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JOSHUA 19
page 209
7 “The Levites, however, will not receive any
allotment of land. Their role as priests of the
Lord is their allotment. And the tribes of Gad,
Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh won’t
receive any more land, for they have already
received their grant of land, which Moses, the
servant of the Lord, gave them on the east side
of the Jordan River.”
8 As the men started on their way to map out
the land, Joshua commanded them, “Go and
explore the land and write a description of it.
Then return to me, and I will assign the land to
the tribes by casting sacred lots here in the presence of the Lord at Shiloh.” 9 The men did as
they were told and mapped the entire territory
into seven sections, listing the towns in each
section. They made a written record and then
returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. 10 And
there at Shiloh, Joshua cast sacred lots in the
presence of the Lord to determine which tribe
should have each section.
The Land Given to Benjamin
11 The first allotment of land went to the clans of
the tribe of Benjamin. It lay between the territory assigned to the tribes of Judah and Joseph.
12 The
northern boundary of Benjamin’s land
began at the Jordan River, went north of the
slope of Jericho, then west through the hill
country and the wilderness of Beth-aven.
13 From there the boundary went south to
Luz (that is, Bethel) and proceeded down to
Ataroth-addar on the hill that lies south of
Lower Beth-horon.
14 The boundary then made a turn and
swung south along the western edge of the
hill facing Beth-horon, ending at the village
of Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a
town belonging to the tribe of Judah. This
was the western boundary.
15 The southern boundary began at the
outskirts of Kiriath-jearim. From that western
point it ran* to the spring at the waters of
Nephtoah,* 16 and down to the base of the
mountain beside the valley of Ben-Hinnom,
at the northern end of the valley of Rephaim.
From there it went down the valley of
Hinnom, crossing south of the slope where
the Jebusites lived, and continued down
to En-rogel. 17 From En-rogel the boundary
proceeded in a northerly direction and came
to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth (which is
across from the slopes of Adummim). Then
it went down to the Stone of Bohan. (Bohan
was Reuben’s son.) 18 From there it passed
along the north side of the slope overlooking
the Jordan Valley.* The border then went
18:15a Or From there it went to Mozah. The meaning of the
Hebrew is uncertain. 18:15b Or the spring at Me-nephtoah.
18:18 Hebrew overlooking the Arabah, or overlooking Betharabah. 18:19 Hebrew Salt Sea. 18:28 As in Greek version;
Hebrew reads Kiriath.
down into the valley, 19 ran past the north
slope of Beth-hoglah, and ended at the
north bay of the Dead Sea,* which is the
southern end of the Jordan River. This was
the southern boundary.
20 The eastern boundary was the Jordan
River.
These were the boundaries of the homeland
allocated to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
The Towns Given to Benjamin
21 These were the towns given to the clans of the
tribe of Benjamin.
Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,
22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim,
Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar-ammoni,
Ophni, and Geba—twelve towns with
their surrounding villages. 25 Also Gibeon,
Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah,
Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zela,
Haeleph, the Jebusite town (that is,
Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim*—
fourteen towns with their surrounding
villages.
This was the homeland allocated to the clans of
the tribe of Benjamin.
The Land Given to Simeon
The second allotment of land went to
the clans of the tribe of Simeon. Their
homeland was surrounded by Judah’s territory.
19
• Giving
JOS HU A 18:7
We usually think of an inheritance as land,
money, or property. But the heritage of
the Levites was none of these things—it
was the privilege of serving God as
priests. Remember that people in fulltime Christian service often forgo material
wealth and thus the privilege of passing
it on to their children and grandchildren.
They are committed to giving themselves
completely to God’s service, and the
price is not merely a lower standard of
living but a smaller estate to leave to
future generations. It is a great sacrifice
and deserves our full support.
Remember also that a strong sense
of God’s involvement and blessing
in your family is the most important
inheritance you can leave your children,
whether or not you are able to leave any
tangible inheritance. How will you pass
on this heritage—and when will you
begin?