Joshua 18 and 19

 Read Joshua 18 and 19

Who? The tribes of Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, (with three men pulled from each tribe to survey the land) and Joshua

What? Final allotments of the land — notice how specific and detailed God is with the boundaries

Where? Throughout the land, most of which has not been conquered yet

When? After Judah and the sons of Joseph are given their allotments

Why? God promised them the whole land and so wanted them to allot the whole land, clinging to His promise

How? By lots with Eleazar the priest and Joshua after men from each tribe have surveyed the remaining land and split it into seven pieces

We begin these chapters with the Israelites first setting up the tabernacle at Shiloh.  The Israelites are unified in their worship of God at this time, even if not whole hearted.  Shiloh is in Ephraim’s allotment.  Remember that, beginning in Egypt, Joseph takes the role of patriarch.  This means that his heir, Ephraim (and later the tribe named for him), is the current leader of Israel (Joshua is from the tribe of Ephraim).  However, the tribe of Ephraim is not faithful to God and God later rejects Ephraim and chooses Judah (see Psalm 78:67-72).  When David is king, the central place of worship is moved to Jerusalem (in Judah) and Solomon, David’s son, builds the temple there.  Jacob prophesied that Judah would eventually be the leader and continue in leadership forevermore (Genesis 49:8-13).  

Once the tabernacle is set up, Joshua asks the seven tribes yet to receive their allotment, “How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?” (18:3)  This land has yet to be conquered, but the remaining tribes are not taking the initiative to do anything about that.  Are they lazy or just unsure of what to do next?  Or, is Joshua trying to motivate them to go by first getting the surveyors on board and letting them motivate their tribes?  Joshua gives them a plan to divide the land into seven sections after it has been surveyed and then the sections will be given by lot (the priest casting lots was how the Israelites determined God’s will - Proverbs 16:33).  Note that we are reminded that the tribe of Levi does not inherit an allotment of land, but rather has the priesthood of the Lord.  Reuben, Gad, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Judah have already been given their allotment and begun to posses their lands.  

The first lot goes to the tribe of Benjamin.  Once again, God does not give the land by birth order, although it could be in rank order based on their respective mothers.  (The birth order of Jacob’s sons is Reuben (born in 1921 BC or so), followed by Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph (born in 1914 BC or so), and finally Benjamin.)  A few cities of note:  Zelah is the city where King Saul and his son, Jonathan, are buried after they are killed by the Philistines (see 1 Samuel 31); Jerusalem is originally part of Benjamin but later becomes part of Judah and the royal city and home of the temple.  Jerusalem was considered to be a border city between Benjamin and Judah, but it was still controlled by the Jebusites until it is captured by David (2 Samuel 5:6-10).

The next allotment goes to the tribe of Simeon.  Their allotment is inside the allotment for Judah.  The tribe of Simeon is later absorbed into the tribe of Judah as Jacob prophesied (Genesis 49:5-7).  Next, the allotment goes to Zebulun.  Bethlehem is mentioned in their allotment, but this is not the city where Jesus is born as that Bethlehem is in Judah, but a different city.  Issachar receives their allotment next.  A city to note in their allotment is Shunem.  This is the location of the Shunemite woman who takes care of Elisha.  He also raises her son from the dead (see 2 Kings 4).  Next up is the tribe of Asher.  This tribe includes Mt. Carmel where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal (see 1 Kings 18).  Asher is followed by Naphtali.  The final tribal allotment goes to the tribe of Dan.  Dan is given an allotment here, but they do not possess much of it.  Later, they take more of the land (see Judges 18:1-2).  Samson was from the tribe of Dan and born in Zorah (see Judges 13).  

Finally, all the tribes have been given an allotment and so Joshua is given his allotment.  Notice that the allotment for Caleb and Joshua bookend the tribal allotments west of the Jordan River (Caleb in Joshua 14 and Joshua here).  These are the oldest men in Israel (they are in their late 80’s or 90’s).  They are the only ones of the generation of adults that left Egypt that survived the wilderness because they were the only ones who had faith that God could give them the land no matter how hard it appeared to be (see Numbers 13 and 14).  The land has now been apportioned.  Next, we will move on to details for the cities.

Question 1: Joshua asks a pointed question in 18:3.  Why do you think it was needed?  Do we need to ask ourselves such a question?  Cf. Hebrews 4:1, 6:11-12

They were not taking any initiative to obey God without Joshua telling them what to do, so he had to prompt them and even scold them a little.  We must also take initiative.  Taking the land can be thought of like sanctification.  We must take the initiative to destroy the strongholds of sin in our lives, live for God, be obedient, be repentant, take our thoughts captive, etc., as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification in our lives.

Question 2: Notice the importance of leadership in these chapters.  What kind of leaders are needed to move God’s people into the land?  What kind of Christian leaders are needed today?

The people follow Joshua (and Eleazar) as he follows God.  It is important to have humble, faithful Christian leaders who show their followers how to follow God rather than man.  

Applications:

We need to take the initiative and work hard to “take the land.” This means that we cannot make excuses for sin in our lives.  We cannot make excuses for not obeying the Lord.  We cannot make excuses for not spending time in prayer and Bible study.  We must make solutions, not excuses.  While God works in us to sanctify us, He expects our cooperation and work as well.  This work shows our faith.

We need to follow leaders who follow God.  If our leaders do not follow God, then we should be looking for other leaders.  This is true in the church, but also in the rest of life.  Do we know what those we vote for believe?  What do they truly stand for?  In government, at work, and at church, we need to be careful with the leaders we trust and weigh everything against Scripture.  

God is very specific and detailed in the boundaries He gives.  There is freedom in living within His boundaries.  We need to pay attention to the boundaries He gives us and live within them.