Joshua 13-19: Gift to Receive and Claim
Joshua 13-19 is not the most exciting part in the book of Joshua. Those seven chapters are about the allocation of the land (inheritance) for each of the twelve tribes. They include some narratives, but for the most part they provide us with lists of borders and towns in their mind-numbing details. Although these chapters may be skimmed through without much excitement, when carefully read, they provide us with important spiritual insights that are relevant for us today.
I see at least three spiritual principles in Joshua 13-19:
The word, inheritance, refers to a possession or property that is given to an heir. Throughout the Old Testament, the word was linked to God’s faithfulness to give the people the things He had promised them. Specifically, in Joshua, it refers to the giving of a parcel of land that God had long ago pledged to the descendants of Abraham. God, as the owner of all things, can give anything He desires to His children as a gift of His grace. The nature of the promised inheritance extends far beyond a piece of land, however. The inheritance of God is most clearly and ultimately seen in Him giving of Himself to His people (Ps 16:5-6; Jer 10:16). For instance, the tribe of Levi was given “no inheritance,” “for the LORD God of Israel is their inheritance” (Joshua 13:14, 33). The LORD is the ultimate gift to his people. In His kindness, God allows His people to know Him and fellowship with Him in spite of their sin. In the New Testament there is no longer distribution of the actual real estate as inheritance. We no longer need to claim a piece of land in Palestine to receive the inheritance from God. Christ is the fulfillment of all the promises and gift of God. Those who know the nature of the glorious inheritance in Christ (Col 1:12; 2:3) can relinquish the promises of a fallen world and treasure the far greater gift of knowing God (1 Peter 1:4).
In Joshua the land is described both as a gift from God to be received, and as something to be claimed. As Christians we know that Jesus Christ came to die for us so that we can receive the gift of eternal life. And that life is not just life after death, but life that we can experience even now on this side of heaven. Jesus came to give us life in its fullness. We are to experience such a life as we put our faith in him. We are to experience life of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control in an increasing manner. In Christ we are able to experience more joy, more peace and more love as we progressively claim what was lost due to our sin. Little by little we win victories against sin and against the devil. We will not experience the rest fully on this side of heaven, but we will increasingly experience rest for our soul in Christ.
We see at least three different faith responses in the narratives of Joshua 13—19. First, there are those who “wholly followed the LORD” like Caleb and Joshua. They experience the full enjoyment of blessing and rest (14:8, 15; 19:49-50). Their inheritance is so much larger than they can enjoy on their own, that others experience blessing through them. Such is the life of a Christian who experiences life in its fullness as he or she lives in faith and obedience to Christ and loves God with the whole heart. Second, there are those who appear to have faith and yet not live in faith. That’s the case in the tribe of Joseph who complained that their allotment was too small (Joshua 17:14); Joshua responded that their faith was too small (17:15, 17-18). They did not experience the fullness of life because of their spiritual failure from timidity and lack of vision. They made excuses and blamed the circumstances. They appeared to be operating from faith, but in reality, they trusted only in human resources. Such are the people who have the appearance of godliness but deny its power (2 Timothy 3:5). Third, there are those who slack off. The seven tribes in Joshua 18:3 are chastised for being passive—which is an expression of lack of faith and obedience: “How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the LORD the God of your fathers, have given you?” They were given the promises of God, but lacked faith and zeal to claim the promises of God. They felt helpless and remained helpless, not because they were humble, but because they did not believe in God and his promises. Such are the ones who are Christians in name only, but live like the rest of the world, chasing after the wind, and feeling always restless. God calls us today to come to him and follow him whole-heartedly like Caleb and experience the abundance of his blessings and to share those blessings with people around us.
