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Highlights from the Historical Books Intro Highlights from the Historical Books JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH – SUMMER 2019 JOSHUA 11-19 – “CONQUEST AND POSSESSION” Intro: ➢ You may recall the verse I read last week in comparing the supernatural events of the battle of Beth-horon with the future events of Revelation 6- 19.. o It reads, “For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon - that He may do His work, His awesome work, and bring to pass His act, His unusual act.” Isaiah 28:21 o In the Valley of Gibeon God did indeed display “His awesome work” and “His unusual act” – we studied it in Joshua 10. o It’s not everyday that the sun and moon stand still in sky. o It’s not a regular occurrence that Israel’s enemies would get wiped out by rocks falling form the sky o God may’ve worked directly by His own hand to produce the phenomena. Or He might’ve employed some celestial mechanics – perhaps a planetary fly-by of the Red Planet [SEE LAST WEEK] o Either way it was an awesome work, an unusual act. o And he did it in answer to a man’s prayer. Phenomenal> ➢ Now, we turn to the more mundane work, the normal, day-to-day operations of a war of conquest… o The remaining chapters of the book of Joshua detail a much more common routine; no more miracles, no more falling walls or rocks from the sky! o Life is like this as I’m certain you have discovered on your own ▪ At times God works in miraculous ways that are exciting and get you pumped up! ▪ But, other times, He calls us to certain basic duties. ▪ Life in service of God’s Kingdom is a mixed bag unusual, awesome work AND the daily, regular, mundane! ➢ Today we will witness General Joshua leaving behind those thrilling victories to entangle himself in a more mundane work. o He works his Conquest Strategy of Central, Southern, Northern ▪ He does so by going town by town, people by people slowly taking possession of the land God granted them ▪ It takes them 7 years to accomplish this ▪ It ends after chapter 12 o But then, he has to put his sword down and pick up a transit and range rod, to do the routine job of a surveyor ▪ In chapter 13, God tells him that he’s too old to fight and he needs to delegate the remainder of the possession to the individual tribes ▪ Joshua’s job in chapters 13-24 is to divide the land among the tribes of Israel by Divine Right ➢ The title of today’s message is : “Conquest and Possession” o We’re going to work our way through chapters 11-22 ▪ Normally we make our way through every verse ▪ However, in these next several chapters we’re going to just summarize each chapter, though that isn’t our normal practice here o This is NOT to say that the content is less important or less valuable ▪ It’s that the narrative portion has come to a close and it goes into a detailed list of defeated kings, place names, and the details of the distribution of the land to the 12 tribes… ▪ … and this is not the right kind of message for a Sunday Morning ▪ We could cover every verse of this at a Sunday Night or Wednesday night gathering where we could dig deep into the details ▪ For this study we’re going to hit the highlights… o Let’s dive in… Chapter 11 Verse 1-5 … 1 When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, 2 and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west, 3 to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. 4 And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. 5 And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.. ➢ You may recall from last week this map which shows Joshua’s conquest strategy o In Ch. 10 we saw the conquest start to gain full momentum ▪ After the miraculous defeat at Beth Horon… ▪ … General Joshua fully defeated the southern peoples ▪ So, on this map, he’s now completed the Central Campaign and the Southern Campaign o In Ch. 11, he sets his sights on the Northern confederates and the victories continue ➢ Notice that Verse 2 says “Chinneroth” [SEE ON THE MAP] o This word means “harp-shaped” and It speaks of the Sea of Galilee ▪ This of course would become a very important lake in the life and ministry of Jesus in the New Testament – some 1500 years later ▪ And it is still an important water source for Israel to this day ▪ But it all started right here as Joshua conquered these Kings for the first time ▪ If you go with us to Israel on our next trip, you will see it for yourself! • It’s a beautiful area that is surprisingly very undeveloped even to this day so that it still looks very similar to the way it did back it Jesus’ day • Our next trip opportunity is February 2021 – Please let me know if you’re interested o This shows us on THE MAP that they made their way all they up to the area NORTH of the Sea of Galilee ▪ They had been down in the south near Jerusalem and the Dead Sea ▪ Now they are way up in the northern area of Israel ➢ In Verse 5 it mentions the waters of Merom where they gathered for battle o The armies of this northern coalition were all under the command of Jabin, king of Hazor o And this was a formidable army… ▪ The Jewish historian, Josephus, says Jabin gathered 300,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, and 10,000 chariots. ▪ Each chariot crew consisted of 3 soldiers – a driver, a bowman, and a javelin junker ▪ Jabin’s army of was the equivalent of a modern war machine ▪ If not for great courage and faith, Joshua and his team would be greatly intimidated… ▪ But they knew the promise that God had given Joshua since the beginning of his leadership, “5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them… 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”” Joshua 1:5-6,9 ➢ Don’t forget that you have the very same promises of victory in Jesus! o Towards the end of this book it says, “Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” Joshua 21:45 ▪ Romans 11:29 says that God’s call and his gifts are Irrevocable! ▪ Hebrews 13:5 says that he will never leave or forsake you! ▪ In your dark days, when you’re facing those battles of a different kind, remind yourself of these promises! o Even more so, remind yourself of these promises by Jesus: ▪ “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:10-11 ▪ “2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2 ▪ “1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many DWELLING PLACES. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:1-3 o God is Good. All the time. Praise the Lord. ➢ And so in Ch. 11 they gained victory over these evil Canaanite peoples as the Lord had said they would o Once again, I’d like to remind you that the reason they killed them all is that they were an incredibly evil people ▪ They literally burned their children alive on the altars of their false gods ▪ These guys were the equivalent of an entire nation (7 actually) of Charles Manson’s or Ted Bundy’s or ISIS even ▪ They were an entire group of evil people who needed to be taken out by Divine Judgement ▪ God, as their Creator and Righteous Judge, has that divine right Let’s look down at verse 15… Verse 15 … Just as the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did.
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