Chapter 12 of Joshua is basically a list of the kings conquered both in the wilderness battles under Moses and in the Promised Land battles under Joshua. Why would the Holy Spirit leave for us such an exhaustive, and seemingly tedious list? It’s possible it only seems tedious to us because we did not live in that land. For those who would receive their inheritance there, these were essential matters that greatly affected their lives, and it answered the basic question of what land belonged to Israel.<\/p>\n
The author of Joshua named 31 kings in the order Joshua defeated them. Aside from the practical elements of the list, it seems the writer also wanted to compile a list that would impress future generations and readers with the greatness of what God had done through the leadership of Moses and Joshua. In Jeremiah 31:21, God told His children to “Set up signposts, Make landmarks; Set your heart toward the highway, The way in which you went.” This list was a landmark of all God had conquered for them so far; it was also a reminder that much still remained to be done, and that they needed to continue to press on.<\/p>\n
God does the same for each of us in our lives. We need to remember to look back at past victories so that we will be encouraged to press on toward the battles still in front of us. Often when we try to see ahead, looking for the direction we are to go in next, the way is obscure. But if we will look back at the way we\u2019ve already come, we can see that the hand of God was leading us straight and clean, even if it didn’t seem like it at the time. God tells us to pause and look back every now and then to get a heading, a fix, on where we’ve been so that we will be encouraged to trust Him with where He is taking us next.<\/p>\n
“LORD, show us Your guideposts in our lives so that we can better trust you as we look forward to where we are going next.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joshua 12 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Now these\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east:\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>ruled from Aroer, which\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>upon the bank of the river Arnon, and from the middle of the river, and from half Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok,\u00a0which is\u00a0<\/em>the border of the children of Ammon;\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And from the plain to the sea of Chinneroth on the east, and unto the sea of the plain,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>the salt sea on the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and from the south, under Ashdoth-pisgah:\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And the coast of Og king of Bashan,\u00a0which was\u00a0<\/em>of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And reigned in mount Hermon, and in Salcah, and in all Bashan, unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and half Gilead, the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0Them did Moses the servant of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and the children of Israel smite: and Moses the servant of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0gave it\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>a possession unto the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. 7<\/sup>\u00a0And these\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>a possession according to their divisions;\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: 9<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>beside Beth-el, one;\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Makkedah, one; the king of Beth-el, one;\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;\u00a0\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam of Carmel, one;\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Dor in the coast of Dor, one; the king of the nations of Gilgal, one;\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chapter 12 of Joshua is basically a list of the kings conquered both in the wilderness battles under Moses and in the Promised Land battles under Joshua. Why would the Holy Spirit leave for us such an exhaustive, and seemingly tedious list? It’s possible it only seems tedious to us because we did not live […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6165"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16059,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6165\/revisions\/16059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}