In many ways the Promised Land, (Canaan, Palestine, it goes by many names), is almost a character in and of itself. It influences much of the narrative and is the object of several different commands and instructions. The way that people were to ultimately overtake it and then tend to it. The land was a promise from God to Abraham and all of the patriarchs, that they would inherit this land and then they would have a place to call their homes, a place to dwell within and serve the Lord from.
So in many ways, the book of Joshua is a book of the land and the promise to His people and to give them the land. The first portion of the book (chapters 1-5) is all about preparation to enter into the land. They spent 3 days in preparation to cross the Jordan and they consecrated themselves, they celebrated the first passover. Then in chapters 6-12 came the conquest of the land and they conquered Jericho and Ai and the southern and northern campaign. When we say they conquered the land, we mean that in those approximately 7 years, that chapters 6-12 encompass, they fought all the armies that had come against them. It didn’t mean that they have fully and completely subjugated the land, if you can make that distinction in your mind. It meant that they took out all the mobile forces against them. They still had to go and conquer the different cities, or rather settle the different cities, and possess the land for themselves. Do we understand that distinction? Does that make sense? It’s one thing to overcome the armies coming against them, it’s another thing to go in and take possession of all of that land.
And that is what chapters 13-19 are all about – the Israelites taking possession of the land over another 7 year period. So approximately 7 years to take out all of the armies and approximately another 7 years to possess the land. So we’re talking a large block of time here that the people of God worked to take the promise that the Lord had set before them. In chapter 13 we look at the beginning of this. This is the only portion we’re going to read and then we’ll dive into some general truths about these chapters. Joshua is about 90 years old at this point. So he is in his last decade of life. Last week—thank you, Isaac, for the teaching on Caleb—Caleb was 85 years old around this time. We read that in chapter 14. These are the two oldest men in Israel and they are still continuing to pursue the calling that the Lord has on their life. Amen! How many of you want to be 90 years old and fighting for Jesus?
Joshua 13:1-7
Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess. 2 This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites 3 (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim, 4 in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, 5 and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath, 6 all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel. Only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you. 7 Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”
In these allotment chapters, the word inheritance which you see two times in verses 6 and 7, appears over 50 times throughout this text. It is a major concept for the people of Israel so it’s important that we understand what this means. If you think of the word ‘inheritance’ today you probably think of an heir to someone’s estate, there was a will, and they died and the person received an inheritance from the estate. I get what was passed on to me at the person’s death. That is not the meaning of the word here. It has nothing to do with receiving something at the death of another. Instead, inheritance here signifies the receiving of property as one’s legal right to possess, but not to own. DO we understand that distinction? It’s very, very important.
Essentially it is more akin to the idea of a lease or that I am a tenant, renting from the landlord; or I am a tenant leasing from the owner. I do not have the freedom to do with it as I please and scripture bears this out. Leviticus 25:23 says, “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.” Warren Weirsbe addressing this text says, “Their ownership of the land was purely the gracious act of God; but their possession and enjoyment of the land depending on their submission and obedience to the Lord.” The promise that God gave them, that they would receive the land, that they would some into the Promised Land – that was an unconditional promise. He made that to Abram/Abraham (Genesis 15 & 17), Isaac, and Jacob – he made all of them that promise that they would receive the land. The promise for them to keep or retain possession of the land was a conditional promise. God will give the land (unconditional), but once the Israelites are there they’re only going to keep it if they humbly seek My face and keep My commandments (conditional). There are many verses where God lays that out. In Joshua 8, remember when they went to Mt. Gerizim and Ebol and recited the curses and conditions of the covenant? Those conditions were very much about their ability to remain in the land.
