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Tag: joshua

You Will Not Be Led -8- All but Two
Joshua & Caleb

Observe carefully those faithful to the LORD and also leaders faithful to Moses. Then listen to the grumbling rabble of the disobedient and see a stark contrast.

Two faithful successors stand out because these contemporaries of Moses (who began this forty year exodus at age 80) stood faithfully with the LORD’s anointed leader: Joshua and Caleb.

So the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water so that we may drink!” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?”
Joshua did just as Moses told him..
Exodus 17:2, 10a NASB2020

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said,
“We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it.”
Numbers {In The Wilderness} 13:30 NASB2020

You Will Not Be Led into the Promised Land

We could have begun our pilgrimage much earlier than Noah.

“I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
Genesis 9:11

Even though Abraham was far from sinless, the Books of Moses follow his blessings and covenants with the LORD.

As we approached the Promised Land we noted the disobedience of Lot’s wife, sin in the cities pervasive beyond the Jordan near the Dead Sea.

And it would seem that Moses, the LORD’s chosen leader in the wilderness encounters nothing but complaint, disobedience and sin by the ‘chosen’ now stranded in the desert.

While journeying from Mount Sinai to the promised land, although mention is made of important events delaying the Hebrews in the wilderness, I have not dwelled on an important consequence of disobedience we suppose to be just part of the Hebrew journey —

40 YEARS! in the wilderness

Numbers: [Bamidbar] 13:

25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, they went on and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh..

.. “We came into the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

28 Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And indeed, we saw the descendants of Anak there!

30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, because they are too strong for us.” 32 So they brought a bad report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel…

Numbers 14:

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.

6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes…

10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel…

Moses then pleads for their lives

¹¹And the Lord said, “.. I will strike them with plague and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people up from their midst…

19 .. Please forgive the guilt of this people in accordance with the greatness of Your mercy, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” So the Lord said,

“I have forgiven them in accordance with your word..”

וְאוּלָם חַי־אָנִי וְיִמָּלֵא כְבוֹד־יְהוָה אֶת־כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
Numbers 14:21 KJV

Therefore – your punishment!

14:22 כִּי כָל־הָאֲנָשִׁים הָרֹאִים אֶת־כְּבֹדִי וְאֶת־אֹתֹתַי אֲשֶׁר־עָשִׂיתִי בְמִצְרַיִם וּבַמִּדְבָּר וַיְנַסּוּ אֹתִי זֶה עֶשֶׂר פְּעָמִים וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ בְּקוֹלִֽי׃
- Because all those men which have seen my glory [kāḇôḏ],
- and my miracles [ôṯ], which I did in Egypt
- and in the wilderness,
- and have tempted [nāsâ]me now these ten times,
  - (i.e. [10 X] they would NOT be led by the LORD!)
- and have not hearkened [šāmaʿ– shaw-mah’ ] to my voice…
shâmaʻ, shaw-mah’ – שָׁמַע

Strong’s Definitions – H8085 matches the Hebrew שָׁמַע (šāmaʿ), which occurs 1,169 times in 1,072 verses in the Hebrew concordance of the NASB

to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.):—× attentively, call (gather) together, × carefully, × certainly, consent, consider, be content, declare, × diligently, discern, give ear, (cause to, let, make to) hear(-ken, tell), × indeed, listen, make (a) noise, (be) obedient, obey, perceive, (make a) proclaim(-ation), publish, regard, report, shew (forth), (make a) sound, × surely, tell, understand, whosoever (heareth), witness.

Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
Numbers 14:23 KJV

A spirit of obedience perseveres

24 But as for My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it…
```
We read the following previously in "You Will Not Be Led."
```
26 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron again, saying,

27 “How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel which they are voicing against Me.

28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you;

‘your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness,’

‘all your numbered men according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me…’

31 ‘Your children, however,

whom you said would become plunder—I will bring them in,

and they will know the land which you have rejected.

But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness.”

And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
Numbers 14:33 KJV
Why 40 Years?

The distance from Mount Sinai to the place where the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the promised land is about 400 kilometers or only about 250 miles.

‘In accordance with the number of days that you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall suffer the punishment for your [fn]guilt a year, that is, forty years, and you will know My opposition.
Numbers 14:34 NASB2020
The Rabble React

39 Now when Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly…

41 But Moses said, “Why then are you violating the command of the Lord, when doing so will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, to prevent you from being defeated by your enemies.

⁴⁴But they presumed to go up unto the hill top.. (while Moses and the Ark of the Covenant remained) .. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites .. struck them and scattered them…

After Forty YEARS!

