JOSHUA 19
If you’re like me, you’re probably starting to wonder, what is the big deal with all these land allotment details? It’s one thing to say that Israel inherited the Promised Land. It’s quite another thing to devote chapters and chapters to detailing every single boundary of every single tribe in Israel.
However, I think there were two things in play here that made inheriting the Promised Land something extremely special to the Israelites. First, it was their fatherland. Before Jacob took his family down to live in Egypt during the Great Famine, they lived in different parts of Canaan. Finally returning to this place was like an immigrant returning to his land of origin.
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Second, after the Great Famine in Egypt, the descendants of Jacob were enslaved. They spent centuries in slavery there, until God came and liberated them from the Egyptians with the promise of taking them home. And even though that first generation of slaves was unable to enter the Promised Land, their children—the children of slaves—became landowners.
From slaves to landowners in one generation! Only God does things like this. Only God is able to turn things around in the blink of an eye. Only God specializes in these kinds of amazing U-turns. Just as He took Joseph from prison to the palace, He took the Israelites from working the land to owning the land. So, is there any situation in your life you wish was different? Look out! God can transform dismal circumstances in the blink of an eye. He knows just how to turn things around!
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