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Scripture Reading: Josh. 18, Josh. 19, Josh. 20, Josh. 21, Josh. 22
Many spiritual items concerning Christ and the church are revealed in the New Testament in principle but not in detail. This is especially true in the matter of gaining Christ, experiencing Christ, and enjoying Christ.
In the book of Ephesians Christ is revealed as being all-inclusive because He is the One who fills all in all (Eph. 1:23). He is not only all-inclusive but also all-extensive because His love is immeasurable in its breadth, length, height, and depth (3:18-19a). Christ’s love is just Himself. If His love is immeasurable, He is immeasurable. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ. His riches are so plentiful and vast that they are untraceable. Although Ephesians reveals a Christ who is all-inclusive, all-extensive, and unsearchably rich, in this book we cannot find the detailed ways to gain this Christ.
The detailed ways to gain Christ, experience Christ, and enjoy Christ are not in the New Testament. However, Joshua 13—22 provides the detailed way to possess and enjoy the land, which is a type of the all-inclusive Christ.
The good land was spacious, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates, but the children of Israel did not possess all the land. Even with what they possessed, they still needed a detailed way to allot the land in order to gain and enjoy it. The way was by casting lots. In the book of Joshua the word lot is used in the sense of casting lots (18:8,10). Humanly speaking, we know that casting lots depends on fortune, but God is our fortune, and the outcome of the casting of lots was according to what He had ordained. When God created the earth, He had a clear view concerning the situation of the good land. He was clear, for instance, that Jerusalem and the surrounding district were for Judah, out of whom Christ would come. This was foreordained, but it still had to be realized by casting lots. God’s ordaining hand was present in the casting of lots to direct the result. This means that the division of the land did not depend upon Joshua, upon the high priest, or upon anyone other than God. As a result, there was no ground for the tribes to complain about the portion of the land allotted to them. The way of allotting the land was fair, and it caused everyone to be subdued.
At this juncture, I would like to emphasize the fact that Christ in Himself is uniquely one and always the same. As to Himself there is no change; He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). However, in our experience and enjoyment Christ is of many sizes and types, as indicated by the different kinds of burnt offerings and meal offerings. What Christ is to us in our experience does not depend upon Him — it depends upon us. We gain Christ, experience Christ, and enjoy Christ according to what we are. Therefore, someone who is diligent in pursuing Christ will experience a larger Christ than someone who is lazy in this matter.
Recently I have been considering that we may regard the twelve tribes of Israel as a picture of the believers from the first century until today. Galatians 6:16 says that we are “the Israel of God.” This indicates that among God’s New Testament elect there should be twelve “tribes.” The first tribe was the early apostles, who brought in the New Testament revelation. The second tribe was the church fathers. The third tribe was the martyrs in the Roman Empire. The fourth tribe was the reformers in the Roman Church, before the papal system was established. The fifth tribe was the Protestants, and the sixth was the mystics. The Protestants became shallow and dead, so there was a reaction from the mystics, including Madame Guyon, Father Fenelon, and Brother Lawrence. The seventh tribe was the Moravian brothers under Count Zinzendorf. The eighth tribe was the British Brethren under John Nelson Darby. When the Brethren became full of dead knowledge, there was a three-way reaction. First, there was a reaction from the inner life Christians, including Andrew Murray, Jessie Penn-Lewis, and T. Austin-Sparks. This was the ninth tribe. Second, there was a reaction from evangelical Christians, including C. H. Spurgeon, D. L. Moody, Charles Finney, Hudson Taylor, William Carey, and David Livingstone. This was the tenth tribe. Third, there was a reaction from Pentecostal Christians. This was the eleventh tribe. The twelfth tribe is the recovery, which has recovered the New Testament revelation back to the early apostles.
In the recovery the truths from Matthew to Revelation have been recovered by the Lord. In particular, the Lord has recovered the truths concerning the all-inclusive Christ and the New Jerusalem. The truth in the recovery is the consummate truth of the past nineteen centuries. We are standing on the shoulders of all the tribes that have gone before us. Thus, the truth has been extracted, condensed, and crystallized for us.
Let us now consider from chapters eighteen through twenty-two more of the details concerning the allotment of the land.
In 18:1 through 19:51 we have the record of the land to be allotted to the rest of the seven tribes. Joshua charged the children of Israel to take possession of the land not yet possessed by them (18:1-3). Then he sent three men from each of the seven tribes to go through the land and write a description of it with a view to it being their inheritance (vv. 4-6, 8-9). After this, Joshua allotted and divided the land unto the seven tribes (v. 10). No land was allotted to the Levites, for the priesthood of Jehovah was their inheritance (v. 7).
