Joshua 18:1-20.  While quite a bit of time was spent in Joshua detailing the division to Judah and Joseph the pace now picks up for the seven remaining tribes.  Remember two tribes (Gad and Reuben) and part of Manasseh received their part of the land east of the Jordan River and we have just seen Judah and the rest of Joseph (Manasseh with Ephraim) receiving their land.  That makes 4 so far.  Levi will not receive a large piece of land but will receive some cities with fields around them.  So we have seven of the twelve left.

In Joshua 14:6 at the beginning of the allotment of the land Caleb went to Gilgal to talk to Joshua about getting his land.  Gilgal was the place that the Israelites made camp when the originally crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 4:15-5:10).  It appears to have been both their religious (Joshua 5:10) and military center (Joshua 9:6; 10:6-15).  The priests with the ark went up there (Joshua 4:15-19) so it would ssem that the Tabernacle (a sort of portable church) was probably set up there.  Gilgal was in the south about 5 miles north of the northern tip of the Dead Sea and about two mile west of the river.  In today’s reading the people gathered together at a place called Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting (The Tabernacle).

Shiloh was about 15 miles north of Gilgal and a little west.   Remember that in those days there were no cars or buses, people mostly walked.  The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth at about 1400 feet below sea level.  The Jordan Rover flows south into the Dead Sea through a deep canyon called the Jordan River Rift.  To the west of this deep valley are the three groups of “hills”.  The Judean hills in the south, the Samarian hills in the central area, and the Galilee Hills in the north.  Further west is the costal plain.  Shiloh was in this central hill region at an elevation of maybe 2400 feet above sea level.  The total elevation difference between Gilgal and Shiloh would have been about 4000 feet.  To go from Gilgal to Shiloh would have been a pretty intense one day trip for a small group.  It probably would have taken several days to move the Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting there.

We do get some sense of time having passed during the events of the past few chapters though.  And in verses three Joshua seems to be a little upset with the other tribes for not having taken their land yet.  Now to be fair, the land hadn’t been divided yet, but remember that didn’t stop Caleb who pushed the matter with Joshua to get his land right away.  In the beginning of today’s reading Joshua has the tribes choose three men each to go out and survey the land.  They then returned to Shiloh where Joshua rolled the dice to see who got what (But remember that this was not considered random.  See the post on 3/16/12).  The first division was given to Benjamin who got a piece of land tucked between Judah on the south and Manasseh/Ephraim in the north.  Benjamin’s land bordered the Jordan River and ran up and over the central hill country stopping about the bottom of the hills to the west.

What I liked about today’s reading was that Joshua never seems to lose sight of his mission.  His job is to divide up the land.  Years go by and he keeps getting back to the same message.  He seems pretty focused.  I also like the fact that the actual division is in God’s hands and so is the conquest.  Notice how whenever Joshua is getting on to the people he says something like, “How long will you delay in taking the land the LORD has given you?”  It’s past tense like it’s a done deal.  They are like abunce of kids standing around looking at the most awesome Christmas present and mom and dad have to say, “Go on take that bike for a spin.”  A few weeks ago we started a series on Spiritual Gifts called Volleyballs and Waterfalls on Sunday mornings (See “Sunday Scripture Exploration” for more about this).  The series is really about ministry, about living the life God has designed for each of us. We each have a place in the body of Christ, the church, and we need to figure it out and then get in there and do whatever God has for us to do.  And we need to keep on doing it.  We need to be Joshua’s.  Lord help me be focused.  Help me be persistent.  Give me a clear vision of what you want me to do.  Thank you for having a place for me in your forever family.  Keep me focused and faithful.

Joshua 17:1-18.  Today we see the rest of the allotment for Manasseh, Joseph’s other son.  Manasseh had already received land on the east side of the Jordan River.  As the Israelites had approached the promised land several years earlier the kings on the east side of the river made war with them.  After the Israelites defeated those kings two of the tribes, Gad and Reuben, asked for land on the east side of the river.  They had a lot of livestock and realized that the land on that side of the river was good pastureland.  Moses granted them the land and also gave land to a part of Manasseh’s tribe (Numbers 31-32).  According to today’s reading the particular family from Manasseh that received the land to the east was a guy named Machir and he received it because he was a noted warrior (v. 1).

