My parents live on three acres in the Northern California foothills, where the land’s boundary lines are hard to see. After a forest of pine trees and a jungle of blackberry bushes, our property comes to a point. You’d never know it since our neighborhood acreage spills out into one messy field of overgrown weeds. There are no fences or stakes. Just a field that dead ends at an old street. Being good friends with our neighbors, we’ve always had permission to trot down there anytime we like, silver pails in hand, to harvest blackberries for homemade ice cream.
In the book of Joshua, boundary lines and land borders are given more importance. Joshua 15 thrusts us right into the heart of land divisions. Caleb had just received his inheritance, and it was time for the tribe of the descendents of Judah to receive theirs (Joshua 15:1). Unless you’re the type of person who loves reading detailed lists of ancient real estate, it can be tempting to just skim the rest of the chapter. But stick with me.
First, we’re told about the many twists and turns of the southern border until it hit the Mediterranean Sea (Joshua 15:2–4). After moving past the eastern border in a sentence, we get a detailed description of the northern border that was three times as long as the southern (vv.5–11). After that, we hear about the inhabitants Caleb drove out of their homeland so Judah’s descendents could take up residence (vv.14–15), as well as comprehensive lists of cities Judah inherited by clan: twenty-nine outermost cities, thirty-nine in the Judean foothills, thirty-eight in the hill country, and six in the wilderness (vv.21–62).
Whew! That’s a lot of people, cities, and borders. Personally, I think it’s easy to want to skip ahead to “the good parts” or take a detour to a familiar psalm. But the text begs another question: Why does this matter for us? You see, to Judah, this was the good part. When we read the statement “this was the boundary of the descendants of Judah around their clans” (Joshua 15:12), we glimpse Judah’s role in redemption history. Because land was an invaluable commodity at the time, this inheritance was tangible evidence of God’s faithfulness and the fulfillment of His promise to them. It was God’s provision. It was their manna.
The same God who was faithful to Judah is faithful to us today. Even though property boundary lines are a little more loosy-goosy in my parents’ neighborhood than they were in the book of Joshua, they still matter. To us, these invisible lines point to the many trees and butterfly bushes that embody God’s provision for our family over the years. How have you seen God provide for you this year? If you’re still waiting to taste His provision, take a moment to praise Him for the ways He’s already taken care of you, and then ask for the patience to see His faithfulness again.
Thank you Lord for your provision! You are a provider, protector and healer!
Thank you@ Churchmouse, and Rebecca for your comments today. Great insights ! Thanks to all SRT Sisters, love reading all responses. Blessings to all.
Good reminder that God provides for our needs- he provided manna for the Israelites and he provided land – but in both instances the Israelites had responsibility to not hoard manna and to drive out the people in the land.
Am I faithfully obeying God where he has me in this season?
God has provided for our family faithfully and miraculously throughout this year, with stable jobs, a new home in a nice and quiet neighborhood, and SRT friends and interactions when I was so lonely during this prolonged isolation. Most of all, He gave me good rest from the busyness of life that stole away my time for Him, and many many more I am unaware of, since you know “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life and you might be aware of three”. There were times things looked so bad, but the next moment it was glorious. God turned this tough year into a breakthrough for our family- the year of “walking through deep waters but the water will not overflow you” kind of year. Someone once advised me, you need to buckle yourself as God will take you on a wild ride, never a dull moment. That is true. Glory be to God.
When Jacob called his sons to gather around, he blessed each son differently according to their own blessing. And the portion of land reward given to each tribe are also different. Our reward may not look the same, as our struggles. While He promises the heavenly home and reward in the time to come, He also provided the physical reward on earth (evidently in our reading today). Jesus came on earth so we can have abundantly earthly life, with the real physical tangible inheritance. What a wonderful God we serve.
The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds a treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. Such a person is happy and goes and sells everything in order to buy that field (Matthew 13:44).
I want to thank SRT for including the map in today’s lesson. That was a new way for me to see the scripture. I am a visual person and reading it didn’t put it all together for me. No matter how many times I read it the passages never came to life for me. Thank you! I now know that the birth place, the Crucifixion, the resurrection, and Jesus second coming, and His millennial reign all has or will take place on the land that God gave the tribe of Judah! I love how he is so detailed and everything works together!
Me too!!
I’m wondering how this area changed over the years so that the Middle East isn’t a Christian majority of nations. Anyone have a good resource for the answer?
Thank you, SRT, for your map in the study book! It was SO helpful to visualize the locations of the tribes. I visited Israel a few years ago and it really brought back where I visited and was fascinating to see the lands that I traveled over and now to see whose lands they were given to by God.
@Tara Tuttle – Thank you! My computer shows 31 comments with ROSIE MOORMAN being the first of the day.