Josh1Eight

Scripture: Joshua 24:31 "31 The people of Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him—those who had personally experienced all that the Lord had done for Israel." Observations: The official end of the conquest of the Promises Land closes with a call from Joshua for all of God's people to rededicate themselves to the covenant and pledge their loyalty again to the Lord and His commands. While their intentions may have been good, the writer alludes to the fact that the Israelites as a whole only served God through the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who had served with him, indicating that their alliegence to the Lord was about to falter in the near future. The writer also points out that those who remained faithful did so because they had "personally experienced" the things God first hand. This seems to suggest that one of the main reasons many Israelites compromised God's commands and turned away from Him was ...

Scripture: Joshua 21:43-45 43 So the Lord gave to Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the Lord helped them conquer all their enemies. 45 Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true. Observations: After nearly 500 years after God made Abraham a promise that his descendents would inherit the Land of Canaan, God finally made good on it. Not only did it seem to take a really long time for God to do what He said, it literally took almost 5 centuries! To this day God has never justified His reasoning or methods at any point to anyone. Why? Just because God makes a promise doesn't mean He will do it the way we would. But the fact remains, He kept His Word and fulfilled everyt...

Scripture: Joshua 19:51 "51 These are the territories that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the tribal leaders allocated as grants of land to the tribes of Israel by casting sacred lots in the presence of the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle at Shiloh. So the division of the land was completed." Observations: When the Israelites entered the Promised Land God gave Joshua specific directions as to how it was to be allotted to each tribe. Here it seems to indicate that part of the process involved a rolling of the dice to "randomly" select who got what according to God's will. However this random method only applied to 7 of the 12 tribes (18:1-2). So why did the first 5 tribes get the biggest and te best portions of land while the majority of everyone else were forced to role dice over what was left? There seems to be a direct correlation between those tribes that chose battle and received a reward and those tribes that chose passivity and were hand...