Joshua 19:1-9--The Inheritance for Simeon

Joshua 19:1-9
English Standard Version

The Inheritance for Simeon
19 The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the people of Simeon, according to their clans, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the people of Judah. 2 And they had for their inheritance Beersheba, Sheba, Moladah, 3 Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, 4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, 5 Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, 6 Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities with their villages; 7 Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities with their villages, 8 together with all the villages around these cities as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the Negeb. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Simeon according to their clans. 9 The inheritance of the people of Simeon formed part of the territory of the people of Judah. Because the portion of the people of Judah was too large for them, the people of Simeon obtained an inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.

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In today's text we will discuss the allotment of the Land that was for Simeon.  Simeon's lot is interesting because Judah decided that it was given more than its fair share of land according to the census of how many people were in the tribe of Judah, and they willingly gave up part of their allotment to another tribe.  Simeon received this allotment as part of the lottery, though as I mentioned in the last part of yesterday's journal article, Simeon would not stay as part of the southern kingdom of Judah during the time of the Divided Kingdom.

We normally think of the name "Negeb" or "Negev" (depending on translation) to mean a specific desert or "the wilderness," but it literally means "the South," since the southern part of Israel is mostly a dry, arid wilderness or desert place.  However, God would bless the people of Israel and He would bring life out of this desert place.  Not much else is said about Simeon and their inheritance for now, and once Simeon deserts their allotted land to go to the North, Judah and the Levites from the North that move to the South seem to occupy this allotment.  That said, Simeon was very close to Judah for a long time and we'll see that Simeon and Judah will join forces to help each other fight against the Canaanites in their respective areas so that the Canaanites had to face two tribes at once in battle.