35: Crossroads of the Earth

BEMA Episode Link: 35: Crossroads of the Earth
Episode Length: 35:37
Published Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2017 01:00:00 -0700
Session 2
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings wrap up the discussion of Joshua and bridge the gap toward the book of Judges, pondering the mission of God and His choice of real estate for His people.

Crossroads of the Earth Presentation (PDF)

Discussion Video for BEMA 35

The Source by James A. Michener

Transcript for BEMA 35

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

BEMA Episode 35: Crossroads of the Earth - Study Notes

Title & Source Summary

Episode Title: Crossroads of the Earth Episode Number: 35 Series: BEMA Discipleship Podcast
Hosts: Marty Solomon and Brent Billings

This episode wraps up the discussion about the book of Joshua and bridges the gap toward the book of Judges. Rather than focusing on the troubling conquest narratives, this session takes a 10,000-foot perspective to explore God’s strategic choice of location for His people. The episode examines why God worked so hard to give Israel a specific chunk of real estate and what this reveals about His mission to bless all nations through His people as a kingdom of priests.

Key Takeaways

God positioned Israel at the “crossroads of the earth” - the most strategic location in the ancient world where all trade routes, commerce, and international travel converged
The Via Maris highway ran through Israel, making it the “turnstile of the ancient world” - anyone going anywhere had to pass through this land
God’s placement of His people was intentional: if they were to be a kingdom of priests and bless all nations, they needed to be accessible to all nations
The geography of the land serves as both practical reality and spiritual metaphor for mission and engagement with culture
The shephelah (hill country) represents the intersection between God’s people and pagan culture - the place of missional engagement
The city gate system reveals God’s design for His people to be distributors of hope and provision to the world
Jesus’s teaching about being “a city on a hill” and “the light of the world” directly references this geographical and missional reality
The tribe of Dan’s failure illustrates the danger of abandoning God’s mission - they fled their difficult calling and ultimately faced destruction

Main Concepts & Theories

1. Strategic Geography: The Crossroads of the Earth

The land of Canaan/Israel occupied a unique geographical position in the ancient world. Situated between three continents (Africa, Asia, and Europe), it served as the only land bridge connecting these regions. The diagram of the civilized world shows:

Rome and Greece to the west
Assyria, Persia, and Babylon to the east
Egypt to the southwest
The Arabian Desert (uninhabitable wasteland) to the southeast

The narrow strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Desert was the only viable route for land travel and commerce. This made it the most valuable real estate in the ancient world - not because of its natural resources or beauty (it’s largely desert and rocky terrain), but because of its strategic location.

2. The Via Maris: Highway of Nations

The Via Maris (Latin for “Way of the Sea”) was the main international highway that ran north-south through Israel, connecting:

The major powers of Mesopotamia (Assyria, Babylon, Persia) in the northeast
Egypt in the southwest
Access to the Silk Road through Asia Minor (modern Turkey)

This highway system (which actually consisted of multiple routes) meant that anyone engaged in commerce, diplomacy, military campaigns, or travel had to pass through Israel. God’s people weren’t hidden away in a remote location - they were placed at the busiest intersection of the ancient world.

3. Missional Positioning: Kingdom of Priests

The geographical placement directly serves God’s stated mission from the beginning of the Abraham narrative: to bless all nations. Key connections include:

The Abrahamic Promise: God promised Abraham that through him and his descendants, all nations would be blessed. This wasn’t just spiritual rhetoric - it required practical accessibility.

Kingdom of Priests: Just as the tabernacle was positioned in the center of the Israelite camp where all tribes could access it, Israel as a nation was positioned in the center of the civilized world where all nations could access them.

Functional Necessity: If God’s people were to demonstrate what He is like, reveal His character, and provide a pathway to relationship with Him for all peoples, they couldn’t be isolated. They needed maximum exposure and interaction with the nations.

4. The Zones of the Land: BLT Metaphor

The land of Israel can be understood as having distinct east-west zones, described by teacher Aaron Couch as resembling a BLT sandwich:

Coastal Plain (Western “bun”): The Mediterranean coastline where pagan peoples (Philistines in the south, Phoenicians in the north) lived. These were seafaring, commercial cultures with different worldviews from the desert-dwelling Israelites.

Shephelah (The “lettuce, tomato, bacon”): The hill country between the coastal plain and the mountains. The word shephelah literally means “to bow down” or “kneel” - describing how the mountains bow down to meet the coastal plain. This became a powerful metaphor for missional engagement - the place where God’s people meet pagan culture.

Judah Mountains (Eastern “bun”): The mountain range where God’s people wanted to settle. This was the comfortable, relatively safe place without the complications of cultural collision.

Judah Wilderness: The plateau desert with wadis (dry riverbeds) leading down to the Rift Valley.

Jordan Valley (Rift Valley): The deep valley through which the Jordan River flows, marking the eastern boundary.

5. The Shephelah: Metaphor for Cultural Engagement

The shephelah represents more than geography - it’s a theological statement about mission:

It’s the intersection point between two different cultures
It’s where the mountains of God’s people meet the coastal plain of the pagans
It represents the collision and engagement necessary for transformation
Living in the shephelah means not retreating to safety but engaging the mission

The danger of the “holy huddle” mentality is illustrated by the geography: God didn’t call His people to live isolated in the Judah Mountains (though that would be more comfortable). He called them to engage culture, to live at the intersection, to bring shalom to chaos and light to darkness.

This has implications for modern Christian subculture tendencies to create separate music, schools, language, entertainment, etc. While these things aren’t inherently wrong, the danger is disengagement from the mission of impacting culture.

6. The Tel: Archaeological Window into Ancient Cities

A tel is an artificial mound created by successive cities built on the same location over centuries. Understanding tels is crucial for grasping city life:

Why Cities Stayed in Place:

Water sources couldn’t be moved
Defensive positioning was tied to specific topography
Surrounding agricultural land was already developed
Building on top of ruins was more practical than starting elsewhere

Layers of History: A single tel could contain 1,000-2,000 years of civilization, with each destroyed city becoming the foundation for the next. Archaeologists excavate these layer by layer to understand historical progression.

Archaeological Dating: City gates found in tels can be dated by their chamber configuration:

Two chambers: Abraham’s era
Four chambers: David’s era
Six chambers: Solomon’s era
Eight chambers: Hezekiah’s era

7. City Gates: Defense, Commerce, and Justice

City gates were sophisticated structures that reveal multiple aspects of ancient society:

Primary Function - Defense:

Initially simple with chambers on each side to create bottlenecks
Evolved to become virtually impenetrable fortresses
Multi-level designs with rooms for soldiers
Defenders could drop rocks, pour boiling oil, or pour tar on attackers
Eventually so effective that enemies preferred building siege ramps over walls rather than attempting to breach gates

Secondary Function - City Business: Since cities were only attacked approximately once every 80 years, gates served daily civic purposes:

Political headquarters (mayors, city clerks, officials)
Judicial center (where judges sat and cases were heard)
Commercial hub (marketplace activities)
Social gathering place
The modern Israeli stock exchange is still called “sha’ar” (gate) in reference to this

Welfare Distribution: The city gates served as the distribution center for aid to the poor. The wealthy from inside the city would bring their abundance to the gates, where it was rationed and given to those in need from outside the walls.

The physical layout of ancient cities reflected economic hierarchy:

Center of City (Innermost):

Upper class, royalty, extremely wealthy
Maximum protection from attacks
Most desirable real estate

Casemate Housing (In the Walls):

Middle class lived in apartments built into the city walls
Dual purpose: housing and defense
During attacks, residents filled their homes with stones, turning an 8-foot wall into a 30-foot wall
Biblical examples: Rahab the prostitute lived in casemate housing (Joshua 2), as did Paul when lowered from a window (Acts 9:25)

Outside the Walls (Villages):

The poor lived in small villages called “daughters” of the main city
No walls, no protection
“Daughters of Jerusalem” referenced by Jesus (Luke 23:28) refers to these villages

The Trash Dump (Furthest Out):

The most destitute were driven to live near the city’s waste disposal area
Sewage flowed through trenches from the city to designated dumps
Trash was burned continuously, creating a smoldering fire
This area was characterized by constant weeping and gnashing of teeth (sounds of misery from the desperately poor)
This becomes the imagery Jesus uses for gehenna (hell) - a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth

9. City on a Hill: Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount

When Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:13-16, He’s making direct reference to the geography and sociology His audience would immediately recognize:

“You are the salt of the earth” - Preservative and flavor, essential for life

“You are the light of the world” - Illumination for those in darkness

“A city on a hill cannot be hidden” - Every tel was a literal city on a hill, visible from miles around

The Meaning for the Poor: For those living outside the walls or at the trash dump, the city on the hill represented:

Hope (the gates were where provision was distributed)
Wealth (those inside had more than enough)
Mixed emotions (envy, aspiration, but also hope for help)

Jesus’s Message: When He tells His followers “you are the light of the world, a city on a hill,” He’s saying they are to be the hope of the earth. Just as the poor looked to the wealthy city for provision and help, the world should look to God’s people for shalom, provision, and hope.

