Joshua 24

This chapter continues the theme of the one before - namely Joshua, near the end of his life, calling the Israelites to remain faithful to the Lord. We see the response of the leaders in that time as well, and they affirm that the Lord will be their God and they will serve Him.

The book ends with Joshua dying, at the age of 110, and the current high priest (Eleazar, son of Aaron) as well. We are told, though, that while Joshua's generation lasted the Israelites did faithfully obey God - but the way that was phrased does not bode well for those following them.

Joshua 23

We are not told how many years have passed, but just as the book of Joshua is drawing to an end so here is the man. His speech to Israel contained in this chapter indicates that he is on his death-bed, and as a last act he wants to remind the people to be faithful to the Lord. Everything God had promised to do for them had come to pass, and Joshua assures them that if they continue to follow the Lord the remaining nations nearby will be driven out and conquered just as easily as those already dealt with. However, he also warns that departing from God's commandments would be detrimental to the Israelites. I suppose we shall find out if they heed his words or not as the Old Testament continues to play out.

Joshua 22

The account contained in this chapter is quite interesting. Now that the main work of conquering the promised land was done, and the Israelite tribes had all received their inheritance, those who settled beyond the Jordan were sent home. That left them somewhat removed from the main community, and far from the tabernacle and altar where offerings to the Lord were given. Because of this they built an altar of their own, and a misunderstanding over that nearly brought on a civil war.

The main body of Israelites west of the Jordan saw it as an evil departure from God's instructions, and for once in their history were so zealous about the Lord and His commandments that they prepared to go to war against their own brethren to stop it. Thankfully they had some among them with level heads who sent an envoy first, and the true meaning of the altar was found out. The distant tribes had created it not to offer sacrifices upon, which would have been against the Lord's will, but as a reminder to themselves and the rest of the Israelites that they too were part of the God's people. Disaster averted :)

Joshua 21

This chapter appears to wrap up the division of the promised land by covering the cities assigned to the Levites. They were not given any large tracts of land, as they were to do the Lord's work, but they were given places to live and some minimal grazing land for their flocks. In total they had forty-eight cities, including five of the six cities of refuge. I'm rather surprised that they didn't have all six refuge cities, since that seems like it would be fitting for the priestly tribe, but oh well :)

Joshua 20

This short section of scripture describes the purpose of the cities of refuge, and lists the six cities selected for the purpose. The idea behind these places is cool, but upon reflection what I like even better is that God's law effectively allowed for vigilantism. The idea that you had to hide if you killed someone accidentally implies that under normal circumstances someone would try to take revenge, and that does not seem to be condemned as a practice. Being a fan of keeping justice quick, efficient and effective I applaud that approach :)

Joshua 19

Today's reading wrapped up the story of Israel dividing the promised land between their tribes, and also had a nice touch at the end of Joshua himself being given a city to live in. Not much else to say, but since we still have a couple chapters left I am looking forward to some more action or at least something to write about.

Joshua 18

The allotment of land between the tribes continues in this chapter, but before jumping into the borders of Benjamin's territory we get a story about Israel's own 'Lewis and Clark Expedition'. Joshua sent out 21 men, three from each of the remaining tribes, and they mapped the area and divided it into seven regions. Those, then, will be assigned by lot to the remaining tribes - and I suspect that will take us through the end of this book.

It is somewhat interesting, now that I reflect upon it, how important the division of land was to the Israelites. Today I just think of the whole of the USA as my country, and I couldn't care less where the exact border of states is. Oddly, I do very much care about the borders of Seattle, as making them larger would mean Seattle would get a bigger dot on maps, but I think that is just me wanting more bragging rights. I wonder if it was the same for people back then, or if land and borders meant more in that time and place. We are in such a global world now, no pun intended, that borders are beginning to have a lot less meaning. The more I think about that the less I think it is good, though - and I didn't think it was good to begin with. Perhaps clearly-defined limits are best...

