(Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.) Then the land had rest from war. – Joshua 14:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 10, 2019): Joshua 14

George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush were not the first father-son Presidents of the United States. That honor actually goes to the second President of the United States, John Adams, and the sixth President, John Quincy Adams. And, yes, it is interesting that just like the father and son George’s who served in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the first father-son Presidents also shared a name – in this case, John. (Maybe this is the real reason Jeb Bush couldn’t win the Republican nomination in 2106; his name was not George.)

History will reveal which Bush might have been the better President. Or maybe not. After all, the discussion still rages almost two centuries after the father and son John’s served as Presidents. And part of the problem is that it is hard to judge the reigns of any two presidents. Each president has different problems that they have to deal with during their presidency. In the case of the two John Adams’s, the first was a capable and honest man who served in the infancy of the nation. John Quincy, on the other hand, served in a time when the question of slavery was starting to rage in the nation, and some have questioned whether his opposition to slavery was ill-advised, simply because it tainted his presidency at a time when the United States was not yet willing to consider the abolition of slavery

As far as the two George’s were concerned, the signature problem of the first George, George 41, was the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the reunification of Germany. The second George, George 43, was defined by the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Both Bush’s had to deal with significant historical moments for the nation. But they didn’t have to deal with the same or even similar historical moments.  

What all his has to with Arba and the Anakites is this; actually, while Arba may have been famous during the time of Joshua, to say that he was the most famous of the Anakites is a little misleading. Arba was not really and Anakite. Arba was the father of Anak, and the Anakites are named after the son and not the father. We know very little about either of these men from our point in history, but we are told that both were very important men during Joshua’s day. Anak, the son, had a people named after him; incidentally, they were a family of giants. But while Anak was apparently an instrumental leader of the people named after him, his father, Arba, was also a very important leader. And Arba had a city named after him.

And that city was now under the control of Caleb and Israel. Caleb drives the descendant’s of Arba and Anak out of the territory that was granted to him, as the fighting of Israel in Canaan ends and Israel gains its rest.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 15