The Mission Restated: This teaching recapitulates God’s original design - His people positioned strategically to be accessible, visible, and generous distributors of His blessing to all who are in need.

10. Tribal Allotment: Geography as Mission Assignment

The division of the Promised Land among the twelve tribes wasn’t arbitrary - each tribe received both:

A chunk of real estate
A specific mission related to that location

The Twelve Tribes: Originally Jacob’s twelve sons, but modified because:

Levi received no land inheritance (God was their inheritance; they served as priests)
Joseph’s two sons (Manasseh and Ephraim) were adopted by Jacob, replacing Joseph
This maintained the number twelve

Example: The Tribe of Dan

Dan’s original allotment was a small L-shaped territory northwest of Judah, directly bordering the Philistines. This geographical placement was also a missional assignment:

The Land: Small but strategically located
The Mission: Impact the Philistines, bring shalom to that chaotic pagan culture
The Support: Dan was positioned right next to Judah, the largest and most powerful tribe
The Story: The account of Samson (from Dan) shows Judah immediately coming to help when Dan had trouble with the Philistines

11. Dan’s Abandonment: A Cautionary Tale

The final maps in the presentation reveal a stark contrast:

What Should Have Been: Dan in their assigned territory, surrounded by brother tribes, with powerful Judah as their immediate ally.

What Actually Happened: Dan abandoned their mission, declaring the Philistine situation too difficult. They migrated all the way to the northern tip of Israel (the origin of the phrase “from Dan to Beersheba” marking Israel’s northern and southern boundaries).

The Consequences:

Loss of Protection: In the north, Dan was exposed and isolated. When invading armies came from the north (Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece), Dan would be hit first and hardest every time.

Loss of Community: Instead of being surrounded by supporting tribes, Dan was on the frontier with only smaller tribes nearby.

Loss of Identity: Dan was eventually pummeled out of existence. The tribe suffered so many devastating attacks that it ceased to exist as a distinct entity.

Exclusion from the Future: In the book of Revelation’s list of the tribes (Revelation 7), Dan is notably absent - replaced by another tribe. The implication is sobering: abandoning God’s mission can result in losing your part in the story altogether.

The Lesson: When God gives a mission, it comes with provision and positioning. Forsaking that mission for the sake of comfort or avoiding difficulty leads to vulnerability and ultimately destruction. The mission wasn’t given to make Dan’s life hard - it was their purpose and calling, and abandoning it proved far more dangerous than fulfilling it would have been.

Examples & Applications

Historical Example: The Via Maris in Practice

Throughout history, every major empire that wanted to control trade or wage campaigns in the region had to control Israel:

Egyptian armies marched north through Israel to fight Mesopotamian powers
Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian armies marched south through Israel to reach Egypt
Greek and Roman forces used these same routes
The Crusades fought over this territory
Modern geopolitics still revolve around this strategic location

The land’s position made isolation impossible - engagement with international forces was inevitable and constant.

Biblical Example: Rahab’s House

The story of Rahab the prostitute (Joshua 2) illustrates casemate housing. She lived in an apartment built into Jericho’s wall, which is why she could let the Israelite spies down through her window on the outside of the city. This wasn’t a first-floor window - it was a window in the city wall itself, demonstrating how middle-class housing was integrated into defensive structures.

Biblical Example: Samson and the Philistines

The story of Samson (Judges 13-16) is the story of Dan’s struggle with the Philistines:

Samson was from the tribe of Dan
His conflicts with the Philistines represent Dan’s mission to engage that culture
When Philistines came after Samson, Judah immediately appears in the narrative to help
This shows how Dan’s positioning next to Judah provided strategic support
Dan’s eventual abandonment of this territory was an abandonment of this mission

Modern Application: Christian Subculture Isolation

The shephelah metaphor challenges contemporary Christian tendencies toward cultural isolation:

The Temptation: Create separate Christian versions of everything (music, schools, entertainment, language, social networks) to avoid the difficulties and compromises of cultural engagement.

The Danger: While these things aren’t inherently wrong, they can lead to disengagement from the mission. God didn’t call His people to live isolated in the Judah Mountains - He called them to the shephelah, the place of cultural collision and engagement.

The Balance: Christians must navigate living distinctively while remaining engaged - being “in the world but not of the world,” bringing shalom to chaos rather than simply avoiding chaos.

Modern Application: The Church as City on a Hill

Jesus’s teaching about being a “city on a hill” applies directly to contemporary church practice:

Visibility: The church shouldn’t be hidden or isolated but visible and accessible to the community.

Provision: Just as ancient city gates distributed aid to the poor, churches should be distribution centers of hope, provision, and practical help.

Hope: The watching world (those “outside the walls”) should see the church as a source of hope, generosity, and shalom rather than judgment or irrelevance.

Mission: Individual Christians and faith communities have specific callings (like tribal allotments) - abandoning these for comfort leads to vulnerability and loss of purpose.

Modern Application: Discovering Your “Tribal Allotment”

Each person, family, and church community has a specific mission analogous to tribal allotments:

Geography Matters: Your physical location isn’t accidental - it represents opportunities for engagement and impact.

Support Structures: God positions people with supporting relationships (like Dan next to Judah), but we must recognize and utilize these connections.

Difficulty is Part of the Design: The challenging aspects of your calling (like Dan facing the Philistines) aren’t reasons to abandon mission but the very reason you’re positioned where you are.

Abandonment has Consequences: Like Dan fleeing north, abandoning your calling for easier circumstances often leads to greater vulnerability and loss of purpose.

Potential Areas for Further Exploration

1. Comparative Ancient Near Eastern Welfare Systems

Research question: How did pagan nations’ welfare systems compare to Israel’s? What was unique about biblical commands regarding the poor versus cultural norms of the day?

Study resources:

Old Testament laws regarding gleaning, sabbath years, and jubilee
Ancient Mesopotamian law codes (Hammurabi, etc.)
Egyptian and Assyrian social structures
The prophets’ critiques of Israel’s failure to care for the poor

2. The Theology of Place and Location

Exploration areas:

Why does God care about geography at all?
The significance of “promised land” vs. “exile” throughout Scripture
Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of “place” (John 1:14 - “dwelt/tabernacled among us”)
The New Jerusalem as final restoration of place
Implications for understanding “sacred space” in Christian theology

3. Deep Dive into Tel Archaeology

Areas of study:

Specific archaeological sites (Tel Megiddo, Tel Dan, Tel Gezer, etc.)
How archaeological findings confirm or complicate biblical narratives
The evolution of city planning and defensive architecture
What everyday objects found in tels reveal about ancient Israelite life
The relationship between biblical chronology and archaeological dating

4. The Shephelah Principle in Mission Theology

Questions to explore:

What does healthy cultural engagement look like practically?
How do we distinguish between faithful contextualization and syncretism?
Historical examples of missionaries/churches living “in the shephelah”
The balance between maintaining distinct identity and meaningful engagement
How the early church navigated this in Greco-Roman culture

5. The Tribe of Dan Throughout Scripture

Comprehensive study:

Dan’s blessing from Jacob (Genesis 49:16-18)
Dan’s role in the wilderness wanderings
The conquest of Laish and renaming it Dan (Judges 18)
Dan as the location of Jeroboam’s golden calf (1 Kings 12)
Prophetic references to Dan
Dan’s absence in Revelation 7 and theories about replacement
Rabbinic commentary on Dan’s fate

6. City Gates in Biblical Narrative

Study the role of gates in specific biblical stories:

Lot in Sodom’s gate (Genesis 19)
Boaz and the transaction at Bethlehem’s gate (Ruth 4)
Absalom’s manipulation at Jerusalem’s gate (2 Samuel 15)
Eli at Shiloh’s gate (1 Samuel 4)
Mordecai at the king’s gate (Esther)
Jesus’s teaching about the “narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13-14)

7. Water Systems and Ancient City Survival

Technical study:

