The Inheritance of the Tribe of Benjamin

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Joshua 18:1) And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them. (2) And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance.

The past few chapters have been describing the lots of land the first few tribes had received.  The tribes of Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan, had not yet received their inheritance.  It seems a break was taken from the casting of lots, and the whole congregation met together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there, moving it from their camp in Gilgal.  The land was subdued and quiet at that time.

(3) And Joshua said to the children of Israel, "How long will you be slack to go to possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?"

Joshua spoke to the Israelites who had thus far not received their lots of inheritance.  He asked how long they would be slothful about going in to possess their land.  It's not that they could claim land that had not yet been assigned by lot, but they were apparently not eager to get on with it.  They were probably happy living in camps off the spoils of the enemy and not earnest about receiving their own land where they might have to work to clear or to drive out the Canaanites who remained or might have come back. 

(4) "Give out from among you three men per tribe, and I will send them, and they shall arise and go through the land and describe it according to the inheritance of them, and they shall come to me."

Joshua asked that each tribe select three men from their tribe, and Joshua would send them out to the unallotted land to survey and describe and bring the information back to him.

(5) "And they shall divide it into seven parts; Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north."

The three men selected from each of the remaining seven tribes were to divide the land into seven parts for those seven tribes.  Judah already had his lot in the south, and the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, had their lots north of Judah, so those were established, and there was no need to survey their lands.

(6) "You shall therefore describe the land in seven parts and bring it here to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God."

Speaking about the three men from each of the seven tribes, Joshua said they were to survey and describe the land in each of the seven parts and bring that information back to him so that he could cast lots for each of the lots of land before their Lord God.

(7) "But the Levites have no part among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance, and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them."

Joshua pointed out that the Levites would not be receiving any land inheritance because as priests, the Lord was their inheritance.  Also the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh had already received their lots on the east of the Jordan River.  He had already mentioned the tribes of Judah and the sons of Joseph who had their allotments, so that left the tribes of Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan, who needed to receive their inheritance.

(8) And the men arose and went away, and Joshua charged them who went to describe the land, saying, "Go and walk through the land and describe it and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh."

Joshua spoke directly to the three surveyors from each tribe, telling them to go do their surveys and bring their descriptions back to him so that he could cast lots for the tribes there in Shiloh before the Lord.  The men arose and went their way.

(9) And the men went and passed through the land and described it by cities into seven parts in a book and came to Joshua to the host at Shiloh.

The men went through the remaining land and described it by cities and divided it into seven parts and put their information in a book that they brought back to Joshua at Shiloh.

(10) And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.

There in Shiloh Joshua cast lots for each of the seven remaining tribes, dividing the remaining land among them.

(11) And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.

The first lot went to Benjamin.  It was a small lot, called "little Benjamin" in Psalm 68:27, but the land was said to be very pleasant and fruitful.  It lay between Judah and the children of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh.  This map borrowed from Biblical Toolbelt shows the lot of Benjamin:

(12) And their border on the north side was from Jordan, and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north side and went up through the mountains westward, and the goings out of it were at the wilderness of Beth Haven.

The eastern border was the Jordan River.  The northern border went from the Jordan westward to just north of Jericho and through the mountains west of Jericho and went out to the wilderness of Beth Haven, which was said to be a place near Bethel and Ai, to which there was a wilderness adjacent.

(13) And the border went over from there toward Luz, to the side of Luz, which is Bethel, southward, and the border descended to Ataroth Addar near the hill on the south side of the lower Beth Horon.

The border went from Bethel southward to Ataroth Addar to near the hill on the south side of Lower Beth Horon.  These places are better seen on this map taken from Precept Austin:

(14) And the border was drawn and compassed the corner of the sea southward from the hill before Beth Horon southward, and the goings out of it were at Kirjath Baal, which is Kirjath Jearim, a city of the children of Judah; this was the west quarter.

The border went from the hill on the south side of Lower Beth Horon and went southward to Kirjath Jearim, a city on the border of Judah.  This described the western border of Benjamin.  No one seems to know what sea is meant in verse 14.

(15) And the south quarter was from the end of Kirjath Jearim, and the border went out on the west and went out to the well of waters at Nephtoah. (16) And the border came down to the end of the mountain before the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom to the side of Jebusi on the south and descended to En Rogel.

The southern border went from west of Kirjath Jearim, and it went down and eastward to Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, and to En Rogel.  The southwestern corner reached the northern part of the Rephaim, giants.

(17) And was drawn from the north and went forth to En Shemesh and went forth toward Geliloth, which is across the going up of Adummim, and descended to the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben.

The southern border then veered northward to En Shemesh, seen on the first map above.  It continued across some of the same unknown places that were mentioned when defining the northern border of Judah (Joshua 15:6-7).

(18) And passed along toward the side across from Arabah northward and went down to Arabah, (19) And the border passed along to the side of Beth Hoglah northward, and the outgoings of the border were at the north bay of the Salt Sea at the south end of Jordan; this was the south coast.

The language is difficult to follow, but you can see the southern border going across to Beth Hoglah and then to the Jordan River at the north bay of the Salt Sea.

(20) And Jordan was the border of it on the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin by its coasts all around, according to their families.

The Jordan River was the eastern border of Benjamin's lot.  Thus ended the description of the borders of the inheritance of Benjamin.

(21) Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Beth Hoglah, and the valley of Keziz,

The cities belonging to the tribe of Benjamin were Jericho and Beth Hoglah in the eastern part of the lot of Benjamin, and the valley of Keziz which must have been in that region.

(22) Beth Arabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel, (23) And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah, (24) And Chephar Haammoni, and Ophni, and Geba, twelve cities with their villages.

These appear to be twelve cities in eastern Benjamin, a few of which can be seen on the maps.

(25) Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth, (26) And Mizpah, and Chephirah, and Mozah, (27) And Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah, (28) And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeah, and Kirjath, fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.

And these appear to be fourteen cities in western Benjamin, a few of which are seen on the maps.  All these cities and the description of the borders before that made up the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin.