Living with Enemies (Part A)

What will we take from verse 28?

Fourteen cities with their villages. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families. Well, Jabez is mentioned here in verse 28, third city mentioned. And originally, well, Jabez will become Jerusalem. And of course, when David severed the big head of Goliath, he takes the head to Jabez, which those inhabitants weren't giving that territory up. And he was sort of saying, I'll be back. I did this to the giant.

I'm going to do this to you. Very prophetic moment. We'll turn right to verse one.

The title is Living with the Enemy. Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them. Well, he is going to rebuke them just mildly, but it's there. And it is because the tribes are slow to take possession of that which has been given to them. But before he goes forward with this, he has made sure that the place of worship is in place.

Now it's not Gilgal. It is Shiloh where the tabernacle is. The children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of meeting there, the place where they would come to speak to God and God would be with them. So everything going forward now from Shiloh is we've been told by the Spirit that Joshua was very careful to make sure worship came first. About 14 miles from Gilgal, it doesn't seem like that was really much for them.

For us, with traffic, 14 miles can be brutal. And he puts, I think, because we're not told, in Shiloh he puts the place of worship as essential to the country. And so there, their place of meeting is established. It is believed that the name Shiloh means peaceful. Of course, it speaks of Messiah. We get that from Genesis chapter 49. But where he says, and the land was subdued before them, tamed but not purged, controlled, not eradicated of her enemies, they were there still in force, not enough to be a direct military threat, but enough to be a spiritual threat and a very big one, subdued, just all over the place, ominous. I've had problems with that word ominous before in my life.

Somehow, it got to be omnibus. And I hope I've corrupted you. Anyway, they did not drive them out. As we're told in chapter 16, possession of the land, yes.

Entire possession, no. The destructive part of God's will was initiated, but the constructive part, especially for these seven tribes that we're going to cover in 18 and 19 of Joshua, that had not gone forward. And so here they are, living with the enemy. That's living with pain. To live with the enemy is to live with the constant threat that things can get ugly at any moment, very quickly. It is the Christian life.

It leaves us with an uneasy feeling. Romans chapter 7 verse 18, For I know that in me, that is my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find, not according to the flesh. We get no cooperation from the fallen nature. Peter said, Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshy lust, which war against the soul.

Galatians 5 17, For the flesh lust against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. So we're seeing this pictured for us in the book of Joshua. These Canaanites, the various people, we'll just refer to them as Canaanites.

Technically they were not all Canaanites. But they're still there, not put out, and a constant threat, as I mentioned, and now, now the threat of getting used to living with the enemy begins to increase. And when you get used to living with the enemy, you lower your guard.

And when you lower your guard, you're inviting seduction or full out attack. That is exactly what happens to the people, to the nation Israel, all the way up to the end, to the time the Romans finally pushed them all out. And God warned that this would happen, that they would be an irritant in their eyes. God wanted all of them out. I think they tried, most of the tribes, their best, but that's how life is. And so in the midst of all of this, you take the victories, and Israel had many victories.

That's why we have so many heroes. We have so many children named after Old Testament characters, because there were those still living with the enemy who were gallant nonetheless. The other Philistines were always to the east, the Mediterranean Sea, pardon me, the west, let's get that right. And David and Saul did battle with them as often as they could, but they never could get them out. In verse 2 we read, but there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. So the remainder of the land remained to be divided, and that's what we're going to look at. Verse 3, then Joshua said to the children of Israel, how long will you neglect to go possess the land which Yahweh God of your fathers has given you?

So there is the rebuke. The place of worship came first, and on the strength of getting everything in order spiritually, he now turns his attention to the land. Now where he says how long will you neglect to go possess the land, it's not limited to failure to militarily engage the enemy, but also to survey it and map out what went to, there were other things they had to do in order to settle the land. Now God never encourages laziness or weakness, yet he never disowns us for it. You ever meet a weak and lazy Christian? He's still a Christian. God still loved them, and oftentimes they still love the Lord. You may not be able to put them in certain positions to do certain things, but they are not disowned by God. I think God often leaves such people around us to make sure we do not become big-headed, proud, to make sure that we remember what love is all about, because compared to God, we are weak and lazy. He never sleeps.

He never slumbers up all the time. Jesus said, my Father works until now, and I do too. But it is good to know that. It is good to know that God is looking for us to be workers and to be strong.

Strong workers, you could say. Now this does not mean there are not consequences to being weak and to being lazy. There are consequences, but there are also opportunities, always with God. This is the downside. This is the upside, always with the Lord, with his people.

And the opportunities, they abound. What do you do in the midst of so many struggles? 1 Kings 19, but when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life. Who is this? What did he see? This is the great prophet Elijah, who called fire down from heaven, who showed no mercy to the prophets of Baal. When he saw that his life was in danger for whooping the false gods on Mount Carmel, he ran for his life and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. If Elijah can fail, I can fail.

And of course, if I can use it this way, God catches up to the prophet. What are you doing here? What are you doing in the cave?