In these chapters, the Lord is fulfilling His promise. We see through the rest of scripture that the Lord was very patient with them for a long time, giving them chance after chance, prophet after prophet telling them you’re not keeping covenant, you’re not keeping your end of the bargain. There are going to be consequences and eventually there were. That’s not for today. For today we see that Moses had already given Reuben, Gad, and ½ of Manasseh land on the east side of the Jordan and then they all went over with the fighting men and conquered the land on the west side of the Jordan. After having given the land on the east of the Jordan, the first tribe that gets allotment is Judah and we read about that last week with Caleb, who was the chief of the tribe of Judah. Caleb got his own inheritance in Hebron which is south of Jerusalem and the entire area around Hebron was also given to the people of Judah.
https://www.conformingtojesus.com/charts-maps/en/12_tribes_of_israel_map.htm
After Judah, the rest of the land was allotted according to the casting of lots. It wasn’t the case where the tribes said, “I like that land, I’ll take that piece.” The priests and Joshua in particular cast lots and that’s what dictated which piece they received and we see that process in Joshua 15-19. You can see the breakdown chapter by chapter in how the land is allocated. It wasn’t purely based off of the casting of lots. There were some other factors, Numbers 26:52-56 describes this process: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 53 “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. 54 To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list. 55 But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. 56 Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.” We see Manasseh has a large piece of land on the east side and the west side of the Jordan. Why? Because they were a very large tribe. The land was determined by lot.
What is a lot? Has anyone rolled a dice before? Scripture says that every lot that is cast is from the Lord. There are other ways of doing this instead of dice. Flipping the coins. Essentially, whatever process you’re going to use is random, but it’s not random because every lot is from the Lord. It was the people’s way of relying on the Lord to go where they should in the land. You only see this happening one time in the New Testament and then the Holy Spirit is poured out and you don’t ever read of lots being cast again. Why? Because the Spirit of the Lord will direct us where to go as we seek the Lord. The people receive their inheritance and you will note that there is no tribe of Levi. Their possession was the Lord. However, when you look at the map there are still 12 allotments and that is because Joseph (dude who went to Egypt with the technicolor dreamcoat) had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim and they each received an allotment. So when you read through the text you’ll see 13 tribes, but no, there are twelve tribes but there are 13 allotments, one being the inheritance of Levi.
There’s a problem that occurs and emerges over the 7 years of settling the land. They didn’t finish the job of fully conquering the land and the peoples that the Lord had commanded them to drive out. If we turn to verse 13 of Joshua 13, the text says, “Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.” Similar events are recorded in Joshua 15, 16, and 17. In summation, Joshua 17:13 says, “Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.” This was a major problem and the ramifications for that were tragic for the people of Israel. Instead of listening to the Lord and drive the people out, they ultimately put them to work, and then intermarried, and then began to worship their gods and were led astray. If you read through the book of Judges immediately after the book of Joshua, you’ll see that it was just a slow, steady decline for the people of Israel because they did not drive out the Canaanites. They tolerated sin in their midst and as they tolerated it over time, that sin became theirs. How many of you know that that is exactly the thing that happens in our lives? If we do not drive out the veil, sinful influences around us, it will inevitably call to our flesh which will want to engage in those things. Praise God that His grace and mercy are new every morning! Amen?
Instead of heeding instruction, they tolerate these people, and disobedience inevitably leads to their displacement after hundreds of years. The Israelites eventually lose this Promised Land that the Lord had given them to possess but because of their sin and disobedience they are exiled – first the northern kingdom to Assyria and then the southern kingdom to Babylon. For many, that loss of the land meant the loss of faith and a loss of identity. They lost who they were. They became one with the people to which they were exiled to.
The Patriarchs start landless, Abram in Babylon (Ur of the Chaledeans), is led out to a new land. Because of the wisdom of Joseph, the Hebrews have land in Egypt in the midst of the people of the world, and ultimately the people of the world enslave the Hebrews, because that’s what the world does – it always wants you to be in subjection to it, not in service to the Lord. The Lord delivers them from Egypt, praise God, because that’s what the Lord always does; he delivers us out of our oppression and subjection. Then they’re wandering and get right up to the Promised Land and as we saw at the beginning of this series they had the chance to go right in, but they couldn’t because they lacked faith. So they wandered for 40 years until the Lord whittled away those without faith until he took them again to the Jordan where we began the book of Joshua, receiving the promise and conquering the land. But unfortunately because of their disobedience, their lack of driving out the Canaanites and their influence over them over time, people are led astray. The kingdom is split, one half falls and then the other and the people are eventually deported and have been under the oppression of conquerors since then until recently in the 1950s after WWII, Israel became a nation once again. Although it is an interesting political conversation about whether Israel is truly free or whether they are under the direction and guidance of our country. But we’re not going to go there!
Here’s the thing. Israel, after the loss of their land, has essentially one way or the other known oppression that’s been their M.O. and how many of you know that the longer you are oppressed and have someone’s thumb pushing down on you, if you do not turn to the One who would save you (we’re talking spiritually right now, who is Jesus of course) that over time, your personality, thoughts and ultimately big picture culture will become just like that of the oppressor. We see that arguably in Israel even today as Israel does to the Palestinian people the same thing that the Romans and many others have done to them for so long. And this isn’t a political statement, I’m not making any political statement. All you need to do is go over to Israel and you will see exactly what I’m talking about.
The difference, the tragedy of the land in Israel is that they stopped pursuing the Lord. They stopped honoring God and they never had the same inheritance again. Either they made political deals with the powers that be, in Jesus’ day it was the Sadducees cozying up next to the Romans, or there were zealots among them who wanted to overthrow the oppressors through violent means. That has been true in history ever since – those two approaches, Praise God that He always has His remnant who seek Him. Amen.
That is what we see Jesus came to do. Jesus came to rise up and share truth and speak life into a situation that had devolved far from the Lord. And this is where we look at what it actually means to belong. Jesus came and you never read Jesus talking about the land in the gospels. He doesn’t ever say to the Jews, “Hey, it’s really important that you get your land back.” He doesn’t even talk about the Temple which was the center of their worship, except to say that the Temple will be destroyed and it was in A.D. 70, after it had been rebuilt, it was destroyed and it hasn’t been rebuilt since. Now, depending on how you read Revelation, it could be rebuilt one day and that will be interesting. I’m not saying the land is unimportant or out of God’s design any longer, but if we have a proper theology of place and belonging, we will see that the land ultimately is unimportant. That the place that we have is with Jesus.
Now, here’s some seminary thinking…I took a class in seminary on the significance of land in the Bible and it was really fascinating. It was a lot of philosophy and sociology and psychology and all that stuff. I’m not going to bore you with all that stuff because it’s not the truth of God. THere may be some elements of truth within it, but it is not the Word of God. Amen? We can glean at least how the world views things and not fall victim to the world’s way of thinking and make sure we have the right way of thinking in His truth.
One philosopher has said that “A human being should be understood in terms of relatedness to the place in which one belongs.” Basically, the philosopher is saying that the places in which we live, work, play, rest, spend our time; they shape us and they give us identity, because that place also contains people and we associate with the people in that place and form identities.
In the Old Testament, certainly as we have seen, and it’s true, in life, the places, the land that we are in, does have a massive impact on us. Right? Things like the natural landscape and the weather, social order within a place, and the historical narratives that are along with that place, all those things can affect us and will affect us most certainly in one way or another. In the ancient near east, here’s a fun fact for you, so think Israel and the surrounding area, the conquerors were always people from lands with rivers. Always. Egypt. Assyria. Babylon. Persia. Why was it river people who were always the conquerors? They had plentiful resources and they had easy transportation so that they could unify themselves and ultimately project that power across the land. Mountainous people on the other hand were often disunited and at best formed city-states. The rocky terrain made travel and communication difficult and made uniting as a larger whole very cumbersome. So their identity was very much formed around their local hills and valleys rather than around the large river deltas and floodplains. We see how the quality and character of the land shaped things in the ancient near east. Now, what is Israel? It’s a very mountainous land; it’s very rugged. If you look at a topography, it’s essentially just hills when you get past the Jordan River on the east, then a massive hill in the middle and then down to the Mediterranean. The areas where it’s not a big hill, it’s desert. Not the most hospitable land, very difficult for growing crops. So what do mountainous people do when they can’t grow crops? They turn to animals to be shepherds. No wonder that so many of the biblical people and analogies were shepherds in this mountainous land. And a shepherding life is a wandering life. So even within these settled areas. These households and tribes within Israel, they wandered within, which makes it very difficult to get to a rootedness, to get to a settled place, which is why the Lord ultimately had, among other things, a system of worship that centralized everyone and gave them identity within the place that would take them all ultimately to Jerusalem to worship every year. No matter what tribe they were in they went up to Jerusalem multiple times a year to celebrate the feasts, no matter what part of the land they were from, no matter where they were wandering, they would all draw near to Jerusalem to worship.
