Setting – The remaining tribes, Simeon, Zubulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Dan received their portions. Joshua received his town of Timnath-serah.
Contents – Simeon’s territory was part of Judah’s because (v. 9); “…the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received {an} inheritance in the midst of Judah's inheritance” Later, Dan territory was too small and they captured Laish (Leshem) in the northeast and renamed it Dan. Once the allocation was done (v. 49), “…the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua the son of Nun.” this being Timnath-serah.
Application – God completed His allocation to the sons of Israel. Israel now possessed the Promise Land as God had stated. Not all of the inhabitants of the land were dispossessed, which would cause problems later, but each tribe received their allocated territories.
Even though we don’t fulfill our commitments to God, God fulfills His commitments to His people. 2 Timothy 2:13 states it perfectly, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself”. We continually receive that which we don’t deserve. Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The list is endless. God is patient with His creation. He should have wiped us out long ago because of sin. But instead He provided the sin sacrifice to pay for out sins.
God still allocated territories to each tribe, even though some of the tribes didn’t follow through on their commitment to displace the inhabitants. And because of this God had to deal with more sin because of this.
It’s a sad reality that God gives us gifts, blessings and maintains His commitments, and we return take from Him (rather than gifts); give Him our sin and our broken commitments.
Contents – Simeon’s territory was part of Judah’s because (v. 9); “…the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received {an} inheritance in the midst of Judah's inheritance” Later, Dan territory was too small and they captured Laish (Leshem) in the northeast and renamed it Dan. Once the allocation was done (v. 49), “…the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua the son of Nun.” this being Timnath-serah.
Application – God completed His allocation to the sons of Israel. Israel now possessed the Promise Land as God had stated. Not all of the inhabitants of the land were dispossessed, which would cause problems later, but each tribe received their allocated territories.
Even though we don’t fulfill our commitments to God, God fulfills His commitments to His people. 2 Timothy 2:13 states it perfectly, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself”. We continually receive that which we don’t deserve. Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The list is endless. God is patient with His creation. He should have wiped us out long ago because of sin. But instead He provided the sin sacrifice to pay for out sins.
God still allocated territories to each tribe, even though some of the tribes didn’t follow through on their commitment to displace the inhabitants. And because of this God had to deal with more sin because of this.
It’s a sad reality that God gives us gifts, blessings and maintains His commitments, and we return take from Him (rather than gifts); give Him our sin and our broken commitments.
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