Joshua 15 Bible Study (Allotment for Judah) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

If you have your Bibles, meet me in the book of Joshua, and trust that you have your Bibles here at Bible study. Joshua chapter 15 is where we left off in our journey through the Old Testament, and God has been so good to us in leading us through these different books. And now as you are aware, since we started this new section last week, we have entered into a portion of the book of Joshua that is very, very specific and demands greater attention in order to draw greater revelation. When we come to chapter 15, what we see here is that it begins the detailed allotment of the lands that were ascribed to the different tribes of Israel upon entering into and conquering what God had told them to conquer. What you and I are gonna read in these next few chapters is an ongoing list of what?

Names and cities and areas and lands that cover really the boundaries of each of these tribes from east and west, south to north. It's greatly detailed. It is exhaustive. And the primary reason for the Holy Spirit to give us this text I mean, on the surface level, we understand that this portion of the Bible had in mind the original readers a historical record of what belonged to who so that it would be a future reference in understanding what belonged to who and that God was the one who gave these different portions to the different tribes of Israel. That's the historical understanding.

But listen, our Bible tells us very clearly that this book is greater than just historical reference. The scripture tells us that every single page in this book, every chapter, every verse was breathed out by God. And being breathed out by God, there was a purpose. And the purpose was not just to give us some, again, documentation of what happened in ancient history. Even a section of the Bible like this, God has in mind for you and me to be perfected in righteousness, to be conformed to Christlikeness.

Oh, yes. Even as you read through these names, God had in mind from eternity past, this is gonna contribute something to the sanctification of my people in 2020. You have to believe that every time you come to the word of God, and that is the resistance against the temptation to say, there's nothing here for me. Let me just pass on to Psalms or the book of John. No, there's something in for us, and we have to remind ourselves of that.

And you've heard that being said throughout this Bible study, because again, no matter no matter how much we hear it, we still face that temptation when we come to a portion like this. Be reminded that God had something in mind in his wisdom for you and I. And we're gonna pray fully and carefully consider how, what God has in mind for our transforming power, for our conformity to the image of his son. Now here's what we can take from it. Before we even read a verse, you can just look at that chapter and see they're just names that I can barely pronounce.

Right? You have your Bibles in front of you. Do you see that? Name upon name, area upon area, city upon city. And I think one thing that we can draw from this is at least this, It's important to know how these places were determined and given to these different tribes.

Let's just settle that matter. Because this list and these boundaries was not upon human wisdom, was not generated by somebody's own mind or intellect or wisdom. It was orchestrated and it it was influenced by God himself. How do we know that? Let's go back to Joshua 14.

Look at verse two. It says their inheritance was by lot, the bible says, just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine and one half tribes. You go back to numbers twenty six fifty five, and you see that when Moses was still alive and the leader of the people, he had received instruction from God. Listen, Moses. When this second generation goes into the land of Canaan, make sure that they divide the land by lot.

This was God's idea. This was inspired by him. And so when we come to this point, we realize that this is God's doing. And though Joshua and the elders are instructed to lead and to to divide it, they are instructed by God to do it in a certain way, and that is by lot. Now that is a term that we're not so familiar with in our day, but we can equate that practice by lot to flipping a coin or rolling dice.

Not just randomly, but as a means to determine something that can't be determined based on human reason alone. When the Bible talks about casting lots, it's talking about an ancient practice. And that ancient practice was to seek an unbiased, impartial way of determining a decision that did not have the influence of human selfishness in making that decision. It was a way to eliminate and and just remove any possibility of accusation that a leadership or a certain party was making a choice based on favoritism or politics. It was a way of saying, okay.

Let's we can't agree on this. Here, I can't agree with you. We can't agree with each other. Let's cast lots, and let's figure out by this act who belongs to what and what belongs to who. Right?

It was a way of flipping a coin, so to speak. And this was something that was commonly practiced, and interestingly enough, it's actually something that is described as a wise thing to do. So look at Proverbs eighteen eighteen. The lot puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders. This ancient practice was observed by Solomon as a wise thing to do in particular situations.

And in this instance, when it comes to powerful contenders that can't agree upon something, to lean upon the lot was a good thing to do. Simply means that it is appropriate in sometimes to come to a place where when there's disagreements that you rely on such a thing. And it diffuses any spirit of accusation. It diffuses any attempt to to bring about some kind of a condemnation of unfairness because this thing has implemented and rendered the choice apart from human thinking and reason. Now that is why God gave this to Joshua.

Because in this time right now, Joshua is gonna implement something that would affect the rest of Israel's history. And God in his wisdom says, Joshua, I wanna free you from accusation. I wanna free you from judgment. I wanna free you from being critiqued. Implement the lot, and then give it out that way.

Now they did that, but was it superstition? Was it just relying upon random chance? No. I argue that when they implemented the casting of lots, they were prayerfully dependent upon God to use that to give an answer. That make sense?

I I know this is very historical, but we need to learn these things so that it makes sense in our bible. So you go to a verse like Proverbs, not eighteen eighteen, but sixteen thirty three, and see what the scripture says in in light of the lot being used. It says here, the lot is cast into the lab, but its every decision is from the Lord. So here we see a connection between what seems to be this random practice, What can be more random than rolling dice or flipping a coin? But in Solomon's mind and in God's mind, when this was implemented amongst God's people, there was a connection between this random act and God determining the outcome through it.

