Joshua 15:1-63--The Allotment for Judah

Joshua 15
English Standard Version

The Allotment for Judah
15 The allotment for the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans reached southward to the boundary of Edom, to the wilderness of Zin at the farthest south. 2 And their south boundary ran from the end of the Salt Sea, from the bay that faces southward. 3 It goes out southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, passes along to Zin, and goes up south of Kadesh-barnea, along by Hezron, up to Addar, turns about to Karka, 4 passes along to Azmon, goes out by the Brook of Egypt, and comes to its end at the sea. This shall be your south boundary. 5 And the east boundary is the Salt Sea, to the mouth of the Jordan. And the boundary on the north side runs from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan. 6 And the boundary goes up to Beth-hoglah and passes along north of Beth-arabah. And the boundary goes up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. 7 And the boundary goes up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the valley. And the boundary passes along to the waters of En-shemesh and ends at En-rogel. 8 Then the boundary goes up by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem). And the boundary goes up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the Valley of Hinnom, on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim. 9 Then the boundary extends from the top of the mountain to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, and from there to the cities of Mount Ephron. Then the boundary bends around to Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim). 10 And the boundary circles west of Baalah to Mount Seir, passes along to the northern shoulder of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), and goes down to Beth-shemesh and passes along by Timnah. 11 The boundary goes out to the shoulder of the hill north of Ekron, then the boundary bends around to Shikkeron and passes along to Mount Baalah and goes out to Jabneel. Then the boundary comes to an end at the sea. 12 And the west boundary was the Great Sea with its coastline. This is the boundary around the people of Judah according to their clans.

13 According to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah, Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). 14 And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak. 15 And he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir. Now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. 16 And Caleb said, “Whoever strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.” 17 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 18 When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she got off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” 19 She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

20 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans. 21 The cities belonging to the tribe of the people of Judah in the extreme south, toward the boundary of Edom, were Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, 22 Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, 23 Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, 24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, 25 Hazor-hadattah, Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor), 26 Amam, Shema, Moladah, 27 Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet, 28 Hazar-shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, 29 Baalah, Iim, Ezem, 30 Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, 31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, 32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon: in all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.

33 And in the lowland, Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, 34 Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah, Enam, 35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, 36 Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, Gederothaim: fourteen cities with their villages.

37 Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad, 38 Dilean, Mizpeh, Joktheel, 39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, 40 Cabbon, Lahmam, Chitlish, 41 Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah: sixteen cities with their villages.

42 Libnah, Ether, Ashan, 43 Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, 44 Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah: nine cities with their villages.

45 Ekron, with its towns and its villages; 46 from Ekron to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages.

47 Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; to the Brook of Egypt, and the Great Sea with its coastline.

48 And in the hill country, Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, 49 Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir), 50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, 51 Goshen, Holon, and Giloh: eleven cities with their villages.

52 Arab, Dumah, Eshan, 53 Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah, 54 Humtah, Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior: nine cities with their villages.

55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, 56 Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, 57 Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah: ten cities with their villages.

58 Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor, 59 Maarath, Beth-anoth, and Eltekon: six cities with their villages.

60 Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah: two cities with their villages.

61 In the wilderness, Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah, 62 Nibshan, the City of Salt, and Engedi: six cities with their villages.

​63 But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

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There is a lot of text here that I will try to summarize and give some pictures to be helpful.  Because of the request of Caleb and the people of Judah, they were allocated their land first among the nine-and-one-half tribes that were left.  They were not senior in birth place, for Simeon was the second-oldest, but Judah was the tribe from which the kings would come.  God had chosen them to be the line that the Messiah would come from--the Lion of the Tribe of Judah--and so, He honored their request to posses the land that still needed to be conquered.

We believe that Samuel is probably writing this history of Joshua as well as the book of Judges as the people transition from the period of the Judges to the period of the Kings and Prophets.  So, when we see phrases like "to this day" in the text, we are probably talking about a period of at least 300 years, though some believe the date this was written to be much later during the time of the Babylonian Exile some 800-900 years after the events in the book of Joshua took place.  Either way, the author intends us to understand that a significant amount of time has passed and some of the people that Israel was told to completely kill off still lived among the Israelites in the Land.

The majority of this chapter is specific boundaries and borders.  Because the names of these places likely are not recognizable to us today (it might even be hard for those that live in Israel today to find some of these places on the map because they have changed name and sometimes location a few different times since the inheritance was given to the people), a map of where we imagine the boundaries to have been drawn might be helpful.  Today, we're looking at the boundaries of the big green piece to the south (but not the part that has the brown stripes in it--that will be allotted to Simeon later so that Judah surrounded Simeon on all sides).  You should be able to see most of the boundary markers mentioned in today's passage on this map

There is a reminder of the land given by covenant to Caleb and his family and how some of it was passed onto his brother Othniel ​by marriage to Caleb's daughter Achsah, for Othniel defeated the stronghold of Debir after Caleb had driven out the three sons of Anak from the region.  Caleb gave his daughter not only the desert land of the Negeb, but also the upper and lower springs so that the field that he gave her could be well watered.

Again, it would be challenging for us to go through all the boundary landmarks and cities that are given here, but I believe the map gives a good representation on this in the area that is shaded in green with the label of "Judah."  For the most part, the people of Judah were faithful to drive the Gentiles out of their land, though the author points out that they never completely drove out the Jebusites (and we'll see this during the time of King David as there will be a Jebusite living in the place where the LORD will later have Solomon build the Temple (see 2 Samuel 24).

One day, the Lord Himself will fully destroy all His enemies and the Land will totally belong to Him and His people and they will dwell in the Land in safety and peace forever and ever.  In the next two chapters, we'll look at the allotment for Ephraim and the remaining half-tribe of Manasseh , the sons of Joseph.  So we see that Judah would receive the birthright and Joseph would receive the blessing by receiving a double-portion, just like the LORD said when Israel blessed his sons in the book of Genesis.