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(8) Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. (9) And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains, in the South, and in the lowland. (10) Then Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. (Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kirjath Arba.) And they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. (11) From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir was formerly Kirjath Sepher.) (12) Then Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife." (13) And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife. (14) Now it happened, when she came to him, that she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What do you wish?" (15) So she said to him, "Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water." And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. -If this sounds like a passage we read recently, that’s because this is like a passage we read recently, and one for which I don’t want to skip. -If you’ll indulge me for just a moment, I think you’ll see why, as there are just too many valuable lessons to be learned from this account. -So much so, that Charles Spurgeon would make mention of how that the account first mentioned in Joshua 15 is recorded again in Judges.

Charles Spurgeon – “This exploit is recorded again the book of Judges; probably because the hero of it, in after years was moved by the Spirit of God to become a judge and deliverer of Israel.”

Joshua 15:13-16 (13) Now to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a share among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, namely, Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). (14) Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak from there: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. (15) Then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir (formerly the name of Debir was Kirjath Sepher). (16) And Caleb said, "He who attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife." -Notice that Caleb once again true to form has that holy boldness if you will, in his unflinching fearlessness to take the land of the giants in Anak. -Not only is Caleb demonstrating and modeling a fearlessness and boldness, it’s contagious as evidenced by his spurring on of this Othniel guy.

-Of course it probably doesn’t hurt to offer your daughter in marriage to the one who will attack and take Kirjath Sepher, which this Othniel does. -You sort of get the impression that Caleb wasn’t going to let his daughter marry a wimp. Actually, there’s a good reason for this as we see next. -If you’re wondering where I’m going with all of this, wonder no more, because this ties into what I believe is the lesson of this interesting chapter.

Joshua 15:17-19 (17) So Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. (18) Now it was so, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What do you wish?" (19) She answered, "Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water." So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. -I hope you won’t mind if I wax sentimental here, but it would seem to me that Caleb’s daughter was “daddy’s little girl” in more ways than one. -She’s just like her dad, she’s not bashful, but bold, and furthermore, she has her dads bulldog tenacity as seen by her asking for the springs also. -By the way, this may very well be the reason Caleb won’t let his daughter marry just any wimpy guy because they wouldn’t be able to handle her.

-There’ something else here I would like to point out and it can easily be missed with a cursory read and study of this passage concerning Caleb. -We know that the name is the nature, and Caleb’s name is certainly no exception. Caleb in both the Hebrew and the Arabic tongue means, “dog.” -The name of “dog” is not in the derogatory sense, but carries with it the idea of a bloodhound, or pit bull, or as just mentioned, a tenacious bulldog.

-The reason I bring this up is because Caleb, his nature true to his name, was all of the above in his tenacity to take the land of the giant Anakim. -What’s interesting to me is his daughter learned to be that way, from him, and it may not have been so much because that’s what she was taught. -It’s been said that our children learn more from what’s caught then what’s taught. I’m learning that what’s caught will reinforce that which is taught.

-I’ll take it a step further and submit to you that Joshua is doing his giving while he’s living so he’s knowing where it’s going even with his daughter. -In other words, he wants to make sure that not only will the children of Israel be taken care of, but perhaps more importantly his daughter will be. -It’s interesting to note that not only would Othniel be a good husband for his daughter, but that he would later become a good judge of Israel.

Charles Spurgeon – “Othniel was a worthy nephew [and son-in-law] of a noble man. The younger members of a family should never allow their elders to engross all the zeal and faith. If there be one earnest Christian of our kin, let us endeavor to equal him.”

(16) Now the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the City of Palms with the children of Judah into the Wilderness of Judah, which lies in the South near Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. (17) And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah. (18) Also Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. (19) So the LORD was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron. -This is interesting to me because it seems to indicate that the Israelites could have driven out the inhabitants even though they had iron chariots. -The reason I say that is, though God had already given them the victory, but they wouldn’t trust God for the victory because of these iron chariots. -What makes this even more interesting is that while they were able to drive out the inhabitants on the mountains, they couldn’t do it in the valleys.

