Josué 18

Josué 18

Utley adds that "YHWH had clearly stated His intentions to Abraham (cf. Ge 15:7, 16; 13:15, 17; 17:8) and reaffirmed them to Isaac (cf. Ge 26:4) and Jacob (cf. Ge 28:13–14). Moses had clearly stated YHWH’s intentions toward Israel (cf. Ex 13:5, 11; 32:13; 33:1; Dt. 1:7–8; 4:38, 40; 5:31; 7:13; 8:1; 9:6; 11:9, 17; 26:1, 9; 32:52; 34:4; Josh 1:2, 3, 6, 11, 13, 15; 2:9, 24; 18:3; 21:43; 23:13; 24:13). Many of these promises are linked to covenant obedience." (Commentary) Campbell comments that "Apparently the tribes were to initiate matters relating to territorial allocations. Joshua probably viewed every passing day as a day lost in the program of completely occupying the land, a day in which the enemy could return or become more firmly entrenched." (The Bible Knowledge Commentary Old Testament) Rod Mattoon - What do you do when you get stuck behind a slow driver? Do you pass when it’s dangerous, tailgate, lay on the horn, flash the lights, or relax and enjoy the scenery? At Shiloh, seven tribes were driving real slow. They had not possessed the land. Joshua is honking the horn and getting impatient with their laziness. The seven tribes were slow to respond to the challenge. They were weak in faith and spiritual zeal and hesitated to claim their land. They were content without an inheritance; tired of war and hardship. These folks wanted ease and were content to wander. What a picture of carnal believers today who are weak in faith and lack spiritual zeal. They are content to wander spiritually and are unconcerned about the blessings and riches of God for their lives. Like these tribes we have a tendency to delay the completion of the difficult, the boring, or the disagreeable. Our procrastination is a lack of discipline and reveals poor stewardship of time. Are you floating in your Christian life? Get busy for God. Don’t waste the precious time He has given you to serve Him. A few years ago, Snoopy, the beagle in the Charlie Brown cartoons, had his left leg broken. Hundreds wrote letters to Snoopy or sent sympathy cards. Perched on top of his dog house one day and staring at his huge cast, Snoopy began to philosophize about his plight. “My body blames my foot for not being able to go places. My foot says it was my head’s fault, and my head blames my eyes. My eyes say my feet are clumsy, and my right foot says not to blame him for what my left foot did.” Snoopy looks out at his audience and confesses, “I don’t say anything because I don’t want to get involved.” This attitude does not belong among God’s people. We are to be concerned and involved in serving Jesus Christ. (Treasures From Joshua) Stephen Grant has some interesting points of possible application - Some believers wish to emulate the two and a half tribes that settled on the wrong side of the Jordan. They desire to go in for the things of the world whilst continuing to maintain some loose connection with the Lord’s people. Others come up against an obstacle or an enemy, which they cannot overcome, and come to accept failure and live with it. Some believers feel that compromise is the best way forward and exploit what should be absent from their lives in order to enhance their quality of life. The tribes who took possession of their inheritance thus far in the narrative have provided illustrations of these problems. The remaining seven tribes point to a tendency among some Christians to be content with a shallow, superficial life of spiritual neutrality. They do not wish to go into the world and live a sinful life, yet display no desire to go in for the things of the Lord. Such inertia is displeasing to the Lord and carries great risk to a believer’s spiritual well-being. It is the equivalent to standing still in no-man’s-land. (What the Bible Teaches - Joshua Judges Ruth) Don Anderson - I am reminded of a cartoon given to me from the Wall Street Journal which is a picture of an Israelite standing with his staff on a mountain looking heavenward saying, "Gee, we were sort of hoping that the Promised Land would be somewhere outside of the Middle East." It is so easy in our lives to sit down and wait after we have won the victory, rather than move on and possess the territory that has been acquired. Put off (07503) raphah means to sink, to become slack, to relax, to cease (Jdg. 8:3; 2 Sa 24:16; Neh. 6:9; Ps. 37:8), to desist or leave alone (Ex. 4:26; Dt. 9:14; Jdg. 11:37; Job 7:19), to become discouraged, to become disheartened, to become weak, to become feeble, to let drop or let go (Job 27:6; = figuratively; Pr. 4:13 = figuratively; Song 3:4 = literally), to discourage, to leave alone, to let go, to forsake or abandon someone (Deut. 4:31; 31:6, 8; Josh. 1:5; 10:6; Ps. 138:8), to be lazy (Ex. 5:8, 17; Josh. 18:3; Prov. 18:9). Strong's - 1) to sink, relax, sink down, let drop, be disheartened 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to sink down 1a2) to sink, drop 1a3) to sink, relax, abate 1a4) to relax, withdraw 1b) (Niphal) idle (participle) 1c) (Piel) to let drop 1d) (Hiphil) 1d1) to let drop, abandon, relax, refrain, forsake 1d2) to let go 1d3) to refrain, let alone 1d4) to be quiet 1e) (Hithpael) to show oneself slack GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 18 