The children of Joseph asked Joshua why he had given them "one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as the LORD hath blessed me hitherto?" (v. 14).
Joshua told them, "If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee." (v. 15). It seems the people were discouraged, for in replying they mentioned that their enemies, the Canaanites, had "chariots of iron," (v. 16).
Their commander assured them that they would "drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong." (v. 18).
In chapter 13:1, the LORD had told Joshua that, "there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." Joshua had faith in God and believed in His power, despite the apparent insurmountable difficulties. He knew that chariots of iron were nothing to God. As long as he and his people obeyed God's instructions, victories were sure; and they did gain them. "And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that He sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass." (Joshua 21:43-45, emphasis added).
I know that iron refers to Rome in prophecy (see Daniel 2 and onward), but I wanted to see whether it had any other significance. Speaking of "behemoth" in the Bible, God says, "His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron." (Job 40:15, 18). He told His people in Isaiah 48:3-4, "I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;" Iron appears to refer to something that is strong or hard, nearly unconquerable or impenetrable.
In fact, God told the prophet Jeremiah, "For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee." (Jeremiah 1:18, 19, emph. add.).
Yet the Bible reveals One mightier, the One Whom Joshua trusted. "Thus saith the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:" (Isaiah 45:1-2, emph. add.).
Sometimes circumstances in our lives seem as formidable to us as the chariots of iron did to the children of Joseph—but if we trust God and obey Him, He will help us just as He did them. He will cut "cut in sunder the bars of iron" in our lives, just as He did for Cyrus in literal terms!
Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!
Blessings,
Jean
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