How ancient cities secured water during sieges
The Hezekiah tunnel and Jerusalem’s water system
Cisterns, wells, and springs in biblical cities
The strategic importance of water control in warfare
Symbolic uses of water in Scripture informed by this geography

8. The Sermon on the Mount in Its Full Context

Deeper analysis:

Every metaphor Jesus uses informed by local geography and culture
The political implications of His teaching under Roman occupation
How His Jewish audience would have heard these familiar images
The radical nature of His ethical teachings in that context
Connections to Torah and prophetic literature

9. Modern Israel and Geopolitics

Contemporary connections:

How the ancient geographic realities still impact modern conflicts
The ongoing strategic importance of this land bridge
Religious claims to the land from multiple perspectives
Christian theology of Israel and the land
Biblical prophecy interpretations related to modern Israel

10. The Judgment Imagery of Gehenna

Biblical theology study:

The Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) and its historical significance
How trash dump imagery shaped Jewish and Christian hell concepts
Jesus’s use of this imagery in teaching about judgment
The relationship between temporal and eternal consequences
Varying Christian interpretations of hell informed by this background

Comprehension Questions

Question 1: Strategic Positioning

Why did God specifically choose the land of Canaan/Israel for His people rather than a more remote or peaceful location? How does this choice relate to God’s stated mission to Abraham to “bless all nations”?

Answer Guide: God chose this land because it was the “crossroads of the earth” - the central location through which all ancient trade, travel, and international interaction had to pass (via the Via Maris highway system). If God’s people were to be a “kingdom of priests” and bless all nations, they needed maximum accessibility and exposure to all peoples. Isolating them in a remote location would have defeated the purpose of making them a light to the nations. The geography directly serves the mission - just as the tabernacle sat in the center of Israel’s camp where all tribes could access it, Israel as a nation sat in the center of the civilized world where all nations could access them.

Question 2: The Shephelah Metaphor

Explain the geographical concept of the shephelah and its metaphorical significance for understanding cultural engagement. What dangers exist on either extreme (living only in the “Judah Mountains” or only on the “Coastal Plain”)?

Answer Guide: The shephelah is the hill country between the Judah Mountains (where God’s people wanted to settle comfortably) and the Coastal Plain (where pagan peoples lived). It represents the intersection point where two cultures collide - where the mountains “bow down” to meet the plains. Metaphorically, it represents missional engagement with culture rather than isolation from it. Living only in the Judah Mountains represents the danger of holy huddle isolation - creating Christian subculture that disengages from the mission. Living only on the Coastal Plain would represent total assimilation and loss of distinct identity. The shephelah is the challenging middle space where God’s people bring shalom to chaos while maintaining their identity as His representatives.

Question 3: City Gates Function

Describe the multiple functions of city gates in ancient Israel. How does Jesus’s teaching about being “a city on a hill” connect to the social and economic realities of the city gate system?

Answer Guide: City gates served three primary functions: (1) Defense - sophisticated chambers and multi-level designs made them nearly impenetrable fortresses; (2) Civic business - they housed political leadership, judicial proceedings, and commercial activity; (3) Welfare distribution - the wealthy from inside the city brought their abundance to the gates where it was distributed to the poor from outside the walls. When Jesus says “you are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden,” He’s invoking this entire system. For the poor looking up at the city on the hill, it represented hope - the place where provision came from. Jesus is saying His followers are to be the hope of the world, visible and accessible distributors of blessing, provision, and shalom to those in need.

Question 4: Dan’s Tribal Allotment

What was the tribe of Dan’s original territorial assignment, and what mission did it represent? What were the consequences of Dan abandoning this assignment, and what spiritual principle does this illustrate?

Answer Guide: Dan was originally given a small territory northwest of Judah, directly bordering the Philistines. This geographical placement was also a missional assignment to engage and impact the Philistine culture with God’s shalom. Dan was strategically positioned next to Judah, the largest and most powerful tribe, for support. However, Dan found the assignment too difficult and migrated to the far north of Israel. The consequences were severe: (1) They lost the protection of being surrounded by brother tribes; (2) They became exposed to invasions from the north and were repeatedly devastated; (3) They were eventually destroyed as a tribe; (4) They are excluded from the tribal list in Revelation 7. The spiritual principle: Abandoning God’s mission for the sake of comfort or avoiding difficulty leads to greater vulnerability and can result in losing your part in the story altogether. The mission comes with strategic positioning and provision - forsaking it is more dangerous than fulfilling it.

Describe the economic hierarchy reflected in the physical layout of ancient cities, from the innermost center to the trash dump. How does understanding this geography illuminate Jesus’s references to “weeping and gnashing of teeth”?

Answer Guide: Ancient cities reflected economic stratification geographically: (1) The center housed the upper class, royalty, and wealthy with maximum protection; (2) The city walls contained casemate housing where the middle class lived; (3) Outside the walls, the poor lived in unprotected villages called “daughters” of the main city; (4) The most destitute were driven to the trash dump where sewage and refuse were burned continuously in smoldering fires. This trash dump area was characterized by the sounds of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” - the cries of the desperately poor. When Jesus uses this phrase to describe judgment/gehenna, His audience would have immediately understood the imagery: a place of misery, waste, and suffering outside the city. This also helps us understand why His teaching about the city on a hill was so powerful - for those at the trash dump, the city represented their only hope for provision and survival.

Personalized Summary

This episode fundamentally reframes how we understand the conquest narrative in Joshua and God’s purposes for His people throughout Scripture. Rather than getting lost in the difficult ethical questions about violence (addressed in the previous episode), this session reveals the strategic genius behind God’s choice of real estate.

The land of Canaan wasn’t valuable because of its resources or beauty - it was largely desert and rocks. Its value lay entirely in its position: the crossroads of the earth, the turnstile of the ancient world. Every trade route, diplomatic mission, military campaign, and cultural exchange had to pass through this narrow strip of land between the Mediterranean and the Arabian Desert. The Via Maris highway made it impossible for Israel to be isolated even if they wanted to be.

This geographical reality served God’s clearly stated mission from Genesis 12: through Abraham’s descendants, all nations would be blessed. A kingdom of priests needs to be accessible to everyone who needs a priest. A light to the nations needs to be visible from everywhere. Just as the tabernacle sat in the center of Israel’s camp, Israel sat in the center of the civilized world.

The internal geography of the land reinforces this mission through powerful metaphors. The shephelah - the hill country where mountains bow down to meet the coastal plains - represents the challenging space of cultural engagement. God didn’t want His people isolated in the comfortable Judah Mountains, nor did He want them assimilated into the pagan Coastal Plain. He wanted them in the shephelah, the intersection point, bringing shalom to chaos while maintaining their identity.

The structure of ancient cities provides another layer of meaning. Built on tels (mounds of previous civilizations), each city sat on a hill with walls for protection. Inside lived the wealthy; in the walls lived the middle class; outside lived the poor. The city gates served as the distribution center where abundance from inside met need from outside. For those living in poverty or at the trash dump, the city on the hill represented hope - the place provision came from.

When Jesus teaches “you are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden,” He’s invoking all of this. His listeners immediately understood: they were to be the hope of the earth, visible distributors of blessing and provision to a world in need. The mission hasn’t changed from Abraham to Jesus to today.

The cautionary tale of Dan drives home the stakes. Given a small territory with a difficult mission (engaging the Philistines), Dan also received strategic support (positioned next to powerful Judah). But they found it too hard and fled north. The result: exposure, repeated devastation, eventual extinction, and exclusion from the future. The mission wasn’t given to make life difficult - it was their purpose. Abandoning it proved far more dangerous than fulfilling it would have been.

For contemporary application, this episode challenges Christian subculture tendencies toward isolation. Creating separate Christian versions of everything isn’t inherently wrong, but it becomes problematic when it leads to disengagement from the mission. We’re called to the shephelah, not the mountains. We’re positioned as cities on hills, not hidden away. We have specific “tribal allotments” - callings that come with both difficulty and strategic support. The question is whether we’ll seize our mission or flee from it like Dan.

The geography of the Promised Land teaches us that God’s mission has always been outward-focused, engagement-oriented, and strategically positioned for maximum impact. From the crossroads of the ancient world to the cities on hills to the gates distributing hope - every element points to a God who places His people in the middle of the action, equips them for engagement, and calls them to be His representatives to a watching world. The land itself becomes a teacher, and its lessons remain profoundly relevant for those seeking to live faithfully on mission today.

These study notes were prepared from the transcript of BEMA Episode 35: Crossroads of the Earth, hosted by Marty Solomon and Brent Billings. For discussion guides and additional resources, visit bemadiscipleship.com.

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