The Conquest

This week we look at the Southern and Northern conquest of Canaan.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello and welcome to Path Through Depths of the Podcast. My name is Daniel Ronan, and just remember the simple truth. The Father loves you, Jesus loves you, and the Holy Spirit loves you. Once again, I hope that you had a great week. I hope that you've had time to spend with the Lord in prayer and also in his word. Again, I cannot stress this enough. Again, the we are seeing things happen, and and look, a lot of things have happened over the weekend. I mean, particularly with uh the war that was started with uh with Iran, the attacks um between the U.S. and Israel on Iran, and particularly the the the uh death of the Ayatollah over there as well. Um and you know, we'll talk a lot about that in the midweek uh piece here in the midweek series. Um we're gonna kind of take a pause on the stuff that we were talking about, and we're gonna talk about that there. Um and the big reason is because I do I think that there is some prophetic uh type of impact there. Yeah, I kind of do, right? I absolutely do. Um, do I think that Iran is going to stop hating Israel? No, I don't. And the reason for that is because they are still included in Ezekiel 38. But we're gonna break down kind of uh some of the things about Iran um around Persia, around Elam as well, um, because both of them are part of modern-day Iran at this point. But I also want to see how this develops to um, you know, you're gonna have a lot of prophetic teachers, a lot of people uh doing reaction stuff and and saying, well, this is what it means, this is what it what it definitely means, and and you know, unless the Lord told them, I'm not sure anyone knows exactly what what this means or what chess piece is moving. But here's what I do find incredibly interesting uh about this is the fact that one, um China and Russia have both abandoned uh Iran, um, even though the majority of China's oil comes from Iran, um they have actually abandoned them and are not coming to their defense at this point. Um, Russia, I think even uh some reports are saying that they offered Iran their verbal support, but they're not going to put troops there. Um so I think that's telling one. Um and then the other thing I think on the other side that's very telling is the fact that Europe is out of it. Um the UK did not go with them, uh, neither did anyone any of the members of the EU. Um this is really basically the US, um um Israel uh going in, and they didn't even offer support. They talked about international law, they talked about those types of things instead of actually going forward with it. And it was I saw an article, or not an article, an interview from the BBC with their defense minister in the UK, and she asked him point blank, you know, do we support this, you know, given everything that the Ayatollah was? And the defense minister basically backed up and said, Well, you know, we're doing secondary defense type of things to protect British citizens. Um and I found it interesting, right? And the reason I say that is because uh Europe is kind of taking a back seat here to everything. And what you're gonna find, I think, particularly after this conflict, and and I don't know this for sure, but there's already discussions of it. If you go to the to the UN 2.0, kind of uh if you Google that and you go to the UN, what they want the future to be, they're really looking to redesign the um the Security Council because right now you have uh China, Russia, and uh the United States, Great Britain, and I believe France are the five uh permanent members of the Security Council, and they have the right to veto anything. So if you talk about the US is gonna veto anything that has to do with Israel or anything that's going to condemn these uh kind of strikes, the China and Russia is gonna do anything that approves them. They're gonna go ahead and veto those as well. So you're really at a stalemate, and what people are going to find is that the the UN only works if the major superpowers cooperate with each other. Well, that's not gonna be possible when we I fully believe that we are in the next stage of the Nebuchadnezzar statue, which is one of the iron mixed with clay. And I've talked about that before in some other teachings, not necessarily on this podcast, but in some other teachings at church and things, about how I believed that the brick system, the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, plus, which includes a lot of the the Middle Eastern countries, was going to show and it was going to be a kind of an iron and clay mix, and and the bricks historically have been made of clay, and then the iron being those that came out of the Roman Empire, which that's a different study for a different time. Um, but basically NATO versus the the global south. And that's what we're kind of seeing here is that uh you see the US aligned with NATO uh for the most part, and then you have kind of Russia-China uh on the other side here, and and and President Trump has also said that he wants to make sure that we control the Western Hemisphere, and you know, and that's really kind of the focus here. Uh it goes back to more of a 1950s type of doctrine, but then on top of that, he knows that Iran uh is also feeding some of our enemies here. So there's a lot of things that are kind of being unpacked with this, um, but we'll talk a lot about that in detail. But if the global powers can't work together, then the world's going to look to replace uh the the UN. And I think that that's that's gonna be key. A lot of this is is as my pastor said, chess pieces being moved on the board to prepare for what is going to be the B system and what is going to be the the one world government. But like I said, we'll go into more detail on that on Wednesday. There's a lot going on here, a lot to unpack here. Um, but uh but look for that that that series later in the midweek series because that's the one we're gonna pause. Um in this series, we're gonna continue on to talk about about Joshua, um, and we're gonna continue on talking about the southern conquest here. You