The land west of the Jordan has been surveyed and the remaining seven tribes receive their allotments. We begin by looking at the allotment for the tribe of Benjamin.
"The first lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin according to its clans. Their allotted territory lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph." (Joshua 18:11) Again we'll turn to our map for guidance. Benjamin's territory is at the middle of the map in light orange. We see Judah (in green) below the tribe of Benjamin and we see Joseph (Ephraim in light purple and West Manasseh in yellow) above Benjamin's allotment. The lot, as directed by the Lord, ensured that the tribe of Benjamin ended up near to and under the protection of his brother Joseph (the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh). The very small tribe of Benjamin was bordered on the south by the very large tribe of Judah, was bordered on the west by Dan, and bordered on the east by Reuben. Just as Jacob took great care to protect his youngest son Benjamin, the Lord took care to protect the tribe of Benjamin by surrounding it on all sides by other tribes of Israel.
"On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan, passed the northern slope of Jericho and headed west into the hill country, coming out at the wilderness of Beth Aven. From there it crossed to the south slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth Addar on the hill south of lower Beth Horon. From the hill facing Beth Horon on the south the boundary turned south along the western side and came out at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a town of the people of Judah." (Joshua 18:12-14) As we've seen in other descriptions of the promised land, the Bible often provides us with the original name of a town or region along with the name it was given after the Israelites took hold of the land. We frequently find that the original names were idolatrous in nature; for example, some included the name of Baal who was a Canaanite deity. Kiriath Baal, "city of Baal", was changed to Kiritah Jearim which means "city of woods".
"The southern side began at the outskirts of Kiriath Jearim on the west, and the boundary came out at the spring of the waters of Nephtoah. The boundary went down to the foot of the hill facing the Valley of Ben Hinnom, north of the Valley of Rephaim. It continued down the Hinnom Valley along the southern slope of the Jebusite city and so to En Rogel. It then curved north, went to En Shemesh, continued to Geliloth, which faces the Pass of Adummim, and ran down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. It continued to the northern slope of Beth Arabah and on down into the Arabah. It then went to the northern slope of Beth Hoglah and came out at the northern bay of the Dead Sea, at the mouth of the Jordan at the south. This was the southern boundary. The Jordan formed the boundary on the eastern side. These were the boundaries that marked out the inheritance of the clans of Benjamin on all sides." (Joshua 18:15-20) The descriptions of the boundaries of each tribe were invaluable to the Israelites. They were as invaluable to them as modern maps and land surveys are to us today. I have pins that mark the corners of the lot my house sits on and my land survey is on file downtown at the courthouse. A similar thing is going on in the passages we're studying; the descriptions and borders define the property rights of the tribes and will be available to clear up any disputes that may arise regarding these borders.
Now the Bible names the towns contained within Benjamin's borders. "The tribe of Benjamin, according to its clans, had the following towns: Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, Kephar Ammoni, Ophni and Geba---twelve towns and their villages. Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah and Kiriath---fourteen towns and their villages. This was the inheritance of Benjamin for its clans." (Joshua 18:21-28) Gibeah was the birthplace of Saul, a man of the tribe of Benjamin who became Israel's first king. Jerusalem, which later became the most famous location in all Israel, was originally called Jebusi (sometimes rendered Jebus) after the Jebusites. The Jebusites were descendants of Noah's son Ham through his son Canaan. At the time our current chapter was written, the Jebusites were still inhabiting Jerusalem, for as you'll recall from our passages throughout this week, the land was assigned before all the heathen tribes had been wiped out of it. In each allotment there are still pockets of pagans taking up residence. It won't be until the time of King David that Jerusalem is conquered and its name changed from Jebusi (or Jebus) to Jerusalem which means "city of peace".
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