Joshua 19:40-48 | Episode #1247

July 28, 2026

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Joshua 19:40-48

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for over 25 years. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse-by-verse and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Hope Alive, where we apply God's Word to our daily life. My name is Chad Harrison. I'm first a husband, a father and a grandfather. I'm also the teaching pastor at Lake Community Church in Dadeville, Alabama on beautiful Lake Martin. I've been serving as a pastor for over 30 years. I also serve as the Tallapoosa County District Judge. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse by verse through the Bible and to find his purpose and will for your daily life. If you would like sponsor this podcast, go to the Show Notes, where there's a link where you can make a donation. I pray in the name of Jesus that God would open his word to you, allow you to see him and to know him, so that you would know his will and his way for your life that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today. Word of God, please speak to the hearers of your voice today in the name of Jesus. Amen. Foreign. Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Joshua, chapter 19, verses 40 through 48. And what we're dealing with is the last tribe that's going to get their portion. It is the seventh portion that's given out to the tribes that weren't given a portion before. Obviously, two and a half tribes got it before they even entered into the Promised Land. And then there were several tribes that had portions that were allotted to them as a part of just entering into the Promised Land. They were already figured out. And then there were seven tribes that they had to split up what was left of the land that had been taken, and they took it in. And the last tribe is the tribe of Dan. And it really is the tribe of Dan D A N. And its territory is. And you see that in verses 40 through 40, 46. Its territories are basically. Well, they're along the coast and all the way up into what is northern Israel today or southern Lebanon. And that's neither here nor there. Most of you do not like geography. I love geography, but most of you do not like geography. So me describing it, it's just in the north, okay? And there are. There are some areas up there that have names that we remember. One of the names that we remember is the area called Joppa. It's mentioned in scripture a good bit. And then there is a town that is mentioned because they got their territory and they figured out that they wanted some more territory. So they decided that they would take this town, this city and all its villages that Were around it, take a territory on the north of them. And we see that in verse 47. And it says, and the border of the children of Dan went beyond these, because, notice, they got their allotment, and then they took more, because the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem. L E S H E M Remembering that name is not really important. And they took it, and they struck it with the edge of the sword, took possession, and dwelt in it. They called Leshem Dan after the name of Dan, their father. So they took this town and they changed its name to Dan. And the reason it's important. And I think. And then it goes on and says, these are the inheritance of the tribe of Dan and the cities and their villages. But this, this area, this place becomes Caesarea Philippi. And you'll hear that name a lot. And you'll know what that means. Some of you will know what that means. But Caesarea Philippi became a Roman stronghold, and it was a place of. Well, obviously, Caesarea comes from the name Caesar. And Philippi is a. Is a Greek name. So Philippi, Caesarea Philippi. It's not Philippi. That's in what is in modern day Turkey. It's Caesarea Philippi, meaning the Caesar. So it's got Roman and Greek names to it. And there's a reason why it has Roman and Greek names to it. And the reason is that when the northern kingdom broke off from the southern kingdom, the northern kingdom did not want their people to make pilgrimages down to Jerusalem to the southern kingdom and make sacrifices. Now, what they did was they set up their own sacrificial system. And the primary place that they did it was what is near Samaria today. Okay, it's called Samaria. And that's why it became so negative, is because they intermarried with other people. That's why the word Samaritan is considered terrible in the New Testament to the Jews, because they were people who left God and intermarried with pagan worshipers. And that's why they felt that way toward them. That happened in Samaria. And there was one other place in the northern, northern part, because Samaria is not super far from Jerusalem. I mean, it's 20, 30 miles, miles, 40 miles away. But in the northern part of Israel, 50, 60 miles, even to the north, maybe 70 miles to the north, Caesarea Philippi was a place where they set up worship there. So in the northern kingdom, you could go worship God. I'm gonna put quotes on that God in Caesarea Philippi or on Mount Samaria, or where the Samaira, the Sumerian mountain is, okay? And so those two places were where they went to worship God. Now, here's the problem. The king that set up those two places built, get this, a golden calf, a golden cow, okay? And he said that this God represented by the golden cow was the God who delivered them out of Egypt and brought them into the promised land. I'm not kidding. Some of you. This is the first time you ever heard it. Not. Not kidding. That's. That's. Then we're going to read about that once we get into the, you know, first and Second Chronicles, first and Second Kings, it deals with that. But. But that's what happened. That's what happened. And one of the places where this was done was. Was in Caesarea Philippi. So it was given over almost within a few hundred years, at least 500 years. Within 500 years of the Jews taking the promised land, the Northern kingdom has split off. And they are literally within 500 years worshiping a golden calf, which suits the. When the. When the Greek Empire takes the Middle east and Alexander the Great does. And the Jews actually support him because they're tired of dealing with the Persians, and they definitely don't want the Egyptians to be in charge, so they actually support them. It's a natural place for the Greeks to feel comfortable because they're involved in paganism. The Jews are involved in paganism at Caesarea Philippi. They're involved in it right there. And they naturally are drawn to that. And then after the Greek Empire implodes and it becomes the Ptolemaic, and they're Greek still, and then finally the Romans come in. That place is a place that's naturally inclined toward paganism. It's naturally inclined toward the worship of other gods. And it remains that way. It is. It is a place of derision. It is a place of destruction. The tribe of Dan really only has one major figure out of it, and his name's Samson, and I'm not going to get into him at all because he's a great story and he's in the Book of Judges. And we're going to be in Judges just like, real shortly, because we're only a few chapters away. But that being said, Dan sets up itself by taking this new territory. Now, was anything wrong with that? But was there anything wrong with taking new territory? No, God said they could take. It was part of the territory, the huge territory that God said was his promise to them, their promised land, which is not just that little area we call Israel today. It is an area that stretches all the way over to what is modern day Kuwait and all the way up into what is modern day Persia and all the way down into parts of Saudi Arabia and all the way up through the Syrian areas, all the way up to parts of Turkey. That is the promised land that Jesus is going to. Well, he's gonna rule from that area when he comes back. And we're in Revelation, and we're not far from that happening. And so we're gonna see the new Jerusalem in a few. In the next month or two as we're studying through that on Wednesday night. And by the way, that's being rolled out as a part of Hope Alive, the podcast. So you're not far from that. Even if you're not coming to the Wednesday night Bible study of that being out there and something you could study. There's nothing wrong with them taking the territory. The problem is they took the territory. They gave them the territory, their name, and then they immediately began to move toward worshiping other gods rather than worshiping the God of the Israelites, Yahweh. They move away from that. And you go, well, how does that happen? And it just happens slowly and subtly. Just a little inattention by a generation, just one generation, not paying attention and not focusing the hearts of the people on a intimate relationship with God, a walk with God. And before you know it, the churches turn toward God, turn away from God's word. The people become. Become, well, passive, if not, you know, apathetic toward God. And their children grow up not knowing God at all. And that happens all the time throughout, throughout. From the time of Abraham till today. You have this generational issue where. And you're gonna. We're gonna see it, we're gonna study it as we study through judges and as we study, study through the. The kings and as we study through the prophets, we're gonna see that. That this theme is a theme that gains traction over, over the generations, that a generation loses their. They. They. Their focus on God anymore, and they lose it. And as a part of them losing it. And remember, it's not just going to church. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a passionate love of God that is passed down from generation to generation. And Dan is just one of those tribes that does that. And eventually they, they just cease to exist. Other than Samson, there's nothing about Dan that really is even noteworthy. There's a couple other figures that do some things about building the temple and, and stuff when, when Solomon's around. But I mean, that's it. That's it. There's just nothing. And, you know, I think it's really important that we as we as believers understand that not only do we have. Do we need to focus on our relationship with God, but we have a duty to orient the generations behind us toward God. And remember, you can't make somebody have a relationship with God. You can't do that. But you can live it out passionately. And you can unbind them, as we talked about yesterday in worship, you can unbind them. You can take the grave clothes off as they come to understanding who God is. You can remove the grave clothes from them and allow them to begin to be unbound by the, the, the, well, the, the bondage of this world and the sin of this world. And you can give them encouragement and you can give them words of knowledge and wisdom, and you can give them love and, and, and you can walk faith out in front of them and slowly you can begin to unbind them from the death that all of us have when we're born into this world. And you can help them take their grave clothes off. And generations who fail to do that eventually see the people that come behind them not do better, but do worse. Because what happens when people walk away from God is the society begins to walk away from God and then the society begins to slip toward, well, being enslaved by despots. And slowly you lose freedom. And the true freedom that comes to humanity is the freedom from sin and death. And then that manifests itself in all kinds of ways. Economically, politically, spiritually. It manifests itself in all kinds of ways. But the primary way that it's, it's seen is through just a walk with God that sets us free from sin and death. And, and when you go out and just do things for you and God's not involved in it, and that's a lifestyle for you. Well, that lifestyle is easily picked up by others, including your generations that come after you. And before you know it, they're missing everything and they're missing out on everything. And that's the way it works. And so this is a word of encouragement. Be someone who walks with God and be someone who helps others walk with God and, and your family won't end up like Dan, where the most important place in your family is a pagan. Well, it's a pagan stronghold. That's not good. As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.