Joshua 17:14-18 – The call to diligent stewardship

Figuratively speaking, the size of one’s heart will determine the size of one’s attitude. The way we see a thing is often regulated by our heart and attitude. This is seen in the way the Ephraimites complained about the portion of land that was allotted to them. It was patently obvious that they wanted to be given land without having to work for it. There is no such thing in life. The amount one will possess often commensurate with the amount of effort one is willing to put into any endeavor.

In Joshua 17:14 we see them coming to Joshua, haggling over the portion of land they were given. They said to him “Why have you given me only one lot and one portion for an inheritance since I am a numerous people whom the Lord has thus far blessed?” The reason that was given showed how presumptuous they were. Just because of the size of the tribe they expected to be given their portion on a platter. In verses 15-16, Joshua wisely redirected their focus. He pointed them to the many unconquered lands within their reach. If they wanted more land, they could always put in the effort to acquire them. This is a principle we have to be mindful. To whom much is given, much is required. Like a muscle, the more we exercise the firmer it would become. Atrophy always sets in when one fails to exercise the muscles of one’s body.

What Joshua did also give us a leadership principle. An effective leader should decline to do for their followers what they could do for themselves. It is better for one to learn that effort is required if he or she is to gain profitably. What is attained with much effort is often better appreciated and valued than what is obtained without any effort. What Joshua did was to encourage the people of Ephraim to exercise their strength and courage. It also helped to build diligence and self-respect. A leader must do the right thing to encourage a follower’s enterprise and not condone his or her laziness and indolence.

One more lesson before we close this chapter. It is needful that we stop complaining without exhausting our resources. Like the Ephraimites, when we clear the cluttered forest that seems to clog up our life, we will discover how much of talent we have within us that have been left unexplored. Let us learn to stop murmuring and complaining about how little we have in life and start exploiting what we already have. Every one of us is given some talents. Let us not be found whining and not working. Whatever we have responsibly exercised, more will be added to us. Whatever we fail to be accountable, they will soon be taken away.  

Joshua 17:1-13 – Living an uncompromising life

Joshua 17 describes the allotment of the land given to descendants of Joseph. Verse 1 reveals that part of the inheritance was given to this tribe of Manasseh on the east of Jordan. While on the journey to the promised land, they together with Reuben and Gad saw some good pasture land there and asked to be given the land. Moses promised to grant them those areas, provided they would help their brethren to first conquer Canaan. They kept their promise, so a part of the tribe was given the land east of Jordan.

In Joshua 17: 2-3, we are told that ten portions were given to the other half of the tribe of Manasseh. Of these ten portions, five went to the daughters of Zelophehad, who died without a son. The daughters were bold enough to claim their rights to the inheritance from Moses. So here in verse 4, we are told that they came to Joshua, Eleazer the priest and the elders of the tribes who were administering the division of the land and boldly claimed their portions. What stands out again is found in verse 13. The tribe of Manasseh also did not wholly obeyed the Lord. It says, “But the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities, because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.”

Although Manasseh’s descendants were strong enough to dispel the Canaanites from their allotted portion, they didn’t. Instead, they compromised and put them into forced labor. Here they had under-estimated the potential of their folly. The Bible clearly teaches that a little yeast can leaven up the whole lump of the dole. This is one lesson we must remember. All compromises seem like a good solution at first. They may seem to ease the problem but only for a short term. In the long run, they always boomerang to create a bigger issue for us. Like it or not, a person who compromises, actually fails himself. A compromise is something two parties agree on but it is often something neither of them wanted in the first place. The end result of a compromise can be more devastating than we can conceive. But faithfulness will go a long way and it’s the way to go in life. And Christ has modeled it for us. So, let us live loyally and faithfully without compromise.

Joshua 16:1-10 – Dealing with the little foxes of life

By right, Reuben being the eldest son of Jacob should have received a double portion of the inheritance. However, it was not to be. In Genesis 48, Jacob adopted the two sons of Joseph. Then in his dying, pronounced blessings over them in Genesis 49. He implicitly gave the double portion to Joseph. Hence Manasseh and Ephraim, the two sons of Joseph, each inherited portions of the land on behalf of the tribe of Joseph. In Joshua 16:5-8 is a list of the cities and villages distributed to the descendants of Ephraim, one of the sons of Joseph. Regretfully, we again see a fault-line in verse 1o. It reads “But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites live in the midst of Ephraim to this day….”

This is an indication of the failure of the Israelites to fully walk in God’s will. And without a doubt, this failure came back to trouble them. Those unpurged Canaanites became a constant source of temptation for them to indulge in immorality. Their failure is an indication for us to deal with weaknesses in our life. We should not conveniently dismiss and think nothing of them. Left alone, they will become potential danger points in our spiritual life. Like the Canaanites that were not dislodged from the land, any weakness we feel inconvenient to deal with will eventually surface to stumble us in our spiritual journey. Let us not trade our spiritual wholeness because of convenience.  

Remember the word of the shepherd recorded in the Song of Solomon 2:15. It is the little foxes that will ruin the vine, while the vineyards are in blossom. Our wonderful relationship with God can be ruin by not attending to little weaknesses that we encounter in our spiritual journey. There is a necessity to identify the little foxes, the remaining Canaanites in our life. We must not allow them to spoil the wholesome plan that God has installed for us. The fruit of self-control cultivated with a close walk with the Lord will help us eliminate the little foxes in our life. Be sure to be led by the Spirit so that we will not gratify the desire of the flesh!  

