Okay, you can turn in your Bibles to Joshua 17. Joshua 17. We're actually going to be looking at more Bibles than I think I've ever done before. 15, 16, and 17. But because much of 15 is just a list of cities, and much of 16 is a list of cities, And most of 17 is a list of cities.

It's going to be a bit more of a sort of a flyby rather than dealing with every particular jot and tittle here. So beginning in Joshua chapter 17, I'll pick up reading in verse 1. There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. namely for Makir, the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war. Therefore, he was given Gilead and Bashan.

And there was a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh, according to their families. For the children of Abiezer, the children of Helek, the children of Azriel, the children of Shechem, the children of Hefer, and the children of Shemitah. These were the male children of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, according to their families. But Zelophehad, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters.

And these are the names of his daughters, Mela, Noah, Hagla, Milcah, and Terzah. And they came near before Eleazar the priest, before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the rulers, saying, the Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers. Therefore, according to the commandment of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their father's brothers. Ten shares fell to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side of the Jordan, because the daughters of Manasseh received the inheritance among his sons.

And the rest of Manasseh's sons had the land of Gilead. And the territory of Manasseh was from Asher to Mikmithah, that lies east of Shechem. And the border went along south to the inhabitants of En-Tapua. Manasseh had the land of Tapua, but Tapua on the border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim.

And the border descended to the brook Kena, southward to the brook. These cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh. The border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook, and it ended at the sea. Southward it was Ephraim's, northward it was Manasseh's, and the sea was its border.

Manasseh's territory was adjoining Asher on the north and Issachar on the east. And in Issachar and in Asher, Manasseh had Beth She'an and its towns, Iblim and its towns, the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, the inhabitants of Endor and its towns, the inhabitants of Tanakh and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, three hilly regions. Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, But the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. And it happened, when the children of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

Then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit, since we are a great people, inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now? So Joshua answered them, if you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the Giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you. But the children of Joseph said, the mountain country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Bathshian and its towns, and those who are of the valley of Jezreel. And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim, and Manasseh, saying, you are a great people and have great power.

You shall not only have one lot, but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong. Amen.

Introduction and Overview

Well, as I said, this section of the book deals with the division of the land, the allotments given to each of the tribes in Israel. Last time we saw in chapter 13, there was the land that remained in verses 1 to 7. There was a rehearsal of the land east of the Jordan. And then in chapter 14, it gets into the land west of the River Jordan.

And that's where we find ourselves tonight. The bulk of chapter 14 dealt with Caleb making the request specifically for the land of the Anakim or the land called Hebron. Here in chapter 15, that particular conquest is indicated. So he asks or makes requests in chapter 14.

Chapter 15 indicates just how he went about getting that particular land. So we go back to chapter 15 to sort of overview what's going on in 15, 16, and 17. The first part, you have the boundaries of Judah, chapter 15, verses 1 to 12, then the conquest of Caleb in verses 13 to 19, the cities of Judah, verses 20 to 62. That's the bulk of this particular section.

All of the cities of Judah are mentioned. Verse 63 sort of functions as a foreshadowing, sort of an omen, a bit of a warning concerning the reality that there are Canaanites remaining in the land. There's actually three of them in this section, so we'll deal with those together toward the end of the message this evening. But then in chapter 16, we have the allotment given to the Josephite tribes.

Remember, Joseph is made up of his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. So that's what 16 and 17 are primarily concerned with, the allotment given to the Josephite tribes. And then that last section is the request for more land by the Josephite tribe. So that's sort of an overview of what's going on in this particular section.

As I said, we're going to just kind of skim through some of this and make a few observations along the way. Dr. Dale Ralph Davis will be helping us. He's probably my favorite living author.

And he's got commentaries on each of the books known as the former prophets. So that would be Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and First and Second Kings. And they're very helpful, they're very readable, they're very biblically sound, and yet they're written in such a way as to keep one's interest and to help you spot or see the big lessons in the chapters along the way. Of course, if I continue to cite him, you won't need to buy his books.

And he probably wouldn't like that, so buy his books, and I'll cite them anyway. So we're in the divvying up the land.

Boundaries of Judah

Notice the boundaries of Judah in chapter 15, verses 1 to 12. So this was the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families. Woodstraw, another commentator, says, the purpose of this chapter, along with the other chapters dealing with the distribution of the land to the tribes, is to give concrete shape to the leading idea of the book of Joshua, the fulfillment of the promise to the forefathers. That's how we need to understand these lists of cities.

This is how we need to understand the naming of all of these borders, how we are to approach this particular section of scripture. It is the fulfillment of promise. If you remember back in Genesis chapter 12, Genesis 13, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, Genesis 21 and 22, God made a promise to Abraham that from Abraham there would be a seed, there would be a land, and there would be blessing. And so when we get to the book of Joshua in this conquest and in this divvying up the land, we see the application or the fulfillment of that particular promise.

So God speaks to Abraham, the father of the nation. He tells him that there will be this land grant or this gift of the land. And so then the children of Israel go into Egypt. They're in bondage for 400 plus years.

And then God, using Moses, leads the people out of Egypt. They wander in the wilderness for 40 years. They come to the plains of Moab. Moses there instructs them and encourages them on how they are to go about this conquest.

So the book of Joshua brings us to that place. So between the promise, all of those things that had occurred, we've now come to fulfillment. And so the fulfillment of the promise to the forefathers is uppermost in these lists of city names, in these lists of kings that were conquered, in these lists of boundaries, and all that sort of thing. So when we get to Judah, what is described is first the southern border in verses 1 to 5, the eastern border, verse 5, the northern border, and then the western border.

So it just shows you on the map, or you can look in the back of your Bible, you have a map, and it will show you the picture of how these tribal allotments broke down. Which is another thing that we need to understand. God's word deals in concrete reality. He's not just giving us sort of this pie-in-the-sky wish idea.

Now there is heaven to be sure. There is that eschatological reality that we'll be with Jesus forever and ever. Canaan, the land, was a down payment for that. And the people of Israel got to build houses.

They got to farm land. They got to live in a very bountiful and wonderful place. And so when we see this, we need to think fulfillment of the promise. Now, I'll quote Davis.

This is a bit of a longer quote on the particular details involved. I mean, you can just read that for yourself if you're really intrigued. It just basically gives you city names, gives you boundaries, gives you places, gives you all those particular details. Here's what Davis says, the reader must remember. that both this chapter and following ones describe in detail God's gift of the land, and that means that every town name and border point pulsates with excitement.

No close-up description of God's gifts could ever be boring. That's what it is. It's a rehearsal of God's gift. If somebody were to say to you, let me tell you what my wife gave me for my birthday, or let me tell you what my husband gave me for my birthday, and started to detail or list all these things, hopefully you wouldn't roll your eyes at them.

You wouldn't say, boy, what a tedious thing. I don't want to hear about how nice your spouse is. No, you'd be interested. This is a good thing.

This is a testimony to the kindness and the faithfulness of this particular spouse. He says perhaps the contemporary Christian needs some analogy to get a handle on this. Now he gives a bit of his own personal autobiography just to get us thinking about what's going on in this passage and how sometimes we do tend to take things for granted. He says, it is Tuesday morning as I write this.

Nothing outstanding has happened. Two of our boys have had their breakfast. Not significant, except that it is another fulfillment of Matthew 6.26. Do not worry, therefore, about what you will eat.

Today is garbage pick-up day. We have three bags. More than usual, but not a big deal. Simply having garbage is a sign of provision.

And even though my wife pulled an irritating April Fool's prank on me already, she herself is living fulfillment of God's covenant promise. Not one of these details staggers the imagination, but like the boundaries and towns of Judah, they are little incarnations of God's fidelity and are therefore hardly boring." So that's how the Israelites would have approached this particular listing of the cities. Again, I think that if we knew and we were more in tune with the geography, certainly if we could trace our ancestry back to these tribal allotments, it probably would be a little more exciting. If the towns that we are familiar with were indicated in these particular chapters as towns or cities that we had ourselves been involved in conquering, our ears would perk up.

It wouldn't be some boring list. of otherwise unimportant details, but rather, as Davis says, each one of these towns' names, each one of these borders described, are evidences of God's faithfulness and of his kindness to his people in delivering what he promised to Father Abraham. So that's the boundaries of Judah.

Conquest of Caleb

Notice secondly the conquest of Caleb. Verses 13 and following. Now to Caleb the son of Jephunneh, he gave a share among the children of Judah according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua. just like we saw last time in chapter 14, namely Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron. Arba was the father of Anak.

Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak from there, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. Then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir. Formerly the name of Debir was Kirjath Sefer. And then what he does is he employs specific means, verses 16 and following.

Caleb said, he who attacks, he who attacks, Keir Jethsephir, and takes it, to him I will give Exah, my daughter, as wife. This is similar to what David will do when he goes to conquer Jerusalem. It was not uncommon a thing. When there was a challenge, there would be this particular sort of a deal made.

So Othniel, the son of Canaaz, the brother of Caleb, took it, and he gave him Exod, his daughter, as wife. So Othniel later will be a judge when we get to the book of Judges. He is one of the judges that does judge the tribe of Israel. Now it was so, verse 18, when she came to him that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field.

So she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, What do you wish? She answered, Give me a blessing, since you have given me land in the south, give me also springs of water. So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. So this was a blessing.

For her, she received a portion in this particular conquest as well. And then the cities of Judah.

Cities of Judah and Warning

The cities of Judah. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families. And then it goes on and indicates the various city names there. Now again, Davis says, and I think he's right, God's word is seldom about some bare, purely spiritual inner abstraction.

The God of the Bible tends to be concrete. His gifts are tangible and visible. The inheritance he bequeaths is not an idea but boundaries, not thoughts but towns. In a word, real estate.

So God gives specific blessings to his specific people. And there is something analogous here for the Christian in the New Covenant situation. Yes, we have an inheritance laid up for us in the future state. We have heaven waiting for us.

But you remember, when we die, if we die prior to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, That's called the intermediate state. The apostle talks of it this way. He says to depart or to be absent from the body is to be present from the Lord. Well that is an intermediate state.

What the Christian is looking forward to ultimately is the resurrection from the dead. Christianity is not Gnostic. Gnostics believe that physical was bad. Gnostics believe that only spiritual was good and that things that were done in the body, things that, you know, eating and drinking and interrelationships and all that sort of thing, really didn't matter.

Well, the Bible isn't a Gnostic document. What the scripture envisions for the people of God is a resurrection from the dead, body and soul. Romans chapter 8 talks about the creation being in bondage. It is looking forward to that redemption.

It's an interesting parallel that we have in the book of Genesis and that we have in the book of Philippians. In the book of Genesis, the first Adam, what happens when he dies? The Lord God says, dust you are and to dust you shall return. In the second Adam, according to Philippians, our bodies are raised gloriously.

Philippians 3.20, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. So as Christians, there's something analogous here. We don't have the land of Canaan. We have what the land of Canaan foreshadowed, which is heaven, to be sure.

When we ultimately get to heaven, if we're there prior to the second coming of the Lord Jesus, there'll be that intermediate state. But what we look forward to with the sons of God is the redemption of all things, the bodily resurrection. Where is it that the saints of Christ end up? They end up in a new heavens and a new earth wherein righteousness dwells.

There will be community. There will be social interaction. There will be all the things that we love in this world. You know, not in a bad way.

I mean, relationship, all that sort of thing will be in the new heavens and the new earth. But it will be without sin. And so we're looking forward to the resurrection from the dead. That is a blessed reality.

The land acquisition in Canaan was a bit of a foretaste concerning what will happen when Jesus comes again, or when the resurrection of the dead occurs. As I mentioned, verse 63 functions as a bit of a warning or a foreshadowing. We'll collect the three of them in just a moment. But notice it says, as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah, could not drive them out, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

Remember, the mandate was to go in and utterly dispossess the land. All along the way we're seeing that while for the most part the report in Joshua is favorable, there are these pockets, there are these instances, so that when we get to the book of Judges and we see that it's not such a favorable report, all of the building blocks have already been left in place because they didn't deal with their enemies in the land.

Josephite Tribes: Allotment

And that brings us to the Josephite tribes. I know that's not in the text, but it's a handy way to refer to these two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. Notice the means employed in verse 1. The lot fell to the children of Joseph from the Jordan.

