LESSON 5 Part 5 Joshua’s Conquests

 LESSON 5 Part 5

Joshua’s Conquests

 

This is a Book that contains some verses that RT’s use frequently to throw Israel out of existence. I still have work to do on this theme and will post it at first chance.

 

Joshua apparently speaks of a complete conquest in three summary statements within the book (Josh. 10:40-43; 11:16-23; 21:43-45). 

 

Particularly, the verses 21.43-43 are what Replacement Theologians cite to state that God owes nothing else to Israel. In effect, God is no longer beholding to Israel regarding His promise of land to Israel…we have a “checklist God”, wherein He “checked that one off the list”.

See the verse….

 

(Joshua 21.44-45)

And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand.

Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass. 

 

Replacement Theologians regard this text as a prooftext which they believe nullifies God’s land promises to Israel. They present God as Someone who is looking to discharge promises, in a legalistic way, by, in essence saying, "I have fulfilled the letter of the law on that one, now I can mark it off of my list of obligations." They claim that God has discharged all His promises to Israel regarding the land because of the statement in Joshua 21. 

 

What good promises? 

 

In the context of this text the promises that are referenced are those pertaining to the land.

 

BUT…on the other hand…

 

Within the Book of Joshua only, there are verses that state the contrary to the previous verses…

 

We may notice the references regarding an incomplete conquest (cf. 11:19, 22; 13:1-7 etc.)

There are more verses in Judges.

 

Josh 13.1

Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.

 

Note the map of land that Joshua acquired:

However, notice the comparison of the Land that Joshua acquired and the Land that God promised to Abraham.

 

Something is not right.

 

How do we address these apparent discrepancies and refute the Replacement Movement?

 

There are several issues regarding the compliance of Israel to the conditions in their covenant with God.

 

1. Israel was warned to drive out the people of the land as they acquired possession of it.

 

First, ownership and possession are not the same thing.

 

Though usually the case, the owner of an object may not always possess the object. In this case, the object is land. God gave OWNERSHIP (or stewardship since all land is ultimately God’s) of the promised land to Israel – ALL that was promised to their fathers; however, Israel did not POSSESS it all.

 

"Actual possession” is what most of us think of as possession—that is, having physical custody or control of an object.

Actual possession, also sometimes called possession in fact, is used to describe immediate physical contact. 

 

But what about when an individual has possession of an object but has no physical contact with it?

 

As an example, Israel had a Divine Deed to all the land as a possession but had no physical contact with all the land except that which is described in Joshua in his conquests.

 

That situation is called “Constructive possession” used to extend possession to situations where a person has no hands-on custody of an object. It may also be called "possession in law”. This situation exists where a person has knowledge of an object plus the ability to control the object, even if the person has no physical contact with it. 

 

Israel had Constructive Possession of all the promised land, but only Actual Possession of some of it.

 

One may OWN land in Texas but live in Nevada, not possessing it, yet owning it.

 

Further, Israel did take actual possession of some land, but we learn from the narrator that they did not retain it. 

 

One might say that they “touched base” and left it in many regards.

This whole verse in Joshua that says that God gave Israel all the land promised to their fathers is factually true, but Israel did not yet “actually” possess it all.

 

They “OWNED” all the land by Devine Deed and Decree, but “ACTUALLY POSSESSED” only a portion of it – about 1/30^th. For the rest of it they only had “constructive possession”. 

 

Though God has loaned them ownership of all the promised land, this verse is a snapshot event that displays a people who have “possessed” a portion of the land that is only under their feet for a temporary time. The land that they possess at the moment offers them peace.

 

Numbers 33.55-56

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.

 

This warning from God is also repeated in similar fashion in Josh 23.14-16:

 

“Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed. 

15“It shall come about that just as all the good words which the Lord your God spoke to you have come upon you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the threats, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you. 

16“When you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you.”

 

 

Note the following verses that indicate that Israel did not obey God and push the inhabitants out of the land…It is found in the very first chapter of Judges, immediately after the book of Joshua… and one may see throughout the existence of Israel in the land, they were plagued with the presence of nations that they did not drive out. It also set up syncretism throughout their future.

 

Judges 1

27 But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.

28 It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

29 Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.

31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob.

32 So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.

34 Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley;

35 yet the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; but when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor.

36 The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.

 

Additionally…

 

2. Israel was warned to be obedient to God or they would lose the precious promised land… “for a season”

 

Leviticus 26 and Deut 28

The condition of obedience for the land

 

They disobeyed and are in that “season” of not possessing all the promised land.

 

In the Millennium Israel will not only have Ownership of ALL the Promised Land, but ACTUAL POSSESSION, too!

 

Replacement Theologians not only use the previous texts in Joshua to dismiss the Land Covenants between God and Israel, but they also use the actual moment in history where Israel under Solomon touched all the promised land.

 

Again, the Replacement Theologians negate the “forever” nature of the Covenant. Israel only briefly possessed all the land.

 

David and Solomon

 

Whereas Joshua gives a predominantly positive description of the Israel settlement in the land of Canaan, this process is reversed in Judges due to the recurring apostasy of the Israelites. 

BUT…

 

During the reigns of David and Solomon the Israelites came to possess the land as far as the boundaries defined in Genesis 15:18–21.

See: 2 Sam 8:1–14; 1 Kings 4:20-21; 9:20–21

 

BUT…only briefly did they possess the land.

It was not long before Israel grievously disobeyed God and the kingdom was split and both kingdoms were lost into captivity.

The following conditions came back to haunt them:

Deut 28;30.1-10

Lev 26 (particularly vs 40-45)

 

The Full, unilateral covenant that God made to Israel was not fulfilled in Joshua and with David and Solomon.

 

In the future Millennium Israel will gain full possession of the promised land – 

In peace

and

Permanence.