CHAPTER 9

1. Now what came about as all the kings who were beyond the Yarden on the mountain-range, in the foothills, and on the whole coast of the Great Sea toward the front of the Levanon [range]--the Chittite, the Emorite, the Kanaanite, the Prizzite, the Chiwite, and the Y'vusite--heard

   Heard what?  What immediately precedes (8:35) is the reading of the Torah, so (if they had their spies among the Israelites) they heard that Israel was serious, because they were reading the instructions again.  And more specifically, they heard, “Our Land is being given to these people by their deity, so that means they are coming after us too! And they will have no mercy!” (Gen. 15:17ff; Ex. 23:23ff; 23:31ff; 34:11-12; Deut. 7:1ff) And just building an altar there to YHWH was already staking a claim to the Land.  When we really hear and respond to the Torah, there is no doubt that there will be war, and our enemies will know it too.  We cannot hear Moshe and expect to just live in peace.  Y’shua also said, “I came not to bring peace but a sword.”  If no one is worried about you and preparing for battle against you, you are not really living YHWH’s commands.  Those who cannot stand these words as they are really meant to be understood will always look for others to join them and come against us, but this makes identifying our enemies very easy.  Remember, the tares as well as the wheat will be gathered—to be burned, in their case.  Many think they are serving YHWH, but are actually only serving their own hearts.  Foothills: Heb., sh'felah, that is, where the land "falls".

2. [was that] they collected themselves together with one mouth to fight with Y'hoshua and with Israel.

   With one mouth: figuratively, “with one accord”.  But “one mouth” means they are all telling the same story.  This is still how they fight—they start to talk.  It was Y’hoshua they were fighting; it is the leader they hate—his “arrogance” and insistence that things be done his way because he is hearing from YHWH.  If they can get rid of him, they think, the rest of the people might “listen to reason” and they could live with them.  Take away the shepherd, and they can have their way with the sheep.  But the “problem” is, YHWH is on his side.  Each of these peoples had a personal interest in winning, but they were putting aside their differences and all focusing on “the problem at hand”.  If they had only been fighting Israel, and not YHWH as well, this might have been enough in itself to defeat them. As at Bavel, the sought to use their unity to overcome YHWH's will, and again we see a worldwide unification shaping up which is built on sand instead of the rock of Torah, and it may accept "Jesus" as its figurehead (because a figment of their imagination who never really existed as they depict him can hardly have any power to stand in the way of their plans), but will oppose what the true Yahshua is doing, but He will "iron out" both their falsely-based unity and our differences that comes from each one wanting everyone else to bow down to his own ways. He will do this with His "rod of iron". But much of our disunity is unnecessary. Note that they were fighting Y'hoshua in particular, probably assuming that if the shepherd was struck, the sheep would scatter. But anyone who attacks Yahshua is attaching all who follow Him. Making war on the god-man "Jesus" actually upholds the true Yahshua's agenda, so do not be afraid to do so, thinking that in the process you might actually be attacking Yahshua. You are not, if your battling is based on Scriptural truth.

3. When the inhabitants of Giv'on heard what Y'hoshua had done to Y'rikho and to Ay,

   Giv’on: only a few miles north of Yerushalayim, and not far south of Ay, they would be located only some twenty miles from where Israel was encamped. (v. 6)  Y’hoshua did not do these feats alone, but the work accomplished by his people is credited to him.  What we do also reflects on the Y’hoshua we serve (Yeshua).  His enemies will hardly fear him if we present him as always gentle and compassionate, and never fierce as the Scripture presents him.  He was always in balance, but we have weighted him only to one side.  We must properly represent him by doing what he did.  The job of the Body is to go in the same direction as the Head, or everyone will see him wrongly.  Because pedophile priests have raped choir boys, “Jesus” has done this too.  Because crusaders murdered thousands of Jews, “Jesus” did too; no wonder they avoid him!  But thanks to YHWH, these evil representatives did not have His real name, so they were not representing the true Yeshua; but we do, so we have no margin for such errors.  The result of our actions is meant to be that people know who YHWH is and acknowledge His authority. (Mat. 5:14-16)  Note that we are to give light to those “in the house”.  The focus is not outside, but many lit-up houses cannot help but be a lit-up city that attracts those who need protection when the enemy is on the prowl.  It did just that to Giv’on here:

4. they too acted with shrewdness and, acting as if they were ambassadors , took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, wine skins that were worn through, cracked open, and tightened up,

   There was one exception to the unity seen in verses 1-2.  One group of Chiwites had a different approach.  Rather than stupidly thinking they could defeat YHWH, they came up with what is really a very smart plan.  Shrewdness: with a more pejorative connotation of “cunning”, “wiliness”, or “craftiness”.  Beware the Giv’onite and his story!  Indeed, in going straight to the camp of those who had come to kill them, they ended up in a better position than those who directly opposed Israel. Indeed, in the days to come, the only hope anyone has is to surrender to Israel.  Yeshua told a parable in which he essentially said, “If only Israel were this smart.” (Luke 16:8)  It was probably from this that he also drew his idiom about sending his followers out like sheep in the midst of wolves.  Tightened up: that is, warped to the point of shrinking.

5. worn-out and patched shoes on their feet, and worn-out clothing on themselves, and all the bread of their supply was dried-up and moldy,

   Moldy: or crumbling; the root word means "spotted".

6. and came to Y'hoshua in the camp at Gilgal, and told him and a man of Israel, "We have come from a distant land, so now cut a covenant with us!"

   Apparently they returned to Gilgal after going to Mt. Eval because the terrain was much easier to camp on and the water supply was readily nearby. This became their "headquarters" throughout the campaign of conquest. (10:15) Though they were already in the Land of everyone's inheritance, there were all still encamped together. The Giv'onites knew that Israel had spared some people and were not required to kill everyone outside the Land, so they claimed to be from outside it.

7. But the man of Israel said to the Chiwites, "It could be that you live right near us; how could we cut a covenant with you?"

   The man: possibly the entire nation acting in unity. The Chiwites: the ethnicity of the people of Giv'on.

8. So they told Y'hoshua, "We are your servants." And Y'hoshua said to them, "Who are you, and where do you come from?"

    They appealed to Y’hoshua personally for mercy.

9. So they told him, "Your servants have come from a land very far away because of the reputation  of YHWH your Elohim, because we have heard the report [about] Him and all that He did in Egypt,

   They are pretending to be something they are not and pretending it is for the sake of YHWH—the magic phrase that can throw us off our guard because they know the right words to say.

10. "and all that He did to the two kings of the Emorites who [were] across the Yarden--Sichon, king of Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth.

11. "So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land spoke to us, saying, "Take in your hand provisions for the journey and go to meet them, and tell them, 'We are your servants, so now cut a covenant with us.'

12. "This is our bread; we took it from our houses warm as our provision on the day we left to come to you, and now look [at it]; it is dry and has become moldy.

13. "And these wineskins that we filled up were new and, look, they have cracked open, and these clothes and sandals of ours have worn out from the great length of the journey."

   They never answered his question about where they were from, except in the vague sense of “So far away that our food became stale and our clothes wore out to get here.”  Does it matter where they came from as long as they want to go where we are going?  Yes, it does matter, because they were in the Land, and YHWH had given specific instructions about that.

14. So the men took of their provisions, and did not ask from the mouth of YHWH.

   This is the crux of the matter—and any matter.  They put something into their mouths without consulting Him, without looking to see if He had the same thing in His mouth.  And at this point, Y’hoshua was YHWH’s mouthpiece.  They did not want to offend these people who offered them bread, as disgusting as it appeared.  They probably felt sorry for these people because they had something in common.  They, too, had been traveling for a long time, yet they had been blessed with manna and clothing that did not wear out.  They felt like for once they did not have to be the “bad guys”, after just having to kill men, women, children, and animals at the last places.  Israel is doing the same thing with the Arabs who seem to have much in common—except the worship of YHWH.  Yeshua said to beware of men, to not believe all that they appear to be on the surface before we weigh their fruit. They trusted what these people were “feeding” them.  They allowed them to feed them lies.  They partook of their fellowship (bread) and joy (wine).  But YHWH was not eating this food.  No one even seemed to notice that their story did not line up.  They still had bread, but they had been traveling so long that their clothes and shoes wore out?  How long does that take?  Yet they had “heard about” events that had occurred only a few days before.  How long does it take for a wineskin to wear out, and why would they be making more wine along the way to put into the skins?  Why have they thrown their initial suspicion to the wind?  What can we learn from the fact that they did not persist in asking the right questions?

15. And Y'hoshua made peace for them and cut a covenant for them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.

   They all fell for it.  But once the leaders had eaten the bread, the covenant was already made.  They did not leave Y’hoshua much choice, since he had no loyal servant like he had been to Moshe to stand with him, and he would have had to go against all the rulers of Israel—though he really should have, if he wanted to complete the mission he had been given.

16. But it turned out that at the end of three days after they had cut a covenant with them, they heard that they were close to them and that they were living right in their midst,

  They should have really told them from the start that they had to be circumcised, for then they would be part of a different covenant and they could legitimately be spared.  But they did not say they wanted to be part of Israel.  They wanted to stay close to where YHWH was, but on their own terms.  Or they could have been permitted to make an offering to YHWH then be escorted out of the Land, but instead they went back to their home within the Land yet without becoming part of Israel-- which was the only basis by which they as Kanaanites could have been allowed to survive.

17. when the descendants of Israel had traveled and arrived at their cities on the third day. Now their cities [were] Giv'on, the K'firah, Be'eroth, and Qiryat Y'arim.