Joshua 17

This chapter continues the tradition of the last couple: a description of the lands assigned to some of the Israelites; in this case, the two tribes of Joseph - Ephraim and Manasseh. They had grown quite large, though, and apparently wanted more than the initial amount of territory assigned to them. Joshua told them to go conquer some of the locals to increase their holdings, and while they were skeptical he assured them they could do it. What is it with the Israelites seeming afraid sometimes to try and fight the people God had told them they were to conquer? Aside from times of their own sinfulness, had He ever let them down?

Also, I was surprised to see the name "Noah" mentioned here as a girl's name. Having recently been through the process of naming my son, I am acutely aware of the gender of names - and I had thought that neutral names (which can be either male or female) was a pretty recent thing. I guess I was wrong :/

Joshua 16

This chapter was very short, consisting largely of a description of the lands allotted to Joseph's tribes. Thankfully it was not in as great of details as the account of Judah's holding from the last section.

The one thing that I did notice here was that some of the Canaanites living in this area were not conquered, which seems to go against God's command to the Israelites. They were described as being servants of the Israelites, so perhaps they pulled something like the Gibeonites back in chapter 9 - but it makes me wonder if their continued presence will come back to bite the Israelites later.

Joshua 15

Wow, my head is spinning after the reading today. The first half of the chapter was not too bad - a description of Judah's tribal lands border, and a couple of small stories about Caleb. From there, though, it goes into a list of all the cities in the lands controlled by Judah... and that was too much for me. I read through it all, but trying to pronounce some of those town names in my head was quite difficult. The only interesting things I can take from it are 1) that there were a lot of cities and towns for such a (relatively) small area and 2) the men of Judah had not managed to take Jerusalem from the native inhabitants, which was surprising. I wonder how long they tolerated that presence in their midst, given God's command to wipe out the locals.

Joshua 14

Todays chapter was short, but very memorable. I was wondering if we would hear about Caleb again, the other spy - along with Joshua - who stayed loyal to God among those that Moses sent out to scout the promised land. It turns out that he was forty at the time of that mission, and now is eighty five (which basically answers my question about how long the conquest of the promised land took: at most five years). Not only has he lived to a ripe old age, but he is still as hale as he was before - we are told he can still fight and tend to his duties. God obviously blessed him for his steadfastness, and now he is rewarded with the choice lands that he had spied out nearly half a century before.

Joshua 13

The reading today is split into two parts: a section covering God's instructions to Joshua in his old age, presumably well after the wars of the previous chapters, telling him that there was more land yet to be conquered. I had thought the earlier fighting was all, but apparently I was mistaken.

From there, the chapter takes an abrupt turn and goes over the geographical description of how the land east of the Jordan river was split up between the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. While I'm sure the specific boundaries were important at that time, they don't mean a whole lot to me - especially since I am blissfully unfamiliar with the layout of those lands.

Joshua 12

Not much to say about today's reading - it is just a recap of the kings that Israel defeated. It includes both those from the east side of the Jordan when Moses led the people, and the many more inside the promised land under Joshua's leadership. Quite a long list of kingdoms that fell to the Israelite war machine and God's divine power.

Joshua 11

Just as chapter ten described Israel's defeat of the nations in the southern portion of the promised land, so this section covers the northern half. With Joshua's leadership and more importantly his obedience to God and His might the whole land was subdued. Earlier I remember that God told Moses this would not all be done immediately, but that it would take time so that the people could spread and settle the area rather than have it become desolate and a wasteland - which makes me wonder what span of time the last two chapters cover. Perhaps that will be told later.

Joshua 10

This chapter was a little on the lengthy side, but it covered a lot of history. Under Joshua's command, and with God fighting for them, the Israelites conquered city after city in the promised land. This process, and the destruction left behind, underscore how smart the Gibeonites were to ally themselves with Israel - no matter the cost.

