II. THE DIVISION OF THE LAND chs. 13--21

Chapters 13-24 describe how Joshua divided the land and the results of that division. Many if not all the Israelite tribes did not conquer or control all the land allotted to them (15:63; 16:10; 17:12-13). The record of the actual division of the land is in chapters 13-21, and the arrangements for settlement in it follow in chapters 22-24.

At the end of the seven-year period of conquest Israel occupied very little of the Promised Land. "Very much"of it remained for them to possess (v. 1).¹⁶⁰Consequently dividing all the land among the tribes required faith that God would give His people all the land. Joshua had removed the significant military threats to Israel's existence. From now on each tribe was responsible to conquer and colonize its designated territory.

"Resisting the temptation to skip over this section of Joshua [chs. 13-21] can result in an appreciation of important features of God's covenant with Israel. Beyond the obvious detail of the content of these chapters and the means by which God blessed those who remained faithful in the conquest of the land, this passage also addresses the question why the land formed so significant a part of God's promises to the patriarchs and remained a key feature of the covenant."¹⁶¹

 A. The land yet to be possessed 13:1-7 

13:1 Joshua was probably in his 80s at this time.

13:2 The Philistines were not native Canaanite peoples. They had migrated to Canaan from the northwest. They had by this time displaced the Canaanites in the southwest portion of the Promised Land. Because the land they occupied was part of what God had promised Israel the Israelites were responsible to drive them out too. The Israelites were not successful in doing this. The Philistines increased in power and influence over the Israelites eventually becoming the major enemy of Israel during Saul's reign. At this time, however, they were a smaller, secondary target of the Israelites.

13:3-5 The "Shihor"is probably the brook of Egypt, the modern Wadi el Arish, that marked the southwestern boundary of the Promised Land. "Sidon"may represent the inhabitants of the Phoenician coast and of the Lebanon mountains.¹⁶²The land of the Gebalite (v. 5) refers to the city-state of Byblos.¹⁶³

13:6 God's promise to drive out all the remaining Canaanites depended on Israel's obedience to the Mosaic Covenant (1:6-7).¹⁶⁴

13:7 The land referred to here included all that God had promised west of the Jordan River.

 B. The land east of the Jordan 13:8-33

This portion of the Promised Land went to the two and one-half tribes that had requested it previously (Num. 32).

13:8-14 This pericope of verses records the boundaries of Israel's whole transjordanian territory. The peoples the Israelites did not annihilate and their land that they did not possess were in the northern part of this area (cf. 12:5). Gilead (v. 11) included land on both sides of the Jabbok east of the Jordan.

"The Transjordanian tribes receive a disproportionate amount of attention in this book that records the Conquest and division of the land westof the Jordan (cf. 1:12-15; 4:12; 12:1-6; 13:8-33; 22:1-34). The author was eager to uphold the unity of the Twelve Tribes in spite of the geographic separation and an undercurrent of feeling that only the land west of the Jordan was truly the Promised Land."¹⁶⁵

13:15-23 Reuben's portion was the southern part of this area.

Balaam (v. 22) had lost his life during Israel's battle with the Midianites (Num. 31:8).

13:24-28 The allotment of Gad lay in the middle of Israel's territory east of the Jordan roughly between the Jabbok River and the northern end of the Dead Sea.

13:29-31 Half of the tribe of Manasseh settled in the northern portion of this area.

13:32-33 The description of this territory ends with a reminder of the Levites' inheritance, who received a special relationship to God rather than a tract of land.

"The two and one-half tribes chose, as Lot did, on the basis of appearance (cf. Gen. 13:10-11), and their inheritance was ultimately lost to them [cf. 1 Chron. 5:26]. On the other hand the Levites, requesting no portion, were given an inheritance of abiding spiritual significance."¹⁶⁶

 C. The land west of the Jordan chs. 14-19

 D. The special cities chs. 20-21

 E. The faithfulness of God 21:43-45

These verses conclude the account of the division of the land proper (chs. 13-21; cf. 1:2-6; 11:23). They bind the two parts of the second half of the book together. They form a theological conclusion to the entire book up to this point.¹⁹⁰

These statements may seem at first to mean that at this time the Israelites had obtained everything God had promised the patriarchs. Such was not the case.

"Notwithstanding the fact that many a tract of country still remained in the hands of the Canaanites, the promise that the land of Canaan should be given to the house of Israel for a possession had been fulfilled; for God had not promised the immediate and total destruction of the Canaanites, but only their gradual extermination (Ex. xxiii. 29, 30; Deut. vii. 22). And even though the Israelites never came into undisputed possession of the whole of the promised land, to the full extent of the boundaries laid down in Num. xxxiv. 1-2, never conquering Tyre and Sidon for example, the promises of God were no more broken on that account than they were through the circumstance, that after the death of Joshua and the elders his contemporaries, Israel was sometimes hard pressed by the Canaanites; since the complete fulfillment of this promise was inseparably connected with the fidelity of Israel to the Lord."¹⁹¹

"The Canaanites, it is true, were yet in possession of some parts of the country, but they were so far subdued, that they gave them [the Israelites] no serious molestation, and they were enabled to sit down in their possessions in the enjoyment of comparative rest and quiet. They had as much of the land in actual possession as they could occupy; and as they increased God enabled them, according to his promise, Ex. 23.30, to carry forward the work of extermination, and obtain further room for their settlement. All the assurances given to Joshua, ch. 1.5, of a successful tide of victories during his life, were accomplished, and as to the subsequent annoyance and occasional prevalence of their enemies, it was owing solely to the supineness and infidelity of Israel. So long as they were obedient, they were uniformly triumphant and prosperous."¹⁹²

In 23:5 Joshua indicated that there was more land that the Israelites needed to possess. In 24:1-28 he urged the people to commit themselves anew to the Mosaic Covenant so they might experience all that God had promised their forefathers. These passages confirm that Joshua did not mean by his statement of God's faithfulness here that Israel had already possessed all that God had promised her forefathers.

"The meaning of the Deuteronomist's rest theology is clearly seen here [in v. 44]. Rest is peace, absence of enemies and war. See Josh 1:12-18. The verse is a counterpart to chap. 12, which concluded the first section of the book. It is the fulfillment of God's promise in Exod 33:14. Both major sections of the book thus end with a statement about God's faithfulness in totally defeating the enemy."¹⁹³

The point Joshua was making in verse 45 was that God had been faithful to His promises up to that moment. He had promised possession of the land, rest on every side, and victory over enemies. Israel had experienced all of these to some degree. God had been faithful to the "good promises"He had made to them when they had prepared to cross the Jordan (1:1-9).

It was common among the Semites to regard a part of the whole as the whole (cf. Deut. 26:5-10; 1 Kings 13:32; Jer. 31:5; 2 Sam. 5:6-10; Rev. 14:1; 22:1; Rom. 15:19-24). The name for this viewpoint is representative universalism. Some students of this passage believe that Joshua was taking this view here. He was speaking in universal terms. He regarded the individual kings, towns, and areas that he had subdued as representative of the entire land of Canaan.¹⁹⁴

"The small section summarizes the theological point of the book of Joshua. The entire book is to be read in light of these three verses, particularly the last."¹⁹⁵