Joshua 18

• As he had promised, God brought Israel into the land. Joshua then focused on dividing the land among Israel's tribes.

• The tribal allowances made the covenant of the Israelites with God real. It showed the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since God owned the land, giving it to the tribes was a gift. God gave them the land to live in and guided its distribution.

• In these lists of tribal allowances, the author describes some borders in great detail, allowing them to be mapped. With others, they are less plainly defined.

• The allotment of land to the tribes on the west side of the Jordan describes what God intended for each tribe to possess.

• The one narrating the story begins this section with Caleb receiving land and ends with Joshua receiving land (14:6–15; 19:49–51). Only Caleb and Joshua had shown faith in God that Israel could conquer the land (Numbers 13:30; 14:6–9).

Israel camped at Gilgal in the Jordan Valley (14:6). Shiloh was about 32 kilometers (20 miles) north of Jerusalem, in the hills of Ephraim. By placing the Tent of Meeting there, Joshua made Shiloh the religious and political center of Israel. The Tent of Meeting remained at Shiloh until the Philistines captured the ark of God (1 Samuel 4:10–11).

• The three selected representatives from each tribe came from the seven tribes that had not yet received their allotments.

• map it out: Israel was not entirely an oral society. If an event or record was important enough to be remembered over time, leaders ordered that it be written down.

The remaining land was divided into seven sections, one for each tribe not yet assigned its territory.

Joshua cast sacred lots in public to prevent envy or suspicion among the people (see also study note on 7:16–18).

• The Levites: See chapter 21.

• Gad … Manasseh: See 13:15–33.

• The Canaanites in the hill country feared Israel. They allowed 21 men to walk through these territories and return safely (18:4).

• The written record was likely a scroll. This scroll might have been the original source for the descriptions of the tribal allotments in chapters 18–19.

Benjamin was Jacob’s twelfth and last son. He was the second son of Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife. Those descended from him received a small but important piece of land between Judah and Joseph.

Judah's land had 11 or 12 districts (see study note on 15:59). The tribe of Benjamin had 2, with a total of 26 towns. However, Benjamin's location between the lands of Judah and Joseph gave it much greater economic and military importance than its size would suggest.

• Jerusalem: See study note on 15:8.

• Kiriath: The Kiriath-jearim mentioned in 18:14 was part of Judah. belonged to Judah. Another town with the same name may have existed, but we do not know anything else about it.