Remember, they were told to use the lot. What does the proverb say? The lot is cast into the lap, and its every decision is from the Lord. So when we get to these Josephite tribes complaining about the lot that they've received, ultimately their complaint is against God.

It's not against Joshua. It's not, you know, that they were somehow cheated by Joshua. The implication is that God has dealt us a bad hand. And then notice this kind of a general description there in verses 1 to 4.

The lot fell to the children of Joseph from the Jordan by Jericho. to the waters of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goes up from Jericho, through the mountains to Bethel, then went out from Bethel to Luz, passed along to the border of the Archites at Adaroth, and went down westward to the boundary of the Jaffla Tides, as far as the boundary of the lower Beth Horon to Gedser, and it ended at the sea. So the children of Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim took their inheritance. So remember, those are the two tribes, Manasseh and Joseph. That's the chronological order of the son's birth.

Remember, Manasseh was born first, and then Ephraim. But notice how the land acquisition is doled out. Ephraim comes first. You remember back in the birth of Manasseh and Ephraim, when Joseph brought his sons to Jacob to be blessed, Jacob, though blind, crossed his hands to put his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh.

Now typically, the firstborn son got the better blessing. The firstborn son was Manasseh. He should have got, by the typical ways of doing things, he should have got the better blessing. But Ephraim got the better blessing while Manasseh did not.

And so even Joseph tried to unscramble his dad's hands, but Jacob said, I know what I'm doing. And the author of Genesis interprets that he gave preeminence to Ephraim. And the same sort of a priority is indicated here. Manasseh is the chronological firstborn, but Ephraim is the soteriological firstborn.

And so Ephraim comes first, in terms of the land entitlement that is given to him. This is important. You might wonder why spend any time on this. Because Jesus is called the firstborn from the dead in the book of Colossians.

And people sometimes wonder, well, that must mean that, you know, or when it's talking about the firstborn over all creation, rather. The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that that means he was created first and then he made everything else. But firstborn means preeminent one. In fact, when you get to the prophet Jeremiah, God says concerning Ephraim, Ephraim is my firstborn.

Chronologically it was not so, but in terms of preeminence, Ephraim is the one. Ephraim has more of God's favor upon him than does Manasseh. That's what firstborn means with reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. It means he's the preeminent one.

David is referred to as the firstborn. Israel is referred to as the firstborn. And so that order is reflected here. It's a theological order rather than a chronological order.

So then Ephraim is mentioned there in verses 5 to 10. Note the description. of the land, specifically in verses 5 to 9, and then their failure, verse 10. Here's the other one. There's three total, as I said, in these chapters.

And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day and have become forced laborers. So that's not good. They weren't supposed to just put them into slavery. They were supposed to eradicate them.

And then it deals with Manasseh in verses 1 to 17.

Zelophehad's Daughters: Faith

Interestingly, right in the middle, in verses 3 to 6, we have Zelophehad's daughters. Zelophehad's daughters. You know what they're expressing here in verses 3 to 6? Faith in the Word of God.

So all along the way, it's not just land divisions and cities. It is all that. But along the way, we're supposed to see certain things. When we get to the West Manasseh in chapter 17, verses 1 to 13, there is this appeal for God's Word to be fulfilled in verses 3 to 6.

But Zelophehad, the son of Hepha, the son of Gilead, the son of Machair, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters. And these are the names of his daughters. And then they say, the Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers. Therefore, according to the commandment of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their father's brothers.

This goes back to the book of Numbers, back in the book of Numbers specifically. Chapter 26, Zelophehad is mentioned having no sons. Chapter 27, verses 1 to 11, is when they present their case, asking that even though or because they have no brothers, can they still have an entitlement to the land? And in chapter 36, 1 to 12, the same thing is affirmed.

Well, here's the fulfillment of that promise. Zelophehad's daughters aren't left to fend for themselves in this new land. Zolophahed's daughters get the benefits and the blessings that the Lord God had promised to them way back in numbers through the man of God, Moses. It truly is fulfillment.

