Joshua 17-20

The Israelites failed repeatedly to claim their inheritance. In Joshua 17:12-13 we read, “Yet the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region.”

The Israelites failed to fully claim their inheritance, but not because there was any lack of power supplied to them from God. The Lord was absolutely faithful in all his promises to them, as we will read in Joshua 21:43-45.

Is this also a picture of us? I wonder: in what ways do we fail to claim the promises of God?

The good news is that there is still time to claim God’s promises. We need to stop procrastinating and become faithful finishers.

Joshua reproved the Israelites for their procrastination in claiming their inheritance. In Joshua 18:1-3 we read:

Then the whole congregation of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.

There remained among the Israelites seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned. So Joshua said to the Israelites, “How long will you be slack about going in and taking possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?”

Swiss psychologist Paul Tournier once wrote, “Most people spend their entire lives indefinitely preparing to live.”

However, Joshua's life reveals that does not have to be true of us. Joshua was someone who lived his life to the full and he set an example as a faithful finisher. In Joshua 19:49-50 we read:

When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the Israelites gave an inheritance among them to Joshua son of Nun. By command of the Lord they gave him the town that he asked for, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim; he rebuilt the town, and settled in it.

Joshua did not merely reprove the Israelites for failing to claim their inheritance, he gave them a second chance to do so, and he set them an example in how to do it. The second Joshua, Jesus, does even more for us. He is the Lord of the second chance. He has set us a great example in all things. Furthermore, he gives us the power of his Holy Spirit to become faithful finishers.

Chapter 20 shows us Joshua being faithful once again to carry out all the instructions of Moses. In this instance, Joshua sets aside certain places as cities of refuge. Anyone who killed a person without intent could flee to one of these cities of refuge and be safe from the “avenger of blood,” that is a family member seeking to avenge the death of their loved one.

The cities of refuge tell us something about God’s justice. The existence of these cities emphasized the value of human beings made in God’s image. They offered a code of justice applicable to all Israelites. We see in this that the only foundation for a proper code of law is God’s character.

The cities of refuge also provide a picture of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ. These cities were open to all (20:9) just as Christ’s door is open to everyone. The gates to these cities were never locked. Neither is Jesus’ door ever locked to anyone. The cities of refuge provided not only safety, but food. Jesus Christ, likewise, is a totally sufficient refuge. The pathways to the cities of refuge were to be clearly marked. In the same way, the pathway to Christ is clearly marked out for us in Scripture.

However, Jesus is better than a city of refuge because he is closer to us. Paul says in Romans 10:13 that Jesus is only a prayer away. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Plus, Jesus’ door is open to deliberate sinners, not just to accidental ones.

I wonder: in what ways do we need to seek Jesus today as our city of refuge?

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