Joshua 18:1-6 This is the story of the Israelites in the Promised Land, after it was brought under their control ... but, the 7 Israelite tribes had not yet received their inheritance.
Perhaps, they were just living wildly, as they saw fit - without much of an order.
The 3 tribes (Gad, Reuben & half tribe of Manasseh), chose the land before they crossed the River Jordan on the East & 2 tribes had chosen their lot (Judah & the house of Joseph) in the promised land.
The rest were apparently WAITING - what for????? No one knows! Surely they needed a push or a kick on the 'backside'
In vs.3 - Joshua urges them to take possession of the land which God has given to them.
Yes, the people had been slack and not gone in with the zeal to take over.
Joshua exhibits fine leadership skills here, as he encourages them to do something, realizing they weren't doing anything:
He doesn't do, what the people were supposed to do!
He didn't want them to sit back and wait for it to happen either.
Joshua made them do 3 things:
a) vs.4 - Appoint 3 men from each tribe
b) vs.5 - You divide the land into 7 parts
c) vs.6 - Write down the description of the 7 parts
It could have been so tempting for Joshua to find able men by himself, especially when there were 7 tribes who didn't bother - but Joshua shows restraint.
He didn't just push them to do, but realizing that they might not know how to proceed sets them some parameters to work within!
Let alone doing the job on behalf of the people, there are leaders today, who slack and get the followers to do what they should be doing themselves!
Both actions are blatantly wrong!
- Doing for others what they should be doing; &
- Getting others to do what we should be doing.
True leaders recognize WHAT needs to be done, and WHO should do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment