Title: Distribution of the Land of Canaan
Contents
Many years have passed. So, Joshua is also writing about growing old. The Old Testament scholars, who say, “Being old and growing old,” refer to this as the state of being old and almost dying. Estimated to be around 90-100 years old.
Some people say, “When you are young, you cannot work because you are immature, when you are old, you cannot work because you do not have enough time.
As you get older, you change like that. Even if you put on makeup and dye your hair, you can't lie about your age.
By the way, what should you prepare for as you grow older and become an elderly person? It is time to throw away vain greed, realize what the mission one has received, and strive for its completion. You should focus on a few things to get the job done, not to make it work.
God said to Joshua, who was old,
If you misunderstand that 'there is a lot of land left to acquire', it is possible to think that the land that Israel has occupied so far is small. However, it is not so, and has already acquired considerable control over the main part, and the lands that still remain are the outskirts. Look at it as a region.
‘I will drive them out before the children of Israel’ (6) This means that God will take care of them to the end. Even if Joshua is too old to work, even if he is too old to die, God will take responsibility for driving out the people of this land and giving the land as an inheritance. In other words, it can be seen that the finite life of man is not an obstacle to the eternal God.
To introduce some of the principles of land distribution: 1) The half tribe of Manasseh, the tribe of Reuben, and the tribe of Gad (8) were the tribes that had already been allocated land on the east side of the Yodang River by Moses and took the lead during the war. In other words, you can see that the privilege of not taking responsibility is not in God's law. They were distributed in the order of obedience. 2) Moses gave it to them according to their family’ (15, 24, 29) , 3) They cast lots (14:2) 4) They did not give land to the tribe of Levi (13:14)
Now, in this way, the land was divided, and each tribe began to drive out the remaining remnants of the land that was given to them.
By the way, there is an exception recorded in 13. It can be said that this was the first failure of the conquest of Canaan. What you need to think about here is why didn't the Israelites completely drive them out? What is the reason? Of course, it could be because the Canaanites who lived in that land were persevering. Because if you chase him, he sneaks in again.
But the main reason is that over time, the passion for God in the hearts of the people of Israel has cooled. At first, I will put all my energy into driving them out. But it keeps happening over and over again. Also, war was not always possible. Since the land was allocated, I had to live here, I had to build a house for my family, a stable for livestock, and I had to build a farm... There would be many things to do. As a result, war was thought to be cumbersome and deafening. As life gradually began to stabilize, I began to wonder if there was any need to fight hard.
For example, the first time you believe in Jesus, you come to church early. Come ahead of time to pray and prepare. Sometimes I even read the Bible for a Sunday sermon ahead of time. And what about over time? Going ahead, preparing, and doing is starting to get boring. Weekends are sometimes tiring, and I have to go on time anyway. Then it will be later. Then, after the choir is over, during the representative prayer time, all you have to do is sneak in and listen to the sermon.
Why is it getting late? He did this because his passion for God had cooled in his heart.
In other words, to the Israelites, the land gradually became more important than God.
To put it simply, they have a stronger attachment to the land and money than to the life of faith and God. That is why we gradually drifted away from God's word to conquer.
This is what modern Christians look like today.
Someone started a shop. In this case, you will encounter two cases. 1) Quickly normalize the shop, give priority to stabilization, and then do well in the religious life. If I have money, I will donate and do something, right? 2) Even if the sales of Shack are a little slow, you should start with faith thoroughly as the week goes on. Which one are you?
Another reason why the Israelites did not completely drive out the Canaanites is that their eyes are short-sighted and they only see the interests that are right in front of them. It is because they have not seen the blessings that God will give them in the future. So are we. There are times when money is more precious than God. Then, breaking the word of the Lord, rationalizing ourselves, and doing it is us.
Also, the Israelites now hated hard work. Sacrifice is no longer a thing.
Is it easy to farm, make furniture to live in? Is it easy to go out and risk your life to war? Now, I don't want to work hard. In a way, these are also very nimble people.
Then, why does God have to drive out the Canaanites completely?
It is not simply that the people of Israel should be driven out in order to eat well and live comfortably in this land. God wanted to drive them all out and create a holy community of God based on God's words. But now, the Israelites wanted a more realistic, material, and stable life than that.
What I'm learning here is that just because you focus on and stick to worldly things doesn't mean you can have all the good things in the world. When we strive for spiritual things, we need to know that God will even give us blessings in this world. That's why the New Testament says, 'Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness'. If you do that, I will solve all your food, clothing and shelter problems.
But we don't really believe this. Conversely, after I fix my food, clothing and shelter, I will confidently believe in the Lord. that is not so
Revival never happens without sacrifice
The last thing to remember here is that there is a difference between receiving this land as an inheritance from the Israelites and owning it. Owning is much more difficult than receiving as an inheritance. The Christian's goal is to own. You must own a horse, just reading the bible is easy. But you must have the Word. must possess God
After all, the reason why the people of Israel did not fully possess the land that God gave them was because they were insensitive to spiritual things, they were not faithful, and they did not practice or try to make their faith their own.
I hope that the passion for God and the thrill of salvation will be revived in our hearts, and God's blessings will be added to it.