Every step of the way, God is faithful. He does not renege. He does not forsake his promises and his kindness to his people. And then we got the case of the Zelophehed, and then

Manasseh's Failure to Drive Out Canaanites

notice in verses 7 to 13, you've got a summary statement in 7 to 9, and then beginning, I'm sorry, 7 to 11, there's a description of the cities and the boundaries that they possess, and then in verses 12 and 13, you get another one of these warnings. or another one of these foreshadowings. Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, but the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. And it happened when the children of Israel grew strong that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out. So you see, they were commanded to utterly drive them out.

They were commanded to deal with them because of the threat of idolatry that would indeed fall upon them. So I just want to read a couple quotes here with reference to these warnings. Woodstress says, Israel's inability to take possession of these cities created dangerous enclaves and set the stage for the developments contained in the book of Judges. We get to Judges, we will see problems as a result of this.

Judges is a bit of a different story than what we find here in Joshua. What do we have in Judges, but we have cycles of sin, of oppression, repentance, and deliverance. will sin very often because they didn't deal with the things that they should have dealt with on the first go-around. He says, forced labor was imposed on the Canaanite population, but the text makes it clear that this was not the same as eradication. Thus, the seeds were sown for later syncretism and apostasy.

You see, the problem with the Canaanites and the land is that the people of Israel would ultimately end up worshiping their gods. And then Davis says, the reader will see an intensification of blame in these notes. First, Judah's inability, then Ephraim's failure in regard to one city, and evidently settling for the Canaanite subservience rather than expulsion. Finally, Manasseh's massive inability or failure to control a number of strategic locations along with their preference for resident Canaanite slaves than for vanquished enemies.

If you look at that, the end of verse 13, and it happened when the children of Israel grew strong that they put the Canaanites to forced labor but did not utterly drive them out. You see, there was a period of time there. They liked servants. They liked slavery better than they liked obedience to God.

God said, get them out of the land, because if they're in the land, you will be caught up and you will apostatize from me. So there are those warning signs along the way that the careful reader ought to take notice of so that, one, we can see how important it is to obey God when he tells us to do specific things, specifically in this case get rid of the Canaanites and get rid of the objects of their worship because you're not that holy and when you are surrounded by those things you will fall. Sounds like James in James 1. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and the father is this, to visit widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world, not to throw yourself into the world and get as stained as you can possibly get.

And so obedience to the commandment of God is absolutely crucial so we don't end up with these problems of the Jebusites or the problems of Jebusites and Canaanites that dwell in the land alongside of us.

Josephite Tribes: Request for More Land

And then that brings us lastly to the request for more land by the Josephite tribes. Notice in verse 14, they're discontent. Then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit since we are a great people in as much as the Lord has blessed us until now? So the lot that was employed by God, their lot probably means the allotment of land.

But the whole idea of division was by the lot. And so when the lot fell to these tribes, they were not content with what had been given to them. Their complaint was ultimately against God. And as is often the case, when we complain against God, we try to do it in the most holy sounding way, don't we?

Don't we? Do we usually just complain, oh God, why in the world do you do this? No, we kind of go through the back door. We offer up our complaint and all the while we couch it in religious terms.

Look at what they do. The children of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit since we are a great people inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now. We are this way because of the Lord. Certainly the Lord wants us to have more property.

Certainly the Lord wants us to have more land. Certainly the Lord will not leave us to dwell as this multitude of people in such a small portion of land. It's couched in the language of religion. This is the way most of us generally complain about God or complain against God.

We like to package it. We want to make sure we don't sound like we're complaining against God. But that's precisely what they're doing. They are not like Caleb.

They are not faithful that way. The children of Joseph said, why have you given us only one lot? We want more land. That's what they're saying.

Give us more land, Joshua. They probably thought they had a friend in Joshua because Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua, you're one of us. You know what we're like.

We've been blessed with the Lord. We're a great multitude of people. Certainly you can see our predicament. This is what we want.

Look at his proposed solution. I love Joshua. He answers, if you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the parasites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you. Go deal with that.

Don't sit here and whine about it. Don't tell me about you think you got shorted in this lot and the other. Go to this particular mountainous region and take care of the problem. Dispossess the land, get rid of the parasites, get rid of the giants, and then you'll have more property that you can call home.