Not eating, moping? Elijah was disappointed with God. The Lord wasn't disappointed with Elijah. I mean, he gave him mild rebukes, he fed him, and then he told him to go anoint Elijah. And he had some other business he had to do also. God did not give up on his man. There were still opportunities, even though he failed. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 33, speaking of believers, the writer says, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. Daniel, oh man, how do you get better than Daniel? The closest character in scripture to Daniel among men is Joseph.

Of course, the Lord just blows everybody out of the way, but talk about righteous men. I mean, the only hiccup Joseph may have had when he said, no father, bless the older before the younger. Instead of just shutting his mouth and let dad do what he was going to do.

I mean, that's petty. Daniel, Daniel had two problems in Babylon, right out the starting gate. That whole eunuch thing is just not his first choice.

And then the menu. He didn't like what they were serving. That's why I love him. That's the only reason why I love Daniel. No, it's not. But he took that as a spiritual attack.

I can't eat this. There was opportunity there and he took it and he did things with it. Now again, preaching about these mighty men and women of the Bible is not so hard for a preacher, maybe hard for a non preacher. But for a preacher, it becomes a skill, hopefully, but to go do it, to go do it, you would think you would think that as time went by, we would be so skilled at subduing the flesh that it would not dare raise its ugly face.

It does. And God requires that we persevere. And God wants that so much from his people that we persevere. We just continue.

He says, Yeah, I see it. Let me deal with that part. You deal with this part. You stay on your feet. You keep going for what's right.

Because I can do nothing with you once that stops. Verse four, Pick out from among you three men for each tribe, and I will send them. They shall rise and go through the land, survey it according to their inheritance and come back to me. Now, again, the land is subdued, but the enemies are still there. I'm thinking as I read this, they're living amongst their enemies.

They want to go survey the land. I'm taking a few platoons with me. But we don't read it that way.

I think they would have. I mean, 36 men. That's about a platoon.

But that's not enough to handle a company of the enemy. I just like that kind of stuff. It really has nothing of benefit for you, but I like that.

I think it does, actually. I think that we want to make sure we don't lose sight that the enemy is out there. We cannot get careless, sloppy. It's so easy, so easy to just rest. I can think of days sometimes when I'm preparing in the summer or just a nice day, and I just want to go outside and run with the robins. And just go outside, but I've got 20 verses ahead of me and the clock is going tick, tick, tick.

And I know what it's like to be behind schedule. It's worth it. My choice. And I'm not complaining.

I just notice it. Verse 5, and they shall divide it into seven parts. Judah shall remain in their territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain in their territory on the north. So Joshua orders 36 man appointed survey, man appointed survey team. In other words, God said, you pick the men.

You handpick the men, but I want you to send them out. So these 36 men are handpicked by men to make this geographical record of the features of the land so that God will then assign who gets what, what tribe gets what territory. And it is done so that God can decide this at the casting of the lots there in front of the house of God. The tabernacle is where they will all come back and they will gather at God's house and get this done. Judah and Ephraim, they received their lot in chapters 15 and 16. Manasseh in chapter 17 is where we read about it at least. Joseph, his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh on the, of course, the west side of the Jordan.

They received a double portion, you could say, a double inheritance, and that goes back to Genesis 49 verse 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well. His branches run over the wall. He goes beyond the boundaries. He goes over the wall.

And, you know, if you've ever seen fruit go over the wall and it's loaded with fruit and the branches are hanging down, it's easy picking. And it's a picture of the blessing, how bountiful Joseph is, and it's seen here in Ephraim and Manasseh, his sons. Because if you look on a map at the territories given to them, they have almost all the land. They have the largest pieces on both sides of the Jordan River. Each of his sons became a father to a Jewish tribe, Ephraim and Manasseh, received separate tribal territories that really comes out to three tribes because Manasseh has territory on the west side of Jordan and Transjordan on the east side. And then, of course, Ephraim has her territory. However, Judah was given the right to rule. Judah was given the right to birth kings, eventually the king of kings.

The Messiah comes from Judah, of course. And that is in accordance with the prophecy also by Jacob, the father, there in Genesis 49 verses 8 through 12. The scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh comes, till Lord of Peace comes.

There's one interpretation of that passage and I think it's an accurate interpretation. Verse 6 now. You shall therefore survey the land in seven parts and bring the survey here to me that I may cast lots for you here before Yahweh our God.

Now, of course, this is how the tribal lots were measured and then assigned in the presence of the Lord. Verse 7. But the Levites have no part among you for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance and Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave them. Remember, they came to Moses and they were happy with the unpromised section of the land and Moses goes to the Lord and God says, okay, and they receive their territories under Moses' leadership long before, well, before Joshua became leader. Verse 7. There the Levites have no part among you.

We'll be getting that in chapters 20 and 21. Verse 8 of Joshua 18. Then the men arose to go away and Joshua charged those who went to survey the land saying, go walk through the land, survey it, and come back to me that I may cast lots for you there before Yahweh in Shiloh.