And so we can believe that when the Israelites did this, and they didn't do it for just casual reasons. I challenge you to look in your Bibles and see every time there is a practice of casting lots recorded, it is always for a crucial decision. It was always based on leadership trying to determine something that they could not determine on their own. And so even this thing, it's not random, it's not by pure chance, they were dependent upon God through it to find out an answer in a difficult circumstance. And we read that and we go, that's great, and we understand the historical implications of that, but then we have to ask the application.

Are we invited to practice such a thing such as casting lots? And I think it's interesting to note when the last time casting lots is recorded in the Bibles. I'm gonna ask this out loud. I know I'm not down there as we usually are on Friday nights. Does anybody know the last place in the Bible?

Yeah, Marfa. Does any did anybody else know that, that the last place that casting lots was in Acts chapter one? That's exactly right. In Acts chapter one, when Judas was when he betrayed the Lord and he had killed himself, the apostles had gathered together in that upper room, and they thought to themselves, we need a replacement for Judas. We need to find somebody that will take up his office.

And then there was a criteria to be an apostle, and they they just they funneled it down to two men. And when it came to these two men, they had to decide, well, they meet the qualifications. So who is it going to be between these two men that will take his place? And listen to what it says in Acts one twenty four. And they prayed and said, you Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these you have chosen to take the place in this ministry, an apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.

And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias. He was numbered with the 11 apostles. So you see what happens here, the connection between a prayerful attitude and casting lots. Again, they were seeking the Lord to use this medium as a way to determine something by his sovereign decree. And so they cast lots, it falls on Matthias, and then they move on from there.

That is the last time you ever see casting lots practiced in our Bibles. Now here's the next question, and I'm not gonna ask anybody to answer it, but just think about it. Why? Why is that the last place? It happened in Acts chapter one, and the reason why is because of Acts chapter two.

What happened in Acts chapter two? Who comes on the scene? The spirit of God. The Holy Spirit comes, not that he was never there, but he comes to fulfill a specific role in this new covenant that's to indwell the believer permanently, to fill these vessels that were blood bought by Christ, and to make our hearts his home. And because of the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence within you and I and specifically his church, the practice of casting lots was never implemented again.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit gave guidance now. The Holy Spirit was the one who would speak and reveal and show, and he would be the one that would lead them in crucial decisions. And you see that throughout the the book of Acts. You see it clearly.

In Acts 13, when Paul and Silas with his boys were fasting and praying and seeking the Lord in worship I I hope you have friends like that, by the way. Do you have friends where you fast and pray and worship the Lord with? If not, start praying for some new friends. They're seeking the Lord. They're worshiping the Lord.

They're loving the Lord. And then all for a sudden, not casting lots, but the Holy Spirit says, the Holy Spirit said, set apart from me Paul and Silas for the work of the ministry to which I have called them. So from that moment on, they became dependent upon the leading of the indwelling presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit, never relying upon casting lots again. There's your answer in mind. Does that mean that if we, and minor issues that don't cause great trouble for one party over another, cast lots to determine something.

It's not a sin. As long as you and I don't ascribe superstition to it or blame God for the outcome, we're safe. But what a wonderful new covenant thing. You see this casting lots up to the point of the Holy Spirit coming, being practiced, and this is how you and I are more rich in the new covenant. He is so personal.

He's willing to answer us and guide us, guide church leadership as they seek the Lord and fast and worship. He's willing to give a crystal clear answer primarily through his written word, but also through circumstances and providentially. That's what you and I have. That's what you and I have. And I hope we don't think that casting a lot sounds better than that.

This is our inheritance in Christ. And so this is this is God ordaining this when these boundaries are set. Now look at verse one and notice that the last verse of chapter 15 is verse 63. If you read this entire chapter, you are going to notice a word that keeps reoccurring and it is no secret. It is obvious.

And if you just even scale with your eyes, maybe you'll even see it. The word that keeps coming up is the word boundary. In fact, in my translation, I counted 20 times the word boundary coming up in 63 verses. And so as you read this, you you understand that God is very detailed. God is the one who's directing.

God is the one who's placing every acre, every mile, every piece of land he is decreeing for specifically Judah, the first tribe that's receiving their inheritance. And as I was reading this, I couldn't help but think, surely God is so careful with his decisions. Surely God is so specific. Surely God is the one who determines these things. But here's the wonderful thing.

As you and I read chapter 15, we shouldn't fall into the despair of thinking God was like this just for Israel. That God was careful and specific for real estate for his people in the old covenant. No. God is just as sovereign, not over just one nation, but over all nations and over all of his children throughout history. Let me put it this way.

God was not just concerned about the boundaries of Judah and all the other tribes in Joshua. God is just as more concerned about your boundaries and mine in this generation. Here's proof, Acts 17. Turn there and see what Paul declares in his sermon in Athens at the entail of his message. You know what he says?

