In our study of Joshua chapter eighteen, we are reminded that the land of Canaan was a gift that was given to Israel by the Lord and we see the portion given to Benjamin.
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The entire community of the people of Isra'el assembled themselves together at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there, after the land had been subdued before them.
We begin with the entire community of witnesses at Shiloh and the name of that place means "gift of him". It is in this place that they set up the tent of meeting in order to worship God. We are also reminded that worship brings order into the life of God's people and we see that, at this time, all of the land of Canaan has been subdued but it has not all been divided among the tribes.
There still remained among the people of Isra'el seven tribes that had not yet received their inheritance. Y'hoshua said to the people of Isra'el, "How long will you delay going in to take possession of the land which ADONAI the God of your ancestors has given you? Appoint three men for each tribe; I will commission them; and they are to set out, go through the land and describe it according to their inheritance; then they are to come back to me. They are to divide it into seven portions, with Y'hudah remaining in its territory to the south and the house of Yosef in their territory to the north. You will describe seven portions of land and bring the descriptions here to me; then I will cast lots for you here before ADONAI our God. But the L'vi'im have no share with you, because the office of cohen to ADONAI is their inheritance; and Gad and Re'uven and the half-tribe of M'nasheh have received their inheritance beyond the Yarden to the east, which Moshe the servant of ADONAI gave them."
Seven tribes had not received their land inheritance and Y'hoshua reminds them that the land was promised to their ancestors. He describes them as being careless in not taking hold of what was promised to them by God and he described a plan to send a group to survey the remaining lands and to divide them into seven parcels. When they came back with descriptions of the seven parcels, Y'hoshua was going to seek the guidance of the Lord in assigning them to the remaining tribes.
So the men got up and went. Y'hoshua gave them this commission as they left to describe the land: "Go; walk through the land; and describe it; then come back to me, and I will cast lots for you here before ADONAI in Shiloh." The men went and passed through the land, surveying it by cities, dividing it into seven regions and writing the results on a scroll. Then they came to Y'hoshua in the camp at Shiloh. Y'hoshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before ADONAI, and there Y'hoshua divided the land among the people of Isra'el according to their regions.
Twenty one men were commissioned by Y'hoshua to walk throughout the remaining lands and to conduct the survey and division. We notice that Shiloh is emphasized in this passage and that reminds us that this was in accordance with the will of God and was, in fact, a part of worship.
On the north sThe lot for the tribe of the descendants of Binyamin came up according to their families. The border of their territory chosen by lot was between the descendants of Y'hudah and the descendants of Yosef. On the north side, their border began at the Yarden, went up alongside Yericho on the north, continued up through the hills westward and arrived at the Beit-Aven Desert. From there the border passed on to Luz, to the south side of Luz (that is, Beit-El); then the border went down to 'Atrot-Adar, by the hill on the south side of Lower Beit-Horon. The border was delineated as turning at the western corner and heading southward, from the hill located in front of Beit-Horon on the south; and it ended at Kiryat-Ba'al (that is, Kiryat-Ye'arim), a city belonging to the descendants of Y'hudah; this was the west side. On the south the border extended westward from the most distant part of Kiryat-Ye'arim, going out to the source of the Neftoach Spring. Then the border went down to the farthest part of the hill located in front of the Ben-Hinnom Valley, north of the Refa'im Valley, south of the Y'vusi; and continued down to 'Ein-Rogel, where it was drawn to the north; then it went on to 'Ein-Shemesh; continued to G'lilot, which is across from Ma'alei-Adumim; went down to the Stone of Bohan the son of Re'uven; passed alongside the 'Aravah, heading north; and went down to the 'Aravah. Then the border passed alongside Beit-Hoglah, heading north; and the border ended at the north bay of the Dead Sea, at the south end of the Yarden; this was the south border. The Yarden was to be its border on the east side. This was the inheritance of the descendants of Binyamin, defined by its surrounding borders, according to their families.
The inheritance of the tribe of Binyamin is described and it was located between Y'hudah and the descendants of Yosef.
The cities of the tribe of the descendants of Binyamin according to their families were: Yericho, Beit-Hoglah, 'Emek-K'tzitz, Beit-'Aravah, Tz'marayim, Beit-El, 'Avim, Parah, 'Ofrah, K'far-Ha'amonah, 'Ofni and Geva - twelve cities, together with their villages. Giv'on, Ramah, Be'erot, Mitzpeh, K'firah, Motzah, Rekem, Yirpe'el, Tar'alah, Tzela, Elef, Y'vusi (that is, Yerushalayim), Giv'at and Kiryat - fourteen cities, together with their villages. This is the inheritance of the descendants of Binyamin according to their families.
Now, we see a list of the major cities that were included in the inheritance of Binyamin.
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