So we see an organizing principle here within the land. That no matter how the land or culture within may shape or define, or try to get you to conform to it, there is something that can transcend land. Throughout humanity this is true. The questions are, “How do we worship? What do we worship?” Even though we are rooted in a place, what our heart goes after from that place is going to shape us. Even more so than the land itself. As we see with the people of Israel, their worship was adulterated because they did not follow the Lord’s instructions in the land. I know this is a little more technical and theological, but it’s really important that we see here that the failure of the people of Israel resulted from a failure of worship. Because of their desire for ease and comfort, they weren’t willing to finish the task that the Lord set before them. They got the blessing of the Lord, they received the land and then they settled, they stopped, they got comfortable. They began to find their identity in the land, in the work of their hands, in the things that they could build, in the things that they could make in the land, in their families that they could grow and all of that identity that the land gave them, short-circuited their worship of the one, true God who was the One who gave them the land in the first place. How many of you know that this can happen to us so so easily?
The Lord, first of all, we might not feel like we have a place, wandering, not settled anywhere. That’s a very dangerous place to be because if we are not rooted that is a prime time for the enemy to come along and whisper those lies to you and find your identity in somewhere else, anywhere else, just find a place to belong because the Lord has put a desire into every single one of us to what to belong to something. Right? That’s just how we’re made, it’s intrinsic to what it means to be an image bearer of God. Did you ever think about that? Did you know that at no point in all of time and history, or even before time, at no point has Yahweh, God, ever been alone. He has always had the Spirit and the Son in relationship and He has always belonged to Himself. Part of the image bearing quality of what it means to be made in Yahweh’s image is that we have a God-given desire to want to be a part of something. The world says, “Look to the land, look to the people that are around you, find your niche, find your community, and that is what gives you identity. The problem is that if we approach it that way, then inevitably our hearts will begin to worship those things which we find our identity in. So you can pick your issue, politic, whatever you want, and if you begin to find your identity in that thing, I guarantee you that you are worshipping that thing. It’s just what our heart does, what the world does, what sociologists and psychologists say has to happen and therein lies the lie right? As people of God we can have the wisdom from above, not from below, that we do not need to be defined by the land, we do not need to be defined by the people around us, we do not need to be defined by the group or affiliation that we are drawn to because the Lord gives us identity, the Lord has given us place.
Let’s go to that verse in the gospel of John 14. I wonder if you have ever read this text through the lens of land before? John 14:1-6 says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;[a] believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
See philosophers, and psychologists, and sociologists will tell you that you just need to find a place in order to belong, that that place will give you value and meaning and identity, but that is false. They’re so close! Like the enemy always does, it’s twisted truth. The places that the world offers are always shifting, broken, and unable to provide true meaning and value apart from whatever empty and vain forms of truth that they possess. Come over here and you’re going to get more money, come over here and your going to become more popular, come over here and you’ll be more beautiful, fit, athletic, artistic, you’ll be able to express yourself. All of those things that the world draws us in with ultimately are empty and will leave you looking for the next thing. That is the best the world can offer. Jesus alone has prepared a place for us that will fully and completely satisfy. And the reason that that places satisfies is not because of any quality intrinsic to the location. It’s not because of any thing that the place will do to you; it is because, when we are in that place it is who we are with in that place, which is with Jesus. It’s what he says, “I will be with you, that where I am you may also be” and that’s the reason that it satisfies. All places will ultimately fail to give someone a true sense of belonging in the long run if they are devoid of the presence of God. That quality within us as part of being an image bearer of God, the only thing that will fulfill that, feel truly loved, feel truly engaged is love of God; His love for us, that’s it, that’s all it is.
The people of Israel missed this, they forgot it because they got distracted by the gift and forgot about the giver, we’ve heard that before right? They forgot about the true owner of the land and thought they had it for themselves. They forgot that they were just tenants to the landlord. But here’s the thing, when we are with God, when we are pursuing him, when we have bowed the knee to Jesus in faith, any place can be satisfying when Jesus is there with us. Amen? How many of you know that? How many of you, if you could design the perfect place for you to live the rest of your life, would say that you’re there right now? I didn’t think anyone would raise your hand. Because this world is broken and not perfect right? And if we’re just honest with ourselves, our flesh, pride, and selfishness always wants something more. The grass is always greener, that thing over there is really cool. I want that too. This world is a constantly unsatisfying thing. But, what Jesus does is makes the place where you are today satisfying because he meets you right there and he allows you to push aside the things that aren’t ideal or difficult, perhaps even oppressive and meets you in that place and gives you true life, hope, identity, belonging, as his brother or sister as a child of His heavenly Father.
