Joshua 15:33-41: a reflection

This passage is a list of towns, the cities of Judah's lowland, named one by one: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, and many more, counted in their groups, sixteen cities with their villages, fourteen cities with their villages. To us it reads as dry geography; but it represents something concrete: the inheritance God gave was not vague or abstract, but real and specific, actual towns and villages, named and counted, that belonged to God's people.

Notice the concreteness of the inheritance. God did not give Israel a vague, abstract promise of blessing; he gave them real, specific places, actual towns and villages, named and counted, a concrete inheritance they could point to and possess. The detailed list of towns shows that God's promise was not a hazy generality, but a concrete reality, specific places given to specific tribes. God's provision was real and specific, not vague and abstract.

That concreteness is worth remembering about God's promises and provision, which we can wrongly imagine as vague and abstract. God's promises are not hazy generalities; they are concrete and specific, as real as the named towns of Judah's inheritance. And his provision for us is likewise real and specific, not vague, actual gifts in actual places and moments of our lives. Do not think of God's promises and provision as vague, abstract things; they are concrete and specific, as real as the towns named here. Look for God's provision in the concrete and specific realities of your life, the actual gifts and blessings he gives, not just in vague generalities. God's promise to Israel was a concrete inheritance of named towns; his promises and provision to you are likewise concrete and real, to be recognized and received in the specific realities of your life, rather than held as vague abstractions.