March 14
Joshua 12–15
Scripture Text: Joshua 12:1–15:63
Series: Read the Bible in a Year
Chapter 12 begins by listing the kings defeated by Moses and Joshua. The kings and lands yet to be conquered are catalogued in Chapter 13. Five rulers of the Philistines (those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron) are named in Joshua 13:3. The future problem with Gaza is clear to those who know the story of David and Goliath. However, all of these kings or rulers become a problem in Israel’s future. The five lords or princes of the Philistines are mentioned in Judges 3:3 as being a test of Israel to see if they would keep the commandments (Judges 3:4). The account of these five lords in 1 Samuel 6:1–16 shows what trouble they had been to Israel, going so far as to have captured the ark of the covenant itself.
So, the book of Joshua continues to chronicle what has been accomplished as well as what still needs doing to fulfill the divine promise: the covenant to provide Abram’s offspring with land (Genesis 15:18–21).
There is more land to possess but by this time, Joshua is an old man (Joshua 13:1). The question must have arisen: who will carry on in Joshua’s place? Joshua was merely God’s tool, as was Moses. We must always remind ourselves that is is God who accomplishes his purposes and promises. God himself would drive out the remaining inhabitants of from before the people of Israel” (Joshua 13:6). This is so certain that God commands Joshua to divide the land west of the Jordan River among “the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh” (Joshua 13:7). To the east of the Jordan went land to the other half of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad. Judah receives the southern land to the end of the Salt Sea. The tribe of Levi received no land, for the Lord himself is their inheritance (Deuteronomy 18:1–2; Joshua 13:33).
Roughly 700 years elapsed between the Abrahamic covenant —primarily to provide his descendants with a particular land (Genesis 15:18–21), but also to make of him a great nation, to make his name great, and to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:2–3) — and the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. The land has not been fully occupied to this day, as today’s news illustrates. The Abrahamic covenant is yet to be fulfilled. That fulfillment of the covenant will have the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16) occupy wholly the land promised by God. Re: 2 Peter 3:13 for the final realization of a covenant that has been in the making for thousands of years.
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Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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