Joshua 16-17 Bible Study (Allotment for Ephraim and Manasseh) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Would you just join me now? Open your Bibles to Joshua. And as you open your Bibles there to chapter 16, we're gonna pray. Joshua chapter 16. You know, a few years ago, I I heard of a study when we were in school, and the school was, and the specific study was about how church services conduct themselves.

And there was an article put out there called, my house shall be called the house of announcements. And the study from that was when they had gone to different churches, it was a smaller scale study. They had figured out that there was more time given to announcements than public corporate prayer. Can you imagine that? Jesus didn't say my house would be called a house of announcements.

He said a house of what? Prayer. Prayer. So we take time to pray whenever we get the chance. Let's do that tonight.

Father, we acknowledge your presence in place, and it causes us to tremble internally. Lord, we know the joy of being redeemed. We know the the peace that comes from being your own. Lord, right now, we wanna please you with our obedience, not so that we can receive your salvation. We are saved if we received you by faith.

But Lord, in this moment, we want to know you. We want to walk with you. We want to represent you well. Help us, Lord. We pray for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to be upon this study.

Help, our minds be engaged, Lord. We just pray for a flow of thought, a clarity of revelation so that we can be, Lord, in tune with your spirit according to your word. We give you our hearts in advance, and we say yes already to what you have to say through your word. May be declared with your authority, may be shared with your love, and may be received with total surrender. We need you, Holy Spirit.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Joshua chapter 16, a fascinating section of the book of Joshua. You know why? Because we look at this text and we are in a part of this book, if you've been following with us, concerning detailed allotment of different pieces of land to the different tribes of Israel, and it's fascinating because it demands greater attention and prayer to know how we can receive some practical and theological truths from a list of names.

It's it's a it's a demanding thing, and that's what we're doing here. We're not shying away from the scriptures that don't seem to be so straightforward with truth. We wanna take our time and say, Lord, what are you saying in these chapters? And just for you to be up to date to where we're at if you're not with us consistently. We are talking about the nation of Israel that has been brought into the promised land.

That nation is, made up of 12 tribes, and God is now going to give each of those tribes a portion of that land. And the details of these chapters is what is going to which tribe, from north, south, east to west. We have covered last week the tribe of Judah, and I pray and hope that we received great truths from that. But from there, we now move on to two other tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. That's in chapter 16, chapter 17.

And what's beautiful about these two tribes is that they are they are termed as what? Look at verse one. The allotment of the people of Joseph. The people of Joseph. Now just a very brief, historical background here.

You have Israel. He had 12 sons. One of them whose name was Joseph. Joseph had two sons named Manasseh and Ephraim. Israel, or other known as Jacob, came to meet with Joseph after thinking he was dead for so long.

That's the narrative in Genesis. And when he meets with Joseph, he pronounces a specific blessing upon him. What was it? Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim, your sons, I'm gonna adopt them as my sons. And what that did was it doubled Joseph's inheritance, so to speak.

It gave him more than all his other brothers. And that's why when you read the people of Joseph, it's not speaking about Joseph, it's speaking about Manasseh and Ephraim. Just remember that. That's important just to understand how this text is gonna flow. And why did he do that?

Why did Jacob do that? He was guided by God, but he did it because and and for here's one reason, the other brothers, specifically the firstborn, Reuben, who was one of the tribes, disqualified himself from receiving that blessing as a firstborn. And it was trying to be passed down, but it was specifically given to Joseph because of the favor upon his life. Now that's important because Ephraim and Manasseh are gonna teach us great truths. And when you read verses one to four, you get a summary of the land from Manasseh and Ephraim.

When you read verses five down to verse 10, it gives us the detailed allotment of Ephraim. Now just look at it quickly, verses one to verses 10. It's a very short chapter, is it not? And to be honest, there's nothing very dramatic about this narrative. There's no interesting stories.

There's no little setup of any kind of characters there. It's just very straightforward until you come to verse 10. When you come to verse 10, it's a, it's a conclusion to how Ephraim treated their inheritance, and it tells us a lot. Verse 10. However, they, being Ephraim, 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. Now before we move forward, remember, this is a real story. This is true history of an actual people that were divided into 12 tribes that went into an actual land, and this is real. This is not allegorical. This is not symbolic.

This is real. But what we do as new covenant Christians is we come to this and we carefully and prayerfully look at the New Testament and say, what lessons are here for me? And here's the lesson. This is the overarching theme of Joshua for you and I as Christians. We want to know all of the promises of God for our lives.

We wanna know all of the inheritance that Jesus Christ purchased for us. And what you and I are gonna discover through these examples is how different tribes experienced their inheritance that God had given them. And how did Ephraim treat their inheritance? They are all equal. They all had the same opportunity, but each one treated their inheritance differently.

It's a picture how different Christians live their Christian walk. And Ephraim, an actual people, an actual tribe that were going to actual war, says here that they did not drive out the Canaanites, those who were dwelling in the land before them. Now we've seen this before. Go back to chapter 15 when it comes to Judah and look at verse 63. This is about Judah, different tribe, and look how it is concluded concerning his inheritance.

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. So listen, up to this point out of the 12 tribes we've covered two, Judah and Ephraim. And when we read how they both concluded we think that they're experiencing the same thing. But it's not until we read the verses carefully where we realize that it's actually different.

What does it say back in Joshua 16 verse 10? It says here that they did not drive out. What did it say about Judah? It says that they could not drive out. Ephraim, they did not drive out.

Judah, they could not drive out. Big difference. Rich revelation awaits us now. What we learn about Ephraim is not that they attempted to overthrow the Canaanites. They didn't even attempt.

They've comprised a different plan where they did not put an ounce of energy in attempting to remove them from the land. Instead, they came up with their own strategy, they come up with a different idea of how they're gonna handle the enemy, and it's really a picture of how a lot of Christians treat their sin. What is Ephraim doing here? He he's he's looking at the enemy and we think, well maybe he didn't have the the strength to overcome them, but it doesn't say they could not. It says they did not.

And clearly they had the strength to overcome the enemy. Why? Because they made them do forced labor. That's enough evidence to show that they had the power to control them, to subdue them, or to get rid of them, but they chose in their calculation, we're just gonna make them slaves. Did God say make them slaves or did God say destroy them completely?

Over and over again, God warns and tells his people, when you go in, get them out. Because if you keep them and you think that it's gonna be fine, it's not, and the book of Judges proves that. So what do they do? They say, let's make them slaves. And we think, why?

Why would they do this? It's deliberate disobedience for not removing them, but this is their mindset. They were tempted to disobey the clear command of God because what does forced labor do for them? They become more prosperous. There's more gain in that.

There's more advantage to them. And so what this really is is not an attempt to become obedient. It is clear, calculated compromise. That's what it is. It's as simple as that.

And here's the process of thinking. This is gonna be better for us if we do it this way. Now, before we pick up our stones and stone the tribe of Ephraim, let's think about our own hearts. And is it not true that when you and I experience temptation, that tug, those those thought patterns, those different ideas that run through our heads. One of the things that keeps us hesitant from obeying God is that we begin to calculate and see, is this gonna put me at a disadvantage or is this gonna make me more at advantage?

Talk about financial gain. Talk about the reward of pleasure. Talking about, the idea of the praise of man being brought to you. Talking about the cost of your reputation. So many things roll through our mind and we think to ourselves, if I do this, it'll probably cost me more.

But if I do it my way, I'm probably gonna get more. Ephraim is thinking that way. God said destroy, and they're looking and they're saying, but if we if we do it this way, we're gonna get more out of it. We're gonna get more out of it. And many of us experience that when we face a decision to make.

Are we gonna trust in God's wisdom and do it his way or are we gonna try to manipulate it, make it kind of look like obedience and and let a little compromise in so that we can come out more prosperous, more popular, more at ease, and we realize that Ephraim's story is not so foreign to us, is it? What's amazing is that you can almost imagine what their thought pattern was. Ephraim comes up and they think to themselves, look how much we've taken over, and then they come to this final remnant. And as they're looking, they're probably thinking, we know that God said destroy it completely, but maybe this is not the best way. Think about it.

Brothers, if we if we keep them as slaves, can we not make ourselves more prosperous so that we can serve God with greater ease? Can we not produce greater sacrifices so that we can come to the temple and give greater animals of greater quality if we have more people to serve? You can imagine what they were thinking to try to justify their compromise. And we might say, well, that's not explicitly said, but here's an important thing. When you come down the line in Israel's history, Saul was faced with the same opportunity as Ephraim, a man named King Saul.

When God says go and destroy all the Amalekites, he literally experienced the same temptation as Ephraim did. God told this king, I'm commanding you to go into that camp, destroy all this people. I want you to destroy everything that breathes. Because if you keep one thing that breathes, it's gonna come back and take your breath away. And it happened.

And Amalekite killed Saul. But Saul disobeys. And when the prophet Samuel comes on the scene, and Saul says, I obeyed the Lord. And he goes, well, why am I hearing the bleeding of sheep? I'm hearing things that I'm not supposed to hear.

And it's an amazing picture of how our sin will often tell on us. And Saul tries to justify his apparent obedience, but it was really compromised. And I want you to know, you don't have to turn there, but let me read it from first Samuel fifteen twenty one. Look what Saul says, but the people took up the spoil. He's blaming the other soldiers.

The people took up the spoil, sheep and oxen. Now this is absolutely astounding. He says, the best of the things devoted to destruction to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. You know what he's saying? He's saying, we took what was supposed to be devoted to destruction.

He very well knew the command. And he said, but instead of destroying it, we thought to ourselves it would be better to sacrifice it to the Lord. Now, I want you to understand how significant this is. This statement, this answer is much deeper than just pressure to compromise. No.

It's an offense to God. And I'll tell you why. Because he knew that God says, Devote it all to destruction. He knew that. He filtered the mission with that in mind.

But when he came to the opportunity to obey, something else interrupted him. It was his own wisdom. And his own wisdom, this is what he's actually saying to Samuel and ultimately to God. God said destroy these things that breathe, but God doesn't really know what he's talking about. These are too precious.

These are these are things that are too we can't waste these things. Surely God would want these to be sacrificed instead. And you know what Saul is presuming? That he's more concerned about the glory of God than God. Surely God doesn't know what he's talking about.

He wants me to kill these things and these are the things that he would he would be pleased to have on his altar in the temple. So let's gather it up and let's give it to God. And it's in essence saying, God, I see what your word says, but I really don't trust it. Your commands are outdated, God. Our culture has advanced.

Things have moved on. It's not the same as it was in the days of Paul. It's not the same as it was in the days of Moses. Things have changed, God. Isn't that how people are interpreting the Bible today?

God, we know what you said, but we're gonna help you out because this is not gonna win people. This is gonna push them away. This is gonna offend them. This is not gonna win people to lay their lives down. So, god, why don't we change it so that you'd be more glorified?