The reading continues by telling us that the other part of Manasseh received their “lot” on the west side.  Then there is a funny note, “theses were the male descendants of Manasseh”.  To the original readers this ma have made them take notice.  In ancient times land was passed on thorugh the male members of a family.  So this statement in verse 2 would be unnecessary.  But there is a history here.  If you notice the end of verse 2 tells us that the land was handed out according to families.  In Numbers 27 we find out that one of the families, Zelophehad’s, didn’t have any male descendants.  So the daughters approached Moses and appealed to him for a portion of the inheritance in their father’s name. .  If you read the story in Numbers 27 you would have noticed that the daughters said their father did not die because of a sin ”like Korah’s”.  Korah was a guy who lead a rebellion against Moses and Aaron.  He did not like the fact that God had chosen Moses and Aaron to be “go betweens” between Him and the Israelites.  Korah wanted to walk up to God on his own.  When he and some others made personal offering to God they were destroyed, taken to the grave alive, swallowed up by an earthquake.  Korah had not shown proper respect for God’s purity or holiness.  The daughters of Zelophehad told Moses that their father had died in the wilderness as a normal member of the group that he was not like Korah.  Moses talked to God about it and the answer was that they should be included.

The rest of today’s reading gives details of the allotment for Manasseh on the west side of the Jordan River.  There are a couple of interesting additions to the story though.  Notice that the allotment lists towns and their inhabitants.  The inhabitants should have all been killed and from earlier descriptions of the taking of the land they were.  As in yesterday’s story some people must have come back in while the Israelites were dividing up the land.  Verse 12 makes it clear that these people were Canaanites.  This is a typical Hebrew way of telling a story. That information is like a movie or television preview, just enough information to get your interest.  Next the men of Manasseh went to Joshua and basically made up a story, “Hey we are a big tribe and need more land.”  So Joshua told them if they needed more land to take the forestland, where the Rephaim lived.  Rephaim were a physically large and powerful group of people, actual giants (Deuteronomy 2:10-11).  Again they complained, “the hill country was not enough” (that is the forest land), but then they got to the real problem, the inhabitants of the land they were to take had iron chariots.  Back when we went through Judges (a time period after Joshua) theses guys with iron chariots were still a problem but when the people put the problem into God’s hands they were able to defeat the Canaanites (Judges 4).  Joshua agreed with them that they were a big tribe and repeated that the extra land they needed would be the hill country.  They would need to drive out the Canaanites.

There are a couple of lessons we can learn from today’s reading.  Instead of focusing on God who had promised to give them the victory the men of Manasseh were focusing on the enemy.  They kept making excuses.  We do the same thing.  We need to keep our eyes on god and do what he tells us to do, we need to let him worry about how to deal with the giants, and he can.  The other thing that is really revolutionary about this story is the inclusion of the women in the inheritance.  Over the years many people have criticized the Bible as being too male oriented.  Certainly God created men and women differently and we have certain roles in our lives.  Men cannot have babies after all and generally speaking women are not as physically strong as men.  There are other differences too.  The point is that women are not second-class in God’s eyes, they are equal to men as people.  The way Zelophehad’s daughters were treated was completely against most of the cultures of the time (and still is against much of the world’s cultures today).  God clearly respects women and sees them as equals to men as persons (Galatians 3:28). God respected Zelophehad’s daughters and made sure they were provided for.  We need to respect all people as the precious creation of God and protect their basic human rights.  Lord help me not be overcome with fear of giant in my life, whether the giants are real or parts of my culture.  Help me keep my eyes on you and trust in your power and willingness to use it.  Help me see others through your eyes.  Give me strength and courage to live the life you want me to live.