Jos. 13: This Land is Your Land

Joshua 13:6-7 "Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you, and divide it as an inheritance among the nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh."

By this time, Joshua is old, and God even tells him about it. But the conquering of the land is apparently not even close to being done. There were still entire kingdoms and peoples to wipe out. A bunch of Canaanite, Philistine and Gebalite land. I don't really know who these people are as yet, or where it all is, and if you want to see for yourself, take a read. But anyway, Joshua is old and haggard, so in that weakness, God steps in and conquers the land Joshua was unable to.

God gives another command on faith, this time to divide this as-yet-unconquered land among the tribes, as if it were conquered. Joshua had to have faith that God would follow through on his promise.

Chapter 13 is mainly about the division of the 3 1/2 freak tribes, 2 1/2 who wanted their own land apart from the promised land...Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh, and the Levites, who get no land period.

Lots of land is taken...including that of the Rephaites, the giants you'll remember. Some was not taken, like that of the people of Geshur and Maacah, whom the Israelites did not drive out, but the Bible doesn't yet say why this was...choice or not. Apparently, this wasn't part of the land God was going to conquer for Himself back in verse 6.

Balaam, the seer who prophesied good things about Israel, and frustrated Balak, was also put to the sword when the Midianites were crushed.

So Reuben gets:

• The territory of Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge
• The whole plateau past Medeba to Heshbon
• The entire realm of Sihon

Gad inherits:

• The territory of Jazer
• All the towns of Gilead
• Half the Ammonite country
• Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim
• Mahanaim to the territory of Debir
• Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth and Zaphon
• The rest of the realm of Sihon king of Heshbon up to the Sea of Kinnereth (Apparently Reuben didn't get ALL the Sihon land)

Manasseh (Makir) inherits:

• Mahanaim and including all of Bashan
• The entire realm of Og king of Bashan
• All the settlements of Jair in Bashan, sixty towns,
• Half of Gilead
• And Ashtaroth and Edrei (the royal cities of Og in Bashan)

Levi inhereits:

• No land

So they got that going for them.