That's exactly what Saul is saying. That's exactly what many millennial evangelicals are saying. Let's help God out with his word because he didn't know what it would be like in 2020. He didn't know what kind of pressures we would face. He didn't know what would be popular in our day.

So So we're gonna update it a little bit for God, tweak it just a little bit. We'll keep some things that are relevant. It doesn't offend us. But some things people are gonna be irked by. So, God, we know you said this, but surely this will be better.

Do you see why Saul was revoked of his kingship and his anointing? Because it's more than just a slip up. It's a direct statement to God. You don't know what you're talking about. I'll help you though.

This is exactly what's happening And like Ephraim, Saul on a personal level, an individual level, what he thought was calculated obedience was really clear compromise. Right? And so, what happens? Well, Saul, we know what happens to him, but what happens to Ephraim? We're gonna find out later on what this little thing did down the road.

But I want us to go back to Joshua fifteen sixty three and look at Judah. There's a difference. With Ephraim, they did not. With Judah, they could not. Right?

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. Again, could not drive out, did not drive out. And as much as Ephraim is a picture of how many believers attempt to walk out in their understanding of obedience, The experience of Judah is another category of how Christians operate in their walk with the Lord as well. In what way?

Here's how Judah is different from Ephraim. Judah wanted to obey. They wanted to. They heard the command, and so they moved forward towards the camp. They moved towards Jerusalem.

They tried to overthrow it, but they could not. And so they attempted, they attempted, they attempted, and then they finally gave up and they said, maybe it's not such a big of a deal. Let them remain and hopefully nothing will go wrong. Now, we read that and we go, A for effort. They tried.

It didn't work out. But it's deeper than that as you know. We rewind back to Joshua 13 verse six in the middle of that verse, and what do we know? God told Joshua, I myself will drive out all the enemies of my people. I will do it.

I will empower. I will guide. I will provide the wisdom. So then when we know that, that is the foundation of understanding the allotment period. And we come to a verse like this and it goes, it could not.

They could not do it. God didn't fail them. God wasn't the one at fault here. The only conclusion that we can make when we put those truths together is that the tribe of Judah, as much of faith as they had in the beginning of their journey, they lacked it at this point. And we know that sanctification is a partnership with God.

God is willing to fill you with his Holy Spirit and give you what you need to come to a place of victory over every sin. But that victory will be given in proportion to our faith in light of every sin that we might face. Jebusites, Jerusalem, was a challenge for some reason or another. The other enemies weren't such a big of a challenge, just like some of your sins over others. And as they try to approach and as they try to fight against it, they they got tired.

They got weary. It just kept challenging them, kept resisting them. And they just, they said, you know what? Just leave it alone. Let's just live with it.

Let's just see what happens. And let's just hope that it won't get too crazy. That's how many Christians live. They give up. Can I tell you something?

And I hope it encourages you tonight. Don't give up. I don't care if you keep clicking on the website. Don't give up. Don't.

To give up is to die. You're alive as long as you keep fighting. You're in his will as long as you keep fighting. Don't give up. If if you you find yourself keep getting apathetic towards the things of God, don't give up.

As long as you see that it's a concern and that it is something that you don't want to live with, you're still alive. You're still alive. God is on your side. God is not in the middle between the Jebusites and the the tribe of Judah, and he's like, Oh, good luck. He's on your side.

He's in your corner. And he's always willing to supply. And not just the faith to overcome it, but the peace and the love when you fail to overcome it. And then he lifts you up again to give you the faith to overcome it again. And when you fall, he gives you the love and the joy and the assurance of his father like love towards you.

Get up and keep fighting. This is what they lacked. Ultimately, it was a lack of endurance. It was a lack of endurance. And you might see a behavioral pattern that keeps coming up.

You might see a pride that keeps coming up, an anger that keeps coming up, a love of money that keeps coming up, and you think that you overcame it and then it shows up again. Don't give up. He's with you. He's for you. He's not waiting for you to slip up so he can say, Here's another tribe.

Here's another Christian that messed up. Just another train wreck. No. That's not God's heart. He's for you.

He's more for you than you are for yourself. And he is more wanting you to fulfill the call for your life than you want it. He's eager. He's longing. And you and I keep fighting.

They didn't, unfortunately. And remind yourself this, it wasn't because God failed them. What do we see here? Isn't it amazing that in a chapter like this, we see two types of Christians? In relationship to their struggle against the flesh.

One says, they did not. They didn't even try. The other one could not, though they did try, and they gave up. Listen, we learn from these things that none of those attitudes should be replicated. We learn from this that this is a warning for us in our own walk.

Be careful from imitating these kind of attitudes. And so as we move on, we come to chapter 17. We dealt with Ephraim, now we move on to Manasseh. Then, verse one, allotment was made to the people of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph, to Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan because he was a man of war. And allotments were made to the rest of the people of Manasseh by their clans, and he lists the clans.

Now after this, it's interesting, there's a huge section, well, not too huge, but a big portion that is dedicated not to a Joshua, not to a Caleb, not to an Othnio, to a band of sisters, to a band of gals, and they are known as the daughters of what? Verse three, Zelophehad. Now Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters. And these are the names of his daughters, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. Obviously, the parents wanted their names to rhyme.

They approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, the Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers. So according to the mouth of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. This is significant. This is weighty. This is important.

First thing to understand, this is not the first time we are introduced to these daughters. This is not the first time. If you're with us throughout that series in the book of Numbers, we were introduced to them at Numbers chapter 27. We don't have to turn there just yet. But they resurface again and we have to understand who they are just to understand how significant this is.

