Joshua 18:11

Border of Benjamin

11 The lot for the clans of the Benjaminite tribe appeared first. The border of their allotment went out between the people of Judah and the people of Joseph.

Joshua 18:11 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 18:11

And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up
according to their families
This was the first lot of the seven that came up; it was but a small lot, and therefore called "little Benjamin", ( Psalms 68:27 ) ; but the land was very pleasant and fruitful. Josephus F8 says, this lot was very strait, because of the goodness of the soil, for it took in Jericho, and the city of Jerusalem:

and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and
the children of Joseph;
having Judah on the south, and Joseph on the north; this was so ordered by the providence of God, that Benjamin should lie close to Joseph, being own brothers, and the only children of Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife; and that it should be next to Judah, with whom it was to unite, both in religious and civil affairs, and both met in and had a part of Jerusalem, the metropolis of Israel; and this lot fell exactly according to the prediction of Moses, and the order of it, who places Benjamin between Judah and Joseph, the tribe of Levi having no share in the division of the land, ( Deuteronomy 33:7 Deuteronomy 33:12 Deuteronomy 33:13 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 22.

Joshua 18:11 In-Context

9 So the men went and passed through the land and wrote about it in a document, city by city, in seven sections. They came back to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh.
10 Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD. There Joshua divided up the shares of the land for the Israelites.
11 The lot for the clans of the Benjaminite tribe appeared first. The border of their allotment went out between the people of Judah and the people of Joseph.
12 Their border on the north side ran from the Jordan. The border went up to the slope of Jericho on the north. It went up westward in the highlands and ended at the wasteland of Beth-aven.
13 The border passed on from there to Luz, to the slope of Luz on the south (that is, Bethel). The border went down to Ataroth-adar on the mountain that is south of Lower Beth-horon.
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