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For the past several weeks, we have been looking at a letter in the Bible that records the efforts of an entire nation to restart their lives after forty years of wandering in a literal desert of hurt, pain, disappointment and failure. This letter, called the book of Joshua, records how the Jewish people experienced the same frustration, tension and trouble when it came to restarting their lives as individuals and in community with one another. And today, as this story continues, we see a problem revealed for us in Joshua 15:63. Let’s look at this problem together:

Now as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day.

As the tribe of Judah began to occupy and settle in the land that they had received, they were unable to drive out or dispossess the Jebusites. The Jebusites were a culture and society that lived in the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding region. To understand why the tribe of Judah was unable to drive out the Jebusites we first need to understand where Jerusalem was located in relation to the land that they had received.

Jerusalem was a border town that was located between the tribe of Judah and the land that would later be assigned to the tribe of Benjamin. And since the land was on the outskirts of both tribes land, neither the tribe of Judah or the tribe of Benjamin cared enough about this border town to take serious action to destroy the culture than inhabited the land. So in essence, the town of Jerusalem and the surrounding region became a no man’s land and enclave to the Jebusites. While they may have won victories over their part of the land, the reality was that the Jebusites were not removed and destroyed as God had commanded; instead they remained present and in close proximity of the Jewish people.

Now a natural response to this could be “well sure they didn’t get rid of the Jebusites, but look, they took care of everything else that they were supposed to. I mean they occupied and settled in 108 cities; that a 99.9% success rate. And anyways, Jerusalem is just an outpost in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of their territory. It really belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. It’s their problem, let them deal with it. It’s not that big of a deal, so let’s just move on in the story”. As the story continues, we then read of another tribe’s response to the land that they were given to occupy and settle in Joshua 16:10:

But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites live in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.

As the tribe of Ephraim began to occupy and settle in the land that they had received, they were unable to drive out or dispossess the Canaanites that lived in a city named Gezer. The Canaanites were another culture and society that inhabited the Promised Land that God had commanded to be removed and destroyed. To understand why the tribe of Ephraim was unable to drive out the Canaanites, we first need to understand where Gezer was located in relation to the land that they had received. The city of Gezer was located on the very southwest corner of the land that the tribe of Ephraim was to possess.

Similar to Jerusalem, Gezer was an outpost located far from the heart of the land that the tribe had received. And while the king of Gezer had been defeated as the Jewish army conquered the Promised Land, the residents of Gezer remained and dwelt in the land as a result of the failure to fully occupy and settle in all of the land. Instead of following God’s command to remove and destroy this society and culture from the land, the tribe of Ephraim chose to use the Canaanites as forced laborers. The tribe of Ephraim decided that it would be better to be pragmatic and bend the rules in a way that would benefit and make their lives easier, instead of doing what God had commanded them to do when it came to restarting their lives.

And just like the tribe of Judah, one could argue that this really was not a big deal. Sure, while they did not follow God’s command, they did something that seemed, at least at first glance, even better. They were still able to settle and occupy the city and at the same time were able to get some really cheap labor. I mean, is that really that big a deal? They could just as easily be celebrated as pragmatic problem solvers, couldn’t they? Some of you may even be thinking “Can we just move on in this story and not dwell on this little detail”. So let’s move on and look together at another tribe’s response to the land that they were given to occupy and settle.

In Joshua 17:1 we are introduced to a man named Machir. Machir was actually the only son of Manasseh. And Machir was a man of war; in other words he was a capable warrior who led his tribe to take possession of the land that the tribe of Manasseh would possess, occupy, and settle east of the Jordan River, which we looked at last week. This was the land that is referred to here as Gilead and Bashan. The land described in Joshua 17:2-11 was actually a second piece of land that was given to the tribe of Manasseh.

In addition to the territory that the tribe was given east of the Jordan River, which we talked about last week, the tribe was also given this large piece of land that was located north of the land that was given to the tribe of Ephraim. This piece of land was also quite large. And you would think that the tribe would be satisfied and happy about the land that they had received. However, that was not the case, as we see in the verses that follow:

But the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities, because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land. It came about when the sons of Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

You see, as the tribe of Manasseh began to occupy and settle in the land that they had received, they were unable to occupy and settle five cities that were located in the North and Northwest regions of the land that they had been given. Instead of destroying the cultures and societies that had lived in the land, as they had been commanded, they allowed these cities to be enclaves where the evil and wicked cultures were allowed to continue to exist and more importantly coexist with the Jewish nation that was inhabiting the land.

Just as the tribe of Judah did not care enough to fully follow God’s commands and instead were satisfied with doing the right thing 99.9% of the time; Just as the tribe of Ephraim chose to be pragmatic problem solvers who bent the rules in a way that would benefit and make their lives easier; the tribe of Manasseh failed to fully follow God’s commands when it came to restarting their lives. While these three tribes followed God’s commands most of the time, they were able to rationalize a reason why they did not have to follow God’s commands all of the time. And it is the story of these three tribes that we see God reveal for us another timeless principle that is necessary when it comes to restarting our lives.

Tomorrow, we will discover this timeless principle and the implication that this principle can have as we live our lives.