1 Samuel 17:1–30 David and Goliath, Part 1

[Study Aired May 4, 2026]

Chapter 17 of first Samuel emphasizes the victory of David over Goliath, demonstrating the triumph of faith over fear. It also shows us that the battle is indeed the Lord’s. 

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 

1Sa 17:47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands. 

The chapter is divided into two parts. The first part, which is the study today, highlights how David came to the battle field where Goliath was defying the armies of Israel. The second part of the study will focus on how David won the victory over Goliath and his army. 

Introducing Goliath

1Sa 17:1  Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. 
1Sa 17:2  And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 
1Sa 17:3  And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. 

The verses above demonstrate how we are in conflict with our flesh as long as we live. As we have indicated in previous studies, the Philistines represent our flesh and this conflict with our flesh is what is spoken of in the word of the Lord as follows:

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 
Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.  

In verse 1, we are told where the Philistines were gathered – from Shochoh to Azekah. The names of where the Philistines were gathered show us some of the characteristics of our flesh. Shochoh means ‘hedge’; which can mean limiting an action. This implies that our flesh signified by the Philistines, is limited in terms of its ability to derail the Lord’s elect from the prize. Azekah means ’tilled.’ The Philistines’ residence stretching to Azekah implies that the carnal mind of  the flesh, powered by the devil, can dominate those in whom the Lord is preparing their hearts and minds. Our Lord Jesus warned us that when an unclean spirit leaves a man, he comes with seven more spirits to reside in the man whose heart and mind is garnished. That is why we must test the spirit to see if what is said is of the Lord or from the carnal mind of the flesh. 

Mat 12:43  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. 

The fact that the Philistines were in Ephesdammim, which means the boundary of blood drops suggests that in our fight against the flesh, we do not have to resist to the point of shedding blood. 

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

Saul and the men of Israel were camped by the valley of Elah. In the scriptures, valleys represent places where we are tried and tested, just before the Lord elevates us spiritually.  

Psa 84:6  Who passing through the valley of Baca (Baca means weeping) make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. 
Psa 84:7  They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. 

Hos 2:15  And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor (Achor means troubled) for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 

The fact that in verse 3, the Philistines were on a mountain, while the Israelites, too, were on a mountain with a valley between them signifies that we must be full of the flesh before we are judged or taken through bitter experience, resulting in our elevation to become part of the children of Israel which denotes the Lord’s elect. 

1Sa 17:4  And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 
1Sa 17:5  And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. 
1Sa 17:6  And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. 
1Sa 17:7  And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him. 

Goliath’s stature, protective armor and weapons of warfare typify the formidable opposition of our flesh. Goliath means exile and Gath signifies wine press. This shows us that the work of the Lord is to exile or cast out the flesh of the elect through judgment (winepress) in this age.

In verse 4, one of the notable features of Goliath was his height of approximately six cubits. The number six is the number of man, and therefore this shows us that Goliath represents our flesh. Height in the negative context denote pride. One of the notable characteristics of our flesh is its pride in lifting ourselves or not submitting to the Lord. 

Eze 31:10  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; 

Eze 31:14  To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.   

In verse 5, Goliath’s body armor weighed 5,000 shekels of brass. Brass or copper on a negative note describes our carnal state in Christ which must be purified with a furnace of fire. What this implies is that the carnal mind of the flesh is what protects it from the truth of the word of the Lord. The number 5,000 signifies our carnal state in Christ such that we cannot understand the mysteries of the kingdom. 

Mat 14:21  And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

Mat 16:9  Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 

If we are called and chosen by the Lord, then in the fullness of time, the stronger man (Jesus Christ) will grant us victory over the carnal mind of our flesh as He disarms the flesh. 

Luk 11:22  But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. 

Goliath’s weapon is the spear which spiritually is the same as the sword. 

1Sa 13:22  So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found.

In the negative sense, the sword or the spear represents false doctrines. This is supported by the fact that Goliath’s spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron. The number six hundred is composed of six and two tens (600 =6x10x10). Six is the number of man, and the two tens represent a witness to the fullness of the flesh. This implies that the false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition is what is spewed by our flesh. 

Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 

It is through false doctrines that the devil empowers our flesh and therefore, deceives the whole world.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.  

It is also instructive to note that there is one who bears Goliath’s shield before him. The person bearing his shield represents the false teachers and apostles parading in the corridors of the church system of this world. These false messengers come as angels of light, spewing false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition to strengthen the flesh.

Mat 15:9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.    

1Sa 17:8  And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. 
1Sa 17:9  If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. 
1Sa 17:10  And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. 
1Sa 17:11  When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. 

As indicated, Goliath represents the formidable opposition of our flesh. Since creation until the time of Christ, no man was able to overcome the flesh except Jesus. Jesus is the first overcomer. 

Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. 

Goliath throwing a challenge that the Israelites should choose a man to fight him and that whoever wins becomes the Lord is to let us know how our flesh makes his boast through the false doctrine that no man can overcome him.

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 

Saul and the people of Israel becoming dismayed and greatly afraid in verse 11, shows that as long as we remain in the church system of this world or Babylon, we are not going to overcome the flesh. This is due to the false doctrine that no man is able to make war with the beast or our flesh. 

How David Entered the Battle Field

1Sa 17:12  Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. 
1Sa 17:13  And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 
1Sa 17:14  And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul. 
1Sa 17:15  But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

In the previous study, David was anointed with the spirit of the Lord coming on him. This serves as the beginning of the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. 

Col 3:10  and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 

The fact that David was the eighth son affirms his new beginning or the new man in him, since the number eight represents new beginning or the new man. David therefore signifies the Lord’s elect.   

The number three denotes the process of spiritual maturity through the Lord’s judgment. The fact that three of the eldest sons of Jesse went to battle the Philistines implies that it is through judgment that we overcome the old man or the flesh. 

In verse 15, David going from Saul, who symbolizes the church system of this world, to take care of his father’s sheep means that we must leave Babylon to become part of the church of the new Jerusalem or the first born.  

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 

1Sa 17:16  And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. 

The number forty signifies the periods of trial and testing in our lives. Goliath presenting himself for forty days to the Israelites without any challenge shows how when we were in the church system of this world or Babylon, we were not given to enter the rest of the Lord since we were always erring in our hearts and had not known the Lord’s way of overcoming the flesh. 

Psa 95:10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 
Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. 

1Sa 17:17  And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; 
1Sa 17:18  And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. 
1Sa 17:19  Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

The fact that David was sent by his father Jesse to send food to his brothers and the captains of thousands, in the camp of the Israelites, signifies that there is lack of food or the word of the Lord in Babylon. 

Eze 4:16  Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: 
Eze 4:17  That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity. 

As indicated earlier, valleys represent places where we are tried and tested, just before the Lord elevates us spiritually. Saul and all the men of Israel in the valley of Elah fighting the Philistines in verse 19 implies that they were being tried and tested. As we shall see later, none of the men of Israel or Saul was able to confront Goliath in the valley. This suggests that when we were in the church system of this world or Babylon, we were tried and tested, and found lacking the ability to overcome the flesh. 

1Sa 17:20  And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. 
1Sa 17:21  For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. 
1Sa 17:22  And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. 
1Sa 17:23  And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. 
1Sa 17:24  And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.  

As we have shown earlier, David represents the Lord’s elect. The fact that David was not part of Saul’s army facing the Philistines is to show us that David had left Babylon. In verse 24, all the men of Israel fled from Goliath and were afraid. This demonstrates how our brothers and sisters in the church system of this world are not given to overcome the flesh in this age. On the other hand, David was not afraid when he heard the words of Goliath. It shows us that it is only the Lord’s elect who are favored to overcome the flesh in this age. 

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.  

1Sa 17:25  And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel. 
1Sa 17:26  And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? 
1Sa 17:27  And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. 

Verse 25 shows us the reward for overcoming the flesh in this age. The king enriching the one who kills Goliath signifies being enriched in Christ as we overcome in this age. This is a continuous process as long as we live in the flesh.

1Co 1:5  That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 
1Co 1:6  Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 

The king giving his daughter to the one who overcomes Goliath symbolizes the overcomers becoming the bride of Christ. 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

The third reward for overcoming in verse 25 is that the king will not require his father’s house to pay taxes. As we overcome and are being enriched in Christ, we come to realize that we are free from the burden of the law of Moses which includes tithing, which is equivalent to paying tax. 

Mat 17:24  When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 
Mat 17:25  He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 
Mat 17:26  And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.” (ESV)

David enquiring about the reward for overcoming Goliath in verse 26 indicates that David, as a symbol of the Lord’s elect, had respect for the reward. As we are aware, the Lord Jesus was motivated by the joy that was set before Him or the reward. Similarly, Moses also had respect for the reward. As the Lord’s elect, we must be motivated to overcome in this age by the reward set before us. 

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

1Sa 17:28  And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. 
1Sa 17:29  And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? 
1Sa 17:30  And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

It is important to note that in verse 28, David’s brother, Eliab, was angry with David’s enquiry about the reward for defeating Goliath. Eliab represents our brothers and sisters in the churches of this world or Babylon, whose anger is kindled against us when we question their beliefs about the future reward. Just as Eliab did not think that David had changed inwardly and was pointing to David’s pride and naughtiness of heart, our brothers and sisters in the church system of this world do not consider us as inwardly changed from our former way of life. They consider us as dead in the street of the church system of this world or Jerusalem (Sodom and Egypt).

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 

As David turned from his brother Eliab to someone ready to provide him with answers about the reward in verse 30, we must turn to those who are willing to help us understand the joy that is set before us.

Mat 7:6  Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.  

May the Lord grant us the grace to have respect for the reward. Amen!!

Number 13:1-33  The Spies sent to Canaan and Their Report

[Study Aired July 24, 2023]

Num 13:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 13:2  Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
Num 13:3  And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. 
Num 13:4  And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 
Num 13:5  Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. 
Num 13:6  Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 
Num 13:7  Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 
Num 13:8  Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. 
Num 13:9  Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. 
Num 13:10  Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 
Num 13:11  Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 
Num 13:12  Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 
Num 13:13  Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 
Num 13:14  Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 
Num 13:15  Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 
Num 13:16  These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. 
Num 13:17  And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 
Num 13:18  And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 
Num 13:19  And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 
Num 13:20  And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
Num 13:21  So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 
Num 13:22  And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 
Num 13:23  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 
Num 13:24  The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. 
Num 13:25  And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. 
Num 13:26  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 
Num 13:27  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 
Num 13:28  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 
Num 13:29  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 
Num 13:30  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 
Num 13:31  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 
Num 13:32  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 
Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Introduction

Chapter 13 deals with the Lord’s command for the people of Israel to know about the strength of the people living in the land of Canaan, the nature of the land and the fruits of the land He had promised them. This will help the people of Israel to know how to possess the land. In military operations, this is called reconnaissance operation (or simply recon) which seeks to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and core activities in an enemy’s area.

As we have indicated in the study of the Book of Numbers, the Book is principally about the raising of an army by the Lord to carry out His agenda here on earth. As commander of the Lord’s army, the Lord’s modus operandi as He enlists us in His army is to help us know the land (our bodies) which He wants us to possess. When the Lord called Abraham, his role was to just go through the land of Canaan and live there as a stranger, not a possessor of the land. During his stay on the land of Canaan, he was to know the goodness of the land and the challenges it posed, with the view of understanding what it takes to dispossess the people of the land promised to his descendants. This role was subsequently transferred to Isaac and Jacob.

In the lives of the patriarchs, they faced overwhelming challenges to bring them to the conclusion that only by faith could they overcome. In other words, it was only through the Lord that they could possess the land by faith since the people living in the land were a formidable force. As a deposit guarantee that the Lord would give the land to his descendants, Abraham, by faith, bought a portion of the land to serve as a burial ground for his family. In a similar vein, the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit as a deposit guarantee that we shall overcome the flesh!!

Gen 49:29  And he (Jacob) charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 
Gen 49:30  In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.
Gen 49:31  There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. 
Gen 49:32  The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. 
Gen 49:33  And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. 

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.  

Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 
Heb 11:9  By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Heb 11:10  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 
Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 
Heb 11:15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

The whole episode of Moses sending out the spies was for them to come to the same conclusion as the patriarchs, that it takes only faith to possess the land, which is our bodies. However, unlike the patriarchs, most of the spies were thinking of their own ability to overcome the giants of the land, but not what the Lord can do, hence giving a bad report of the land.  As we walk with the Lord, our focus should be on what the Lord can do and not what our situation dictates or what we can do. The walk of faith is based wholly on what the Lord can do!

Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 
Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 
Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 
Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Num 13:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 13:2  Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, everyone a ruler among them.

It was the Lord’s initiative for the people of Israel to know the state of the land and the people living in it. As we are aware, the land represents our bodies which we must possess. Our bodies represent the flesh, and therefore this call by the Lord is to know the nature of our flesh. However, not all the people of the world, signified here by the people of Israel, are given to know the flesh. As verse 2 indicates, this call to search the land is only given to the rulers of the people. In applying the principle of calling those things which are not as though they were, we can see that it is the elect, future rulers of the earth, who are given this mandate to understand everything about the flesh of which we must possess or overcome in this life.

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.  

Num 13:3  And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. 
Num 13:4  And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 
Num 13:5  Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. 
Num 13:6  Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 
Num 13:7  Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 
Num 13:8  Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. 
Num 13:9  Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. 
Num 13:10  Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 
Num 13:11  Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 
Num 13:12  Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 
Num 13:13  Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 
Num 13:14  Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 
Num 13:15  Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 
Num 13:16  These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. 

Moses sending the leaders from the twelve tribes of the people of Israel signifies the Lord Jesus Christ, requiring His elect from every tribe and every generation to understand the nature of the flesh as we go through life. Moses changing the name of Oshea to Jehoshua is to remind us that the Lord will deliver us (Oshea means deliverer) from our flesh as we go through life and in the final analysis, we shall be overcomers or saved by the Lord (Jehoshua means Jehovah saved). 

2Ti 4:18  And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Num 13:17  And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 

It is significant that the spies started their journey of assessing the land from the south before going up into the mountain. Southward signifies that we are close to the sea of flesh. Thus, starting their journey southward means that we all start to know the flesh as unbelievers when we are dominated by the flesh as we produce the deeds of the flesh. 

Eze 48:28  And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea.

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 
Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 
Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

It is imperative, as the Lord’s elect, that we begin our journey from the south to know more about the flesh with which we will deal later in our lives. This is because in the Book of Revelation, it is when we are close to the sea that we see the beast rise up out of the sea. 

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

As Moses commanded, the spies started their survey from the south before moving to the mountains. Moving away from the south to the mountains means we have come to know Christ, but we are still carnal and therefore, the beast within us has become an insurmountable mountain to us. This is the experience of Paul and all the elect as we encounter the mountains:

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 
Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Num 13:18  And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 
Num 13:19  And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 
Num 13:20  And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.

During our walk here on earth, we start our lives by the sea of flesh before we are given to know Christ. However, although we have come to know Christ, we are still carnal. 

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Demonstrate our lives living close to the sea of flesh).

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

It is in our carnal state that we get to see what the land is and the strength of the beast living in our land. The fruit of the land refers to the fruit of the spirit that is produced from our bodies. In verse 20, we are made aware that the spies went to survey the land at the time of the first ripe grapes. This is to let us know that in this age the Lord wants us to know our flesh and the beast controlling it, as we are the first ripe grapes or the firstfruits. In other words, those who come to see in this age, the nature of the flesh, the powerful beast that controls it and the fact that it is only in Christ that we can possess the land, are the ones who become the firstfruits. 

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Num 13:21  So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 
Num 13:22  And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 

Searching the land beginning from the wilderness of Zin and going through Rehob and Hamath, and finally ending up in Hebron is significant. Zin means ‘prick’. To prick means to pierce. We start our journey of coming to know the flesh in Egypt when we come to trust in the system of the world (Egypt) as we focus on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. If we are called and chosen, then our trust in the flesh would rather hurt us (pierce us – meaning of Zin). We end up piercing ourselves with many sorrows as a result of our trust in worldly riches.

Isa 36:6  Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. 

1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

In Isaiah 36:6, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, refers to the flesh or the beast within, whom we have come to trust.

When we start our journey in Christ, we flee from Zin and come to Rehob which means ‘the broad place’. Our lives in Babylon depict a life of the broad place as we find ourselves in the midst of many who are called but not the chosen few.

Mat 7:13  “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 
Mat 7:14  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. 

In Babylon, we get to know more of the flesh as we are dominated by the flesh since we are carnal. Through the teachings we receive in Babylon, we come to accept our carnal state as godliness. Through these false teachings, we strengthen the idols of our hearts. In other words, we build walls to shut out the truth of the words of the Lord. This means we have moved from Rehob (a broad place) to Hamoth which means walled. After Hamoth, we come to Hebron which means seat of association. The seat of association here is the same as Babylon.  It is in Hebron that the spies encountered the giants of the land. This is how we spiritually encounter the giants in our land:

Rom 7:15  For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 
Rom 7:16  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 
Rom 7:17  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 
Rom 7:18  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Rom 7:19  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 
Rom 7:20  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 
Rom 7:21  So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Rom 7:23  but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Rom 7:24  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Going through the experience of not being able to do the good we know we should do means we have come to realize the giants – Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai – in our land. It is while we are in Babylon (Hebron) that we come to know the giants. It is instructive to note in verse 22 that Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. Zoan means ‘the place of departure’. What we are being told spiritually is that even before we leave the world, the Lord has prepared Hebron (Babylon) for us to go to for a complete period of our lives (seven years) immediately after our departure (Zoan) from the world (Egypt).

Jer 29:8  For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 
Jer 29:9  for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. 
Jer 29:10  “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 
Jer 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Num 13:23  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
Num 13:24  The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

It is when we leave Babylon and come to the brook of Eshcol that we can have evidence of the fruitfulness of our bodies (land) as we produce the fruit of the spirit. A brook means a stream or river. Eschol means ‘cluster’ and cluster stands for a group of similar things or people positioned or occurring closely together. As we are aware, the brook signifies the truth of the word of the Lord. This means that it is only after we have left Babylon (Hebron) and come in the midst of the gathering of the elect (Eschol or cluster) or the church of the firstborn that we come to experience the truth of the word of the Lord. That is when we can produce the fruit of the spirit which is the evidence of the good land (our bodies) which we now possess. The fact that the fruit was borne between two people on a staff is very insightful. According to Strong, in this context, the staff represents a shaking, wavering or a bar of yoke. It is intuitive to note that the Bible sometimes uses shaking to mean judgment.

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 

As witnesses of Christ (the two carrying the bunch of fruit), it is only through judgment (the staff with fruit borne by the two spies) that we can produce evidence of the goodness of the land as we produce righteousness as the fruit of the spirit.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

In another perspective, the good grapes of the land signify the elect as shown in the following verse:

Hos 9:10  Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.

Since the spies were going to show the fruit to the people of Israel to show the goodness of the land, we, His elect, are therefore the evidence to all of humanity (the people of Israel) that it is possible to produce the fruit of the spirit in this life or age. The fruit we bear, or our good works, will cause all humanity to come and praise the Lord in the next age.

Mat 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Num 13:25  And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. 
Num 13:26  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 

The spies returned to the people of Israel to give a report after searching the land for forty days. In the Bible, the number forty refers to the period of the trial of our lives by the Lord to show what is within each one of us. This means that the number forty shows us the period of our lives where we have come to assess our flesh to know that we can of ourselves do nothing to defeat the beast within us, except the Lord intervenes.

Psa 95:7  For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, 
Psa 95:8  Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 
Psa 95:9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
Psa 95:10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 
Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Num 13:27  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 
Num 13:28  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 
Num 13:29  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

In their assessment of the beast within, the spies admitted that possessing the land was good as they saw a land flowing with milk and honey. We must understand that at that time in our lives when the Lord caused us to know the flesh with which we are dealing, we were carnal, and therefore all we knew was the milk of the word of the Lord which to us tasted sweet in our mouth. Our failures as a result of being dominated by the flesh bring us to the conclusion that the flesh is a formidable force to deal with. In other words, it is impossible to possess our bodies, forgetting the fact that it is the Lord who will defeat the enemy on our behalf. This report of our flesh in Babylon is what the people of the world (represented by the people of Israel) also take as their assessment of the flesh. This is the assessment of our flesh during our time in Babylon and the people of the world:

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?

In other words, the world and the world believe that nobody can defeat the flesh. 

Num 13:30  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

In this case Caleb represents the elect. When we leave Babylon and come to the church of the firstborn, our eyes are opened to realize that although the flesh is impossible to subdue, through Christ we can overcome its influence. 

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Caleb’s stance was that in Christ we can overcome the flesh. As we shall see in the next chapter, Joshua, who is also a symbol of the elect, also held that same view of victory through Christ. All we have to do is to believe that He who has started a good work in us will drag us to the finish line of overcoming the flesh! Caleb demonstrated to us that we need to walk in faith if we are to possess the land, which is our bodies, despite the formidable strength of the flesh.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Heb 11:30  By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 
Heb 11:31  By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. 
Heb 11:32  And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 
Heb 11:34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 
Heb 11:35  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 

Num 13:31  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 
Num 13:32  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 
Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

In Babylon, where we are dominated by the flesh, we cannot see how we can overcome the flesh, especially when we see ourselves being defeated over and over again by the giants of our land – the flesh.

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

May the Lord give us the grace to walk by faith and not by sight. Amen!!

The Book of Joshua – Part 15, Chapters 14–15

This also, knowing the time, that it is already time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed (Rom 13:11).

[Study Aired June 10, 2023]

Chapters 13 and 14 concluded with documentation of scores of kings and their cities, mostly utterly devastated and burnt. The Lord saw fit to leave substantial numbers of the enemy in the Promised Land for the Elect’s sake to realize that our spiritual enemies likewise will have remnants of thorns in our flesh until the First Resurrection. 

The Lord’s people glorify in His righteous creation of the new Adam, knowing that while in these bodies of sinful flesh, our spiritual enemies, like blackberry briars, will never entirely be conquered.

In the last study, I indulged in the exhausting task of listing all the kings and their cities and the meaning of their names. I concluded that greater spiritual understanding for the individual would result in his ‘working with his own hands’ so that he could ‘eat’ (2Th 3:10). Likewise, in subsequent chapters, I’ll leave that demanding task for the individual Saint’s discoveries.

The Inheritance West of the Jordan

Jos 14:1 And these are they of the sons of Israel who inherited in the land of Canaan, whom Eleazar [el-aw-zawr’] the priest and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel, gave out for inheritance to them. 
Jos 14:2 Their inheritance was by lot, as Jehovah commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half tribe. 
Jos 14:3 For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and a half tribe on the other side Jordan. But to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. 
Jos 14:4 For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And they gave no part to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their suburbs [common land] for their cattle and for their substance.
Jos 14:5 As Jehovah commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did, and they divided the land.

Caleb’s Request and Inheritance

Jos 14:6 Then the sons of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb, the son of Jephunneh [yef-oon-neh’] the Kenizzite [ken-iz-zee’], said to him, You know the thing that Jehovah said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea [kaw-dashe’ bar-nay’-ah] regarding you and me. 
Jos 14:7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of Jehovah sent me from Kadesh-barnea [kaw-dashe’ bar-nay’-ah] to spy out the land. And I brought him word again as it was in my heart.
Jos 14:8  But my brothers that went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I fully followed Jehovah my God.
Jos 14:9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land on which your feet have trodden shall be your inheritance, and your sons’ forever because you have fully followed Jehovah my God. 
Jos 14:10 And now, behold, Jehovah has kept me alive these forty-five years as He said, even since Jehovah spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now, lo, I am eighty-five years old today.
Jos 14:11 As yet I am as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in.
Jos 14:12 And now give me this mountain of which Jehovah spoke on that day. For you heard in that day how the giants were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. If Jehovah will be with me, then I will be able to drive them out, as Jehovah said.
Jos 14:13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh [yef-oon-neh’] for an inheritance. 
Jos 14:14 And Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh [yef-oon-neh’] the Kenizzite [ken-iz-zee’], to this day, because he fully followed Jehovah, the God of Israel.
Jos 14:15 And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba [keer-yath’ ar-bah’]; that one was a great man among the giants. And the land had rest from war.

The Allotment for Judah

Jos 15:1 This then was the lot of the tribe of the sons of Judah by their families: to the border of Edom, the wilderness of Zin [tseen] southward, in the extreme south.
Jos 15:2 And their south border was from the end of the Salt Sea, from the bay that looks southward.
Jos 15:3 And it went out southward to the ascent of Akrabbim [mah-al-ay’ ak-rab-beem’], and passed on to Zin [tseen], and went up on the south of Kadesh-barnea [kaw-dashe’ bar-nay’-ah], and went on to Hezron [khets-rone’], and went up toward Adar [ad-dawr’], and turned toward Karkaa [kar-kah’],
Jos 15:4 and passed on to Azmon [ats-mone’], and went out by the torrent of Egypt. And the boundary line was at the Sea. This shall be your south border. 
Jos 15:5 And the east border, the Salt Sea to the end of Jordan, and their border in the north quarter was from the bay of the sea at the uttermost part of Jordan. 
Jos 15:6 And the border went up to Beth-hoglah [bayth chog-law’], and passed along by the north of Beth-arabah [bayth haw-ar-aw-baw]. And the border went up to the stone of Bohan [bo’han] the son of Reuben; 
Jos 15:7 And the border went up toward Debir [deb-eer’] from the valley of Achor [aw-kore’], and so northward, looking toward Gilgal, before the going up to Adummim [ad-oom-meem’], which is on the south side of the river. And the border passed toward the waters of En-shemesh [ane sheh’-mesh], and its boundary was at En-rogel [ane ro-gale’].
Jos 15:8 And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom [hin-nome’] to the south side of the Jebusite. It is Jerusalem. And the border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the valley of Hinnom [hin-nome’]  westward, at the end of the Valley of the Giants northward.
Jos 15:9 And the border was drawn from the top of the hill to the fountain of the water of Nephtoah [nef-to’-akh], and went out to the cities of mount Ephron [ef-rone’]. And the border was drawn to Baalah [bah-al-aw’]; it is Kirjath-jearim [keer-yath’ yeh-aw-reem’]. 
Jos 15:10 And the border went around from Baalah [bah-al-aw’]westward to Mount Seir [say-eer’], and passed along to the side of mount Jearim [yeh-aw-reem’]; it is Chesalon [kes-aw-lone’], on the north side, and went down to Bethshemesh [bayth sheh’-mesh], and passed on to Timnah [tim-naw’].
Jos 15:11 And the border went to the side of Ekron northward, and the border was drawn to Shikkeron [shik-ker-one’] and passed along to Mount Baalah [bah-al-aw’], and went out to Jabneel [yab-neh-ale’]. And the boundary line was at the Sea.
Jos 15:12 And the west border was to the Great Sea, and the coast. This is the border of the sons of Judah all around according to their families.
Jos 15:13 And he gave a part among the sons of Judah to Caleb the son of Jephunneh [yef-oon-neh’], according to the command of Jehovah to Joshua, even the city of Arba [ar-bah’. 1. the father of Anak and the greatest of the giants (Anakim)] the father of Anak [aw-nawk’]; it is Hebron. 
Jos 15:14 And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak [aw-nawk’], Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the sons of Anak [aw-nawk’].
Jos 15:15 And he went up from there to those who lived in Debir [deb-eer’]. And the name of Debir [deb-eer’] before was Kirjath-sepher [keer-yath’ san-naw’].
Jos 15:16 And Caleb said, He who smites Kirjath-sepher [keer-yath’ san-naw’], and takes it, I will give my daughter Achsah [ak-saw’] to him for a wife.
Jos 15:17 And Othniel [oth-nee-ale’] the son of Kenaz [ken-az’], the brother of Caleb, took it. And he gave him Achsah [ak-saw’] his daughter for a wife.
Jos 15:18 And it happened as she came, she moved him to ask a field from her father. And she dismounted from the ass. And Caleb said to her, What do you desire?
Jos 15:19 She answered, Give me a blessing, for you have given me a south land. Give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. 
Jos 15:20 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families. 
Jos 15:21 And the furthest cities of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, 
Jos 15:22 and Kinah [kee-naw’], and Dimonah [dee-mo-naw’], and Adadah [ad-aw-daw’], 
Jos 15:23 and Kedesh [keh’-desh], and Hazor [khaw-tsore’], and Ithnan [yith-nawn’], 
Jos 15:24 Ziph [zeef], and Telem [teh’-lem], and Bealoth [beh-aw-loth’], 
Jos 15:25 and Hazor [khaw-tsore’], Hadattah, and Kerioth-Hezron [khets-rone’], which is Hazor [khaw-tsore’], 
Jos 15:26 Amam [am-awm’], and Shema [shem-aw’], and Moladah [mo-law-daw’],
Jos 15:27 and Hazar-gaddah [khats-ar’gad-daw’], and Heshmon [klesh-mone’], and Beth-palet [bayth peh’-let],
Jos 15:28 and Hazar-shual [khats-ar’ shoo-awl’], and Beer-sheba [be-ayr’ sheh’-bah], and Bizjothjah [biz-yo-the-yaw’],
Jos 15:29 Baalah [bah-al-aw’], and Iim [ee-yeem’], and Azem, [eh’-tsem]
Jos 15:30 and Eltolad [el-to-lad’], and Chesil [kes-eel’], and Hormah [khor-maw’],
Jos 15:31 and Ziklag [tsik-lag’], and Madmannah [mad-man-naw’], and Sansannah [san-san-naw’],
Jos 15:32 and Lebaoth [leb-aw-oth’], and Shilhim [shil-kheem’], and Ain [ah’-yin], and Rimmon [rim-mone’]. All the cities are twenty-nine, with their villages. 
Jos 15:33 In the low country were Eshtaol [esh-taw-ole’], and Zoreah [tsor-aw’], and Ashnah [ash-naw’],
Jos 15:34 and Zanoah [zaw-no’-akh], and En-gannim [ane gan-neem’], Tappuah [tap-poo’-akh], and Enam [ay-nah’-yim],
Jos 15:35 Jarmuth [yar-mooth’], and Adullam [ad-ool-lawm’], Socoh [so-ko’], and Azekah [az-ay-kaw’],
Jos 15:36 and Sharaim [shah-ar-ah’-yim], and Adithaim [ad-ool-lawm’], and Gederah [ghed-ay-ro-thah’-yim], and Gederothaim [ghed-ay-ro-thah’-yim]; fourteen cities with their villages;
Jos 15:37 Zenan [tsen-awn’], and Hadashah [khad-aw-shaw’], and Migdal-gad [migdal-gawd’],
Jos 15:38 and Dilean [dil-awn’], and Mizpeh [mits-peh’], and Joktheel [yok-theh-ale’],
Jos 15:39 Lachish [law-keesh’], and Bozkath [bots-cath’], and Eglon [eg-lawn’],
Jos 15:40 and Cabbon [kab-bone’], and Lahmam [lakh-maws’], and Kithlish [kith-leesh’],
Jos 15:41 and Gederoth [ghed-ay-rohth’], Beth-dagon [bayth-daw-gohn’], and Naamah [nah-am-aw’], and Makkedah [mak-kay-daw’]; sixteen cities with their villages; 
Jos 15:42 Libnah [lib-naw’], and Ether [eh’ther], and Ashan [aw-shawn’],
Jos 15:43 and Jiphtah [yif-tawkh’], and Ashnah [ash-naw’], and Nezib [nets-eeb’],
Jos 15:44 and Keilah [keh-ee-law’], and Achzib [ak-zeeb’], and Mareshah [mar-ay-shaw’]; nine cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:45 Ekron [ek-rone’] with its town and its villages; 
Jos 15:46 from Ekron [ek-rone’]  even to the Sea, all that were at hand by Ashdod, [ash-dode’] and their villages; 
Jos 15:47 Ashdod [ash-dode’] with its towns and its villages; Gaza [ az-zaw’] with its towns and its villages, to the river of Egypt, and the Great Sea, and its coast. 
Jos 15:48 And in the mountains, Shamir [shaw-meer’], and Jattir [yat-teer’], and Socoh[so-ko’],
Jos 15:49 and Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah (which is Debir [deb-eer’]);
Jos 15:50 and Anab [an-awb’], and Eshtemoh [esh-tem-o’-ah], and Anim [aw-neem’],
Jos 15:51 and Goshen [go’-shen], and Holon [kho-lone’], and Giloh [ghee-lo’]; eleven cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:52 Arab [ar-awb’], and Dumah [doo-maw’], and Eshean, [esh-awn’]
Jos 15:53 and Janum [yaw-neem’], and Beth-tappuah [tap-poo’-akh], and Aphekah [af-ay-kaw’],
Jos 15:54 and Humtah [khoom-taw’], and Kirjath-arba [keer-yath’ ar-bah’]; it is Hebron; and Zior [tsee-ore’]; nine cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:55 Maon [maw-ohn’], Carmel, and Ziph [zeef], and Juttah [yoo-taw’],
Jos 15:56 and Jezreel [yiz-reh-ale’], and Jokdeam [yok-deh-awm’], and Zanoah [zaw-no’-akh],
Jos 15:57 Cain, Gibeah, and Timnah [tim-naw’]; ten cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:58 Halhul [khal-khool’], Beth-zur [bayth tsoor’], and Gedor [ghed-ore’],
Jos 15:59 and Maarath [mah-ar-awth’], and Beth-anoth [bayth an-oth’], and Eltekon [el-te-kone’]; six cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:60 Kirjath-baal [keer-yath’ bah’-al]; it is Kirjath-jearim [keer-yath’ yeh-aw-reem’]; and Rabbah [rab-baw’]; two cities and their villages.
Jos 15:61 In the wilderness, Beth-arabah [bayth haw-ar-aw-baw], Middin [mid-deen’], and Secacah [sek-aw-kaw’],
Jos 15:62 and Nibshan [nib-shawn’], and the city of Salt, and En-gedi [ane geh’-dee]; six cities and their villages. 
Jos 15:63 As for the Jebusites [yeb-oo-see’], the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out. But the Jebusites [ yeb-oo-see’] live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem to this day. 

The Inheritance West of the Jordan

Jos 14:1 And these are they of the sons of Israel who inherited in the land of Canaan, whom Eleazar [el-aw-zawr’] the priest and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel, gave out for inheritance to them. 
Jos 14:2 Their inheritance was by lot, as Jehovah commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half tribe. 

The casting of “lots” spiritually is regularly done by the Lord’s people every time they pray, asking for His will to be done; it is by total submission to our Lord’s will that He becomes our inheritance and we, His. He does all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). 

1Jn 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 
1Jn 5:15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. 

We know the Lord’s will and show a gross lack of faith and spiritual ignorance if we consider casting lots to decide a matter. With that in mind, Israel was yet learning to trust the Lord and know his will. Faith and the Lord’s spirit hadn’t come to these children, and their wide-eyed learning and frequent failures are for our benefit. 

Jos 14:3 For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and a half tribe on the other side Jordan. But to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. 
Jos 14:4 For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And they gave no part to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their suburbs [common land] for their cattle and for their substance.

Manasseh is one tribe split in two, each half taking possession of their inheritance, one on the East of Jordan in the North and the other adjacent West of the Jordan River.

Please see the map: https://christiananswers.net/dictionary/images/Map_of_12_tribes_of_Israel-large.png

The map of the Promised Land is a pictorial of us in our transition to becoming Christs. The beautiful snow capped Mt. Hermon in the far north, separate from Israel’s inheritance, depicts our Lord’s white hair and headship above us, the land. Jerusalem is our heart in the center of our land that becomes a harlot and is recreated spiritually as the heavenly Jerusalem. From Mt. Hermon runs the word of God, healing and feeding the land in the form of the Jordan River. As the Jordan runs south, it drains into the already dead salt sea made dead from Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the once rich plain burnt with sulphur, its residue creating salt. The Dead Sea flowed out at its southern end at Zoar, mostly only in spring floods and dissipated into its self-made desert marshes. Today, the Dead Sea is shrinking alarmingly by a meter a year. The imagery depicts our sinful body purified by salt yet never being eliminated, preserving old Israel as a memorial and today for our lessening depravity (All of Ezekiel 47). 

Eze 47:11 But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.

Much later, the Northern tribes, including Ephraim and Manasseh, were taken captive by the Assyrians and following, Judah was captured by Babylon.

Jos 14:5 As Jehovah commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did, and they divided the land.

Caleb’s Request and Inheritance

Jos 14:6 Then the sons of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb, the son of Jephunneh [yef-oon-neh’] the Kenizzite [ken-iz-zee’], said to him, You know the thing that Jehovah said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea [kaw-dashe’ bar-nay’-ah] regarding you and me. 
Jos 14:7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of Jehovah sent me from Kadesh-barnea [kaw-dashe’ bar-nay’-ah] to spy out the land. And I brought him word again as it was in my heart. 
Jos 14:8 But my brothers that went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I fully followed Jehovah my God.

We remember that many spies accompanying Joshua and Caleb, doing reconnaissance in the Promised Land, returned with fearful reports of unchallengeable giants.

Num 13:28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 
Num 13:29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 
Num 13:30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 
Num 13:31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 
Num 13:32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
Num 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. 

Those fearful spies are typical of the Lord’s people, understandably spiritually inexperienced in their journey to becoming Christs. It is only after many trials of our faith that we become spiritual Calebs confident that the Lord will go before us regardless of how dire our circumstances.

Jos 14:9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land on which your feet have trodden shall be your inheritance, and your sons’ forever because you have fully followed Jehovah my God. 
Jos 14:10 And now, behold, Jehovah has kept me alive these forty-five years as He said, even since Jehovah spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now, lo, I am eighty-five years old today. 
Jos 14:11 As yet I am as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in. 

Caleb, whose name means “dog”, is, as are most dogs, truly faithful to that term; he stood loyal to the Lord for all his turbulent yet richly fruitful forty years of leadership with Joshua. So, too, are we required to trust with our entire hearts in the Lord.

Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 

Jos 14:12 And now give me this mountain of which Jehovah spoke on that day. For you heard in that day how the giants were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. If Jehovah will be with me, then I will be able to drive them out, as Jehovah said.

We are learning that our giants are bread for us, and their cities are dung hills to fertilize our increasing delight in our Lord, our mountain, the Shulamite-like kisses of His word. Some folk may think I overplay the Shulamite’s pearl of revelation that her Lord’s kisses are better than wine (Son 1:2). If we fall into that category, we are no different from old Israel’s dismissiveness of her Lord’s desire for her. Since we claim to be the spiritual Shulamite, let’s be like Caleb and passionately and respectfully claim our gift, Christ, our mountain.

Joh 4:21 Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither worship the Father in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem. 
Joh 4:22 You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of [symbolised by] the Jews [through Christ, a transitory Jew]. 
Joh 4:23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him.
Joh 4:24 God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. 

Rev 3:9 Behold, I give out of those of the synagogue of Satan, those saying themselves to be Jews and are not, but lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.

Jos 14:13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron [meaning, ‘association, company, band] to Caleb the son of Jephunneh [yef-oon-neh’ – meaning, He will be facing] for an inheritance. 

In keeping with the Shulamite’s embrace with her Lord, she ‘will be facing’ him enthusiastically, eye-to-eye; she is a company of two armies representing Israel’s current army status in transition to the Bride of Christ today. The Body of Christ is the reality of that reflection because we are given to ‘fully follow Christ’ and be a great destructive force among our giants by His strength.

Jos 14:14 And Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh [yef-oon-neh’] the Kenizzite [ken-iz-zee’], to this day, because he fully followed Jehovah, the God of Israel. 
Jos 14:15 And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba [keer-yath’ ar-bah’. H7004 – 1. the father of Anak and the greatest of the giants (Anakim)]; that one was a great man among the giants. And the land had rest from war. 

When we stop hiding from our Lord and communicate with Him face to face as Jacob did, our limping walk humbles us as we learn to trust God for all our needs, particularly our spiritual development and trials in the heat of the day.

Gen 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Face of God [Peniel]; for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 
Gen 32:31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he limped upon his thigh. 
Gen 32:32 Therefore the sons of Israel do not eat of the sinew of the thigh, which is on the hip-socket, until this day, because He touched Jacob’s hip-socket, the sinew of the thigh. 

Much later, the stripling youth, David, met Goliath face to face, representing Christ’s inward valour not to be confused with our outward puniness. 

As with Study 14 of Joshua, many of the following verses document the boundaries of each tribe’s inheritance and studying in detail the meaning of each name could be revealing yet incredibly intensive; as such, I’ve chosen to leave much of the research up to the individual.

The Allotment for Judah

Jos 15:1 This then was the lot of the tribe of the sons of Judah by their families: to the border of Edom, the wilderness of Zin [tseen] southward, in the extreme south. 
Jos 15:2 And their south border was from the end of the Salt Sea, from the bay that looks southward. 
Jos 15:3 And it went out southward to the ascent of Akrabbim [mah-al-ay’ ak-rab-beem’], and passed on to Zin [tseen], and went up on the south of Kadesh-barnea [kaw-dashe’ bar-nay’-ah], and went on to Hezron [khets-rone’], and went up toward Adar [ad-dawr’], and turned toward Karkaa [kar-kah’], 
Jos 15:4 and passed on to Azmon [ats-mone’], and went out by the torrent of Egypt. And the boundary line was at the Sea. This shall be your south border. 
Jos 15:5 And the east border, the Salt Sea to the end of Jordan, and their border in the north quarter was from the bay of the sea at the uttermost part of Jordan. 
Jos 15:6 And the border went up to Beth-hoglah [bayth chog-law’], and passed along by the north of Beth-arabah [bayth haw-ar-aw-baw]. And the border went up to the stone of Bohan [bo’han] the son of Reuben; 
Jos 15:7 And the border went up toward Debir [deb-eer’] from the valley of Achor [aw-kore’], and so northward, looking toward Gilgal, before the going up to Adummim [ad-oom-meem’], which is on the south side of the river. And the border passed toward the waters of En-shemesh [ane sheh’-mesh], and its boundary was at En-rogel [ane ro-gale’].
Jos 15:8 And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom [hin-nome’] to the south side of the Jebusite. It is Jerusalem. And the border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the valley of Hinnom [hin-nome’]  westward, at the end of the Valley of the Giants northward. 
Jos 15:9 And the border was drawn from the top of the hill to the fountain of the water of Nephtoah [nef-to’-akh], and went out to the cities of mount Ephron [ef-rone’]. And the border was drawn to Baalah [bah-al-aw’]; it is Kirjath-jearim [keer-yath’ yeh-aw-reem’]. 
Jos 15:10 And the border went around from Baalah [bah-al-aw’]westward to Mount Seir [say-eer’], and passed along to the side of mount Jearim [yeh-aw-reem’]; it is Chesalon [kes-aw-lone’], on the north side, and went down to Bethshemesh [bayth sheh’-mesh], and passed on to Timnah [tim-naw’].
Jos 15:11 And the border went to the side of Ekron northward, and the border was drawn to Shikkeron [shik-ker-one’] and passed along to Mount Baalah [bah-al-aw’], and went out to Jabneel [yab-neh-ale’]. And the boundary line was at the Sea. 
Jos 15:12 And the west border was to the Great Sea, and the coast. This is the border of the sons of Judah all around according to their families. 
Jos 15:13 And he gave a part among the sons of Judah to Caleb the son of Jephunneh [yef-oon-neh’], according to the command of Jehovah to Joshua, even the city of Arba [ar-bah’. 1. the father of Anak and the greatest of the giants (Anakim)] the father of Anak [aw-nawk’]; it is Hebron. 
Jos 15:14 And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak [aw-nawk’], Sheshai [shay-shah’-ee], and Ahiman [akh-ee-man’], and Talmai [tal-mah’-ee], the sons of Anak [aw-nawk’]. 
Jos 15:15 And he went up from there to those who lived in Debir [deb-eer’]. And the name of Debir [deb-eer’] before was Kirjath-sepher [keer-yath’ san-naw’]. 
Jos 15:16 And Caleb said, He who smites Kirjath-sepher [keer-yath’ san-naw’], and takes it, I will give my daughter Achsah [ak-saw’. Achsah = ankle chain or anklet H5913 – 1. (Piel) to shake bangles, rattle, tinkle ] to him for a wife. 
Jos 15:17 And Othniel [oth-nee-ale’. Othniel = lion of God] the son of Kenaz [ken-az’. Kenaz = hunter], the brother of Caleb, took it. And he gave him Achsah [ak-saw’] his daughter for a wife. 