The land allotted to the tribe of Benjamin (vv. 11-28) was between the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Joseph (vv. 11-20). The land had twenty-six cities with their villages, including Jerusalem (vv. 21-28). Jerusalem was located in the land of Benjamin but was inherited by the children of Judah (15:63).
The land allotted to the tribe of Simeon (19:1-9) was in the midst of the inheritance of the children of Judah (vv. 1, 9) and included seventeen cities with their villages (vv. 2-8).
The land allotted to the tribe of Zebulun (vv. 10-16) consisted of twelve cities with their villages, including Bethlehem (v. 15).
The land allotted to the tribe of Issachar went from Jezreel to the river Jordan and included sixteen cities with their villages (vv. 17-23).
The land allotted to the tribe of Asher went from Helkath to the sea (vv. 24-31). It had twenty-two cities with their villages, including Great Sidon and the fortified city of Tyre (vv. 28-29).
The land allotted to the tribe of Naphtali (vv. 32-39) was in the midst of Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and Judah at the Jordan toward the rising of the sun. This land included nineteen cities with their villages.
The land allotted to the tribe of Dan (vv. 40-48) was opposite Japho (v. 46 — Joppa, Acts 10:5). When the territory of the children of Dan was lost to them, they went up and fought against Leshem (Laish — Judg. 18:29, at the extreme north of the good land), taking possession of it and naming it according to the name of Dan their father (Josh. 19:47).
The inheritance given to Joshua (vv. 49-50) was the city of Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He asked for this city, and the children of Israel gave it to him according to the commandment of Jehovah.
The record in chapter twenty is concerned with the cities of refuge (Exo. 21:13; Num. 35:6a, 10-15).
Jehovah charged Joshua to tell the children of Israel to designate the cities of refuge so that the manslayer who killed a person by mistake and unwittingly might flee there from the avenger of blood (Josh. 20:1-6).
There were to be three cities of refuge in Canaan, west of the Jordan (v. 7). These cities were Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Hebron in the hill country of Judah.
There were to be three other cities of refuge in the land east of the Jordan (vv. 8-9). These cities were Bezer in the wilderness on the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.
All the cities of refuge were allotted to the Levites (Num. 35:6a).
The cities with their pasture lands allotted to the Levites were claimed by them at Shiloh. They were given to the Levites by the children of Israel according to God’s command to Moses (21:1-3). In total, there were forty-eight cities, including six cities of refuge (v. 41).
To the families of the Kohathites and the children of Aaron the priest were given thirteen cities from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin (vv. 4, 8-19).
To the rest of the children of Kohath were given ten cities from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (vv. 5, 20-26).
To the children of Gershon were given thirteen cities from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (vv. 6, 27-33).
To the children of Merari were given twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun (vv. 7, 34-40).
The allotment of the good land recorded in these chapters was the fulfillment of Jehovah’s promise to the fathers of Israel that He would give them the good land for their possession and dwelling place (vv. 43-45). Regarding this, verse 45 says, “Not a word failed of all the good things that Jehovah had spoken to the house of Israel; all came to pass.”
Chapter twenty-two gives us an account of the return of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh to their land east of the Jordan.
Joshua sent them with blessing (vv. 1-9). He called them and said to them that they had kept all that Moses had commanded them and had listened to Joshua’s voice in all that he had commanded them, telling them that they had kept the charge of the commandment of Jehovah their God.
When the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh came into that region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, they built at the river Jordan an altar great in appearance (v. 10).
When the children of Israel heard about the altar that had been built out in front of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, they wanted to go up in battle against the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (vv. 11-12). The children of Israel sent Phinehas the priest with ten leaders of the ten tribes of Israel to deal with them (vv. 13-20).
The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh explained to Phinehas and the ten leaders of Israel that they built the altar not for offerings to God but for a witness (vv. 21-29). They claimed that they did not build the altar in rebellion or in trespass against Jehovah (v. 22). They concluded by saying, “Far be it from us that we would rebel against Jehovah and turn away today from following after Jehovah by building an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Jehovah our God, which is before His tabernacle!” (v. 29).
Phinehas the priest and the ten leaders of Israel were satisfied with their explanation and returned to their land (vv. 30-33).
The children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar, saying that it was a witness that Jehovah is God (v. 34).