He uses a word that we see over and over in this chapter in Joshua, the word boundaries. And look what he says in verse 26 of acts 17, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined, look at this, allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. Oh, so God wasn't just concerned about the nation of Israel and where they lived and how far they lived and how long they lived there. No. God is concerned for all people, and he's sovereign over all nations, and he's sovereign over every single person.

Verse 27, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him, yet he is actually not far from each one of us. You know what Paul is saying in this sermon? He's speaking to these intellectual opinions, and he is coming down to their level of understanding. You know what's a wonderful study? Look at how Paul preached to Gentiles and look at how Paul preached to Jews.

That's a wonderful study. When he preaches to Jews, he's heavy on Old Testament literature. Right? He goes to the text. When he preaches to Gentiles, he uses a different method.

And here he's appealing to creation. He's appealing to things that we would appeal to, to somebody who has no framework of of scripture. Wonderful. But he comes to the same conclusion, the gospel. But what does he say here?

At this point he goes, Hey, listen. God is not just the author of creation, he is also the governor of his creation. God is not just the architect. God is the manager. And yes, he created the stars, and yes, he created all things including you and me.

But listen, he doesn't just manage the galaxies. He doesn't just govern the ecosystem or the animal kingdom. Listen, he determines where you live and how long you live there for. Now we think that he's just talking about nations and how they rise and how they fall. True.

But he says all men. He's not just talking about great populations, he is specific. And he is that sovereign. And he is not overwhelmed in that task, by the way. He's not.

He doesn't sweat one bit in determining every single person in this place, where they were born, he determined it, what neighborhood they would grow up in, what house they would live in, how long they would live in that house, when they would move, where they would move to. And what you and I think is that we're just strolling along through life and we're just seeing natural unfoldings of what life brings. Right? Here I am. I'm going to this school, so I have to move away from home, and this job is demanding me to move out of state.

All the while, God is sovereign over that. And you and I might think, well, why in the world would God care about determining the address of every single person on this planet? Does he have nothing else to do? No. It's because even with such a meticulous even with such a specific task, God himself has a purpose behind that.

God has a purpose behind the allotted periods. God has a purpose behind the dwelling place of every man. And here's God's purpose, verse 27, that they should seek God. So all the moving around and all the the circumstances and all the things that we see unfold in life, God's ultimate purpose in moving the pieces is so that man would be positioned and planted in such a way that they would receive a greater exposure to God. And all you have to do really is as a new believer, as a believer, as a blood bought Christian, reflect on your past and realize how that is true of your own life.

I can testify clearly and with a clear conscience that over the past nine years, and even before that, before I became a Christian, I can see how God had moved me from different cities to different countries to different places at different times, and not one stretch of any of those seasons was wasted. Not one. Not one. And I'm sure you have heard testimonies of different people who are moved from one school to another, and it was in that school, on that football team, that somebody on that football team witnessed to them. And about this person that moving there and this person.

And you can see God so merciful, seeking us, wanting to even place us geographically in such a way that we would hear something of him. Getting our attention in a more marvelous and powerful way. So what's his will for the believer? Does he still implement this? Does he still care about where you live as a Christian?

Oh, you better believe it. If for the the the lost he moves and he determines and he establishes so that they could seek God, what is it for you and me? Well, believe this, that when he moves you and he changes you and he removes you from a certain place and takes you to that area so that you can help others seek God. That your neighborhood, their new neighborhood, that new apartment that you live in is your new mission field, brother and sister. That new school you got got to be enrolled in and that new job that you got, yeah.

God has a greater purpose than you making more money so you can have a greater retirement, so that you can help others seek God, and so that you can be the light in that area. And I just love that truth because it just shows me that God is sovereign over even that. Even that. And in some way you can argue that even in a new season, in a new place, whether he keeps you in a place for the rest of your life, because he determines the allotted periods or he moves you sporadically so many times over five years, here's the wonderful truth. He has a gospel mission in mind, and in some way for you to know something about who God is in a new way in that season.

So don't let moving be such a treacherous task now. Don't let packing your bags be something so frustrating. When you believe this truth of God being sovereign and you are walking in his will, you can be assured that he has something planned for that. That's not my opinion. This is what Paul is preaching.

He determines that on every scale. So here's the truth. On grander scales, he determines how long empires last. God has in mind how long America's gonna last, by the way. You know that, right?

God already knows. And that's proven here in Job twelve twenty three, he makes nations great. Who does? Not presidents, not prime ministers, not dictators. He makes nations great.

Nebuchadnezzar needed to learn that the hard way when he was strolling on his roof and he looked across Babylon and says, am I not the one who made this Babylon great? And within a moment, he lost his mind and was acting like a beast in the field until he acknowledged that it was the one, God was the one who elevated him. He makes nations great and he destroys them being nations. He enlarges nations and leads them away. And then you just go to two chapters after Job twenty twelve, and then you read this, verse five of chapter 14.

Since his days are determined, now he goes down to man, specifically every man. Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass. So when it comes to nations, oh, God knows the timeline. When it comes to your life, he knows the timeline. Every single one of us, he knows.

