Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Joshua 12 lists the kings that have been conquered. The list does not include all of those that can cause trouble for the Israelites. A time of relative peace often gives us a false sense of security. God does not want the Jews or us to look back to our past accomplishments. His desire is to have us look at what we can accomplish in the future, not dwell on yesterday.

Joshua’s advancing age is recognized in chapter 13 of the book named for him.  The Philistines and others are identified as occupying the balance of Canaan.  The division of the property already seized is discussed beginning with the land east of the Jordan. Moses had divided the land there before his death. The following chapters give the division of the property west of the Jordan.

The division of the land west of the Jordan River starts in Joshua chapter 14. The tribe of Judah is the first that is given land. Caleb, who was one of the spies on the original trip into Canaan forty-five years ago requests the hill region still occupied by the Anakin.

Now in chapter fifteen, we hear what this eighty-five-year-old man Caleb and his family can do. Joshua 15 specifies the boundaries of the tribe of Judah. As ordered by Moses, Caleb was given the area of the Anakin which he took from them. An extra story about Caleb’s daughter is inserted here. We fathers can hardly ever deny our daughters anything.

Caleb was needed to defeat the Jebusites in Jerusalem, but apparently, he did not help. They were left there at that time and some of their descendants may still be there even though the Jews were driven out two more times. More on the distribution of the land tomorrow.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger