“So Joshua said to the Israelites: How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?”
~ Joshua 18:3
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you accept the fault for something that should have been done that was not done? Do you make excuses for something that should have been done that was not done? Do you pass on the blame for something that should have been done that was not done? What do you do when something does not go the way that you think that it should go? What do you do when nothing seems to go right for you? Your grandpaa knows guys and gals who always seem to be blaming other guys and gals for what does not go their way. Do you know kids who seem to be always blaming other kids for what does not go their way? Your grandpaa does not have much time for guys and gals – and even for kids, who think that they are always being victimized by circumstances, that it is never their fault for the supposed bad luck that they are finding themselves in and that they are the ones who are never wrong because they are the ones who are always right. Your grandpaa does not have much time for guys and gals – and even for kids, who think that they always have the right to constantly criticize other guys and gals – and other kids, but who think that no guy or gal – or kid, ever has the right to criticize them. How do you feel after you have spent time with a guy or gal – or kid, who is always pessimistic about everything? Your grandmaa and grandpaa have literally spent hours and hours with high maintenance guys and gals trying to help these guys and gals hear back what they are communicating. Your grandpaa knows that he can be at times quite sarcastic, cynical or facetious – which your grandpaa knows that he really should not be but . . ., your grandpaa does not want to be known as a guy who is always blaming other guys for something that did not get done that he was responsible and accountable for doing. Your grandmaa and grandpaa always try to be as intentional as possible to do what they have been asked to do to the very best of their abilities.
There are a good number of Bible characters who have taught your grandpaa life lessons. Your grandpaa really enjoys getting glimpses of the life stories of most of the guys and gals who are found in the Bible – guys and gals who were once real-life guys and gals. Joshua is one guy though who your grandpaa has struggled with respecting and appreciating. Joshua started out his life journey seemingly on a good track. Moses recognized that there was something special about Joshua resulting in Moses bringing Joshua into his inner circle. Joshua – who was from the Ephraim tribal clan, was the Ephraim tribal clan’s representative spy to spy out – along with eleven other guys with each guy representing one of the other eleven Israelite people group’s tribal clans, the land of Canaan – which was the land that God had told His specially chosen guys and gals that they would always have to live in as their very own land if they would always worship Him as their one and only true God. Joshua returned from the assigned mission to spy out the land area of Canaan to tell God’s specially chosen guys and gals – ‘let’s roll; we can do it!’ Caleb – who was the Judah tribal clan’s representative spy, also returned from the assigned mission to spy out the land area of Canaan with a very similar message that Joshua had for God’s specially chosen guys and gals. The other ten guys came back from their assigned mission to spy out the land area of Canaan with the message – ‘no way, there are giants in the land who will kill us!’ Because of the decision that was made because of the fears expressed by the ten spies when they returned from their assigned mission to spy out the land area of Canaan, God made His specially chosen guys and gals take a timeout by having them do desert time for the next forty years. Except for Joshua and Caleb, all the guys who were twenty years old and older died during those forty years. Moses would spend the forty years mentoring Joshua to succeed him. When God’s specially chosen guys and gals were finally able to enter into the land that God had told them that . . . Moses had Joshua positioned to be their leader. By the time that Joshua 18 was written, the land the God told His specially chosen guys and gals that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . was theirs to be divided up.
God’s specially chosen guys and gals were able to defeat the giants who were living in the land of Canaan. God’s specially chosen guys and gals were able to occupy the land that God had told them that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . after three land areas were allotted by lot – with a good size area going to the Judah tribal clan, a good size area going to the Ephraim tribal clan and a good size area going to the half of the Manasseh tribal clan that entered into the land that . . . , the tribal clans of Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Dan were kept waiting to have land allotted to them by lot which they could call their very own land in the land that they had helped to seize. In a specially called meeting that Joshua had in Shiloh – which was where the Tent of Meeting was located, Joshua wanted to know the reason why these seven tribal clans had not yet been allotted areas of land. Verse 3 says “So Joshua said to the Israelites: “‘How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?” Your grandpaa thinks that a good leader – if this leader has the absolute responsibility to do so, is to never abdicate blame if something has not been done – which Joshua seems to be doing when it was his responsibility to divide up the land between the remaining tribal clans. The tribal clan of Benjamin would end up getting the next allotment of land – which would be right between the two powerhouse tribal clans – Judah and Ephraim. What your grandpaa has also struggled with regarding Joshua is why Joshua did not mentor a guy to succeed him just as Moses mentored Joshua to succeed him.
Joshua 18 (470)