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Joshua 18

KJV · Chapter 18/24

1And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.

2And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.

3And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?

4Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again to me.

5And they shall divide it into seven parts: Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north.

6Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God.

7But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.

8And the men arose, and went away: 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, that I may here cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh.

9And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to the host at Shiloh.

10And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.

11And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.

12And their border on the north side was from Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north side, and went up through the mountains westward; and the goings out thereof were at the wilderness of Beth–aven.

13And the border went over from thence toward Luz, to the side of Luz, which is Beth–el, southward; and the border descended to Ataroth–adar, near the hill that lieth on the south side of the nether Beth–horon.

14And the border was drawn thence, and compassed the corner of the sea southward, from the hill that lieth before Beth–horon southward; and the goings out thereof were at Kirjath–baal, which is Kirjath–jearim, a city of the children of Judah: this was the west quarter.

15And the south quarter was from the end of Kirjath–jearim, and the border went out on the west, and went out to the well of waters of Nephtoah:

16And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to En–rogel,

17And was drawn from the north, and went forth to En–shemesh, and went forth toward Geliloth, which is over against the going up of Adummim, and descended to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben,

18And passed along toward the side over against Arabah northward, and went down unto Arabah:

19And the border passed along to the side of Beth–hoglah northward: and the outgoings of the border were at the north bay of the salt sea at the south end of Jordan: this was the south coast.

20And Jordan was the border of it on the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the coasts thereof round about, according to their families.

21Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Beth–hoglah, and the valley of Keziz,

22And Beth–arabah, and Zemaraim, and Beth–el,

23And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,

24And Chephar–haammonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities with their villages:

25Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth,

26And Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah,

27And Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah,

28And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kirjath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Joshua rebukes the seven remaining tribes for not taking possession of their inheritance. He organizes the surveying of the land and distributes it by lot, beginning with Benjamin.

Explanation

After years of conquest, seven tribes had still not formally occupied the land allotted to them - a sign of complacency or hesitation that Joshua confronts directly with the question, 'How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land?' The process of mapping the land into seven written portions before casting lots combined careful human planning with trust in God's direction through sacred lot-casting, a common practice for major decisions in the Old Testament. The delay of these tribes is a realistic picture of how, even after receiving a promise from God, actually taking possession of it requires initiative and willingness to act.

Fun facts

  • Sacred lot-casting was used in the Old Testament as a recognized way of seeking God's decision on important matters, including later the choosing of Matthias as an apostle in Acts 1:26.
  • Shiloh, where the tent of meeting was set up in this chapter, would remain Israel's religious center for generations, up to the time of Eli and the young Samuel.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Joshua 18:1The tent of meeting, the portable sanctuary used since the wilderness, is set up at Shiloh, which becomes Israel's religious center for generations, before Jerusalem takes on that role much later, in the days of David.
  2. Joshua 18:2At this point, seven of the twelve tribes still had not received their share of the land.
  3. Joshua 18:3Joshua confronts the people about this delay, asking how long they will put off taking possession of the land God has already given them.
  4. Joshua 18:4Joshua organizes a survey: three men from each tribe will go across the land and map out what still needs to be divided.
  5. Joshua 18:5The land will be divided into seven parts, since Judah and the tribe of Joseph already keep the territories they received to the south and north.
  6. Joshua 18:6After the mapping, the results are to be brought back to Joshua so the division can be decided by lot before God.
  7. Joshua 18:7The Levites are left out of this division, since their role is the priesthood; Gad, Reuben, and half of Manasseh had already received land on the other side of the Jordan.
  8. Joshua 18:8The chosen men set out to map the land, following Joshua's instruction to describe it and then return for the casting of lots at Shiloh.
  9. Joshua 18:9They cross the land, record everything in a book divided into seven parts by city, and return to camp at Shiloh.
  10. Joshua 18:10Joshua casts lots before the LORD to divide the land among the seven tribes that still had not received their share. Casting lots was seen as a way to leave the decision in God's hands, avoiding disputes among the tribes over which piece of land each one deserved.
  11. Joshua 18:11The lot falls to the tribe of Benjamin, whose territory ends up wedged between Judah and the tribe of Joseph.
  12. Joshua 18:12Benjamin's northern border begins at the Jordan, climbs along the side of Jericho, and continues through the hill country to the wilderness of Beth-aven.
  13. Joshua 18:13From there the line passes by Luz, also called Bethel, and goes down to Ataroth-adar, near Lower Beth-horon.
  14. Joshua 18:14The border curves south and ends at Kirjath-jearim, a city belonging to Judah — this is the western extent of the territory.
  15. Joshua 18:15To the south, the border starts at the edge of Kirjath-jearim and goes to the spring of Nephtoah.
  16. Joshua 18:16The line goes down to the hill near the Valley of Hinnom, passing by the side of the Jebusites, and reaches En-rogel.
  17. Joshua 18:17It continues to En-shemesh, then Geliloth, near the ascent of Adummim, and down to the stone of Bohan, son of Reuben.
  18. Joshua 18:18The border passes by the side of Arabah, toward the north, and goes down into that region.
  19. Joshua 18:19It ends at the north bay of the Salt Sea, where the Jordan flows in — this is the full southern border of Benjamin.
  20. Joshua 18:20The Jordan marks the eastern limit, closing the whole outline of Benjamin's territory on every side.
  21. Joshua 18:21The list of Benjamin's cities begins, including Jericho, already well known from earlier in the book.
  22. Joshua 18:22Bethel is the most famous of these twelve cities of Benjamin — it was there that Jacob dreamed of the ladder reaching to heaven, and it later became one of Israel's great centers of worship.
  23. Joshua 18:23Benjamin's list continues with three more towns; Ophrah reappears much later, when the Philistines send raiding parties there in the days of Saul.
  24. Joshua 18:24This first group of Benjamin's cities closes with twelve cities and their villages.
  25. Joshua 18:25A second group of cities begins, including Gibeon, the city of the Gibeonites and their deceptive treaty.
  26. Joshua 18:26Three more cities join this second group of Benjamin's territory, including Mizpah.
  27. Joshua 18:27Three more small towns in Benjamin's territory — the smallest of the tribes, but wedged into a strategic strip between Judah to the south and Ephraim to the north.
  28. Joshua 18:28The second group closes with Jebus, which is Jerusalem, among the final fourteen cities of Benjamin's inheritance.

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