Deuteronomy 9:

Shema, Yisroel: Thou art to pass over Yarden today, to go in to possess Goyim greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and walled up to Shomayim
Devarim 9:1 Orthodox Jewish Bible

Hear, O Israel: You are crossing the Jordan today…3 Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God

is he which goeth over before thee;

as a consuming fire he shall destroy them,

and he shall bring them down before thy face:

so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly,

as the Lord hath said unto thee.

a few REMINDERS:
- 4 “Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them away from you,
  - ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to take possession of this land.’
  - Rather, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you.
- 5 It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to take possession of their land,
  - but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out from before you,
  - and in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6 “Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.

.. 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not turn Your attention to the stubbornness of this people, or to their wickedness, or their sin.

Do YOU turn with the 10 against the Lord in the Wilderness?

And they said to Joshua, “The LORD has indeed handed over to us all the land; furthermore, all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of us.” -Joshua 2:24

OR do you follow His leadership like Joshua & Caleb?
March 19, 2021
You Scoffers Who Rule Jerusalem – a Bed too Short
Perhaps by now you know from introduction in my previous post that the complainant in this case is the LORD. His indictment of leaders is not my complaint for today, but that of the prophet of Judah in the eighth century BC. Therefore Isaiah approaches these leaders, scoffers who rule Jerusalem with warnings from the LORD.

Scoffers who rule …

Our application, of course, may call the question to our own nations:

Are our leaders also scoffers who rule with a bed too short?

Let’s return to excerpts from the LORD’s rebuke from where we began previously. (You may follow various translations, including Hebrew, on the link below.)

Scoffers who rule Israel

Isaiah 28:

14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 For you said, “We have made a covenant with Death,
and we have an agreement with Sheol;
when the overwhelming catastrophe passes through,
it will not touch us,
because we have made falsehood our refuge
and have hidden behind treachery.”

Did the catastrophe pass over the Jewish leaders of Isaiah’s day?

Again, as I pointed previously in our chronology of Israel, it did not. The Jews were overrun by Assyria in that day, as Empires rise and fall even unto this day. So what does the Lord promise through Isaiah to a people about to be taken from their homes to a foreign land?

A Cornerstone in Zion

If you do not already know it, you will find it helpful here to understand some significance of Zion to Hebrew history.

צִיּוֹן

Zion (153x), Sion (1x). Zion = “parched place,” a “sunny mountain,” a fortress, the southern and higher hill (of the LORD) upon which Jerusalem is built. On it set Mount Moriah, where the Temple was built and the LORD worshiped. It is used for the holy “city of David” specifically and for all of Jerusalem in general, especially by the prophets: Isaiah 47x, Jeremiah 32x and six other prophets 30x.

16a [NASB] Therefore thus says the Lord God,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.

This from the LORD, of course, is prophecy. The question we must understand is not only when, but the identity of this symbolic cornerstone of the Temple.

Who IS this costly cornerstone of Israel’s future? And what makes this Savior of Israel so costly to the LORD?

The one who believes will remain anchored to the Cornerstone of the heavenly Temple, established with justice as it’s measuring line and righteousness as its level.

Yet if you do not hold to this cornerstone, a stumbling block to scoffers who rule without guidance from God — if you support godless scoffers who rule — then you will stumble as well on the cornerstone of righteousness. For like those you manipulate, you cannot hide on the day of your accounting before the LORD.

What does Isaiah predict?

Isn’t this the same prophet we hear quoted every year in this season leading up to remembering a birth of righteousness, the Cornerstone in Zion that rebuilds the Temple of the LORD for all time?

Yes, Isaiah prophesies not only the fall of Jerusalem in their near future, but the coming of the Messiah of Israel born some seven centuries later.

Consequence for Scoffers Who Rule

Have you leaders been hiding behind lies of convenience?

“Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies…

Can you really hide the truth of your sins forever?

“And the waters will overflow the secret place.

The LORD and others, even your enemies, will find you out.

“and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through
you will be beaten down by it.

19 [CSB] Every time it passes through,
it will carry you away;
it will pass through every morning—
every day and every night.
Only terror will cause you
to understand the message.

NO PLACE TO HIDE FROM THE LORD GOD!

Hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule any of God’s people anywhere.

Isaiah’s imagery shows the futility of trying to keep your sin from God, for it will be shown to others.

Perhaps you will take this warning as your one and only opportunity to repent of your sin. Maybe just one of our scoffers who rule will humbly return to fear of the Lord, our heavenly Father.

The Bed too short

Do you recall when you were a child how you thought that you could hide from your father under the bed or from fearful noises under the covers.

Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,
and its cover too small to wrap up in.
Isaiah 28:20 CSB

Isaiah illustrates that leaders seeking rest from any but God as laughable at best, but futile in any instance. Judah was burdened with threats from and alliances with other leaders. They sought rest from war and peace with the world flowing through their porous defences.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 NLT

Once Isaiah mentions their frustration of trying to sleep on a bed too short (their alliances with other evil leaders) and of remaining of cover of their trust in others, he again proceeds to prophesy what must happen.

