LHC Midday Word: The Book of JOSHUA

Division of the land west of the Jordan

1 Now these are the areas the Israelites received as an inheritance in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel allotted to them. 2 Their inheritances were assigned by lot to the nine-and-a-half tribes, as the Lord had commanded through Moses. 3 Moses had granted the two-and-a-half tribes their inheritance east of the Jordan but had not granted the Levites an inheritance among the rest, 4 for Joseph’s descendants had become two tribes – Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites received no share of the land but only towns to live in, with pasture-lands for their flocks and herds. 5 So the Israelites divided the land, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Land allotted to Caleb

6 Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, ‘You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people sink. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, “The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children for ever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.”

10 ‘Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.’

13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly. 15 (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.)

Then the land had rest from war.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

Joshua 14: “convictions” (v.7)

Caleb was now “85 years old … still as strong” (vv.10-11) as at age 40 when he along with 11 others spied out the land (Numbers 13). He recalls that exploration, “I brought … back a report according to my convictions” (v.7).

Think:

[1^st] to be genuine in what we say is preferable to insincerity;

[2^nd] but ten of the 12 spies were sincere too, in their negative recommendations;

[3^rd] what really matters is what influences our “convictions ” – in Caleb’s case it was his fundamental resolve, “I … followed … God wholeheartedly” (vv.8-9 & 14). Will you be determined to hold God-inspired “convictions ”?

=-=-=-=-=-=

READINGS

The Book of JOSHUA

Chapter 14

Read by David Suchet