Caleb’s daughter must have been of some notable beauty for his broad belief that she would be the desire of most men. She being their prize, galvanized their lion-like valour to be outstanding in battle. 

It is particularly common for young women to highlight their most attractive attributes to gain male attention. We don’t know Achsah’s ( ak-saw’) righteousness, yet we can only guess that she was noble since she was Caleb’s daughter. Nonetheless, since Caleb is a type of Christ, his daughter would equate with the church which Israel and we were, and who went astray. Achsah (ak-saw’) classically represents the prophecy of Israel’s confinement to harlotry. 

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 

Isa 3:16 Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: 
Isa 3:17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. 
Isa 3:18 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, 
Isa 3:19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,
Isa 3:20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, 
Isa 3:21 The rings, and nose jewels, 
Isa 3:22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, 
Isa 3:23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. 
Isa 3:24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
Isa 3:25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. 
Isa 3:26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground. 

Following is Achsah’s (ak-saw’) lavish request that soundly establishes her as broader Israel, represented by the priestly tribe of Judah and subsequent treachery. She didn’t modestly ask for her needs; she knew her request would establish her future forever. She has springs of allegorical living water gushing upon fertile and productive land. Her dual meaning is Babylon the Great, and her nominal 46,000 Christian denominations ruling the laity to this day in spiritual and financial slavery.

Jer 2:11 Has a nation changed their gods who are yet no gods? But My people have changed their Glory for that which does not profit. 
Jer 2:12 Be amazed, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be completely desolated, says Jehovah. 
Jer 2:13 For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, to hew out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Jer 2:14 Is Israel a servant? Or is he a servant of the house? Why has he become a prey? [a prey to herself and to treacherous Judah ruling the laity] 
Jer 2:15 The young lions roared against him; they gave their voice. And they made his land a waste; his cities are burned without inhabitant.

The “young lions”, the children of Israel with the tinkling anklets of a harlot, certainly gave their voice in the streets of that great city and are today being burned spiritually and metaphorically, physically and soon, maybe literally.

The irony is that Achsah (ak-saw’) also represents the Lord’s bride and she intimately knows him as her pearl of great price and gladly asks for her inheritance’s incredible richness, rightfully hers from before the foundations of the Earth.

Jos 15:18 And it happened as she came, she moved him to ask a field from her father. And she dismounted from the ass. And Caleb said to her, What do you desire? 
Jos 15:19 She answered, Give me a blessing, for you have given me a south land [Judah next to Edom]. Give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. 

A stream fed by an upper and lower spring is a guaranteed water supply. Achsah’s alighting from her ass symbolizes us dismounting from the power of our self-righteousness and resting in the Lord’s never-ending spring-fed stream of His truth. The imagery closely resembles the Lord’s river flowing out of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Zec 14:8 And it shall be in that day, living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them shall go toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea. In summer and in winter it shall be. 
Zec 14:9 And Jehovah shall be King over all the Earth; in that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His name shall be one. 
Zec 14:10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. And it shall rise and dwell in its place, from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate; to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananeel to the King’s winepresses.

Rev 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
Rev 22:2 In the midst of its street, and of the river, from here and from there, was the Tree of Life, which bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit according to one month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Rev 22:3 And every curse will no longer be; but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will serve Him. 
Rev 22:4 And they will see His face, and His name will be in their foreheads. 
Rev 22:5 And there will be no night there. And they need no lamp, or light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light. And they will reign forever and ever.

The lands Achsah (ak-saw’) requested are for Judah, immediately south of Jerusalem.

Jos 15:20 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families. 
Jos 15:21 And the furthest cities of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, 
Jos 15:22 and Kinah [kee-naw’], and Dimonah [dee-mo-naw’], and Adadah [ad-aw-daw’], 
Jos 15:23 and Kedesh [keh’-desh], and Hazor [khaw-tsore’], and Ithnan [yith-nawn’], 
Jos 15:24 Ziph [zeef], and Telem [teh’-lem], and Bealoth [beh-aw-loth’], 
Jos 15:25 and Hazor [khaw-tsore’], Hadattah, and Kerioth-Hezron [khets-rone’], which is Hazor [khaw-tsore’],
Jos 15:26 Amam [am-awm’], and Shema [shem-aw’], and Moladah [mo-law-daw’],
Jos 15:27 and Hazar-gaddah [khats-ar’gad-daw’], and Heshmon [klesh-mone’], and Beth-palet [bayth peh’-let], 
Jos 15:28 and Hazar-shual [khats-ar’ shoo-awl’], and Beer-sheba [be-ayr’ sheh’-bah], and Bizjothjah [biz-yo-the-yaw’], 
Jos 15:29 Baalah [bah-al-aw’], and Iim [ee-yeem’], and Azem, [eh’-tsem] 
Jos 15:30 and Eltolad [el-to-lad’], and Chesil [kes-eel’], and Hormah [khor-maw’], 
Jos 15:31 and Ziklag [tsik-lag’], and Madmannah [mad-man-naw’], and Sansannah [san-san-naw’], 
Jos 15:32 and Lebaoth [leb-aw-oth’], and Shilhim [shil-kheem’], and Ain [ah’-yin], and Rimmon [rim-mone’]. All the cities are twenty-nine, with their villages. 
Jos 15:33 In the low country were Eshtaol [esh-taw-ole’], and Zoreah [tsor-aw’], and Ashnah [ash-naw’], 
Jos 15:34 and Zanoah [zaw-no’-akh], and En-gannim [ane gan-neem’], Tappuah [tap-poo’-akh], and Enam [ay-nah’-yim], 
Jos 15:35 Jarmuth [yar-mooth’], and Adullam [ad-ool-lawm’], Socoh [so-ko’], and Azekah [az-ay-kaw’], 
Jos 15:36 and Sharaim [shah-ar-ah’-yim], and Adithaim [ad-ool-lawm’], and Gederah [ghed-ay-ro-thah’-yim], and Gederothaim [ghed-ay-ro-thah’-yim]; fourteen cities with their villages;
Jos 15:37 Zenan [tsen-awn’], and Hadashah [khad-aw-shaw’], and Migdal-gad [migdal-gawd’], 
Jos 15:38 and Dilean [dil-awn’], and Mizpeh [mits-peh’], and Joktheel [yok-theh-ale’], 
Jos 15:39 Lachish [law-keesh’], and Bozkath [bots-cath’], and Eglon [eg-lawn’], 
Jos 15:40 and Cabbon [kab-bone’], and Lahmam [lakh-maws’], and Kithlish [kith-leesh’], 
Jos 15:41 and Gederoth [ghed-ay-rohth’], Beth-dagon [bayth-daw-gohn’], and Naamah [nah-am-aw’], and Makkedah [mak-kay-daw’]; sixteen cities with their villages; 
Jos 15:42 Libnah [lib-naw’], and Ether [eh’ther], and Ashan [aw-shawn’], 
Jos 15:43 and Jiphtah [yif-tawkh’], and Ashnah [ash-naw’], and Nezib [nets-eeb’], 
Jos 15:44 and Keilah [keh-ee-law’], and Achzib [ak-zeeb’], and Mareshah [mar-ay-shaw’]; nine cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:45 Ekron [ek-rone’] with its town and its villages; 
Jos 15:46 from Ekron [ek-rone’]  even to the Sea, all that were at hand by Ashdod, [ash-dode’] and their villages; 
Jos 15:47 Ashdod [ash-dode’] with its towns and its villages; Gaza [ az-zaw’] with its towns and its villages, to the river of Egypt, and the Great Sea, and its coast. 
Jos 15:48 And in the mountains, Shamir [shaw-meer’], and Jattir [yat-teer’], and Socoh[so-ko’] , 
Jos 15:49 and Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah (which is Debir [deb-eer’]); 
Jos 15:50 and Anab [an-awb’], and Eshtemoh [esh-tem-o’-ah], and Anim [aw-neem’], 
Jos 15:51 and Goshen [go’-shen], and Holon [kho-lone’], and Giloh [ghee-lo’]; eleven cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:52 Arab [ar-awb’], and Dumah [doo-maw’], and Eshean, [esh-awn’] 
Jos 15:53 and Janum [yaw-neem’], and Beth-tappuah [tap-poo’-akh], and Aphekah [af-ay-kaw’], 
Jos 15:54 and Humtah [khoom-taw’], and Kirjath-arba [keer-yath’ ar-bah’]; it is Hebron; and Zior [tsee-ore’]; nine cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:55 Maon [maw-ohn’], Carmel, and Ziph [zeef], and Juttah [yoo-taw’], 
Jos 15:56 and Jezreel [yiz-reh-ale’], and Jokdeam [yok-deh-awm’], and Zanoah [zaw-no’-akh], 
Jos 15:57 Cain, Gibeah, and Timnah [tim-naw’]; ten cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:58 Halhul [khal-khool’], Beth-zur [bayth tsoor’], and Gedor [ghed-ore’], 
Jos 15:59 and Maarath [mah-ar-awth’], and Beth-anoth [bayth an-oth’], and Eltekon [el-te-kone’]; six cities and their villages; 
Jos 15:60 Kirjath-baal [keer-yath’ bah’-al]; it is Kirjath-jearim [keer-yath’ yeh-aw-reem’]; and Rabbah [rab-baw’]; two cities and their villages. 
Jos 15:61 In the wilderness, Beth-arabah [bayth haw-ar-aw-baw], Middin [mid-deen’], and Secacah [sek-aw-kaw’], 
Jos 15:62 and Nibshan [nib-shawn’], and the city of Salt, and En-gedi [ane geh’-dee]; six cities and their villages. 
Jos 15:63 As for the Jebusites [yeb-oo-see’], the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out. But the Jebusites [ yeb-oo-see’] live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

Jebusites – yeb-oo-see’ H2983 meaning descendants of Jebus 1. descendants of the 3rd son of Canaan who lived in or around the site of Jebus, the early name for Jerusalem. Origin – H2982 Definition: Jebus = threshing place. H947 –  1. to tread down, reject, trample down  a. (Qal) 1. to tread down, trample (of warriors) 2. of rejection (fig.) b. (Polel) 1. to tread down (in bad sense) 2. to desecrate.

It seems that Judah, being some of the very last to receive a land of residency, had grown weary of years of fighting and routing the land of their enemy. The Jebusites were mere men, as were all of Israel’s enemies. Since the Lord’s power to drive out Israel’s enemies was guaranteed trustworthy, why couldn’t these Jebusites not be cleansed from polluting Judah’s land?

Since the Jebusite’s name means “threshing place”, the Lord left these people in the very spiritual heart of Israel as a thorn in their flesh and a reminder for us to constantly seek the Lord’s direction on every issue.

Nebuchadnezzar desecrated and trampled Jerusalem outwardly, and Judah was carried to Babylon. The Lord’s people were commissioned to go into Babylon for us today to spiritually “come out of her”.

Mat 17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus apart, and said, Why could we not cast him out? 
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there. And it shall move. And nothing shall be impossible to you. 
Mat 17:21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. 

Jer 51:44 And I will punish Bel [Bel = lord 1. a chief Babylonian deity 1. supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians or Canaanites 2. a Reubenite 3. the son of Jehiel and grandfather of Saul] in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall. 
Jer 51:45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD. 

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 

Rev 19:1 And after these things I heard a great sound of a numerous crowd in Heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and the power to the Lord our God! 

The Book of Joshua – Part 13, Joshua 11:1-23

For Jehovah is a God of judgment; blessed are all those who wait for Him (Isa 30:18)

[Study Aired May 20, 2023]

When we read the book of Joshua and spiritually understand the metaphors for endless wars and killing of everything – man, woman, child and city – but for the Lord’s spirit, it is possible to insidiously reflect the nature of a listless harlot.

How do we become a harlot? It is quite easy. A seasoned harlot will fake her pleasure, hoping her earnest laborer will be substantially ravished to finish early while being a dispassionate production line operator mechanically watching the clock. She can be us, detachedly listening to a study’s content read for the one-hundredth time in forty years, hoping it will finish early. It is typified by Israel becoming bored with her Lord’s power of going before her to win her battles and hearing “… and Joshua left nothing remaining; he destroyed it, and all the souls that were in it; and every soul in it he completely destroyed that day…”, and so forth unceasingly. If we are a dull-eyed wife, we could inwardly hate our Lord’s light bread, having heard this stuff a hundred times before, provoking the same emotion as reading the Chronicles of who begat whom.

Num 21:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

Pro 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love. 
Pro 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Christ is our enemy when we get bored with his kisses where our flocks (teeth – Song of Solomon metaphor) rest at noon when we are no longer aroused in our passion for him. In the negative, it is possibly a bit late when we subsequently need a hit of “strong drink” for our dying man. (Pro 31:6)

2Ti 1:6 Therefore I remind you to inflame anew the gift of God, which is in you by the putting on of my hands. 
2Ti 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2Ti 1:8 Therefore you should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner. But be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.

Hopefully, let’s be inflamed by the holy spirit discerning our Lord’s spirit as His hands mould us through our many afflictions. We must learn to delight in routing our land from the endless giants, men, women and children; representing our sins.

