06/18/2024 – Day 017 – Joshua 11 – 15 / Post 2 of 2 – “… I can understand why you are concerned about the metaphor of a war. However, there is nothing metaphoric about the spiritual battle in which we find ourselves.”
I have a few footnote commentaries to verses in our reading from two different Bibles:
(*1). The Apologetics Study Bible – ISBN 978-1-58640-024-8
(*2). The Evidence Bible – NKJV – ISBN 978-0-88270-525-5
Let’s get started:
“Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hives, the inhabitants of Gideon. All the others they took in battle. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, as the Lord had commanded Moses.” 11: 18-20
Footnote reference (*2): “There can be no compromise in the war with this sinful world. The only option for sinners is to surrender to God. See also Daniel 10: 12,13 comment.
Daniel 10: 12,13 “It’s harmful for Christians to think of fellow human beings as enemies.”
“I can understand why you are concerned about the metaphor of a war. However, there is nothing metaphoric about the spiritual battle in which we find ourselves.
The Salvation ‘Army’, a Christian organization, we originally structured by ‘General’ William Booth to remind their ‘soldiers’ that they are involved in a real battle. The war in which we are involved is with the demonic realm. The world may use the phrase ‘he has demons,’ but Christians see demons as being more than figurative. the Bible says that we ‘wrestle’ against demonic forces (see Ephesians 6:12). This is why the Bible exhorts Christians to ‘fight the good fight’ of faith, and to endure hardship as a ‘good soldier of Jesus Christ’ (see 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 2:3).
This is a spiritual battle for your life. You aren’t the enemy, but the Bible says that you have been taken captive by him (see 2 Timothy 2:26) and that Satan has blinded your mind (see 2 Cor. 4:4). That is why we can tell you that God offers you everlasting life and you don’t even see what is being offered.
So don’t be concerned; we don’t see you as the enemy. We are not fighting against you; we are fighting for you. We love you are consumed with concern for your eternal salvation. There is nothing more important than where you will spend eternity.
‘Wile women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight — I’ll fight to the very end!” – William Booth“
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Footnote reference (*2) – 12:3:
This is a great analogy to the Church:
“The Salt Sea (now known as the Dead Sea) reaches a depth of 1,200 feet. The salt content of the Dead Sea is over eight times that of the Ocean. The high salinity is the reason that very little life is found in the waters – it is truly a Dead Sea. The Jordan River is the main source of water for the Dead Sea, with a few smaller rivers also emptying into it. The problem is that there is a constant inflow, but it has no outlet. This is what happens to the Church when it fails to have an outlet to the lost — it becomes a Dead Sea of humanity. We need to be a conduit of Living Water to those who desperately need it.”
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“Only to the tribe of Levi he had given no inheritance; the sacrifices of the LORD God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance He said to them. And Moses had given to the tribe of the children of Reuben an inheritance according to their families.” 13: 14, 15
Footnote reference (*2) – 13: 14,15:
“We await our inheritance in Christ, ‘an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and the does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”. (1 Peter 1: 3-5)
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Footnote reference (*1) – 14: 6 – 15:
“The tribal allotment to Judah began with Caleb’s inheritance. Caleb had been a leader in Israel (Numbers 13:6). He was one of the two spies who had brought a positive report to Moses at Kadesh-barnea (Numbers 13:30). Together with a delegation of the men of Judah, he presented his claim to Joshua, who gave him the hill country of Hebron as an inheritance.”
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“So Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter as his wife. Now it was so, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, ‘What do you wish?’ She answered, ‘ Give me a blessing, since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water. So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.” 15: 17-19
Footnote reference (#2) – 15: 17-19:
“She asked her father for a field , and he gave it to her. God the Father told the Son to ask him for the field of the world: ‘Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession” (Psalm 2:8). Jesus said that all things we ask in prayer believing, we shall receive. If you are born again (see John 3: 3-6), God is your Father, so be bold in your prayers for the lost.”
Soli Deo Gloria indeed!