11 And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families. And the territory of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.
At that time Jehovah said unto me, Hew for thyself two tables of stone like the first, and come up unto me into the mountain, and make thee an ark of wood; and I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou didst break, and thou shalt lay them in the ark. And I made an ark of acacia-wood, and hewed two tables of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tables in my hand. And he wrote on the tables, as the first writing, the ten words which Jehovah spoke unto you on the mountain, from the midst of the fire, on the day of the assembly, and Jehovah gave them unto me. And I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; -- and they are there, as Jehovah commanded me. (And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth-Bene-Jaakan to Moserah: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son exercised the priesthood in his stead. From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of water-brooks.) At that time Jehovah separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, to stand before Jehovah to do service unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day. Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; Jehovah is his inheritance, according as Jehovah thy God told him. But I stood upon the mountain according to the former days, forty days and forty nights; and Jehovah listened unto me also at that time: Jehovah would not destroy thee. And Jehovah said unto me, Rise up, take thy journey before the people, that they may enter in and possess the land, which I swore unto their fathers to give unto them. And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command thee this day, for thy good? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to Jehovah thy God; the earth and all that is therein. Only, Jehovah took pleasure in thy fathers, to love them, and he chose their seed after them, [even] you, out of all the peoples, as it is this day. Circumcise then the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more. For Jehovah your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, the great ùGod, the mighty and the terrible, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward; who executeth the judgment of the fatherless and the widow, and loveth the stranger, to give him food and clothing. And ye shall love the stranger; for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God; him thou shalt serve, and unto him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, who hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. With seventy souls thy fathers went down into Egypt; and now Jehovah thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.
And the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families was: to the border of Edom, the wilderness of Zin, southward, in the extreme south. And their southern border was from the end of the salt sea, from the tongue that turns southward; and it went out south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and passed on to Zin, and went up on the south of Kadesh-barnea, and passed to Hezron, and went up toward Addar, and turned toward Karkaah, and passed on to Azmon, and went out by the torrent of Egypt; and the border ended at the sea. That shall be your border southward. -- And the eastern border was the salt sea as far as the end of the Jordan. -- And the border on the north side was from the tongue of the salt sea, at the end of the Jordan; and the border went up toward Beth-hoglah, and passed north of Beth-Arabah; and the border went up to the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben; and the border went up toward Debir from the valley of Achor, and turned northward to Gilgal, which is opposite to the ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the torrent; and the border passed to the waters of En-shemesh, and ended at En-rogel; and the border went up to the valley of the son of Hinnom, toward the south side of the Jebusite, that is, Jerusalem; and the border went up to the top of the mountain that is before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of Rephaim northward;
And the lot came forth for the children of Joseph from the Jordan of Jericho as far as the waters of Jericho eastwards, to the wilderness which goes up from Jericho to the hill-country of Bethel. And [the border] went from Bethel to Luz, and passed to the border of the Archites to Ataroth, and went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, as far as the border of the lower Beth-horon, and to Gezer; and ended at the sea. And the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance. And the border of the children of Ephraim was according to their families; the border of their inheritance eastwards was Ataroth-Addar as far as the upper Beth-horon; and the border went forth westwards to Micmethath on the north; and the border turned eastwards to Taanath-Shiloh, and passed by it eastwards to Janohah, and went down from Janohah to Ataroth and Naarath, and touched upon Jericho, and went out to the Jordan. From Tappuah the border went westwards to the torrent Kanah, and ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families, with the cities that were set apart for the children of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities and their hamlets. But they did not dispossess the Canaanites that dwelt at Gezer; and the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and serve under tribute.
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Commentary on Joshua 18 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 18
Jos 18:1. The Tabernacle Set Up at Shiloh.
1. the whole congregation … assembled together at Shiloh—The main body of the Israelites had been diminished by the separation of the three tribes, Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh into their respective allotments; and the country having been in a great measure subdued, the camp was removed to Shiloh (now Seilun). It was twenty or twenty-five miles north of Jerusalem, twelve north of Beth-el, and ten south of Shechem, and embosomed in a rugged and romantic glen. This sequestered spot in the heart of the country might have been recommended by the dictates of convenience. There the allotment of the territory could be most conveniently made, north, south, east, and west, to the different tribes. But "the tabernacle of the congregation was also set up there," and its removal therefore must have been made or sanctioned by divine intimation (De 12:11). It remained in Shiloh for more than three hundred years (1Sa 4:1-11).
Jos 18:2-9. The Remainder of the Land Described.
2. there remained … seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance—The selection of Shiloh for the seat of worship, together with the consequent removal of the camp thither, had necessarily interrupted the casting of lots, which was commenced by fixing localities for the tribes of Judah and Joseph. Various causes led to a long delay in resuming it. The satisfaction of the people with their change to so pleasant and fertile a district, their preference of a nomad life, a love of ease, and reluctance to renew the war, seem to have made them indifferent to the possession of a settled inheritance. But Joshua was too much alive to the duty laid on him by the Lord to let matters continue in that state; and accordingly, since a general conquest of the land had been made, he resolved to proceed immediately with the lot, believing that when each tribe should receive its inheritance, a new motive would arise to lead them to exert themselves in securing the full possession.
3. How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you—This reproof conveys an impression that the seven tribes were dilatory to a criminal extent.
4-9. Give out from among you three men for each tribe—Though the lot determined the part of the country where each tribe was to be located, it could not determine the extent of territory which might be required; and the dissatisfaction of the children of Joseph with the alleged smallness of their possession gave reason to fear that complaints might arise from other quarters, unless precautions were taken to make a proper distribution of the land. For this purpose a commission was given to twenty-one persons—three chosen from each of the seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance, to make an accurate survey of the country.
9. The men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book—dividing the land according to its value, and the worth of the cities which it contained, into seven equal portions. This was no light task to undertake. It required learning and intelligence which they or their instructors had, in all probability, brought with them out of Egypt. Accordingly, Josephus says that the survey was performed by men expert in geometry. And, in fact, the circumstantial account which is given of the boundaries of each tribe and its situation, well proves it to have been the work of no mean or incompetent hands.
Jos 18:10. Divided by Lot.
10. Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord—before the tabernacle, where the divine presence was manifested, and which associated with the lot the idea of divine sanction.
11. the lot of … Benjamin came up—It has been supposed that there were two urns or vessels, from which the lots were drawn: one containing the names of the tribes, the other containing those of the seven portions; and that the two were drawn out simultaneously.
the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph—Thus the prophecy of Moses respecting the inheritance of Benjamin was remarkably accomplished. (See on De 33:12).