Joshua 18:11-28--The Inheritance for Benjamin

Joshua 18:11-28
English Standard Version

The Inheritance for Benjamin
11 The lot of the tribe of the people of Benjamin according to its clans came up, and the territory allotted to it fell between the people of Judah and the people of Joseph. 12 On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan. Then the boundary goes up to the shoulder north of Jericho, then up through the hill country westward, and it ends at the wilderness of Beth-aven. 13 From there the boundary passes along southward in the direction of Luz, to the shoulder of Luz (that is, Bethel), then the boundary goes down to Ataroth-addar, on the mountain that lies south of Lower Beth-horon. 14 Then the boundary goes in another direction, turning on the western side southward from the mountain that lies to the south, opposite Beth-horon, and it ends at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city belonging to the people of Judah. This forms the western side. 15 And the southern side begins at the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim. And the boundary goes from there to Ephron, to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah. 16 Then the boundary goes down to the border of the mountain that overlooks the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is at the north end of the Valley of Rephaim. And it then goes down the Valley of Hinnom, south of the shoulder of the Jebusites, and downward to En-rogel. 17 Then it bends in a northerly direction going on to En-shemesh, and from there goes to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim. Then it goes down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben, 18 and passing on to the north of the shoulder of Beth-arabah it goes down to the Arabah. 19 Then the boundary passes on to the north of the shoulder of Beth-hoglah. And the boundary ends at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan: this is the southern border. 20 The Jordan forms its boundary on the eastern side. This is the inheritance of the people of Benjamin, according to their clans, boundary by boundary all around.

​21 Now the cities of the tribe of the people of Benjamin according to their clans were Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, 22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, Geba—twelve cities with their villages: 25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zela, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah and Kiriath-jearim—fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the people of Benjamin according to its clans.

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The first lot fell to the tribe of Benjamin.  Their lot fell between the land that had been allotted for Judah in the South and the land that had been allotted for Ephraim and Manasseh in the North (though I believe "the tribe of Joseph" here specifically refers to the tribe of Ephraim as the lot we are talking about mostly touches Ephraim in the north and Judah in the south.  There is only a small portion in the northeast of the lot that touches West Manasseh.).  They were given the land containing the first battles as they crossed into the Promised Land--Jericho, Ai, and Bethel are all part of this lot, as is Jerusalem.  They also inherited the city of Gibeon which were the Canaanites that repented and wanted to submit to the LORD so they would not be destroyed.

We'll see later in the history of Israel that once the people of Israel split into two kingdoms, only Benjamin will remain faithful to the king that has been appointed by the LORD that is of the tribe of Judah, and together (along with the Levites that stay faithful to the Temple of the LORD) make up the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  We'll read much more about this tribe in the book of Judges.

The boundaries given in these chapters, though I have skipped most of them and instead posted the map, are very precise, even telling which side of the line the border towns were on so that no one should ever fight over them.  The Land was divided just as the surveyors agreed upon so that everyone thought this was a "fair share."  In fact, in the next chapter, we'll see that Judah actually thinks they have received more than a fair share of the Land and they want to give part of their allotment to someone else (which ends up falling to the tribe of Simeon).  The tribe of Simeon will end up rebelling and joining the northern 10 tribes later, and this land will go back to Judah, but it is great to see that Judah realized they had more than they needed in juxtaposition to Ephraim and West Manasseh being discontent with anything they were given because it was never enough for them.  We'll look at that next time.