Please turn with me in your bibles to Joshua chapter 13. Joshua chapter 13.
Within the book of Joshua, we have made it to another transition. Chapter 13 begins a new section stretching all the way through chapter 21, which describe the Israelites taking possession of the land as an inheritance.
Specifically, many of these chapters list out, often in great detail, which portions of the land were given by the Lord to each of the various tribes of Israel.
In the coming sermons I don’t plan to explain every gritty detail of all these tedious chapters, which I’m sure is a relief to you. However, we will take note of several lessons along the way which will serve as both encouragements and warnings to us.
Specifically, today, we will again hear of the faithfulness of God, the danger of disobedience, and the rewards for faithfulness.
Let’s begin by reading chapter 13, just the first 7 verses for now:
Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.2 This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites 3 (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim, 4 in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, 5 and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath, 6 all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel. Only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you. 7 Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”
Let’s look at this section and note first, the stability of the Divine Plan. The Stability of the divine plan.
These first seven verses serve not only as the introduction to this chapter, but to the entire section that stretches all the way through chapter 21. Joshua is getting old, as the text repeats multiple times, almost in a comical manner:
Verse 1: Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years.
Not normally how we are to be speaking to our senior adults here at church.
And yet despite Joshua’s age, there remains work to be done. The job has not been completed; the land has not been completely taken.
But even though the work isn’t completely done, the geographic details of this passage, which seem so foreign to us, reveal the magnitude of their advances.
If you take the time to look at a map of this region during this time, and you may even have one in the back of your bible, but you will see that the scope of their victories is quite impressive.
The land that remains yet to be taken is a corridor of Philistine land in the southwest, and in the North a long swath of land heading up toward Damascus. In one sense, the heart of the land now belong to Israel, and the land remaining to be taken was some land on the edges.
This tells us that Israel had been given the position of prominence within Canaan. They possessed the majority of the land, with all the assets that came with that. They were the big dogs on the block.
Thus, now the Lord is telling Joshua that it is time to start dividing up the land. That’s how this paragraph ends.
But before we get to that part, you may be asking, “what about those unconquered peoples? What about the land that hadn’t been taken yet?”
Well, we see that the Lord addressed that too. In verse 6 he says, “I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel.” Israel might be tempted to fear, wondering if the job would be left undone. Especially if the remaining enemies of God are located near the boundary of your inherited land, you might really be fearful.
Is God giving up before the job is finished? Is he not holding up his part of the bargain?
No, the Lord kindly reminds them of his promise, to drive out the peoples of the land. And, I think significantly, he reminds them in a way that supersedes even his single servant Joshua.
We all know, and the Lord acknowledges multiple times, Joshua isn’t getting any younger. He’s going to die before too long. And yet, the Lord’s work remains. The plan isn’t contingent upon Joshua, nor even Moses. Actually, it never was.
Sometimes the people of God can be tempted to think that the work of the Lord is limited to one particular man. They can begin to act as though the Lord’s plan is contingent upon one of his servants, and can grow fearful when that servant’s time grow to an end.
We must remember that the plan of God will still unfold without any individual. The work of God isn’t tied to any single pastor, any single leader. This isn’t Shawn’s church or Jon English’s church.
We didn’t found it, and, Lord willing, it will exist long after we have gone. We may be saddened by departures, just like many of the Israelites were surly sad to think about Joshua not being around for long, but we must still trust in the Lord.
He’s the one who does the work. He’s the one who stabilizes the mission. He’s the one who provides the leaders necessary for it. He’s the one that sees it through to completion, and he’s the one who will guide his people all the way home to their inheritance.
And that leads us right to the next section of text, which begins to describe the inheritance given to the various tribes. Let’s look at verses 8-13 and see our second point: an ominous warning. An ominous warning.
These verses begin by describing the inheritance given to the tribes that wanted their land on the eastern side of the Jordan river, the land that they saw BEFORE crossing the Jordan. If you will remember back to earlier in the book, the tribes of Ruben, Gad, and Half of Manasseh wanted their inheritance of land to be on the outside of Canaan, on the eastern side of the Jordan.
Let’s read 8-13 and see what it says about them:
8 With the other half of the tribe of Manasseh[a] the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them: 9 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland of Medeba as far as Dibon; 10 and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the Ammonites;11 and Gilead, and the region of the Geshurites and Ma-acathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah; 12 all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); these Moses had struck and driven out. 13 Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the
Ma-acathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.
Verse 13, should jar us a little bit. We see that The Lord through Moses had given the land to the two and a half tribes east of Jordan, but verse 13 says that they did not drive out ALL the peoples.
For those of you that know your bibles well, you know that this is a recurring theme that will come up later in this book, and especially will come up in the book of Judges. It is the first of several statements which serve as an indictment, an accusation, against the tribes for not following through with their obligations after the initial conquest.
