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Joshua 18:11–28
“Now the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the territory of their lot came out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph” (Josh. 18:11).
The 21 men from the seven still-unsettled tribes survey the unassigned regions of Canaan, subdivide the available land into seven tracts, and bring back a report to Joshua. He then takes up the lot, allowing God to assign each portion to the tribe He chooses in the order He determines.
The first lot is for Benjamin. Its assigned territory stretches from the northern tip of the Dead Sea approximately halfway across Canaan. Most of it lies in the hill country north of Judah and south of Ephraim and Manasseh. Benjamin’s placement between these larger tribes is quite interesting. Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob and the younger brother of Joseph; they were the two sons of Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel. Jacob was especially fond of Joseph and Benjamin, and Joseph loved his younger brother deeply. The book of Genesis records that Joseph, testing his brothers when he encountered them in Egypt, demanded that they bring Benjamin to him (Gen. 42:15). Jacob was unwilling to let Benjamin go (42:38) until famine forced him to do so; at that time, Benjamin’s older half-brother, Judah, stepped forward and offered to be “surety” for Benjamin’s life (43:9). Thus, the tribe of Benjamin is paired with the tribes descended from his loving brother and the half-brother who was willing to protect Benjamin with his own life, if necessary. Nestled between these powerful protectors, the Benjamites enjoy a measure of peace and prosperity in the Canaanite heartland. They later will cleave to Judah in remaining faithful to the rightful kings of Israel, those from David’s line. Ironically, that heartbreaking split will put once-sheltered Benjamin on the frontier between Judah and the tribes that comprise the kingdom of Israel.
The descriptions of Benjamin’s borders and cities are far more detailed and extensive than any of the tribal lots that follow, for reasons that are not clear. Its cities include Jericho, which, though it cannot be rebuilt with walls and gates (Josh. 6:26), can be inhabited as a village; Gibeon, the city of the Canaanites who tricked Joshua into sparing their lives (Josh. 9); and especially Jebus, or Jerusalem. Even though David, a Judahite, later wrests this city from Canaanite control and adopts it as his capital, Scripture specifically notes here that it is allotted to Benjamin.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The Benjamites in time will fall into severe wickedness, as we will see in the book of Judges. But this tribe will show itself righteous in at least one way—by following the tribe of Judah and the line of David when every other tribe rebels. In the same way, our calling is to be faithful to our King. How are you tempted to betray Him?
For Further Study
- 2 Chronicles 34:32
- Mark 10:21
- John 1:43
- Hebrews 3:2
- Revelation 14:4