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:
- How might the end of verse 10 have looked like a victory for Ephraim? Why was it not victory at all?
- How would the people of Ephraim have been able to rightly discern what the right thing was to do?
- 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?