Judah Is First
Today we primarily
read about Judah’s inheritance. We read
about Judah first because it is the preeminent tribe as the people come out of
Egypt and move toward the Promised Land.
Of course, this comment is meant excluding the tribes in the Transjordan
who had already received their allotment.
Othniel
Specifically within
the stories of Judah’s inheritance we have two unique stories. The first is the story of Caleb’s nephew,
Othniel. Othniel and Achsah are married largely
because of Othniel’s warrior prowess. This
may seem like an insignificant event, but we will meet Othniel again when we
read the book of Judges. In fact, in the
first chapter of Judges we’ll read the story of Othniel and Achsah again! Othniel is the first judge raised up by God
to protect the Promised Land.
Stop for a moment and
think about that for a second. Certainly
there can be no doubt that Caleb’s faithfulness towards God rubbed off on both
his daughter, Achsah, and her new husband, Othniel. I’m certainly not giving Caleb all the glory
– for that belongs to God. But neither
should we ignore the fact that people of faith can have great impact on those
who are growing and maturing in their own faith. I don’t think that there is any accident
whatsoever that the first protector of the Hebrew people after Joshua’s death
will be a faithful family member of a faithful man.
Proximity to faithful
people should not be overlooked.
Jerusalem – Spiritual Difficulties
The second story that
we have in this chapter is the notation that the people of Judah are unable to
deliver Jerusalem from the hands of the Jebusites. In fact, the Jebusites will hang around
through the period of the judges and they will be present even into the time of
David. We know that for a period of many
decades the Jebusites will be able to hang onto control of Jerusalem.
The reason this is
important is because we all know how important Jerusalem is to the Hebrew
people. It becomes David’s city. It becomes the city of God. Yet for quite some time the Hebrew people did
not have access to that city. It held
out as a stronghold of Canaanite culture.
This reminds us that sometimes the most important spiritual results are just
downright hard to accomplish.
We began Joshua with
a conversation about how the story of Joshua relates to the spiritual walk as a
Christian. It’s time to return to that
concept – specifically regarding Jerusalem.
Jerusalem eventually becomes the place where God dwells. But it is won only after a period of great
struggle. The native inhabitants of
Jerusalem are hard to drive out – and they aren’t driven out on the first
attempt.
So it is with our
heart, our mind, and our soul. Sometimes
sin is easy to purge. Sometimes sin is
hard to discover and even more difficult to root out. That doesn’t mean we don’t try. It means we prepare ourselves for a struggle.
Heart, Mind, and Soul
Speaking in general
with regard to all of scripture: the heart, mind, and soul are each referred to
as being important places where faith rests within us. Sometimes we have spiritual moments and feel
like we are on the top of the mountain.
We think we have finally won our heart mind and soul for God. Yet soon the world comes back in and brings
us back to earth. Our spirituality fades
and returns to a less dominant place.
The struggle for our heart, mind, and soul constantly rages within us.
The spiritual battle
for heart, mind, and, soul is a lifelong battle – much like the battle for
Jerusalem against the Jebusites spanned generations. Some spiritual victories are quick and easy
(like Joshua at Jericho). Some battles
are difficult without the proper understanding (like the battle for Ai). Other battles are just plain impossible
without God’s help, and even then they are lifelong struggles (like Jerusalem).
That doesn’t mean we
quit fighting. It means we strap
ourselves in for a good fight. As I said
earlier, it means we know there will be mountains and valleys (or highs and
lows … blessings and bummers … whatever you want to call them) and we long to
stay on the mountain for as long as possible while climbing out of the valley
as quickly as possible. But we still continue
to fight. The spiritual battle for our
heart, mind, and soul – and the heart, mind, and soul of this world around us –
is not going to be a quick battle. But
it is a battle worth fighting.
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