Read the full chapter here.
Joshua 13 begins with the truth that despite Joshua being old and advanced in years…there remains yet very much land to possess. There is always more to do. For Joshua here there was more land to possess that the Lord had promised him. For you and for me, more promises of God to possess.
After reading that the Geshurites and the Maacathites were not driven out from the land fully (v.13, cf. 2 Samuel 3.3) the rest of the chapter is about land given as inheritance to different tribes. We see the inheritance of Reuben (vv.15-23), Gad (vv.24-28), and Manasseh (vv.29-31). Interestingly, the tribe of Levi is not given land as an inheritance, but the offerings by fire to the LORD God of Israel are their inheritance, simply, the LORD God…is their inheritance.
Again with chapters from the history books in the Bible, the temptation is that we skim-read them and count them as not applicable to our lives today. No, we are not promised possession of this parcel of land or that pocket of territory. Rather, we share in the inheritance of the tribe of Levi. God has called believers in our day and age a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2.5) and said that we share in the saints’ inheritance (Colossians 1.12).
You might think that things are going fairly well in your faith-life: you’re further along the discipleship path now than when you began, you’ve left behind struggles and sins that plagued your former self, but, as the Lord told Joshua, there remains very much…to possess. Being a holy priesthood means we have a level and intimacy of access to God that the average person didn’t here in the time of Joshua. As for the tribe of Levi, the same is true for you and for me: the LORD God…is [our] inheritance. Use it, claim it, and possess it!
James Travis 