Josué 13

Josué 13

Barber - Joshua: A Devotional Exposition) Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary - Verses 1-6. At this chapter begins the account of the dividing of the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel by lot; a narrative showing the performance of the promise made to the fathers, that this land should be given to the seed of Jacob. We are not to pass over these chapters of hard names as useless. Where God has a mouth to speak, and a hand to write, we should find an ear to hear, and an eye to read; and may God give us a heart to profit! Joshua is supposed to have been about one hundred years old at this time. It is good for those who are old and stricken in years to be put in remembrance of their being so. God considers the frame of his people, and would not have them burdened with work above their strength. And all people, especially old people, should set to do that quickly which must be done before they die, lest death prevent them, Ecclesiastes 9:10. God promise that he would make the Israelites masters of all the countries yet unsubdued, through Joshua was old, and not able to do it; old, and not likely to live to see it done. Whatever becomes of us, and however we may be laid aside as despised, broken vessels, God will do his own work in his own time. We must work out our salvation, then God will work in us, and work with us; we must resist our spiritual enemies, then God will tread them under our feet; we must go forth to our Christian work and warfare, then God will go forth before us. Possessed (03423) yarash to take possession of, inherit, dispossess, to drive out. Possession of the land was directly connected to a person's relationship with the Lord; breaking the covenantal relationship led to dispossession. But even in exile, Israelites awaited the day when they would repossess the land (Jer. 30:3). GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 13 1. Joshua was old. In all probability about a hundred, as he employed not far from seven years in the conquest of the land, and is supposed to have spent about one in dividing it, and he died about ten years after, aged one hundred and ten years, ch. 24:29 Stricken in years. Heb. בא בימים bâ băyâmim, coming or entering into days. See Gen. 18:11. There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. Heb. לרשתה lerishtâh, to possess it. This is mentioned to Joshua not as a reason for his continuing the war, but for suspending it, though to the Israelites the intimation would answer a different purpose. They were admonished by it that they were still to hold themselves in readiness for prosecuting the war in due time, and not to think of putting off the harness as long as there remained any land to be possessed. But as to Joshua, at his advanced age he could not expect to see an end of the war, and therefore it was expedient that he should lay aside other cares and make preparation at once tor dividing the land among those tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. This work was to be done, and done speedily, and done, moreover, under the superintendence of Joshua. Consequently as he was now old, and not likely to continue long, he was to lose no time in setting about it. ‘All people, but especially the aged, should set themselves to do that quickly which must be done before they die, lest death prevent them. Eccl. 9:10.’ Henry. Rod Mattoon - God says, "There remaineth very much land to be possessed! For all of us there is much unoccupied territory in the Word of God. • There are promises that we have not yet made our own. • There are Biblical principles that we have not yet grasped with our • minds and put into practice in our life. • There are fields of truth the Holy Spirit is waiting to lead us. • There are scriptural treasures yet to be discovered and dug up. Some of God's greatest treasures are not on the surface. The study of the Word of God will yield wonderful blessings. There is also much territory in the land of Christian experience that needs to be possessed. • The things we do know, have we fully believed? • The things we believe, have we fully realized and understood? • The things we realize, have we fully proved with our life? • We have learned lessons on love, but have we the love that beareth all things, that never faileth? • Have we learned to suffer long and be kind? • We have received the white robes of righteousness, but have we put on the wedding robes? We have been cleansed and made holy, but have we the beauty of holiness in our life and the touch of His polishing and perfecting hand? • We have experienced the joy of the Lord, but have we learned to count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations or do we glory in tribulations? • We have answered prayers, but do we know a life of prayer, of asking, seeking, and knocking? • You may have submitted to the will of God and have chosen His will, but do you delight in His will? Do you prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God? There is land that needs to be possessed in the area of Christian service: classes need to be taught; songs need to be sung; buildings need built; rooms need to be cleaned; people need to be visited; tracts need to be passed out; Christians need to be encouraged; homes need to be opened to others; people need picked up for church; and folks need to be witnessed to. God wanted His people to go forward and claim their inheritance. In chapters 13-21, the word inheritance is used fifty times. The Jews inherited their land from the Lord. It wasn't purchased in a business transaction. The Lord leased the land to them. The Lord is the land lord of the land. Leviticus 25:23—The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. The occupation of the land was a pure and gracious act of God. God