The Battles for the Promised Land: Revisiting the Book of Joshua

The depth of Christian denial of Israel in both translating and interpreting the Bible is always astonishing to me. As I sought for a proper existing graphic to depict what God told Moses about what the borders of  Israel were to be when the children of Israel entered in the land to take what God had given them, it was incredible to me how many called these "Canaan's borders." That is NOT what God told Moses. He told Moses they were to go into Canaan because it was the land God was giving the "Israelites" as an inheritance. It is the same kind of usurping involved in calling the Land "Palestine" rather than Israel. No matter how it may irritate Arabs or Christians, God gave the Land to Israel. Anyone slapping another name on it is challenging God Almighty, not merely those He granted the land rights to, namely Israel. 

 Revisiting the book of Joshua
The Battles for the Promised Land
by Donna Diorio
Written the week of August 25-31, 2024

On Tuesday, 8/27/2024 Daniel Juster wrote a thought provoking comment on his personal Facebook page, writing:

     “BEN GVIR AND THE TEMPLE MOUNT. The controversial Ben Gvir encourages prayer on the Temple Mount contrary to policy and to the laws of Ultra Orthodox Jews who say we should not pray on the mount. Ben Gvir is an Orthodox Nationalist, but to the more radical side. Netanyahu says what he is proposing and doing is contrary to policy. I am sure Netanyahu wishes he did not have to put up with Ben Givr to keep his government in power. But Givr’s actions are like throwing gasoline on a fire in regard to Arab relations. He says he wants to build a synagogue on the Mount.  Not possible now. Without supernatural intervention it will not be allowed.
     “Yet, from another perspective, high places are locations of spiritual power. Is radical Islam empowered by their control of the Mount? Experts in spiritual warfare like George Otis Jr. and John Dawson say yes. In the old days churches were built on high places to take the ground from paganism.  So there may be an element of spiritual warfare that we do not see in the natural in this clash. If Islam lost control of the mount (it is delegated to them by Israel) would it change things spiritually? I have wondered if an earthquake or an errant Islamic missile would take down the Al-Aqsa  Mosque and the shrine, the Dome of the Rock. Then what would happen?  It would produce major upheaval and who would control the mount in the future? I doubt Israel would let the Mosques be rebuilt as they are a center for Islamic agitation. Could this lead the final war?” –end-

     Dan’s post certainly provoked many thoughts in me, and I will bet it will provoke many thoughts in you also. Before I post my response comment to Dan, I will go back to the initial thought prompting Dan to write this, that of recent agitation by Ben Givr concerning the Temple Mount. He surely is burr in Netanyahu’s saddle and always will be because he knows the PM really can’t just eject him from government power because he needs him to keep his government afloat. That is why Givr pushes his radical agenda to the limits. He is on a major heady power trip and will try to achieve as much as he can of his agenda regardless of what the majority in Israel want.
     Many Christians think the religious Jews who agitate around the Temple Mount are doing what God wants them to do. I don’t think that is true in the least. God’s arm in not short: He can rid the Temple Mount all by Himself without setting all of radical Islam into murderous rage against Israelis. The religious Jews don’t care about that because their thinking is that the only Jews who will survive are like them.
     My view is that most Messianic Israeli Jews realize that a national level of Jews will be saved by faith in Yeshua – it will not be their small minority only who survive, because many Israelis will come to faith in the years ahead before the great and terrible day of the LORD. Contrast that with the view of religious Jews like Ben Givr who have no concern for saving the lives of Israelis as long as they can control the Temple Mount once again. Which view do you think God is in? I know God is in the view of the Israeli Messianics laboring in that great harvest field.

     Responding to Dan on Facebook I wrote: “Like you, I have expected a natural disaster to put the Dome into complete shambles but it could also be an errant rocket fire of the Islamic enemies coming down on it too - and Israel would not let it be rebuilt.
     "Honestly I believe the spiritual dynamic has already shifted regardless of the Islamists holding the Temple Mount. God is giving Israel the decisive upper hand against with Hamas, Hezballah and Iran. Just like in the taking of the Promised Land by Joshua, men have to fight physical battles, but God is giving the prevailing power to Israel.
     “No disrespect to the spiritual warfare experts but the model for who has the prevailing superior power over the Promised Land resides with the God of the Promised Land, not with the lesser god of Islam. The example is very much in the model of the battles in Joshua. I think the Christian understanding of spiritual warfare is currently being trumped by how God is orchestrating how things are playing out in Israel as He is accomplishing His will in Israel.”

     According Numbers 34:1-12 God specifically set the borders for Israel as their inheritance. He was sending them into Canaan telling them, “This will be your land and the borders around it.” There were already inhabitants in Canaan and God had already removed some of the worst of them, but told them He had "given" them the land. It was to be the Land of Israel and was theirs already but they were going to have to fight to remove the rest of the Canaanite tribes.

      I believe this is the model of the spiritual warfare in progress now as Israel is removing the terrorists from Gaza. They ultimately will have to do the same to remove the terrorists in the West Bank. The removal of terrorists in Lebanon has already begun and the terrorists in the West Bank will probably be dealt with as the warring in Lebanon increases. There are other nations in the Middle East that will see Israel pinpoint battle against too, I believe. I also believe God will continue to give Israel victory but it will not be without suffering or stress of the Israeli population who are being driven to seek the peace that passes all understanding. That is what the Israeli Messianic believers, along with the help of International Christians who understand the purposes of God in His Remnant of faith in Israel are doing in leading "all Israel" to their Messiah.

     8/28 Headlines from Israel are finally breaking silence about what Israel knew all along they would have to deal with at some point. That point is now.  It will probably cause uproar even among Christians because so many do not have a good understanding of the terrorism dynamic Israel has been forced by international pressures to tolerate. Now that the clearing Gaza of Hamas has been taken on in earnest for the past 10 months, it is clear Israel MUST continue. Up next is the necessity of clearing the terrorists & weapons installations in the West Bank (Samaria). This must happen before all out warfare with Hezballah in Lebanon can proceed.
     It has rarely been mentioned over the past 10 months, mainly because for years in the US the Palestinian Authority and its President Abbas have been sold to the Western public as the "moderate' Palestinian leader. Of course he is no such thing! This is just the Western nations blind eye to hide the fact that there really is no one for Israel to negotiate peace with. This is so Western nations can keep up the futile game of pretending to work for a Middle East peace agreement. It is impossible to negotiate with those committed to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

     DO NOT BE MOVED AT THE OUTCRY against this action against the terrorists in the West Bank: it is A MUST and as important as 100% effort to rescue hostages is, in no way can Israel cease all current battles against the terrorists close by. Far more Israelis will be harmed should the remaining hostages be the most important factor in decisions as Israel fights for its life. The enemies inside always have to be dealt with first in order to route the enemies outside. This is reality, and spiritual reality as well.