How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, &c. This is surely the language of rebuke, and implies that there had been a criminal remissness, among the tribes, in regard to this matter, the probable source of which is explained in the remarks on the preceding verse. It is true, indeed, that they could not well be enjoined to enter immediately, to rush, as it were, upon their inheritances, for the particular assignments were first to be made to each, but the point of the censure is directed to their indifference in this respect. Joshua 18:4 "Provide for yourselves three men from each tribe that I may send them, and that they may arise and walk through the land and write a description of it according to their inheritance; then they shall return to me. Literally Hebrew = "I will send them so they may arise and walk about in the land and describe it in writing according to their inheritance and come to me." NET Joshua 18:4 Pick three men from each tribe. I will send them out to walk through the land and make a map of it for me. BGT Joshua 18:4 δότε ἐξ ὑμῶν τρεῖς ἄνδρας ἐκ φυλῆς καὶ ἀναστάντες διελθέτωσαν τὴν γῆν καὶ διαγραψάτωσαν αὐτὴν ἐναντίον μου καθὰ δεήσει διελεῖν αὐτήν καὶ ἤλθοσαν πρὸς αὐτόν NLT Joshua 18:4 Select three men from each tribe, and I will send them out to explore the land and map it out. They will then return to me with a written report of their proposed divisions of their new homeland. ESV Joshua 18:4 Provide three men from each tribe, and I will send them out that they may set out and go up and down the land. They shall write a description of it with a view to their inheritances, and then come to me. NIV Joshua 18:4 Appoint three men from each tribe. I will send them out to make a survey of the land and to write a description of it, according to the inheritance of each. Then they will return to me. three: Jos 18:3 3:12 4:2 Nu 1:4 13:2 description of it: Jos 18:6,9 Joshua 18 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries JOSHUA COMMANDS "SURVEYING CREWS" Provide for yourselves three men from each tribe that I may send them, and that they may arise and walk through the land and write a description of it according to their inheritance; then they shall return to me - Joshua is for action, but not before careful plans are made. Joshua issues a command to appoint 21 men, 3 each from the tribes that have yet to receive their inheritance. Mattoon - Jewish historians record that these men were experts in geometry. Their parents mastered the science of land surveying in Egypt. Bush suggests that "Joshua’s instructions, therefore, required the commissioners to have a special eye to the intrinsic value of the different parts of the country, as being more or less fertile and eligible." GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 18 Give out from among you. Heb. הבו לכם hâbu lâkem, give ye for yourselves; i. e. appoint, select, ordain. Three men of each tribe. Of each of the seven tribes that yet remained to be provided for, making twenty-one in all. Go through the land. Accompanied, perhaps, by a military guard, to prevent the surveyors from being cut off by straggling parties of the Canaanites. Others suppose the Canaanites were supernaturally intimidated and restrained from attacking them. Describe it. See on v. 9. According to the inheritance of them. Heb. לפי נהלתם lepi nahalâthâm, according to the mouth of their inheritance; i. e., probably, to the value of their inheritance, or the country which they were to inherit not of their particular inheritances, for these were afterwards to be assigned them by lot, but of the country in general which was to constitute their inheritance. This is frequently the sense of the Heb. term פי pi, mouth, as may be seen by consulting Ex. 12:4; 16:18; Gen. 43:7; Prov. 12:8. The words of Josephus, in his account of this affair, give, as we conceive, very nearly the precise import of the original. ‘He also gave them a charge to estimate the measure of that part of the land that was most fruitful, and what was not so good.’ Again, ‘Joshua thought the land for the tribes should be divided by estimation of its goodness, rather than the largeness of its measure; it often happening that one acre of some sorts of land was equivalent to a thousand other acres.’ Ant. B. V., ch. 1. § 21. Joshua’s instructions, therefore, required the commissioners to have a special eye to the intrinsic value of the different parts of the country, as being more or less fertile and eligible. Joshua 18:5 "They shall divide it into seven portions; Judah shall stay in its territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall stay in their territory on the north. Judah shall: Jos 15:1-12 19:1-9 the house: Jos 16:1-17:18 Joshua 18 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries They shall divide it into seven portions; Judah shall stay in its territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall stay in their territory on the north - The message is that it was "hands off" the property of Judah and that of the sons of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim). Bush comments that these 21 men "were carefully to divide the remaining territory which was not occupied by these tribes into seven equal parts." GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 18 And they shall divide it. Or, Heb. התחלקו hithhalleku, divide ye it. Judah shall abide in their coast. In their district, in their region. Heb. ‘shall stand upon his border.’ The meaning undoubtedly is, that in this survey they were not to take into consideration the tribe of Judah, which was in the south, nor the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, which were on the north of where they now were, but were carefully to divide the remaining territory which was not occupied by these tribes into seven equal parts. The tribes of Judah and Joseph had been already provided for; let them stand by themselves. The terms north and south are here used relatively to Shiloh, rather than to the actual position of these two tribes. Joshua 18:6 "You shall describe the land in seven divisions, and bring [the description] here to me. I will cast lots for you here before the LORD our God. may cast: Jos 18:8,10 14:2 Nu 26:54,55 33:54 34:13 Ps 105:11 Pr 16:33 18:18 Ac 13:19 Joshua 18 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries SURVEY FOLLOWED BY CASTING LOTS You shall describe the land in seven divisions, and bring [the description] here to me. I will cast lots for you here before the LORD our God - It is Joshua, not Eleazar the high priest, who cast the lots, but as Pr 16:33 says "every decision is from the LORD." Notice Joshua's words before the LORD our God which emphasize His sovereign role in the casting of lots. And note that "before the LORD" is found three times, for added emphasis. Hess explains that "Everything is recorded in a book. Joshua writes the covenant in the Book of the Law of God (24:26; see also 8:32, 34). Just as the law guides the people in their life, the map book will guide the people in their possession of God’s blessing of the land. (Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary) Don't miss the phrase before the LORD (Septuagint translates it "enanti kuriou tou theou hemon" where the preposition "enanti" means literally "in the presence of" or "in front of") signifying that this was in His presence (repeated 3 times in this section - Josh 18:6, 8, 10). He would witness this allotment. This was in a sense an act of worship before the LORD. And then on the conclusion of the casting of lots and distribution of land, we encounter the phrase in Shiloh before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting (Joshua 19:51). Dale Ralph Davis - Though this seems perfunctory enough to us, it was nevertheless necessary. There could be no end of complaint, quarrelling, or discontent unless the tribes were assured that their lot was determined by the hand of God, that their territory was theirs by Yahweh’s decision. The heart of the matter differs little for the Christian, though it may seldom involve real estate. Only as I am convinced that ‘my times are in thy hand’ (Ps. 31:15—see v. 13 for what those times can be like!) and that Yahweh really does hold my lot (cf. Ps. 16:5), can I be kept from bitterness and discontent. There is, by a strange chemistry, something oddly consoling when I realise in a fresh way that my present lot is what my Lord has intended for me. (Joshua: No Falling Words) GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 18 Before the Lord our God. Before the ark or tabernacle, over which the symbol of the divine presence rested. See on Joshua 3:11. The transaction was a solemn one, and he would have it so performed as that the tribes should look upon their possessions, as established to them by divine authority. The pious heart ever delights to look upon God as ‘determining the bounds of our habitations’ Joshua 18:7 "For the Levites have no portion among you, because the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance. Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh also have received their inheritance eastward beyond the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them." the Levites: Jos 13:14,33 Nu 18:20,23 De 10:9, 18:1-2 and Gad: Jos 13:8-31 Nu 32:29-41 De 3:12-17 4:47,48 Joshua 18 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Joshua 13:14; 33 Only to the tribe of Levi he did not give an inheritance; the offerings by fire to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as He spoke to him. 13:33 But to the tribe of Levi, Moses did not give an inheritance; the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as He had promised to them. Numbers 18:20 Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. Numbers 18:23 “Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. Deuteronomy 10:9 Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God spoke to him.) Deuteronomy 18:1-2 “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the LORD’S offerings by fire and His portion. 2“They shall have no inheritance among their countrymen; the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them. REMINDER THAT LEVITES NOT IN THE "LOTTERY" For the Levites have no portion among you, because the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance - The inheritance of the Levites is reiterated and ultimately it is the best because it is Yahweh Himself! While God Himself was to be their inheritance (Joshua 13:14+, Nu 18:20-24+, Dt 10:9+), God had instructed Israel to give them cities in which to live and they were to have pasture lands to graze their cattle - see comments on Joshua 21:1-45. As an aside, the LORD was also to be the inheritance of His people The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance (PORTION, POSSESSION); The LORD of hosts is His name. (Jeremiah 10:16) Utley - The Levites as a tribe took the place of the firstborn (cf. Exodus 13) in serving YHWH (cf. 13:14; Nu. 18:1–32 and note at Josh. 13:33). (Commentary) Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh also have received their inheritance eastward beyond the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them - The inheritance east of the Jordan is repeated again (Jos 13:8-31 Nu 32:29-41 De 3:12-17 Dt 4:47,48) Related Resource: How was God Himself the inheritance of the Levites? | GotQuestions.org What is our inheritance in Christ? | GotQuestions.org BELIEVER'S HAVE AN ALLOTMENT - What does it mean to say that God is my portion? | GotQuestions.org Joshua 18:8 Then the men arose and went, and Joshua commanded those who went to describe the land, saying, "Go and walk through the land and describe it, and return to me; then I will cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh." NET Joshua 18:8 When the men started out, Joshua told those going to map out the land, "Go, walk through the land, map it out, and return to me. Then I will draw lots for you before the LORD here in Shiloh." BGT Joshua 18:8 καὶ ἀναστάντες οἱ ἄνδρες ἐπορεύθησαν καὶ ἐνετείλατο Ἰησοῦς τοῖς ἀνδράσιν τοῖς πορευομένοις χωροβατῆσαι τὴν γῆν λέγων πορεύεσθε καὶ χωροβατήσατε τὴν γῆν καὶ παραγενήθητε πρός με καὶ ὧδε ἐξοίσω ὑμῖν κλῆρον ἔναντι κυρίου ἐν Σηλω NLT Joshua 18:8 As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua commanded them, "Go and explore the land and write a description of it. Then return to me, and I will assign the land to the tribes by casting sacred lots here in the presence of the LORD at Shiloh." ESV Joshua 18:8 So the men arose and went, and Joshua charged those who went to write the description of the land, saying, "Go up and down in the land and write a description and return to me. And I will cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh." NIV Joshua 18:8 As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua instructed them, "Go and make a survey of the land and write a description of it. Then return to me, and I will cast lots for you here at Shiloh in the presence of the LORD." Go and walk: Ge 13:17 that I may here: Jos 18:6,10 7:16-18 13:7 14:1,2 15:1 1Sa 14:41 Ac 1:24-26 Ro 14:19 Joshua 18 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passage: Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD. SURVEY THE LAND BEFORE CASTING LOTS Then the men arose and went, and Joshua commanded those who went to describe the land, saying, "Go and walk through the land and describe it, and return to me; then I will cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh - Walking on the land recalls Joshua 1:3 "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses." Joshua is a good general/administrator for he repeats the instructions in capsule form and reissues the commands. This is done so that the men will have no question about what their job is. Utley - Joshua wants these remaining tribes to act on YHWH’s promises and possess their inheritance! The very act of these tribal representatives walking on the land was a symbol of possession (cf. Gen. 13:17; Num. 13:17–24). (Commentary) Bush comments that "This is the earliest instance of land-surveying on record. The art was perhaps learned from the Egyptians; for their fields being annually overflowed by the Nile, and the land-marks swept away, they would be compelled frequently to resurvey them, in order to adjust their limits. William Blaikie - Judah and Joseph are not to be disturbed in the settlements that have already been given to them; but the men are to divide the rest of the country into seven parts, and thereafter it is to be determined by lot to which tribe each part shall belong. It would appear that special note was to be taken of the cities, for when the surveyors returned and gave in their report they “described the land by cities into seven parts in a book.” Each city had a certain portion of land connected with it, and the land always went with the city. The art of writing was sufficiently practised to enable them to compose what has been called the “Domesday Book” of Canaan, and the record being in writing was a great safeguard against the disputes that might have arisen had so large a report consisted of mere oral statement. When the seven portions had been balloted for, there was no excuse for any of the tribes clinging any longer to that nomad life, for which, while in the wilderness, they seem to have acquired a real love. GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 18 Described it in a book. Laid it down on a map or chart, accompanied, perhaps, with a verbal description of the leading features of the country. Described it by cities. Setting down the most remarkable cities, with their towns and villages, their distances from each other, and the territories adjacent. And came again to Joshua. According to Josephus, at the end of seven months. F B