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May 6 - Joshua 18 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends, it's Sean here. It's Wednesday, it's the 6th of
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  May. And it is so lovely to have your
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  company on this hump day, the middle of the week, this
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  meditation on God's Word week. And I know you're not meant to
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  have favourite children and I don't, but I do have favourite
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  music. And I got to say, this music was
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  the very, very first piece of music that I used for the
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  podcast, you know, over five years ago.
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  And it is still my favourite and I love it so much.
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  So it's very fitting that on the fortnight that we hear this
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  beautiful, meditative, calm, peaceful music that we are
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  reading this deeply calming list after list of the places that
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  God is giving his people in this land of Canaan.
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  And as I said yesterday, as we listen to this list, don't get
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  hung up on the names and the pronunciation and all the bits
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  and bobs thinking, where is this going?
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  The goal of this writing is so that you can hear that God is a
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  God who is faithful and the God who keeps his promises.
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  So as you hear this, these long lists of places and people, let
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  these words flow through you without getting too caught up in
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  them and just give yourself the space to relax in the knowledge
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  that you are loved and that you are provided for by our loving
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  God. And that is the point of these
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  chapters, and that is what we are going to settle our hearts
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  in as we read them. So let's do that, shall we?
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  Let's read together Joshua chapter 18.
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  Now that the land was under Israelite control, the entire
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  community of Israel gathered at Shiloh and set up the
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  Tabernacle, but there remained 7 tribes that had not yet been
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  allotted their grants of land. Then Joshua asked them, How long
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  are you going to wait before taking possession of the
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  remaining land the Lord, the God of your ancestors has given you?
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  Select three men from each tribe and I will send them out to
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  explore the land and map it out. They will then return to me with
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  a written report of their proposed divisions of their new
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  homeland. Let them divide the land into 7
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  sections, excluding Judah's territory in the South and
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  Joseph's territory in the north. And when you record the seven
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  divisions of land and bring them to me, I will cast sacred lots
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  in the presence of the Lord our God to assign land to each
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  tribe. The Levites, however, will not
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  receive any allotment of land. Their role as priests of the
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  Lord is their allotment. And the tribes of Gad, Reuben,
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  and the half tribe of Manasseh won't receive any more land, for
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  they have already received their grant of land which Moses the
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  servant of the Lord gave them on the east side of the Jordan
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  River. As the men started on their way
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  to map out the land, Joshua commanded them Go and explore
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  the land and write a description of it.
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  Then return to me and I will assign the land to the tribes by
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  casting sacred lots here and the presence of the Lord at Shiloh.
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  The men did as they were told and mapped the entire territory
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  into 7 sections, listing the towns and each section.
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  They made a written record and then returned to Joshua in the
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  camp of Shiloh and there at Shiloh, Joshua cast sacred lots
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  in the presence of the Lord to determine which tribe should
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  have each section. The first allotment of land went
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  to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
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  It lay between the territory assigned to the tribes of Judah
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  and Joseph. The northern boundary of
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  Benjamin's land began at the Jordan River, went north of the
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  slope of Jericho, then W through the Hill Country and the
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  wilderness of Beth Avon. From there the boundary went S
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  to Luz, that is, Bethel, and proceeded down to Attaroth Atta,
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  on the hill that lies South of Lower Beth Horan.
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  The boundary then made a turn and swung S along the western
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  edge of the hill facing Beth Horan, ending at the village of
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  Kiryathbaal, that is, Kiryathjiram, a town belonging
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  to the tribe of Judah. This was the western boundary.
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  The southern boundary began at the outskirts of Kiryathjiram.
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  From that western point it ran to the spring at the waters of
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  Neftoa and down to the base of the mountain beside the valley
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  of Ben Hinnam, at the northern end of the valley of Rephaeim.
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  From there it went down the valley of Hinnam, crossing South
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  of the slope where the Jebusites lived, and continued down to
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  Enrogl. From Enrogl, the boundary
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  proceeded in a northerly direction and came to Enschemesh
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  and on to Gellaloth, which is across from the slopes of
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  Adamim. Then it went down to the stone
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  of Bohan. Bohan was Reuben's son.
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  From there, it passed along the north side of the slope
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  overlooking the Jordan Valley. The border then went down into
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  the valley, ran past the north slope of Beth Hoggler, and ended
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  up at the North Bay of the Dead Sea, which is the southern end
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  of the Jordan River. This was the southern boundary.
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  The eastern boundary was the Jordan River.
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  These were the boundaries of the homeland allocated to the clans
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  of the Tribe of Benjamin. These were the towns given to
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  the clans of the Tribe of Benjamin, Jericho, Beth Hoggler,
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  Emek, Kaziz, Beth Araba, Zemarim, Bethel, Avim, Para,
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  Ofra, Kafa, Amani, Ofni and Gibba, 12 towns with their
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  surrounding villages. Also Gibeon, Rama, Beroth,
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  Mizpah, Kafara, Mosa, Rekum, Erpeal, Tarala, Zeala, Haileph,
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  the Jebusite town that is Jerusalem, Gibeah and
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  Kiriathjiram, 14 towns with their surrounding villages.
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  This was the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of
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  Benjamin. Oh Jesus, as we hear these long
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  lists, we can hear also in our mind the long lists of things
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  that you give us. We think of the lists of the
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  fruit of the Spirit. We think of the lists of the
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  gifts of the Spirit. We think of all the ways that
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  you empower us, all the ways that you give us Our Daily Bread
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  today. We think of all of the goodness
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  that you bless us with. And we thank you.
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  We thank you that you are a God who provides, that you are a God
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  who invests in the little things of our lives, who knows us
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  intimately, understands our needs and meets them.
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  We love you, we are your grateful people, and we worship
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  you, our providing God. And we pray all of this in your
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  name, Jesus, Amen.