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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Claiming victory too soon? | Josh 21:43 | Just Read Mark | 208718 | ||
Reading Joshua more closely than I have before, I find it hard to interpret what is going on. Why does this verse claim a total victory? Verses like Joshua 15:63, 16:10, 17:12-18 all show the tribes failing to take their inheritance. Even after the current verse 21:43, where victory is declared, we have Joshua instructing the tribes to take their inheritance. (23:4, Judges 2:6) We often celebrate God's fulfilled promises... what are we to make of promises that are claimed to be fulfilled, when the text itself is clear that they are not? |
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2 | Claiming victory too soon? | Josh 21:43 | DocTrinsograce | 208760 | ||
"The nations of Canaan were so completely overcome with fear, that they thought they could not better consult their interest than by servility flattering the Israelites, and purchasing peace from them on any terms. Plainly, therefore, the country was subdued and rendered peaceful for habitation, since no one gave any annoyance, or dared to entertain any hostile intentions, since there were no threats, no snares, no violence, no conspiracies. "A second point, however, raises some doubt, namely, how the children of Israel can be said to have been settled in the possession of the land promised to them, and to have become masters of it, in such a sense that in regard to the enjoyment of it, not one syllable of the promises of God had failed. For we have already seen that many of the enemy were intermingled with them. The divine intention was, that not one of the enemy should be permitted to remain; on the other hand, the Israelites do not drive out many, but admit them as neighbors, as if the inheritance had been common to them; they even make pactions [treaties] with them. How then can these two things be reconciled, that God, as He had promised, gave possession of the land to the people, and yet they were excluded from some portion by the power or obstinate resistance of the enemy? "In order to remove this appearance of contradiction, it is necessary to distinguish between the certain, clear, and steadfast faithfulness of God in keeping His promises, and between the effeminacy and sluggishness of the people, in consequence of which the benefit of the divine goodness in a manner slipped through their hands. Whatever war the people undertook, in whatever direction they moved their standards, victory was prepared; nor was there any other delay or obstacle to their exterminating all their enemies than their own voluntary torpor. Wherefore, although they did not rout them all so as to make their possession clear, yet the truth of God came visibly forth, and was realized, inasmuch as they might have obtained what was remaining without any difficulty, had they been pleased to avail themselves of the victories offered to them. The whole comes to this, that it was owing entirely to their own cowardice that they did not enjoy the divine goodness in all its fullness and integrity. This will be still clearer from the following chapter." --John Calvin |
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3 | Claiming victory too soon? | Josh 21:43 | Just Read Mark | 208800 | ||
Hi Doc. I do not question the faithfulness of God to fulfill the promises, and I understand that tension is caused by the fickleness of the tribes. But here is the question: would it not have been more honest of Joshua to say something like "look how faithful God has been --- and see that the whole of the promised land is within our grasp if we continue! Take courage, be faithful, so that we may see God's promises fulfilled!" That would be much more in keeping with Calvin's interpretation, but is strikingly different from Joshua's actual speach: "Not one of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass." (22:45) What truth or merit did Joshua have in this statement? I am beginning to wonder if it is the hubris of an aging general... | ||||||
4 | Claiming victory too soon? | Josh 21:43 | DocTrinsograce | 208834 | ||
Hi, JRM... Imputing such subtle connotations to the language of the text might be warranted by contemporaries of Joshua, but is probably something way out of our depth. Clearly the Lord had and was fulfilling His promise, driving the heathen out of the land "little by little" until Israel had increased and possessed the land (Exodus 23:30). If Joshua was in error, then we'd have to deem David as having made the same error (Psalm 44:3). I have learned that it is generally wiser to adjust our presuppositions rather than try to wrangle the text so as to make ourselves more comfortable. That's particularly true when Christendom has maintained a particular interpretation for so long. Chances are that we're just tilting at wind mills -- too much serious stuff warrants our studied attention. In Him, Doc |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Josh 21:43 | Author | ||
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Arnold | ||
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Just Read Mark | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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Just Read Mark | ||
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DocTrinsograce |