has always been a God of memorials, wanting to continually remind his people of the things he has done.

Today, we have the Lord’s Supper to bring the work of Christ before our remembrance.

Gilgal is a name you will want to remember. It comes up often. Sometimes it’s difficult to picture where all these places are. Gilgal, as we see, is at the east edge of Jericho.

Joshua 5

It seems odd that the Israelites did not circumcise their children during their travels in the wilderness, but they didn’t. So Joshua takes care of that now before they begin their conquest of the land of Canaan.

At the end of this chapter, we find one more appearance of the Word and Son of God. He appears to Joshua as "the Captain of the army of Yahweh." Joshua recognizes him as lord, and the Captain tells Joshua to take of his shoes because the ground is holy. This seals the Captain’s identity as the same God that appeared to Moses some 40 years earlier, not too far away on the other side of the Jordan, in the burning bush.

Again, the Scriptures tell us that no man has seen God at any time (Jn. 1:18), which is a reference to the fact that it is not the Father, but the Son, who appears on earth to men.