Joshua - Just one thing: Chapter 17

This is a chapter in which a bunch of women are go-getters in attaining their territorial inheritance, and a bunch of men are excuse-makers when it comes to theirs. I know not if the original author meant the juxtaposition to have that barbed effect, but that's how it struck me.

Some might want to use Joshua 17:1-4 as a women's rights passage, and that's fine with me (as long as we admit that no one has any rights except what God gives us). But I think the anecdote serves just as nicely as an illustration of James 4:2: "You do not have because you do not ask."

If they had not been so determined and desirous---if they had not asked---the daughters of Zelophehad may well not have received an allotment among the children of Israel, and their clan of Manasseh would have died out. Zelophehad had sired five daughters and no sons, in a culture where inheritance was normally passed through sons. The daughters saw the long-range consequences of not speaking up and they prepared a case to bring to Moses: "Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father's brothers" (Numbers 27:4).

Moses had never seen this one before. Here was a test case. He brought it to the Lord, and the Lord approved of the women's reasoning. God always approves of our reasoning when it furthers his kingdom---and God was set on a total of 12 tribes in his kingdom.

But notice the balance of assertiveness and submissiveness in the daughters---assertiveness in contending for justice; submissiveness in following the instructions subsequently handed down by Moses and the elders. (Numbers 36).

It's scary to think of the things we don't have because we don't ask. Who do you know, for example, that asks for a gift of the Spirit, though God seems eager to hand them out (1 Corinthians 14:1)?

In contrast to the happy state of affairs in Zelophehad's corner of the camp is the whiny attitude of "the people of Joseph" (verses 14-18). Though Ephraim and Manasseh have been given the largest piece of the pie, they grumble that it's no good for two reasons: 1) There are chariot-driving Canaanites living on part of it; 2) there is dense forest on another part of it. To these complaints Joshua responds, as diplomatically as he can: 1) So get rid of the chariot-driving Canaanites! 2) And clear the forests! Do you want to be shown up by the ladies, after all, who slew their "Canaanites" and felled their "forests," as it were? These women "spoke to their mountains" (Mark 11:23) and saw them cast into the sea.

God had expressly addressed the chariot question before, and issued a command: "When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you . . ." (Deuteronomy 20:1). It's like Joshua and Caleb had explained to the Israelites about the Canaanites 40 years earlier: "Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us" (Numbers 14:9).

It strikes me as ironic that of all people, Ephraim and Manasseh---the sons of Joseph, should show so little zeal in claiming their inheritance. Theirs are the two tribes who were nearly snuffed out from their inception. If young Joseph's 11 brothers had had their way long ago in Dothan when they sold him to Midianite merchants en route to Egypt, Joseph would be naught.

Pastor Bill Johnson of Redding, Calif., speaking on revivals, once commented, "The next generation always seems to be unwilling to pay a price to advance what they received for free."

It all boils down to believing God and taking him at his word: "'How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?'" (Numbers 14:11).

It's a good question any day.

Read the next part in this series.

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