Pastor Billington's Blog

Joshua 19

We see here the culmination of approximately seven years of war and 40 years of journeying. It’s been 400 years since the promise to Abraham, and the land has finally been defeated and allotted!

Thought for the day: The book of Joshua should remind us that we also look forward to a new home. A culmination of our journey. A permanent place. A promised land!

Hebrews 13:14 (WEB) “For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.”

John 14:1-2 (WEB) “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.”

Revelation 21:1-7 (WEB) “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.’ He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ He said, ‘Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.’ He said to me, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.’ “

Joshua 18

Shiloh is the first place established in the promised land for centralized worship and is where the tabernacle resides. Seven tribes have yet to obtain their inheritance, so they cast lots for them and then send out representatives to do a survey of the land. Benjamin is the first of that group to have its boundaries recorded.

Thought for the day: Joshua seems a little annoyed here that they haven’t taken care of this already (18:3). Procrastination is actually mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, as is the need for diligence and action!

Ecclesiastes 11:4 (WEB) “He who observes the wind won’t sow; and he who regards the clouds won’t reap.”

Joshua 17

An allotment of land is given to Manasseh, and they also neglect to drive out the inhabitants of the land. Manasseh and Ephraim both complain about their allotments, and the response of the tribe of Ephraim foreshadows their ongoing discontent.

Joshua 17:14 (WEB) “The children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, ‘Why have you given me just one lot and one part for an inheritance, since we are a numerous people, because Yahweh has blessed us so far?’ ”

Judges 8:1 (WEB) “The men of Ephraim said to him, ‘Why have you treated us this way, that you didn’t call us when you went to fight with Midian?’ They rebuked him sharply.”

Judges 12:1 (WEB) “The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, ‘Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn’t call us to go with you? We will burn your house around you with fire!’ “

Joshua doesn’t stand for it. He confronts them and challenges them to work for a better home!

Joshua 17:15 (WEB) “Joshua said to them, ‘If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest, and clear land for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.’ “

Thought for the day: Our culture continually encourages us to be like Ephraim. To be discontent. To complain. To take shortcuts. To not want to work for a reward. Scripture instead challenges us to be content, diligent, industrious, and conscientious. Even with a desire for something different, we should be joyful for what we have and okay if our circumstances don’t change. But if we desire change, we need to make sure that we are willing to do the work that is necessary to bring about that change!

1 Timothy 6:6 (WEB) “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

Joshua 16

Chapters 16 and 17 detail the allotment of land to the tribes descended from Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Unfortunately, we again see that they didn’t drive all of the previous residents out.

Thought for the day: As we see God continually providing for His people, we’re reminded that God provides for us in Christ!

John 6:35 (WEB) “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ “

Joshua 15

The boundaries of Judah’s territory are given first, probably because it held an important role in the future of Israel.

Genesis 49:8-12 “Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up? The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. The obedience of the peoples will be to him. Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.”

We have an excursion in the passage that details how Caleb subdued the land that God gave him. It’s included here because it was in Judah’s territory. Othniel is probably mentioned because he later becomes a judge (Judges 3:9). The rest of the passage details the cities in Judah’s territory, with one final caveat. Their failure to deal with some of the people in the land is mentioned and has become an ongoing theme.

Thought for the day: God does what he promises!

Numbers 23:10 (WEB) “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?”

Joshua 14

There are twelve tribes that inherit the land because the descendants of Joseph’s two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh) are each granted their own inheritance, and the descendants of Levi have the Lord as their inheritance. Caleb is finally granted his special inheritance because of his faithfulness.

Numbers 14:24 (WEB) “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.”

Deuteronomy 1:35-26 (WEB) “Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him and to his children, because he has wholly followed the LORD.”

Thought for the day: The key phrase here regarding Caleb is, “because he wholly followed the Lord.” We are all called to have the same devotion!

Mark 12:30 (WEB) “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.”

Joshua 13

There was still land to be conquered and people to be subdued, but the Israelites didn’t finish the job. There were gaps in their inheritance, but God’s plans weren’t thwarted. If God allows something to happen, it’s because He can still use it for His purposes. Even if it might not be what He would prefer!

Joshua 13:13 (WEB) “Nevertheless the children of Israel didn’t drive out the Geshurites, nor the Maacathites: but Geshur and Maacath live within Israel to this day.”

Judges 3:1 (WEB) “Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to test Israel by them, even as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan.”

Isn’t His sovereignty amazing?

Thought for the day: The Levites have a special relationship with God. He is their inheritance! That’s a foreshadowing of a believer’s relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:16-17 (WEB) “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Joshua 12

Here God reminds the people of all that they have accomplished through Him!

Thought for the day: Why should we care? Because this reminds us of the importance of reflection. We certainly learn more about God and His ways by reflecting on His Word. But we also learn thankfulness by reflecting on what God has done for us personally. He saved us! He walks with us! He protects us! And He changed the very trajectory of our lives and gives us hope for the future!

Isa 46:9 (WEB) “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.”

Psalm 77:11-12 (WEB) “I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all your work, and consider your doings.”

Joshua 11

The brutality continues, but we’ve already covered the reason for God’s commands. In fact, we read here that God has made sure that the nations would be punished:

Joshua 11:20 (WEB) “For it was of Yahweh to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that he might utterly destroy them, that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as Yahweh commanded Moses.”

God is making an example of them, which he can do in his sovereignty. He does the same thing with Pharoah, which Paul comments on in Romans:

Romans 9:17-18 (WEB) “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.”

Remember, at one time He destroyed everyone but Noah and his family because of their wickedness. And, looking at Revelation, he is going to judge the world again for their evil.

Thought for the day: What a thought: “then the land had rest from war.” It will happen one day!

Isaiah 11:6-9 (WEB) “The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”