   Giv'on means "the big hill". K'frah means "lioness", but is related to the word for "village", possibly in contrast to Giv'on. Be'eroth means "wells". Qiryath Y'arim means "town of forests" When they arrived at the next cities they planned to attack, either they recognized something about the inhabitants that looked familiar, or the men of Giv'on were starting to get nervous when they saw Israel preparing to kill those with whom they had made an oath, and someone let the secret slip.

18. But the descendants of Israel did not punish them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by YHWH the Elohim of Israel. So the whole congregation complained about the leaders.

   Punish: or strike down, attack, conquer. Complained: the passive or reflexive form of the word for spending the night at a lodging place. Well they should complain, because the leaders had inadvertently disobeyed an order of YHWH, and could do nothing to remedy this:

19. So all the leaders said to the whole congregation, "We have sworn an oath to them by YHWH the Elohim of Israel, so now we cannot strike them.

20. "We must do this to them: that is, to let them live, so that [twig-splitting] wrath will not come upon us on account of the oath that we have sworn to them."

   The imagery seems to be of YHWH charging through a forest toward them like an elephant. They cannot break their oath, because they had tied YHWH's name to it. Yahshua goes further and says that those who always have YHWH's Name on us should never break an oath, but that our word should be able to in itself be able to be taken as a promise. (Mat. 5:37) We see from Yaaqov that oaths of separation can be made with those outside of Israel (Gen. 31:44-53), but the Torah does not encourage any other kind of oath toward outsiders. This put Him in a bad light, for He would not show the same mercy on the other peoples around Giv'on. He appears double-minded. Anything Israel does reflects on Him for better or worse. Psalm 15 says those who swear to their own hurt and do not change are the type of people who can ascend to YHWH's holy mountain. These people would indeed end up being a thorn in their sides, but they did take advantage of the fact that they had said they would serve them. Since they had been deceptive, they would become slaves:

21. But the leaders told them, "They will survive, but they will become the ones who cut down trees and draw water for the whole congregation", as the leaders had promised them.

   Moshe identified "the ones who cut down trees and draw water" with sojourners among the camp of Israel--people who cannot inherit land but who do have some rights and are to be treated civilly. (Deut. 29:11--in the context of the whole congregation making a covenant with YHWH lest the wrath that came on S'dom and Ghamorah also come upon us.) Aramaic: gatherers of wood and fillers of water.

22. So Y'hoshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, "Why have you misled us, saying, 'We are very far away from you', yet you are living [right] in our [very] midst?

23. "So now you are put under a curse: Not one of you will fail to be the ones who cut down trees and draw water for the household of my Elohim."

   Fail to: be cut off from (that is, set free from).

24. And they answered Y'hoshua and said, "Since it was conspicuously announced to your servants what YHWH your Elohim had commanded Moshe His servant--to give you the whole Land and to exterminate all the inhabitants of the Land from before your faces, we greatly feared for our lives because of your presence, so we did this thing.

   This was the obvious reason they had lied.  Note that even the Chiwwites know that it is Moshe that gives the Land to Israel.  (Heeding the Torah is what will get us back home—not a U.N. declaration or a powerful-enough army.)  But who had told them so clearly what YHWH had told Moshe?  Did they have spies in Israel’s camp, or were there people in Israel who talked too much, giving the Torah to those to whom it did not belong, thinking they were making allies when they were actually giving enemies ammunition against them?  Were they spouting off when drunk—“I love you, man; too bad I have to kill you, but that’s what Y’hoshua says we have to do”?  Someone has been talking, and “loose lips sink ships”.  They certainly sank this one.  These people fooled them into accepting them as they were, because, although the servants of Israelites also have to keep the Torah, they did not bind these people to the covenant of Israel, but cut a different covenant, thereby letting them remain somewhat as equals.

25. "So now, here we are in your hands; do as it is pleasing and proper in your eyes to do to us."

   I.e., “You’ve caught us; do whatever you think is right.”  Of course, this was a smart thing to say, because it would make the Israelites want to be more merciful still.

26. And he did so to them and rescued them from the hand of the descendants of Israel, so they did not kill them.

27. Thus Y'hoshua made them the ones who cut down trees and draw water for the congregation and for the altar of YHWH to this day in whatever place He might choose.

   It is better to be a slave in Israel than a king elsewhere. (Psalm 84:10)  These slaves ended up being honored along with the priests and Levites, because they are the Nethinim or “donated ones” mentioned in 1 Chron. 9:2 and many times throughout Ezra and Nehemyah.  I.e., they came back with Yehudah from the Babylonian captivity!  So apparently they were either well-guarded or actually turned out to be loyal to the position to which they had been assigned.  All the wood burned on YHWH’s altar was prepared by the Chiwwites.  But from this point forward, in some measure, Israel would always be out of the will of YHWH, for there would be people left alive who were not supposed to be. They were told to “be very careful not to make a covenant with the people of the Land”, but they were moved by their ruse of a plight.  These people had come so far because they had heard of us; how they must love YHWH!  They could be kept busy and therefore not cause much trouble, but still there would always be a snare right in our midst.  The other party had been completely deceptive; why could they not be killed?  Because YHWH’s people keep their word, not matter what the other party does.  What a lesson!  Do not put yourself in such a bad place by acting on something you are not sure of or trusting someone you are not certain you can trust.  We prefer to give the benefit of the doubt, but this time mercy failed because it was not the season for mercy.  The entire conquest of the Land now had this stain on it because these people were still alive.  The result was that because of the compromising position the leaders had put them in, the people also softened up and slackened in their resolve to complete the job of ridding the Land of pagan peoples.  All through the book of Judges we see how they left some Kanaanites to occupy some of their tribal lands, and by the time David came along, he was still trying to get the job done.  After all, they had Chiwwites working in the very tabernacle, so how big of a deal could it be to put off the completion of the job until another generation?  But by then, the people were weaker still, because they had played with Chiwwite children “at school”!  The job of ridding the Land of those inhabitants has never been finished—to our own day—because they bought their sob story and did not investigate well enough.  If they had just pushed—but they did not want to have to be mean to EVERYbody.  So the foreign influence still remains.  These people probably became part of the genetic mix of Israel, with ill effects.  So what does one do if he finds he has been fooled into a promise he should not keep and cannot get out of an oath he has made?  Do not think we can do it with words to YHWH at Yom Kippur; the Kol Nidrey liturgy is contrary to Torah; we must deal with what we have said we would do.  The only possible remedy is to go to the other party—to whom one has made the oath—and humbly ask to be released from it.  It would not have worked for the Giv’onites, for this would have spelled their death, and they would not agree to that!  But sometimes people will release you—and respect you all the more for being decent enough to admit you cannot find a way to follow through, rather than making excuses and disappearing, leaving them hanging. The best solution, of course, is to avoid putting oneself in that position.  To do so, you must indeed be very careful!  It is okay to be suspicious!  Pay attention to whose bread you have been eating and whose wine you have been sharing.  Do not be afraid to ask the right questions.  You’ll be glad you did.

CHAPTER 10

1. What took place when Adoni-tsedeq, king of Yerushalaim, heard that Y'hoshua had taken Ay and had dedicated it to destruction (as he had done to Y'rikho and her king, he had done to Ay and her king), and that the inhabitants of Giv'on had made peace with Israel, and were right in their midst,

   Made peace: Note that the way to make peace with Israel is to become its unconditional servant.

2. [was that] they were very afraid, because Giv'on was a large city, as one of the dominant cities, and because she was bigger than Ay and all her men were champions.

   They: In verse 1, only the king is mentioned, but what affects him affects all his people. Their fear was based on Y'hoshua's reputation, though in fact Y'hoshua did not do all these things alone; it was all of Israel that did. So all of Israel is being called "Y'hoshua", because they were all under his authority. This is the precedent for the concept of the Body of the Messiah. Anything that Israel now does in His Name, for His sake, or because He commanded it is attributed to Him. This is proper as long as we remember that it was actually YHWH who empowered Y'hoshua, and the same holds true in the Renewed Covenant. Yahshua only does what He sees the Father doing, and where He sees the Father working is in the Torah (and writings such as Y'hoshua), to which we also have access. This also means that the Body of Messiah is Israel--the true Israel that does YHWH's will. For the Church to lay claim to that title is a great counterfeit, like Adoni-Tsedeq, the "king of peace" who is called righteous, but is occupying the Land but outside the context of Israel. This taking of the Land is the same story as that in the Book of Acts. Dominant: or royal. This may indicate city-states, which had other unwalled villages dependent on them, from which people came to the walled city for safety when there was danger approaching.

3. So Adoni-tzedeq, king of Yerushalaim, sent to Hoham, the king of Hevron, to Pir'am, the king of Yarmuth, to Yafey'a, the king of Lakhish, and to D'vir, the king of Eglon, saying,

   All of these cities are in what would be the territory of the tribe of Y'hudah, south of the areas that had already been taken. Lakhish ("invincible") and Yarmuth ("the heights") were in the heart of the Sh'felah, and Eglon ("like a great calf") is closer to the coast, yet still some 12 miles inland. D'vir was just southwest of Hevron ("close friend"), which remains today. Hoham is thought to mean "whom YHWH impels". Pir'am means "one who acts wildly", but the name comes from a root meaning "to bear fruit". Yafey'a means "shining". D'vir means "inner sanctuary"; it is the same word used for the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. All of these combinations are pictures of the "inhabitants of the land" that Israel is coming back to displace as their rightful owner. What could be wrong with the one whom YHWH impels and close friendship? Yet we must cut ties with it until it is expressed in the context of Israel, for outside this the friendship is misplaced and we "cast our pearls before swine". The one who acts wildly on the heights is a picture of charismatic worship, where one becomes so lost in how high he can soar that he forgets whom he is worshipping. The church also sees itself as invincible because it is led by the shining one. But when it is involved in battles YHWH did not assign it to, it ends up opposing His intentions and must be opposed by the One who can vanquish any man. The worst sin in the incident of the golden calf was that they called it "YHWH". When Moshe delayed in coming back, they built their own "YHWH". After all, they came out to the wilderness to worship YHWH, and it appeared as if Moshe had not provided what they needed in order to do so. And Eglon has exactly the same meaning as Italy--"calf-like". So here we see something from Italy that calls its king the "Holy of Holies". What could this be but the one in the Vatican who demands to be called "your holiness"? While Yahshua has tarried, we again built our own system and called it his. We have long since ousted the obvious evils; now it is the counterfeit righteousness that needs conquering.

4. "Come up to me and help me, so we can attack Giv'on, because it has made peace with Y'hoshua and with the descendants of Israel!"

   Why did they attack the Giv’onites?  Because they had a treaty with Israel.  But instead of directly attacking Israel, which they knew was futile, they attacked those who were once their own allies who now sided with Israel as its servants, whom they perceived as the weak spot.  By weakening Israel’s supporters, as the Assyrians usually did, they may hope to indirectly make Israel vulnerable.  People still use this method of turning friends into enemies in order to gain an advantage over them.  If the “conqueror” speaks smoothly enough to talk you into something, you may think you thought up the idea yourself, and not even realize you were under siege.  They may be envious of the Giv’onites having found a way to survive a campaign they know they are going to lose, and therefore say, “If we are going to die, then so are you!”  They may also have seen the Giv’onites as traitors, or they may think that if Israel fell for their ruse, Israel is not as strong as they had thought.  In any case, we know that fear was the underlying motivator.  But did those from Yerushalaim even need to be afraid of Y’hoshua?  The last king of Yerushalaim of which we had heard was Melkhitzedeq, who appears to have been Adoni-tzedeq’s ancestor.  By tradition, Melkhitzedeq was none other than Noakh’s son Shem, which would explain why these inhabitants of Kanaan still had Hebrew names. In any case, he was Avraham’s ally and teacher after he, too, had battled five kings. That he is the instigator of war against Israel’s allies shows that even the best families can go sour.  Though his name means “my master is righteous”, this does not guarantee that he is righteous as well.  He is on the wrong side of the equation this time. His ancestors worshipped YHWH, so why does he fear Israel?  Should he not have been able to find common ground with YHWH’s people, for there was a covenant in place there that predated and therefore had precedence over the instruction to destroy all the inhabitants of Kanaan.  He probably did not need to fear, but he apparently did not want to uphold his ancestor’s covenant, by which Israel would continue to benefit.

5. So the five kings of the Emorites--the king of Yerushalaim, the king of Hevron, the king of Yarmuth, the king of Lakhish, and the king of Eglon--assembled themselves and all their camps and went up against Giv'on and fought against it.

  If the Giv’onites were in the midst of Israel—at the camp in Gilgal—why did they attack the city of Giv’on? Because some were with Israel in the camp, and others were not.  They may have had a system like King Shlomo later had, in which the laborers would come in shifts for several months out of the year, and return to Giv’on for the rest of the year, so that their economy and family life would not be totally ruined.  Some of them were indeed probably the “Nethinim” (“donated ones”, or Temple slaves) who may also have served in “courses” as the priests did from David’s time onward.

6. Then the men of Giv'on sent to Y'hoshua at the encampment of Gilgal, saying, "Do not let your hand abandon your servants! Come up to us quickly and rescue us and help us, because all the kings of the Emorites who live in the mountainous [region] have been gathered [and are coming] in our direction!"

   Aramaic, Do not loosen (or withdraw) your hand from your servants.

7. So Y'hoshua--he and all the people of war with him--went up from Gilgal, in addition to all the heroes of the army.

8. And YHWH told Y'hoshua, "Don't be afraid of them, because I have delivered them into your hands, and not a man of them will stand in your presence."

9. So Y'hoshua came toward them suddenly, having climbed all night from Gilgal,

10. and YHWH confused them before Israel and struck a great blow [against] them at Giv'on, and chased them by way of the Ascent of Beyth-Horon and beat them back as far as Azeqah and Maqqedah.

   Ascent: though actually they were descending as he chased them

back down the way they had come up. This is still one of the best

routes through these dizzyingly-high mountains today. (See photo.)

Beyth-Horon means "place of the great cave or hollow", possibly

referring to the pass itself. The Maccabees also won a great battle

against the Greeks here—in their case through the element of surprise,

like Y’hoshua, but also through a better familiarity with the territory

than Israel had at this point.

11. And what occurred as they fled from the face of Israel, while they

were on the Descent of Beyth-Horon, [was that] YHWH hurled huge

stones on them out of the sky all the way to Azeqah, and they died.

There were more who were killed by the "hailstones" than the descendants of Israel killed with the sword.

   Hailstones: Large stones have been found in this area that do not at all match the rock of the surrounding terrain, and this is therefore thought to have been a meteorite shower.  David’s battle with Golyath was very close to Azeqah, and his remembrance of what YHWH had done here once before may be what gave him the courage to act against such odds, and the fact that it was stones that helped win the battle here may have given him the idea to sling stones at Golyath while still out of range of the giant’s spear. 

12. Then Y'hoshua spoke to YHWH on the day when YHWH yielded over the Emorites before the descendants of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, "Sun, stand still at Giv'on and moon in the Valley of Ayalon!"

   Stand still: or, delay. That he could see both sun and moon tells us this was around the time of the full moon or a little later.  The sun was to his east, and the moon to his west.  He was succeeding, but if he ran out of daylight and had to stop the battle before it was completely won, the Emorites might have had time to escape or regroup, so he asked that the day be extended or that the sun remain in the enemies’ eyes. 

13. And the sun was still, and the moon delayed until the nation took vengeance on their enemies; isn't it recorded in the Book of the Upright, "…and the sun held its position at the halfway-point of the skies, and did not insist on going [down] for about a whole day"?

   108 years later, at the battle of Baraq, the prophetess D'vorah described such an event as "the stars by their pathways fighting against Sisera". (Judges 5:20)  Book of the Upright: several versions of a Book of Yashar exist, so at least some are clearly spurious. The only added details given by one extant version about this incident are that the day was declining toward evening when Y'hoshua said this, and that the sun stood still for "36 times", though how long these units of time were is not known. (88:63, 64)

14. And there has never been a day like that one before or after for YHWH to heed the voice of a man, because YHWH fought for Israel!

   This was not an everyday occurrence.  Only once did YHWH “freeze” time like this.  There are ways to explain the natural dynamics of the sun appearing to stand still, but the moon as well?  It is a second witness that this is a true miracle.  Y’hoshua seems to have initiated this without YHWH telling him to do the right thing, and he did not even want to leave any of the job for the next day.  He did not need to pray about it; he had made a promise, so he knew he had to go.  After he took charge and decided to keep his word, even though he could have looked at this as YHWH bailing him out for his bad decision earlier (letting someone else kill the people he promised not to kill)—only then did YHWH get involved and reassure him that he was doing the right thing, and provide him with al this backup.  Y’hoshua proved honorable, and YHWH showed how proud He was of this man who did not hesitate, did not need anyone else to motivate him, and even woke up his whole army to leave at night—responding as soon as he could.  This is dangerous terrain, especially in the dark, but this way he arrived before sunup and was able to truly surprise the enemy.  YHWH now entered into the battle, and got so excited at this man’s faithfulness to his promise that He even violated the natural order.  This is the only time we see Him acting almost like a child—“Look!  I’ve got weapons too!  I’m going to kill more than you, Y’hoshua!”  When one joins an army, he does not get to choose who his commanding officer is, and YHWH had already put Y’hoshua in charge of the army, so the General is only a “private” this time.  Y’hoshua was already on the move, and YHWH “caught up” later.  He was proud to be in the army of one who served the servants.  This was unheard of!  And more impressive still is who Y’hoshua did this for.  Y’hoshua was not going to rescue a king, to gain treasure, to achieve military advantage, or to impress anyone with his battlefield skills.  He was going to provide help for those whose first words to him were, “We are your servants.”  Why would he travel all night and face a large, unified army for slaves who lied to him?  Because that is what a shepherd does.  If that does not define Israel, nothing does.  If they had been rebelling, it would have been a different story; he could have said it served them right.  But the people of YHWH are to be people of our word.  So YHWH Himself served the servant who serves the servants.  YHWH later says He considers it no small thing to go bring back the lost tribes who left the covenant and have not been heard from for centuries (Yeshayahu 49:6), and it may even be this act of an Efrayimite (Y’hoshua) that gave our tribes the merit to be regathered.  The path to greatness is not military prowess, but the fact that we fight just because we should—because the servants are under attack.

15. Then Y'hoshua, and all Israel with him, returned to the camp at Gilgal.

16. But those five kings escaped and hid themselves in a cave at Maqqedah,

   Compare Yeshayahu 2:19, Luqa 23:30, and Rev. 6:16. Maqqedah means "place of those who mark the flocks", i.e., brand them. Those not marked by YHWH for protection because they mourn over the misuse of His sanctuary and keep His feasts (Y'hezq'el 9) will be prey to the Counterfeit Messiah who claims to be their shepherd and wants to mark them as his own. (Rev. 13:16-17) But Yahshua had much to say about such a one. (Yochanan 10:10)

17. and it was reported to Y'hoshua, saying, "The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Maqqedah!"

18. So Y'hoshua said, "Roll big stones to the mouth of the cave, and appointed men to keep guard over them.

19. "But you, don't stand still! Chase down your enemies, and strike at their rear. Don't give them [occasion] to get into their cities, because YHWH your Elohim has handed them over to you!"