You know, I'm personally reading through the book of Isaiah, and it is an amazing book. If you've read it, you know it. You can almost put Isaiah right beside the four gospels because he depicts Christ and his suffering and his burial and his resurrection and exaltation so clearly. And there's so many truths throughout that book. And one of those truths is found in Hezekiah's story.

You know Hezekiah? He was a king, and he fell sick in Isaiah 38. And so sick was was Hezekiah. Clearly, he was at a point in his life where he didn't feel like he wanted to die. I I have so much life to live.

So he turns to the wall when Isaiah says, get right with your house, put it in order, you're gonna die of this illness. He turns to the wall, he weeps, he cries out to God, says, Lord, look upon my faithfulness. I don't wanna go this early. And as Hezekiah is on his way out, he gets a word from the Lord. He comes back to Hezekiah, and he says, you're not gonna die.

And listen, there's so many things about Hezekiah's recovery that is amazing about God. How he hears your prayer even though your lips are so close to touching the wall because you can barely move. He sees every tear you cry. All these amazing truths, but recently reading that passage, there is one truth that I always read by that never shook me like it shook me when I read it this past week, and it's a simple one. You read Isaiah 38, God tells him I'm gonna give you a longer life, and then there's this little phrase.

It says the Lord will add fifteen years to your life. I've read that so many times, but just recently that that shook me to the core. The Lord will add fifteen years. Who can determine how many years you can live? Here's God saying, I'm gonna give you fifteen.

I'm gonna punch in fifteen more years into your account on the earth. That's how sovereign he is. That's how powerful. That's how in control he is. Work out all you want.

Take all the vitamins that you want. Do all these different things. God has determined your years on the earth. And he can remove those years, or he can add those years. He can put it to the day.

He could put it to the minute that your heart stops. That's how sovereign God is. You know why we need to hear this? Because we don't understand how big God is in our day. We've made him so small, so he's just a little more holy than us.

He's just a little more mighty than us. He's just a little more enlightened in what's happening in the world than us. No. He can decree over your life right now that you can live x amount of years, months, days. He can he can show you the day, the hour, the minute, the millisecond that you will step into glory.

That's how powerful he is. He determined the allotted periods in the dwelling place of man. And he shows it in Joshua 15, and he shows it throughout the scriptures. Now we come back to Joshua 15. Let's read a couple of verses from Joshua 15, shall we?

Let's look at verse 13. Between one and thirteen is just a list of names, of valleys, of hills, of mountains. Then we come to verse 13, and it says here, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, he gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, a portion among the people of Judah, Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron. Arba was the father of Anak. What's happening here?

Well, it's in connection to what happened in the chapter prior to this. Caleb was a leader amongst those of Judah. He steps up before Joshua in great respect, and he says, Joshua, you remember. You remember Joshua that when we spied out the land and we came back and gave a good report, God had promised to me through Moses that the very land that I treaded on with my feet would be mine when we entered into this place. I'm asking you to respectfully give me what belongs to me.

Joshua obviously complies. He blesses his friend Caleb as a leader, and now Caleb is claiming what he received from the Lord. He steps out into battle, and we learn a great deal about Caleb's character. We're about to learn so much more. And what we read of is in verse 14, and Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ammon, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak.

Now Now we read these three specific names and it's sandwiched between more names so we think, okay, what's the deal here? It's important to see why these names are mentioned especially if you and I are familiar with the book of Numbers. You don't have to turn there, but I'm gonna read to you the text that was recorded when Caleb with the others initially spied out the land. And look what it said in Numbers 13. Numbers thirteen twenty one.

So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob. Verse 22. They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron, Haman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were there. The same three names. Clearly, these were important men.

Clearly, these men were threats to them. And in fact, these were the reasons why the 10 other spies came and says, we can't do it. We're like grasshoppers. Caleb witnessed these same men at 40 years old. Now at 85 years old, he sees the same men, and his faith didn't waver.

The faith that he had at 40 was the same faith that he displayed at 85. The same belief he had in God at 40 was the same trust that he had in God at 85. Nothing changed for this man. Nothing changed. Place him in the same situation at 40.

Place him in the same situation at 85. His trust in in the Lord is the same. That was the secret to Caleb's spiritual success throughout his life. What was it? That no matter what you place before the man, no matter what season of life he's in, his trust is the same.

He interpreted all things, all challenges in light of God's power and might and strength. And this is why no matter when or how or who, he still saw victory. You saw that he had the same hunger at 85 than he did at 40, and now here he is proving his trust in God to be the same. That is possible for you and I. That is something that you and I can aspire to.

That as we grow in age, we can also grow in trust and grow in experiencing God's interventions in our lives. I can't help but imagine the feeling almost of knowing that there were 10 other spies who at 40 didn't have what this man had at 85. There they are, rotting in the wilderness, while this man in his old age is seeing God do miraculous things. He drove out. Now that's an important thing.

Caleb drove out, not Joshua. You know, we've entered into a new section concerning details of how this narrative plays out, but we've also also entered into a new section of how warfare is done in the book of Joshua. Up to this point, who was leading the people? As commander? Joshua.

As warrior? Joshua. As fighter? As implementer? As determiner of strategy?