Again, these were daughters of the tribe of Manasseh. And we are told, we are reminded again that these daughters, when they came into the promised land, there was no brothers. They weren't married to anyone at this point for them to receive an inheritance. That's significant because an inheritance, a land property was brought down to who? The men.

It's brought down from the father to the son, and then it just went down from there. So these girls are in a dilemma. The dilemma is, are we just gonna lose our property because our father died? Their father had died. Why did he die?

Because this is the second generation. The first generation died in the wilderness. So they're really left to their own. And then the Holy Spirit brings them again to remind us of who they are because they offer a specific lesson in how many, specifically ladies, can know the fullness of the Christian life. What does this teach us?

Why is God putting these girls, these ladies in the Bible more than once? Let's think about one obvious reason. Number one, it teaches us how God values women. It teaches us deeply how God values women. Why is that important?

Well, I want you to consider the day and age that this was recorded. For this law to be considered and even implemented by the Lord at this point of history is remarkable, right, in a male dominant society. And it's not that God, in dealing with his people, at one point had an unequal view of man and woman and decided to change his mind. It was always there. But here's something that you and I probably have heard, a great attack on God's apparent unbalanced view of how he values a man and values a woman.

Right? This blows that out of the water amongst many other truths, especially the fact that it's in the Old Testament. What is God doing here? He's esteeming the value of a woman. And he's doing this by by showing them again that what was given to a man because of their hunger and their faith was honor so that it was given unto them.

And this would have been a shock to not just the Israelites but to the nations around them. Who is this God that cares about both men and women? Who is this God that, does he think that they are equal? And what's amazing is that as we come back to numbers 27, which I encourage you to go to, verse two and four, we learn another truth. What did we read here?

That the Lord commanded. It was from the mouth of the Lord. God had determined, no matter what was in the man of the mind, he said, you give it to them. This is God's doing. And here's the thing as you turn to numbers 27.

Ladies, God considers you, and he values you, and he cherishes you, and he desires you to know something of his inheritance. You know why that's important to hear? Because when we understand and we honor God giving different roles to both genders, we might think because the man might have more of a leadership or a public role that the woman is lessened in their experience of knowing the true riches in Christ. That you have some of it, but you don't have all of it. You have just as much as a man does.

Just as much as these daughters did of the promised land. What do we learn? We just not learned that God values women. Number two, it teaches us the character of a godly woman. These daughters teach us that.

So when you come back to Numbers, this is when we first meet them. And again, they bring their dilemma to Moses and the leaders because their dad died and they know that they're going into the promised land. And so they say, hey, listen. We have an issue here. Our dad, he's dead.

And let's read it specifically to see how they worded it. Verse three of Numbers 27. Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin, and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son?

Give to us a possession among our father's brothers. You know what you and I are seeing here and in Joshua 17? Ready? A reflection of the same attitude as Caleb. Didn't we see the same tone?

Didn't we see the same boldness, the same hunger, tenacious faith found in Caleb, that old saint? Yeah. Because faith is not dependent upon your gender. It's a matter of the spirit. And we see these ladies demonstrating wonderful characters of a godly gal.

How? Well, first, these women clearly did not allow themselves to fall victim to the lack of example from their father. That's an important truth. They come up and they said, listen, our father, he died in the wilderness for his own sin. Probably the sin of unbelief, probably another sin that brought in a specific plague.

But you know what I love about these women? They were still women of faith even if their dad wasn't. And they still went after the things of God even if their dad didn't. That did not shake them. See, what many people can do is that they grew up in a certain environment or with a certain lack of example, and they allow it to paralyze them in the pursuit of the things of God, Especially when that figure of authority knows how to lift their hand in church and knows how to quote verses, but the moment they get into the car, something switches.

Especially. At home, different. I've learned in my experience long enough that this whole myth of the PK, you know, pastor's kid, usually that's like, oh, they're they're gone. They're rebellious. They're just gonna lose it.

Just give them the cars and give them the license and give them the opportunity to go, and they're gone. I've often learned, and this isn't always the case, but I've often learned that the pattern of disobedience found in those who grew up in those homes that were raised by, ministers, missionaries, were often somebody different at church than they were at home. I just can't fathom how a faithful man of God, faithful woman of God, faithful couple can can consistently see the pattern of kids rebelling against them. Now I I wanna be careful because that's not always the case. There's some faithful parents that still see their sons and their daughters make their own way despite their faithfulness.

But all I can tell you, enough conversations with people where I had to make a double take. Think, really? Is what you're telling me true? Oh, it didn't matter for these daughters. They could care less because they knew something, God is still God.

And so they they come and they approach these leaders and they say, listen, he lacked his devotion to God, but we're not gonna imitate that. Give us what God has for us. We wanna pursue this no matter what. We're not gonna let our wounds, we're not gonna let the failures of others bring us to a place where they say, well, that's true Christianity, and forget about it. No.

No such thing with these ladies. They recognize that's lack of faith, that's lack of trust. I want the real thing. Give me the real thing. It's amazing.

And so they this band of sisters chose to keep their eyes on God's word and his promises, whether their father taught them to do so or not. Secondly, these daughters of Zelo and Phiyad demonstrated laser focused passionate faith by asking Moses for possession. Again, let me not be redundant here, but let me just say this. They came with this crucial understanding of their spiritual walk. We want this.

And we might not be a man, but we still want everything that God has. And so give it to us, please. You know what they're showing here? Passionate hunger for the things of God. They're showing desperation.

They're showing a longing. They think to themselves, it doesn't matter. God is still for us, and we want it for ourselves. And again, we see this echoed in Caleb's approach. But what's amazing is, thirdly, they prove that you can be a group of godly women pursuing the things of God together.

I love that about these daughters. Here's a band of sisters, not just one lady, and a group of girls. And you know what qualified, you know what made them so special? They had a common desire for the Lord. They had a common understanding of God's word, of his promises, of the potential.

So don't think that, theological discussions, that passionate for the advancement of the kingdom of God is more normal for, men. And then when it comes to women, they they they they love God, but they they don't wanna get too fired up. They they gotta they gotta be in the background, they they gotta take care of things at home, and they gotta raise their kids in the practical way. They don't prove that here. They're just as fired up as Caleb was.

They're just as passionate as any other man would be, and they're doing it as a group. Can I ask you ladies? When you get together with your girls, is God in the mix? Do you find yourself together as a group, stirred by one another's pursuit of the things of God? You want an example?

Look at this band of sisters. Not distracted. They're not caught up in how the world defines what true beauty is in a woman, and caught up in the physical only. Yeah, take care of yourself. That's wonderful.

Guys, take care of yourselves too. But in the heart, we want the promise. We want what God has. That's what we're after. Oh, that God would raise up godly women who would desire the same.

So what what do we see? Well, we go back to Joshua. In verses seven to 11 of chapter 17, the story of these sisters are completed, and we are given again in great detail the different portions of land ascribed to Manasseh, one by one, name after name, name after name. But then, all for a sudden, what happens? The same thing that's happened with who?

Ephraim and Judah. Three out of the first three tribes are given this commentary. What do we read? Let's look at verse 12. And we see here, 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. How is this becoming a pattern? It's a picture of how the majority of Christians succumb to this failure. So Judah, they could not. Ephraim, they did not.

Manasseh, a mix of both. A mix of both. Because what we see here is that at first, they could not. At first, they could not. And then they come to a point where they grew strong enough and they still came to the conclusion, the same conclusion as Ephraim.

They put them to forced labor. And I'm reading this and I'm thinking, why? And I think there's two reasons. One, again, because the highlight from the Holy Spirit in this text is not upon the persistence of the tribe of Manasseh, it's on the persistence of sin. It's on the persistence of the enemy.

The Canaanites persisted, persisted, persisted. You and I have to learn something very important about the nature of sin. It persists in your life and mine. Sin will not give up on you. You know how God doesn't give up on you?

Sin will do the same. He doesn't wanna give up on you. What is its end goal? What will sin not be satisfied with? I'll tell you.

It won't be satisfied with you fighting it. It will be satisfied with one thing. It will not leave you alone. It will not move away until it has one end result, and it's all the way in the beginning. I'm gonna read it concerning Cain.

God told Cain when he was experiencing temptation to kill his brother. And he says in Genesis four seven, and if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, Cain. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. What is the nature of sin? Its desires for you.

Every single one of us. And that word desire implies its desire is to be master over you. Its desire is to rule over your life, and there's only two options. Either sin rules over us or we rule over sin. And what we are being told here is that through the persistence of the Canaanites, they bowed.

They bowed and they said, you can rule. Now, at first it didn't look like that, just like sin. At first, they looked like the slaves. Right? Sin looked like it was in control.

But what the tribe of Manasseh didn't realize is by even making them slaves, which is a picture of tolerating it, they already failed. They already failed. A little nibble here, you schedule your sin time. This week I'll sin, this weekend I'll sin, this weekend I won't, this stretch of time I won't. Right?

You're my slave. Sin, you do what I want you to do. And you know what? Sin is so tricky. Sin is so conniving and deceiving.

It will give you the impression that you have that kind of control. Oh, yeah. Okay. You can okay. Stop whenever you wanna stop.

Start? Okay. And all for a sudden, Israel thought they were growing growing strong, but all the while, while they were tolerating the Canaanites, they were growing stronger and stronger and stronger until the Canaanites ruled over the tribe of Manasseh. Never forget that. Sin will persist as long as you live, as long as you breathe, until you and I step into glory.

Sin has a mission for you and I. And that's important to remember. You know why it's important to remember? Because if you believe that, then you don't let your guard down. Right?

If you believe that, then you're always in warlike mentality. If you believe that, if you believe that this is the nature of sin, that it will persist until it masters over me, even as a new covenant believer, then, oh, let's go to war. Let's go to war. And so you take commands like what Jesus said, watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. I want I'm gonna watch and pray.

And you take the word in and you you take church seriously. Why? Because you know one truth, sin will persist. It's crouching. What an ugly picture.

What an ugly picture. It's waiting to pounce on you. It's there and it seems innocent, it seems like it's not a threat, and all of a sudden, it pounces on you. Now you're you're sitting there, and I hope you're not afraid. I hope you're not trembling at the power of sin when you and I are called to tremble at another power.

The one so powerful that he can even overcome through you that very thing that wants to overpower you. That's the truth of the new covenant. And so we see here that they failed to realize the persistence of sin and when they did, they surrendered. But here's another possibility of Manasseh's failure. Are you ready?

Manasseh didn't come up with this idea of making the Canaanites their slaves. I argue that their very close brother, Ephraim, who had done it beforehand, potentially, not clearly, but potentially, once Ephraim received their land and once they they took the Canaanites and made them to do forced labor, I'm sure that Manasseh was watching on the other side. Do you see what they're doing with the Canaanites? That looks like it works. That looks like it really works.

I say we do the same. I say we do the same. It's a picture of the danger of you and I comparing our pursuit of holiness with other people who do not take the word of God as their ultimate standard. So what do people do? They look at how other people pursue victory in Christ.

They look at how other people know the potential, the fullness of the will of God, and they see, like Ephraim, that they make these calculated moves of obedience, and at first, it looks like it works. It looks like it works. It's possible to know God's inheritance and still do things your way. Let's try it. Let's try it.

And what they didn't realize is that they were tying their own spiritual news. Because as close as Ephraim was to Manasseh, they were brothers. Even the closest to you, no matter how much you have in common, no matter how much history you have together, that person is not your ultimate example if they have not surrendered to this being their ultimate authority. You and I have to realize that if we're gonna compare holiness to anybody else, it's the person of Jesus Christ. Anything else is dangerous.

Anything else is dangerous. And so here they see, Look. And it looks like they're getting more. It looks like they're getting more work done. It looks like there's more joy.

It looks like there's more happiness. This calculated obedience stuff looks like it's better than total obedience. Don't believe that people have that temptation? You would be shocked. You'd be shocked.

And just like Ebrahim, at first, it looks like it works, but just give it time. Give it time. And those people that you see that go to church on Sunday morning, when they were Snapchatting how they were at the club the night before, yeah, it looks like it's working out. Right? It looks like it's fun.

It looks like it works. Just give it some time. You can't hang out in the devil's territory for too long before you have to pay. I could tell you horror stories of how how people even one visit into the devil's neighborhood was enough. And unfortunately, Manasseh failed by potentially imitating their brother.

And we think that we can close it all here, but that's not the end of Manasseh's story. We come to verse 14 and we see something quite interesting. Then the people of Joseph, so this is Manasseh and Ephraim combined, spoke to Joshua. Now here's a heads up. Joshua, as the manager of the promised land, is about to get his first complaint.

Very early. But Manasseh and Ephraim, they come up to Joshua saying, Hey, Joshua, why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am a numerous people, since all along the Lord has blessed me. What's the nature of their complaint? Manasseh and Ephraim combined, the people of Joseph come up to Joshua and they go, We don't have enough room. We're huge people.

Joshua, you know that. And here's my question, Joshua. Is this it? This is kind of narrow. There isn't much wiggle room here.

And they're frustrated. They're uncomfortable. They experience inconvenience. Now check this out. What's amazing about their complaint is what we just read of.

Weren't they the ones who did not remove the Canaanites? Didn't they allow the Canaanites to dwell in a part of their land? Wasn't that their own choosing? Can we agree on that? They did not remove them.

They kept some of the Canaanites to occupy some of the land so that they can do forced labor. Right? And then after that, they had the audacity to come up to who? To Joshua and say, Joshua, we need some more room here. We need some more room.

And I'm reading this, I'm thinking to myself, you had the potential to get more room, but you choose not to. Why? And I believe what we see here is another unfortunate picture of how people can find the ability to still complain to God even when they're in the middle of compromise. How people can find the audacity to be able to look at their circumstances of life when they're not in the will of God, total surrender, and still, because of apparent misfortunes, say, this is God's fault. If God was really loving, if God was really protective, if God was really a father You know, there's a proverb about that.

Proverbs nineteen three. When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. When a man's own folly brings him to ruin, his series of decisions that brought him to his own destruction, You know what his heart can actually do? Even though it was his own folly that led to his own ruin, this is your fault. Amazing, the depravity of man.

This is if you're really god, you wouldn't have let this happen. When all the while, it was our own folly that led us to that place. We are still able to look at god in the face and say, you let this happen when we made it happen. It's astounding. We are hopeless without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

We are monsters. We are scary. We are dark. This is a commentary on what man is able to do even when they let themselves to their own destruction. Secondly, we see here that as they ask for more land, I want you to realize how Joshua answers.

They said there's no room. So look what Joshua says in verse 15. And Joshua said to them, if you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of Perizzites and the Repraim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you. You know what Joshua is saying? Here are their complaints.

Joshua, we are frustrated. Is this what God promised us? And Joshua says, you want the answer? Here's the answer. See all that forest?

You have enough men and you have a God by your side that can help you overcome that. You're gonna have to go into that place, you're gonna have to cut some trees, you're gonna have to fight some enemies, but you will have more room. You will know greater experiences of God's promise. For what? If you're willing to fight.

If you're willing to fight. And what's amazing is how they respond. Verse 16. The people of Josh Joseph said, the hill country is not enough for us. The hill country is not enough for us.

Yet all the Canaanites who dwell on the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth Shean and its villages and those in the Valley Of Jezreel. So he gave them the clear answer, and they weren't satisfied with it. Sometimes you just can't satisfy people no matter what you give them. You can have it, but you're gonna have to fight for it. But why are they giving this excuse?

I present to you the case that they are giving this excuse because they want it the easiest way possible. They don't wanna fight. They don't wanna fight. They heard what the standard was. They heard what the word of the Lord was, and they will that's just too much.

Is there an easier way? Now you know what's fascinating? Potentially, why they have the boldness to come to Joshua and ask for this? Question, what tribe did Joshua come from? Does anybody know?

The scriptures tells us in Numbers 13 verse eight that Joshua came from the tribe of Ephraim. So it's quite possible that Ephraim comes up to their fellow brother and they said, Hey, hey, hey, Ephraim, Ephraim, do us a little favor. Come on. From the same blood, same ancestors, give us this land and pull some strings for us. Tempting.

This is my culture. This is my family. This is my blood. You know what Joshua does? Verse 17.

Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, you are numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only, but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it due to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong. He didn't change his answer one bit.

He didn't change his answer. Didn't matter who they were. His standard didn't change. His preaching didn't change. His convictions didn't change.

Here, this tribe, his tribe is coming up to him, and he is straight as a bullet. Didn't move an ounce. And his faithful leadership to the Lord didn't matter who was before him, he ultimately stood before God. Joshua said, I'm not changing my answer. This is the way to do it, and it's God's way.

And if you're not gonna do it God's way, then you're not gonna have it anyway. And again, you look you look at this tribe, these two tribes, and again, we're ready to go. I got some stones for these guys. And then I can't help but think to myself, how often do I rob myself of greater knowledge of the things of God for one simple reason? I'm not willing to pay the price for it.

I'm not willing to fight for it. I'm not willing to do it the way God says to do it. You know when that ark came from the Philistines back into Jerusalem, David wanted it so badly. You know how David did it? He said, let's put it on a new cart.

Let's put this ark on a new cart, and let's bring this into Jerusalem, and we're gonna celebrate. What are they they worshiped, and they danced, and there was music, and it was a glorious thing. The the presence of God is coming back to Jerusalem, and the thing stumbles, and a man puts out his hands, and he's struck dead. Party over. Worship time over, by the way.

And he condemns them, and you think, that was very harsh, but because they should have known better, you don't put the ark on the cart. The Levites are supposed to carry the ark on their shoulders, and David knew that afterwards. He goes, Levites, you're supposed to take the ark. Put it on your shoulders, and we're gonna walk to Jerusalem. But why did they put it on a cart?

Why did they put the ark Where did that come from? They didn't come from the Bible. They didn't come from the Old Testament. All you have to do is read it carefully. When the Philistines brought the ark originally to the people of Israel, they brought it on a cart.

And so they got the idea from the Philistines. Wow. They brought it on the cart? We'll bring it on the cart. Isn't it less heavy than to put it on your shoulders?

It's a lot heavier to take the ark and put it on your shoulders and to walk with that thing. Let let let the cow do it, and let's just carry it on the ark, and we'll be at ease, and we're gonna have all the blessings of God. It's a picture of imitating the world and how we do church and how we do ministry and how we do Christianity because it's easier. It's lighter. It's less demanding.

It's it's more popular. The Philistines do it. You know what you forfeit? The presence of God. Always.

See, we don't wanna pray anymore. Who who wants to come to prayer meeting midweek after work to seek God? Who who wants to fast anymore? Who who who wants to be very intentional with your holiness? Let me just float around in my Christian faith and receive all the blessings of God.

Doesn't work that way. It doesn't work. You're putting it on the cart. And so he says, let's do it the way God does it. And when they did it, God blessed them.

God blessed them. And here we see, unfortunately, the people wanting to know the promise of God in the promised land their way, the easiest way. Am I saying that Christianity is hard? No. I'm saying it it costs something.

Because John tells us in first John that his commands are not what? Burdensome. Not burden I'm not preaching to you to say, if you don't feel heavy, if you don't feel burdened, if you don't feel like this is tough, then you're not in the will of God. No. It's as simple as this.

If you are not just coming to the word and saying, Lord, I'm gonna prescribe to what you prescribed, that's it. This is the way. That's it. It's as simple as that. We have complicated it.

We made it all weird. God made it simple. And in fact, when you and I do it our own way, it is heavier. It's a lot more frustrating. We really don't see the results that we thought we would see because we failed to do it the way God tells us to do it.

This tribe, they said, Joshua, help us. Give us the easy way into what God has for us. And unfortunately, we don't get an answer from them after Joshua's answer. It's kinda left without a response, almost to just leave us in a place of wondering, what are they gonna do? Or like the book of Jo Jo excuse me, the book of Jonah that ends with God giving a final word and Jonah not responding, perhaps we're the ones who are supposed to answer in facing that text.

And we're the ones that were supposed to look at our own hearts and say, how am I treating this thing? How am I treating my walk with the Lord? How am I walking for him? And here's the thing, We look at these things and and we might feel discouraged, might be a heavy word tonight. But any warning is ultimately an encouragement.

Why? Because we see these these tribes, and then we look at ourselves and say, we can avoid that. We can avoid that. And don't forget that in the middle of of Judah that could not and Ephraim that did not and Manasseh that could not end, did not, You have these daughters, and you have a Caleb, and you have an Othniel, and you have these remnants of those, even when the majority are falling into the same trap, there are still those who are knowing it all in God. They're knowing it all in God.

And that's the invitation that you and I have today. But I wanna make one more call. Everything that I just said, everything, every detail is not even available unless another step is made first. See, if you hear this and you're not really in Jesus Christ, then you're gonna walk out of here with a very skewed understanding of what it means to be in Christ and what it means to be a Christian. See, this is a picture of the Christian experience, but it's not the picture of how you become a Christian.

Big difference. All these things about striving and doing it the way God wants us to, that is not so that you can come to a place where you know the favor of God, and you know the love of God, and you know his promises for you concerning your eternal status. No. These things pertain to this life. These things pertain to how you and I know this journey in the fullest way possible in this dispensation.

What's the step before that? It's a realization that you need God to forgive you of your sins, to wash you. It's a realization that you cannot do enough. You can't conquer your sin hard enough. You can't be in victory and holiness long enough.