20. Now when Y'hoshua and the descendants of Israel had about finished defeating them with a very great strike until they were finished off, the survivors who escaped from them went into their fortified cities,

21. and all the people returned to Y'hoshua at the camp at Maqqedah in peace. No one sharpened his tongue against the descendants of Israel.

   It was said that not even a dog sharpened its tongues against the previous generation as they (and some of these people themselves) had left Egypt (Ex. 11:7), to let everyone know that YHWH made a distinction between Israel and Egypt. Aramaic, there was no harm for the sons of Israel, for a man to afflict himself.

22. Then Y'hoshua said, "Open the mouth of the cave, and bring me out these five kings from the cave."

23. And they did so, that is, they brought out these five kings to him from the cave--the king of Yerushalaim, the king of Hevron, the king of Yarmuth, the king of Lakhish, and the king of Eglon..

  

24. And what took place when they brought these kings to Y'hoshua [was that] Y'hoshua called out to every man of Israel, and told the commanders of the men of war who had gone with him, and said, "Come close and set your feet on the backs of these kings' necks!" So they came close and put their feet on their necks.

   This was symbolic of their having been humiliated and conquered.  It is hard to wag one’s tongue against Israel when someone’s feet are on your neck. 

25. Then Y'hoshua said to them, "Don't be afraid or terrified! Be strong and [solidly] courageous, because YHWH will do like this to all your enemies whom you are battling."

26. And after this, Y'hoshua struck them and put them to death and hung them on five trees, and they were hanging on the trees until the evening.

   This is a warning to others that this is what becomes of those who oppose those who have come to YHWH for refuge.  But they were obedient to Deut. 21:22-23. Leaving them there any longer would have brought a curse on the Land.

27. And what took place toward the time the sun went down [was that] Y'hoshua gave the order and they took them down from the trees, and threw them into the cave in which they had hidden, and they set large stones over the mouth of the cave up to this very day.

   The same idea was used to try to keep Yahshua in the grave. They may have gotten the large stones from among those that fell from the sky onto their enemies.

28. And Y'hoshua captured Maqqedah that day, and he struck it and its king by the mouth of the sword, and he devoted them to destruction, along with every soul that was in it. He did not leave a survivor; thus he did to the king of Maqqedah just what he had done to the king of Y'rikho.

  What they did to the king of Y’rikho (the same as was done to the king of Ay, v.1) is described in 8:29.

29. Then Y'hoshua went on, and all Israel with him, from Maqqedah to Livnah, and he fought with Livnah,

30. and YHWH also delivered it into the hand of Israel along with its king, and he struck her with the mouth of the sword, along with every soul in her; he did not leave a survivor in her, and he did to her king just what he had done to the king of Y'rikho.

31. Then Y'hoshua went on, and all Israel with him, from Livnah to Lakhish, and they encamped to lay siege against, and were engaged in battle therein.

32. and YHWH delivered Lakhish into the hand of Israel, and she captured it on the second day, and struck her and every soul that was in her with the mouth of the sword--just like all he had done to Livnah.

   On the second day: even this early, Lakhish was one of the best-fortified cities in the Land, so it took longer than it did with other cities. Still, it took Sennakheriv of Assyria much longer than this to defeat the city.

33. At that time, Horam, the king of Gezer, came up to help Lakhish, and Y'hoshua attacked him and his people until he was without a survivor left to him.

34. Then Y'hoshua went on, and all Israel with him, from Lakhish to Eglon, and they encamped to lay siege against, and they were engaged in battle against it

   Though the king of Eglon had already been killed, the rest of his citizens had to die. While they have stopped paying homage to the pope, Protestants still keep his doctrines alive by partaking in the mass of Christ, the day of the sun, etc., and these too must be done away with.

35. and captured it on that day, and attacked her and every soul that was in her with the mouth of the sword; on that day he devoted it to destruction, just like all he had done to Lakhish.

36. Then Y'hoshua went on, and all Israel with him, from Eglon to Hevron, and they were engaged in battle against it

37. and captured it, and struck it down with the mouth of the sword, along with its king and all its towns, and every soul who was in her; he did not leave a survivor--just like all he had done to Eglon--but devoted her and every soul that was in her to destruction.

   Wasn't the king already killed? His son would become king as soon as he died. Towns: apparently suburbs or those dependent on it in some other way.

38. Then Y'hoshua and all Israel with him came back to D'vir and fought against her

   They backtracked only a few miles from the city that had been more important to defeat. This city may have been named after the king of Yarmuth, suggesting some political connection or miniature nation-state, though it may refer to a sanctuary of a different sort.

39. and captured her and her king and all her towns, and attacked them with the mouth of the sword, and devoted every soul who was in her to destruction; he did not leave a survivor. He did to D'vir and to her king just as he had done to Hevron and as he had done to Livnah and its king.

40. Thus Y'hoshua conquered all the territory: the mountain-range, the Negev, the foothills, and the lower slopes with all their kings; he did not leave a survivor, but devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, had commanded.

41. Then Y'hoshua attacked from Qadesh-Barnea as far as 'Azzah and the whole territory of Goshen and right up to Giv'on.

42. And Y'hoshua captured all these kings and their territory in one stroke, because YHWH the Elohim of Israel was waging war for Israel.

   In one stroke: Y’hoshua was on a rampage, as his decision to get up in the middle of the night and serve the servants apparently provided tremendous energy to sweep this Land clean with victory after victory.  But though Yerushalaim’s army attacked them, it is conspicuously absent from the list of places conquered.  The Yevusites continued to live in Yerushalaim until David’s day. Y’hoshua apparently respected the covenant that was already in place for that city since the time of Melkhitzedeq, which long predated Moshe’s order to destroy all the people of the Land.  Even David did not destroy it, but only conquered and enslaved its population.

43. Then Y'hoshua and all of Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.

CHAPTER 11

1. Now what took place when Yavin, the king of Hatzor, heard [was that] he sent to Yovav, the king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Akhshaf,

   Hatzor is the largest tel yet discovered in Israel, and has been partially excavated. It is north of the Kinnereth (Sea of Galilee) and just southwest of Lake Huleh. It was the capital of a thirteen-city alliance. Its name means "enclosed castle", but the root word means "trumpet-shaped". Yovav means "desert-howler". Madon: the site is uncertain, but its name means "strife" or "great size/stature". Shimron means "the height for watching"; chapter 12 identifies this as being in the region of Mer'on. Akhshaf is on the northern side of Mt. Karmel, about five miles east of the harbor of modern Haifa. Its name means "I will be bewitched"!

2. and to the kings who were northward from the mountain-region and in the Aravah south of Kinneroth and on the Sh'felah and on the uplift of Dor from the sea,

   Mountain-region: probably the central massif, whose northern border is formed by Mt. Karmel and Mt. Gilboa. The Galil is very hilly, but most of it does not qualify as truly mountainous. The Aravah: the Great Rift Valley. Sh'felah: the foothills west of the mountain-region. Kinneroth: another name for the Kinnereth, or Sea of Galilee.

3. the Kanaanite from the east and from the west, as well as the Emorite, the Khittite, the Prizzite, and the Y'vusite in the mountain-region, and the Chiwite below Khermon in the territory of Mitzpah.

  This gives us an overview of just where in the Land the various Kanaanite peoples lived.

4. They and all their armies with them went out--a great company like the sand that is on the seashore for abundance--with horses and very many chariots!

   Like the sand on the seashore: While it is literally impossible that the people could be that numerous, this sounds very much like a promise YHWH made to Avraham in Genesis 22 and which Yaaqov repeated back to YHWH in his prayer in Gen. 32, with the slight addition of saying that this number cannot be counted.  And figuratively this is what was meant by the phrase.  This is a lot of enemies, but the promise was that if we did what we were supposed to do, we would have just as many of us living in that same Land.  We cannot expect to receive the promise unless we live like Avraham did, because the “mortgage” was not fully paid for by the time he died, so his descendants could not claim the Land without continuing to “make payments”.  Those who were then living in the Land were among the nations that YHWH said would be blessed through Avraham because he had obeyed to the point of offering his own son just because YHWH asked him to.  That is a true friend, and YHWH got so excited that he said Avraham would end up blessing all the nations.  But how can they be blessed if they end up dead?  That is all that can occur if they stand in Israel’s way.  The Land has been promised to someone else, and if they are trying to usurp Israel’s place, defeat is inevitable.  If they had really seen the big picture, they would have left the Land and settled elsewhere; then they could have been on the receiving end of that blessing.  But no, they are foolish enough to try to fight it, just as many nations still do today:   

5. And all these kings assembled at a designated time, and came and camped together at the Waters of Merom to fight with Israel.

   All these kings: everyone that had any obligation to Yavin, though they might normally have been enemies of one another.  They all join together to fight Israel—as will always be the case. Waters of Merom: between Hatzor and the Kinnereth lake.  Yavin has invited them all to a battle in his own front yard!  When we are enough of a threat to make our enemies upset, this is proof that we are effective.  They have heard that Israel is coming to take their land, but they think it means Israel is going to try to take their land.  But “there is no try”.  Some things never change; the nations still gang up on Israel today.  But if they really understood what was going on, they would have realized this was hopeless and left the Land, because this was a very rare time in Israel’s history.  We were keeping the Torah and were unified, taking care of one another, and in the proper order, under the leader YHWH chose.  At such times we cannot be beaten.  The only thing that might have worked against us was if they had read the story of what Balaq and Bilaam did in sending the Moavite women to lure us into idolatry, but they did not think of this, and anything else was useless.

