The Inheritance of the Tribes of Naphtali and Dan

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Joshua 19:32) The sixth lot came out to the children of Naphtali, for the children of Naphtali according to their families.

The past couple of chapters and posts have been describing the lots given to seven remaining tribes that had not yet been given their inheritances after a pause in time (Joshua 18).  The sixth of the seven lots went to the tribe of Naphtali.

(33) And their coast was from Heleph, from Allon to Zaanannim, and Adami, Nekeb, and Jabneel, to Lakum, and the outgoings of it were at Jordan.

This map from Biblical Toolbelt shows the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali:

This map also from Biblical Toolbelt shows Naphtali in the context of Israel as a whole:

The only city from verse 33 I can find on the map is Jabneel in the southeast corner, and going southward from there, the border was the Jordan River which continues south of the Sea of Galilee.

(34) And the coast turned westward to Aznoth Tabor and goes out from there to Hukkok and reaches to Zebulun on the south side, and reaches to Asher on the west side, and to Judah on Jordan toward the sunrising.

The southern border went roughly from Jabneel to Hukkok, bordering Zebulun in the south.  Their territory bordered Asher in the west and the Jordan River in the east, where a city called Judah must have been, as it cannot mean the tribe of Judah.

(35) And the fenced cities Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, Rakkath, and Chinnereth, (36) And Adamah, and Ramah, and Hazor, (37) And Kedesh, and Edrei, and En Hazor, (38) Iron, and Migdal El, Horem, and Beth Anath, and Beth Shemesh, nineteen cities with their villages.

Their territory included the sixteen fenced cities above, several of which can be found on the map, and Jabneel from verse 33.  It's hard to say which two of the other places mentioned in verse 33 are their cities as nothing appears to be known about them, other than the possibility of Zanaaim that was a plain (Judges 4:11). 

(39) This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Naphtali according to their families, the cities and their villages.

That ended the description of the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali.

(40) The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families.

The seventh lot of the seven that were remaining as of Joshua 18, and the last of all the lots went to Dan.

(41) And the coast of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Ir Shemesh,

This map also from Biblical Toolbelt shows the allotment of the tribe of Dan:

And this map from the same site shows where the tribe of Dan lay among the other tribes:

The southern border was at Zorah and Eshtaol in northern Judah.  The description of Judah's lot included these cities (Joshua 15:33).  It is not known where Ir Shemesh was.  It's unclear if Dan merely bordered those cities in Judah, or if they were taken out of Judah and given to Dan because Judah was so large and Dan so small.  The map above of the tribe of Dan as well as this snippet taken from the larger map borrowed from Psalms to God show that the cities appear to belong to Dan:

(42) And Shaalabbin, and Ajalon, and Jethlah, (43) and Elon, and Thimnathah, and Ekron, (44) And Eltekeh, and Gibbethon, and Baalath, (45) And Jehud, and Bene Berak, and Gath Rimmon, (46) And Me Jarkon, and Rakkon, with the border before Japho.

The lot of the tribe of Dan contained all of the cities named above.  Ekron was another city that was originally included in Judah (Joshua 15:45) but was apparently given to Dan.  Japho is said to be the same as Joppa in the northeast corner of Dan.

(47) And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them; therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt in it, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father.

First of all, the words "too little" were added by the KJV translators to aid in understanding the text.  Although the meaning might truly be that the boundaries of Dan were too small for the children of Dan, the meaning of the verse might just have been that their coast went out for them, or was extended.  Judges 18 tells the story of the tribe of Dan going up to Leshem or Laish, as it was also called, in the far north of the land of Israel, and conquering it and renaming it Dan.  This map borrowed from the Unique Sites of Israel Blog shows where the city of Dan was in relation to the tribe of Dan:

(48) This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.

And thus ended the description of the last tribe to receive their inheritance, Dan.

(49) When they had made an end of dividing the land for inheritance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them.

After all the lots had been cast for inheritance, the Israelites gave a separate inheritance to Joshua.  Although he was part of the tribe of Ephraim, the people honored him with his own inheritance.

(50) According to the word of the Lord, they gave him the city which he asked, Timnath Serah in mount Ephraim, and he built the city and dwelt in it.

Apparently, at the same time Moses had spoken the word of the Lord to Caleb regarding his inheritance, he said something about Joshua's as well, as Caleb referred to what the Lord had said regarding Caleb and Joshua, "You know the thing that the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning me and you in Kadesh Barnea." (Joshua 14:6)  It appears that at some point Joshua had asked for Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim for his own.  However, he had not made it a point to claim it as Caleb had when he first started dividing the land.  Additionally, what he had asked for was not the choicest land as it was a rough and mountainous place.  He had not demanded it, but the people sought to give it to him according to the word of the Lord.  Joshua was a humble man; he had not even written about the promise, but it was Caleb who mentioned it in Joshua 14:6, and it was the people who gave it to him.  Joshua built up the city and lived there.

(51) These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So they made an end of dividing the country.

With Eleazar as high priest and Joshua as the chief leader, as well as with the heads of the tribes, the promised land had been divided by casting lots before the Lord in Shiloh.  With the last lot being given to Dan, the casting of lots to divide the land among the tribes ended.