know, last week we looked at the five armies that came against Joshua and Israel, and more specifically Gibeon. But after this, because of the pursuit of their enemies, Joshua turns south. Um, we're also gonna look at parts of the northern conquest here as well, um, because a lot of this is really important. And we're gonna talk about what what all this meant for Joshua and for this generation. But just some housekeeping items again. All of our scripture comes from the New King James Bible. If you'd like a copy of a New King James Bible, feel free to drop a note to PathredemptionOhio at gmail.com. Um, also my book's out, Graceabounds. If you'd like a copy of that, feel free to drop me a note again at path to redemptionohio at gmail.com. Um, and then also my other book's out, uh, the first in the trilogy, Iniquity, the cross and redemption. This first book's about iniquity. Um, it is out, it's available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble if you would so choose uh to make to purchase that. Um, and then finally, once again, don't take my word for it. Make sure you're studying to show yourself approved unto God, putting in the work, right? Because we have to put in the work. That's the expectation. That's the expectation that God has. We've got to be faithful over the things that He has given us, faithful over the things that He wants us to do. Um, so that is what's so important. Amen. So with that, let's go ahead and dive into this. So Macada, uh, where the kings fled, is south of Gibeon in the foothills of the mountains. And while the people of Macada did not provide refuge for the kings as they were found in the cave, remember the commandment that was given to them. It was to utterly destroy everyone. So Joshua 10, 28 through 43 says, On that day Joshua took Macada and struck it and its kings with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them, all the people who were in it. He left none, let none remain. He also did to the king of Macadah as he did to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua passed from Macada and all Israel with him to Libna, and they fought against Libna, and the Lord also delivered it and its king to the hand of Israel. He struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword. He let none remain in it, but did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. Now I want to stop there for a second, right? And the reason I want to stop there is let's not forget what he did to the king of Jericho. When he killed the king of Jericho, he hung him on a tree and then took him down before the sun went down, right? And now why did he do that? Because everything that hangs on a tree is a cursed. He was basically saying that these kings and their cities were cursed. And they were, why? By God, because of the kind of giant DNA and the way that they had basically allowed that to continue in this part of the land. We know that, we've talked about that, right? But I want to be clear. That's why Joshua did that. So then Joshua passed from Libna and all Israel with him to Lakish, and they encamped against it and fought against it. And the Lord delivered Lakish into the hand of Israel, who took it on the second day, and struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libna. Then Horam, king of Gizar, came up to help Lakish, and Joshua struck him and his people until he left none remaining. From Lakish Joshua passed to Eglon and all Israel with him, and they encamped against it and fought against it. They took it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword. All the people who were in it he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lakish. So Joshua went up from Eglon and all Israel with him to Hebron, and they fought against it, and they took it and struck it with the edge of the sword, its kings, all its cities, and all the people who were in it, and he left none remaining according to all that he had done to Eglon, but utterly destroyed it and all the people who were in it. Now, why did I want to re re go back here real quick? Eglon, Hebron, Lakish, all of their kings were already killed in the battle of the five armies. So I want to make sure we understand that. So then the scripture goes on, it says, Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to Debir, and they fought against it, and he took it and its kings and all its cities, they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the people who were in it. He left none remaining, as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, as he had done also to Libna and its king. So Joshua conquered all the land, the mountain country and the south, and the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings, and he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. And Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barneah as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. Now when Joshua was in a Macedok, he went and had and destroyed the city and its king. The other thing here is that we see the cities of the kings that were attacked, that attacked Gibeon and Israel in this. Well, only three are mentioned. We will see in Joshua 13 the list of all the kings that were defeated by Joshua and how he destroyed them all. Verse 34 says they go to Lakish, then Agalon, then Hebron, they completely destroyed the forces of these cities. Now the key to this, though, is that they they utterly took all the lands in the south, was further wet, and and they all of these things happen where it says in verse 40, so Joshua conquered all the land, the mountain country in the south, and the lowlands and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings, and he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. He had gone ahead and exterminated everyone that the Lord told him to, and he was faithful in it, and he was obedient in it. Right? That was the thing that God wanted him to do. And again, a lot of people during this say, well, if God was a just God, why would he want to destroy all of these people? And here's the thing is that if there were giants in the land 40 years earlier, and we know that that the that the Edomites and that all of the the other ones that we looked at in Deuteronomy 2, that there were giants still in this land, God clearly did not want the giants to continue in this area, and that's why he told them to utterly destroy them. And that's what we have to understand is that when you're a giant and when that DNA is mixed, you might not be you're you're not human at that point. So there's a difference here, and people, the lack of teaching around that is frankly uh abhorrent because it tells a different story and an understanding of why God would want to judge these regions and these people. Not only were they outside of their inheritance that God had given Ham, but also they again had mixed their DNA according to what they had seen when they came in 40 years earlier, and um and when they spied out the land. So, but let's look at verse 41 and 42, where it says, So Joshua conquered all the land, the mountain country in the south, and the lowland in the wilderness slopes, and all their kings. He left nothing remaining but utterly destroyed all that breathed while they did. So again, Joshua conquered the southern part of the land of Israel. But I want to put an emphasis on something here, and we'll look at this in detail, particularly when we see what still needs to be conquered. But the south part of the West Bank was con was conquered and given to Joshua. I've said it before, and I think it's important to say again this is God's land. Israel is God's land. He gave it to Israel through his promise to Abraham. During this time, Joshua took his inheritance that was passed down to them. That was the whole key here. Not only was it to exterminate the giants, but it was also to get them the ability to get their inheritance, which was given to Israel. And I'm not talking about the the nation, I'm talking about the person Israel to Jacob. It was given to him. God swore an oath on himself to do it, and ultimately that's exactly what God was doing. So think of it this way: okay, your father dies and your inheritance is his house, but squatters have taken that house and now live there. You're gonna do everything you possibly can to drive the squatters out and take back your inheritance. That's exactly what the children of Israel are doing here. So while the world argues over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, biblically speaking, it speaks, which again, the Bible speaks as the authority of God, the land belongs to the people of Israel. Now, there's a whole other argument that the that Israel, modern-day Israel, is not the people of Israel in the Bible, and I'm sorry, but that's just simply not true. We'll talk about that when we get to modern Israel, when we start talking about what happened in 1948. Um, there's really no difference between these people. The only difference is the pharisaical uh type of teaching, but we'll we'll talk about that later, okay? But that's that's for a different time. Now, the first section of land that was conquered was the southern part of the West Bank. And there are some Bible teachers that believe this will become its own state, um, particularly right in before the Antichrist, and that the Antichrist will descend from here. And there's a lot of push for a two-state solution in Israel, which we need to be completely against as Christians, but a lot of people want that. They think that it that is how there will be peace. And by doing that, they proclaim the the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as ultimately the the state of Palestine, right? Or the Palestinian state. And in fact, many members of the of the global community already recognize that as a nation of Palestine. But it doesn't have a government, it doesn't have have the same government because you have the Palestinian Authority that administers the the West Bank uh with Mahmoud Abbas, and then you've got Hamas and the Gaza Strip, which Israel is wiping out. But regardless of all of that, you don't even have the same government, and yet you have all these other nations recognizing uh a government that doesn't exist, and it really doesn't even make sense, it doesn't actually meet the definition of a state according to the UN. Um, but we'll we can talk about that later, particularly when we get to modern Israel. But again, this this was the first section of land that was conquered. But yet today Israel still controls the West Bank, but most of the world recognizes it as occupied land, again, because of the recognition of a Palestinian state. But I want to be clear that land is Israel's, that land is biblically belongs to the nation of Israel. The other section we see here is that Joshua went all the way down to Gaza as well. This was Philistine land, and we will talk about where that people came from a little later and when we talk about what remains. But know this that land also belongs to Israel based upon the promise of Abraham. Yet they would not be driven out and would be made and they would cause major issues for the Israelites down the road. But again, we'll talk about that when we reach that point, particularly when we get to the judges. But the other thing I want to point out is that nothing has changed regarding that promise. Read the scripture. The promises of God are yea, and amen to the believer. The land has been established, and this is an everlasting covenant for with Israel. And look, despite what happened with Christ, the promise and the inheritance is still theirs. Paul tells us that in the book of Romans, where he says the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. When he talks about what the vine that's being grafted in, but regardless of all of that, we have to understand that the land still belongs to them. So now, after this kind of southern conquest, Israel is going to turn north, and we see this in Joshua 11, 1 through 5, where it says, and it came to pass when Jabin, king of Hazar, heard these things, that he sent to Jobab, king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Ashvah, and to the kings who were from the north in the mountains, in the plains, south of Cheneroth, in the lowland and in the heights of the door to the on the