February 26, 2015
Joshua 11-Part 2
As the LORD commanded Moses His servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua: he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses. Joshua 11:15
LET IT GLOW
What have you accomplished in the last seven years? What have you done with the Lord Jesus during that time?
Looking back, we have had our business for more years. We have worked in the same church, with me teaching the Word to women and children and my husband preaching the Word. It has been three years since our church broke ground for the new sanctuary. It took a couple of years before that in getting the right plans for the right building which the Lord wanted us to build. We have set the date of April 12 as our dedication. How exciting it is to see each week the new progress! But oh the spiritual battles we fought and the sacrifices made along the way involving our church family. Now our faith is in sight. Glory to the Lord!
Do you know how long it took Israel to conquer the Promised Land? I was wondering that, when I found the answer in commentaries discussing this chapter. Read on to find the answer.
Joshua and Israel conquered the plains of Jordan and the foothills of Judah, the northern campaign.
Victorious invaders usually kept captured cities intact, moving into them and making them centers of commerce and defense. For example, Moses predicted in Deuteronomy 6:10-12 that Israel would occupy cities they themselves had not built. The capture of Hazor and its destruction broke the backbone of the federation and weakened the will of the people to resist. (Life Application Study Bible)
Since we can read through this chapter quickly, that does not mean the conquering of the Promise Land was achieved in a short amount of time.
It was a long war time. The conquest took approximately 7 years. Only Gibeon submitted without a fight (verse 19). (MacArthur)
That's a long time, seven years, isn't it? What have you accomplished for the Lord in the past seven years? What battles have you fought, won or lost? Anyone wish to share with us? Go ahead, friends.
Here is what the Life Application Study Bible has to add to this thought:
Our journey with God is a lifelong process, however, and the changes and victories may take time. It is easy to grow impatient with God, and feel like giving up hope because things are moving too slowly. When we are close to a situation, it is difficult to see progress. But when we look back we can see that God never stopped working.
If you have access to maps of the northern and southern campaigns, those will help you better understand the vast land that Israel conquered. I am not very interested in the cities and details of the conquering, just that Israel was victorious, due to God's working.
What will we conquer in the next seven years?
LET IT GROW
Verse 20 tells us, For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as them, as the LORD commanded them.
So great was the hatred for Jehovah and His people that only the Hivites made peace with Israel. All the rest made war and lost. Once again, Joshua explains that even this was in the plan of God. Thus, the Lord God could utterly destroy the paganism that would have destroyed His people. It was God Himself who commanded the extermination of the Canaanites. (Liberty Bible Commentary)
Joshua completely trusted God and performed all that God commanded Moses and Israel to do. Even the Anakims, who were the giants that the Moses' spies saw, were among those whom Israel wiped out (Numbers 13-14). (verse 21-22) See, if only that first generation of Israelites had trusted God for the victory, He would have given it to them, destroying the giants of the land. However, they did not, except for Joshua and Caleb.
In verse 23, we are told that Joshua took the whole land. The word whole implies that he had established an unquestioned military presence in the land, and not that he had subdued every nook and cranny of the land. (Falwell)
Joshua left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded. He carried out and obeyed the instructions that Moses told Joshua, from the Lord. It was as if they were his own. Joshua obeyed without question.
Do we let the fear of giants stop us from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Are we choosing to follow or ignore the instructions in the Bible? What are we teaching others?
LET IT GO
Leave my fears behind and trust God.
Keep the hope, even if it takes years for my prayers to be answered yes.
Stay in the battle for the Lord.
Look forward to the next seven years of serving the Lord Jesus.
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