Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Yesterday, the Israelites won a lot of wars and took a lot of land, so today we open with a summary of what land they've acquired, with lots of boundaries that are probably unfamiliar to you and that seem unimportant. Rest assured that these boundaries were very important to the people at the time, and not only that, but these lists have also served our faith historically and archaeologically.
So hang in there when we're in these dry patches. Know that they serve a purpose greater than you. We started out with the land they conquered when Moses was still alive, all the stuff east of the Jordan River where the 2.5 Transjordan tribes live, Gad, Reuben, and East Manasseh. Then we cross the Jordan River heading west into the Promised Land and read about the areas conquered by Joshua.
After all this conquering, Joshua is pretty old, but God says he's not done with him. There's still more land to take, so he's not allowed to die yet. But God will do the heavy lifting for them and drive out the inhabitants himself. Then Joshua will give the land to the remaining 9.5 tribes. And the Levites, of course, have God himself as their inheritance, and they're divvied up to live among each of the tribes.
One of the problems with the 2.5 Transjordan tribes to the east is that they didn't drive out all the people who live there, which is not okay, according to God. We'll continue to see how this act of disobedience causes them trouble through the years. Then we have an encounter with Caleb. He was the other spy who, along with Joshua, believed God 45 years earlier when they spied out this very land. He's talking to Joshua about what they endured then and what God promised to them.
He recalls following God in the face of fear, and he's ready to do it again. Even at the age of 85, he wants to go personally fight against the Anakim, the giants in the land. And he succeeds under Joshua's blessing and God's direction. Chapter 15 tells us all about Judah's inheritance. They were the largest tribe by far, so they get the largest plot of land. Almost everything Judah got was desert.
but it does edge in on Jerusalem, so that's a plus. And they also got all that mineral-rich soil of the Dead Sea. So I guess that means they had free facials and floating. We've included a general map of the tribal allotments in today's show notes for those of you who are visual.
Having been to almost all of these places, I personally think Benjamin, Naphtali, and Dan got the best allotments. Their land is represented by the current areas of Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, and Tel Aviv. The land I would be least interested in is Simeon's land. It's straight-up desert with nothing awesome in it, unless you like desert. By the way, anytime you see the word Negeb, that's a reference to the desert.
Because Caleb was a part of the tribe of Judah, his inheritance falls within their allotment. There's one plot of land promised to him that he asks for help with, and he promises that whatever man conquers that city will get to marry his daughter. I know how I would feel about this today if it happened, but if I lived back then, I probably would have considered it an honor to be the grand prize for the warrior who conquered the most difficult city in my father's land. His daughter's cousin, Othniel, happened to be the one who conquered it.
which is not awesome in today's culture, but was pretty great back then. And she had one request. Since her portion included the Negev, the desert, she also wanted two springs of water. Smart woman. And her dad gave it to her. We ended today's reading with a sentence that is in contrast to everything else we read today, which is also where my God shot came in.
1563 says, "But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah, could not drive out." So the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day. Earlier in 1313, we read about how the Transjordan tribes did not drive out the people of the land, which suggests that they didn't even try. But this text about Judah's land says that the people of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem, as in, they tried and they failed.
Why? If God was with them, why couldn't they just believe in themselves and make it happen? Why couldn't they recall God's promises to them and hold them to His words? God will not be manipulated by our mantras. He made a very specific agreement with them about how the land would be taken, and it involved obedience. They can't just show up with their entitlement and expect God to give them what they want, even when it's what He promised them personally and directly.
This unique relationship their nation state has with God means that they have to walk in accordance with the covenant they made. And something was off here. There was some sin. So they don't acquire the land.
Does that mean God has failed them? No, the story isn't over yet. So resist the urge to have all the answers just yet. God is at work, even in these so-called delays, to shape their hearts, to do them good, to defeat the enemies in their lives despite their present failure. He's with them when they sin and fall short. He's with you when you fail.
So even in failure, trust can grow, faith can be strengthened, and joy can be found because He's where the joy is.
If you've picked up a copy of the Bible Recap book in any of its versions, thank you. Whether you've grabbed Big Blue, our original hardback, or one of our deluxe versions like Sage or Brown Vegan Leather, or one of the personal size options like Baby Blue or Black Stallion, or our large print version, Bigger Blue, it makes me so happy that I get to read the Bible with you. If
the same great content you're hearing on The Daily Podcast, but instead of listening to the recap for eight minutes a day, you read the recap for two pages a day. And high five to those of you who do both simultaneously. You can find the Bible Recap book wherever books are sold, including in our store. Just visit thebiblerecap.com forward slash store or click the link in the show notes.