'13:1-33

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Josh 13:1-22:34

DIVISION OF THE LAND

All the land that Israel had conquered was now divided among the twelve tribes. The list of tribal boundaries may not make very interesting reading today, but it was necessary for Israel as a permanent and lawful record to which people could refer if any disagreement arose.

It also told the tribes of the enemies that had yet to be destroyed, both within their own tribal areas and in lands round about.

Overall plan for the division (Josh 13:1-14:5)

The area west of Jordan, which still contained many areas occupied by Canaanites, was to be divided between nine and a half tribes (Josh 13:1-7; for details of the separate tribal areas see Josh 14:6-19:51).

The area east of Jordan was to be occupied by two and a half tribes, in accordance with the arrangements that Moses made earlier (Josh 13:8-13; for details see Josh 13:15-33).

Cities for the Levites were to be allotted in all the tribes, since Levi had no tribal area of its own (Josh 13:14; Num 18:24; for details see Josh 21:1-42).

Reuben was the most southern of the three eastern tribes, and occupied territory that Israel took from the Amorite king Sihon (Josh 13:15-23). Gad settled in the central section east of Jordan, and occupied much of the region commonly known as Gilead (Josh 13:24-28).

The half tribe of Manasseh occupied the northern section east of Jordan, which included part of Gilead along with part of the rich pasture land of Bashan (Josh 13:29-31). The settlement of two and a half tribes east of Jordan instead of in Canaan itself had been approved by Moses (Josh 13:32-33).

Localities for the nine and a half western tribes were decided by drawing lots, but the area of land that each tribe received was in proportion to the population of the tribe (Josh 14:1-2; cf. Num 26:54-56; 33:54).

In spite of the omission of Levi, the number of tribes among whom Israel’s territory was divided (i.e. land on both sides of Jordan) was still twelve.

This was because the son who received the birthright received twice the inheritance of the other sons, which in this case meant he received an additional tribe.

As a consequence Joseph, who received the firstborn’s inheritance instead of Reuben, received two tribes in Israel. The tribes were descended from his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (Josh 13:3-5; cf. Gen 48:5-6; 1 Chron 5:1-2).