Joshua 15:1-12 – God has a design for each of us

Beginning from Joshua chapter 13 right through chapter 19, we see a summary of the distribution of the land of Canaan to the different tribes of Israel. The borders of the land distributed to the different tribes are being painstakingly traced in these chapters. Each tribe was allotted lands according to their families. This tells us that in God’s wisdom, He had distributed the land into smaller and manageable portion accordingly so that everyone can partake in His expansion program.  

In Joshua 15:1-12, the territory distributed to the tribe of Judah is being detailed. This tribe as we know was where Jesus the Messiah hailed from. Since it was a large tribe, God gave them a larger area. The amount of land given to them was more than enough for the tribe. So later in Joshua 19:1, the tribe of Simeon was allotted a part of the land within Judah that was distributed to them.

Reading of the list may be boring but we need to know that God had His reason. He is a God of specificity. If left to the people to designate the land among themselves, there would surely be needless squabbles. So, in His wisdom, God allocated the land to the different tribes very specifically. Bear in mind that many of the places listed were still in the hand of the Canaanites, delineating the boundaries serves to carve out the expansion program for the tribe. As we look at the detail of the listing of the land to the people, we get the sense that in the kingdom of God, no one is left out. Everyone has a place in God’s divine program.

The spiritual lesson we get out of the allocation of the land is that God never leaves His program to chance. He details each one specifically. In His expansion program, He has included every one of us. Hence, everything we have is granted to us by divine design. We are allotted different gifts and talents and it is required that we take responsibility to develop them. Remember what Paul said to the believers in Corinth. He told them that it is required that stewards be found faithful. Like them, we are stewards of our life. We are expected to be faithful in managing our life. How much of us can be subdued and put under the reign of Christ will depend on how much we are willing to avail ourselves to God’s honing process. Bear in mind that we need to abide in Christ if we are to be fruitful. Fruit of Christlikeness is cultivated as we abide in Him. So, take time to abide in Christ!