Jeremy R. Geerdes Posts

Joshua 20 establishes a policy that seems foreign to me: cities of refuge for people who unintentionally killed a neighbor. It just seems strange to me that someone would need to seek refuge for an accident, but in Semitic cultures such as ancient Israel, it was common practice that, if someone was killed, a family […]

So, I’m changing the title of this week’s message from what was printed in last week’s bulletin. Simply put, we’re doing clean-up on three things that I think are important to catch if we’re going to live the real and full life Jesus talked about in John 10:10 at work. And for the record, these […]

So I really don’t have a lot to say about Joshua 19. In fact, the vast majority of it outlines how the remaining five tribes received their inheritance. But one thing that stands out is vs 47: “(But the Danites had difficulty taking possession of their territory, so they went up and attacked Leshem, took […]

There are few things in life that can be as edifying – or as difficult, or even dangerous – as working together with others. If done right, a team can just “click” such that the collective output of the group is exponentially greater any or all of the individual members could accomplish on their own. […]

Joshua 17 continues detailing the division of Canaan among the tribes of Israel by outlining the inheritance of the half of Manasseh that had not received territory east of the Jordan. The chapter outlines how the western half of Manasseh was given ten tracts of land which combined to make one of the largest inheritances […]

It’s been too many weeks since I provided some morning-after commentary on the services at Debra Heights Wesleyan Church. I guess that’s a lesson for everyone! Neglecting to do something (e.g., write a blog post, do devotions, attend church) once makes it easier to neglect it a second time, and pretty soon, you’re neglecting it […]

Joshua 16 follows the same lines as Joshua 15, outlining the territory given to the descendants of Joseph (i.e., the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh). More particularly, this chapter focuses on the inheritance of Ephraim, which was north of that of Judah but still on the west side of the river (versus Manasseh, which was […]

With the start of Joshua 15, we begin to really dig into the details of how the land was divided among the tribes – and even clans – of Israel, starting with the tribe of Judah. It made sense to start with Judah since it was at the south end of the promise land and […]

Joshua 14 continues the account of how the land was divided, crossing now to the western side of the Jordan. As Joshua and his officials sat down to figure out how this territory would be divided among the tribes, though, a familiar face re-emerges. Caleb, one of the twelve spies that Moses had dispatched to […]

Joshua 13 inaugurates a new phase in Joshua’s administration. Previously, he had been focused on conquering the promised land. Now, though, Israel had seized control of the heart of Canaanite territory, capturing a vast swath of land from east of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and even though there were still “very large […]