See 14:1 17:4, 19:51, 21:1

So - it would seem - Caleb was willing to take a back seat because God had decreed it.

We have a relationship with Yahweh in which He gives guidelines and we have the discretionary ability to choose a path (free will). He, of course, knows our motives and helps us if we ask Him, as long as hearts are right.

And so it was with the allotment of the Land. Yahweh gave the guidelines (Num. 26:55; 33:54) and it was up to Joshua (and Eleazar) to direct the distribution.

All human decision making must allow for adjustments (e.g. Judah's lot was too big for them and so a portion was allotted to Simeon; Dan could not truly possess their original portion, and so the tribe re-located).

Yahweh could have dictated precise allotment boundaries but He chose to leave that responsibility to His servants. And so it is with us. We are given the elements of Truth but it is up to us to work out our salvation... (Phil. 2:12). With Yahweh's help we will be successful.

Simeon's portion was "out of the portion of the children of Judah" (Josh 19:9).  This had been prophecied by Jacob in Gen 49:5-7, "I will divide them (Levi and Simeon) in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel."

Dan's allotment had originally stretched from the border with Benjamin in the east, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. The town of Joppa (Jaffa) was in their territory.  Being a small tribe, they could not successfully subdue the Philistines there and so sought to re-locate.  They moved to the north where they easily conquered the Canaanite city of Leshem (Laish) in Bashan (v.47).  They re-named the city, and surrounding area, Dan. 

19:41    Notice that all of this took place ‘before the Lord’. The tabernacle was at Shiloh.  The setting out of the divisions there, though probably not the most practical place, indicated the solemnity of the event. The long sojourn is now over. But the people were not to be complacent even though they had their possession. This was not ‘the rest’ Deut 12:9.

19:47 The fact that God had divided the land by Lot did not remove from Israel the responsibility of working to receive the land.

19:29    We may think that Tyre was way North and part way into the country of Lebanon but here we see it is on the North border of the inheritance of Asher.

19:51  As the tabernacles was, by now, in Shiloh we see that matters to do with the physical division of the land are associated with mattes of worship.

19:1 When we realise that Simeon’s inheritance was within the borders of Judah’s inheritance we may wonder what happened during the divided kingdom when Judah and Benjamin were together as the kingdom of Judah and the other tribes were together in the kingdom of Israel.

When Jesus reigns in His Kingdom, He will have put down all idolatry and godlessness.  The epitome of His opposition has always been encapsulated in Babylon. 

V.2 Isaiah is talking about Babylon which was destined for destruction (Isa 13:19,20; 21:9; Jer 50:13-15).  In a future application, the spiritual city of Babylon, which represents the false system of worship, will also be destroyed. (Rev 18:2,10,21).

25:6,10  The ‘mountain’ is Zion. The place where God had chosen to place His name. The name is placed there through the resurrection of Jesus. His resurrection is the guarantee that these things will eventually happen.

V.7 - "And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations".  This sounds like a veil of misunderstanding will be prevalent upon Christ's return 2Cor 3:13-16;1Cor 13:8-12; Rev 17:1-9,14-18; 18:23-24 perhaps widespread religious apostasy is suggested.

V.2 The destroyed city being talked about is Babylon.  Babylon has come to represent false worship and ungodliness which shall ultimately be destroyed by the mountain which is Christ (vs.6,7; Dan 2:35).  

Moab is also a figure of all that Yahweh hates.  Moab is considered Yahweh's washpot (Psa 108:9).  The word washpot can also be translated thorn.  And so this thorn in Yahweh's side (evil), as it were, will be removed by Christ upon His return (v.10).  Moab is used here as a figure to represent all the foes of Yahweh's people.

25:1 The long lasting ‘faithfulness and truth’ of Gods forms the basis for Jesus’ words Rev 21:5

V.6 this mountain refers to Zion whence Jesus shall reign over the whole earth.

V.8 swallow up death in victory is quoted by Paul in 1Cor 15:54; wipe away tears is reflected by John in Rev 7:17; 21:4.

V.10 Yahweh’s hand shall rest on Mount Zion when the Kingdom Period begins.

25:9 Some had ‘waited for him’ – this is a prophecy of the experience of doubting Thomas, as we might call him. Paul – 1Thess 1:10 – presents this as something that we should be doing. Waiting for his return.

8 v.10-12 is probably the longest single quotation in the New Testament from the Old. [Jeremiah 31:33-34]. To those Jews who had not considered the forgiveness of sins as being part of the Old Covenant it would have been a great shock to see the Apostle using the Old Testament to highlight the value of the sacrifice of Jesus.