west, to the Canaanites in the east and in the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the mountains, and the Hivite below Hermon in the land of Mizpah. So they went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots. And when all these kings have met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merim to fight against Israel. Now, once again we see several kings come out against Israel. This time they are from the northern portions of the land. They're four listed, but the scripture is clear when it says that look, these are as the sand of the sea. So, understanding all of that, let's pause here for a second because once again, Israel is faced with an existential threat. We see this repeatedly throughout Israeli history. It is like the entire globe wants them eradicated and does not want them to be there. Why? Because the the globe is run by frankly Satan. And ultimately, they want him, he wants to destroy God's people. And in order to do that, he has to remove the Jews from from everything, right? And that's his whole goal. And you'll see it throughout scripture, whether it's the Amalekites when they come out, which we saw there before they entered into the promised land, the five armies that came out during the southern conquest, the armies here, the multiple captivities and that they'll go into during the judge's time. We'll see it in the Babylonian capteria, the Assyrian um uh conquest as well. We'll also see it in uh in just from Esther and that story with Haman as well, which I think that there is definitely some Purim uh kind of issues here, or shouldn't say issues, but some Purim things tied to the land of Iran as well, because that's where where that actually happened with Esther. But regardless of all of that, Israel continually faces existential crisis. When it became a nation in 1948, the same thing happened again. Egypt, all these other nations came against them on the day it became a nation to wipe it off the face of the planet. And look what happened. God defended the people, God defended the nation of Israel, and that's what they do, they face insurmountable odds for an army, such as what Joshua was commanding, just from a sheer numbers portion, and once again, God is going to fight the battle for them, just as he has throughout the entire history of Israel. So if God has protected Israeli people for so long, why would he now abandon them? He wouldn't. Why? Because the whole tribulation is about reconciling Israel back to God. Go back and read the book of Zechariah. Go back and listen, look how it's called Jacob's Trouble. Go back and look about how they will look at him whom they have wounded, and they will see the scars in his hands and his feet and in his side, and they will mourn over him as a man mourns for his brother. Go back and read that in Zechariah, because at that is exactly what's going to happen in the end. If you want to talk about the book of Revelation, Zechariah is basically the book of Revelation in the Old Testament. So go back and read it and see, because that's what's going to happen. Because yet God here in in for Joshua tells him, even though he's facing an existential crisis, an army that's as numerous as the sands of the sea, because he tells him not to fear again, why? Because he is with him. Joshua 11, six six through eleven says, But the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire. So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Miram, and they attacked them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to Greater Sidon, to the brook Misperfoth, and to the valley of Mispah, eastward. They attacked them until they left none of them remaining. So Joshua did to them as the Lord had told them, and he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire. Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms, and they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroyed. Destroying them, there was none left breathing. Then he burned Hazor with fire. So God delivers all the armies into the hands of Israel, and Joshua obeys God in all things. But I want to point you to Hazor here. Notice that this was the head of the snake, if you will. It was Hazor that led all of those armies against Israel. This is why Joshua burned it to the ground. You want to send a message, go defeat the head of the snake and burn it to the ground. While the rest of these cities of Israel, Israel would inhabit, Hazor, given its role, could never rise again. So it was born. It was burned. Now in Joshua 11, twelve through four through fifteen, it says, So all the cities of those kings and all their kings Joshua took and struck with the edge of the sword. He uttered utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only, which Joshua burned. And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock of the children of Israel took as booty for themselves, but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none breathing. As the Lord had commanded Moses his servants, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses. And I think that this is a really important part here, because we see the faithfulness of Joshua to what God had told him to do, regardless if it was Moses that told them to do it, or if it was God himself that told Joshua. And this is a requirement of us as well. I mean, obedience of it is important to the Lord, and faithfulness has to follow that. Now, what do I mean by that? The amount of praise you offer, the perceived good that you do, none of that really matters. If we are obedient and faithful to the things that God tells us to do, that is what matters. Samuel told us this in 1 Samuel 15, 22. So Samuel said, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as is as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. See, due to Saul's disobedience, it cost him the kingdom, regardless of the sacrifice. You know, we have got to make sure that we are being obedient to the spirit of the Lord. Now look, God's will isn't, it's not, he's not hiding it from you, right? He's not trying to trip you up. All you have to do is ask, and he will make it, as my mom used to say, country plain about