Parazim & Gibeon

21 [NASB] For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim,
He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,
To do His task, His unusual task,
And to work His work, His extraordinary work.

You scoffers who rule in other places must understand the significance of these places to which Isaiah refers.
```
So David came to Baal-perazim and defeated them there; 
and he said, 
“The LORD has broken through my enemies before me 
like the breakthrough of waters.” 
Therefore he named that place Baal-perazim.
They abandoned their idols there, 
so David and his men carried them away. 
- 2 Samuel 5:20-21
```
David, King of a once-united Israel, did not win the land and the people without the help of the LORD!

And there in his victory, David gave thanks to the Lord before the people of the land. Yet before David and following leadership of another revered man of God and giver of the Law [Torah], Joshua also credits the LORD who has taken this land from their enemies.

Joshua 10:10 And the LORD confounded them before Israel, and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

Warning & Advice to Scoffers Who Rule

Isaiah speaks to scoffers of God. Yet are your ears this day so filled with twisted speech that you do not even understand the significance of his warning?

לוּץ

Scoffers translated from Hebrew luwts holds a pointed meaning. From Strong’s Concordance:

לוּץ lûwts, loots; a primitive root; properly, to make mouths at, i.e. to scoff; hence (from the effort to pronounce a foreign language) to interpret, or (generally) intercede:—ambassador, have in derision, interpreter, make a mock, mocker, scorn(-er, -ful), teacher.

“(from the effort to pronounce a foreign language) to interpret..” Sounds like #media, doesn’t it?

Do you think even in seven-hundred some years before Christ scoffers who rule were any different than those who rule this day in the year of our Lord 2019?

Of course not! These men and women of power: scorn, make mouths at, talk arrogantly; They boast, mock and deride.

Isaiah warns:

22 Now therefore, do not be mockers,
Lest your bonds be made strong…

Shall I mock Isaiah, scripture and the word of the Lord?

(What do you think? Do you, your leaders or even opponents fear your shackles of slavery to lies tightening?)

For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts
Of decisive destruction on all the earth.
Isaiah 28:22b NASB

Decisive destruction on all the earth. It is not the causes for which these ambassadors of hypocrisy which will destroy the earth, the Lord God at a time and place of His Own choosing.

Where’s a leader to hide?

Again, Isaiah’ illustration of the futility of it all.
- 24 Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?
- Or does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
There’s a process here, a plan of the Lord; and you will be a part of it.
- 25 Does he not level its surface
- And sow dill
- scatter cummin
- And plant wheat in rows,
- Barley in its place
- and rye within its area?
God’s ordered ways

26 [CSB] His God teaches him order;
he instructs him.

27 Certainly black cumin is not threshed
with a threshing board,
and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin.
But black cumin is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Bread grain is crushed,
but is not threshed endlessly.
Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles,
his horses do not crush it.

Even a king, prime minister or president in a palace will see the ridicule of the farmer using the wrong tool to accomplish his purpose. Perhaps even a scoffer in Congress, Parliament or leadership claiming the rule of Law will see their own error and return to the Lord.

Woe to the scoffers who rule the worldly cities.

We cannot nearly complete the prophesies of Isaiah today. For if I continue, like Isaiah’s critics you would surely complain:

“Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.”

Therefore in closing I’ll caution US.

Hear the Lord your God, for woe is akin to death. Isaiah uses it more than any other Prophet of the Lord.

Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,
For what he deserves will be done to him. – Isaiah 3:11 NASB

Woe to those who enact evil statutes
And to those who constantly record unjust decisions,
So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of their rights…
Now what will you do in the day of punishment,
And in the devastation which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth?
excerpt: Isaiah 10:1-3 NASB

After these warnings to leaders of the nations and specifically Judah, Isaiah warns:

“Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—
An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!
Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?
Isaiah 45:9 NASB

In a time yet to come — neither next Wednesday nor next year — Isaiah shows hope in a day to come and judgment against those who refuse the Way of the Lord, even those who yet deny the Truth Who IS and will judge from the Throne of Heaven, even those scoffers who rule in this life lacking regard for the Life that is to come — the life or the punishment after death.

The LORD Rises Up

Isaiah 33:

Woe, you destroyer never destroyed,
you traitor never betrayed!
When you have finished destroying,
you will be destroyed.
When you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.

2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for You.

Blessing or Woe?