6. But YHWH told Y'hoshua, "Don't be afraid because of their presence, because tomorrow at about this time I Myself am yielding them all over, pierced, to the faces of Israel. You must hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.

   YHWH does not even require Israel to go from city to city defeating them all; He brings them all to one place so we can take them out all at once!  If they are coming to harm you, that is the worst time to be afraid; it is time to be our strongest. They are assembling against us so they will be available for us to destroy.  Things look most horrible when YHWH is about to put them under our feet.  Israel is also assembled, and what can man do to us if YHWH is with us?  But He is with us through our helpers. (Psalm 118:6-9)  The only allies He leaves us are the rest of Israel. We have no hired army; we have to look to our brothers to be YHWH’s agents. 

7. So Y'hoshua, and all the people of war with him, came against them by the Waters of Merom, and pounced upon them suddenly.

   Suddenly: literally, “in a wink of the eye”.  He obeys, no questions asked.  He does not hesitate or procrastinate or say he needs more information, for if he did, he would get nothing done.  He had enough details to get started, and that is all we need too.  Often we cannot know how to get the job done until we jump in and start.  He did not even pray for protection, because he had already been promised that, so he went right to work, and before he knew it, he was finished.  He refused to wait for them to attack.  This would give fear time to get a foothold, and if it does, we have already lost.  He sees them coming and goes after them, taking the battle to them so they are the ones on the defensive.  Pounced: literally, fell.

8. And YHWH yielded them into Israel's hand, and they attacked them and chased them as far as greater Tsidon and as far as the burnings of water and as far as the cleft of the lookout-tower on the east, and they destroyed them until they did not have a survivor left.

9. And Y'hoshua did as YHWH had told him--he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

  If he had defeated all the people, he would not count as having finished the job if he had not done this part too. Horse and chariot both represent power.  A man in a chariot has some protection and has a heavy platform that he can roll right over an enemy and kill him—much like a tank driver today.  A horse in itself can strike fear in one whom it could trample; a man on a horse is much more deadly than a footsoldier.  So why make the horses useless, and why burn the chariots instead of taking them for our own use?  Why keep using inferior weapons?  Because YHWH does not want us to multiply horses to the point that we would trust in them.  (Deut. 17:16)  As the old adage from Shakespeare’s MacBeth goes, “Power corrupts.”  This is a result of internalizing the giddy feeling that comes from using something more powerful than ourselves.  We begin to see ourselves as more powerful than we really are, because we think the power is our own just because we control it.  And if there were not enough horses to go around, allies would be tempted to rivalry over who was most deserving of them.  And as soon as someone is given power, he tends to look for ways to keep increasing it.  We would become obsessed with grooming the horses or maintaining the chariots, and think we no longer had time to make it to YHWH’s appointments.  Blessings though they may be, when we start to serve our resources, and soon we are saying, “Look at me!  I could just run over you if I chose to!”  And this applies to any kind of resource.  We call electricity “power”, and we take it for granted because all we have to do is flip a switch, but we forget about all that is behind it—including men who die young from breathing the dust when they mine the coal that is burned to produce the electricity, or those who worked so hard building the dams that generate the power we use so easily.  When we are so disconnected from the source, we tend to think our advantage exists because we deserve it, when in fact it came from YHWH for a time and for a particular purpose.  Like foolish children who say, “I didn’t ask to be born”, we neither honor the source of our positive characteristics nor try to improve upon our negative ones.  It was not just so we would trust in Him that YHWH did not want us to have so much power, for what is the “how” of trusting Him?  If a stream we have depended upon dries up, we miss the spring; it is not YHWH who is gone.  The more immediate source of our strength must be honored.  If we do not give back to those whom YHWH used to provide for us, or the beautiful characteristics they have fed into us will become ugly and a stench.  We are only unbeatable if we are in proper order and acting in season (fighting today’s battles as they present themselves rather than gloating over yesterday’s victories).  When YHWH brings the enemy right to us, it is easy to see whom to fight.  The way we practically express our trust in Him is by depending on what the Torah says when read by the leader He has put in charge, and by depending on one another because we have become dependable.  And that is the only way we can really love YHWH,  A man on foot is more concerned about who “has his back” than a man on a chariot.  If we have the vantage point of being mounted on a horse, we think we can see well enough and do not need anyone else to tell us what to do.  A warrior on foot depends on the sound of the trumpet and must follow orders if he is to survive.  Those who have power forget how much they really depend on others, and therefore they stop caring about how dependable those around them are, and in turn they do not want anyone to expect them to be dependable either.  Those who have their feet on the ground have to remain in balance; it is easy for those who depend on the horse’s balance to think they themselves do not need to remain balanced and committed to one another.  YHWH may give us horses and chariots as a test to see what we do with it.  He may want us to go ahead and “hamstring” them so we can see just how quickly they are crippled when their weakness is exposed.  What we thought was such a big, strong thing is really a very pitiful creature when a mere two tendons are simply cut!  And look at how easily a chariot can burn.  Who is really stronger when it is gone?  So YHWH tells us to do it the “hard way”—but it turns out to be the easier way, because when we do not act as mere individuals but as a people who are more grounded (knowing exactly who is ahead of us, behind us, and beside us) than those who have a false sense of power, He invests Himself in our victory as He did here. 

10. Then Y'hoshua returned at that time and captured Hatzor and he struck down its king with the sword, because beforehand Hatzor had been the head of all these dominions.

  He went straight for the jugular: defeat the capital, and the others have no organization or unity.

11. And they struck down every soul that was in her; with the mouth of the sword he devoted them to destruction. He did not leave alive anything that was breathing, and he burned Hatzor with fire.

12. Then Y'hoshua captured all the cities of these kings along with all their kings, and he struck them down with the mouth of the sword, and he devoted them to destruction, just as Moshe the servant of YHWH had ordered,

13. only Israel did not burn any of the cities that were standing on their mounds with the exception of Hatzor; it alone did Y'hoshua burn.

   Their mounds: Heb., tels, i.e., they were built atop more ancient cities, not just natural hills. They would have only breached enough of the wall to enter the city and left the rest intact for their own use, as these positions would be strategic. YHWH had promised that they would dwell in houses they did not build. (24:13) They only burned what was totally abominable--the stronghold of the pagan spirits that had ruled these parts of the Land.

14. And the descendants of Israel took as spoils for themselves all the plunder of these cities as well as the animals; they only struck every human being with the mouth of the sword until they had annihilated them; they did not leave a remnant of any that breathed.

   Any that breathed: the term is often used of a higher soul, and therefore did not include animals, even if the Latin root word anima does mean "soul"; Hebrew takes precedence!

15. Just as YHWH had ordered Moshe His servant, Moshe likewise ordered Y'hoshua, and Y'hoshua carried out the same; he left not a [single] word of anything YHWH had ordered Moshe undone.

   Y’hoshua did not even pray about this, because his teacher had already told him how to do this. Do not stop to pray; we can pray while we are working--that we will finish quickly and not be delayed, but not about whether we should do it.   This is a picture of the order of authority in which we obey YHWH by means of the Torah.  This, not negotiations with the United Nations or ecumenical dealings with the chief rabbi, is what will get the rest of Israel back into the Land.

16. Thus Y'hoshua took all that territory--the mountainous [region], the whole Negev, the whole territory of Goshen, the foothills, the Aravah, the mountains of Israel and their foothills,

17. from the mountain of Khalaq that goes up to Seir all the way to Baal-Gad in the Levanon Gap below Mount Hermon. And he captured all their kings, and had them beaten and killed.

   Seir is Esau's territory southeastward from the Dead Sea. Baal-Gad means "Master Fortune", could simply be rendered "Lord God"--two of the names of pagan elohim that we are told not to have on our lips. Baals were often represented by bulls, and fortune is indeed tied in with the "bull" market, so this bull must be sacrificed.

18. And Y'hoshua had made war with all of these kings for many days.

   It was not a quick and easy task; it required perseverance.

19. There was not a city that made peace with the descendants of Israel except the Hiwites who inhabited Giv'on. They took everything [else] in battle,

20. because it was from with YHWH to make their hearts set on approaching the battle with Israel, in order that they might be devoted to destruction and have no recourse to consideration because the intent was that he exterminate them, as YHWH had ordered Moshe.

   The guilt of the Emorites was now full. (Compare Gen. 15:16)  Making peace with them would only bring compromise with everything that they served.  Israel has always become enslaved to those with whom they allied for the sake of security.  YHWH did not even let them seek peace with Israel, but used their natural pride against them. They had heard, like Giv’on, that Israel was coming to kill them, but they did the wrong thing about it.  Rather than going somewhere else to keep doing their own thing, they decided to become something that was in Israel’s way, because YHWH hardened their hearts.  He did not grant them repentance because they had done nothing to deserve it. (Compare Mat. 3:7-8.)

21. Also at that time Y'hoshua came and cut off the Anaqim from the Mountain, from Hevron, from D'vir, from Anav, from the mountains of Yehudah, and from all the mountains of Israel; along with their cities, Y'hoshua dedicated them to destruction.

   The Anaqim were long-necked giants which were the main reason the previous generation had hesitated to try to take the Land. (Deut. 1:28)  Now Y’hoshua, who had confidence in YHWH that they could indeed be conquered, fulfilled that hope by carrying it out at last. He worked his way up to it after attacking smaller challenges first, so his men would see the pattern of success first and not fear them.  The Mountain: possibly specifying Yerushalayim.

22. There were no Anaqim left in the Land of the descendants of Israel; only in 'Azzah, Gath, and Ashdod did [any] remain.

   '‘Azzah: the infamous Gaza of today, where there are still spirits that battle against Israel.  Apparently this area was not counted part of the Land of Israel, so why should we try to get it back?  We only have to remove any power its terrorists have to attack us.  Gath was indeed the city that produced another famous giant, Golyath, and his four brothers.

23. Thus Y'hoshua took the entire Land in accordance with all that YHWH had said to Moshe, and Y'hoshua entrusted it to Israel as inherited property according to their tribal allotments, and the Land had rest from war.

   The next chapters recount the campaign again in more detail, but here we have the summary to show that Y’hoshua got his job done.  Had rest: became tranquil and undisturbed.  Note that the time to rest did not come until all the enemies were defeated.  Yet the book of Judges—and even chapter 13 of this book—make it clear that not all of the cities of Kanaan were taken.  Israel would later fall under the rule of some of the foreigners they had left alive.  So why did Y’hoshua stop before the work was finished?  Because, like Moshe, he had done his part, so he stopped; he had accomplished his part.  He was not told to die when his part was done, as Moshe was, so it was time to rest and enjoy the fruit of his labors.  He had established control of the Land as a whole, so the tribes could now do the rest of the work, because he had shown them how to enter the work and get it done, who to trust and what not to trust in.  Like Moshe, Y’hoshua could only take us so far.  But this did not mean everyone’s work was done.  There were still cities to be conquered, no matter how faithful Y’hoshua had been.  Now it was our turn.  The work of the Torah is never all done, for it will never pass away.  Moshe and Y’hoshua told them which land belonged to each tribe, and therefore, whose responsibility it was to drive out which remaining inhabitants.  He did not do it all at once, so the wild animals would not become overabundant.  They needed to settle into the cities that were left empty so the remaining Kanaanites would not come back in to fill the vacuum.  The camp was disbanded.  There were fields already planted, and we could eat of them and get some much-needed rest.  The corporate part of the battle was over, for now.  But each tribe was responsible to fight whatever was left in their land.  It was exciting for these nomadic children of slaves to finally have a place of their own.  But with the pressure off, the next wave of leaders became too comfortable, not wanting to risk what they already had in order to make it better still, and they did not do their job.  They saw themselves as independent and the work as optional, because they thought it was now only about their own tribe or family.  They let Y’hoshua down.  Our leaders can only take us so far, but then we have to stand up and take on more of their burden.  Be glad you have someone to teach you, but there comes a time to do what you have been taught.  His part was done; the “graduates” now needed to become useful members of the new society.  Faith, too, can only take you so far; you must then do the rest; carry out the work.

CHAPTER 12

1. Now these are the kings of the Land whom the descendants of Israel beat and whose territory they took possession of, across the Yarden River on the sunrise [side], from the Arnon River as far as Mount Hermon and all [along] the Aravah eastward:

   Arnon comes from a root word meaning to give a ringing cry or high-pitched shout, possibly due to its deep canyon, which would echo with such sounds. The term for river is the root word for "inheritance", related through the idea of flowing downward.

2. Sikhon, king of the Emorites, who lived in Heshbon, ruled from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon and within its canyon and half of Gil'ad and as far as Yabboq, the river, the border of the [territory of the] descendants of Ammon,

3. and from the Aravah as far as the sea of Kinneroth on the sunrise [side] and as far as the sea of the Aravah (the Salt Sea) eastward by way of the place of the ruins and southward beneath the lower slopes of Pisgah,

   Pisgah simply means "summit", but is also an alternate name for the highest ridge east of the Great Rift, which includes Mt. Nevo, where Moshe died.

4. and [the area within the] border of Og, the king of Bashan, [one] of the remaining R'fa'im, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei

   Bashan is called the Golan Heights today. R'fa'im: a race of giants.

5. and reigned at Mount Hermon, in Salkhah, and in all of Bashan as far as the border of the G'shurites and the Maakhathites, and the half of Gil'ad [which was the] territory of Sikhon, king of Kheshbon.

   Hermon means “the most set-apart” or “loftiest”, and Mount Hermon is the only snowcapped peak in Israel.  Aravah means “mixture”, as in the transition between one region and another. It is the Hebrew name for the Great Rift Valley.

6. Moshe the servant of YHWH and the sons of Israel had defeated them, and Moshe the servant of YHWH gave it to the Re'uvenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Menashe as inherited property.

   Notice that Y’hoshua does not begin by listing his own victories or even the victories within the Land of Israel, but with what Moshe did.  In fact, Y’hoshua was even the one who actually did the fighting, but he gives Moshe the credit, because Moshe was in charge at that time.  He sees Moshe as his example.  This is the territory conquered by Moshe, who symbolizes the Torah. What he accomplished outside the Land shows us that we have battles to fight before we enter the Promise—whether that means the physical Land, YHWH’s presence, or wherever it applies.  We cannot say, “We’ll fight that one when we get there”, because that is not the pattern.  The fight Moshe established has to begin here and now.  There were giants to kill off before they could enter the Land. (v. 4)  Imagine what kind of confidence it gave Y’hoshua to see them defeated.  There are some really big, strong, established things that must be overcome now. One of them is selfishness, because living in the Land is about “us”, not about “me”.  Just like a wolfpack, if one person is not doing his job, we all pay, but if we all fulfill our responsibilities, we all benefit.  Most people in the Land of Israel, like everywhere else, are interested only in their own agendas, with some notable exceptions, but this is like allowing an unfriendly giant to go on living right among us.  That is a frightening thought.  Rebellion (in ourselves first), religious doctrines, and lack of order and discipline are other giants that must be defeated before we can go Home.  If we try to skip this step and think we can wait until we get to the Promised Land to deal with these things, we will end up with our backs exposed to our enemies.  That is getting ahead of ourselves, and a cart before the donkey is not a useful thing, but a roadblock.

7. And these are the kings of the Land whom Y'hoshua and the sons of Israel struck down on the westward side of the Yarden, from Baal-Gad in the Levanon Gap and as far as the mountain of Khalaq which goes up to Seir, which Y'hoshua gave to the descendants of Israel as inherited property according to their tribal allotments

  Y’hoshua took up the same work as Moshe had done, and followed his example. He not only continued his work, but expanded upon it.  He begins not with himself, but with the one he learned from.  This is trhe proper order: we honor our teachers or parents by recognizing where the valuable things we have came from, and by continuing to improve upon it.  There were a grand total of two kingdoms conquered under Moshe (for he was too busy fighting off rebels in his own camp), but this gave Y’hoshua the authority to do the same, and he took the land of 31 kings.  Every teacher hopes that whatever he gives his students will be refined, grow, and be perfected by his students, as long as they give credit where credit is due. Baal-Gad means "lord/owner of fortune" which crowds in upon and attacks like a troop. This is the origin of the term "Lord God". Not only does this title warn us not to associate this name with YHWH, but also shows us that Yahshua came to conquer that, as well as what it represents--the things other than YHWH's kingdom that we trust in for security, for they make us vulnerable when they are no longer present. They are not reliable and they are not our friends, but will not only leave us wanting just when we need what they deceitfully promised us, but will also gang up on us to defeat us. We may have already found a chink in their armor, but they have not yet been brought down. If we keep our minds on what the Kingdom needs today rather than our theoretical needs for tomorrow,Yahshua can win this battle. Khalaq means to divide and scatter, but also means to share a portion and is the root word for the word "allotments" in this verse. Israel is scattered and divided due to man-made doctrines and our lack or order and proper authority structures. Where do we get the idea that everyone has a right to his own opinion? Look where that got Adam and Chavvah, and the consequences it has had for us. But with the pure, unadulterated Torah as Yahshua taught it, we can be bound back together and return to the proper allotments given to us as tribes, not as individuals. When all of Israel wants YHWH's opinion instead, we will make progress. "Which goes up to Seir" can also be translated as "the ascension of the goat". Goats, though clean animals, are separated from the sheep because though they belong to a flock, they each go off on their own and seek what they individually want. The welling up of self within us is a major enemy Yahshua came to defeat. We cannot say we are followers of Yahshua and not recognize each of these as enemies. Ask yourself at each crossroads, "Is this about myself or about all of Israel?" As we consider the territory that still needs to be conquered, we can take courage as we consider what YHWH has already done. A willing heart is important, but actually completing the conquest is what He really wants. Yahshua was willing to obey YHWH in the most difficult way (Luqa 22:41ff), but what would have been accomplished if He had not actually gone through with it? If even He could not do it without a fight, how can we expect to never suffer? The works are what makes our faith complete and proves we are righteous. (Yaaqov 2:14-26) Saying, "I intended to", but never actually clothing ourselves with the white robes of works only leaves us naked and sets us up for further judgment.

8. in the mountainous [region] and the foothills, in the Aravah, on the lower slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negev (the Chittites, Emorites, Kanaanites, Prizzites, Chiwites, and Y'vusites):

9. The king of Y'rikho, one.

The king of Ay, which is beside Beyth-El, one.

10. The king of Yerushalaim, one.

The king of Hevron, one.

11. The king of Yarmuth, one.

The king of Lakhish, one.

12. The king of Eglon, one.

The king of Gezer, one.

13. The king of D'vir, one.

The king of Geder, one.

14. The king of Kharmah, one.

The king of Arad, one.

15. The king of Livnah, one.

The king of Adullam, one.

16. The king of Maqqedah, one.

The king of Beyth-El, one.

17. The king of Tappuakh, one.

The king of Khefer, one.

18. The king of Afeq, one.

The king for the Sharon, one.

19. The king of Madon, one.

The king of Hatzor, one.

20. The king of Shimron-Mer'on, one.

The king of Akhshaf, one.

21. The king of Ta'anakh, one.

The king of M'giddo, one.

22. The king of Qedesh, one.

The king of Yoqne'am, belonging to Karmel, one.

23. The king of Dor, for the heights of Dor, one.

The king of the nations for Gilgal, one.

24. The king of Tirtzah, one.

  It is appropriate to look back, not to see what we are losing when we leave it behind, as did Lot’s wife, but to recognize what ground we have already gained.  These were areas in which they had done well.  The next chapter will recount areas in which they did not.  When we diverge from what the Torah—or our teacher—establishes, we start losing battles.  But when they built on the foundation of Moshe, they had indeed come a long way.  Looking back to see how far we have come encourages us.  We most often think about what is ahead, and usually it is best to focus on where we are right now, but there are times to look back, because they remind us to give thanks for how far we have come—not only thanking YHWH, but our immediate human leaders as well.  (In verse, Y’hoshua is given the credit, rather than YHWH as such.)  Being reminded of what YHWH has done gives us additional incentive to trust Him for what remains to be conquered. He has done more than we thought possible, and His choices have been better than ours could have been.  But recollecting past victories and where we have made progress also opens the door for us to appreciate those who have given so much to bring us to where we are now.  Notice that Y’hoshua counted each single king.  Every battle counts; none is skipped or overlooked, because every time we overcome, it shows us that we can keep going.  It tells us whether we have been involved in something worth investing in, or if we should forget this and go on to something else.  Even if we fail, it matters, because it at least shows us what not to do the next time.  Most importantly, we should revisit battles to found out what we can learn from them.  It is hard to sort this out when we are in the middle of the experience—when the blood is still running down our faces.  But when we get past the battle, we can see what was profitable in it, even if it seemed extremely painful, difficult, or annoying at the time.  So what if we beat Afeq?  What was different about that battle?  And how can we apply that to help us in the battles ahead, or even just in other areas of our lives?  Otherwise it is profitless.  But if we seek the profit in it, we will indeed receive profit from it.  Pesakh is all about recounting to our children where they came from, but now Moshe and Y’hoshua have brought them far beyond what YHWH did when He brought us out of Egypt because we could do nothing for ourselves.  We have been through many failures, but there have also been times when we have made Him proud.  While it may be painful at times to revisit some things in our past, if we “suck it up”, we can recount this to our children as well, and light their way.  As we see in verse 6, what we have conquered is ours to distribute, control, and take responsibility for.  We can take possession of what we overcome.  It is not only permissible, but right, proper, and in order to look back and say, “We did it!”—if indeed we did.  (If we did not, we only fool ourselves, and there is no profit in that.)  We may have lost some people along the way, but this weeded the garden and blew away the chaff, and we did make it through.  “Those who stuck with YHWH are alive today.” 

All the kings [came to] 31.

   This is still short of 32, which is the numeric value of lev, which means "heart", showing that though we have made progress, we are still short of fully capturing what YHWH intends for us. 

CHAPTER 13

1. As Y'hoshua was old, coming into the days, YHWH said to him, "You have become elderly and have entered into the days, yet very much of the Land remains to be taken possession of.

   If the Ancient of Days calls you old, you must really be old!  But why did Y’hoshua need to be told this?  Some days we feel older than others, and he has been a go-getter, and very successful at all he undertook.  There is not much in Scripture about Y’hoshua that is negative, except when he belittles himself beside his teacher, Moshe—and that may be why he made very few mistakes: he understood who he was and to whom he owed it all.  He has just counted all of his victories (ch. 12).  How often does a general have 31 victories about which he lives to tell about, with his whole army still intact (with only one temporary exception)?  He was single-minded, focusing on what was directly in front of him, and David later plugged into that same very successful mindset.  (So when heaven directed that another baby be named after Y’hoshua, we could be sure this was going to be someone who would be all about getting his job done, no matter what.)  But now YHWH wants him to make a further accounting.  There are other things to count beside our successes.  There comes a time to look at what has not yet been finished, and consider the best way(s) to get it done.  Y’hoshua has always jumped into the hardest things first, even rising up early to get the job done.  There was much energy in his approach, which is why we still read his name after thousands of years; such is not true of the lazy.  But now there is more to be done than he is capable of.  The sad fact is that no one can keep going forever.  He is entering “into the days” (compare Qoheleth/Eccles. 12:1-7).  I.e., these are different times, so he must respond differently.  He now needs to start putting things in place to ensure that the job still gets done, even though he will not be there to do it.  So how will he accomplish this?

2. "This is the area that remains: all the districts of the Filistines and all the Geshurites,

3. "from the dark [area] that is on the face of Egypt and as far as the territory of Eqron in the north; it is considered to belong to the Kanaanites--five tyrannical rulers of the Filistines: [those] of 'Azzah, and Ashdod, Eshq'lon, Gath, and Eqron, as well as the Avim.

4. "From the south, all the land of the Kanaanites, as well as Me'arah, which belongs to the Tzidonians, as far as Afeq, all the way to the border of the Emorites,

5. "and the territory of the Givlites and the whole of Levanon, from the sunrise--from Ba'al-Gad beneath Mount Khermon as far as the Entrance of Khamath--

6. "all the inhabitants of the mountain-range from Levanon as far as the Burning of Waters--all the Tzidonians; I Myself will cause them to be dispossessed before the descendants of Israel; just cause it to fall to Israel as inherited property, as I ordered you.

   Cause it to fall: to be distributed by lot.

7. "So now, apportion out this land as inherited property for the nine tribes, as well as half the tribe of Menashe.

8. "With them the Re'uvenites and Gadites received their inheritance that Moshe gave them across the Yarden eastward according to that which Moshe the servant of YHWH assigned to them--

   Re'uven wanted their inheritance before the rest of Israel received any, just as their ancestor had wanted what was his father's while he was still alive. It is not surprising that Qorach, who wanted Moshe's position, also came from the tribe of Re'uven.

9. "from Aroer on the bank of the Arnon Canyon, and the city that is within the canyon, and the whole plateau of Meydva as far as Dibon,

10. "and all the cities of Sihon, king of the Emorites, who reigned in Heshbon as far as the border of the descendants of Ammon,

11. "as well as Gil'ad, the Geshurite and Maakhathite territory, and all of Mount Khermon, all of Bashan as far as Salkhah,

   Salkhah: modern Sulkhad, 56 miles (90 km.) east of the Yarden River and the southern end of the Hauran mountain range.

12. "the whole dominion of Og in Bashan--(the one who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei as the last of the R'fa'im who remained when Moshe defeated and dispossessed them,

  Now we are beginning to see the plan; YHWH tells Y’hoshua just how to ensure that the job can be finished: He tells him to go ahead and divide out their inheritance (v. 6).  I.e., tell them, “This is your Land now, so take care of it.”  He makes it their responsibility, and attached their name to it—which almost always ensures that they will take more pride in how it turns out.  We do a better job with what we are personally invested in.  Like any parent, teacher, or trainer, Y’hoshua has done all he can do for them.  He has told them what to do, shown them how with his example, written down the instructions, and involved them in the process so they know what to do; now comes the test of what they have really learned.  Until they actually take responsibility, they will never have achieved their purpose of actually possessing the Land.  You may be part of a family, but it is not your family or your community until you are contributing actively and doing your part to keep it going.  Nothing might change except our perspective, but it is not truly ours until we take responsibility for it.  It might be easier to let your parents—or the government—be responsible, but then you never understand what a great gift it is when someone blesses us with a new responsibility.  It may make our lives harder, but then we are also readier for the next challenge, because we have seen that we can actually get the job done.  It makes us better people and gives us a greater purpose.  It also assures us that someone trusts us to be able to get the job done.  The best way to thank someone who has thus invested in you is to take the responsibility and run with it.  Even Moshe got too old to continue leading, though he still had perfect vision and was strong, and Y’hoshuaa learned from him to be honest about his limitations and wisely recognize that all flesh is like grass, and when the wind blows over it, it is gone.  If he does not make someone else responsible to carry on his work, it will not get done.  The rest is up to them.  People rise to the occasion best when leaders remind them that they are only part of the community, and not the only one who is expected to do the work.  But he breaks the responsibility up into portions each can manage.  This type of inheritance is not one in which we wait for someone else to die, then it just falls into our laps with no effort on our part.  It has to be taken from our enemies, then defended, because they will want it back—as we see in the Land of Israel today.  We cannot expect peace, unity, or community to appear magically; faith will not simply well up within us.  This inheritance must be seized from other principalities and powers.  Though YHWH says He will give us the Land, He also tells us to go and take it, so there is not an inch we receive that we did not seize. The Kingdom will come when—and not until—we stand up and fight for it.  We do not take it too quickly, lest other types of threats grow faster than we can deal with them. (Deut. 7:22)  But we must deliberately establish our presence in each place YHWH makes it available to us, in the proper season.  He will turn it over to us as we go to war for it.  Once we feel safe from immediate threat and we are well-enough fed, we tend to settle down and forget to exercise so we can be ready when it is time to gain more ground. 

13. "though the descendants of Israel did not dispossess the Geshurite and Maakhathite, so Geshur ["joiner, bridge-builder"] and Maakhath ["she has pressured"] dwell within Israel to this day).

   There is always something for the next generation to finish, but what a sad statement this is in this context!  Though Y’hoshua made them responsible, they did not do all that YHWH told us to do.  Therefore there are enemies still present among us.  Until this day: And there is still a way in which these same enemies still remain even today.  Who or what are they?  Their names tell us.  They are the bridge-builders (those who join us to something other than Israel) and those who pressure us.  When we who are coming back into Israel fail to burn our bridges, we leave the door open for our old lives to pull us back under their influence again and keep us from being what we are called to be.  But what if YHWH might want to use that bridge again someday?  He can rebuild the bridges—or give us a boat—when someone on the other side is ready to commit to the same standards, but until they do, it is a drain on us to leave the gates open to them. Too often the reason we hesitate to burn bridges is concern for our own security: we might need those people one day!  But if we leave the door open, we will usually eventually use it, because things will become more difficult.  The way of the Hebrew is to keep moving forward anyway, not backward.  Maakhath also means to squeeze or emasculate.  Our natural families, our old ideas of what is right or wrong, Christian or Victorian moralities, or our old commitments will indeed sap all our strength if we let them. It is no coincidence that the Geshurites and Maakhathites are mentioned together.  It is usually those to whom we want to retain recourse that are the very ones who will press us to stop advancing in the direction to which YHWH is calling us.  The Land can only be a Kingdom when the King has dominion over the entire territory.  We need to remedy this lack before the harvest when the wheat and tares will be judged between. His intention is that only Israel dwells in the Land.  If we simply occupy rather than driving out the enemy, we will continue to need to fight them off time after time. We cannot expect purity, and cannot complain when we do not have it, if we do not do what He tells us to do. This is part of what removing the leaven at Passover symbolizes.  As we partake in YHWH’s appointed times, we can take more territory if we do not just go through the motions, but let them change us.  This is not a fantasy land that will take itself; nothing will come naturally.  It will not appear out of thin air.  But neither are our weapons fleshly ones (2 Cor. 10:4)  Our animal nature can accomplish nothing toward this conquest, which is one reason for animal offerings in the Temple; we are to identify them with that side of our nature, which is to be killed off within us. Instead, we bring the Kingdom closer by doing what He tells us to in the Torah for each season. The festivals are our weapons.  Our base camp is the Sabbath, where we train regularly, with special exercises at each new moon.  There we learn how to shoot straight and what we should shoot at, so that we are ready when it is time for battle.  We must move in season, but move we must.  Don’t expect rest in the Land if we do not enter into the rest He has already given us on the Sabbath. It is the door; we cannot go forth to YHWH’s battles unless we have camped with Israel on the Sabbath.  We can ask Him to shore up our best efforts, but He will not do the part He has told us to do.  We may have to force ourselves at first, but hunger for the Kingdom can replace our natural appetites as His patterns become second nature to us through much practice.  We all start out with self-interest as at least part of our motives.  But as a child moves from bathing only because his mother says so or because he likes to feel clean to bathing because it will have a negative effect on others if he does not, we too need to move on to keeping the Sabbath and keeping the Torah because the whole community of Israel needs us to.  And this requires us to remove the connections to what is not the Kingdom.

14. "Only to the tribe of Levi did he not give inherited property; the offerings made by fire [to] YHWH the Elohim of Israel are its inheritance, as he told him."

   This is an inheritance of a different kind. They were given an inheritance which included hard work. They were the poorest of all in Israel, dependent on the obedience of the rest of the tribes for their sustenance. Yet for this they were held in higher esteem than any other tribe. Levi means "attached", and indeed they were attached to YHWH's sanctuary in a special way. They were privileged to eat at YHWH's table; no one else could do this!

15. Now Moshe had assigned to the tribe of the descendants of Re'uven for their clans,

16. and territory came to be theirs from Aroer [destitute ruins], which is on the bank of the Arnon Canyon, as well as the city which is within the canyon, and the whole plateau above Meydva ["gliding gently over"]--

17. Heshbon and all her cities which are on the plateau: Dibon ["wasting away"], the cultic platforms of Ba'al, and the Place of Ba'al-M'on ["Master of a Lair/refuge"],

18. as well as Yah'tzah ["downtrodden"], Qedemoth ["ancient confrontations"], and M'faath ["shining splendor"],

19. and Qiryathayim ["pair of towns"] and Sivmah ["place of fragrance"] and Tzereth-haShakhar ["splendor of the dawn"] where the deep places loom up,

20. and Beyth-pe'or ["place of the cleft"] , the slopes of Pisgah, and Beyth-y'shimoth ["house of desolations"],

   The Moavites had a particular deity worshipped at Pe'or.

21. both all the cities of the plateau and the whole dominion of Sikhon, king of the Emorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moshe defeated along with the rulers of Midyan ["strife"], Ewi ["my longing"], Reqem ["variegation of colors"], Tzur ["rock"], Khur ["cave" or "white linen"], and Reba ["a fourth"], rulers installed by Sikhon, inhabitants of the land.

  Best of all, Y’hoshua is laying out the particular places each is responsible for: I.e., if you are a Reuvenite, Heshbon is now your problem.  Someone else might help in a pinch, but do not make this a habit.  Don’t expect someone else to do your work for you.

22. The descendants of Israel also killed Bilaam the son of Be'or, the one who practiced divination, with the sword among those they mortally wounded.

   They may not have even known who he was when they killed him, because he had prophesied about them from an overlook somewhat removed from them. (Num. 22-24)  Though he technically obeyed YHWH and would not curse Israel directly, Bilaam (of the royal family of Edom) told the king of Moav how to weaken Israel (Rev. 2:14), and thus ended up siding with Moav, who had hired him, and thus had to perish along with those with whom he threw in his lot.  Though this generation did not directly suffer from his influence, they could not say it had nothing to do with them.  Sometimes we need to settle old scores, as David told Shlomo to do when he himself had bound himself by promises not to kill certain individuals; he did not promise that his son would not kill them!  Purim is all about what occurs when we leave unfinished business: Mordekhai had to deal with someone his tribe had allowed to survive when YHWH had said to annihilate him.

23. Now the border of the descendants of Re'uven was the Yarden River, and this territory was the inheritance of the descendants of Re'uven for their families--the cities and their enclosed villages.

24. And Moshe appointed to the tribe of Gad--to the descendants of Gad--for their clans,

25. and what came to be their territory was Ya'zer ["helped"] and all the cities of Gil'ad and half of the territory of the descendants of Ammon as far as the ruin that is on the face of Rabbah,

   Rabbah: the capital city of the Ammonites, whose name is preserved in its modern name, Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

26. and from Heshbon as far as Ramath-Mitzpeh ["the height of the watchtower"] and Betonim ["pistachio nuts" or "bellies"] and from Makhanayim ["pair of camps"] as far as the boundary of D'vir ["sanctuary"].

27. And in the valley, Beyth-Haram ["the lofty place"], Beyth-Nimrah ["at the house of the leopard"], Sukkoth ["temporary dwellings"], Tz'fon ["hidden treasure"]--the rest of the dominion of Sikhon, king of Heshbon, the yarden [being] its border as far as the Sea of Kinnereth across the Yarden on the east. 28. This is the inheritance of the descendants of Gad for their families--the cities and their enclosed villages.

29. And Moshe appointed to half of the tribe of Menashe, and it came to belong to half of the tribe of Menashe, for their clans,

30. and their territory [within its borders went] from Makhanayim, all of Bashan, the whole dominion of Og, the king of Bashan, and all the tent-villages of Ya'ir ["he enlightens"] which are in Bashan--sixty cities.

31. And half of Gil'ad, as well as Ashtaroth and Edrei, cities of the dominion of Og in Bashan, belonged to the descendants of Makhir, the son of Menashe--to half of the sons of Makhir for their families.

   Menashe got something they did not ask for, in addition to one of the largest territories in the Land of Israel proper.  This would not seem fair, but the reason so much was deeded to them is found in chapter 17.  (See also Numbers 32:39, 40; Deut. 3:15.)  Half of Gil’ad: possibly the part north of the Yarmuq River canyon, which forms a natural boundary.  Gil’ad extends up the eastern shore of the Kinnereth (Sea of Galilee) along the base of the plateau which rises east of the Great Rift Valley to constitute Bashan (known today as the Golan Heights).  Makhir thus almost constitutes a “hidden tribe”.  Gil’ad was the name of one of Makhir’s sons. (Num. 26:29)

32. These are the ones whom Moshe allowed to have an inheritance on the steppes of Moav on the other side of the Yarden [from] Y'rikho eastward.

  Again, there are some important things that must be dispossessed before we can go into the Land.  To go there out of season and out of order—to try to take our own inheritance before the rest of Israel receives theirs—is the ultimate selfishness.

33. But to the tribe of Levi, Moshe did not give inherited property; YHWH the Elohim of Israel is their inheritance, as he told them.

  Verse 14 said their inheritance was YHWH’s offering; now he says it is YHWH Himself!  So there is a sense in which we are meant to see Him in the offerings, as He equates the two somehow.  Though our covenant with YHWH is largely linked to inheriting land, there are some who do not; for them YHWH is enough, and we must respect that.  They have no need for large possessions, because whatever belongs to Him also belongs to them (nearly all that is brought to YHWH is theirs to eat), and they also need not fight the same battles the rest of the tribes do—so this lowering is also an elevation.  There may be modern parallels, but remember that the Levites are an actual tribe, and if you are not a Levite, this does not apply to you.  Some will be taken to be Levites from other tribes, but then they are Levites and no longer part of their former tribe.  Much damage has been done by Christianity misinterpreting the “order of Melkhitzedeq”; YHWH told Aharon the priesthood would belong to his descendants forever, and no one gets to change that.  Read Y’hezq’el (Ezekiel); the Levitical priesthood shows up again.  We have different responsibilities, but we will not have any inheritance if we do not take possession of it.  There is always more to overcome or to be restored, and when we stop taking responsibility for any part of it, we should no longer expect to retain possession of it either.  What is worth having is worth fighting for.  So go take it!

THE RECORD OF

Y'hoshua

Part 2:

CHAPTERS 9-13

Chapter 9Chapter 10    Chapter 11Chapter 12

Chapter 13    Chapters 14-16   

            Chapters 1-8                               Chapters 17-24