Joshua, Joshua, Joshua. Joshua's job had changed. Joshua, from now on, you're gonna divide the land, and you're going to give it to each tribe, and each tribe is now going to, in their own hands, inherit their own promised land. You know why that's important? Because Joshua can only take them so far.

And it came to the tribes, and it came to the leaders of each tribe to determine how far they would go in the promises of God. Is that not a wonderful reminder of how sanctification works to some degree? Please pay attention this Friday night. Your leaders can only take you so far. Your pastor can only take you so far.

Counseling can only take you so far. Expositional preaching can only take you so far. A wonderful church community can only take you so far. In the end, there comes to a point in your relationship with God where you have to determine yourself, am I willing to take up arms and fight this thing myself? You have to make that choice.

You are the ultimate determiner of how deep and how far you advance in godliness in relationship with God. You. Yes, you. You. Put your name in it.

You. God gives us these different resources and people included and he helps us come to a certain point as Joshua brought them to a certain point. But at some place, you have to spread your wings and fly and learn how to fly. I say that because some people don't believe that. And for some reason they made this about 10% of their will and fill in the rest of that pie with different reasons or different ways they're gonna grow in godliness.

No, it's bigger than that. It's bigger than that. Again, Joshua brought them to a certain point, and they had to examine their own hearts, and they had to take God by their own hand and say, okay, Lord, like Caleb did. Now you're gonna have to lead me, and you're gonna have to show me, and you're gonna have to provide for me so that I can know all that you have for me. That is so crucial to understand, especially in a day where everything is being done for us.

Everything. Almost anything in life you can get a service for and that you don't have to lift a finger. Unfortunately, we've interpreted that in our sanctification, and now we are extremely frustrated because we are not implementing our own will to say, Lord, I'm willing to go further, and we become overly dependent upon Joshua's in life. You and I have to make our own choices. And this is what Caleb did, like he said in Joshua 14.

He goes, my brothers, they gave a bad report, but I said I'm gonna wholly follow the Lord. He made a choice. He made a choice. He made a choice at 40. My brothers don't wanna believe, I'm gonna believe.

He made a choice at 85. Joshua can't go, I'm still going. That's the kind of mentality that sees wonderful things in God. It's not a proud thing. It's not a it's not a self reliance thing.

It's a will thing where you say, this is it. I'm going to move forward whether people come with me or not, whether somebody leads me into it or not. I'll lead myself. I'll lead myself. Does that mean that we dismiss leaders?

No. We use them. We receive from them. But again, you come to a point where you have to take up the task yourself, and God will honor that and strengthen you in that. Caleb himself, move forward.

And at the end of the day, you and I are responsible for how deep and how much we grow in God. Now look what happens in verse 16. And Caleb said, whoever strikes Kiriath Sefer and captures it, to him I will give Aksa, my daughter, as wife. So he overcomes this place, Hebron. He overcomes these giants, and now he's come to a new place called Deber in verse 15.

And interestingly enough, Caleb approaches this land and his strategy changes. He looks at this land, he goes, you know, and he looks at his army, he looks at the group of men from Judah, and as I lay out a challenge before you today, whoever can take over that land, you can have my daughter as your wife. And when you and I read that, we think, well, Caleb must have been very enthusiastic in Joshua 14 and in this portion where he thought he can take over himself. Looks like he ran out of juice. Looks like Caleb's joints are not agreeing with his faith.

And it looks like he needs some help. And so he decides to just park and delegate and say, Whoever can just help me out here, I'll give you, so desperately he wants this that he's saying, I'm gonna give you one of my most prized possessions. Here's my daughter. No. No.

No. No. No. No. I don't think that's the case because look at verse 11 of Joshua 14.

What does he say? I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. My strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. He didn't run out of juice. He didn't run out of strength.

He was not out of breath. He knew that he can do this himself if he needed to. So what's Caleb's thinking? Again, if you admired Caleb up to this point, we have more reasons to praise his example in godliness in a certain aspect that maybe you and I did not consider. Realize that Caleb is a dad, and we're seeing the fatherly side of Caleb.

And you know what Caleb's doing in his wisdom? Knowing that his daughter was at a marriageable age, he finds a way to find a suitable husband for her. And so instead of doing this himself, he pauses and he thinks, you know, I can take advantage of this situation. My daughter needs a husband, and I think this is the best way to recruit one. Hey, boys, if any of you can take over this place, you can have my daughter.

I think that sounds pretty selfish. It sounds like Aksa is not really into that thing. Well, she doesn't show any resistance. What was Caleb looking for in a man? Was he looking for strength?

Was he looking for military might? Was he looking for a man with resources? A man who knew how to wield a sword? Was he looking for somebody that can strategize? If you and I have learned anything about occupying the land, we have learned this one thing, that in order to do so successfully was highly dependent upon a man's complete trust in God.

If this was gonna prove anything to Caleb, he was gonna discover who had enough courage and faith to believe God to take on this task. Everything about what Caleb is laying out here in order to sift out the crowd for his daughter, he's trying to determine who is crazy enough to believe God can give him victory over this. I like Caleb. Oh, Caleb wasn't looking at the bank account. Caleb wasn't looking at whether he had a reputable education or this kind of standing in society.

No, no, no. Caleb was a man of faith and what he was looking for was another man of faith. And this is what he determined. This is way bigger than warfare. This is way bigger than how strong you are.

Everything about this challenge has to do with figuring out who in this crowd is a man of God. Who in this crowd is a man of God? And that's what this test is all about. You know what that says about Caleb? Tells us that Caleb was not just a man who is desperate to experience God's promises for himself.

No. God's concern in Caleb was that his offspring would know the promises of God, That his own daughter would know the promises of God. That she would experience greater things in God. Everything that God had promised concerning the Israelites. He showed that hunger.

He showed that desperation in Joshua 14, but that desperation did not just stay with him. He said, oh, I want my only daughter to know it too. And part of the plan for my only daughter to experience greater things than God, what? To find a man that will lead her into it. And so he lays out the challenge, and he finds it extremely important to find this kind of a man for his daughter, and for good reason, because he was a man who lived it out himself.

Was he not? A man of great courage and boldness and faith. Yeah, he had every right to look for that in another person because he knew that it was possible to live it out. Right? And so here's a man who not only knew that it's possible, he was a man who also experienced the vitality and the joys and the peace and the blessings that come from being wholeheartedly separated unto God.

He knew how the windows of heaven open upon a life who has set themselves to such a standard of living while everybody else chooses to live a lesser standard, and so he had no lesser standard than for his daughter's spouse. I know what it's like to walk with God. I know how that implements and infects my family life, my financial life, my moral life, every aspect, so I have no lesser standard than for my child's future spouse. And this was crucial to him. And if this was a room filled with fathers and mothers, I would drive this point in a different way than I am about to drive it right now.

I would. But I'll say this, how important is that quality to you as a single person? As a person searching and praying about what to find, not just in a man, but in a woman? It was important to Caleb. This was his standard.

Wholehearted devotion to God. Faith in God. Trust in God. Priority number one, sold out to God. You know what's amazing?

What Caleb was trying to find in a man, the bible encourages men to find in a woman. Here's a verse that we all know, charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman, not a man, a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Everything else is gonna go down, sisters, brothers looking for a future wife. Everything is gonna go down. Everything is going to be affected, but there's one thing that will remain, that's the fear of God in somebody's life.

I was talking to somebody not too long ago and they were talking about somebody that they're currently seeing, and that person just looked at me and says, I'm just looking for what the Bible tells me to look for, and I found it. A girl that fears God. Thought, wow, I haven't heard that in a long time. Because the reality is Proverbs thirty one thirty says, charm is the thief deceitful beauty is vain. Because if you search for those things apart from fearing God, whether in a man or woman, here's another proverb that describes what that reality looks like.

Proverbs not thirty one thirty, Proverbs eleven twenty two. Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion. So let's just illustrate this. I want you to think of a pig. I know that's strange to ask of you at a Friday night bible study.

But as you see this pig, you see this beautiful gold ring attached to its nostrils with the mud and everything all around it. And this is what the writer is saying. You know, you look at a pig with a a gold ring, and you might disagree with me, but I'll say this, that if I see a pig with a gold ring in its nose, I'm not concerned about the gold ring. I think the fact that it's a pig overwhelms the fact that it has a gold ring. If there's anything that's gonna grab my attention, it's the fact that this is a pig, not that it has a gold ring in its nose.

And that's the point to some degree amongst many other applications, that the gold ring is attributed and equal to beauty, physical beauty, external beauty. And that lack of discretion is likened to a pig. And the point is almost being driven in this way, that if you have somebody who's beautiful physically, but they lack the godly moral character that the Bible promotes, no matter how beautiful that person is, you're gonna be overwhelmed by the ugliness of the soul more than the beauty of her eyes, her figure, her hair, etcetera. It's very difficult to look at a pig with a gold ring and say, that gold ring is amazing. Beautiful.

What a beautiful thing. You're overwhelmed by the fact that it's a pig with stains of mud all around it. And likewise, when you interpret or you try to filter out an individual, and all that they have is physical beauty, but they don't have the internal beauty that the Bible promotes to match it, you will be overwhelmed by the lack of character more than the beauty that that person holds. Make sense tonight? I hope so.

It's important. Because all of us to some degree, I'm sure, can attest to an experience of somebody being physically beautiful, but then the more you got to Nolan, the uglier they got. And it's not because they changed in the way they dress or look. It's because they just exposed who they are in their heart. And the lack of godliness and holiness and love for God swallowed up like a pig will swallow up a golden ring on its nose.

Just lose attraction. So aim for the thing that when the the body wears out and the charm wears out, the fear of the Lord, it will be the source of attraction to you. That mean that beauty should be dismissed? No. I don't think so at all.

Does that mean that attraction should be dismissed? Absolutely not. That's another recipe for disaster. But there is a priority, and there is a filter and interpreting beauty that the Bible has that this world knows nothing of. And the more you saturate your mind and the more you convince yourself of what the Bible says and prayfully have it implanted over you, the more you'll be successful in finding who God has in mind for you.

So we come back to Joshua 15. Caleb wants a godly man for his daughter. And what happens? He finds him. He finds him.

