Jos. 19: Where They Goin'

Joshua 19:51 "These are the territories that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel assigned by lot at Shiloh in the presence of the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. And so they finished dividing the land."

Joshua 19 goes through the division of the rest of the land among the remaining tribes who had to be forced into their inheritance. Can you imagine such a thing?

Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan all receive their allotments here. And it goes as one who doesn't know jack about Bible time maps or geography. So and so gets this land somewhere. Guess I have some ancillary study to do.

With Simeon, they get Beersheba...which I've heard of before. It's where Abraham promised Abimelech that he wouldn't deceive him anymore in Genesis 21. Another interesting note about Simeon's land. It was apparently taken from the land of Judah, since Judah had to much land, more than they needed. Maybe Simeon praised Judah for this (Genesis 49:8).

Zebulun gets a bunch of towns, including Bethlehem, which was probably a pretty revered site, as it was where Rachel, the mother of Israel, was buried.

Dan has a little trouble taking their land, so they have to go in with swords drawn and take over Leshem, which they rename Dan.

After everyone else is all settled in, Joshua takes his portion. He didn't bust up in the place and take whatever he wanted, which is probably what typical kings would do. He waited until his people had their land, and then selected one measly town for himself, Timnath Serah. That shows humility, but something makes me think Joshua never gave any thought to taking whatever he wanted.