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Today’s reading from Joshua 12–15 contains a lot of historical information, but it can feel tedious for the reader when foreign names of kings and unfamiliar cities are listed one after another. At first glance, it seems like a lot of text just to say, "Israel kicked some Canaanite butt." However, be encouraged to press on and read the entirety of God’s story—He wouldn’t have included it if it weren’t important. Remember, all Scripture is beneficial (2 Timothy 3:16).

These chapters summarize Israel’s conquests after they crossed into the Promised Land—once they learned that God must remain their first priority. As you know from earlier posts, there were some initial obstacles (Ai and the Gibeonites) before they hit their stride, but once they did, they were unstoppable. You can feel the momentum as you read through the list of defeated kings in Joshua 12:9–24.

At first, I found the way it was written a little odd:

"The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one... In all, thirty-one kings." (vv. 9, 24)

But as I read it again, I realized the author was essentially calling off a victory checklist—“King of Jericho, check... King of Ai, check..."—showing how God took His people through the land like… remember? "a hot knife through butter." Israel, fully surrendered to God, was on fire.

There are other important mentions that reinforce the consistency of Scripture:

  • The tribe of Levi’s inheritance was the Lord Himself (13:14).

  • Balaam the diviner, who had been hired by King Balak of Moab, was killed by the sword (13:22).

  • Caleb was 40 years old when the Israelites entered the wilderness, 80 years old when they crossed the Jordan, and 85 years old when he finally received his promised inheritance—meaning the conquest took about five years (14:6–15).

  • The Jebusites continued living among the Israelites even after the campaign had ended (15:63).

It’s that last verse that stood out most to me today. It says,

"But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day." (15:63)

Earlier (12:10), we read that the king of Jerusalem was defeated, but here we learn that not all of his people were destroyed. Instead, the Israelites lived with the Jebusites. Everything was going so well—until it wasn’t. The people of Israel still had work to do, but they didn’t finish the task.

As we continue through the books of Judges and Ruth, we’ll read about tumultuous history—defeat mixed in with victory—that might have been avoided if Israel had completed the conquest as God had commanded. It wasn’t until King David, that the Jebusites were finally defeated and their city, Jerusalem, was seized as a possesion (2 Samuel 5:6–10; 1 Chronicles 11:4–9).

Takeaway: I have a saying: The moment a person lives past their need to learn is the moment they have lived past their usefulness. In other words, when we become so arrogant that we no longer think we need to submit to God, we fall short—and like the Israelites, we set ourselves up for future problems.