They were to finish the job in the land given to them. They were to completely purge the land of wickedness and idolatry. But they didn’t do it.
It seems like their vigilance and thoroughness were waning. And therein I think lies a warning for each of us.
The people of God can sometimes find great zeal and strength for the big battles. Excitement surrounding big Jordan river crossings or big battles at Jericho.
Perhaps you’ve notice that in yourself. You see that you’re in a big spiritual battle of some kind, and it drives you to prayer. You’re careful of your actions, mindful of your motives, you’re thorough in your obedience. You’re like the Israelites in their first invasion of the land.
But then, when the dust settles, when the storm passes, when the excitement of the initial wars are over, you can let your guard down. You can drift off and grow lax.
They’re just a small group of Canaanites around the edges. They can’t do anything to us. In fact, they serve as a nice buffer between us and the surrounding nations. It’s kind of nice having them over there. I know the lord calls me to take them all out, but I’m kind of tired. I’ve been warring for so long. Can’t we just take a little break?
Brothers and sisters, let us remember this example, and be warned about incomplete obedience. It doesn’t matter if we’re tired, or if we have done the big work already. We’re called to be obedient to the very end.
We’re called to persevere. And as we will soon see in this book, and especially in the book of Judges, incomplete obedience leaves you open to all sorts of consequences later.
They wouldn’t drive out the remaining nations, and those remaining nations ended up terrorizing the people of God.
We must not let that happen to us. We must be thorough, complete, rooting out every little sin that remains in us, hunting down and killing the sin that we find. Obedience must be vigilant, and sincere and thorough.
The Land was to be entirely holy, just like we are called to be: entirely holy.
Give your bodies as a living sacrifice to God, Paul says. Not part of you. Not just your head. Not just your wallet. Not part of your life. Not part of your attention. Not part of your time. Not part of your energy. Give all of you to the Lord.
Whatever part of you or your life that you withhold from the Lord will eventually lead to painful consequences, so give all of yourself to obedience.
This idea of complete obedience and devotion to the Lord will be the majority of the final point of this sermon, so I won’t belabor it here. But remember these Israelites and their unwillingness to obey fully, and learn from their mistake, so that you can avoid the painful consequences that they suffered.
Now, moving on from discouragement related to the inheritance, to the opposite, let’s see our third point found in verses 14-33: Encouragement within the inheritance. Encouragement within the inheritance.[1]
Verses 15-28 explain what land was given to the people of Ruben, and the people of Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh. I won’t read it all, because it mainly details a bunch of geographic details that few of us would recognize. However, it is worth noting in passing, how the author writes about these land features.
Through all the descriptions of rivers, lakes, valleys, plains, and cities, the author mentions some other names that you might remember, like Og and Sihon, and Balaam. Throughout all the geographical detail, the author frequently alludes to victories that Yahweh had already given to Israel under Moses.
It’s as if the author wants to jog the memory of the people, to remind them of what God had already done, and strengthen their faith for the days ahead. This is the biblical method of faith: to remember what God has done and to let that strengthen you for days ahead. Remember what he’s done already in the past, and let that steel your endurance for the days ahead.
But there is even sweeter encouragement in this passage, if we look closely. If you’ll note carefully, I skipped over a few verses. Tucked into this passage of details about Ruben and Gad and Manasseh, there are also some statements about the inheritance of another tribe: Levi.
Look at verse 14:
14 To the tribe of Levi alone Moses gave no inheritance. The offerings by fire to the Lord God of Israel are their inheritance, as he said to him.
Now skip down to verse 32:
32 These are the inheritances that Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho. 33 But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them.
Now keep reading on into chapter 14:
These are the inheritances that the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel gave them to inherit. 2 Their inheritance was by lot, just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine and one-half tribes.
3 For Moses had given an inheritance to the two and one-half tribes beyond the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. 4 For the people of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion was given to the Levites in the land, but only cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for their livestock and their substance. 5 The people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses; they allotted the land.
4 times in these many verses does the author make clear that God did not give an inheritance of land to the tribe of Levi. They were the exception to the rule. They did not receive an allotment.
Instead of an inheritance of land, as verse 14 says, their inheritance consisted of offerings that belong to Yahweh, or as verse 33 says, their inheritance was to be the Lord himself. The tribe of priests was blessed, not with a portion of dirt in Canaan, but was granted the Lord himself as their inheritance.
They could say with the psalmist “God is the strength of my heart and my inheritance forever” (Psalm 73:26),
or Lamentations 3:24- “The Lord is my inheritance, my portion.”
All the tribes of Israel should have seen past the plots of dirt they were given to see that the true gift was the Lord.
That’s the vision of true faith: it looks beyond the gift to the giver, and see that the Lord pledging himself to Israel was a far greater gift than any plot of land in Canaan could ever be.
