Joshua 18:11

11 And the first heritage came out for the tribe of Benjamin by their families: and the limit of their heritage went between the children of Judah and the children 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, travelling through the land, and made a record of it by towns in seven parts in a book, and came back to Joshua to the tent-circle at Shiloh.
10 And Joshua made the distribution for them in Shiloh by the decision of the Lord, marking out the land for the children of Israel by their divisions.
11 And the first heritage came out for the tribe of Benjamin by their families: and the limit of their heritage went between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.
12 And their limit on the north was from the Jordan, and the line goes up to the side of Jericho on the north and through the hill-country to the west, ending at the waste land of Beth-aven.
13 And from there the line goes south to Luz, to the side of Luz (which is Beth-el), then down to Ataroth-addar, by the mountain to the south of Beth-horon the lower.
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