it. And you'll be able to follow him in the way and in the direction that he wants you to go. And he'll make it so clear that you will know that you're in disobedience if you go a different direction. And that's the part that we have to understand is that God's not going to hide his will, but we just need to seek him. If you seek him and you're faithful over the things he's given you to do, then you don't have to worry about it. Because the faithfulness is the next part that goes along with that. Matthew 24, 45 through 51 says, Woe then, who then is a faithful servant, whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. See, the faithful servant is rewarded, and the unfaithful one is cast out and appointed with the hypocrites. Faithfulness, the faithfulness of Joshua cannot be understated. Yes, they made mistakes. Yes, they have missteps. Who doesn't? We all will. We all do, but the desire to do the will of God was in their heart. And that's my question to you tonight is that is the desire to do the will of God in your heart? If it's not, you need to check yourself and you need to go and repent, and you ask God to forgive you, and you need to make sure and ask him to put the desire to do his will in your heart. And that's the lesson for us. If we are to inherit the promised land, or in our case, to be raptured, you've got to believe God. You've got to put your faith and trust in him. You've got to know that he is the Son of God, that he died for your sins and all of that. But we've also got to make sure that we are obedient and we've got to be faithful to him. That's the example that has been given to us. Now, look, there's a big debate right now in the church that talks about look, are you saved by faith alone, or you know, you can't be faith plus works, you know, and all of that stuff. And I want to be clear here, right? You are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. You are saved by the faith that you put in him, that he is the Son of God, that he offered himself, that he died on the cross, that he rose on the third day, and then you turn away from your sins because of that, right? So there's a repentance there that has to happen as well. But you are not saved by works, right? Because you are saved by grace, it is the gift of God, and you're not saved by works, lest any man should boast. That's what the book of Ephesians says. But here's the other thing I would say though, is that yes, you are not saved. This is not a salvation issue around works, but you are saved. We have a duty, though, to live out the righteousness of our faith. Now, what does that mean? It means being obedient to the Lord and being faithful to him. You cannot say you trust the Lord if you're not going to do the things that he asks you to do. And I think that there has to be, and that's what James says when he talks about, you know, faith without works is dead. Because if your faith is truly in God, then your works will demonstrate that. The things you do are going to be the things that that you feel required of the things that God wants you to do. And that's the real test. And that's the fruit that we must bear. The fruit is in is in our character, it's in our how much we are translated into the likeness of Christ, and it is in the things that we do. So we have to understand all of that, right? And make sure that we are living out the righteousness of uh of our salvation. Look, this isn't a this isn't a salvation issue when I talk about this, but what it is though, it's a beam-seat judgment issue. Because what does that mean? Yes, you're not going to go to hell, but what rewards are you going to have? What are you going to go to Christ with who say who gave his entire life for you? Who gave you who put his entire life on the cross, rose on the third day, died, and gave everything that he was so that we could be reconciled back to the Father? And yet we there's so many people that say, Well, it's not by works, it's not by works. Yes, then they're right. It's not. But at the end of the day, when you see him face to face, what are you going to give him? Well, are you going to are you going to be able to cast a crown down at his feet and give it all to him? Or are you going to go to the Bemisy judgment and not have any jewels or anything or anything to give him and literally just make make heaven your home, which is great. I'm not just not denying that. But I don't want to go before my savior and my salvation empty-handed. I want to make sure that I have something that I can put down to him, and that's being obedient and faithful to the work that he has given me. That's the same thing that you must be thinking about now, and the things that that we have to understand. I don't want to go before him empty-handed. Every single one of us is going to face him. Every single one of us is going to give an account for every idle word for everything. Yes, it's not going about going to heaven or hell, but it's about the rewards at the beam of seat judgment, which is a different study for a different time. But if you want to, look it up. Google it yourself. Understand can find a good teaching on the beam of seat judgment. There's a great one out there in uh in um on YouTube. And I can't think of who did it right now, but there's a great one out there. There are plenty out there on the beam of seat judgment. And we have to understand that that's what we're talking about when we talk about works. No, it's not a salvation thing, but it absolutely is a beam of seat judgment thing. So when you when we can understand that, and when we can make sure that we're not going to Jesus Christ empty-handed, then we can understand how works plays into our faith. Amen. So with that, I hope you're getting something out of this series. Again, uh, the midweek series is going to be released later this week. Um, and then next week we're going to look at it at the kings and then some other things that what was left to be conquered, and we're going to talk specifically about some of those areas as well. So, but until next time, just remember the simple truth the Father loves you, Jesus loves you, and the Holy Spirit loves you. God bless.