THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Joshua: God's Faithful Giving Of The Promised Land To Israel

Part III: God's Dividing The Land For Israel's Inheritance, Joshua 13:1-21:45

E. The Inheritance Of The Remaining Seven Tribes, Joshua 18:1-19:48

2. The Remaining Tribes' Land Allocations: Lessons On How Men Must Relate To Women

(Joshua 18:11-19:48 et al.)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Genesis 2:20-24 NIV reveals that God created the woman to be the man's suitable helper, but many men today do not rightly relate to women, a problem that has produced a wide range of ills in society:

(1) Ralph Ellis' article, "Cosby admitted pursuing younger women in deposition" (cnn.com, July 19, 2015) told how the one-time America's Dad, Bill Cosby, in a court deposition ten years ago, admitted to having been physically intimate with at least five women outside of his marriage, that he had given prescription sedatives to women toward pursuing such intimacy with them and that he had tried to hide these affairs from his wife.

(2) In part due to such abuses, women's colleges were begun as "a haven from male-dominated society," D. J. Greenbaum, "The Transgender Challenge for Women's Colleges," The Wall Street Journal, July 18-19, 2015, p. A11.

(3) Yet, the enhancement of women's roles via progressive feminism apart from godly male oversight has produced another round of problems for women: Ms. Greenbaum adds that "(f)or these women's colleges, where progressive politics tend to prevail," they struggle over what "to do when aspiring students may include those who have had gender-reassignment surgery or are in the process of transitioning from one sex to the other," Ibid. Arguably, the whole range of immoral problems in today's world are rooted in the mistreatment of women by men.

Need: So, we ask, "Opposite the many dysfunctions in this realm, how does God want men to relate to women?!"

I. Joshua 18:11-19:48 records the remaining seven tribes' land allocations, and though it does not offer spiritual commentaries, Jacob's Genesis 49 prophetic blessing provides such commentaries for four of these seven tribes, and each of them alludes to some event where men greatly erred in relation to women:

A. Joshua 18:11-28 records Benjamin's land allocation, and Jacob's Genesis 49:27 account of prophetic blessing for Benjamin alluded in part to his tribe's impassioned male physical and emotional abuse of women:

1. Jacob told how the tribe of Benjamin would be a "tearing, rending" (taraph, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 382-383) "wolf, successful in war but also cruel," Ryrie S. B., KJV, 1978, ftn. to Gen. 49:27.

2. This prediction on cruelty was largely fulfilled in Judges 19-21: some vile men in Benjamin all night long ravaged a Levite's mistress until she died, leading to civil war. The other tribes in fury killed off many Benjamites, including all of their women and children, so the other tribes then felt badly for Benjamin and let their 600 surviving men kidnap some of these other tribe's unsuspecting young virgins to be their wives, with possibly some of the vile men who had abused the Levite's mistress being among these kidnappers.

3. The account thus highlights great physical and emotional abuses committed by men against women.

B. Joshua 19:1-9 records Simeon's land allocation, and Jacob's Genesis 49:5-7 account of prophetic blessing for Simeon alluded to his impassioned, cruel vengeance for an abuse a pagan man committed against his sister:

1. Jacob's Genesis 49:5-7 words on Levi and Simeon critiqued their "fierce" ('az, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 738) and "severe" (qashah, Ibid., p. 904) vengeance (v. 7) in slaying the men of Shechem and taking their women, children and possessions as booty for a pagan Shechemite man's rape of their sister, Dinah, Gen. 34:1-31.

2. She had foolishly left her home's protection to go out to mingle with pagan women in Shechem, leaving herself vulnerable to abuse by immoral pagan men (Gen. 34:1), so the vengeance was doubly excessive.

3. The account thus highlights excessive vengeance in men infuriated over a man's abuse of a female relative.

C. Joshua 19:17-23 records Issachar's land allocation, and Jacob's Genesis 49:14-15 account of prophetic blessing for Issachar alluded to this tribe's future lazy, irresponsible lack of the male leadership of women (as follows):

1. Jacob predicted that Issachar would be a strong donkey that would yet crouch between two mishpethayim, or two sheepfolds: thus, as it saw how good and pleasant was its land, Issachar would turn soft and lazy, yielding to forced labor, Gen. 49:14-15 NIV; H. C. Leupold, Expos. of Genesis, 1974, v. II, p. 1186-1188.

2. This prediction was fulfilled in Israel's Judges 4:1-3 enslavement by the Canaanites: no man in Israel stood up against them, so Deborah, a prophetess in Issachar (Jud. 5:15; Ibid., p. 388; Z. P. E. B., v. Three, p. 373), tried to get Barak to lead Israel against the Canaanites, Jud. 4:4-7. He agreed only if Deborah came with him, so she agreed, but said a woman would have the honor of slaying the Canaanite king, Jud. 4:8-9.

