Scripture Daily

Context No. 3633 of 4322 · Joshua

Context · Reflection

Joshua 12:7-11: in context

7These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel struck beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon even to Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir. Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions; 8in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 9the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; 10the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; 11the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;

This continues the record of the kings Israel defeated, now those west of the Jordan under Joshua, listed one by one: the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; and on through the list. The repeated one after each king is almost a tally, counting off the victories God gave.

It is a monument to completed conquest, the promised land taken king by king, exactly as God had said. What strikes us is the thoroughness and the specificity: not a vague claim that God helped somehow, but a detailed accounting of each victory, each king, each place. God's faithfulness is not general but particular; he keeps his promises down to the individual detail. And there is encouragement here for the long road. The list shows a work carried through to completion, one king at a time. Great tasks are accomplished not all at once but one step and one victory at a time, and God is faithful through the whole of it.

Do I see God's faithfulness in the specific, particular victories he gives, and am I patient to see his purposes accomplished one step at a time?

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