was the landlord. The rent was the obedience of His people. The possession and enjoyment of the land depended upon their submission and obedience to the Lord. (Treasures From Joshua) William Blaikie - The Lord said unto Joshua, Thou art old and stricken in years." To many men and women this would not be a welcome announcement. They do not like to think that they are old (ED: I'M 75 AND I GET IT!). They do not like to think that the bright, joyous, playful part of life is over, and that they are arrived at the sombre years when they must say, "There is no pleasure in them." Then, again, there are some who really find it hard to believe that they are old. Life has flown past so swiftly that before they thought it was well begun it has gone. But however much men may like to be young, and however much some may retain in old age of the feeling of youth, it is certain that the period of strength has its limit, and the period of life also, To Joshua the announcement that he was old and stricken in years does not appear to have brought any painful or regretful feeling. Perhaps he had aged somewhat suddenly; his energies may have failed consciously and rapidly, after his long course of active and anxious military service. He may have been glad to hear God utter the word; he may have been feeling it himself, and wondering how he should be able to go through the campaigns yet necessary to put the children of Israel in full possession of the land. So Joshua finds that he is now to be relieved by his considerate Master of laborious and anxious service. Not of all service, but of exhausting service, unsuited to his advancing years. (ED: I UNDERSTAND, FOR AS I WRITE THESE COMMENTS AT AGE 75 LIFE IS LESS LABORIOUS AND ANXIOUS, ALBEIT NOT TOTALLY STRESS FREE). Joshua had been a right faithful servant; few men have ever done their work so well. He has led a most useful and loyal life, which there is some satisfaction in looking back on. No doubt he is well aware of unnumbered failings: "Who can understand his errors?" (Psalm 19:12KJV) But he has the rare satisfaction — oh! Who would not wish to share it? — of looking back on a well-spent life, habitually and earnestly regulated amid many infirmities by regard to the will of God. Yet Joshua was not to complete that work to which he had contributed so much: "there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." At one time, no doubt, he thought otherwise, and he desired otherwise. When the tide of victory was setting in for him so steadily, and region after region of the land was falling into his hands, it was natural to expect that before he ended he would sweep all the enemies of Israel before him, and open every door for them throughout the land, even to its utmost borders. Why not make hay when the sun shone? When God had found so apt an instrument for His great design, why did He not employ him to the end? If the natural term of Joshua's strength had come, why did not that God who had supernaturally lengthened out the day for completing the victory of Beth horon lengthen out Joshua's day, that the whole land of Canaan might be secured? Here comes in a great mystery of Providence. Instead of lengthening out the period of Joshua's strength, God seems to have cut it short. We can easily understand the lesson for Joshua himself. Joshua must be made to feel — perhaps he needs this — that this enterprise is not his, but God's. And God is not limited to one instrument, or to one age, or to one plan. Never does Providence appear to us so strange as when a noble worker is cut down in the very midst of his work. A young missionary has just shown his splendid capacity for service, when fever strikes him low, and in a few days all that remains of him is rotting in the ground. "What can God mean?" we sometimes ask impatiently. "Does He not know the rare value and the extreme scarcity of such men, that He sets them up apparently just to throw them down?" But "God reigneth, let the people tremble." (Psalm 99:1KJV) All that bears on the Christian good of the world is in God's plan, and it is very dear to God, and "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Ps 116:15KJV) But He is not limited to single agents. When Stephen died, He raised up Saul. For Wycliffe He gave Luther. When George Wishart was burnt He raised up John Knox. Kings, it is said, die, but the king never. The herald that announces “The king is dead," proclaims in the same breath, "God save the king!" God’s workers die, but His work goes on. Joshua is super- annuated, so far as the work of conquest is concerned, and that work for a time is suspended. But the reason is that, at the present moment, God desires to develop the courage and energy of each particular tribe. And when the time comes to extend still farther the dominion of Israel, an agent will be found well equipped for the service. From the hills of Bethlehem, a godly youth of dauntless bearing will one day emerge, under whom every foe to Israel shall be brought low, and from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the entire Promised Land shall come under Israel’s dominion. And the conquests of David will shine with a brighter lustre than Joshua’s, and will be set, as it were, to music of a higher strain. Associated with David’s holy songs and holy experience, and with his early life of sadness and humiliation, crowned at last with glory and honour, they will more fitly symbolize the work of the great Joshua, and there will then be diffused over the world a more holy aroma than that of Joshua’s conquests, - a fragrance sweet and refreshing to souls innumerable, and fostering the hope of glory, - the rest that remaineth for the people of God, the inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. (Blaikie's even longer introduction regarding Joshua) F B