ISRAEL: SECOND REPUBLIC … PT 34

Lessons from the book of Joshua

Joshua 19:51 – Mobile Home

Joshua 19:51  These [are] the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So they made an end of dividing the country.

 

At first glance, it would appear that the leaders of the nation simply held their council at the tabernacle for sake of convenience since it was a central location and that the Lord was there merely as a silent and passive witness but on closer look at the words translated “before the Lord” one gets a different insight.

The venue of the meeting was chosen deliberately, not just to honour God, but to get Him involved. In their time, the presence of God was restricted to the tabernacle, and later the temple, to keep God from “breaking out” against them for their many and frequent transgressions. So if anyone wished to talk to God, or get God involved in anything, he would have to go to God’s house … just as in this situation.

Now, the inheritance was apportioned by casting lot and they expected the Lord to guide the lot in order to guide them. Though it doesn’t say specifically here, but I believe that since Eleazar the high priest was present, the stones used in casting the lots must have been the sacred Urim and Thummim carried by the high priest for purposes of divine guidance. But whether or not that is the case, the fact that they brought it to God’s place so He could influence the results is enough. Look at these translations:

These are the heritages which Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel gave out at Shiloh, by the decision of the Lord, at the door of the Tent of meeting. So the distribution of the land was complete. (Bible in Basic English 1965)

 

Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the families of the tribes of Israel assigned these parts of the land by drawing lots to consult the LORD at Shiloh, at the entrance of the Tent of the LORD’s presence. In this way they finished dividing the land. (Good News Bible)

 

The point is, sharing landed property was as far away from spiritual matters as a matter can be, yet God got involved… because it was brought to Him and the results were acceptable to everyone and that was the end of the matter. There were no border disputes to settle after that.

How many times do we leave God out of such matters of state in our time? I think too often. I believe God wants to be involved in everything we are involved in. This should be quite obvious when one thinks that God moved out of the temple building and moved in to human temples so that He could be everywhere we are in a very personal and involved way.

Please, take full advantage of this arrangement so that your life can be free of the fallouts of the inadequacy of human insight and foresight.

You are the temple of God … God’s mobile home; everywhere you go, He goes.

Download this free e-book at https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubu50a2a1o88xjy/Crushing%20The%20Crushers.pdf?dl=0

Daniel Oyanna is a conference speaker on relationships, health, faith and other subjects and a Pastor and teacher blessed by God with a grace to make things easy to understand. He is the author of the book To Date or Not to Date, Instructions in Submission, Crushing the Crushers, several mini-books most of which are free. He started UnLimited to help people reach their God-given goals by walking with them to their finish line. He is reachable at pd_lionunlimited@yahoo.com