Day 84 & 85 —  Now that we’ve passed Day 66, we have established a “habit.” So, CELEBRATE our habit of daily Bible reading! We are in the third month so far! Praise God!  (Note: SUNDAY & MONDAY readings are always combined.)

   Day 84 – Joshua 9 – 11 (Gibeonite trick, Help!!, Miracle sun & Hail, N/S Conquest)

Israel feels smug after soundly defeating AI the second time, and perhaps Joshua let his guard down.  In Chapter 9, when the Gibeonite delegation (disguised as worn travelers) comes asking for leniency (as an enemy nation OUTSIDE the Promised Land would do), Joshua falls for their trick and cuts a deal with them.  How were they able to trick him? Verse 14 says that they “did not take counsel from the LORD.”

After learning about the trick, their hands were tied to respond, for they had sworn an oath to them by the LORD.  (Joshua is definitely on a learning curve!)

So, in Chapter 10, when five kings, angry with the Gibeonites, got together to attack them, the Gibeonites called to Joshua for help. Of course, Joshua had to respond and go to war against the kings. He would have anyway, but not at the call of an enemy. Joshua acted quickly and surprised the kings at night, chasing after them. Then the LORD threw down great hailstones, so they died (more from the hailstones than by the sword).  Then, he executed all five Amorite kings.

After this defeat, Joshua led Israel in a vast, circular campaign south, capturing all the kings and their land at once “because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel.  Then he and all Israel returned to the camp at Gilgal.

In Chapter 11, all the kings in the north gathered a massive horde of men, with horses and chariots, against Joshua and Israel.  “Do not be afraid of them,” the LORD told Joshua, “for tomorrow at this time, I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel.” And that’s what happened; not a man was left of the horde or horse. Joshua even burned the chariots and only the city of Hazor.

So Joshua took all that land, the hill country and all the Negev, and all the land of Goshen and the lowland, the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel and its lowlands as far as the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.  Not a city made peace with Israel except Gibeon.   Joshua even killed all the Anakim (giants) except those in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

Joshua took the whole land according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses. Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel, according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

.

    Day 85 – Joshua 12 – 15 (kings defeated, Land yet to be conquered, East of Jordan tribes, West tribes, Caleb, Judah, Jerusalem)

Chapter 12 lists all the kings defeated by Moses (2) and Joshua (31) in the Promised Land and that Israel took possession of their land.

Chapter 13 describes the areas that still needed to be conquered: the lands of the Philistines, including Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, Ekron, and other Canaanite lands. But the LORD told Joshua that HE would drive them out before the people of Israel, but Joshua was to settle the tribes into their land first. Joshua first settled the 2.5 tribes on the East of the Jordan River.

In Chapter 14, Eleazar, the priest, Joshua, and the heads of the tribes get together. By lot, the LORD gives them the areas they inherit. Caleb (one of the two original spies of Canaan, along with Joshua) is of the tribe of Judah. He asks specifically for Kiriath-arba, later called Hebron, for his inheritance. This was the last place where giants lived, and although Caleb is in his eighties, he knows he can conquer them with God’s help.

Chapter 15 describes in detail the area that Judah would inherit. The chapter lists many cities that this tribe inherited, including Jerusalem. A note is made about Jerusalem, that the Jebusites were one people that Israel could not drive out. King David eventually captured the city and claimed it as his capital.