Joshua 15:20-63 – Progressing incrementally with the Lord

 In Joshua 15:20-63, we are given a list of cities as well as villages that were allotted to the tribe of Judah. These places were granted to them so that they could continue with God’s expansion program for the nation. However, we read of their failure in verse 63. It says, “Now as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day.” This is one sad situation of life since the fall of man. There will always be areas of life that we need to look at. All of us should strive toward perfection, but we must not be a perfectionist. For as far as we are on earth we need to go through the process of sanctification. Our weaknesses should get fewer as we journey with the Lord. Be assured that they are only there to keep us trusting the Lord and lean on Him so that we can overcome each one.  

We must be reminded by these verses that we must overcome life incrementally. Heathenism, worldliness, unbelief, pride and sinful tendency are areas we must deal with progressively. 1 John 1:10 says that “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” But we take comfort in 1 John 1:9 that assures us that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The fact of our propensity as a result of the fall should propel us to look forward to wholeness. We will always be frustrated and disappointed if we are not striving toward the wholeness we can have in Christ. He has sent His Holy Spirit alongside us so that with His help we can grow in the fruit of the Spirit. God is in the business of transforming our lives and changing us from one degree of glory to another. Let us not stay spiritually static but flow dynamically with the spirit and advance incrementally.  

Joshua 15:13-19 – Leaving a spiritual legacy for our posterity

There is no question that when we live well for the Lord, we can inspire others to live for the Lord too. In fact, one of life's challenges is to live life in such a way where we are a source of inspiration to others. That’s why how we live our lives matters. In this regard, Caleb has led the way to show us what we can do to be a source of inspiration to others. One orientation we need to adopt is to realize that success is not just about accomplishing great things all the time. It is also about what we do to leave a legacy behind so that the subsequent generation could be inspired.    

In Joshua 15:13-19, Caleb became a source of inspiration for the next generation. He bravely took on the giants and drove them out of the land where he was apportioned. Then he offered the hand of his daughter in marriage to the person who dared to go up against the inhabitants of Debir and capture it. What he did was so inspiring that it was rubbed off on Othniel, who went on to capture Debir or Kiriath-Sepher. Othniel also went on to become a judge in the land (Judges 3:7-11). Caleb’s faith also motivated his own daughter, whom he had given to Othniel in marriage, that she was motivated to ask her daddy for a field. And as if that was not enough, she also audaciously asked for a spring of water so that her field could be irrigated. In a real sense, Caleb’s faith left an indelible mark on his family. What about us? How has our children's faith been challenged by ours?  The first area we need to be an inspiration of faith is in our home.

It is said that “Excess is keeping much to yourself, but success is giving much of yourself to others.” Let us make it our aim to live life to the fullest, to love others as best as we can and also to learn as much from life as we possibly can and then to leave behind a rich legacy before we bow out of this world. So that long after we are gone, what we have left behind will continue to impact subsequent generations for a long time to come.  And we are not just talking about leaving behind material goods but a rich spiritual legacy. We want all our sons, our daughters and our children’s children to trust the Lord and follow Him as we do. What a glorious goal!

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!

Joshua 14:6-15 – Following the Lord doggedly

Caleb and Joshua were two of the twelve spies sent into Canaan to explore and recce the land. They were also the only two that gave a positive report and encouraged the people to trust and obey the Lord. The other 10 spies whom they went in together to reconnoiter Canaan gave a damning report that discouraged the people from moving forward. In this passage, Caleb was recollecting the promise Moses made to him in Kadesh-Barnea. In verse 9, he recollected what Moses said to him. The specific words were, “Surely the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children forever because you have followed the Lord, my God, fully.”

Caleb’s name means “dogged.” He was not one who would be easily dissuaded. So, we read that he was one who doggedly followed the Lord. Whatever the cost it would take to obey the Lord, Caleb was such a man. He was not a person that could be side-tracked from following the Lord. Emulating his example, we too can be a person who will risk all to follow the Lord and be ensured of victory in our journey with Him. There are several qualities of Caleb that we want to look at closely and adopt them for our spiritual journey.

Caleb was a committed man. His commitment was second to none. The testimony about him was that he wholly followed the Lord. He was not one who would allow a large gap to exist between the Lord and him. He closed the gap and ensured that the distance between him and the Lord was not wide. Every fibre within him belonged to the Lord. What about us? Can we say with certainty that every part of us, whether in thought, word or deed, is congruently one with the Lord? We should never be half-hearted believers and profess with our lips but dare not take the risk of obeying the Lord regardless. A double-minded man can never maintain a stable walk with the Lord.  

Secondly, not only was Caleb a committed man, but he was also a confident man.  Here he was at 85 years of age, yet his confidence did not abate even a single bit. When Moses made the promise to him, he was only 40 years old. Now 45 years later, his desire was still burning with the deep passion within him. He could still feel the same old familiar feeling that he could lick the enemy with the help of the Lord. His fearless cry was, “Give me that mountain.” We must always remember faith is being confident in the Lord. It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. Like Caleb, let us have unflinching trust in the Lord, and be assured that He will never fail us in a single promise that He has made in His Word.

Thirdly, Caleb was also a courageous man. His focus was firmly fixed on the goal and not on the difficulties. It was not as if he did not know the difficulties he would have to encounter. It was a case where he dared to believe that the God he served was much greater than all the obstacles he would encounter. He was not dissuaded by the giants, nor the mountain, so why should he be dissuaded by his grey-hair. Just as Caleb, God wants us to move on courageously. As Mark Twain so aptly put, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” Let’s hear the call to be bold and courageous as we journey with the Lord. 

Fourthly, we see that Caleb was a conquering man. He scaled the mountain, defeated the giants and possessed his inheritance. He inherited Hebron meaning “fellowship.” He would not stop till he conquered the mount of fellowship, a place where he could meet God face to face. Will there be an obstacle on our way to the mountain? Certainly! We must take these lessons from Caleb. Be committed as well as be confident. Then be courageous and consistently build a conquering spirit!