He evaluated it. He found the man. But before we come to the man, let's discover the daughter. It says here in verse 18, and when she came to him this is they got married. So wherever this man is, we're gonna discover who he is in a moment.

When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she got off her donkey and and Caleb said to her, what do you want? She said to him, give me a blessing since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. What you and I may not realize immediately is that the godly man that Caleb found for her daughter match because Caleb had a godly daughter.

The criticism of the the ring and the pig snout does not apply to Aksa. No. Because she is demonstrating something that you see in her daddy. Was not her father bold and courageous to come before Joshua and ask for his inheritance? Did he not show an unwavering commitment to know what God had for him?

And now you see the daughter, his daughter, coming onto the scene and displaying that same kind of spiritual wisdom and boldness and fervency. She comes before her dad, and some would interpret this as her operating in covetousness. I cannot personally hold to that interpretation. What's happening here? She gets married and almost immediately after she gets married, she asks her husband to go and ask her father for land.

He doesn't move. Perhaps he's thinking to myself, I already have you. You're gonna ask me right on the wedding day to come up to him and ask him for more. I think you is enough. So she gets off her donkey.

She goes up to her dad and says, dad, you gave me your land. I'm I'm thankful for that. But this land needs some water source. I'm asking you for spring so that I can be able to water this. That's what she's doing.

It's a very practical request. It's very, not just practical, wise request. Now we see her way of thinking. She's not asking for gold. She's not asking for this selfishly.

No. She's asking for something that in her new found journey would be a blessing and a supply of grace and all these other things for her new family, her new husband, and her future children. Can you provide this? And you think that this is like a Proverbs 31 woman almost, and rightfully so. Selflessly, she is now stepping out because she's not thinking in the present, she's thinking about the future.

And during this time of allotment and determining what's what, she jumps on the opportunity before that window closes. And she says, before this whole thing ends, can you give me this, please? What a mind. She's thinking beyond. She's thinking wisely.

She's thinking in the future, and she's operating in faith and asking for it. Oh, you better believe that the man that she's married to and her, they're a godly couple. They're a godly couple. And so who was the man that passed the test? Look at verse 17.

And Othniel, there he is. There's the lucky guy. Othniel, the son of Cana, as the brother of Caleb, captured it, and he gave him Achsoth, his daughter, as wife, Othniel. Othniel, specifically, was Caleb's nephew, his brother's son. And before trying to explain that, how that works, I think what's more important is to understand that once you look at Aqsa, Caleb's daughter, and once you see Othniel, Caleb's nephew, we have a great encouragement that it's possible for an extended family unit to be wholehearted to God.

Because everything from Caleb to his daughter to his nephew are demonstrating a brand of sold out faith to the Lord, and that's possible. That's possible for your family. That's possible for your children. That's possible for your extended family. It's possible for whole family units, even extended families, to be marked by loving Jesus Christ wholeheartedly.

I pray that God would revive. If he's gonna revive anything, never mind Chicago. Let him revive the household of faith. It should be, listen, it should not be a foreign thing for families to have family devotion and family worship. I know it is, because we're living in in perilous times.

But it's possible, husband and wife, to raise up godly children. Yes. They will make their own decisions at their own time, but it's possible. And don't strive for anything less. Don't strive for anything less just because it's the norm.

It's the pattern where you have one wayward child and one faithful child. Don't settle for that. Don't pray into that. Pray into wholehearted family units. This DNA that's found in Caleb is not just found in Caleb.

It's in his daughter, it's in his nephew, and you just see an amazing family that's sold out to God. May God do so for generations to come with every family in this house. And what we see here is that Othniel and Acksa were a wonderful, godly couple from the beginning of their relationship, and their spiritual DNA would attest to that. But listen, we can argue that such a statement is true for their family, not just because of what we see in the beginning, but what we see later on with Othniel because this is not the last time that Othniel is mentioned. He's mentioned here, we're introduced to him, and then we see Othniel mentioned again in the next book that we will discover in soon time.

When Joshua dies and a new generation rises up, we see a cycle of sin. And as a result of sin amongst the people of Israel, God allows an oppressor to come and dominate them. And then we see this pattern in judges, do we not? That God raises up what? Judges and deliverers to come.

And then they have peace for x amount of years, and then they go back into their apostate state, and then he raises up another deliverer. Do you know who the first deliverer is for Israel? Othniel. Go to Judges three. Look at Judges three, and look at verse nine to verse 10.

But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel who saved them. Othniel, there there he is again, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. The spirit of the Lord was upon him and he judged Israel. He went out to war and the Lord gave Cushan, king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and his hand prevailed over Cushan. So the land had rest forty years, then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

It was as though we are informed that Caleb was not only one who Caleb was not the only one who chose Othniel for a faithful task. We see that God was the one that chose him for a faithful task down the road. And what's so encouraging is that when Caleb wanted to find a man, a godly man, to marry his daughter, he found it in Othniel. And when God wanted to find a deliverer and a judge for his whole people, he found it in Othniel. Straight edge, consistent, Just like his father-in-law.

What has this proved? I hope we're convinced. I hope we're convinced that there is great blessing reserved for those who are wholehearted toward the Lord. Do you realize that Othniel's life was blessed in every aspect because of one foundational establishment in his soul? Wholeheartedness toward the Lord.

