Jos 13 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Josh 13:8-21:45: 13:1–21:45 As he had promised, God brought Israel into the land. Joshua next turned his attention to the allotment of the land to Israel’s tribes. • The tribal allotments gave geographical reality to the Israelites’ covenant with God and expressed the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because God owned the land, the apportionment to the tribes was a gift. God gave them the land to dwell in and directed its distribution. • In these lists of tribal allotments, the author describes some borders in such detail that they can be plotted on a map while others were far less well defined. Summary for Josh 13:1-7: 13:1-7 Israel did not conquer the entire land of Canaan while Joshua was alive. The unconquered areas, lying mostly in the valleys and plains, were the most populous regions. Several generations passed before Israel became strong enough to absorb or subjugate these regions and their peoples.

Summary for Josh 13:8-21:45: 13:1–21:45 ^a As he had promised, God brought Israel into the land. Joshua next turned his attention to the allotment of the land to Israel’s tribes.

• The tribal allotments gave geographical reality to the Israelites’ covenant with God and expressed the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because God owned the land, the apportionment to the tribes was a gift. God gave them the land to dwell in and directed its distribution.

• In these lists of tribal allotments, the author describes some borders in such detail that they can be plotted on a map while others were far less well defined.
Summary for Josh 13:1-7: 13:1-7 ^b Israel did not conquer the entire land of Canaan while Joshua was alive. The unconquered areas, lying mostly in the valleys and plains, were the most populous regions. Several generations passed before Israel became strong enough to absorb or subjugate these regions and their peoples.
13:2 ^c The Philistines were one of several groups in the great migration of the Sea Peoples from the Aegean region within a few decades after Israel’s entry into Canaan. They settled along the southwestern Mediterranean coast, west and southwest of Judah. They came from Caphtor or Crete (Deut 2:23 ^d; Amos 9:7 ^e).

• These Geshurites were people from a southern territory, not the northern Geshurites (cp. Josh 12:5 ^f).
13:3 ^g The stream of Shihor probably marked the traditional boundary between Canaan and Egypt, bisecting the northern Sinai Peninsula.

• The Philistine territory included five main cities: Gaza, Ashdod, and Ashkelon were on the Mediterranean coast, and Gath and Ekron were a few miles inland.

• The Philistines displaced the Avvites (Deut 2:23 ^h).
Summary for Josh 13:4-6: 13:4-6a ⁱ The Sidonians (that is, Phoenicians; see Isa 23:11 ^j; Obad 1:20 ^k; Acts 11:19 ^l) lived in the north along the coast, from north of Mount Carmel to above Gebal (Byblos). They also apparently occupied the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges. Sidon was the dominant Phoenician city when Israel entered Canaan.
Summary for Josh 13:6-7: 13:6b-7 ^m The lands just listed had not yet been conquered, but God directed Joshua to show his faith by allotting them to the tribes against the future, when they would be taken.
Summary for Josh 13:8-14: 13:8-14 ⁿ Half the tribe of Manasseh and the tribes of Reuben and Gad had asked Moses for their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan in the land that had been the kingdoms of Sihon and Og (Num 21:21-35 ^o; 32:1-42 ^p). In return, they had helped the rest of Israel take possession of their inheritance west of the Jordan (Josh 1:12-18 ^q; 4:12-13 ^r). Here, the author confirmed their possession of these lands.
13:14 ^s The tribe of Levi inherited no tribal land of its own (see Deut 18:1-8 ^t). Levitical cities were located in the territories of the other tribes (Josh 21 ^u).
Summary for Josh 13:15-23: 13:15-23 ^v Because Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn son by Leah (Gen 29:32 ^w), forfeited his birthright by sleeping with his father’s concubine (Gen 35:22 ^x), the inheritance of his tribe was not of central importance. Although the tribe received a fertile portion of land, it was difficult to defend from neighboring nations. The tribe of Reuben eventually lost the southern portion to Moab.
13:21 ^y The leaders of Midian were apparently kings (Num 31:8 ^z) or sheiks of small city-states south of Sihon’s kingdom. The nomadic Midianites depended mostly on sheep and goats for their livelihood.
13:22 ^aa Balaam son of Beor had initiated a successful plan to seduce Israel into sexually expressed idolatry (Num 31:16 ^ab), even though God had forbidden Balaam to curse Israel (Num 22–25 ^ac).
Summary for Josh 13:24-28: 13:24-28 ^ad Gad was Jacob’s seventh son, born to Zilpah, Leah’s servant. Just as Gad’s position in his family was peripheral, the tribe of Gad was peripheral to Israel.
Summary for Josh 13:29-33: 13:29-33 ^ae Manasseh was Joseph’s elder son. Jacob gave Joseph’s sons each a full inheritance, thus giving Joseph a double portion of the birthright (see 14:4 ^af).
Summary for Josh 13:30-31: 13:30-31 ^ag Jair was a great-grandson of Manasseh (1 Chr 2:21-22 ^ah). Makir was one of Manasseh’s sons. It is unclear whether the land allotted to these tribes in north Gilead was distinguished from the land that the tribe of Gad received there.