[A Meditation on One Verse]

(Joshua 19:9) “The inheritance of the Simeonites was taken from the share of the Judahites, because the share of the Judahites was too large for them. So the Simeonites received their inheritance within the inheritance of the Judahites.”

The tribe of Simeon lives without its own independent land, receiving a portion from the inheritance of the tribe of Judah. The Bible begins with a practical explanation for this: “because the share of the Judahites was too large for them.” But in truth, between the lines of this verse lies the faithful work of God, stretching back hundreds of years.

In Genesis, Jacob, prophesying over his sons, says of the violent Simeon, “I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel” (Genesis 49). Today’s passage is the very scene where that word of curse is fulfilled. Simeon is unable to assert itself and is absorbed, scattered within a powerful tribe.

However, God’s work does not end in judgment. He scatters them, but not into the wilderness; He embraces them within the inheritance of ‘Judah.’ ‘Judah’ is the royal tribe, the channel of promise through which the Messiah would come. In the end, the tribe that should have vanished under a curse experiences the amazing grace of having its life preserved within the tribe through which the promise of salvation flows.

This is how God works. Judgment for sin is certain (the scattering), but He executes judgment in mercy, holding His people within the covenant.

This story is a picture of the gospel, showing how we, who should have been eternally scattered because of sin, have become heirs of the inheritance of Jesus Christ, the ‘Lion of the tribe of Judah.’

[Prayer]

“Lord, let my walk today be one where I experience this given day as the very scene of salvation.”
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(Daily Reading)

Joshua 18:11-19:9