Joshua 12

Over the last two chapters we have read the names of several powerful kings who were defeated by God as the conquest moved throughout southern and then northern Canaan. The story of God's supremacy over the rulers of this world began before Joshua and it would continue after Joshua. Here the victories of the past are summarized, providing encouragement for the future.

The names of Sihon and Og may mean very little to us today, but we have already heard of how God defeated these kings through Moses in the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Israelites would sing about those victories in the land east of the Jordan for centuries. See Psalms 135 and 136.

The point of remembering these moments of glory against frightening enemies is not that we should think highly of Moses. We sing about the greatness of the Lord. He is high above all gods. His steadfast love endures forever. Yet Moses is said to have defeated these powerful adversaries. And it was Moses who gave their territories to the two and a half tribes who would settle in Gilead. God was the Author of those victories, but He had chosen to work through people, especially through His mediator Moses.

Israel might have thought that this pattern would end with the death of Moses. It did not. God continue to bring victory, but now through Joshua who defeated many frightening kings throughout the land of Canaan. God did it, but He chose to work through a human servant. Through Joshua, the Lord defeated thirty-one kings.

The Lord has brought us victory over powers that are far more unsettling than Sihon or Og. Through our Mediator, Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee, a great victory against sin has been accomplished.

Jesus is the King of Righteousness. There is a King of sin, an angelic adversary who comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. He could not have been defeated through the weapons of this world. But through the powerful death of His Servant, God disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Christ. Not only has the ruler of this world been defeated through the cross, but all the anti-Christ forces among men and angels have been brought low. We may hear their proud claims to own us and to rule over us, but in the Name of Jesus, in His cross, and in His empty tomb, we have the best responses to their boasts.

We remember names like Sihon and Og from the past. We think of the thirty-one city-state kings that God defeated through Joshua. But especially we consider the greatest Servant of the Lord, the sinless Jesus, and marvel over His victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness. With confidence in the Son of God, we draw near to the Father through Him, expecting that the victories of the the love of Christ over formidable obstacles and enemies would take place today even through us. We are only lowly servants, but we are united to the Holy One of Israel through Jesus, the living Head of the body of Christ.