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Joshua 14

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The Initial Division of Canaan 1–5

1
And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance to them. ​
2
By lot was their inheritance, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half tribe. ​
3
For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and an half tribe on the other side Jordan: but unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them. ​
4
For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim: therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance. ​
5
As the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did, and they divided the land.

Caleb Claims His Inheritance 6–15

6
Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea. ​
7
Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. ​
8
Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God. ​
9
And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God. ​
10
And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. ​
11
As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. ​
12
Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said. ​
13
And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. ​
14
Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel. ​
15
And the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Joshua 14

Verse 1

inherited… distributed for inheritance — One verb, nachal, serves for the people who inherit and the leaders who cause them to inherit. The men who divide the land were named by the LORD before the crossing: ‘Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun’ (Num 34:17), with the tribal heads of v.1 (Num 34:18–29).

Verse 2

By lot was their inheritance — Goral, the lot, was commanded for this division: ‘ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families’ (Num 33:54), here for ‘the nine tribes, and… the half tribe’ west of Jordan (Num 34:13). ‘The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD’ (Prov 16:33).

Verse 3

unto the Levites he gave none inheritance — Two tribes and a half were already settled east of Jordan (Josh 13:8). Levi’s lack of land is explained there: ‘the LORD God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto them’ (13:33), the word given to Aaron, ‘I am thy part and thine inheritance’ (Num 18:20).

Verse 4

two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim — Jacob had taken Joseph’s sons as his own: ‘Ephraim and Manasseh… are mine; as Reuben and Simeon’ (Gen 48:5). So Joseph counts twice and Levi, set apart, holds no tribal share. The Levites received ‘cities to dwell in’ with ‘suburbs’ (Num 35:2), which are assigned in Josh 21.

Verse 6

Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite — He comes with Judah’s men to Gilgal. ‘Kenezite’ is his title in Num 32:12, and Othniel is called ‘the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother’ (Judg 1:13). ‘The thing that the LORD said… concerning me and thee’ is Num 14:24 and 14:30, where only these two were excepted.

Verse 7

Forty years old was I — The age fits v.10: forty then, eighty-five now. ‘Espy out’ is ragal, to spy; at Kadeshbarnea he ‘brought him word again as it was in mine heart’, and said, ‘Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it’ (Num 13:30).

Verse 8

I wholly followed the LORD — ‘Wholly’ is male’, to fill: he filled up after the LORD. The phrase is the LORD’s own word of him in Num 14:24, ‘followed me fully’, and recurs here in vv.8, 9 and 14. ‘Made the heart of the people melt’ (masas) answers the spies’ report, ‘We be not able to go up against the people’ (Num 13:31).

Verse 9

Moses sware — The oath behind it stands in Deut 1:34–36, where the LORD ‘sware’ and promised Caleb ‘the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD’. ‘Trodden’ is darak, the verb of Josh 1:3, ‘Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon’.

Verse 10

kept me alive, as he said — Chayah, to preserve alive. Forty-five years run from the word at Kadesh to this day, as 40 + 45 = 85. Of that whole generation, ‘there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun’ (Num 26:65).

Verse 11

both to go out, and to come in — The words are Moses’ of himself at a hundred and twenty: ‘I can no more go out and come in’ (Deut 31:2), though ‘his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated’ (Deut 34:7). Caleb’s claim is to koach, strength, ‘for war’, as on the day Moses sent him.

Verse 12

give me this mountain — Har, the hill country around Hebron. The Anakims are the sons of Anak the spies had seen, when ‘the cities are walled, and very great’ (Num 13:28). Joshua had ‘cut off the Anakims… from Hebron’ (11:21); Caleb ‘drove thence the three sons of Anak’ (15:14). His condition is ‘if so be the LORD will be with me’.

Verse 13

Joshua blessed him — Barak, to bless. The gift followed ‘the commandment of the LORD to Joshua’ (Josh 15:13). Hebron was where Abram ‘built there an altar unto the LORD’ (Gen 13:18) and Sarah was buried (Gen 23:19). The city itself later went to the priests as a city of refuge, while its fields stayed Caleb’s (21:12–13).

Verse 14

because that he wholly followed — The reason is given a third time, after vv.8 and 9. Num 32:11–12 gives the same ground for the oath, that the rest ‘have not wholly followed me’ while Caleb the Kenezite and Joshua ‘have wholly followed the LORD’. ‘Unto this day’ marks the possession as lasting.

Verse 15

Kirjatharba — ‘City of Arba’, named for ‘Arba the father of Anak’ (Josh 21:11), a ‘great man among the Anakims’. The older name is already in Abraham’s time: ‘Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron’ (Gen 23:2). ‘The land had rest from war’ (shaqat) repeats 11:23 and closes the conquest before the allotments continue.