Isaiah 44:1-5 in the NIV says, ““But now listen, Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says—he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. 5 Some will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’; others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, ‘The Lord’s,’and will take the name Israel.” This is what the Lord is doing in our lives! He is coming to those places that are broken and dry and arid and he brings life and a sense of belonging to Him. In Ephesians 2:17-22, Paul writes, “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Isn’t it so cool that not only has Jesus prepared a place for us, but he also prepares us to be a place for him. That his spirit makes its dwelling place in you and me so that we have unity in him. We have belonging with him; identity with him, we have power in his presence. Wherever we go we are with God and God is with us and therefore that gives us value, identity and belonging and we can walk in that identity regardless of what is going on in the land around us. That is what scripture says, that is what a theology of belonging and place has to be able to get to so that as we go through this world we don’t get sidetracked by the things of this world like Israel did that we don’t complete the task. We have to run the race to the end, persevere, that’s why scripture is so often talking about perseverance and endurance. It doesn’t matter if we’re wealthy, have land, are attractive, athletic, artistic, or if we have anything else that the world values and craves. All of those things are empty, and in fact, how many of you know that most of the time we’re better off without those things because it actually gives us a heart of humility that is sensitive to God.
If the enemy cannot win you through lack, he will gladly win you through plenty. He will gladly throw whatever your heart craves in the moment so that you wander from God and get sucked into that thing. Praise God that he has given us His Spirit as Ephesians says, that he directs us in this journey, and reminds us where our hope is and where our true belonging is as his love enfolds, surrounds and encourages us. He has adopted us into His family. That is where we belong and we are just pilgrims through this life. A pilgrim is just a person who is on a journey to a place and in this context a spiritual journey. The road they travel is not the destination. It’s just the journey that ultimately leads them to the end which is the spiritual conclusion in Christian understanding and the biblical worldview when we die and go be with Jesus.
Part of our identity is not just an adopted child of God, it is a pilgrim through this broken world on the path to being in our eternal home with Christ forever. So we have to have the mindset of a pilgrim that all of this stuff that we’re around. This journey that we’re on as we wind through life is going to pass away. It’s all fleeting. The bad things will go away one day. The good things are going to burn. That’s the mindset of a pilgrim and the only thing that matters is our pursuit of God and our obedience to Him to love the people around us. That’s it. We love God and we love the people around us and we help to show them what true belonging, value, identity, is apart from the land that they are stuck in. They might be someone from the metaphoric river who’s a conqueror of life or they might be someone from the metaphoric mountain who is lonely and separated and wandering. It doesn’t matter, either way, of the Lord brings us across that person’s path, we have a responsibility to love them, speak truth to them, encourage them and hold loosely so that they can see that what they think gives them value is a lie. What truly gives them value is a relationship with Jesus Christ and that one day what truly gives them hope and confidence is the place that Jesus has prepared for them and that is what they have to look forward to.
Church, having a healthy theology of place is so important as we go through life. Because a healthy theology of place is really a healthy theology of identity in who we belong to. Kids, please be mindful of what this culture is constantly seeking to press you into. Into the mold, conformity, value structure that it says you should measure yourself by. We all need to be mindful of that, but it is especially invasive into the young, because the enemy knows if he can get you while you are young in high school and college and middle school, if he can get your value system rooted in what he says is important and get you to see yourself through the lens of what the world says gives you value then he knows you will live a deceived life and lead many others down that path. That’s not what God has for you! The Lord does not give you a land so you can get comfortable in it, he has a place for you so you can be defined by Him and His place and purpose for you. He gives you that sense of belonging. And will give you purpose and work as you go through it so that you can share that truth with others.
If you want to evaluate whether you’re thinking about things the right way…See all the world ever does, in every other context is take something from you. It may say it’s giving you something, but in the end it will just take. That is not what the Lord does. He pours His Spirit, His life, love, power, and presence, hope, mercy, grace, and holiness in an unending supply so that we know who we belong to and we can accomplish the work of driving out the sin around us and inviting in those who would be saved.