I want to add a few thoughts to the reading from yesterday.
First, Joshua 11:18 says that the war went on a long time. It seems, for us, that it's been quick, I mean, we just started reading about it this week and now it's almost over. Obviously the Lord has given us an abbreviated version. Today we'll find out how long the fighting lasted from crossing the Jordan to the point of dividing the Land. Even there, the Lord will tell us that there were still a lot of peoples and cities to fight against.
Second, what did you think about Joshua 11:19-20? God hardened the kings so they would fight against Israel, but there were some examples of mercy and grace to balance the hardening. I don't believe these kings wanted to make peace, but God overwhelmed their wills and bent their minds to madness. I think the hardening is that he made them confident in their madness.
Third, In Joshua 11:21-22 you read about the Anakim. The reason for mentioning these people makes more sense if you substitute the word "giants" for Anakim. Notice where the giants had to live. Israel never ruled over those cities until David was king. You'll notice that one of those 3 cities had an infamous son who was a giant. With God at your side, big guys make big targets. Big problems often lead to huge opportunities.
Joshua 13-14
Joshua 13:1-7
This summary mentions that even though the military might of Canaan was broken, there were still people and cities to be removed. Even after great victories in our lives, God still keeps things in our lives that make us live by faith where we have to depend on Him. The introduction to the book of the Judges explains this too.
Joshua was an older man and the fact that God tells him that indicates that his days of fighting were over. He had done what God wanted, the military might was smashed, now the next great task would be assigning the people the land. It could be that Joshua was 100 at this point.
Remember too, that this is an incredible moment in the plan of God and the life of the nation. They are about to be given a piece of the Promised Land promised to Abraham.
Also, as boring as these sections might seem, the fact that they are recorded in the Bible made them official real estate documents.
Joshua 13:8-33
The description of dividing the land begins with what Moses had already done.
Notice in this chapter how often it's mentioned that the Levites had no inheritance.
V. 12 Og was also a giant. Remember how the spies spooked everyone with the mention of giants.
V. 13 A sad commentary that we'll find in Judges.
Joshua 14:1-5
This is the summary of how the land in Canaan would be divided.
Joshua 14: 6-15
Apparently, as the word was communicated to the tribes, that the land would now be divided, Caleb comes forward.
This is a great section, listening to the faith of this guy.
Notice that this section gives us a time marker. We know now how long Israel has been at war. Caleb was 40 when he went out as a spy. Israel had already been in the wilderness being ordered as a nation for a year and a half. Then they wandered for 38 and a half years. So, Caleb would have been 78 when they crossed the Jordan. Now that Caleb is 85, it means that they have been at war for 7 years.
Apparently Caleb wasn't afraid of giants. You know, big guys make big targets.
Luke 18:1-17
So, Jesus has just told His disciples that things will get bad for them and really bad for His followers during the Tribulation. I guess that discussion was not so motivational for the disciples. Now He tells them to pray instead of losing heart.
Luke 18:2-8
Notice that although the overall meaning of the story is for perseverance and pestering God in prayer, the object of the parable is begging for justice and deliverance. Verse 7 points to the focus of this crying out and verse 8 refers, again, to the Tribulation and the second coming of Christ.
Notice that the idea of praying and not giving up and being disheartened kind of sounds like God's words / command to Joshua, be strong and of good courage.
Vs. 7-8 promise a quick response from God. This has to be understood during the time of the Tribulation. During that judgment on the earth, there will be an almost one-to-one correspondence between the persecution of the believing, to God's terrifying acts of judgment toward nations. As God brings judgment, instead of the masses of people repenting and coming to God, they will rail against Him and go after His people. But the more they go after the elect, the more God judges them. You'll see all of this when we get to Revelation at the end of the year. If you're interested now, reading Revelation 9-17 should give you a sense of this.
But even for us now in the harvest, we are to be crying out to God day and night. If it takes great disaster to make us cry out to God, and we're not crying out now, we really don't see life as it is. The believers in the Tribulation will be living and testifying for Christ as the world gets darker and darker. Is our world really any different? We may not be visually losing massive numbers of people to "natural" disasters, but each day we are losing incredible numbers of people to death, dying in their sins and going to hell.
Notice Jesus' question in verse eight. Faith continues to cry out. Faith knows that the only deliverance is God. Faith understands that the only one who can help is God. In a land, and during a time, when we have so many resources, is it any wonder why we don't cry out? When our lives are focused on us and not on those who don't yet know Christ, we have everything we need and don't need to cry out. Will the Son of Man find faith when He returns to the earth or will He just find religious belief? Not all religious belief is Faith, even in our camp, if Faith doesn't reflect a biblical and personal mandate to reach the lost with the Gospel of Christ.
Luke 18:9-14
Verse 9 gives you the guide to understanding what He's about to say. These people who were to be cautioned by this parable were most likely disciples. The fact that a Pharisee was used in the parable is like Jesus saying, "Don't be a Pharisee."
Just like the "unworthy servant" who had only done what was required of him, even though we know and serve Christ, our prayer is to be like this tax collector, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." We carry the body of death until we leave this place or are still around when Jesus comes and are changed. As disciples in the harvest, the minute we lose our perspective on our own lives, our own sin, the miracle of our own salvation, we lose compassion for the perishing. The grace we've received is what should move us to tell others, or as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:13-15, "For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
Luke 18:15-17
And here is a case in point regarding the perspective of the disciples. The disciples' problem with letting children be brought to Jesus for blessing was not theological, but a matter of their own standard of "importance" and "worth." Jesus tells them that they need to look to those who have faith. A good lesson for us as disciples in the harvest. Who has faith to believe? Sometimes, the people we should be working with to trust Christ are not the people on our "A" list.
Psalm 85
It is interesting how often a prayer for the future is based on what God has done in the past. Knowing what God has done in the past, gives us hope for the future. Reading through the Bible like this will be a great benefit to your praying and your faith as you become more familiar with how God love and helped people in the past, unfolding His plan of redemption.
Proverbs 13:7-8
Verse 7 appears to say that if riches are what you want, they will twist you and warp you whether you have them or not. 1 Tim. 6:9-10 talks about the "wonderful" effects of the desire to have money. The poor (and righteous and content?) may not have the resources, but they also don't have the trouble and the twisting.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
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