Realize that when Caleb said, who will take over Deborah? It would require the same attitude that Caleb had. I trust in God wholeheartedly. And Othniel presented that. And what you see Othniel doing in the beginning, you see Othniel doing at the end of his life.

He dies in that state. That's how he's found. How is he found at the end of his life? With the spirit of the Lord upon him. The spirit of God upon him.

And what do you see? What do you see in Othniel's short life as recorded for us? You see this, that God touches every aspect of your life when you give him your whole heart. Every aspect of your life. God doesn't cheapen out when you give him everything.

God blesses you in everything when you give him everything. God will bless you in proportion to what you give to him, and some people only give him so so much so he can only bless so much. But when you give him everything as Caleb did, when you give him everything as Othniel did, Oh, he providentially leads you to his will. So what does he do with Othniel because of his wholeheartedness? Who knew that Othniel and his wholeheartedness will be led to Achsah?

Leads him to Achsah. Not saying, Achsah is your wife. No, just providentially. He was walking in wholeheartedness. He stepped out in faith.

And then down the road, later on, after he's married, what happens? Wholeheartedness still. And when God needed a deliverer, he he didn't need to look any further than Othniel. I need you, and I'm gonna use you. I'm gonna use you.

This is no light thing. Listen, I'm closing with this point. When we fail to give God our whole hearts, it costs us much. And when we give God our whole heart, we get much. There's always a cost in either or.

You're always gonna pay some kind of a price or you're gonna get something out of either or. Remember that. You know, we always talk about the cost of following Jesus. What we don't talk about is the cost of not following Jesus, because there is a cost. It's not like there's a cost to follow Jesus, and if I don't follow Jesus, there's no cost, no risk.

I'm not missing out on anything. Wrong. Wrong. There is a cost to not following Jesus wholeheartedly, and listen, it will affect every aspect of your life. Just like when you give God everything, it will affect every aspect of your life.

So why reserve it? Why hold it back? Why not just say, Lord, I give it all to you? Othniel did. And it doesn't mean everything goes right in your life.

It just means that you can guarantee this one truth. God will make sure that you are planted in his will from beginning to end. And we see that with this man's testimony. When we're introduced to them, he was willing to find God's enemies and fight them by trusting in God's power. And when he dies, he's left with that same testimony, being the same man he was when we first read of him, and the spirit of God was upon him.

Let's just look at look at verse 63, the last verse of chapter 15. Remember last time we were together, we saw a verse, or we're gonna see a very similar verse, 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. As much as they took over, as much as they stepped out in faith, for some reason, and we're gonna touch on this more next week, for some reason they could not drive out the Jebusites. And more than one tribe, when they were handed the responsibility to take over those lands themselves, for some reason, were satisfied with 98% victory and not 100%. And we're gonna discover how that plays out for each of these tribes.

But until then, we received enough, I hope, to be able to just commune back with God. Say, Lord, thank you for Joshua 15. May these truths be real in my life. Can we just pause on these truths tonight? Lord, we thank you for how a chapter like this can speak to our hearts so clearly and profoundly.

Lord, if there's anything that we leave from this place, we leave with the knowledge that you are so wise. Surely, you have every part of this book for our lives today. And we pray, Lord, that whether it's the sovereignty of God and determining allotted periods in the boundaries of our dwelling place, whether it's the example that we see in Caleb or his son-in-law, whether it's the things that we heard in between, Lord, may we leave here knowing that these truths are for our lives today. And we thank you that you're sovereign, and we praise you that you're in control. We thank you that despite everything spiraling out of control, you are in control.

And thank you that there is a lane of life. There is a a journey to embark on when we give you everything in our hearts. And the way you let Othniel throughout his days, surely you will do with the same concerning our lives. You will lead us to where we need to be, and you will show us what we need to do. We don't have to figure it out.

You're the one who figures it out. All we have to do is establish one thing. Lord, I'm not reserving one part of who I am. I trust in you completely. I live for you completely.

Lord, you've made it so simple. We are the ones who've made it so difficult. Lord, if there's anybody in here who's afraid of letting go of something because they think that they're gonna lessen their joy or they're gonna dilute their peace, help us realize what we heard earlier before we open this text, that we have diluted hearts to some degree, that lead us to think that what we even hold so closely to us is actually a lie, but we don't believe it's a lie. So, Lord, help us let go tonight. Help us let go of anything that you know and we know is not supposed to be in our lives.

And that can just be our will for the future. That can be our decision to say, Lord, you can do whatever you please with my life. Lord, we joyfully surrender. We joyfully lay down everything at your feet. And, Lord, like Caleb, we choose to interpret all events and all seasons of life the same way he did.

God is strong. God is mighty. God is wise. God is able to help me. We wanna be consistent in that, Lord.

Help us be consistent in that. Lord, we bless you, and we, with excitement, surrender again. We surrender again to you. We say, Lord, here's my heart again. We trust that once we do that, every time we do that, you grab a hold of our hand afresh and you lead us where you want us to go.

We bless you for that truth because you are patient and kind, loving and faithful. We give you our worship in light of these truths in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.