(The previous chapter began covering the distribution of the land to the Israelites.)
Joshua 16
(The distribution of the land continued.)
(Verses 1-4: the general borders for both sons of Joseph, the half-tribe of Manasseh and Ephraim, were established.)
1 And the lot came out for the children of Joseph from the Jordan at Jericho, at the waters of Jericho on the east, even the wilderness, going up from Jericho through the hill-country to Beth-el;
2 and it went out from Beth-el to Luz, and passed along unto the border of the Archites to Ataroth;
3 and it went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, unto the border of Beth-horon the nether, even unto Gezer; and the goings out thereof were at the sea.
4 And the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
(Verses 5-10: the borders specific to Ephraim were established.)
5 And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: the border of their inheritance eastward was Ataroth-addar, unto Beth-horon the upper;
6 and the border went out westward at Michmethath on the north; and the border turned about eastward unto Taanath-shiloh, and passed along it on the east of Janoah;
7 and it went down from Janoah to Ataroth, and to Naarah, and reached unto Jericho, and went out at the Jordan.
8 From Tappuah the border went along westward to the brook of Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families;
9 together with the cities which were set apart for the children of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.
10 And they drove not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim unto this day, and are become servants to do taskwork.
(Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites, who became servants also called "tributaries.")
Joshua 17
(The land of the half-tribe of Manasseh on the western side of the Jordan River continued to be distributed.)
1 And this was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh; for he was the first-born of Joseph. As for Machir the first-born of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan.
(Again, Bashan was mentioned, this time in connection with "a man of war.")
2 So the lot was for the rest of the children of Manasseh according to their families: for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families.
(Verses 3-6: the inheritance of Zelophehad's daughters.)
3 But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters: and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
(A daughter was named "Noah.")
4 And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, Jehovah commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren: therefore according to the commandment of Jehovah he gave them an inheritance among the brethren of their father.
5 And there fell ten parts to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan;
6 because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons. And the land of Gilead belonged unto the rest of the sons of Manasseh.
(This inheritance for the daughters of Zelophehad was the implemented here from the decision made by Moses in Numbers 27:1-11.)
(Verses 7-13: the borders of the western half-tribe of Manasseh were established.)
7 And the border of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethath, which is before Shechem; and the border went along to the right hand, unto the inhabitants of En-tappuah.
8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh; but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim.
9 And the border went down unto the brook of Kanah, southward of the brook: these cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh: and the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook, and the goings out thereof were at the sea:
10 southward it was Ephraim's, and northward it was Manasseh's, and the sea was his border; and they reached to Asher on the north, and to Issachar on the east.
11 And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Beth-shean and its towns, and Ibleam and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, even the three heights.
(Megiddo was where the battle of Armageddon will occur, the site of the last and greatest war involving humans.)
12 Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
(The Canaanites were still in the land.)
13 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxed strong, that they put the Canaanites to taskwork, and did not utterly drive them out.
(The same thing as in Ephraim: the Canaanites became servants.)
14 And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one part for an inheritance, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as hitherto Jehovah hath blessed me?
15 And Joshua said unto them, If thou be a great people, get thee up to the forest, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim; since the hill-country of Ephraim is too narrow for thee.
(The children of Joseph asked for more land because they were a great people. Joshua told them to go up to the woods themselves if they wanted more land.)
16 And the children of Joseph said, The hill-country is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are in Beth-shean and its towns, and they who are in the valley of Jezreel.
(The children of Joseph did not want the woods because it still was not enough and the Canaanites lived there. This would not have been a problem if the Israelites would have driven out the Canaanites as God commanded in Deuteronomy 20:16-17.)
17 And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power; thou shalt not have one lot only:
18 but the hill-country shall be thine; for though it is a forest, thou shalt cut it down, and the goings out thereof shall be thine; for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.
(Joshua told them that this mountain that was wooded was theirs and they had to drive out the Canaanites.)
Joshua 18
(The division of the land continued.)
1 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there: and the land was subdued before them.
(The tent of meeting was set up in Shiloh. Shiloh meant "place of rest." It was a city in Ephraim.)
2 And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet divided their inheritance.
(Seven tribes had not received their inheritance.)
3 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go in to possess the land, which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, hath given you?
4 Appoint for you three men of each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall arise, and walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance; and they shall come unto me.
(Joshua sent out three men from each tribe to check out the land.)
5 And they shall divide it into seven portions: Judah shall abide in his border on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their border on the north.
6 And ye shall describe the land into seven portions, and bring the description hither to me; and I will cast lots for you here before Jehovah our God.
(The men sent to check out the land also had to survey the land and divide it into seven parts.)
7 For the Levites have no portion among you; for the priesthood of Jehovah is their inheritance: and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave them.
8 And the men arose, and went: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me; and I will cast lots for you here before Jehovah in Shiloh.
9 And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven portions in a book; and they came to Joshua unto the camp at Shiloh.
10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Jehovah: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.
(Joshua cast lots before God to determine what tribes would get each section. God was consulted.)
(Verses 11-28: the borders and cities for Benjamin.)
11 And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the border of their lot went out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.
12 And their border on the north quarter was from the Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the hill-country westward; and the goings out thereof were at the wilderness of Beth-aven.
13 And the border passed along from thence to Luz, to the side of Luz (the same is Beth-el), southward; and the border went down to Ataroth-addar, by the mountain that lieth on the south of Beth-horon the nether.
(Luz was the early name of Beth-el.)
14 And the border extended thence, and turned about on the west quarter southward, from the mountain that lieth before Beth-horon southward; and the goings out thereof were at Kiriath-baal (the same is Kiriath-jearim), a city of the children of Judah: this was the west quarter.
(This was the western portion. Next was the southern portion.)
15 And the south quarter was from the uttermost part of Kiriath-jearim; and the border went out westward, and went out to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah;
16 and the border went down to the uttermost part of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in the vale of Rephaim northward; and it went down to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite southward, and went down to En-rogel;
17 and it extended northward, and went out at En-shemesh, and went out to Geliloth, which is over against the ascent of Adummim; and it went down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben;
18 and it passed along to the side over against the Arabah northward, and went down unto the Arabah;
19 and the border passed along to the side of Beth-hoglah northward; and the goings out of the border were at the north bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan: this was the south border.
(Next, the eastern border, was the Jordan River.)
20 And the Jordan was the border of it on the east quarter. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the borders thereof round about, according to their families.
(The borders of the tribe of Benjamin were established. The rest of this chapter covered the cities within the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin.)
21 Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and Emek-keziz,
22 and Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Beth-el,
(The city of Beth-el was in the tribe of Benjamin. This was a city that Jacob named (Genesis 35:15) after God spoke to him there.)
23 and Avvim, and Parah, and Ophrah,
(Ophrah was the native city of Gideon (Judges 6).)
24 and Chephar-ammoni, and Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities with their villages:
25 Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth,
26 and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah,
27 and Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah,
28 and Zelah, Eleph, and the Jebusite (the same is Jerusalem), Gibeath, and Kiriath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.
(Jerusalem was named as located in the tribe of Benjamin's inheritance as well as Judah's. Jerusalem was situated on the border of both of those tribes.)
(This post continued covering Israel's land distribution.)
Day 68
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