-Sadly, this will be a turning point for the Israelites from here on out, in the sense that everything will start going down hill as it were, pun intended. -That being said, there is a powerful life lesson woven into the fabric of this passage, in that it speaks to trusting God no matter what or where. -By that I mean; it’s a little easier to trust God for the victory when we’re in that “mountain-top” experience than it is in the valley of discouragement.

-One more thought before we move on actually it’s more of a question. Since when did chariots of iron determine whether or not we are victorious? -Isn’t our God stronger than the enemy’s strongest iron chariots? Would to God that we would not cower and faint from the iron chariots in our life. -How often have we, under the banner of fear and intimidation, thwarted that victory which God desired to both give us, and do for us as well.

(20) And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. Then he expelled from there the three sons of Anak. (21) But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; so the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. -Notice the contrast here between Caleb who’s probably 85 years old at this point and the children of Benjamin. One gets it done the other doesn’t. -Caleb drives out the three sons of Anak who were giants, but the children of Benjamin didn’t drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem. -It wouldn’t be until the reign of King David, that the Israelites would finally take Jerusalem, however, they could have had it from this point on.

(22) And the house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them. (23) So the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city was formerly Luz.) (24) And when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, "Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will show you mercy." (25) So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go. (26) And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day. (27) However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. -When I mentioned that back in verse nineteen it would be a turning point and that everything was going down hill, this is what I was talking about. -Not only did the house of Joseph not drive all of them out and build a new city of Luz, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean. -Did you happen to notice that verse nineteen says they couldn’t drive them out where as verse twenty-seven says they did not drive them out?

-Here’s what I’m thinking, when it says Judah couldn’t, in all fairness, it would seem that at least they tried and their efforts were met with failure. -Conversely, it would appear that Manasseh did not even try which is why they “did not” drive them out. Either way, this will be to their own peril. -By that I mean, this will all come back to haunt them in the future all because they were selective in their obedience, which is really disobedience.

-Before we move on, I want to draw your attention to something else that’s here in verse twenty-seven and it’s not so easily visible at first glance. -Notice how we’re given the reason Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitant’s. It was that the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. -Excuse me! Are you kidding me? How did this go down? Did Manasseh just acquiesce to the determination of the Canaanites and let them stay?

-I suppose before we come down to hard on them, we would do well to consider how often the Canaanite sin in our life was determined to stay. -In other words, like with Manasseh, the determination of sin to stay in my life can become greater than my determination to drive it out of my life. -The lesson here becomes quite clear in the sense that we must deal mercilessly and ruthlessly with sin or it will be merciless and ruthless with us.

(28) And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out. -There are a couple of things I need to point out here the first of which is as it relates to what this putting of the Canaanites under tribute meant. -Instead of driving out the Canaanites, Manasseh saw this as an opportunity to make money off of them and to collect taxes from them as well. -By the way, this will become sort of contagious, as we’ll see here in a moment, when the other tribes do the same thing. Hey everybody’s doing it.

-The reason I point this out is because we’re prone to do the same exact thing, in that we don’t see it as a big deal. After all, we’re making money! -The problem is that it will be those little sins in our life that we think are no big deal that, very fast, become a very big deal, at the end of the day. -While we think we can control that little sin by keeping under tribute, the fact of the matter is, we cannot. In the end we will reap what we sow.

(29) Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; so the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. (30) Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites dwelt among them, and were put under tribute. (31) Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. (32) So the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out. (33) Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but they dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were put under tribute to them. (34) And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley; (35) and the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; yet when the strength of the house of Joseph became greater, they were put under tribute. (36) Now the boundary of the Amorites was from the Ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela, and upward. -This may be the end of the chapter, but it’s certainly not the end of the story. As a matter of fact, it’s only the beginning as we’ll see in Judges. -Do you realize that ever single one of them will be taken captive by the very ones to whom they put under tribute? That’s our end if we do that. -Lastly, I like how one said it, “the failure to obey what God commands is always the result of the failure to believe what God has promised.”