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Clear Land for Yourselves

Joshua 17:14-18
Key Verse: 17:15

“Joshua answered, ‘and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites.”

The Book of Joshua is written about Joshua, the successor of Moses who conquered and pioneered the land of Canaan. Today’s passage is about an allotment problem in the Promised Land and how Joshua helped his people. Through Joshua’s words, “clear land for yourselves,”may God help us to learn a pioneering spirit.

In Joshua 16:1-4, the allotment received for Joseph’s descendant was in the middle of the Philistine lands; east of Jericho along the Jordan River and in the hill country of Bethel. It was very large and fertile territory, but what was their response? Were they happy with the allotment? No. They were still complaining. Look at 17:14, “The people of Joseph said to Joshua, ‘Why have you given us only one allotment and one portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people and the Lord has blessed us abundantly.’”They did not mention the large, fertile land, but only complained that Joshua gave them one allotment and one portion even though there were two descendants of Joseph--Ephraim and Manasseh.

What was Joshua’s respond to them? Did he rebuke them by saying “Why don’t you have a thankful mind?”No. Look at verse 15. “‘If you are so numerous,’Joshua answered, ‘and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites.’”Joshua recognized that the people of Joseph were numerous. Joshua also recognized that the hill country of Ephraim was too small for them. However, Joshua did not say, “I am sorry that I gave you such a small territory.”He said to them, “If the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into forest and clear land for yourselves.”It means they should not sit down and complain, but they should get up, clear and expand their territory. When the Founder of Hyundai, Mr. Chung was young, he was very poor. His family was large and they only had a small rice field. He did not sit down and complain about their poor situation. He went out to the rice field and saw some deserted land beside of theirs. He removed the stones, cleaned up the land and made an additional rice field. In this way he provided food for his entire family. With this same spirit, he made one of the biggest companies in the world, Hyundai.

What does “Clear land”mean? It means, “do not depend on others, but be independent and have a pioneering spirit.”“Clear land”means “clear land”and “cut down trees.”A forest has a lot of trees, thickets and scrubs, small stones and big stones. In order to make the forest into a fertile land, they had to cut down tree and clear up thickets, scrubs and stones. At that time, the Northwest part of Ephraim was a forest and the Canaanites lived there. They had iron chariots. Therefore, in order to clean the land, they had to go up into the forest, clear the land and fight against iron chariots. A pioneering spirit comes along with a fighting spirit and a hard-working spirit. If we do not have a pioneering spirit, we become couch potatoes. Joshua challenged those who only maintained the status quo and planted a pioneering spirit in them. The historian Toynbee said in his book, “Challenge and Respond”, that history can be created when we challenge and respond to situations. He said “that is creative response.”

What was the response of Joseph’s people when Joshua said, “Clear land”for yourselves? Look at verse 16, “The people of Joseph replied, ‘The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who lie in the plain have iron chariots, both those in Beth Shan and its settlement and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”What was it difficult for them to obey Joshua’s direction?

First, they said that the hill country was not enough for them. So they did not want to pioneer. People want to pioneer the big US campuses which have more than 50,000 students. When someone is asked to pioneer a campus with only 5,000 students, they say, there are “not enough”students. But the first UBF pioneering ministry was in Kwangju and there were only 2,000 ChunNam University students. Many students were raised up as shepherds, staff and missionaries. When the Late Dr. Lee pioneered SNU, there were only 2,500 students. We cannot say that there are not enough students and only sit down and complain.

Second, they said that the Canaanites had iron chariots. The people of Joseph faced many difficulties. They knew how difficult it was to pioneer new lands. To pioneer and have a large land sounds good, but to fight against iron chariots is not good. Many people want to be pioneers and pioneer a new campus, but they do not want to face the iron chariots in that land. What are the iron chariots on college campuses?

Materialism, pragmatism, post-modernism are the iron chariots we must face. If someone enters a private university and invites students to Bible study, he or she may be sued. What direction did Joshua give those who made excuses not to pioneer? Look at verses 17 and 18, “but Joshua said to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—’You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours, though the Canaanites have iron chariots and though they are strong, you can drive them out.”Joshua helped those cowards who flinched at facing their enemies. The land of Canaan was already given to the people of Israel from the time of Abraham. (Gen. 15:8) They could possess it if they had faith.

Then what is the land we must pioneer? Obviously, college campuses. God gave us so many campuses to pioneer. Do you know many college campuses there are in 239 countries? But it is not easy to pioneer one campus. Ordinary churches build a church building and people come. But discipleship ministry is like catching a bird with your bare hands. College students are very individualistic, so we should respect their individualism and help them personally. At the same time, we have to fight against materialistic iron chariots, hedonistic iron chariots, post-modern iron chariots in each campus so that we can raise many disciples of Jesus. God sent Dr. Abraham Kim’s family from Milwaukee last year to pioneer the University of Minnesota. This campus is large, but there are many iron chariots. Since he was a professor at the Korean Military Academy, he knows how to fight. But he needs to know how to fight against iron chariots spiritually. For this, we have to learn Joshua’s consistent pioneering spirit.

Let's read verse 15, “Joshua answered, ‘and if the hill of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites.”