Joshua 12:7-24. As I said yesterday this chapter 12 is a summary of the war to take over the promised land.\u00a0 It started by retelling the story about the land east of the Jordan River.\u00a0 This land was taken over by Moses and given to the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.\u00a0 The rest of the chapter, today\u2019s reading, gives a detailed summary (is that a contradiction?) of the land which Joshua took over west of the Jordan.\u00a0 If you didn\u2019t read yesterday\u2019s post you might want to read it first.<\/p>\n
As I mentioned yesterday we see the faithfulness of God in this chapter.\u00a0 God had said he would give this land to the Israelites starting way back with Abraham.\u00a0 Now more than 800 years later the promise becomes a reality.\u00a0 That may seem like a long time but God is not slow about his promises he just has a plan that he is working out for the greatest benefit of the most people (See 2 Peter 3:9).\u00a0 The land taken by Moses in the first part of the chapter was about 150 miles North to south by about 30 miles east to west.\u00a0 The land described in today\u2019s reading is about 200 miles north to south and 50 miles east to west.\u00a0 From the description of the kings we get the impression that the land west of the Jordan was more populated.\u00a0 Only two kings are listed as being defeated by Moses whereas thirty-one are listed as defeated by Joshua.\u00a0 Another contrast is the fact that 2 1\/2 tribes received an inheritance from Moses whereas 9 1\/2 received land from Joshua.\u00a0 Also notice that the writer mentions Moses after the telling of his story but begins Joshua\u2019s conquest by mentioning Joshua.\u00a0 This puts both men side by side in the story.\u00a0 I think that the writer wanted us to compare Moses and Joshua.\u00a0 He wanted us to see that what Moses began Joshua finished.<\/p>\n
Twice in verse 6 we are told that Moses was the servant of the LORD.\u00a0 Although Joshua is not described that way in this chapter in Joshua 5:14 he calls himself God\u2019s servant.\u00a0 In Joshua 11:15 we see Joshua following in the footsteps of Moses.\u00a0 And finally in Joshua 24:29 Joshua is called the servant of the LORD. We are all part of God\u2019s ongoing work in the world.\u00a0 Really what God<\/span> started God<\/span> will finish, but God\u2019s work is taking time, centuries, millennia even.\u00a0 This is not because God needs time we do.\u00a0 God took six days to create the universe because he wanted us to learn from that too.\u00a0 God is all powerful and he is consistent.\u00a0 We will come and we will go in terms of our earthly life, but we can be a part of something that will endure \u2026.. or not.\u00a0\u00a0 Back in Joshua 1:9 god commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because God was with him.\u00a0 Joshua has encouraged the people to be strong and courageous.\u00a0 God was with them too.\u00a0 But in Joshua 1:8 God told Joshua that he needed to be with God.\u00a0 Joshua needed to take time to listen to God.\u00a0 He needed to meditate on the \u201cbook of the Law\u201d and do what it said.\u00a0 God\u2019s plan is for us to return to Him (2 Peter 3:9 again.\u00a0 Repentance means to turn around.).\u00a0 But it takes us time.\u00a0 God is giving us time, over 6000 years so far.\u00a0 He is waiting.\u00a0 Someday he will stop and bring it all to a close.\u00a0 In the mean time we need to pass the good news on.\u00a0 We are the next Joshua.\u00a0 I am the next Joshua.\u00a0 You are the next Joshua.\u00a0 God help me meditate on your word, the Bible.\u00a0 Help me learn what it says and be careful to do what it says.\u00a0 Help me be faithful to what ever it is that you have for me.\u00a0 Help me be your servant.\u00a0 And when I die I hope they say about me, Myron, the servant of the LORD.\u00a0 May you receive all the honor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joshua 12:7-24. As I said yesterday this chapter 12 is a summary of the war to take over the promised land.\u00a0 It started by retelling the story about the land east of the Jordan River.\u00a0 This land was taken over by Moses and given to the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of the tribe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=566"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":568,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566\/revisions\/568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}