3. Accordingly, Israel defeated the Canaanites and a woman slew their king, Jud. 4:10-24, so the account highlights the lazy, irresponsible failure of men to assume their proper Biblical oversight of women.

D. Joshua 19:40-48 records Dan's land allocation, and Jacob's Genesis 49:16-18 account of prophetic blessing for Dan told of the tribe's future apostasy that resulted from heeding a woman's unbiblical spiritual rationalization:

1. Jacob's prophetic blessing of Dan, whose name means "judge," anticipated the rise of Samson to judge Israel in v. 16, but it also predicted Dan would become treacherous like a snake by the road that bites the heel of a horse, causing its rider to fall backward, Gen. 49:17 NIV; Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 99.

2. Indeed, Dan introduced "the first major practice of idolatry" in Israel, taking the idols of a woman together with Jonathan, the grandson of Moses (not the KJV's "Manasseh" at Jud. 18:30) as a priest to form a cult, Jud. 17:1-18:30; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Jud. 18:30. [The letter nun ("n") in menasseh at Judges 18:30 in the Hebrew text is written a little higher than the others, reflecting an old scribal belief that it should not be there, that, recalling that the Hebrew vowels and consonantal pointings were not initially written, the KJV "Manasseh" should read "Moses" (mosheh), what fits the context as "Gershom" is always related to Moses in Scripture, not to Manasseh! (Judges 18:30 NIV ftn.; A. R. Hurst, O. T. Trans. Prblms., 1960, p. 23)]

3. The woman made the idols by unbiblical, emotional rationalization: an unknown party stole her silver, so she cursed him in God's name. Her son then confessed to the theft and returned the silver, so the woman's motherly instinct led her to try to remove the curse from her son as in paganism by blessing him in God's Name and using some of the silver to make idols, Ibid., B. K. C., O. T., p. 409. The idols were united with Moses' grandson to form a priesthood that Dan adopted (Jud. 17:1-18:30), influencing others unto idolatry.

4. Jacob in Genesis 49:18 waited for God's salvation of Dan and Israel from idolatry in the end time, but the account shows the spiritual ruin that occurs if men heed unbiblical emotional rationalizations by women.

II. Accordingly, Jacob's prophetic blessing of these tribes carries timeless lessons from God on the proper ways for men to relate to women for God's blessing (as follows):

A. First, men must always exercise self-control of their passions to relate well in matters that regard women:

1. The cases of Benjamin and Simeon show the harm that results when men let their passions be ignited uncontrollably by issues related to women: in Benjamin, inflamed passion led to great abuses of women, and in the case of Simeon, the passion over an abuse of a female relative resulted in excessive vengeance.

2. God through Jacob's prophetic blessing (Genesis 49:27, 5-7) then teaches the need for men always to exercise self-control of their passions if they would relate well in matters that regard women.

B. Second, men must always resist turning lazy and so consistently assume a responsible oversight of women:

1. The cases of both Issachar and Dan show the calamity that results from men not assuming consistent, responsible oversight of women: in the case of Issachar, it was general laziness and irresponsibility, and in the case of Dan, it was a lack of oversight relative to a woman's unbiblical, emotional rationalization!

2. Also, the lack of Simeon's sister Dinah to function in alignment with proper male leadership in her home also led to her tragic violation by a pagan man, opening the door for the excessive vengeance of Simeon.

3. God through Jacob's prophetic blessing (Genesis 49:5-7, 14-15, 16-18) then teaches how men must always assume responsible oversight of women to relate effectively to them or to others for the welfare of all.

Lesson: Jacob's prophetic blessings of the seven last tribes to get their land allotment reveals that men must exercise constant self-control of their passions and constant responsible oversight of women for divine blessing.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation (John 3:16) and indwelling by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9b) for behavior control, Gal. 5:16-23. (2) Then, for God's blessing, may we men in particular function in all matters of our relationship to women with (a) constant self-control of our passions and (b) constant responsible oversight.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

(1) Last week while I was viewing a politically "progressive" web site, I was surprised to see an article there that claimed that one key quality women seek in men is the ability to keep their emotions under control even if the women themselves experience wild emotional swings! Women need the men in their lives to exercise self-control!

(2) Then, regardless of the feminist movement's rise in today's world, whenever I speak with Christian women on the issue, every one of them encourages me to urge men to be responsible! By that, they mean the need for men to assume a caring, considerate oversight of people around them instead of merely living for their own interests!

May we trust in Christ as Savior, and may we men rely on the Spirit of God to function in constant self-control of our passions and in constant responsible oversight of women for the benefit of all involved!