Joshua 18:11

And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families,.... This was the first lot of the seven that came up; it was but a small lot, and therefore called "little

And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. The lot of ... Benjamin came up.

Wherein we see the wisdom of Divine Providence, this being the only place in which that prophecy, , could have been accomplished.

Joshua 18:11 And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.Ver. 11. Between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.] This was as well as heart could wish; what could God do more for Jacob’ s darling, and for the fulfilling of Moses’ s prophecy? It is a great happiness doubtless to be well neighboured; and yet a greater to be near the place where God’ s honour dwelleth. The league betwixt Judah and Benjamin lasted, as if they had been but one tribe, when the rest revolted with Jeroboam. The city of Jerusalem was divided betwixt them, though the greater part of it belonged to Benjamin, and when the Jebusites were to be thence expelled, both these tribes joined their forces together, as Judah and Simeon did in a like case.

THE OF .(11-28) The lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin.—It can have been by no accident that their lot came forth “between Judah and Joseph.” No wiser method could have been devised to secure an united Israel than thus to make Benjamin the link between the two most powerful and naturally rival tribes. In the story of Joseph, the brethren are reconciled through the mutual affection of Judah and Joseph for Benjamin as their father’s youngest and best-loved son. The position thus given to Benjamin under Joshua was still further developed by circumstances. The tribe was almost exterminated in the time of the judges; the survivors were united in marriage with women of Ephraim and Manasseh (?). On the other hand, the city of Jerusalem, although assigned by Joshua to Benjamin, was first a joint possession of Judah and Benjamin (1 Chronicles 8:28; 1 Chronicles 8:32; Judges 1:8; Judges 1:21), then the royal city of the kings of the house of Judah. The selection of the first king of Israel from Benjamin, and the ultimate planting of the religious and political centre of all the tribes on the confines of Judah and Benjamin in Jerusalem, would have been two masterstrokes of policy if they had been schemes of man’s devising. They were really links in the long chain of God’s providential dealing with the chosen people. (12) And their border.—This is first described on the north side, where it coincided with the southern border of Ephraim. Conder draws it from El ‘Aujeh (sheet 15), five miles north of Jericho, towards Beth-el (Beitin), perhaps going along the Wβdy’ Aujeh, Beth-el lying within the territory of Benjamin (Joshua 18:22), and so on to Archi (Joshua 16:2), now Ain ‘Arik (near the top of sheet 17), and thence to Ataroth-addar (Ed-Dβrieh), near Beth-horon the nether (Beit- ϋr-et-Tahta). This line is from east to west. (14) And the border was drawn thence . . .—At this point it turns southward, and runs from the neighbourhood of Beth-horon to Kirjath-jearim (Khurbet ‘Erma, in sheet 17: very small, and not easily found). Corner of the sea.—Ph’ath Yβm, “the west side.” (15) And the south quarter.—Here the borderline again turns to the east, and runs to Ain Atβn (the waters of Nephtoah), near Bethlehem. Thence it turns to the north-east, and follows the line described above (Joshua 15:6-8) as the northern boundary of Judah. (17) The stone of Bohan the son of Reuben must have been near the Jordan. Is it possible that Bohan, the son of Reuben, did on his own account what was done for all Israel by the command of Joshua? (Joshua 4:8). (21) The cities of the tribe of . . . Benjamin.—The following are identified: viz., in Joshua 18:21, ‘Ain-es-Sultan,’ Ain Hajlah (sheet 18); Joshua 18:22, Khurbet es-Sϊmnrah, Beitin (sheet 18); Joshua 18:23, Fβtah (sheet 18), Taiyibeh (sheet 14); Joshua 18:24, Jeb ‘a (sheet 17). (22) Beth-el seems to have passed into the hands of Ephraim without question when the tribe of Benjamin was all but exterminated.

Verse 11. And the lot - of Benjamin came up] On the manner of casting the lot, see on Joshua 14:2, and Numbers 26:55. There were probably two urns, one of which contained the names of the seven tribes, and the other that of the seven portions. They therefore took out one name out of the first urn, and one portion out of the second, and thus the portion was adjudged to that tribe.

11–20. Boundaries of the Tribe of Benjamin 11. between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph] When the lots were now cast “before the Lord,” the lot of Benjamin came forth first, and we have an account of (a) the boundaries, and then (b) of the cities of this tribe, which, we are here told, lay between the sons of Judah on the south and the sons of Joseph on the north.

See the marginal references. There are many indications found in this and the next chapter that the text is in great disorder, and many of the places are still unknown.

’S LOT, Joshua 18:11-28.Benjamin’s lot lay on the south of the sons of Joseph, so that the descendants of Rachel were all adjoining, and in the very heart of the land.