The Book Of Joshua. Day 33, Division Of The Land On The East Side Of Jordan, Part One

Joshua is old but the Lord still has work for him to do. The Lord says to him, "Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you, and divide it as an inheritance among the nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh." (Joshua 13:6b-7) Earlier in our chapter we studied the territory conquered by Israel on the west side of the Jordan. For the next several days we'll be studying how that land is divided among those who did not receive land on the east side of the Jordan. Those who received their land on the east side were the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. "The other half of Manasseh, the Reubenites and the Gadites had received the inheritance that Moses had given them east of the Jordan, as he, the servant of the Lord, had assigned it to them." (Joshua 13:8)

The Bible goes on to describe the land east of the Jordan. "It extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and included the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon, and all the towns of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, out to the border of the Ammonites. It also included Gilead, the territory of the people of Geshur and Maakah, all of Mount Hermon and all Bashan as far as Salekah---that is, the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei. (He was the last of the Rephaites.) Moses had defeated them and taken over their land. But the Israelites did not drive out the people of Geshur and Maakah, so they continue to live among the Israelites to this day." (Joshua 13:9-13) 

Whenever the Bible says the word "but", there is often something negative to follow. We see that the Israelites did not drive out the people of Geshur and Maakah. One of King David's wives was a Geshurite and the son he had with her, Absalom, plotted against him to take the kingdom away from him. Did David's Geshurite wife have something to do with how rebellious their son was? That's a definite possibility, for the Lord warned the Israelites not to allow any of the previous occupants of the land to remain in it. He said mixing with those people would become a snare to the Israelites. That certainly appears to have been true in David's case.

As we've noted many times before, partial obedience is still disobedience. When we fail to fully carry out the Lord's instructions, we are in an attitude of disobedience and cannot attain everything He promised us for our obedience. The Bible contains many beautiful promises for the believer but many of these promises are conditional upon our obedience to the Lord. If we only partially obey then we can expect to only be partially blessed. 

The tribe of Levi will inhabit towns and will not be parceled out any specific territory in the promised land; therefore, Moses did not assign them a territory. "But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the food offerings presented to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as He promised them." (Joshua 13:14) This promise was first made in Numbers 18:20 when the Lord said to Aaron the high priest and to the Levites as a whole: "You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites."

You may have heard the expression, "When the Lord is all you have, you have all you need." The Lord said something similar to the Levites. Their primary satisfaction in life is to be found in serving Him and they are to make their living and provide for their families through the work they do for Him. 

When we make God the Lord of our lives, we have the fulfillment of the primary need of every human being: salvation. The eternal destiny of our souls is more important than anything else. But when we have the Lord we also have access to many blessings in the here and now, for He is the source of all things good. 

Tomorrow we will look at the division of the remainder of the land east of the Jordan and then for the next several days we'll be studying the division of the land west of the Jordan.