Fear and Distrust of the Josephites

Now we see more of their problem. Verse 16, But the children of Joseph said, The mountain country is not enough for us. Now be careful, the New King James renders that, is not enough for us. How does the ESV render it?

Okay, how about NIV? Okay, Davis suggests that it could be translated, the mountain country will or cannot be acquired by us. And Joshua's response in verse 18 seems to indicate more of that sort of a problem. We can't do it.

And Joshua says, oh, but you must go do it. It's not that this isn't enough land for us, it's that we don't think we can do it. We cannot acquire it. We will not be able to secure that particular portion of land.

So what does this ultimately manifest? If Caleb says we can go at once back in Numbers 13 and 14, and when we get to Joshua chapter 14, Caleb says, give me the land of the Anakim, what do we see in that man's profession? but great faith. For these people in the Josephite tribes to say, the mountain country cannot be acquired by us, and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Bethshean and its towns and those who are of the valley of Jezreel, that's the opposite of Tela. That's fear.

That's a lack of trust. That's a lack of belief in the power and the majesty of God. You mean you have come all this way, you have seen these mighty exploits, you have seen what God has done to Egypt, you've seen what He did to Pharaoh and his armies, you've seen what He's done to Canaanites galore, and you have the gall to suggest that you can't do something in the name and in the strength of the God of heaven and earth? So they move from this discontentment to evidence something of their distrust.

They sound like babies here. All the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Bethshean and its towns and those who are of the valley of Jezreel. We can't stand up against them. We can't face those men and their chariots.

We can't withstand those tanks and those armored divisions. There's no way that we can ever engage these particular people. They have fear. They have distrust.

They are marked with all the opposite of elements than what we find in Caleb. We mentioned that last time. We looked at Caleb, we looked briefly at this section. They are starkly contrasted here and what the author wants us to do is identify with Caleb and not these guys.

Now

Joshua's Exhortation to Faith

notice the exhortation given, verses 17 and 18. Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh saying, you are a great people and have great power. You shall not have only one lot, but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours.

For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong. It's as if Joshua says, don't stand here and express to me your discontentedness and your distrust, but rather get about the task of dealing with those people in their iron chariots. Get them out of the land and increase your territory. and do what you're supposed to do. In short, Joshua is telling these people to man up.

Quit being babies. Quit being faithless. Get in there and do what you're supposed to do. The Lord God knew there was going to be difficulties in the land.

The Lord God spoke to those issues in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 17. If you should say in your heart, these nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them? You shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.

The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out, so shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. You shall not be terrified of them, for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you. And the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you little by little.

You will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed." So God realizes there's going to be foes. It's not saying, you know, you just wander through the land and sing Born Free and run around and eat nuts and berries. and you're just going to possess the land. You've got to fight, you've got to conquer, you've got to use the means, but don't be afraid of them.

Don't be immobilized, don't be paralyzed. Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse 1, when you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you. Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." Certainly, we need to understand, as Davis says, once you see God, Perizzite swords and Canaanite chariots lose their dread. They are serving the God of heaven and earth.

They ought not to fear. They ought not to cower. They ought not to express this distrust and lack of faith. They ought to listen to Joshua.

You are a great people and have great power. You shall not have only one lot, but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and are strong.

Certainly a lesson that all of us need to learn when we walk with the Lord. What does the apostle say? If God is for us, what can man do? Who can be against us if we are in the service of the living and the true God?

So some lessons there from these chapters. in Joshua 15-17. Why don't I close in prayer and we can have discussion.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for Your Word and thank You for this account. And God, I pray that You'd help us to learn and to emulate men like Caleb and Joshua. Help us, Father, not to default into this position of discontentedness or distrust. Help us to be faithful to You, Lord God.

And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 12; 13; 15; 17; 21-22
• Numbers 13-14; 26; 27:1-11; 36:1-12
• Deuteronomy 7:17; 20:1
• Joshua 13; 13:1-7; 14; 15:1-12; 15:13-19; 15:20-62; 15:63; 16:1-4; 16:5-10; 17:1-17; 17:3-6; 17:7-13; 17:12-13; 17:14; 17:16; 17:17-18
• Jeremiah 31:9
• Colossians 1:15
• Philippians 3:20
• Romans 8
• James 1
• Matthew 6:26