Reading
SAA Notes
The list was important for a place in the Promised Land. Remember Jesus’ words: I go to prepare a place for you! Zelophedad’s daughters have a place in their own right! The requirement to marry within the clan preserved the clan’s inheritance. Title to land was in the clan, not in the government. This gave great political protection to ordinary people when dealing with powerful civil governments.
SJA Notes
* Mighty God, may You give justice to the weak and the fatherless, may You maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue us Your sheep from the wolves Lord God!
“Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.”
The promised land was being divided up – God commanding that the large tribes got larger portions, the smaller tribes smaller portions.
There was no place in the land for the generation who rejected God.
These were the generation who sided with the ten spies, not believing that the Lord would (and could) do as He said and defeat their enemies.
These were the people who wanted to stone Caleb and Joshua because they displayed faithFULness to God and refused to bow to peer pressure.
Only Caleb and Joshua and their families were left of that generation.
This is both a warning and an encouragement.
There is only one way to the promised land. We can only enter in through the strait gate and walk along the narrow way.
Caleb and Joshua walked faithfully before the Lord. They were Jesus-people, being strong and courageous (see Joshua 1).
Jesus spoke about two gates and two roads in His sermon on the mountain (Matthew 7).
We see here in today’s passage the truth of what Jesus spoke of. That few there be that find the way to life. So many of Israel perished. So many went astray, yoking themselves to false gods, following other ways than the true one.
We can be encouraged to walk faithfully before the Lord as Caleb and Joshua did. Seeking God’s will above our own, trusting His will for us before our own, believing in His purposes and power to enact them.
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:13-14
* Father God,
Thank You that in Jesus we have the way to eternal life, and that He is the one who shows us how to live in this earthly life, on this narrow road.
Please help us to be faithful to You, guard us from being led astray.
Thank You Lord!
Amen.