Confrontation Regarding Negligence
Joshua 18 gives us
the middle third of the allotment chapters.
I have a few brief comments about them.
First, notice that the text seems to give Joshua a confrontational
dynamic in verse 3 where Joshua says: “How long
will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given
you?”
(ESV) Joshua seems to be implying that
the other 7 tribes were putting off the reclaiming of their land in spite of
the fact that Canaan was subdued.
This brings up the
need to talk about the process of subduing the land. You see, Joshua and the fighting men of
Israel had already taken out the big cities.
But that doesn’t mean that they had gone through the land and killed
everyone. If we take Georgia as an
example, it would be like someone coming through and annihilating Atlanta,
Savannah, Macon, Augusta, Valdosta, and Columbus. Sure, the major centers of life would be
taken out. But there would still be
plenty of Georgians with whom they would have to deal – and living in various
communities of varying sizes!
Back in the story of
Joshua, there are still plenty of little settlements left to be handled. These smaller settlements were typically left
for each tribe to go in and handle as they subdued their own allotment. So, Joshua is telling the remaining seven
tribes to get off of their behinds and go and subdue the smaller settlements of
Canaanites within their own inheritance.
These seven tribes probably preferred living in the relative safety of
the camp of the Hebrew people rather than wanting to go off into their own
areas and take responsibility.
Subduing the Land
However, notice that
up until now the division of the land for these seven hasn’t been handled
either. This is why I personally find
Joshua’s comment a little out of place.
In order for Joshua to ask how long the people were going to sit around
before subduing the land, something must have happened regarding the division
of the land that we weren’t told about – such as Joshua telling the people to
go forth and take claim of whatever they can get. Somewhere along the line these tribes must
have been told to go forth or else Joshua’s chastisement is uncalled for. But, we aren’t told about it, so we really
shouldn’t read into this too much. We
know Joshua seems to chastise these tribes for one reason or another.
What we can learn
from this is that God does expect us to work for our own spirituality. Sure, we can come and glean from the
collective. We can come and worship with
other people, study God’s Word with other people, and let other people pray in
our presence. But that will only take us
so far. At some point we need to go out
and do a little reclamation ourselves.
At some point in time we need to take the initiative and fight for our
own spirituality. God does not want us
simply enjoying the spiritual leftovers that fall off the tables of
others. God wants us going out and subduing
our own spirituality (with the power and direction of God, of course).
Allotment of Benjamin
The other little
tidbit that we discover in today’s passage deals with the allotment of
Benjamin. Benjamin is given the land
that contains Jerusalem. So here we find
out that it is Benjamin who struggles so much with rooting out the
Jebusites. But we also see here that
Benjamin is included highly in the list because it contains one of the most
important cities in the history of the world.
Like Judah – who was honored by being first because of past and future
importance – and like Joseph – who was honored through both Ephraim and
Manassah because of past faithfulness – we now see how Benjamin is honored with
a small but extremely important tract of land.
I am willing to bet that the Benjaminites didn’t know what they were getting when they got it. I bet they also didn’t know hard the struggle would be to subdue the Canaanites. But they become so important in God’s plan. This small tract of land will produce a tribe that not only produces the first king of Israel but also the great apostle Paul! And of course, this doesn’t even mention its connections with Bethlehem and Jesus Christ!
I am willing to bet that the Benjaminites didn’t know what they were getting when they got it. I bet they also didn’t know hard the struggle would be to subdue the Canaanites. But they become so important in God’s plan. This small tract of land will produce a tribe that not only produces the first king of Israel but also the great apostle Paul! And of course, this doesn’t even mention its connections with Bethlehem and Jesus Christ!
We never really know
how great a spiritual blessing will be when we first receive it. Quite often it is the little things – the
day-to-day small stuff – that take on incredible importance as time goes
on. Our small spot of spirituality is
like Benjamin’s small tract of land. But
that beginning spirituality within each of us is great potential in the same
way that Jerusalem rested within the land for Benjamin. So we must not judge our spirituality based
on its current size; rather judge it based on its current potential. And with God as the one directing the
process, all spirituality has great potential!
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