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.
Shiloh is a significant place as the location of the tabernacle of
the congregation in Israel.
1Samuel 1:3a And this man
went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of
hosts in Shiloh…
Jeremiah 7:12 But go ye now
unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see
what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Joshua 18:2 ¶ And there
remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received
their inheritance. 3 And Joshua said
unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the
land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you? 4 Give out from among you three men for each
tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and
describe it according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again
to me. 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. 6 Ye shall therefore describe the land into
seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast
lots for you here before the LORD our 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. 8 And the men
arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that 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. 9 And the men went and passed through the land,
and described it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to
Joshua to the host at Shiloh. 10 And
Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided
the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.
Other than this command to get to work an interesting thing here
is in verse 10. It was understood that there was no such thing as chance or
luck but that any casting of lots was disposed of by God. We talk about luck,
chance, randomness, and the odds all day long but the reality is that no flip
of the coin or roll of the dye is out of God’s control.
Joshua 18:11 ¶ 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. 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 thereof were at the wilderness of Bethaven. 13 And the border went over from thence toward
Luz, to the side of Luz, which is Bethel, southward; and the border
descended to Atarothadar, near the hill that lieth on the south side of
the nether Bethhoron. 14 And the border
was drawn thence, and compassed the corner of
the sea southward, from the hill that lieth before
Bethhoron southward; and the goings out thereof were at Kirjathbaal, which is
Kirjathjearim, a city of the children of Judah: this was the west
quarter. 15 And the south quarter was
from the end of Kirjathjearim, and the border went out on the west, and went
out to the well of waters of Nephtoah: 16
And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth
before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and 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 Enrogel, 17 And was drawn from the north, and went forth
to Enshemesh, and went forth toward Geliloth, which is over against the
going up of Adummim, and descended to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben,
18 And passed along toward the side over
against Arabah northward, and went down unto Arabah: 19 And the border passed along to the side of
Bethhoglah 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.
20 And Jordan was the border of it on
the east side. This
was the inheritance of the children of
Benjamin, by the coasts thereof round about, according to their families.
21 Now the cities of the tribe of the
children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Bethhoglah,
and the valley of Keziz, 22 And
Betharabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel, 23
And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah, 24
And Chepharhaammonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities with their
villages: 25 Gibeon, and Ramah, and
Beeroth, 26 And Mizpeh, and Chephirah,
and Mozah, 27 And Rekem, and Irpeel, and
Taralah, 28 And Zelah, Eleph, and
Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kirjath; fourteen cities
with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin
according to their families.
The tribe of Benjamin will play an important role not only in a
horrific controversy in Judges but also as the tribe from which King Saul and
the Apostle Paul will come from.
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