9 v.2-5 Describes the tabernacle at one point in time. It was during the day of Atonement. We know this because the 'golden censer' [9:4] is in the most holy place. It was only taken there on the day of atonement. Thus the Apostle is setting the scene. The sacrifice of Jesus is going to be shown to be superior even to the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement.

8:1 Set on the right hand of … is another quotation from Psalm 110:1. So we see that the priesthood of Jesus after the order of Melchisedec is crucial to the arguments in the letter to the Hebrews.

9:8 All the details and ritual of the Tabernacle and the day of Atonement was to demonstrate one thing - that it was not the way to close fellowship with God!

Chapter 8 provides a summary of where we have got to so far. Notice the point that Paul wishes to remind the brethren about. Jesus is the high priest. This is the major point of the whole letter. A highly relevant point to make when many believers in Jerusalem had been priests - they were Levites. (Acts 6:7 21:20)

9:6-7 Building on the description of the tabernacle on the day of Atonement the contrast is now made between the daily ritual of daily sacrifices and the annual work of the high priest - to make one fundamental point. The Mosaic order did not give free access into the presence of God.

8:2 There is here a contrast between the tabernacle in the wilderness which, even though designed by God, was constructed by man. Jesus, on the other hand was 'pitched' by God because Jesus was made 'without hand' (Dan 2:34), an idea which has already (Col 2:11) been used to highlight the way that the gospel in Christ is outside man's manufacture.

9:4 The items mentioned which were in the ark were not there all through Israel's history. It may seem that their mention here is rather superfluous to the issues relating to the day of Atonement. However there is another strand running through the narrative. It is that of rebellion. The three items mentioned - The manna Aaron's rod and the two tables all are associated with the rebelliousness of Israel.

The writer to the Hebrews makes an eloquent explanation of Christ's being the true atonement.  However, it must be appreciated that for most Jews, steeped in the Law under the direction of their leaders, this was not easy to grasp.  

To accept the concept of Christ's overriding (fulfilling) the Law needed faith.  Then the need to change in the face of family, friends, and a determined religious hierarchy, required much courage.  The same difficulties exist today as people are faced with the true Gospel.  But, with the power and grace of Yahweh, much can be overcome.   

8:5 That Moses saw a ‘pattern’ quoting Exo 25:40 provides the evidence that what Moses made was not the substance. Notice that an argument is based upon a single word.

9:1  The old covenant is to pass away. This is explained in chapter 8. Now the writer moves on to highlight how that system of things had inherent weakness built into it’s service to highlight that salvation was not through the law of Moses and its ordinances. Salvation came through the substance. The Mosaic order was the shadow of that substance, not the substance itself.

8:7 The simple fact that Jeremiah spoke of a ‘new covenant’ which made the first ‘old’ is similar to the way in which Hebrews 3 develops the concept of the ‘rest’ where because Israel did not enter in there must be a ‘rest’ in the future. The argument is based upon a clear reading of the text.

There’s a long quotation from Jer 31:31-34 in Heb 8:8-12. It is quoted to show that the idea of a “New law” is not new. It was here in Jeremiah, who was very much a part of the Law of Moses.

8:3    Jesus’ offering was himself- that is His own will – which he gave to God in a life of obedience. How committed are we?

9:9 The word ‘figure’ <3850> is repeatedly (46 times) translated ‘parable’ thus we see the instructive nature of the tabernacle. It was not the substance, it taught a lesson.

8:6; 9:15 Jesus is a mediator. In His role as mediator, Jesus has brought God to us. In that way, God and man are reconciled. Thus, we can approach Our Heavenly Father directly in prayer in the Name of Jesus (Eph 5:20; Col 3:17).  There is no need for any earthly priest to act on our behalf (Matt 23:9).

8:8-12 This will take place in the Kingdom that Jesus will establish when He returns to earth. The remnant of Jews that will survive the end time violence will be fortunate to participate in the blessings of the Kingdom.

9:24 Jesus now stands in the presence of Yahweh His Father. He represents true believers (His body) as their head (king and high priest); and the promise that believers can be like Him (1John 3:2).

8:13 Whilst it is evident that the writer is speaking of the law of Moses ‘decaying’ we should be alert to the fact that the whole system of worship with the temple was to be removed. Thus we see a hint to the believers in Jerusalem of the impending destruction that Jesus had spoken of in the Olivet prophecy – Matt 24