Year 1, Week 25, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 25, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Joshua 14-15.

Today’s reading begins describing the allotment of land that each tribe received. The tribe first given their allotment was Judah. Joshua 14 describes the territory given to Caleb, one particular member of the tribe of Judah. Caleb was one of the original spies from the first generation of Israelites who was sent out to scope out the Promised Land, Caleb along with Joshua, were the only ones from the twelve spies who believed that the LORD would give them the Land. Now, only Caleb and Joshua were still alive from the first generation. Caleb has his heart set on the hill country of Hebron. Joshua 15 provides a more detailed description of the territory and cities that the tribe of Judah were to possess.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the exemplary trust and obedience of Caleb: “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:3-4). As each particular tribe has been assigned the task of driving out the remainder of the enemies who still dwelt in their allotment of the Land, Caleb modeled how to go about finishing the work. Caleb’s heart was genuinely given over to the LORD: “my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God” (Joshua 14:8). What was true about Caleb when he first went into the Land was still true some forty-five years latter. The tribes taking possession of their land allotments would not be based on sheer military strategies or techniques. Just as the conquest of the Land was done through reliance upon the LORD, so now, tribal possession of the Land would be done through reliance upon the LORD.

Caleb has a clear-eyed vision of his allotment of land: “And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day” (Joshua 14:10b-12a). Caleb acted on the word originally given to him by Moses: "Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God” (Joshua 14:9). Caleb still grasped that the LORD is infinitely bigger than the “giants” who dwelt in the Land: “the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said” (Joshua 14:12b). This was the original matter expressed stated by the other spies: “And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (Numbers 13:33). But those concerns did not stop Caleb from trusting in the LORD neither forty-five years earlier nor as an eighty-five year old. For Caleb the matter always was if the LORD would grant him the Land then he would be able to take possession of the Land. This was not presumption nor arrogance on Caleb’s part, it was his complete confidence to take God at His Word. The outcome of Caleb’s trust and obedience was possession of the Land: “Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel” (Joshua 14:14). 

The remainder of today’s reading discusses the allotment of Land assigned to Judah to possess: “The allotment for the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans” (Joshua 15:1a). The land allotment given to the tribe, from whom would come Israel’s kings, is given a lot of attention. Today’s reading introduces us to some pesky enemies who will not only be hard for the tribe of Judah to get rid of, but who would also possess what would become an important city for Israel: “Then the boundary goes up by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem)…But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day” (Joshua 15:8,63). It seems safe to surmise that Judah’s failure to rid their tribal lands of the Jebusites, reveals they operated from a very different heart posture than that of Caleb. And yet, the day would come when the LORD would raise up a king for Israel, from the tribe of Judah, who would finally remove the Jebusites from Jerusalem and establish the city as the capital of Israel. After seven years of ruling from Hebron, the city Caleb was given, David took possession of Jerusalem from the Jebusites: “And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.” (2 Samuel 5:6-8).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe