‏ Joshua 14

Summary for Josh 14:1-19:51: 14:1–19:51  ^a The allotment of land to the tribes on the west side of the Jordan describes what God intended for each tribe to possess.

• The narrator frames this section with the assignment of land to Caleb at the beginning (14:6-15  ^b) and to Joshua at the end (19:49-51  ^c). Only Caleb and Joshua had expressed faith in God that Israel could conquer the land (Num 13:30  ^d; 14:6-9  ^e). 14:1  ^f Eleazar ... Joshua ... and the tribal leaders supervised the distribution of the land to ensure that the process was honest and just.
14:2  ^g sacred lots: See study note on 7:16-18.
14:4  ^h Joseph, the elder son of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel, received a double portion of land through his sons Manasseh and Ephraim (see study note on Gen 48:5-7). Because the Levites did not receive a separate tribal territory (Josh 13:14  ⁱ), the total number of tribes with land remained at twelve.
14:6  ^j The Kenizzite people were not originally Israelites (Gen 15:19  ^k); how they became attached to Judah is unknown.

• about you and me: Only Caleb and Joshua were faithful to God at the first opportunity to enter the land, so God promised them that they would possess it (Num 14:24  ^l).
14:9  ^m Moses ... promised: See Num 14:24  ⁿ.
14:11  ^o Caleb judged himself to be as strong at eighty-five as he had been at forty. He still felt equipped to travel and fight—to continue both ordinary and extraordinary pursuits.
14:12  ^p Israel had stayed out of Canaan forty-five years earlier because they feared the descendants of Anak, a tall, strong people who lived in the hill country of Judah (Num 13:32-33  ^q).
14:15  ^r rest from war: See study note on 1:13.

‏ Joshua 15

Summary for Josh 15:1-63: 15:1-63  ^s Judah’s tribal allotment is described in greater detail than that of the other tribes. The failures of Judah’s elder brothers (Gen 34:25-31  ^t; 35:22  ^u) put him in line to receive the mantle of leadership. Thus, the tribe of Judah received a central geographical position among the tribes, guaranteeing its leadership in the nation (Gen 49:8-12  ^v; Deut 33:7  ^w).
Summary for Josh 15:2-4: 15:2-4  ^x Judah’s southern boundary extended well into the desert of the Negev, which had little if any settled population throughout the Old Testament period.
Summary for Josh 15:5-11: 15:5-11  ^y Although Judah’s northern boundary is described in great detail, some sections of this border cannot be determined with certainty.
15:7  ^z This Debir was not the same town as the Debir/Kiriath-sepher of 15:15  ^aa.

• This Gilgal was not the same Gilgal where the Israelites earlier established their camp (4:19  ^ab).
15:8  ^ac The valley of Ben-Hinnom marked Judah’s northern border. Jerusalem occupied a ridge rising northward from the lower end of this valley within the tribe of Benjamin’s territory. Neither tribe occupied Jerusalem, so when David captured it, it became the royal city of his dynasty rather than just another tribal city.
15:9  ^ad the spring at the waters of Nephtoah: It is possible that the place name is a reference to Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah (late 1200s BC); an Egyptian papyrus refers to the “wells of Merneptah” on the mountain ridges of Canaan.
15:12  ^ae These were the boundaries of Judah when the settlement process began. Later, the tribes of Simeon and Dan received their allotments from some of Judah’s southern and western territories, and within a few decades the Philistines came from the Greek islands, settling all the southern coastal plain allotted to Judah (see study note on 13:2).
15:16  ^af Cp. 1 Sam 17:25  ^ag; 18:27  ^ah.
15:17  ^ai Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, became Israel’s first judge (Judg 3:9-11  ^aj).
Summary for Josh 15:18-19: 15:18-19  ^ak What’s the matter? No water source existed for the town Othniel conquered. Negev means “dry land.”

• The upper and lower springs were close together but too far from Debir to belong to it naturally, so Acsah asked for the rights to the water.
Summary for Josh 15:20-63: 15:20-63  ^al Not all of these locations can be identified with certainty. Many are unknown except for their occurrence in this and other lists. Some receive passing reference in other texts.
15:21  ^am in the extreme south: Or in the Negev (see study note on 1:4). The Hebrew word negeb can refer either to the general direction (“south”) or the desert region named “Negev.”

• The location of Eder is otherwise unknown. Some propose translating this word as “Arad” because Arad should be about here in the list and was too important to have been left out. This translation would simply reverse two Hebrew letters that are very similar in shape.
15:33  ^an From the perspective of the highlanders of the Judean hill country, the lower hills between them and the coastal plain were the western foothills. These hills were separated geologically from the hill country by a series of north–south valleys. In this list, the western foothills are divided into four districts.
Summary for Josh 15:45-47: 15:45-47  ^ao The fourth district of the western foothills included most of the territory soon to be occupied by the Philistines—the tribe of Judah held it only briefly.
15:48  ^ap The hill country was in the central highlands of Judah from Jerusalem in the north to just past Debir (15:15  ^aq) in the south. It was divided into five districts.
15:56  ^ar This Jezreel in Judah was not the northern Jezreel. This city was the hometown of Ahinoam, David’s wife and the mother of his eldest son, Amnon (2 Sam 3:2  ^as).
15:59  ^at Following this verse, the Greek Old Testament includes another district of 11 cities: Tekoa, Ephrathah (that is, Bethlehem), Phagor, Etam, Kulon, Tatam, Saris, Karem, Gallim, Bether, Manoch—eleven towns with their surrounding villages. The inclusion of this district accounts for Bethlehem; this town’s omission would be surprising. Perhaps an early copyist of the Hebrew text accidentally omitted this twelfth district.
15:61  ^au The wilderness of Judea included the eastern slopes of the central mountain highlands and extended to the western shore of the Dead Sea; three of its six towns were on or near that shoreline.
15:63  ^av Even though Jerusalem was assigned to the tribe of Benjamin (18:28  ^aw), it was not conquered in Joshua’s day.

• to this day: The Jebusites’ continued presence later caused Judah trouble (Judg 1:21  ^ax).

‏ Joshua 16

Summary for Josh 16:1-17:18: 16:1–17:18  ^ay Joseph had two sons,Manasseh and Ephraim (Gen 41:50-52  ^az). Half of Manasseh’s descendants had received their inheritance east of the Jordan River. The tribe of Ephraim and the rest of the tribe of Manasseh now received their allotments. This brought the total number of allotments to twelve and fulfilled the blessing Jacob had pronounced upon Joseph (Gen 49:22-26  ^ba). Like Judah in the south, Joseph’s tribes exercised leadership from their central position in the north. 16:1  ^bb Jericho was assigned to the tribe of Benjamin (18:21  ^bc).
16:3  ^bd Ephraim’s border followed the ascent from lower to upper Beth-horon (see 16:5  ^be), giving this tribe control of one of the two main roads to Jerusalem from the west.

• Gezer, a large and important Canaanite town at the juncture of the coastal plain and the hill country, apparently did not come into Israel’s possession until the time of Solomon (see Judg 1:29  ^bf; 1 Kgs 9:16  ^bg).
Summary for Josh 16:5-8: 16:5-8  ^bh This description of Ephraim’s northern boundary with Manasseh is general and incomplete. Because Shechem belonged to Manasseh, the border between the two tribes ran south of that town.

‏ Joshua 17

17:1  ^bi See 13:29-33  ^bj and study note.
Summary for Josh 17:3-6: 17:3-6  ^bk In ancient Israel, inheritance usually passed from a father to his sons. Without sons, a man’s name could pass into oblivion. However, Zelophehad’s daughters had petitioned Moses, Moses had inquired of God, and God had ruled that they should inherit their father’s portion (see Num 27:1-11  ^bl). God’s ruling established a general principle, declaring that no family would be excluded from a portion of God’s material blessings.
Summary for Josh 17:7-13: 17:7-13  ^bm As with the tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh’s territory was defined by a general description of its borders. 17:7  ^bn Asher was north-northwest of Manasseh, across the Jezreel Valley.
Summary for Josh 17:8-10: 17:8-10  ^bo This general description of Manasseh’s southern border with the land given to the tribe of Ephraim provides more detail than the description of Ephraim’s northern border in 16:8  ^bp.
Summary for Josh 17:11-13: 17:11-13  ^bq All the towns mentioned here except Endor were important, but the military strength of the Canaanites prevented the tribe of Manasseh from inhabiting them for a time.
17:13  ^br Throughout the period of the judges and beyond, the Israelites gradually grew stronger and the Canaanite people weaker. After the time of Joshua, the Israelites forced the Canaanites to work as slaves. They eventually absorbed these people and were influenced to worship the Canaanite gods. This idolatry ultimately cost them the land.
17:14  ^bs Joseph’s one portion is described in 16:1-4  ^bt. The descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh received portions that, when combined, were larger than the allotment of any other tribe.
17:15  ^bu The Perizzites lived in Canaan when Israel’s conquest began.

• Rephaites: See study note on 12:4; see also Deut 2:10-11  ^bv, 20-21  ^bw; 3:11  ^bx.
17:16  ^by As a result of the Canaanites’ iron chariots, Ephraim and Manasseh were restricted to the hill country in the early part of the settlement period (see study note on 11:4).

• The valley of Jezreel, a geological interruption of the hill country, separated Lower Galilee to the north from the hill country of Manasseh to the south. The Canaanites living in and near it and the valley of Beth-shan restricted Manasseh’s expansion and apparently Ephraim’s as well. Most of the towns named in 17:11  ^bz were on the edges of these valleys.
Summary for Josh 17:17-18: 17:17-18  ^ca Rather than rebuke the people for their fear, Joshua repeated his instructions to clear forest land for settlement. His promise that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh would eventually drive out the Canaanites gave them a hope by which they could enlarge their faith and conquer their fear.

• Much of the hill country was forested, and Canaanite settlement was sparse there. If Ephraim and Manasseh had contented themselves with land already cleared, they would have had little room for settlement. With the introduction of iron technology at about this time, including iron axe heads, the people of these tribes could clear the virgin forests and open up new land for settlement. Joshua might have set an example by being the first to clear his own homestead at Timnath-serah (19:50  ^cb), a forested region in the Ephraimite hill country.

‏ Joshua 18

18:1  ^cc Israel had been encamped at Gilgal in the Jordan Valley (14:6  ^cd). Shiloh was about twenty miles north of Jerusalem, in the hill country of Ephraim. By setting up the Tabernacle there, Joshua made Shiloh Israel’s religious and political center. The Tabernacle remained at Shiloh until the Philistines captured the Ark (1 Sam 4:10-11  ^ce).
18:4  ^cf The three selected representatives from each tribe came from the seven tribes that had not yet received their allotments.

• a written report: Israel was not an entirely oral society. If an event or record was important enough to be remembered over time, leaders ordered that it be written down.
18:5  ^cg The remaining land was divided into seven sections, one for each tribe not yet assigned its territory.
18:6  ^ch Joshua publicly cast sacred lots to eliminate envy or suspicion (see also study note on 7:16-18).
18:7  ^ci The Levites: See ch 21  ^cj.

• Gad ... Manasseh: See 13:15-33  ^ck.
18:9  ^cl The Canaanites of the hill country now feared Israel and allowed twenty-one men (18:4  ^cm) to walk through these territories and return unharmed.

• The written record was probably a scroll, which might have provided the original source for the descriptions of the tribal allotments in chs 18–19  ^cn.
18:11  ^co Benjamin was Jacob’s twelfth and last son, and the second son of Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife. The land received by his descendants reflected this favored position; they received a small but central portion between ... Judah and Joseph.
Summary for Josh 18:21-28: 18:21-28  ^cp While Judah’s land included eleven or twelve districts (see study note on 15:59), the tribe of Benjamin had two, totaling twenty-six towns. However, the location between the lands of Judah and Joseph gave Benjamin an economic and military importance significantly greater than its size.
18:28  ^cq Jerusalem: See study note on 15:8.

• Kiriath: The Kiriath-jearim of 18:14  ^cr belonged to Judah; another town with this name might have existed but is otherwise unknown. The word Kiriath here was probably originally followed by a word that has been lost in the process of copying.

‏ Joshua 19

19:1  ^cs Simeon, Jacob and Leah’s second son, was older than Judah. However, he had forfeited a leading role with his violent actions against Shechem (Gen 34:25-26  ^ct). The tribal inheritance of his descendants reflected this; their land was carved out of Judah’s territory on the southern periphery of the Negev. This arid land was far from any centers of influence and power.
Summary for Josh 19:2-9: 19:2-9  ^cu Some of the towns given to the tribe of Simeon were also part of Judah’s allocation because Judah’s territory was too large for them (cp. 17:14-18  ^cv). Judah apparently absorbed most of Simeon’s territory into its own before the end of the Old Testament period.
Summary for Josh 19:10-48: 19:10-48  ^cw The five small remaining tribes received land on the edges of the Israelite territory and had little national influence.
Summary for Josh 19:10-23: 19:10-23  ^cx The lands given to the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar were strategically located; the major international trading route from Egypt to Mesopotamia ran through their territories. When Israel was strong, this position brought prosperity. However, when Israel was weak, these tribes were vulnerable both to the armies of Egypt and to the successive Mesopotamian powers that fought for control of the ancient Near East.
Summary for Josh 19:10-16: 19:10-16  ^cy The tribe of Zebulun received land partly in the valley of Jezreel and partly in the hills of Lower Galilee.
19:13  ^cz Gath-hepher was the hometown of the prophet Jonah (2 Kgs 14:25  ^da).
19:15  ^db This Bethlehem was not the birthplace of David and Jesus in Judah.

• More than twelve towns are named; some apparently did not belong to Zebulun but were on its borders.
19:16  ^dc Both by number of towns and by size of its territory, Zebulun was smallest of all the tribes. However, the New Testament village of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, was in the tribal territory of Zebulun (Matt 2:19-23  ^dd; 4:13-16  ^de).
Summary for Josh 19:17-23: 19:17-23  ^df The land given to the tribe of Issachar included much of the fertile Jezreel Valley. During Old Testament times, this valley was largely a swamp surrounded by prosperous and important cities. This area was a center of Canaanite strength, so this small tribe had trouble gaining a foothold at first.
Summary for Josh 19:24-31: 19:24-31  ^dg The land allocated to the tribe of Asher included the Plain of Acco on the Mediterranean coast and western Galilee. To the southwest, Asher touched Carmel, sharing at least a short common border with land allotted to the tribe of Manasseh. To the north, the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon limited Asher’s expansion.
19:30  ^dh The twenty-two towns did not include Tyre and Sidon, which the nation of Israel never controlled.
Summary for Josh 19:32-39: 19:32-39  ^di The tribe of Naphtali occupied eastern Galilee and overlooked the Sea of Galilee. Because a branch of an international trade route from Egypt to Mesopotamia ran through the territory of Naphtali, this tribe enjoyed periods of prosperity when Israel’s kings were strong. The city of Hazor was within Naphtali’s territory, guarding a section of that route. Naphtali is mentioned in Matt 4:13-16  ^dj in connection with Jesus’ ministry in Galilee.
Summary for Josh 19:40-48: 19:40-48  ^dk The original allotment given to the tribe of Dan lay west of Judah and southwest of Ephraim’s main territory, between Judah and Philistia.
19:43  ^dl About fifty years after Israel came into Canaan under Joshua, the Philistines moved into the southern coastal plain and occupied the cities of Timnah and Ekron (Judg 14:1-2  ^dm; 1 Sam 5:1-10  ^dn). The Philistines were among the Sea Peoples who had perhaps been driven out of the Greek mainland and the Greek islands by an invasion from the north. The Sea Peoples also invaded and destroyed the Hittite Empire to the north of Israel. (Some scholars think that Homer’s Iliad reflects this movement.)
19:47  ^do The tribe of Dan had trouble taking possession of their land because of the Philistines, so a group of Danites later moved northward to Laish (see Judg 18  ^dp), which they renamed Dan, on the northern border of Israel’s territory.
Summary for Josh 19:49-50: 19:49-50  ^dq The piece of land given to Joshua closes the section on the allocation of land to the tribes of Israel (see study note on 14:1–19:51).
19:51  ^dr After Joshua received his inheritance, the division of the land was completed. Joshua served God and led Israel faithfully for many years, and God was gracious to Joshua.