See, if you interpret what was just presented as how you become a Christian, welcome to every other world religion. What makes this unique for you and I is that he pays the price, and he establishes a promise through his own sacrifice of his own life. So you would enter into him by faith, and from that place, know everything that he has reserved for you. Listen, everything about the Christian life stems from the foundation of understanding that Jesus Christ died for your sins, that he loved you so much that when you were in your mess, and when you were in your and when you were trying to even figure out how to please god, whether you were trying to figure out how to please God or you were running away as far as you wanted to from God, he knew. He knew that both would lead to eternal destruction and love.

What pulled him towards the earth, what made this majestic God put on mortal flesh was a love so deep that you and I don't have the mind and the capacity to understand it, but it literally, so to speak, pulled him down from heaven into the earth to come into this dirty, filthy, corrupt world that is made up of dirty, filthy, twisted people. And he comes. What does he come to do? Not to whip you into your senses. Not to tell you this is how you get right with God, so to speak, by behavior.

He comes not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He comes to demonstrate his love even before the cross by healing the sick, the touching the untouchable, and hanging out with the prostitutes and the tax collectors, and then ultimately paving the way, drawing sinners to the point where he came up onto that mount, Mount Calvary, and he died on that cross with you in mind. And then he writes that check for you. Right? You have a death, and he wrote it with his blood.

And this is what everybody else is doing in this life that's not a Christian. They're whipping themselves to bleed enough to please God. When Christ shed his perfect blood two thousand years ago, that still runs with power into the soul of anybody who would open themselves up to receive it. And then once you receive it, by faith and acknowledging that I can't whip myself and I can't do anything to please God or satisfy God, I surrender to Jesus Christ, Once you come there, then you've crossed a way of life into the promised land. And now in Jesus, because he has opened the door, not just for heaven, but he has opened the door to a new way of life, That's what his blood does.

You know, the scriptures tells us in the first chapter of Matthew that Jesus Christ would come to do what? Save us from our sins. You know what we've limited the gospel to? Jesus Christ came to forgive us of our sins. Yes, he forgives, and it's a glorious truth.

But he doesn't just forgive, he saves you from the power of it. And he saves you of the the wretchedness of it, and he saves you of the destruction that comes with it. By what? By doing what he's doing here in the physical picture. I'm going to be with you, and you can know all these blessings in me, including victory over sin.

Now let's walk together and let me help you. And you walk and you fight, and you fall, and you get up, and you keep fighting, and you look at bad examples, and you go, maybe I wanna live my Christian life like that. That looks really good. That looks like I can enjoy both worlds. And you say, no, and you keep moving forward.

And then you look at another side and they go, they failed. And they say that it's impossible for God to give you victory over this. And you say no, and you keep walking, and you keep following, and you keep falling, and you keep getting up. And and and then you know something gradually as you graduate in God. Greater victory, greater joy, greater peace, greater chiseling to be like Jesus, a greater transforming by his spirit.

As you fail and you fall at his feet and he says, my son, my daughter, I see you. Now let's get up and let's move forward again. This is what this Bible study is about. I say that lest you come into this Bible study and say, oh, I've I heard the same thing with that religion. Just do as not as much as you can and God will give you stuff.

No. God did it all already. What you and I do is that we tap into that power that he has access to us and given us, and we walk to know the fullness. That's why we come here every week to know, lord, give me the warnings. Give me the encouragements.

I wanna know the fullness of your plan for my life. Let's pray. Maybe tonight you identify with Judah where you feel like you kept trying and you could not. Or maybe you identify with Ephraim where you didn't even try. You've just made up a plan in your own mind saying, I'll have 90% of what God has, and then I'll have these things that are not according to God's will, but I'll keep it under control.

Or maybe like Manessa, you feel very pulled towards how other people live their lives for Jesus instead of Jesus' life being laid out as an example for you. Whatever it is in this place, God is so merciful and gracious. He gave us this word. He gave us this bible study for us to to identify with it and say, Lord, I'm there, but I don't wanna be there anymore. Father, in this place, we wanna know the fullness of your promises for each of us.

And Lord, because it's a fight and because sin is persistent, we need to hear it continually. We need to hear it from time to time. And that's why you gave these stories one after another to be drilled into our hearts. And so Lord, we receive it. We respond to it again.

Even if we responded to it last week and between last week and this week, we failed a bunch. Lord, instead of sin mastering over us, instead of the world mastering over us, you rule us, Lord. Rule our hearts and our minds. Rule our wills, Lord. We give it to you gladly.

We lift our eyes to you, Lord, and we say you are worthy of my life. Lord, you shed your blood. You love us, Lord. We believe that you love us, God. And it is your love that stirs us to say, oh, God, how can I not live for you?

How can I not live for you? So, Lord, in this place, we choose to say yes again. We choose to say yes again to what you have for us in the days ahead. Thank you, Lord, that if at any time we even choose to to walk away, we even choose to pause, we even choose to just give up, lord, but the moment we come back with open arms, you embrace us. With open arms, you take us in and you allow us to take on the rest of the years that you've given us to live for you.

Lord, your mercy is overwhelming. Your grace is overpowering. Your love is compelling. Lord, we are drawn to you, not because you whip us into submission, but your kindness leads us to joyfully repent and to just throw ourselves at you over and over again. Lord, we honor you with everything.

Now hear our voices as we respond to your word and joy with words of truth concerning who you are. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.