Verse 9. So the men went, passed through the land and wrote the survey in a book in seven parts by cities and they came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh. It kind of reminds us of the Lewis and Clark expedition up the Mississippi to get to the Pacific Ocean. If you don't know that story, it's a very good story and you have to admire the leadership of Lewis and Clark. A tragic ending once they came back, but a very human story. York, the slave, one of the slaves of, I believe, Clark, and if I'm wrong, that's fine.

I'll look it up myself. But anyway, York was a slave and they treated him as one of the men. I don't remember if there were 30 some men or 39, I don't remember, and they all came back. They all made it back. One shootout with some Indians, but York, he was promised his freedom, but there was reluctance to let him go and finally he's given his freedom. But the mindset was, well, you're my slave.

Why would you go? You're mine. We have this kindred spirit here. I'm the master, you're the slave. And it's just a very human part and they worked through it.

This world throws so much at people that we learn from these true stories. Well, back to verse 10 now, then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Yahweh, and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions. And remember, every place that the sole of your foot would tread upon, I have given you, God said to Joshua at the beginning of this, and he said, as I said to Moses, I'm saying to you. And so the land, they have the right to take it all. If they had gone to Damascus to take that, they would have presently been out of bounds. This was where they were supposed to be. Verse 11, well, maybe we should push it farther than Damascus because if you look at the territory that they were to really get it, it goes up to the Euphrates.

Verse 11, now, the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families and the territory of their lot came out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. Now, this is kind of odd. I'm standing here reading this and a thought crossed my mind. What if you forgot how to read all of a sudden? Now, when I used to work in steel, I'd walk a beam and that thought would, what if you just forgot how to, and I'd chase that thought out of my head, the devil trying to kill me. I mean, it was just sometimes you couldn't think like that. And, you know, these things that get in our head. At sea, I'd be out in the military looking at the ocean and I could tell you, I heard a voice saying, jump, jump. I could look down in the ocean, it just was calling me.

I'd just walk away. I don't have suicidal thoughts. So, am I the only one? Maybe you've not done enough dangerous things in your life.

Anyway, that would be bad, right? What if you just, well, I'll tell you one that I know you people probably get. You people.

Them's fighting words. Some of you probably dream you went to work nude. So, you wake up, ah!

It's even the people in the dream are screaming at you. Anyway, verse 11, now the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families and their territory of their lot came out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. Now, so this is Benjamin, a ravenous wolf.

His own father said, imagine blessing your kids. Benjamin's a ravenous wolf and is not, you know, badge of honor. Well, verses 12 through 16, your homework assignment, you can read them. We go to verse 17, and it went around from the north, extended toward Gileath. Now, Gileath means districts, and I just pause there because it's kind of interesting. There's so much territory and little twists and turns that they just, and then those districts, and there's probably a lot of that going on.

It's not meant to be, you know, a legal document, but it is meant to record the boundaries roughly that the people would take. We go now to verse 25 where Ramah is mentioned in close proximity to where Rachel, Jacob's wife, was buried and memorials in that region, but Deborah also judged the tribes there in Ramah. Now, verse 28, what will we take from verse 28?

14 cities with their villages. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families. Well, Jabez is mentioned here in verse 28. It's the third city mentioned, and originally, well, Jabez will become Jerusalem. And, of course, when David severed the big head of Gileath, he takes the head to Jabez, which those inhabitants weren't giving that territory up, and he was sort of saying, I'll be back. I did this to the giant.

I'm going to do this to you. Very prophetic moment. We don't know how much David was thinking that way, but we do know what happened. And we then deduce the Holy Spirit, of course, was making the statement for us to read and understand just how sovereign he is. So Jabez was assigned to Benjamin, not Judah. David's from the tribe of Judah. But the Benjamites did not displace the Jebusites.

They did not conquer them. When David becomes king, of course, he conquers it. He has Joab, ruthless Joab, you know, and he enters the city.

He says, whoever conquers it will be the general of my forces. Joab goes in, climbs up the well, and sort of, you know, horizontally hand and feet up a wall, works his way up, gets into the city, opens the gate, and the guys come in, and they take Jabez. And it becomes the city of David. So Jabez is Jerusalem. It's there in parentheses, and that alerts us to the fact that there were, this was compiled and published long after the days of Joshua, over 400 years later, because that's how long it, before David comes along.

It's about 400 years, a little over, and again, no corruption in that. It's just giving us the final document as the Holy Spirit wanted it. In verse 19, chapter 19 now, Joshua chapter 19, the second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the children of Simeon, according to their families, and their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah.

We're going to come back to that. Just remember, Simeon's territory is encircled by Judah's territory. In verse 5, its ziklag is mentioned, and that is where David will end up roving with his men in the days that Saul was pursuing David, and ziklag becomes his base of operations, some 400 years after this survey was taken. Now verse 19, the inheritance of the children of Simeon was included in the share of the children of Judah, for the share of the children of Judah was too much for them. Therefore, the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of that people. So Simeon really doesn't get its own territory.

They do and they don't, kind of a deal, because it's clearly marked out. No other tribe has this situation, with the exception of Levi. There's a connection. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Joshua. Cross Reference is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you're interested in more information about this ministry, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.

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