The reading today also included one of the most unique miracles recorded in the Bible, or indeed anywhere. At Joshua's request, God kept the sun and moon in the sky to light a battlefield and allow the Israelites to thoroughly destroy their enemy. Knowing what we now do about astronomy, it would have actually been God keeping the earth from rotating on its axis (or at least substantially slowing it), and holding the moon temporarily in a geosynchronous orbit. Most impressive, but I'm sure not even the least of what the Lord of all Creation is capable of :)

Joshua 9

This is the most interesting chapter, at least in some ways, that I have yet read. The Israelites are deceived by some of the people living in the promised land - all of whom they were to wipe out per the Lord's orders - and made a treaty with them. That appears to have involved some sort of oath, taken in the Lord's name. When the trickery is found out, Joshua and the people are put in a tough spot: do they disobey God's command to wipe the inhabitants of the land out, or do they honor the oath they swore in His name? They choose to honor it, and as best as I can tell God does not punish them for breaking His previous command. I would not have thought that oaths given under such false pretense would be valid, but it appears that God values such agreements highly. How important our promises must be in our daily lives, then!

On a side note, the people who tricked the Israelites apparently survived - which is far more than any of those who opposed them this far have been able to claim. Having just seen a movie about the lengths one man went to in order to save his daughter I can understand their motivation to save their people and families. They would be slaves to the Israelites, but at least they lived.

Joshua 8

The attempt to take a city that failed in the last chapter due to one Israelite's disobedience succeeds today. That is what happens when the Lord is on your side :) The tactics Joshua used in combat are also pretty cool - I'd like to convey my interpretation of them here, but I can't really draw it out and to describe it in correct strategic fashion would make for a long post (and rather off topic). It is cool that God let the Israelites plunder the city for themselves this time, though; if only the greedy guy from chapter seven had waited till the next battle...

Joshua 7

This is a very sobering chapter: one man steals from the Lord, and in turn gets 32 Israelite soldiers killed and dooms his entire family to death. That is one heck of a punishment, and I am glad today that I am not held responsible for my father's actions in such a way. I suppose, though, that our sins do often affect those close to us; if we lie it can hurt relationships, and when we don't do things we should others may have to take an additional burden on themselves instead.

On the other hand, though, it is somewhat surprising that only one man out of the whole nation of Israel decided to take possessions from the ruins of Jericho. With how many people were there, and the temptation that must have existed with the wealth of a whole city, I would have expected that more than one bad egg would surface.

Joshua 6

The chapter today tells the classic story of God bringing down the walls of Jericho. From the description it is quite clear that God is the one who destroys the city walls, as simply marching around and blowing horns would do no good against such strong defenses. I bet the fact that they marched for a week before the battle put some serious fear into the inhabitants of the region, and for good reason since none of them was left alive. Well, technically Rahab and her family were spared - to honor the protection she gave to the Israelite spies earlier. In that chapter it was said that her house was part of the wall of the city, so it must have been protected from the collapse of the rest of that structure. It is cool how this account says that "she lives in Israel to this very day" (verse 25), showing that it was written not long after these events took place.

Joshua 5

The reading today covers four main things:

- The enemies of Israel who inhabited the promised land were stricken with fear by the Lord's miracle at the Jordan river

- The new generation of Israelite men were circumcised after crossing into the land, since their parents had not done that to them as children. I was rather surprised at this, as I thought the command given by God was to circumcise sons early in their lives - but perhaps either they had not had the proper tools or facilities to do so in the desert wanderings or they were just disobeying the Lord; or maybe the command just hadn't taken effect yet.

- The Israelites began eating produce from the land again, instead of God's manna; as soon as they did so the manna stopped.

- The "commander of the Lord's army" (verse 14) appeared to Joshua. This must have been an awesome sight, and I suspect that it was Jesus Himself pre-incarnate; why else would the ground Joshua was standing on have been holy (verse 15)? The only other time I recall this happening so far was Moses and the burning bush, which was clearly an instance of God appearing to him. I suppose that is actually another similarity between the early parts of Moses' and Joshua's service.