So, Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war. (Joshua 11:23, NIV 1984).
My Musings – They had “rest from war” because they “took the entire land.” But there is more to the story. Joshua and his army did “just as the Lord had directed Moses.” Furthermore, “not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.” (Joshua 11:19-20, NIV 1984).
Critics will ignore the part about “not one city made a treaty of peace,” focusing instead on “the Lord himself who hardened their hearts ” and “exterminating them without mercy.” The fact is the time for mercy had long passed. God had been patient with the inhabitants of the land, giving them generations to change their ways. The time for judgement had come, as it always will for the unrepentant. Their hearts were already hardened beyond reach. God’s hardening merely hastened what had become inevitable. Divine judgment.
But there was also mercy in that hardening. Mercy to Israel. Had the inhabitants not been totally destroyed, the disease of sinfulness that caused their destruction would have infected Israel. The land would not have had “rest from war.”
Of course, Israel would and has, fallen into sin many times. But not hardened beyond reach. Only in part. Otherwise, how could we account for their return to at least a portion of their homeland in the twentieth century? As it is written, “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so, all Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:25-26, NIV 1984).
And now, as in the days of Joshua, Israel is contending with those who inhabit the lands surrounding them. Some of which still inhabit lands that God promised Israel. The eventual salvation of “all Israel” is unfolding before our eyes. Although “at war” almost continually since the return to their inheritance in 1948, one day they will once again have “rest from war.”
My Advice – We (gentiles), “though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others [Israel] and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root.” (Romans 11:17, NIV 1984). That was another “mystery” of God extending HIs mercy beyond the Israelites. But as in old, that mercy will not be offered forever. Do not harden your heart. Rather, “[make] a treaty of peace with the [Lord]” through His Son Jesus. He is “the Root of Jesse [who sprang] up, one who will [return] to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.” (Romans 15:12, NIV 1984). Be among the “full number of the Gentiles.” There is still room. Still time. But the clock is ticking.
The Brew Is A Musing 