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. – Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. – Matthew 5:7

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:10

But woe to you, blind guides… scoffers who rule…

“Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. –Luke 11:46

Woe to the city of blood, totally deceitful, full of plunder, never without prey. – Nahum 3:1

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;
They will see the land that is very far off.
Isaiah 33:17 NKJV

The Scroll of Isaiah

Luke 4:

17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”
The words of the Messiah Jesus from the Gospel of Luke 4:21

And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 19:16 NKJV
November 27, 2019
That you may have Certainty – 4 – But you have not obeyed

That you may have Certainty in these Uncertain Times

Recall the guiding theme of our post-resurrection series is witness from the introduction of Luke-Acts and Jesus’ assurances to followers. We continue with the uncertain entry into Canaan after the death of Joshua. Our further focus looks at the consequences of those who had not obeyed the instruction of the Lord.

We know well Moses’ struggle with those who refused to obey the Law, but once again obedience comes into question. The lasting consequence from those those who had not obeyed the Lord became generational struggles for Israel. Obedience to the Law and Commandments became the foundation of righteousness for this people of God, but did not bring complete certainty.

The Hebrew people who complained as slaves saved from Egypt, who challenged Moses and then Joshua now enter another uncertain time of transition.

Judges 2:

10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.

Obedience and Covenant

Joshua 23:

Joshua’s Charge to Israel’s Leaders

23 A long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, ²Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years.³And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you.

Like Moses and other fathers of the faith Joshua calls the congregation of the people together and witnesses faith. “… you have seen all that the Lord your God has done…” Once again, a call to future generations for ongoing faithfulness. Yet will certainty in the Lord prevail over doubts of mankind?

Promises unfold, along with covenant to be obeyed.

5 The Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the Lord your God promised you.

6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. 9 For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day…

Sounds good to us. Therefore we will just let the Lord take care of everything for us.

11 Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.

Why of course we love the Lord when He is doing everything for us. In their place we probably would have thought, ‘no need to listen further.’

For If You Turn Back

12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you…

Clear choices. Serve the Lord and He will lead them to victory. Or turn back to doing whatever you like and you will be on your own.

Here we recognize something we see easy enough in others, that they obeyed only their own hearts. But let’s observe how it happened, so that we might not turn back in the same way.

The Covenant Renewed

Joshua 24:

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor;

and they served other gods.

3 Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many…

Why did the Lord lead Abraham away from the lands where men worshiped idols? Do we see the caution here?

6 “‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 And when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time…

More reminders follow of the faithfulness of the Lord, who blessed Israel through Joshua.

13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

It’s a choice we have every day, isn’t it? Choose the Lord or choose sin.

… Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord…

Joshua challenges the congregation:

¹⁵And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua even takes authority to speak for his descendants, who will soon succeed him. Think of it as Joshua’s will and testament.

An inspired congregation will all agree.

… “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods…”

If only Israel had obeyed the Lord. But they did not obey. We continue to suffer the consequences to this very day.

Joshua’s Warning

19 But Joshua said to the people,

“You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.”

Is Joshua a Prophet; for he accurately foresees what Israel will do next? Moses had issued such warnings as well, in the Lord. Though the people pledge their loyalty to God, Israel will once again turn back in their hearts.

Judges 1:

17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction… 18 Judah also captured Gaza with its territory, … but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain… 21 But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem…

Failure to Complete the Conquest

²⁷Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. ²⁸When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.

²⁹And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

³⁰Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor.

³¹Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob, ³²so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

³³Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.

³⁴The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain. ³⁵The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor.

You get the idea. Israel did not live in the promised land by themselves as they do not today. The twelve tribes turned to other gods, as we easily do today.

Choose this day who you will follow

Jerusalem

24:15

וְאִם רַע בְּֽעֵינֵיכֶם לַעֲבֹד אֶת־יְהוָה בַּחֲרוּ לָכֶם הַיֹּום אֶת־מִי תַעֲבֹדוּן אִם אֶת־אֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר־עָבְדוּ אֲבֹותֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר בעבר הַנָּהָר וְאִם אֶת־אֱלֹהֵי הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם יֹשְׁבִים בְּאַרְצָם וְאָנֹכִי וּבֵיתִי נַעֲבֹד אֶת־יְהוָֽה׃ פ

Breaking covenant with the Lord is serious business, sin with consequences for Israel to this day. What was it Joshua had warned?

[God] will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 24:19

Israel had neither heeded Joshua’s warning nor obeyed the Lord.

Yet have you obeyed the Lord completely? Do you consider the consequences of your transgressions and for your sins?

Following Joshua; following Jesus

יְהוֹשׁוּעַ from: יְהֹוָה Yĕhovah and יָשַׁע yasha`

This is the meaning of Joshua: The Existing One IS our Savior.

A mortal man cannot save, only the Lord.

Centuries later, even after several defeats of Israel, Jesus walks up to amazed disciples. He appears and teaches His followers for forty days after His Resurrection from the Cross!

Jesus had said: “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Ἰησοῦς Iēsous Of Hebrew origin יְהוֹשׁוּעַ Joshua or Jehoshua = “Jehovah is salvation”

To be continued…

April 26, 2018