Sunday, March 29, 2015

SEEDS OF FUTURE TROUBLE


Joshua 15:63 But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

 Three verses in chapters 15-17 depict a hidden problem. The Israelites were to purge the lands they conquered. God had directed them to kill all the inhabitants of the lands. Total obedience to this matter of conquest was important to God. Trouble would follow their failure on this. .

We see that in this verse, Judah failed to drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem. The Jebusites live among the Israelites, not as subjects but as fellow residents of the territory allotted to Judah. We can only presume that their daily lives and their families intermingled socially. The false beliefs of the Jebusites could have also influenced the Israelites.

In 16:10, the tribe of Ephraim did not dislodge the Canaanites from their allotted territory.  They remain living among God’s people. The written account notes, however, that they are required to do forced labor for the Israelites. The Israelites assumed that forced labor was sufficient obedience. In 17:12-13 we find the tribe of Manasseh unable to fully occupy their territory. The Canaanites were determined to live in that region. They did not care that Israel’s God had told them to conquer the land. The best Manasseh could do was to place them into forced labor.  

It is easy to listen to God’s commands and give mental ascent to His will. But to live our lives in total submission to Him requires faith, trust. It requires that our reasoning be displaced with a total willingness to do what seems out of sorts to do. God wanted the inhabitants of the land destroyed, killed, eliminated.

Israel rationalized their way around this by forcing them into labor, leaving them in a small encampment outside the town or only destroying their leaders. Any rationalization is a failure to do as God had directed. Sin has subtly had its way into the camp.

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