Wednesday, February 06, 2019

2019.02.06 Hopewell @Home ▫ Joshua 14:6-15

Questions for Littles: To whom did the children of Israel come in Joshua 14:6? Where? Who speaks to him? Of whose Word does Caleb remind him? (how old had Caleb been at that time (Joshua 14:7)? With what had Caleb followed Yahweh (Joshua 14:7b-8)? What does he call Yahweh at the end of  Joshua 14:8? What had Caleb been promised on that day and by whom (Joshua 14:9)? Whom does Caleb say has kept him alive (Joshua 14:10)? How long has it been since then? How old is Caleb now? What amazing thing does Caleb testify about his physical strength in Joshua 14:11? For what does Caleb ask in Joshua 14:12a? Who had spoken to him about it? What does Caleb hope to be able to do? Why does he hope that he can do it? What does Joshua do to him first in Joshua 14:13? What does he “give him”? As “what” does he give it to him? What became the inheritance of Caleb (Joshua 14:14)? Why? Whose land had it been before (Joshua 14:15)? What did the land now have? 
In the passage for this week’s Old Testament reading, we see what a great blessing it is when God grants to us to be wholehearted unto the Lord. This is the great theme of the passage.

What made the difference between Caleb, who brought back good word from the heart, and the unfaithful spies who made the heart of the people melt? He wholly followed Yahweh his God.

What does Moses give as the reason that he is given him that land as his children’s forever? He wholly followed Yahweh, Moses’s God.

What does Joshua say is the reason that Hebron did, indeed, ultimately come to belong to Caleb? He wholly followed Yahweh, Israel’s God.

When we line up the three statements like that, you can see something ever so interesting at the end there. Caleb’s God. Moses’s God. Israel’s God. Without that variation to draw our attention to it, we might have missed that little ending on each of the statements, giving us a hint as to where this wholeheartedness comes from.

Yes, God is their God by covenant in that formal, sworn arrangement. But there is something more here. He has made that formal arrangement into a living reality in Caleb’s heart. The Lord gave him faith to believe. The Lord strengthened him for those particular tasks assigned to him. The Lord continued to give him faith that, just because the Lord had said it, he would take the best piece of land from the most fearsome foe. Indeed, it was the Lord Himself who gave Caleb the heart to wholly follow the Lord!
When you want to wholly follow the Lord, whom can you ask for help? Do you do so?
Suggested songs: ARP32A-B “What Blessedness” or TPH89B “My Song Forever Shall Record”

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