Joshua
21:43-45 Not one of all their enemies had withstood
them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word
of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had
failed; all came to pass.
Here we have a concluding summary
statement of how the Lord had fulfilled his promise to give Israel the land.
The occupation was not complete, but the national campaign was over and Israel
was finally established in the Promised Land. No power was left in the land
that could displace Israel.
The writer shows us the completeness
of God’s actions. He ignores the incompleteness of Israel’s actions (17:12-13).
The emphasis here is on the faithfulness of God in fulfilling his promises. God
had done his part. No matter what transpires in the future, God is faithful.
God gave the Israelites the Promised Land.
We know that in later generations
the kingdom is divided, the northern kingdom falls to invaders, Jerusalem is
destroyed and the people are led into the Exile. God could not be blamed. Blame
belonged on Israel’s shoulders alone.
The theme is similar to The Fall in Genesis 1-3. God
created a good world. Man is responsible for bringing divine punishment and
therefore “evil” into the world. Evil is explained both on the national and on
the universal level as God’s disciplining action in response to man’s guilt,
man’s false exercise of his freedom.
For Christians today the message is clear. God has
shown us that his promising and his judging Word will become historical reality
in good time. He is long suffering and acts according to His will, not ours.
God is faithful to his promises. We face the world with one of two choices:
obedience with blessing or disobedience with judgment. Look around and you will
see how people are choosing.