And if we zoom out to see the big picture, we can get a glimpse with even greater clarity the significance of the Inheritance given to the Levites.
The Levites were the only tribe called to be priests, and as such, they had the blessed inheritance of special access to the Lord through the priestly system. They were daily handling sacred things, and serving as mediators between man and God.
But we don’t have that same arrangement today in the New Covenant. No, in the church today there aren’t special classes of people that have unique access to God.
No, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2: the people of God are a chosen people, a royal priesthood. In the New Covenant, we are all like the Levites.
We are all a kingdom of priests. Each and every one of us, when we come to faith, are anointed, not with oil, but with the Holy Spirit.
We don’t wear special clothes and sacred robes, we all wear the robes of Jesus Christ’s righteousness by faith.
We’re brought into a chosen priesthood, and we’re made holy. We’re distinct, set apart.
And on top of that, we’re like the Levites before us. We’re each given the Lord as our inheritance. We don’t have a plot of land given to us.
We have the divine inheritance that awaits us in heaven, an inheritance that Peter says is: “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
Nothing on earth can take away an inheritance that’s in heaven.
That’s good news. That in Christ, we’re granted holiness through the forgiveness of sins, and we’re given the Lord himself as our inheritance. He is yours, if you are trusting in Christ.
That divine inheritance means that we don’t have to be afraid of clinging to our possessions in this age, but rather we can be generous.
That divine inheritance means we have a divine name and security in his household, so we can be faithful in this age no matter what the world says, and no matter what the world threatens to take from us.
That divine inheritance means that we can be joyful through this life, in all the ups and downs, because we know that our hope is fixed in heaven, and THAT security is stronger than any storm this life can throw at us.
Do you have this kind of confident assurance? Do you have this divine inheritance waiting for you? I hope you do.
If not, then what is preventing you from trusting in the Lord? What more could you want?
Don’t you want to be free from anxiety about protecting your earthly goods?
Don’t you want to be free from trying to save all this stuff now, when we all know you can’t take it with you to the grave?
Don’t cling to an earthly inheritance.
Trust in the Lord, and in the perfect provision of Christ’s faithfulness in your place. Trust in Jesus, and he can grant you the satisfaction and joy that can only come from knowing WHO, not what, your true inheritance is.
Have faith in Jesus, and you can face anything in this age.
And our text today will close by showing us exactly what this kind of faith looks like. Our final point will be Caleb’s Godly Example. Caleb’s Godly Example.
Verses 6-15 show us what Godly faithfulness and courage looks like. Let’s read:
6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart.
8 But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’
10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming.
12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”
13 Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba.[a] (Arba[b] was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.
Caleb, if you recall, was one of the 12 spies sent into the land. You can read about that story in Numbers 13.
But for today we should remember that because Caleb, along with Joshua, had bold faith, they were promised an inheritance in the land.
Unlike the rest of the spies, Caleb and Joshua were the only ones that trusted the Lord, and this passage recounts Caleb being rewarded for his faithfulness.
Three times in this section, verse 8, verse 9, and verse 14 does the text say that Caleb completely followed the Lord. And it uses the emphatic in the Hebrew. Verse 8:
But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.
Let’s take a few notes here from Caleb’s example and see what true faithfulness looks like.
First, Faithfulness is willing to stand alone. True faithfulness is willing stand alone.
Caleb, along with Joshua, were willing to stand alone. The were willing to contradict what the other 10 spies were reporting. They had faith, even when things might have looked scary. They trusted the Lord, even though everyone else seemed to melt away.
That’s what faithfulness looks like. It won’t just go with the flow, if the flow is against the word of the Lord, no matter how many other people are heading the wrong direction.
You see a hint of this in 2 Timothy 4, where Paul laments that everyone had deserted him, but that the Lord stood by his side and gave him strength.
But notice also, faithfulness isn’t only willing to stand alone, but Second: it is unwilling to compromise obedience. Faithfulness is unwilling to compromise obedience.
This is clearly seen in the testimony of Caleb’s obedience.
Verse 8, he wholly followed the Lord
Verse 9- you have wholly followed the Lord my God
Verse 14- because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.
I think the author is setting up an intentional contrast here. Unlike the tribes that we discussed earlier, who would not completely obey the Lord but tolerated a bit of disobedience, Caleb is pictured in this text as being the opposite. He’s completely devoted. Not partial in his allegiance.
And that’s what true faithfulness looks like. It’s entire. It is sincere. It is whole-hearted. It is undivided. It is focused.
To claim to have Faithfulness, but with a bit of disobedience, is nonsensical. You are either faithful, or you are not.
Faithfulness, to be true, is to be entire.
Third, True faithfulness is sustained by God’s word. Faithfulness is sustained by God’s word.
“Notice how many times Caleb returns to the word of the Lord in this passage. The Word of the Lord is what anchors his faith.
