4 Provide you three men for a tribe; that I may send them, and they shall rise and go through the land, and describe it according to the proportion of their inheritance, and they shall come to me.
And with you there shall be a man for every tribe, a man who is the head of his father's house.
Send thou men, that they may search out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel. Ye shall send a man of every tribe of his fathers, each a prince among them.
Take you twelve men out of the people, one man out of every tribe,
And Joshua said to the children of Israel, How long will ye shew yourselves slack to go to take possession of the land which Jehovah the God of your fathers hath given you?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Joshua 18
Commentary on Joshua 18 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 18
In this chapter we have,
Jos 18:1
In the midst of the story of the dividing of the land comes in this account of the setting up of the tabernacle, which had hitherto continued in its old place in the centre of their camp; but now that three of the four squadrons that used to surround it in the wilderness were broken and diminished, those of Judah, Ephraim, and Reuben, by the removal of those tribes to their respective possessions, and that of Dan only remained entire, it was time to think of removing the tabernacle itself into a city. Many a time the priests and Levites had taken it down, carried it, and set it up again in the wilderness, according to the directions given them (Num. 4:5, etc.); but now they must do it for good and all, not one of the stakes thereof must any more be removed, nor any of the cords thereof broken, Isa. 33:20. Observe,
Jos 18:2-10
Here,
Jos 18:11-28
We have here the lot of the tribe of Benjamin, which Providence cast next to Joseph on the one hand, because Benjamin was own and only brother to Joseph, and was little Benjamin (Ps. 68:27), that needed the protection of great Joseph, and yet had a better protector, for the Lord shall cover him all the day long, Deu. 33:12. And it was next to Judah on the other hand, that this tribe might hereafter unite with Judah in an adherence to the throne of David and the temple at Jerusalem. Here we have,