I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

• 

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 12-14.

The passage begins by listing the conquests which Israel had made during Joshua’s lifetime.  I find it interesting that the passage gives the borders of the land which the Israelites took control of east of the Jordan River, but only lists the kings which they defeated west of the Jordan.  East of the Jordan the passage describes the borders of the land they controlled after defeating the kings whom they defeated, while west of the Jordan it describes the area in which the kings they defeated lived.  Then the passage describes the unconquered land which they were to include when dividing the land up among the tribes.  The passage tells us that this was the state of things when Joshua was forced to acknowledge that old age meant that he would no longer lead Israel to further conquest.

So, with this state of affairs, Joshua, Eleazar the priest, and leaders from the tribes divided the land among the tribes.  The division was done in such a way that all of the tribes were satisfied that it was appropriate and fair.  In the middle of this, Caleb, who was a contemporary of Joshua, comes forward and asks for his allotment.  Caleb declares that he is 85 years old, but still able to fight.  From this we see that we should not have the same expectations for everyone.  Joshua, about whom I will repeat that he was a contemporary of Caleb, needed to recognize that he could no longer lead the Israelites in war and would soon die.  Caleb, on the other hand, was still prepared to go out and serve God by conquering the land which would belong to his descendants.  Each of us needs to judge to what God is calling us based on our own situation, not by comparing ourselves to others.