Rest On Every Side

Joshua 21:42-22:2 - These cities each had its pasturelands around it. So it was with all these cities. Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you.

Deuteronomy 17:14-15 - “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.

Joshua 1:13 - “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’

Numbers 32:23 - But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.

Application:

• ·         Moses, Joshua and a succession of judges were chosen directly by the Lord to govern Israel on His behalf. Moses here, however, anticipates a time when the people would ask for a king contrary to the Lord’s ideal for them. So Moses gives guidance concerning the eventual selection of a king.
• ·         Rest was an important Old Testament concept, implying secure borders, peace with neighboring countries and absence of threat to life and well-being within the land.
• ·         The bargain with the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh was struck, but not without strong warnings if they failed to live up to their word.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV