Joshua 13:8-23
The other half of Manasseh, the Reubenites and the Gadites had received the inheritance that Moses had given them east of the Jordan, as he, the servant of the LORD, had assigned it to them.
It extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and included the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon, and all the towns of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, out to the border of the Ammonites. It also included Gilead, the territory of the people of Geshur and Maacah, all of Mount Hermon and all Bashan as far as Salecah- that is, the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had survived as one of the last of the Rephaites. Moses had defeated them and taken over their land. But the Israelites did not drive out the people of Geshur and Maacah, so they continue to live among the Israelites to this day.
But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the offerings made by fire to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them.
This is what Moses had given to the tribe of Reuben, clan by clan:
The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and the whole plateau past Medeba to Heshbon and all its towns on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon, Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on the hill in the valley, Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth —all the towns on the plateau and the entire realm of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon. Moses had defeated him and the Midianite chiefs, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—princes allied with Sihon—who lived in that country. In addition to those slain in battle, the Israelites had put to the sword Balaam son of Beor, who practiced divination. The boundary of the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the Reubenites, clan by clan.
I always wonder what can we learn about God in a passage that is about land allocation. It is just like genealogy. Land allocation and genealogy and perhaps also instruction on how to build temple and tabernacle are somewhat the more dry part of the bible and makes people want to skip these part.
Nonetheless, they were written and inspired by the Holy Spirit for a purpose. As I wrote the other time, genealogy reflects a lot on a person's history and how God is using people from different generations to fulfil His sovereign will. Detailed instructions about building tabernacle means only one thing, that the residence of God has to be perfect to reflect His perfect nature, just like the sacrifice that is required for God to cleanse us. That is why the Holy Spirit can only reside in our heart upon accepting Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as that cleanse our sins by His grace and allows us to become the holy temple for God's Spirit.
It is the same for land allocation. In the context of this passage, we are gradually seeing the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham:
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates- the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."
It shows one thing. That God is faithful and He will fulfil His promises in due time. In this, He has an amazing track record that no one on earth can match. The promise to Abraham, the promise to rescue the Israelites from Egypt, the promise to end the exile of the Israelites, and others, are all fulfilled. And the the occupation of the land of Canaan was of no exception.
Perhaps in this, we have to ask ourselves one question: are we assured of God's promises in our lives? I know that the bible contains more than 1000 promises from God to us and I have yet the time to go and explore them one by one. But yet, God promises us so much thing, and I sometimes wonder if we are actively claiming these promises. Probably we are claiming a few at one time. Probably at some times we forget some of them. But then, are we aware that God is faithful enough to fulfil His promises to us one day? Bring this even further, are we aware that God is faithful enough to fulfil His promise of sending Jesus back on earth for the final judgement? Already, we should know that God is not slow on His promise:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
This should be familiar with us. And this should lead to another question: are we assured that things will happen according to God's timing or we want things happen according to our timing? Something happened last saturday and that made me realised that things will happen one day or another. I was seeing the fruition of my own sowing from two years back, just when I thought this day might never come to pass.
God's promises are there. It's there for us to claim. But it's also there to be fulfilled according to His timing. Figure it out.
It extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and included the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon, and all the towns of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, out to the border of the Ammonites. It also included Gilead, the territory of the people of Geshur and Maacah, all of Mount Hermon and all Bashan as far as Salecah- that is, the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had survived as one of the last of the Rephaites. Moses had defeated them and taken over their land. But the Israelites did not drive out the people of Geshur and Maacah, so they continue to live among the Israelites to this day.
But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the offerings made by fire to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them.
This is what Moses had given to the tribe of Reuben, clan by clan:
The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and the whole plateau past Medeba to Heshbon and all its towns on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon, Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on the hill in the valley, Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth —all the towns on the plateau and the entire realm of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon. Moses had defeated him and the Midianite chiefs, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—princes allied with Sihon—who lived in that country. In addition to those slain in battle, the Israelites had put to the sword Balaam son of Beor, who practiced divination. The boundary of the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the Reubenites, clan by clan.
I always wonder what can we learn about God in a passage that is about land allocation. It is just like genealogy. Land allocation and genealogy and perhaps also instruction on how to build temple and tabernacle are somewhat the more dry part of the bible and makes people want to skip these part.
Nonetheless, they were written and inspired by the Holy Spirit for a purpose. As I wrote the other time, genealogy reflects a lot on a person's history and how God is using people from different generations to fulfil His sovereign will. Detailed instructions about building tabernacle means only one thing, that the residence of God has to be perfect to reflect His perfect nature, just like the sacrifice that is required for God to cleanse us. That is why the Holy Spirit can only reside in our heart upon accepting Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as that cleanse our sins by His grace and allows us to become the holy temple for God's Spirit.
It is the same for land allocation. In the context of this passage, we are gradually seeing the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham:
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates- the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."
It shows one thing. That God is faithful and He will fulfil His promises in due time. In this, He has an amazing track record that no one on earth can match. The promise to Abraham, the promise to rescue the Israelites from Egypt, the promise to end the exile of the Israelites, and others, are all fulfilled. And the the occupation of the land of Canaan was of no exception.
Perhaps in this, we have to ask ourselves one question: are we assured of God's promises in our lives? I know that the bible contains more than 1000 promises from God to us and I have yet the time to go and explore them one by one. But yet, God promises us so much thing, and I sometimes wonder if we are actively claiming these promises. Probably we are claiming a few at one time. Probably at some times we forget some of them. But then, are we aware that God is faithful enough to fulfil His promises to us one day? Bring this even further, are we aware that God is faithful enough to fulfil His promise of sending Jesus back on earth for the final judgement? Already, we should know that God is not slow on His promise:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
This should be familiar with us. And this should lead to another question: are we assured that things will happen according to God's timing or we want things happen according to our timing? Something happened last saturday and that made me realised that things will happen one day or another. I was seeing the fruition of my own sowing from two years back, just when I thought this day might never come to pass.
God's promises are there. It's there for us to claim. But it's also there to be fulfilled according to His timing. Figure it out.
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