“When Caleb approaches Joshua, he bases his request on ‘the word that Yahweh spoke to Moses’ (v. 6)…
He keeps coming back to this:
‘as Yahweh promised’ (v 10a);
‘from the time Yahweh spoke this word to moses (v 10b);
‘Which Yahweh promised on that day’ (v 12a)
As Yahweh promised (12b)…
5 times Caleb hammers this point home; his request is for nothing but what God had promised him.”[2]
His confidence is grounded on the word of God. He bases his assurance on what God has said. That’s what gives steel in the spine for a faithful man or woman of God. If God has said it, then you can take it to the bank. Build your life upon it. Even risk your life for it.
Caleb’s inheritance that he was asking for in verse 12 says that it had fortified cities and the Anakim, that’s the giants in the land that we talked about last time. The renowned mighty men of battle, that everyone was scared of. And yet he’s not scared. He trusts in the Lord.
He says in verse 12: It may be that God will use me to finally rid the land of these problems, but either way, the inheritance will be complete, just as the Lord has promised.
Faithfulness can take on the world, because it is sure of what God’s word said, and is willing to take great risks for obedience.
There we have it. Great faith is willing to stand alone, is unwilling to compromise in obedience, and is sustained by God’s word.
Brothers and sisters, as we look at Caleb, I hope you are encouraged by his godly character, because whatever virtue we see in him, it is a small shadow compared to the same godly character of Jesus Christ.
Christ’s faithfulness exceeds even the godliness of Caleb. Think about the ways in which Caleb’s faithfulness points us to Jesus.
Where Caleb was willing to stand alone, how much more did Christ stand alone. Sure, Caleb was in the minority with his report on the land, but at least he still had Joshua at his side.
Christ was alone. Christ died alone for the sins of his people; there is no other mediator between God and man.
He was abandoned by his own disciples, denied by Peter, and forsaken on the Cross. He was laid, dead and buried, alone in the grave. His faithfulness led him to be more alone and feel more abandonment than any one of us could ever experience.
That’s the extent of his faithfulness.
Further, like Caleb was unwilling to compromise in his obedience, Christ’s was even greater. Caleb was faithful in all the ways that were recounted to us in scripture, but there was still sin in him. He was still a child of fallen man, a son of Adam, and therefore he still needed atonement for himself.
But Christ was not like that. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was the spotless lamb. The offering without blemish. He was tempted like us in every way, and yet was without sin.
His faithfulness exceeds even the godliest of men in scripture, because Christ was tempted to the uttermost, by Satan himself after 40 days of weakness, and yet he never gave in. He never dropped back in fear.
He was never incomplete in his obedience. He never was lax in his duty, or let something slide.
He was complete and thorough in every bit of his work, and did it to the uttermost.
“It is finished,” he cried. Not, “it is mostly finished.”
And too, just like Caleb was sustained in his faithfulness by the word of God, so too was Christ. Do you remember what he said to his disciples in John chapter 4? They were asking him to take food and to sustain himself by eating, but he taught them about his mission instead by saying:
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”
What was it that sustained Jesus’s faithfulness? What was the fuel for his fire, or the food for his soul? It was the word of his Father who sent him.
His motivation was the word of God.
His confidence was the word of God.
His mission was the word of God.
Christ was focused in every way on doing that which had been tasked to him, up to and including laying his life down for his sheep.
That’s the model of faithfulness, and that’s the standard to which we are all called. How far should we go in our obedience? Only as far as Christ did. And he went to the bitter end.
But also, remember, that Christ’s faithfulness didn’t stop when he died, nor did it stop when he was resurrected, nor did it stop when he ascended. Nor did it stop when He and the Father poured out the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
No, even today, he is faithful.
He is, even now, our faithful high priest.
So that means, for you who trust in Christ, even now, even when you fail, even when you are weak, even when you are slothful and you grow lax in your obedience, even when you aren’t as faithful as you should be, remember that Christ is still faithful.
He’s faithful yesterday, today, and forever, because he doesn’t change.
Your faithful high priest is pleading on your behalf, as your perfect sacrifice. His once and for all sacrifice stands as the mediation we need. Your sins are atoned for, your conscience can be cleansed, your soul can be washed, because your faithful high priest is perfectly faithful even now.
Trust in this Christ, even when you are weak and unfaithful. Remember his sacrifice in your place and ask him for help. Confess your sins to him, and he will wash your conscience, and give you renewed strength for the fight.
There are still battles to wage in this age, still little skirmishes to be had. But our Christ, the captain of our salvation, he is faithful. And His faithfulness will see you through to the end.
Amen.
[1] This point partially drawn from: Dale Ralph Davis, Joshua: No Falling Words (Fearn: Christian Focus, 2010), 116.
[2] Davis, 121.
