Today’s passage: Joshua 21:1-45

Helpful thoughts:

• The Levites were not given boundaries of land as an inheritance because the Lord was their inheritance.  However, they were given cities and scattered about all of the other tribes.
• There could now be teachers of the Law among all the people of Israel as the Levites settled into these various cities. (Deuteronomy 33:10)
• God accomplished all He promised to do.

Questions to consider:

1. How were the Levites blessed in being spread around Israel?  How would that help them to succeed in what God had called them to do?  How was all Israel to be blessed by the scattering of the Levites?
2. If God did everything He had promised and gave Israel all of these cities and the surrounding land, why did they not yet possess all of it?  Who fell short?  What was left unfinished?  What reasons have we seen recently that certain tribes did not take possession of land God had given them?
3. How important is it to know what God’s promises are for us?  How can the faithfulness of God to keep His promises encourage you today?

Today’s passage: Joshua 20:1-9

Helpful thoughts:

• Law was written and provision made for those who killed another without intent.
  • Exodus 21:12-14, Numbers 35:9-29, Deuteronomy 4:41-43, Deuteronomy 19:1-10
    • Even if accidental, life was still to be valued and avenged if the killer did not flee to one of these cities.
    • Even if the killer fled to a city, if he was guilty of murder, he was to be put to death.
• Three cities were designated on each side of the Jordan River, allowing for six cities in total.

Questions to consider:

1. How is life to be valued, given that even accidental killing would certainly change someone’s life according to these God-given laws?
2. Is it a good argument to say that “Thou shalt not kill” automatically means there should be no death penalty?  What did these passages require?
3. What does this special treatment show about the thoroughness of God’s justice?  Does He consider motive and the heart of man or just the end results?

Today’s passage: Joshua 19:24-51

Helpful thoughts:

• The tribes of Asher, Naphtali, and Dan finish out the allotment of lands for Israel.
• The tribe of Dan didn’t take possession in their land and actually pushed further north to defeat a different foe.  The land they took possession of and settled in was not the land they were given by lot!
• Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim was given a special inheritance within Ephraim’s inheritance.
  • The land inheritance portion of this book fittingly began with Caleb and ended with Joshua, the only two men from their generation to enter into the Promised Land.

Questions to consider:

1. With the conclusion of this task and the accounts of all Israel settling into new land, what would have been the right response of Israel before the Lord?
2. What should we make of Dan’s changing the plans?  Were they truly unable to take their allotted territory?  Did they really have to move further to the north?
3. What set Caleb and Joshua apart from the beginning?  What gave them this special honor? (Check out Numbers 13:1-14:10)

Today’s passage: Joshua 19:1-23

Helpful thoughts:

• The descriptions get shorter as we go… Simeon, Zebulun and Issachar are done.  8 tribes down, 4 to go.
• Simeon’s inheritance is contained within the inheritance of Judah.
  • They would later work together in Judges 1:1-7.
  • Judah would always outnumber Simeon (1 Chronicles 4:27).
• Zebulun’s and Issachar’s territories were north of Manasseh’s.  Issachar’s came near to the southern portion of the Sea of Galilee.

Questions to consider:

1. How might Ephraim and Manasseh feel about their complaining after the land Judah was given is now being shared with Simeon?
2. Was God going to make any mistakes in allotting land to His people?
3. How can passages like this, even though they may seem insignificant to us, encourage us to trust the Lord?

Today’s passage: Joshua 18:11-28

Helpful thoughts:

• Today we read of the inheritance for the tribe of Benjamin.
• Their land is between that of Judah and Ephraim and Manasseh.
• There are cities that are shared with other tribes based on boundary lines and there are cities that share the same name but are in different places.

Questions to consider:

1. As you read through the list of cities, what important events or places do you see?  How important will this area of land become?

Today’s passage: Joshua 18:1-10

Helpful thoughts:

• The nation of Israel is now gathered together at Shiloh.  At this point Shiloh becomes the center for worship of the Lord (The Tent of Meeting/The Tabernacle was there).
• Joshua’s question in verse 3 sounds like a rebuke, but it may have just been asked rhetorically in order to set about the process of giving the tribes direction on where to finish taking possession.
• Several reminders are given in this passage that the Lord was present, at work, and sovereign over this process.

Questions to consider:

1. How can the inheritance of the Levites being “priesthood” or priestly service to the Lord be an encouragement to us?  How must we think about working for the Lord when He considers it a privilege and an inheritance?
2. Who did Joshua include in his discourse?  Was there anyone who was left out?  Who did Joshua continually credit with the work and wisdom of this mission and task?  To whom did he point the nation of Israel?
3. How could the answers to these questions help us as a church?  How might they help you today in your workplace and in your homes?

Today’s passage: Joshua 17:1-18

Helpful thoughts:

• The Tribe of Manasseh had land on both sides of the Jordan River.
• The request of the daughters of Zelophehad refers back to the promise from Numbers 27.
• The people of Ephraim and Manasseh were willing to ask for more land inheritances, but they did not trust the Lord for victory over the Canaanites.
  • They wanted more land for themselves…because they said God had blessed them with so many people.
  • Their acknowledgement of the blessing of God evidently did not transfer into finishing what He had commanded them to do.

Questions to consider:

1. Since God has been the one settling the land inheritances for the tribes, who were the sons of Joseph complaining about?  Just Joshua?
2. How might the fact that Joshua was an Ephraimite have impacted their lack of satisfaction?
3. If the people were able to say, “All along the Lord has blessed me.” and then not see that the Lord was able to use them, what was it that they really wanted?  Why does God bless us?  What are we to do with our new life in Christ?

Today’s passage: Joshua 16:1-10

Helpful thoughts:

• Chapters 16 and 17 will detail the land given to the tribes of Ephraim (16) and Manasseh (17), the sons of Joseph.
• Ephraim also did not drive out all of the Canaanites.  The Israelites had been instructed to only accept labor from the people in the land if there was a peaceable agreement (Deuteronomy 20:11) such as the Gibeonites.  This however was forced.  Ephraim was being disobedient to God in turning the Canaanites in Gezer into forced labor.
• The city of Gezer would eventually fall during the reign of Solomon, but in a very ironic way (1 Kings 9:16).

Questions to consider:

1. How might the end of verse 10 have looked like a victory for Ephraim?  Why was it not victory at all?
2. How would the people of Ephraim have been able to rightly discern what the right thing was to do?
3. How can we as Christians keep our perspective in alignment with the Lord’s when we measure our “successes” or “failures” in the midst of this world?