Joshua - Just one thing: Chapter 18

More foot-dragging (see Joshua 17:14-18). We can no longer put off a problem I've been ignoring for three chapters. The sledge is getting stuck in the mud. The first hint was as early as chapter 15:

"But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day" (15:63). ("To this day," in this case, probably means the time of the scribe who did the final editing of Joshua's notes before the Babylonian captivity.)

What do you mean "could not drive out"? Isn't God the captain of this expedition? Is anything too hard for God? I am struck by the way the author puts the matter of Israel's failure---"could not drive out." No commentary here, no theologizing, no explanation of the reasons, just a flat statement of the fact that they were unable. Whether this inability is due to a fault in God or a fault in man is completely left for the reader to ponder and decide. I know how I'm voting.

A second intimation of trouble soon follows:

"However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor" (16:10).

On past readings of this passage I have thought: "Well now, that's not so bad. The Israelites didn't drive out the Canaanites but they made them slaves. That's something. It's not an A-plus but it's at least a B-minus." But I am catching on to the understatement of the author, and I think he's saying "Booo!" under his breath when he writes this narrative. He's probably remembering the time, later in Israel's history, when Saul brought the same lame self-justification to the prophet Samuel who had rebuked him for not killing all the Amalekites and their animals as God had commanded. Saul said:

". . . the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction" (1 Samuel 15:15).

The third dropped hint of backsliding comes in the next chapter:

"Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out" (Joshua 17:12-13).

I just keep picturing the self-righteous schoolkid rebutting his parents: "I admit I didn't actually do my homework, like you told me to. But I did have the book open on my desk all evening. Come see for yourself!"

Now here we are in chapter 18, and the festering problem boils to the surface:

"There remained among the people of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned. So Joshua said to the people of Israel, 'How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?'" (verses 2-3).

Procrastination, apathy, indifference, powerlessness, and malaise will worsen in the next book of Judges (see Judges 1:19 for a taste.). Here is the paradox of the history of salvation: Salvation is all of God, from beginning to end---but he will insist that we cooperate and show some interest.

Read the next part in this series.

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