LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?
THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
(A) Archaeological connection. In this reading, the people of Joseph are given the forest land of the Perizzites, but they decline to go up out of fear of "chariots of iron," specifically in "Beth-Shean and its villages" as well as in the Valley of Jezreel. We see a mirror of this in the letters of the Canaanites to the Pharoah in Egypt. Letter EA 289 from the Amarna Tablets, written by Abdi-Heba the servant of Pharaoh at Jerusalem, also mentions "the garrison at Bitsanu" (Bit-Sanu = Beth-Shean) acting as a protection of that area against the Habiru. In both these tablets, and in the pages of Scripture, there is no indication at this time that the city was ever taken.
(B) Not a process driven by man. Joshua, as part of the people of Joseph and the tribe of Ephraim, would have naturally been inclined to give his own tribe the best land. But this process was not driven by the will of man. Joshua, as a leader, had to submit his desires and wishes to what God wanted him to do--even if the result was strained relationships with those whom he was close with (the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh) and that he cared about.
(C) What God commands, God will enable. The people of Joseph in Joshua 17 neglected to go into the land of the Perizzites, because they feared the garrison and the chariots of iron that were stationed at Beth-Shean. But if they had gone up, God would have enabled them to carry out their mission. Either he would have given them the exact right tactic to use, or he would have caused some kind of miraculously timed natural disaster, or he would have turned the enemy against themselves, or he would have caused them to abandon their city and chase after a portion of the people of Israel foolishly to leave their city undefended--all of these are things that he had done at other times. An old pastor of mine used to talk about getting "under the waterfall of grace," which meant to get moving in a certain direction and see what doors God opened up along the way. If we stay put until we have everything all worked out, then we're not getting under the waterfall. But if we go, and we're attentive, we can often see God begin to do amazing things that we had never anticipated.
RESPOND | WHAT IS OUR PART?
How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? In our worship we can apply these things to our own lives. For (A) We can see the truth of God's Word through all the other little things that line up with it, and this can increase our trust in God and ability to walk with him by faith. For (B) We can trust God even when he calls us to accept circumstances that we don't like, or rules that we don't want to follow. The tribe of Ephraim that complained in Joshua's time went on to become the most prominent tribe of Northern Israel. They did well for themselves. And even more than this, God's specific division of the land ended up helping in many situations throughout Israel's history. (C) In "getting under the waterfall of grace," we are specifically leading our lives in such a way that we expect God to be active and working in our own lives. We can worship God knowing that he is watching over us.
PRAY | HOW DOES THIS LEAD US TO CONNECT WITH GOD?
Here is a suggested prayer prompt: "God, help me to worship you with an expectant faith. Give me certainty that you are watching over all my ways. Give me the peace to accept things from you that I don't understand. Move in my heart, and help me to know you to such a degree that my life wouldn't make sense if I did not know you."
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