Joshua 13-14:5
The second section of the Book of Joshua (Josh. 13), commences by Jehovah saying, “There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” Northward and southward, toward the sunrising and toward the country of the Sidonians, the Lord saw possessions which He had given to Israel, still untrodden. The Lord was not satisfied that His people should lose the enjoyment of their blessings, therefore He promised them His support afresh, and declared, even in their laxity, “I will drive out” the enemy. This “I will” was emphatic, and should have roused Israel. Beyond this promise the Lord bade Joshua “Divide thou it (all the unpossessed land) by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.” Thus the whole of the land was reassured to them. But Israel’s energy was on the wane. They were settling down in the portion of Canaan which their zeal and endurance had made their own.
The failure of the two and a half tribes to drive out the remnant of the giants from their inheritance on the other side of Jordan is noted at this time. Thus all Israel is seen overtaken with sloth, which proved more difficult to overcome than the enemies they had subdued. Sloth should be the Christian’s constant dread. “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:1414Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (Ephesians 5:14)).
If Israel had seen the length and breadth of their possessions as God saw them, could they have been slack to possess? But their eyes were set upon the possessions they had gained, and they were blind to what God had in store for them.
With what earnestness did Paul long that believers might have their hearts knit together “unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery ... wherein (margin) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:2-32That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2‑3)). Yet, untold as is the glory of the inheritance, what is harder than rousing the soul to enter upon the blessings “yet to be possessed”? The idea of settling down to enjoy what we may have attained is delusive; for there is no such thing as remaining stationary in divine things. Israel found out their error by the loss of what they had gained.
“I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Such a spirit should be our pattern: “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect (of mature age – full growth), be thus minded” (Phil. 3:13-1513Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. (Philippians 3:13‑15)).