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Joshua Chapter 13 to 22 documented the distribution of the land among the Israelite tribes. After the tribe of Judah received its allotment in chapter 15, the allotment of land in chapter 16 was given to the people of Joseph. Interestingly even though the tribe of Joseph was given land, but he did not have a tribe named after him. This was because Joseph received a double portion of inheritance from his father Jacob. On Jacob’s deathbed, he blessed his 12 children, and in a surprising move, Jacob claimed Joseph’s two oldest boys, Ephraim, and Manasseh as his own, making each of them a full heir to Jacob. The result was that Joseph’s family received a double portion of the inheritance. God remembered His blessings to Joseph, and they had the largest, double portion of the entire splitting of land.
Verse 1 to 4 mentioned the allotment of land given to the entire people of Joseph. Verse 5 to 9 was the detailed description of the land allotted to the people of Ephraim. The chapter ended with an anticlimax in verse 10 where Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. They lived amid the Israelites but were made to do forced labor.
The bible was not clear with the reason why the people of Ephraim did not chase away the Canaanites fully. Ephraim might have been too exhausted from the ongoing war and had looked forward to the short-termed peace. Or maybe the Canaanites who lived in Gezer could have been mighty soldiers and Ephraim did not have the will to fight against them. Regardless of the reason, Ephraim had disobeyed God’s commandment. God had told the Israelites before they entered the promise land to drive out all the nations residing in the area and devote them to destruction. (Deuteronomy 7) But here the tribe of Ephraim failed to conquer the land wholly. When we look at the later period of the Judges, we will see how costly their disobedience had been. The Canaanites later became thorns in their sides, and the foreign gods became a snare to them. (Judges 2:3) As a result of their indecision, the next generation of Israel spiraled downward into sin and disbelief and turned away from Yahweh.
The disobedience of one generation had cost the spiritual downfall of another generation. Do not get me wrong, the generation of Joshua had fought hard in claiming the promised land for themselves and for their future generations, and in the process they had witnessed the power and provision of Yahweh. They had a relationship with Him. However, despite what they had witnessed of what the Lord had done, they had not gone all the way to trust God in claiming the land for themselves.
Dear brothers and sisters, like it or not, our spiritual walk and faith decisions as spiritual leaders and parents’ matter! Our children look at us as we practice our faith. It is not just what we say about God that matters, what matters more is what we do to show our trust and obedience to Him. The buzz word for the young people amidst us is “authenticity”. As you authentic in your faith, or is it just for a show? They can smell authenticity miles away. The best gift we can give our children is to model for them what it means to follow Christ. For example, if we as adults cannot even honor God through our Sabbath, we should not be surprised if our children are not walking close to God.
Dear leaders, we need to take responsibilities for our decisions today in church. In our decisions, do we take steps to fear and seek God? In the directions we sense from Him, do we step out in boldness and faith, believing that He will provide whatever is necessary for us to be followers of Christ and faithful witnesses for Him? What spiritual legacy do we live behind for our children to charge them to take over the spiritual baton of winning their generation for Christ?
Dear brothers and sisters, our spiritual walk and faith decision matters to our children. Would you ask God to help you walk close to Him first and then model for your children how to walk close to Him?
Prayer: Dear God, would you help us to be a spiritual role model for our younger generation, so that they can imitate us as we imitate Jesus Christ. In Jesus name, amen.
