Things have obviously slowed to a crawl. It's been over ten months since I've posted, and before that it was even longer. It's definitely been a challenge to find time to devote to the Word, and the challenge has been made greater these last few months. In October last year my wife and I welcomed home our daughter, Lucy Penelope, who we are now in the process of adopting. With now two little ones occupying my time, it seems no hours are left for scriptural study. Of course I know time must be made, and where there's a will there's a way. So it's time to give it my best shot. I've taken far too long to work my way through Josue, but hopefully I'll now rediscover my motivation and continue my journey. Giving up altogether is not an option.
When last I left off, the Israelites were making progress subduing the land of Chanaan for God. Chapter 12 is a sort of catalog of the places occupied by the Israelites and the kings they slew in the process. For that reason there wasn't much to comment on (other than the remarkableness of the Israelites' accomplishments in so short a time). In Chapter 13, however, there is an interesting mention of some communities that somehow escaped the destruction of their neighbor pagan cities. Josue 13:13 reads, "And the children of Israel would not destroy Gessuri and Machati: and they have dwelt in the midst of Israel, until this present day." There are a couple of ways to read this. On the one hand, looking at the Israelites' journey as also a symbolic one, we can see that, at least in this life, sin can never be wholly eliminated. Had the Israelites wiped out every pagan community, the Promised Land would not have possessed a means whereby the people's fidelity could be tested. It would have been a utopia, a land virtually free of the harmful effects of sin. In short, it wouldn't have represented well our fallen world, the one we still live in. If God wanted the Israelites' plight to provide a model for us, it makes sense that sin and temptation would continue to exist. On the other hand, these pagan places might have escaped destruction simply because the Israelites disobeyed God by not destroying all the people. That is what they were instructed to do and they may have felt that they did a good enough job and saw no big deal in leaving a couple of communities untouched. This was a disobedient decision and it did indeed end up costing them as many Israelites were tempted back into pagan ways by means of these pockets of paganism. The Israelites are us and we are the Israelites. We'll never conquer sin completely in this life, but must do our best to try. And God allows sin and evil and temptation to exist that we may love Him, that a measure may exist that our love might be known. How much greater must the loyal Israelites have appeared in God's eyes as they worshiped rightly and obeyed His commands while next door pagans were adoring false idols and offending God's natural laws? We "walk in the midst of the shadow of death" (Psalm 22:4) wherein we need God's help and prayer exists. Would we need such help, would we need to pray, in a world bright like heaven, a sinless paradise?