Conquests in Northern Canaan

Jos 11:1 And it happened when Jabin, king of Hazor, had heard, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph,
Jos 11:2 and to the kings on the north of the mountains, and on the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west,
Jos 11:3 and to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh.
Jos 11:4 And they went out, they and all their armies with them, many people, even as the sand on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots.
Jos 11:5 And when all these kings had met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Jos 11:6 And Jehovah said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver them up, all killed before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.
Jos 11:7 And Joshua came suddenly, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom. And they fell on them.
Jos 11:8 And Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them to great Sidon, and to the salt pits, and to the valley of Mizpeh eastward. And they struck them until they left them none remaining.
Jos 11:9 And Joshua did to them as Jehovah commanded him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
Jos 11:10 And Joshua at that time turned back and took Hazor [‘khaw-tsore], and struck its king with the sword. For Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms.
Jos 11:11 And they struck every soul in it with the edge of the sword, destroying them. And he left none breathing. And he burned Hazor with fire.
Jos 11:12 And Joshua took all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them. And he struck them with the edge of the sword. He destroyed them, as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded.
Jos 11:13 But Israel did not burn any of them, the cities that stood in their strength, except Hazor only. Joshua did burn it.
Jos 11:14 And all the spoil of these cities and the cattle the sons of Israel took for a prize to themselves. But they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left none breathing.
Jos 11:15 As Jehovah commanded Moses His servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that Jehovah commanded Moses.
Jos 11:16 So Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountains of Israel, and its lowlands,
Jos 11:17 from mount Halak [khaw-lawk] that goes up to Seir, even to Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon. And he took all their kings, and struck them and killed them. 
Jos 11:18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.
Jos 11:19 There was not a city that made peace with the sons of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All others they took in battle.
Jos 11:20 For it was of Jehovah to harden their hearts so that they should come against Israel in battle, so that they might be destroyed, so that they might have no favor, but that He might destroy them, as Jehovah commanded Moses.
Jos 11:21 At that time Joshua came and cut off the giants from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel. Joshua destroyed them with their cities.
Jos 11:22 There were none of the giants left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod there remained some.
Jos 11:23 And Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Jehovah commanded Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.

Our Lord never used words in scripture that weren’t relevant; moreover, they often had extensive spiritual meanings. On the surface, sometimes the meanings of names appear bland and of little consequence, yet, almost always, some body member will be gifted with greater spiritual insight for our delight. So if we are to get much out of the endless killing of the enemy within or reading the Chronicles of who begat who, our priestly obligation is to study the nuances of our Lord’s word.

Although it may seem tedious to a dull-eyed harlot, the bright-eyed wife of righteousness can construct a spiritual picture from the meanings of the below names.

Jos 11:1 And it happened when Jabin [‘whom God observes; to discern, understand, consider’], king of Hazor [‘Castle, court, enclosures’], had heard, he sent to Jobab [Phonetic – jaw-bab. ‘desert; to cry shrilly’]  king of Madon [‘strife; stature; size; garment’], and to the king of Shimron [‘watch-height; lees, dregs; to guard, observe, give heed; have charge’], and to the king of Achshaph [‘I shall be bewitched; to practice witchcraft or sorcery’],
Jos 11:2 and to the kings on the north [Judgement comes from the north and is the Lord’s people’s ‘treasure’] of the mountains, and on the plains south of Chinneroth [‘harps; lyre; sing. Early name of the sea of Galilee’], and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor [‘generation’ – the coastal city of Manasseh. ‘period, generation, habitation, dwelling’] on the west [While the light of Christ comes from the east, neither the east, west or south sustains growth without judgment from the north. (Psa 75:6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.)]
Jos 11:3 and to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh.

For our understanding, the essence of that 6-member pictorial is, as always, describes the Beast sitting on the throne of God. He’s both full of pomp and glory, yet schizophrenic when ruled by evil spirits that cause him to cry and regain strength through his ‘clothing’ of self-righteousness and support for his cause from his neighbour’s equal spiritual derangements. It is precisely what we can expect when we fight without the Lord’s power to go before us.

Thankfully, and at our appointed time, our Lord is guaranteed to cut off the horns of our power.

Psa 75:1 To the Chief Musician. Do not destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song. To You, O God, we have given thanks, to You we have given thanks; for Your name is near, Your wonderful works declared.
Psa 75:2 When I take the appointed time, I will judge uprightly.
Psa 75:3 The earth and all its people are melting away; I hold up its pillars. Selah.
Psa 75:4 I said to the proud, Do not boast; and to the wicked, Do not lift up the horn;
Psa 75:5 do not lift up your horn on high; nor speak with a stiff neck.
Psa 75:6 For lifting up comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
Psa 75:7 But God is the judge; He puts down one and sets up another.
Psa 75:8 For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed; and He pours out from it; but the dregs of it, all the wicked of the earth shall drain its dregs and drink.
Psa 75:9 But I will declare forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
Psa 75:10 Also I will cut off all the horns of the wicked; but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Jos 11:4 And they went out, they and all their armies with them, many people, even as the sand on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots.

Immediately, any time we see the term ‘sand of the seashore’, we know that that sand represents the billions of humans who will have ever lived. Because of Abraham’s faithfulness (as was Joshua’s) to do all that the Lord commanded, he made Abraham’s seed as numerable as the stars of heaven and the sand of the seashore.

Gen 22:16 and said, I have sworn by Myself, says Jehovah; because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only one;
Gen 22:17 that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies.

Gen 32:11 Deliver me [Jacob, Abraham’s son], I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
Gen 32:12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Of course, those coming out of the resurrection to judgment, the Lake of Fire, are those numberless stars finally (figuratively) ascending into their inheritance of eternal life in God’s realm. They are of Esau, who serve Jacob. However, by the strength of their power (horses and chariots) in high places within, these books of Joshua represent our seemingly inexhaustible sins. In the duality of meaning, and when these sins and people are ground to powder and burned with fire, we will possess, that is, rule and judge numberless humanity beginning in the one-thousand years and completed in the resurrection to judgment.

Jos 11:5 And when all these kings had met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom [may-rome – ‘high place’], to fight against Israel.
Jos 11:6 And Jehovah said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver them up, all killed before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.

Our fine Australian member, Anthony, knows what it is like to be hamstrung when he tore his Achilles tendon. Joshua slashing the horse’s hamstrings rendered the horses utterly incapacitated, meaning spiritually that the pride of our power is rendered useless, as are the conveyances of our power represented by chariots.

Our Lord comes suddenly upon our sins as he drags us out of Babylon.

Jos 11:7 And Joshua came suddenly, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom. And they fell on them.
Jos 11:8 And Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them to great Sidon, and to the salt pits, and to the valley of Mizpeh eastward. And they struck them until they left them none remaining.
Jos 11:9 And Joshua did to them as Jehovah commanded him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
Jos 11:10 And Joshua at that time turned back and took Hazor [‘khaw-tsore], and struck its king with the sword. For Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms.

As we saw in Joshua Part 12, if we crush an enemy’s head, the rest of him is rendered as useless as a horse without his hamstrings. In war, for the most part, if the capital is captured, the rest of the country yields to the coup. For the spiritual-minded, it means to kill the heart, the spirit of the intent for the proposed sinful act.

Jos 11:11 And they struck every soul in it with the edge of the sword, destroying them. And he left none breathing. And he burned Hazor with fire.
Jos 11:12 And Joshua took all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them. And he struck them with the edge of the sword. He destroyed them, as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded.
Jos 11:13 But Israel did not burn any of them, the cities that stood in their strength, except Hazor only. Joshua did burn it.

Verse 13 sounds alarm bells for us to not burn to the ground our sins standing in their strength. Nonetheless, and as represented above, if Hazor, the capital of our land, is destroyed, the remaining parts of the body submit. Even if the sin isn’t decapitated, the strength of our spiritual walk is utterly incapacitated, symbolised by cut hamstrings.

Jos 11:14 And all the spoil of these cities and the cattle the sons of Israel took for a prize to themselves. But they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left none breathing.

Mercifully, our Lord doesn’t lay our land waste in one move since we would become overwhelmed by his chastisement.

Exo 23:29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become a waste, and the beast of the field multiply against you.
Exo 23:30 By little and little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and inherit the land.

Jos 11:15 As Jehovah commanded Moses His servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that Jehovah commanded Moses. 
Jos 11:16 So Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountains of Israel, and its lowlands, 
Jos 11:17 from mount Halak [khaw-lawk] that goes up to Seir, even to Baal-gad [bah’-al gawd ‘lord of fortune’] in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon. And he took all their kings, and struck them and killed them. 
Jos 11:18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.

Our Lord, instead of dispatching all our enemies within in one fell swoop with the high probability of us being overwhelmed, stretches our faith by making us contend with our adversaries in dying daily.

1Co 15:30 And why are we also in danger every hour? 
1Co 15:31 Day by day I die, by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jos 11:19 There was not a city that made peace with the sons of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All others they took in battle.

We harken back to the Gibeonites being a Levitical city of Benjamin, our brother kin to whom we extend mercy for their inherited unwitting Christian Babylonian ways. They are hardened of heart by God not to have ears that hear and eyes that see. They serve the Tabernacle and, for the time being, feed our Benjaminite kin with magic sermons suitable for etching ears (2Ti 4:3).

Isa 61:5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

Rom 9:15 For He said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of the one willing [Babylonian Christians], nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth.”
Rom 9:18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.

Our Lord’s mercy upon the Gibeonites highlights the Lord’s power to choose the weak and beggarly elect of God to raise them to royal honor that His name will be declared throughout all the earth.

We, too, in our time, have been made by God to come against him to do battle so that he will be given an occasion to destroy and remake us in his image.

Jos 11:20 For it was of Jehovah to harden their hearts so that they should come against Israel in battle, so that they might be destroyed, so that they might have no favor, but that He might destroy them, as Jehovah commanded Moses.
Jos 11:21 At that time Joshua came and cut off the giants from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel. Joshua destroyed them with their cities.
Jos 11:22 There were none of the giants left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod there remained some.
Jos 11:23 And Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Jehovah commanded Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.

We will be battling our spiritual giants, and the meaning of their names in the recent studies in Joshua perfectly describes the nature of our enemies.

These verses show us that our battle against the flesh is fought until the first resurrection, and we hopefully gain Christ, our inheritance. Then we will be totally at rest from the wars of our flesh in Christ.

[Study Posted January 1, 2021]

Jdg 1:1  Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? 
Jdg 1:2  And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. 
Jdg 1:3  And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. 
Jdg 1:4  And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men. 
Jdg 1:5  And they found Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
Jdg 1:6  But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. 
Jdg 1:7  And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. 
Jdg 1:8  Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 
Jdg 1:9  And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley. 
Jdg 1:10  And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. 
Jdg 1:11  And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher: 
Jdg 1:12  And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. 
Jdg 1:13  And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. 
Jdg 1:14  And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? 
Jdg 1:15  And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. 

Introduction to the Book of Judges

There is no indication as to who wrote the book of Judges, but Jewish tradition names the prophet Samuel as the author. What is most important is that the Book of Judges is the fiery words of the Lord! Judges were leaders God raised up during the time when there were no kings in Israel to rescue His people. The time period of the Judges therefore stretches from the period after the death of Joshua until Saul was made king of Israel.

We are not going to look at the Book of Judges from the letter – the historical facts. That will be a waste of time for everybody! We are going to focus on the spiritual aspect and how it applies to our personal lives, for the spirit gives life but the letter killeth!

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

We can learn a lot from the Book of Judges as it relates to the war in our heavens. There is this recurring phrase in Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).  This recurring phrase indicates how, when the beast is in the driving seat (on the throne) in our lives, we tend to do what is right in our own eyes and in this way provide the necessary fuel for our own judgment.

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Jdg 21:25  In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

After going through the wilderness experience when we were under bondage to Babylonian principles and doctrines, God in His mercy sent from above a deliverer in the form of Joshua (representing Christ) to draw us out of many waters (Psa 18:6). The many waters here refers to the sea of our lives which is the flesh. It is Jesus who has dragged us to cross the Jordan and to begin the overcoming process. To this end, we have had initial victories in the land of our minds (the defeat of Jericho, Ai, etc.), but there is still more work to be done to rid the land (our body) of the giants (the Cananites, Perizzites, Philistines, Medianites, etc.). This war to overcome these giants is what Paul described in Corinthians and Ephesians (For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places).

Psa 18:16  He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

After crossing the Jordan, the stage is now set for the continuation of the conquest after the death of Joshua.

Jdg 1:1  Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? 

The book of Judges starts with the death of Joshua. The name Joshua means “The Lord is Salvation”. Thus, the death of Joshua signifies the death of Jesus, who is our Lord and salvation. Without the death of Jesus, there is no victory over sin. As He was here on this earth, so are we. We, his elect, must also die to the old man to fill up that which is behind the afflictions of Christ. Where there is death, there is victory!

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

One of the questions that is often posed is, “How do we wage this war against the flesh?”  This is what the Israelites wanted to know when they posed the question, “Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first?”  The Israelites wanted to know how they could sustain the initial victory they wrought. This is the Lord’s answer:

Jdg 1:2  And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. 

To understand what this verse means and its implications for our lives, we need to go to the story of Jacob’s wife Leah.

Gen 29:31  And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
Gen 29:32  And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
Gen 29:33  And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.
Gen 29:34  And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.
Gen 29:35  And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.

So God in essence is telling us that the campaign against the giants of our land begins with praising the Lord, which is the meaning of the name Judah. Praising the Lord is part of our worship. What is most important is that when Leah realized that it was time to praise the Lord, she stopped bearing. This is insightful in the sense that it means that it is not our labor, works or effort that will bring about the victory as Leah initially thought. Victory over the flesh is the work of the Lord alone!

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

During the time we were so engrossed in orthodoxy (the Babylonian system), we invested so much in praising the Lord thinking that will unleash the power of God in our lives. I remember sometimes we held night vigils just singing and thanking the Lord using all kinds of musical instruments but devoid of the fiery Word which is able to burn the chaff in our lives. We forgot that praising God is a form of our worship to God which must be done in truth and in spirit. We were only focusing on the physical way of praising God by singing songs of praise and thanking God.

Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

What the scriptures tell us about true worship is this:

Rom 12:1  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Rom 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (ESV)

Our spiritual worship is presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God and not conforming to this world but being renewed in our minds. That is our praise (Judah)!!  Our battle against the flesh (our land) is when we stop conforming to the world and begin to renew our minds with the word of God. That is the beginning of the process of presenting our bodies as living sacrifice. That signals our Judah taking the lead to battle the giants in our land!!

Psa 119:164  Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.

The number seven means complete. Our complete praise should embrace both the good times and the “bad” times (God’s righteous judgment) because all things will work for our good!

Psa 107:15  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

The wonderful works mentioned here relates to how God raises the stormy winds (righteous judgment) to bring us to our wits’ end in our lives and then delivers us.

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

It is when we get a better understanding of the sovereignty of God that we can understand why we should praise Him at all times. If we know He is at the center of everything happening to us (both good and bad), we will praise Him in difficult times knowing our faith is being tried to work out patience in us. This is what will deliver the land into our hands (Jdg 1:2).

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Jas 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Jdg 1:3  And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. 

Just as Judah needed Simeon, we also need each other. This war is not going to be won by us walking alone. We need each other for encouragement, edification and comfort and also to provoke one another to love and good works so that we can defeat the enemies. We need to stand with each other in prayer and in the sharing of the word. Simeon means ‘God hears’. So Judah beckoning Simeon to join him can mean that God hears our praise. This should give us more comfort.

1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

What day do we see approaching? The day of the Lord, which is judgment, and the coming of the Lord to take His residence in our heavens.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Jdg 1:4  And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men. 
Jdg 1:5  And they found Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

Immediately the Lord gave His word, and Judah took the lead in the conquest. Obedience to the word is essential if we are to have victory.

2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Luk 11:28  But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

The Canaanites and the Perizzites were defeated in Bezek. It is very insightful to note that ten thousand men were defeated at Bezek.  Ten thousand consist of multiples of 10 which signify the flesh. Bezek means ‘lightening’. So what this verse is telling us is that certain aspects of our flesh are defeated within the twinkle of an eye as we heed the voice of the Lord, thankful in every circumstance and not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. According to Strong, the word Canaanites by implication means a peddler (H3669). One of the enemies that are cleaned from our heavens as we begin to worship God in truth and in spirit is our peddling mentality. Paul said:

2Co 2:17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God. (NIV)

Jdg 1:5  And they found Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 
Jdg 1:6  But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. 
Jdg 1:7  And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. 

In spite of the victory wrought in Bezek, Adonibezek managed to escape. Adonibezek means Lord of Bezek. This means we are dealing with a higher level of the enemy within us who has been successful in defeating us over and over again in time past as Adonibezek recounted how he had incapacitated threescore and ten kings.  Three score and ten means seventy which is 10 times 7. Ten signifies the flesh and seven indicates completeness. This shows how our flesh has succumbed completely to the dictates of the enemy (Adonibezek) in times past. As the Lord continues to give us victory we should be relentless in our desire for the enemy to be removed from our heavens. The fact that we have experienced defeat several times does not mean the strategy of worshiping God in spirit through the surrendering of our bodies as living sacrifices does not work or that victory will never come. As God deals with us to make our obedience complete through judgments, we will surely catch up with Adonibezek, defeat him and finally remove him from our heavens.

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Psa 37:23  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
Psa 37:24  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

It is discerning to know that it was when Adonibezek was brought to Jerusalem that he died. We think because our carnal nature has been dealt a blow and been incapacitated, we are free from its dictates. Sometimes, however, the flesh resurfaces, and until we bring the enemy to Jerusalem to die (death of the old man), we may have these intermittent carnal influences.

Jerusalem here is used in a positive sense to refer to our gathering together. When we come to the heavenly Jerusalem (our brothers and sisters who are worshiping God in spirit and truth), an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly and the church of the first born, that is when the enemy will finally be defeated. It is in this heavenly Jerusalem that we hear the voice of the Lord speaking of better things that will ultimately bring about our salvation.

Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Jdg 1:8  Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 

The Jerusalem being talked about here in verse 8 is this Agar which is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. We can only “defeat” this Jerusalem (Babylonian system of false doctrines) with the edge of the sword, which is the word of the Lord. As we come to this heavenly Jerusalem of our brothers and sisters worshiping God in truth and in spirit, we will hear the voice of the true shepherd, and this will hasten our deliverance from orthodoxy and eventually we will be completely separated from its influence. Note that Judah after capturing Jerusalem, set it on fire. The Babylonian system and its false doctrines must be burned out of us with the fire of the word of God. This is not a one-day victory. It is a long process.

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Jdg 1:9  And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley. 
Jdg 1:10  And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

This war we are waging is on levels. God leads us to have victories over the enemies within which are easy to deal with before we are brought to fight stronger enemies. Paul said there are principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12). The reason God does not lead us to fight stronger enemies early is that we may end up going back to the world (Egypt) when we encounter intense battles early.

Exo 13:17  And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

After the defeat of the Canaanites, Perizzites and Jerusalem, Judah began to fight the Canaanites that dwelt in the mountains and the valleys. These are much stronger than the enemies initially encountered. Among the Canaanites in Hebron were the giants (Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai), but God granted them victory. The giants in the land represent the false doctrines which have become our idols and the sins that easily beset us. When David slew Goliath a type of the giants in the land, he used a sling and a stone to do that.

1Sa 17:50  So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

To understand the spiritual meaning of the sling and the stone as tools for defeating the giants, let’s turn to this scripture:

Pro 26:8  As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.

A sling is only useful if a stone can easily be catapulted. Constraining a stone in a sling in the biblical sense means giving honour to a fool. The flip side of this verse will therefore mean that we give honour to the wise – Jesus (remember the scriptures are focused on Christ who is the only wise God, our savior) with a sling and a freely moving stone just as David used a sling and a stone. Thus, giving honour to the Lord is what David used to defeat Goliath, the giant. What does it mean to honour God?

Jud 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 

We honour God by obeying him and not speaking our own words, not finding our own pleasure and not focusing on our own ways.  That is what will ensure our victory over the giants in our land just as David defeated Goliath.

Jdg 1:11  And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher: 
Jdg 1:12  And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
Jdg 1:13  And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. 
Jdg 1:14  And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? 
Jdg 1:15  And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. 

In Joshua 15:15-19, the same story is recounted of how Caleb offered his daughter to Othniel for defeating the city of Debir. The repetition implies there are significant lessons to be learned. There are several accounts of how the Israelites defeated Debir in the bible.

Jos 10:38  And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and fought against it:
Jos 10:39  And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had done also to Libnah, and to her king.
Jos 11:21  And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.

Some of the Anakims (giants) lived in Debir. This town Debir was defeated by Joshua earlier. However, it is likely that it came under the Canaanites rule again as a result of Israel’s sins against God.  That is what Peter describes as dogs going back to their vomit. In any case, it has to be defeated again by Othniel who is a kind of God’s elect.

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Othniel was offered an incentive of marrying Achsah, Caleb’s daughter, if he was able to defeat Debir. As God guides us to die daily to the flesh, we will be provided with the virtuous wife represented by Achsah (the bride of Christ who is the true church) who will bring about the upper springs and the nether springs. The upper and nether springs represents the full counsel of God’s words. In other words, when we come into the heavenly Jerusalem, the true bride of Christ, we will be endowed with the counsel of God as we feast on His words.

Pro 18:22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the LORD.

Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

The favor here in Proverbs 18:22 is for your eyes to be opened to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven as we find the true church (wife). This was the incentive for Othniel (a type of elect) as he waged war against Debir (the enemies within).

Pro 31:10  Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

Pro 31:26  She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

The virtuous woman here is the New Jerusalem, and the law of kindness represents the law of the spirit of life which sets us free from the law of sin and death which we were subject to when we did not know the Lord.

If the Lord permits, we will continue next week to end Chapter 1 of Judges.

[Next study in this series is here.]

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Awesome Hands – Part 138

”He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness”

July 15, 2018

“Murmuring in our tents” is what we saw ourselves doing in our previous study. This was a reflection of what the Israelites did when they reflected on why the Lord brought them out of Egypt, from their perspective.

Deu 1:27  And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

The Israelites murmured to themselves the wrong things which were opposite of the truth, and it was their own hearts and actions that caused them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years in the first place.

As we will see with the study today, the Israelites were completely wrong about being delivered to the hands of the Amorites, but more than that, their own hearts were deceiving them into doing things which caused them more anguish in the long run.

Lord willing, we can learn from this pattern and ready our own hearts and minds to properly understand what the Lord is doing in our lives.

There are several different verses that will be the focus of the study today, and they are spread through the second book of Deuteronomy. These verses will contain the Hebrew word “yad”^H3027, but they will also show us the faithfulness of the Lord.

Deu 2:7  For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Before this verse in Deuteronomy, there were some interesting things that happened which we should file away in the “important lessons” file of our brains.

At the end of Deuteronomy 1, which was also the end of the last study, the Lord gave the Israelites specific commands to take their journey into the wilderness, but the Israelites decided they were ready to go to war.

I would like to point out that the people often answered Moses as if it were only Moses they were answering. Moses was the spokesman for God, and Moses was only conveying what the Lord commanded or did not command. Yet, the Israelites only pointed out what was being told by the Lord.

This is detrimental for the Israelites because they always bring the wrath of the Lord down on them when they have this mindset.

As we ended the last study, the Israelites were told that only the faithful spies Caleb and Joshua, and the little ones which had no knowledge of their parent’s actions, were permitted to enter the promised land.

Deu 1:39  Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
Deu 1:40  But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
Deu 1:41  Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.

If you can relate to the Israelites in their stubbornness right now, then you are on the path to the mindset we must have in order to approach the Lord.

That mindset is one of recognition of our constant desires and actions to go AGAINST what the Lord says to do. Of course, the Israelites do NOT have that mindset right here in the moment they are in, but since we can recognize it NOW, we can see that we too have done this to the Lord in various ways.

It’s no different than my children doing this to me when they know I gave them clear directions to do something while they choose to ignore those clear directions.

What will be the result of this disobedience?

Deu 1:42  And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
Deu 1:43  So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously^H2102 up into the hill.
Deu 1:44  And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
Deu 1:45  And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
Deu 1:46  So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

Yes, we will reap what we sow. The Hebrew used in English as “presumptuously” in Deu 1:43 is only used a few times in the old testament, and 5 of the 10 times it is used, it is used as 'proud' or 'proudly'.

In other words, the Israelites were dealing with the pride of their life.

Here are a few examples of this word being used elsewhere:

Neh 9:13  Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
Neh 9:14  And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
Neh 9:15  And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.
Neh 9:16  But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,

Neh 9:28  But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
Neh 9:29  And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
Neh 9:30  Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

Ultimately, the Lord has to teach His people hard lessons, but if we are honest with ourselves, then we will stop wanting to excuse ourselves and will own up to the truth that we bring things on ourselves just like the Israelite’s did.

We know that we do not have free will outside of God’s will, but we do have a will, and that will continuously have us going AGAINST the Lord.

The Lord will always win when there is a battle of wills, and the Israelites ended up doing exactly what the Lord commanded them to do in the first place.

Deu 2:1  Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days.

It’s funny, because I know this to be so true in my own life and in my own parenting. I regularly tell my children they will do what I say one way or another.

They can either do what I ask them to do, and get things done. They can also choose NOT to do what I ask them to do the first time I ask them to do it, get it trouble, and then do it anyway.

Either way, it is getting done, and maybe one day they will choose the easier of the two choices on a consistent basis.

Now that the Israelites have learned this lesson the hard way, that they were going to take their journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, the Lord tells them “you can move along now”.

Deu 2:2  And the LORD spake unto me, saying,
Deu 2:3  Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
Deu 2:4  And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:
Deu 2:5  Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.
Deu 2:6  Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.
Deu 2:7  For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Being that this lesson of war with the Amorites is fresh in their minds, relatively speaking, the Lord tells them to go northward.

On this passage, they will be encountering the children of Esau, the Moabites, the Horites and the children of Ammon.

Notice how many times we are going to read about various GIANTS and the LANDS attributed to giants. This should tell us that the Lord gives us ample warning concerning the giants we are going to encounter, the “land” of the giants and the people there now and how to deal with them.

Deu 2:8  And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
Deu 2:9  And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.
Deu 2:10  The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;
Deu 2:11  Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
Deu 2:12  The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them.
Deu 2:13  Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.
Deu 2:14  And the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them.
Deu 2:15  For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.

So, we have been told not to try and TAKE THE LAND from our kinfolk whom had been given that land by the Lord Himself. Spiritually speaking, we are not to try to OVERTAKE the land of our brothers and kinfolk. We are NOT to try and conquer the giants in THEIR LANDS, especially when we can’t even make war with the giants in our own spiritual lands.

In fact, when we do try, the Lord just waits out the works we try to do on our own, as what happened when the Israelites went to war with the Amorites without the Lord being with them.

The Lord also waits out the “men of war” until they are “wasted out” and destroyed.

Then, when our “old man of war” is consumed, the Lord tells us it’s time to move to the step of His beat.

Deu 2:16  So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,
Deu 2:17  That the LORD spake unto me, saying,
Deu 2:18  Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:
Deu 2:19  And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.
Deu 2:20  (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;
Deu 2:21  A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:
Deu 2:22  As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:
Deu 2:23  And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)
Deu 2:24  Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
Deu 2:25  This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

These lessons of the Israelites are hard learned, but if we can learn QUICKER than they did, then we can move past the lessons that must be learned, into the land that the Lord gives us, by listening to His voice and commandments.

All of the lands over which the Lord will now give the Israelites victory have all been prepared for the coming of the people of God. Even in their disobedience, the Lord has provided that the “good fruit” of His people will prosper.

The other thing to note is that the Lord does not always use the same methods of victory for all situations, and that is okay. It is the waiting on the Lord that matters.

The Israelites had been told to “buy meat and water” from the children of Esau, but DO NOT MEDDLE with them. At this point in time these are people, in type, who are TWINS to the Israelites, similar to Jacob and Esau.

However, when the Israelites approach Sihon the king of Heshbon with a similar message of peace and trade, he refuses.

Deu 2:26  And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
Deu 2:27  Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left.
Deu 2:28  Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;
Deu 2:29  (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.

The Israelites were only doing what they learned had been successful before, but the difference here is that the Lord hadn’t told them to do this. So, it is obvious that the Lord had other plans for Sihon and his people.

God’s people didn’t do anything wrong with this approach, but it just proves that the Lord has plans and things will work out according to those plans.

When we do away with our own prideful will and wait upon what the Lord is doing in our lives, then we can react to what we need to when we need to. This will bring us success.

Deu 2:30  But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.
Deu 2:31  And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.
Deu 2:32  Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.
Deu 2:33  And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.
Deu 2:34  And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:
Deu 2:35  Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.
Deu 2:36  From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us:
Deu 2:37  Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us.

The Lord makes His points very vividly for those who will listen and obey. These old stories are there to show us that what is best for us is NOT going to be wrought by our own ways and doings without the Lord stepping in to do it for us.

This “rule of thumb” is one that applies to the people of God. There are many blessings to being the people of God, but when we ignore His precepts He will get our attention.

For the rest of the world who do not yet know God, they obviously find success as well in the world and that, too, is of the Lord.

However, these lessons about which we are reading are to show us that when the Lord is on our side, NO ONE can be against us, and the Lord will fight for us.

We also must accept whatever the results of war in our lives mean because a lot of the time we do not get the results we think should happen. We can rest, however, knowing that the Lord will work it all for our good in the end.

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Awesome Hands - part 137 Discussion

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Awesome Hands – part 137

Ye murmured in your tents”

July 1, 2018

Today’s study finds us starting the book of Deuteronomy. As it has been with all of the awesome hands series, we will be look at each time the word hand or hands is mentioned within the book.

For this study, our first mention of the word hand comes as we read how the Israelites are told to search out the land and to go in and possess the land.

Deu 1:20  And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
Deu 1:21  Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
Deu 1:22  And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
Deu 1:23  And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
Deu 1:24  And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
Deu 1:25  And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.

It is easy to read this story and immediately imagine that the Israelite spies were spying on a land, saw the land was “good” and then reporting back to Moses what was found. This did happen this way, but there is a lot more than meets the eye on what we are being told spiritually.

Christians today are promised a land, but we too REFUSE to possess it. We certainly know in this body of believers, that the Lord is workings ALL THINGS, but why is it that we too murmur against the Lord when He tells us to possess the land that He has set before us?

For myself, I see myself on the page when He tells me to “fear not, NEITHER BE DISCOURAGED”.

I find it interesting that the Lord sends His spies to the valley of Eshcol, or the valley of “cluster” (H812).

H812
'eshkôl
BDB Definition:
Eshcol = “cluster”
1) an area of Hebron, the valley of Eshcol
2) an Amorite, the brother of Mamre, dwelling in Hebron
Part of Speech: noun proper locative, masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: the same as H811

This Hebrew word is the same as H810 according to the BDB.

H811
'eshkôl
BDB Definition:
1) cluster
1a) of grapes
1b) of flowers (metaphor of lover)
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: probably prolonged from H810
Same Word by TWOT Number: 178

When you follow the word path all the way to it’s conclusion, we see that the BDB says that H811 is “probably prolonged from H810”.

H810

'eshek
eh'-shek
From an unused root (probably meaning to bunch together); a testicle (as a lump): - stone.
Total KJV occurrences: 1

H810
'eshek
Total KJV Occurrences: 1
stones, 1
Lev_21:20

When we look at the only time this root of “Eshcol” is used, we find a very interesting set of verses.

I did a study awhile back, http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/awesome-hands-part-120-brokenhanded/, which covered these verses due to having the word “brokenhanded” contained in them, but the concept of “broken stones” is just as applicable.

Lev 21:16  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 21:17  Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
Lev 21:18  For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
Lev 21:19  Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
Lev 21:20  Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
Lev 21:21  No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
Lev 21:22  He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.
Lev 21:23  Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.

In the above mentioned study I write, “At first glance, the verses we are going to cover today do appear to be very cold-hearted of the Lord. After all, who needs mercy more than those who have afflictions of which they themselves have NOT caused to happen to themselves?”

What an “earth shattering” concept! I then write about these verses, “Simply put, and expressed by the Lord, no one with a blemish is permitted to approach the altar of the Lord! Anyone with a blemish is not even allowed to go in unto the vail because they have a blemish.

I wonder who, among all human beings, do not have a blemish? Of course, there are some folks out there that may be great physical specimens from among humanity but even they have physical blemishes.

However, I think anyone in the body of Christ will be quick to realize that this has much more to do with spiritual blemishes than those who have natural oddities or “blemishes”.

In truth, the only ones that can have the Lord truly bring forth life in them are those who KNOW who they are.”

Getting back to the verses for today, why would it be significant that the Lord causes Moses to tell the spies to search out the land, and they land they search out is the “valley of Eshcol”?

Notice what the spies bring back as “proof” of the land.

Deu 1:25  And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.

As I alluded to in my previous study on the root of this word Eskcol, the “land” and the “fruit” of the land, has much more to do with spiritual types than it does with the physical land they were in search of.

The Lord promised a land flowing with milk and honey to the Israelites, and this is a land which has many good fruits. However, the land itself is very deceiving because the land is occupied and POSSESSED!

Deu 1:26  Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
Deu 1:27  And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
Deu 1:28  Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.
Deu 1:29  Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
Deu 1:30  The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
Deu 1:31  And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
Deu 1:32  Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
Deu 1:33  Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.
Deu 1:34  And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
Deu 1:35  Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,

There is such a wealth of spiritual riches contained within these verses if only we could take ahold of it and hold onto it for spiritual life!

Listen to the spirit within the Israelites and hear it echo within your own hearts and minds. “You murmured in your tents and said Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.”

How unbelieving can we be? Well, this isn’t just the Israelites, but this is you and I at our appointed time.

The rebellion against the commandment of the Lord is that thy DID NOT BELIEVE the Lord their God!

The Lord has guided us and directed us all the days of our lives, yet we rebel. He has searched out a place in His kingdom for us to pitch our tents, IN FIRE BY NIGHT, to show us the WAY WE SHOULD GO, but we rebel.

Why do we do such a thing? Well, it is because we are carnal, and we are of mankind. We are corrupted, but that is NOT the end of the story.

It is while we were in this corrupted state, while in BONDAGE, that the Lord came into Egypt to FREE US, and all He asks of us is to REMEMBER this. He didn’t free us to then LEAVE US TO DEATH! He freed us to lead us to LIFE, to lead us the way to the promised land of LIFE in His kingdom.

Notice, the spies take fruit OUT of the land and say the land is “good land”. What if, we can apply what we have learned from Jesus Christ in the New Testament and discover that it is what we take INTO the land that matters and not what we take OUT of it.

Spiritually speaking, the rebellion of the Israelites and their judgment for rebellion is shown to us in the type and shadow of being denied entry.

However, their FRUIT or SEED was NOT denied!

Deu 1:36  Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
Deu 1:37  Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
Deu 1:38  But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
Deu 1:39  Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

See, it is not what ENTERS a man that defiles him, but it is what is already there from WITHIN that defiles him.

When talking about the land, we are talking about US.

Mar 7:14  And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
Mar 7:15  There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
Mar 7:16  If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

The “fruit” that is already in us, before the Lord goes before us to show us the WAY to the promised land, and to lay it out before us to take ahold of, is CORRUPT fruit of the flesh and carnal mind.

It is “of man”.

However, the fruit that we want to produce comes only by way of the Lord GIVING it to us.

You might be saying to yourself that the Lord GAVE the promised land to the Israelites, but the truth is that the Lord gives the land to the FAITHFUL. He gives it to those who BELIEVE. Those that believe are GIVEN their BELIEF.

Deu 1:32  Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,

Deu 1:36  Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that HE HATH TRODDEN UPON, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.

The land that is given to us is the land that is PLACED under our feet with OUR BELIEF that the Lord will DELVIER the LAND to us.

So, again what land are we talking about? It is a land full of giants and “evil” fruit because “by their fruits you shall know them.

Listen to how Timothy describes this.

2Ti 1:5  When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
2Ti 1:6  Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up THE GIFT OF GOD, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2Ti 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, NOT ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
2Ti 1:10  But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

It is for the purpose and grace of God that He has freed us form Egypt and He wants us to remember that it is HIS WORKS that have laid out the way before us of which we are to go into the promised land and possess it.

HAVE FAITH.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved THROUGH FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto GOOD WORKS, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Remember that land Caleb had trodden upon? How does one “trod” any land without WALKING on it?

It is through FAITH that we do anything, and it is a gift of God.

Rom 6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Rom 6:21  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The fruit unto holiness we have now is that which has been gifted to us.

How then does this manifest itself in our lives practically?

Well, how does the Lord think about things? After all, His ways and thoughts are above our ways and thoughts.

Isa 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Again, I ask how do we LIVE BY FAITH and how does that manifest itself in our lives practically?

We live AS IF a THING is ALREADY accomplished!

Isa 55:10  For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

The Lord has PROMISED us OUR LAND, the LAND He has MOLDED for YOUR TAKING!

He has prepared it for the day of your arrival to it, but your arrival to it is with the FRUIT OF HIM IN YOU!

Rom 4:12  And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

Rom 4:16  Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

Whenever we have any thing we are dealing with in our lives, we should walk by Faith. Walking by Faith is an ACTION. It is an act of doing that which we BELIEVE is TRUE.

We do those things were are not as though they were!

What do I mean by that? I could give many examples, but I will give an easy one.

When the housing bubble happened in the USA in 2008, my wife and I came into hard times like a lot of people did. We eventually were brought to the point that we could not keep our first home.

We had only been there a few years, but the set of events we found ourselves in with me being laid off, and us spending all of our savings on the purchase of our home, had us struggling to the state of losing everything.

Well, we continued to believe that the Lord had us there for a reason, and He would deliver us a way out. How this practically worked is multifaceted, but one way in which this played out practically is how we continued to build our credit back up.

It wasn’t back to where it needed to be, but we LIVED as if it were. We continued to work hard, paid our bills on time, saved money, and day by day, month by month and year by year we did what was required to get us back to where we wanted to be.

Eventually, we were able to purchase our current home and reap the benefits of those day by days and week by weeks.

We lived in FAITH that the Lord would provide for us as He saw fit.

We also knew and believed that the Lord works all things after the counsel of His own will, and it just happens that the Lord blessed us in this way. We lived our lives as if we had already arrived at our goals, so that when they did happen, we were already COMFORTABLE with it being a reality.

No matter what issues we have, we as children of God must LIVE as if the Lord has already done the thing He has promised will happen.

In the context of the study today, we must realize that the Lord promises us the promised land, but that is only half the battle so to speak. We must be willing, by Faith, to go in to possess it.

Whatever demons or giants we face, we must kick out the possessors and go in and possess the land ourselves! Live as if you have ALREADY conquered those things that need conquering in your life.

That does mean we do not need to actually CONQUER the giants, but BELIEVE they are conquered before the war has ever begun.

Count the cost and know the Lord has given you the funds to achieve victory.

If all else fails, and you find you are still lacking faith, PRAY for MORE and we will pray with you!

Cleanse that “dumb spirit” as if it were already removed!

Mar 9:17  And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
Mar 9:18  And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
Mar 9:19  He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
Mar 9:20  And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21  And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22  And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Notice, the boy was NEVER destroyed, but was PRESERVED so that the Lord could one day, on this day, come and DELIVER HIM.

Mar 9:28  And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
Mar 9:29  And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

Pray, fast and LIVE as if the Lord has already delivered you from the land which you are to possess.

Soon, you will find that the land has been delivered into your hand and is trodden under your feet.

Isa 23:7-12 The Lord Has Purposed To Bring Into Contempt All The Honorable of The Earth

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Isa 23:7-12 The Lord Has Purposed To Bring Into Contempt All The Honorable of The Earth

Isa 23:7  Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Isa 23:8  Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?
Isa 23:9  The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.
Isa 23:10  Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
Isa 23:11  He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.
Isa 23:12  And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

These verses are wonderful news for all of us! The Lord has purposed to stain the pride of all the glory of the rebellious, sinful flesh of our old man and to bring into contempt all the honorable men of this earth.  There can be no better news than that.

Who do we all consider to be the most honorable man in the world? This is what we are told:

Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

When Christ tells us how we should treat our wives, He uses this natural fact to make that point. Self-preservation is as natural as breathing. According to the scriptures, our old man literally worships himself as a god:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Christ said this about all mankind:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man [Greek: 'anthropos', mankind] shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Tyre is just another symbol for the great harlot, called 'Babylon' in Revelation 17-18. The fact that we all "exalt [our]selves above all that is called God or that is worshiped" demonstrates that all men are given over to this "great whore", symbolizing the religions of this world, including the religion of self-worship.

I want to read the last two verses of last week's study to give us context to the six verses of our study today:

Isa 23:5  As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
Isa 23:6  Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

Isa 23:7  Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Isa 23:8  Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?

The use of 'Tarshish' as the destination of the "inhabitants of the isle" is for the purpose of letting us know just how universal the knowledge of the destruction of Tyre and Babylon will be.

Tarshish was a city in Spain, and Spain symbolizes the uttermost parts of the known world. The message we are being given is that the whole world, every part of the kingdom of our old man, will be made painfully aware of his destruction and the destruction of his kingdom within us. Just as the Egyptian army marched on their own feet right into their own destruction in the Red Sea, so also does our own old man march right into his own destruction at the hand of his own iniquities:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

"[Our] own feet" is "[our] own wickedness". It is our own ways which will judge us and cause us to be carried off and carried away from our Creator and Savior and into our own destruction.

Pro 14:14  The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

Verse 8 poses the question: "Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?"

Verse 9 answers that question leaving no doubt who "[took] counsel against Tyre... whose traffickers are the honorable [men] of the earth".

Isa 23:9  The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

"All the honorable of the earth" is the "man of sin" who "sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God". "The honorable of the earth" is our own old man whom the Lord is slowly showing as contemptible and not worthy of inheriting the kingdom of God, if for nothing else, his contemptible composition of dying flesh and blood and the deadly fruit of that dying composition:

Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Our flesh does not like those words and refuses to believe them. Many of the daughters of Babylon actually teach a doctrine of "eternal spiritual flesh", and teach that just as Christ's physical body was raised from the dead, so will we experience a 'corporal resurrection' with a physical body of 'eternal, spiritual flesh and blood'.

Such lies fly in the face of 1Co 15:50 as well as these words of our Lord:

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

These false doctrines notwithstanding, the Lord is bringing down all the flesh of 'all the honorable of the earth' [into] contempt, including far away Tarshish, one of the daughters of Tyre:

Isa 23:10  Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
Isa 23:11  He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.

True to life, we all attempt to evade, avoid and nullify the Lord's judgment to make our flesh contemptible to us and to this world, so we seek to get away from His judgments upon us.  However, we cannot get away from a God who is omnipresent and all powerful. When our "day of visitation" arrives (Isa 10:3), we will be judged, and then we will "learn righteousness" (Isa 26:8-9).

Isa 10:3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

Isa 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

The Tyrians who were able to escape fled Tyre and went to Cyprus, but even there they found no rest from the Lord's hand:

Isa 23:12  And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

All the commentaries agree that 'Chittim' is the island of Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean. The wealthy Tyrians were the ancient Phoenicians who had established ports of trade throughout the Mediterranean, including the island of Cyprus, which at that time was known in scripture both as 'Caphtor' and as 'Chittim'. That is why Tarshish, a Phoenician city in Spain way over in the western Mediterranean, is instructed to mourn the loss of Tyre.  In the first verse of this chapter we are told the destruction of Tyre is revealed to Tarshish by Cyprians, who are here called 'Chittim':

Isa 23:1  The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

In Numbers 24 we have the story of Israel toward the end of their wanderings in the wilderness. The Lord is at last bringing them through the land of Moab, one of the three nations the Lord instructed Israel not to attack because they were Israel's brother via Lot, the nephew of Abraham. The other two nations were the Ammonites, Moab's brother, and the Edomites, the descendant's of Esau, Jacob's twin brother.

The point being made is that these nations are our own self-righteous flesh, and we cannot at first even fight against our own self-righteous flesh. Here is the part of that story where the "ships... of Chittim", along with "all the "honorable of the earth", will be proven by the Lord to be "contemptible" (Isa 23:9).

Num 24:10  And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.
Num 24:11  Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the LORD hath kept thee back from honour.
Num 24:12  And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying,
Num 24:13  If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the LORD saith, that will I speak?
Num 24:14  And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.
Num 24:15  And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
Num 24:16  He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
Num 24:17  I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
Num 24:18  And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly.
Num 24:19  Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
Num 24:20  And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.
Num 24:21  And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
Num 24:22  Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
Num 24:23  And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!
Num 24:24  And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.
Num 24:25  And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his way.

The fact that Seth ("Sheth" verse 17, and "Eber" verse 24) are mentioned among all these nations, is the same as telling us that even the flesh of Christ cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50).

"The ships of Chittim" are also mentioned in the prophecies of Daniel:

Dan 11:30  For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

Tyre, Babylon and the ships of Chittim are all types of the great whore and her daughters who are: "they that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in [the] great waters [of] multitudes and nations [upon which the great whore sits]":

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

What we have just been told here in Isaiah 23, in Daniel 11 and in Revelation 17, is that we are all brought to "hate the whore, and... eat her flesh, and burn her with fire", while we are in the process of coming out of her. As carnal babes in Christ (1Co 3:1-4), we blame the harlot for being a harlot and for deceiving us for so long. Joseph, a type of the Lord's elect, was upset with his brothers when they cast him into a pit and sold him into Egypt. It was over 13 years before he was given to see what the Lord was working in his life. As long as he was in the pit, in the possession of the Ishmaelites, in Potifar's house or in prison, he could not possibly see how any good could come of his situation. Only after he was seated with Christ in the heavens was he able to see that "it was not [his brothers]" who had sold him into Egypt. It was God who sent him there to save Egypt and his own apostate family.

Outwardly the beast that is mankind is becoming, and will become, disillusioned with the religions of this world, and will blame them for all the evil in this world, when, of course, the Truth is that the Lord Himself has put it in her heart to be the whore she is within us, just as He puts it into our hearts to hate her and to burn her with fire.

In time we come to know that it was all a work of God. When the Lord opens our eyes, we finally see that all of Israel's enemies, all the enemies of the kingdom of God within us, whether they are symbolized by the literal kinsmen of Israel as the descendants of Abraham, "a Syrian" or the nations of giants within the land or the Assyrians, they are one and all "the first man Adam" who is within us all. All our enemies, inward and outward, represent and symbolize our own flesh and our own carnal, rebellious old man and his kingdom:

Gen 25:20  And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

Gen 28:5  And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

Deu 26:5  And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Next week, Lord willing, we will see that our experience in Tyre and in Babylon is absolutely essential "to save many people alive", just as Joseph's betrayal by His ten brothers accomplished that same end (Gen 45:4-8).

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Here are the last six verses of Isaiah 23. These will be our study for next week.

Isa 23:13  Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.
Isa 23:14  Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
Isa 23:15  And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
Isa 23:16  Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
Isa 23:17  And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
Isa 23:18  And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

The theme of generations runs throughout this book of beginnings or origins, namely Genesis. ‘Genesis’ is a Greek word for ‘generation’ or ‘origin’, and the equivalent Hebrew word ‘toledaw’ appears 13 times in Genesis alone (Gen 2:4, Gen 5:1, Gen 6:9 (2), Gen 10:1, Gen 10:32, Gen 11:10, Gen 11:27, Gen 25:12-13 (2), Gen 25:19, Gen 36:1, Gen 36:9, Gen 37:2). God also made clear distinctions between the generations which basically fall into two lines, which brings one of the main themes of all Scripture into focus:

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The generation of Cain is first to be revealed in Scripture as those who are representative of the line of the seed of the serpent (Gen 4:1-24). As every tree is known by its fruit, the same evil and subtle mind as that of the serpent in the garden of Eden is seen in the very attitude and action of Cain toward God and his own brother Abel. God openly showed His favor toward Abel for his obedience to God, and Cain did not agree with God’s choice and election:

Gen 4:3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
Gen 4:4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
Gen 4:5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
Gen 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Those in the line of the seed of the serpent will always show animosity, disdain and rejection towards those on whom God shows His favor. God indeed has an elect, and He is working His obedience in that elect which is His prerogative and His decision (Luk 1:30, Luk 2:52, Joh 15:16, Rom 9:13). Throughout the Scripture this pattern is repeated of how God works His favor and love for ‘the younger’ or lastborn, against His rejection of the elder or firstborn (ie. Gen 6:8, Gen 37:3, Exo 3:10, Joh 15:16, Act 13:22, 1Co 15:45-47):

Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

However, those on whom God shows this favor are placed in a position where they are a target of hatred, resentment and animosity. No one chooses this election except God, and Paul expressed so fitly his heaviness and sorrow for his rejected brothers in the flesh (Gen 37:4, Mat 10:17-39):

Rom 9:1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
Rom 9:2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
Rom 9:3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

Seth was appointed and chosen by God to typify the seed of the woman ‘instead of Abel’ (Gen 4:25-26); Within this line of Seth we see the foreshadowing of the spiritual sons of God or God’s ekklesia in the Elect One, Jesus Christ (Gen 5:1-32). The theme of the ‘sons of God’ is the central focus of all Scriptures, and this generation of Seth typifies the ekklesia as they were the first to “call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen 4:26, Mat 16:18, 1Pe 2:4-9, Eph 3:2). Through the various interactions between the generations of Seth and Cain, God’s ekklesia learns to ‘give diligence to make [their] calling and election sure’ as this election in Christ includes manifold painful trials (1Pe 4:12, 2Pe 1:10). Even within this election in Christ the principle of ‘few’ that will be faithful to the name or doctrine of Christ is applicable until the end (Mat 22:14, Luk 13:23-24, Mat 24:13, Gen 6:8-9, Rev 17:14) – for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

God uses all created things to bring these necessary trials and heresies “by which they which are approved may be made manifest among you” (1Co 11:19, 2Co 11:6). God is using even the ‘men of the world’ as His ‘sword’ to approve the elected sons of God:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Psa 17:13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
Psa 17:14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

The generation of Cain generally typifies this “men of the world” or the “sons of men” who ‘multiply on the face of the earth’ (Psa 4:2, Ecc 3:10-21). These “men of the world” in Cain’s generation fathered sons and daughters. These daughters were fair, meaning they looked good and pleasant to the physical eye, by God’s design and purpose:

Gen 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

This just confirms what was already revealed in the generation of Cain:

Gen 4:22 And Zillah [the one wife of Lamech, the son of Cain], she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron [representing the flesh’s beauty and strength respectively]: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah [her name means ‘beauty’ or ‘pleasantness’].

All in the first Adam are vulnerable and open to the seductions of the flesh and generally follow these naturally without question (Rev 17:1-2, Eph 2:2-3, Rom 7:15, 1Jn 2:16). This is also what happened to the physical nation of Israel who foreshadowed how God’s true spiritual elect also are seduced by lies at their appointed time (Rom 15:4, 1Co 10:11):

Deu 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

One of these trials during which physical Israel failed dismally is when Balaam was used to entice them, and in that process their greed and lusts were exposed. This is the way God uses the deceitfulness of self-elevation, selfish ambitions and other lusts in the generation of Cain to ‘prove’ the sons of God. This is done to bring them to their wits’ end where they learn to always “call on the name of the Lord” and not lean on their own understanding (Psa 107, Pro 3:5):

2Pe 2:15 Which [the physical Israelites] have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.

Jud 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core [Korah].

Rev 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

The error or doctrine of Balaam came in the form of fornication that happened to physical Israel, and that is just a type of the seduction of the subtle false doctrines which also influence the sons of God at the appointed time. Even the sons of God have their time to walk according to “the course of this world” in the false doctrines of the sons of men:

Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

This is the time (which has an ‘is, was and will be’ or continual application to it) when we bring forth the giants and mighty men or men of renown in our own minds:

Gen 6:4 There were giants [Hebrew: nəp̄ilîm] in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

These giants or nephilim were also powerful enemies in the time of physical Israel who made them look like grasshoppers (Num 13:32-33, Deu 2:10-11, Amo 2:9-10). Spiritually these ‘children’ to whom we give birth after our fornications with the world are our own “imaginations of the thoughts of [our] heart”. These are the very powerful and overwhelming ‘strong holds’ and all the ‘high thing[s] that exalts [themselves]’ in our deceived hearts and minds (2Co 10:4-5). These are “the mighty men which were of old [even now in the first Adam in us], men of renown”. These make us haughty to think carnally that we can lord over other’s faith, even envying superior ‘seats’ than our own brethren in Christ (2Co 1:24, Jas 4:5, Mat 20:20-28, Pro 21:10). This is when we arrogantly point fingers to other’s fleshly state and actions and are not even aware of the sleeping evil giants waiting to be exposed in us (1Co 10:12):

Tit 3:2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
Tit 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

“Men of renown” are part of “all in the world” in our first Adam when we also simply cannot accept God’s order and His appointees, even in the physical (1Jn 2:16, Gen 4:25, Rom 13:1-8, Tit 3:1-3, Dan 4:25, 1Pe 3:1-7, 1Co 14:40). “Mighty men” and “men of renown” are linked to the ‘high places in the mountains’ of the natural pride in us (2Ch 21:11). Various challenges occurred on God-appointed and elected leadership on several occasions in the Scriptures. Moses, for example, was said to have been the meekest man “upon the face of the earth” but his election even brought opposition from his own brother and sister:

Num 12:1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
Num 12:2 And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.
Num 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

Num 12:9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.
Num 12:10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

At the appointed time, our own righteousness will be revealed to us as being spiritual leprosy and hypocrisy for which we will be judged by our High Priest (Isa 64:6). Our own giants and wickedness will correct us and our backslidings will chastise us:

Jer 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Our own natural mind will always challenge our position in Christ by pointing out our failures and shortcomings. It wants us to believe that we are not “accepted in the beloved” (Eph 1:5-6). The challenges which God’s appointees face are also revealed in the ministries of Paul and the apostles throughout the New Testament. This is also showing that all the spiritual sons of God will face the “men of renown” inwardly and outwardly all the time. Like Moses, it is always interesting that these men were the meekest men that can be found within their time of ministry, and yet they were accused of commending themselves and being boastful (Act 20:29-30, 2Co 5:12, 2Co 10:12-18, 2Ti 1:15, 2Ti 4:14-18, 3Jn 1:9-11). Meekness equals weakness for those in the line of the serpent.

2Co 10:7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.
2Co 10:8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:
2Co 10:9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.
2Co 10:10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
2Co 11:11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.

The natural spirit of the fleshly mind always lusts to envy and makes comparisons which is not the spirit of wisdom of God, but an earthly, sensual, and devilish spirit – the spirit of the “men of the world” (Jas 4:5, 2Co 10:12). Those with the spirit and wisdom of God can see and accept how all in His body are being “fitly joined [or framed] together” sharing one mind and have no schisms (Eph 2:21, Eph 4:16, 1Co 3:3, 1Co 12:25):

Jas 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
Jas 3:14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
Jas 3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
Jas 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

‘Where there is envying and strife, there is confusion’ which causes deep and bitter torment. Confusion and death are the mental state of the old first man Adam who is not God’s ultimate or prime creation as some proclaim. The spirit man in Christ is God’s prime creation, and that is what is meant when it says in the Scripture that “it repented the LORD that he had made man” also here in Genesis 6:

Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Gen 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Several times in Scripture we read that God repents, which deludes many to think that God changed His mind or that He had a rethinking about His plan of action (Gen 6:5-7, Exo 32:14, Jdg 2:14, 1Sa 15:11, 1Sa 15:35, 2Sa 24:16, Psa 106:43, Psa 106:45, Jer 26:19, Amo 7:3, Amo 7:6, Jon 3:10). God is “not a man, that he should repent”, and that is also written for our admonition as it points out how differently we should understand the concept of repentance when it applies to God (1Sa 15:29). God has perfect understanding of everything, and that also includes why He created a fleshly man and all evil things which are grieving Him all the time. Just as all evil, darkness and sin were given a temporary existence and purpose in God’s plan, so is fleshly man (Gen 1:2, Isa 45:7, Gen 50:20). Flesh is extremely evil to a holy God, and He cannot and will not accept the flesh in His spiritual kingdom (1Co 1:20, 1Co 15:50, Pro 16:4). God is in total control all the time, and He made the decision to eventually destroy all flesh before He created it (Isa 46:10). This is the same as saying that God’s spirit “shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Gen 6:3). He will destroy all evil, darkness and physical things (which are all related to spiritual death) once they served His purposes.

1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Numerous false teachings are out there in the world about this relation and interaction between the sons of God and the daughters of men in Genesis 6. Although the angelic spirit beings are also called “sons of God” in Scripture, it is also important to note that these angelic beings are not “given in marriage”, meaning angelic beings cannot have sexual relationships (Job 1:6, Luk 20:34-36). So it was not angelic beings that had sexual relations with the sons of men as some falsely propagate. Only the holy spirit of the Father can bring forth new life, even in those who are ‘a chaste virgin to Christ’ (Mat 1:18-20, Luk 1:34-35, 2Co 11:2):

Rev 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

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[Questions and comments for the writer can be directed to: glgroenewald@gmail. com]
[Detailed studies and emails written relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the www.iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

The Fallen Angels
Do Angels Marry?
How Can God Repent but Tell us He is not a Man Who Needs to Repent?

Mike,

Thank you for your reply. As I said earlier, more questions arise than answers. A brother pointed out:

Mar 8:24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

But I didn’t have the clarity to even ask a question.

The next question still deals with:

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Is this then the first Adam?:

Eze 31:7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
Eze 31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
Eze 31:9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Eze 31:10 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
Eze 31:11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.

And is this then the last Adam – the Life Giving Spirit?:

Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences (envy being one of our many offences), and was raised again for our justification.
Rev 22:2 In the midst of he street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve mannerof fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

I hope I was able to ask the question in a manner that is understandable.

God bless you, your brother in Christ,
A____

Hi A____,
Thank you for your question.

This is easy to answer because the answer is yes, you have correctly identified the first and the last Adams in scripture, except I would have emboldened “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” in listings the first Adam, and I would have placed “the tree of life” in the listings of the last Adam”.
There is no way of getting to the tree of life without first partaking of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Here is what Paul says concerning the knowledge of good and evil.

Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? [ Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

It is very interesting to note that the Greek word for ‘lust’ is the exact same as the word translated ‘covet’ in this verse.
So “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” is merely an Old Testament type and shadow of the law of Moses, which is “not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…”

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

“Seeing men as trees” was intentional on the part of our Savior. He wants us to know that our sight comes to us “by little and little” as we drive out all the giants in our ‘land’.
I hope this is all of some edification for you. God bless you richly for all you do in His service.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike