Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The allotment of the tribes, begun at Gilgal but interrupted, is restored by Joshua's command at Shiloh. He therefore sends surveyors to measure more precisely the remaining undivided Canaan and to divide it into seven regions for the seven remaining tribes. Accordingly, the tribe of Benjamin is the first to occupy one of the seven lots, verse 11, whose cities and boundaries are then described.
Vulgate Text: Joshua 18:1-28
1. And all the children of Israel gathered at Shiloh, and there they set up the tabernacle of the testimony, and the land was subject to them. 2. But seven tribes of the children of Israel remained that had not yet received their possessions. 3. To whom Joshua said: How long will you languish in idleness and not enter to possess the land that the Lord God of your fathers has given you? 4. Choose three men from each tribe, that I may send them, and they may go and travel through the land and describe it according to the number of each tribe's multitude; and let them report to me what they have described. 5. Divide the land among yourselves into seven parts: let Judah stay in his boundaries on the southern side, and the house of Joseph on the north. 6. Describe the land between them in seven parts; and come here to me, that before the Lord your God I may cast lots for you here: 7. because there is no part for the Levites among you, but the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. And Gad and Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh have already received their possessions beyond the Jordan to the east, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them. 8. And when the men had risen to go and describe the land, Joshua commanded them, saying: Go around the land and describe it, and return to me, that here before the Lord, in Shiloh, I may cast lots for you. 9. And so they went, and surveying it, they divided it into seven parts, writing in a book; and they returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. 10. And he cast lots before the Lord in Shiloh and divided the land among the children of Israel into seven parts. 11. And the first lot came up for the children of Benjamin by their families, that they might possess the land between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. 12. And their border on the north was from the Jordan: going along the side of Jericho on the northern side, and from there ascending westward to the mountains, and reaching the wilderness of Beth-aven; 13. and passing along beside Luz to the south, which is Bethel: and it descends to Ataroth-addar, to the mountain that is south of Lower Beth-horon; 14. and it bends around westward to the south of the mountain that faces Beth-horon toward the southwest: and its exits are at Kiriath-baal, which is also called Kiriath-jearim, a city of the children of Judah. This is the western side. 15. And from the south, from the part of Kiriath-jearim, the border goes out westward and reaches the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah. 16. And it descends to the part of the mountain that faces the Valley of the sons of Hinnom: and is opposite the northern side at the extreme part of the Valley of Rephaim. And it descends into Gehenna (that is, the Valley of Hinnom) alongside the Jebusite to the south; and it reaches the fountain of Rogel, 17. passing to the north and going out to En-shemesh, that is, the Fountain of the Sun: 18. and it passes to the mounds that are opposite the Ascent of Adummim; and descends to Aben-bohen, that is, the Stone of Bohan the son of Reuben, and passes from the northern side to the plains: and descends into the plain, 19. and passes to the north of Beth-hoglah; and its exits are at the tongue of the Salt Sea on the north, at the end of the Jordan on the southern side: 20. which is its eastern boundary. This is the possession of the children of Benjamin by their boundaries on all sides, and their families. 21. And its cities were Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and the Valley of Keziz, 22. Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel. 23. And Avvim, and Parah, and Ophrah. 24. Chephar-ammoni, and Ophni, and Geba: twelve cities and their villages. 25. Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth, 26. and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah; 27. and Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah, 28. and Zela, Eleph, and Jebus, which is Jerusalem, Gibeah, and Kiriath: fourteen cities and their villages. This is the possession of the children of Benjamin according to their families.
Verse 1: The Tabernacle Set Up at Shiloh
ALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL GATHERED AT SHILOH (Shiloh is a very high mountain and a city on the mountain), AND THERE THEY SET UP THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY; — in which, namely, was the testimony, that is, the tablets of the law with the ark and the cherubim. From this it is clear that the ark, and with the ark the camp of the Hebrews, was transferred from Gilgal to Shiloh, which was in the tribe of Ephraim, from which came the leader Joshua. For it was fitting that the ark should be in the tribe of the leader, and that the people should follow the leader, especially because Shiloh was near Jerusalem (for it was distant from it only two leagues or hours) in which God had decreed to establish His seat and temple.
The ark remained in Shiloh for 350 years and more, namely from Joshua to Samuel, 1 Samuel 14:3. The Rabbis think that this transfer of the ark from Gilgal was made in the 14th year of Joshua's leadership, and from this they compute the Jubilee years, which they count as 17 — namely 850 years during which they assert the Hebrews occupied the promised land; but they are mistaken in many points. More truly, Torniellus and others consider this transfer of the ark to have been made after seven years of war, namely in the eighth year of Joshua's leadership.
For at that time Joshua peacefully possessed the Canaan he had conquered and distributed it among the twelve tribes; therefore at that time individuals began to inhabit houses and to cultivate vineyards and fields. Therefore at that time also the laws and ceremonies prescribed by God through Moses were put into practice, and consequently the rites of the seventh year, and also of the fiftieth year, or Jubilee, were established, which they count as 17 — namely 850 years.
Therefore the eighth year of Joshua (not the first, in which he entered Canaan and conquered Jericho, as some claim) was the beginning of these years: for from that year both the Sabbatical and the Jubilee years began to be counted, according to the law sanctioned by God in Leviticus 25:2 and following, as I showed in that passage.
Verse 2: Seven Tribes Without Possessions
2. BUT SEVEN TRIBES OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL REMAINED THAT HAD NOT YET RECEIVED THEIR POSSESSIONS. — This happened partly from the torpor and laziness of the seven tribes, for Joshua reproaches them for this in the following verse; and partly because a suspicion had arisen among them that the previous measurement of the Holy Land had not been done fairly enough, and that the surveyors had committed an error in it; for to correct this, Joshua again sends new surveyors, who would more precisely measure the remaining land for the seven tribes and distribute it into seven regions.
Verse 3: How Long Will You Languish in Idleness?
3. TO WHOM JOSHUA SAID: HOW LONG WILL YOU LANGUISH IN IDLENESS? etc. — Drowsiness and torpor usually seize those fatigued by labor; so here laziness invaded the Israelites, wearied by seven years of war, when it came to sending surveyors to divide the remaining Canaan equally into seven parts for the seven tribes. Joshua does not therefore mean that a long time — namely seven years — had elapsed between the first and this second division of Canaan, as the Rabbis claim, and following them Masius and Magalianus: for Joshua would not have tolerated such a delay and laziness, nor would the Hebrews. For who would have fed such a numerous people (for there were more than a million men in these seven tribes) unless each of them had plowed, sowed, and cultivated the land that had fallen to them by lot? He therefore only urges them to immediately send land surveyors to divide the land, so that once divided it may be distributed by lot to the seven tribes; lest these tribes start a dispute with the other tribes that already possessed their lots, or invade and plunder their territories. For idleness is the cause of want, and want is the cause of theft and robbery.
Verse 4: Three Men from Each Tribe Sent as Surveyors
4. LET THEM DESCRIBE IT ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF EACH TRIBE'S MULTITUDE, — that is, according to the number of the tribes, so that they describe and divide the land into as many portions or regions for the seven tribes, but in such a way that a larger or better portion of land could be assigned to a more numerous tribe. He explains himself in the following verse: for the lots were cast according to the size of the tribe, so that if it was large, the region could be expanded by lot; if small, the region could be contracted by lot.
Verse 6: The Land Between Them
6. DESCRIBE THE LAND BETWEEN THEM IN SEVEN PARTS. — The words "between them" are not in the Hebrew, Chaldean, or Septuagint; for even beyond the lot of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the lot of the seven tribes extended to Lebanon. Whence some suspect that there is a textual error here, and that it should be corrected to: the remaining [land] among you. And indeed "the middle" must be explained as "the remaining." For the remaining part of the land was in the middle, either between the Jews and the Josephites, or between the Josephites and Lebanon, or between the Jews and the Edomites — if these were the boundaries of the land promised to the Hebrews, established by God.
Verse 7: The Priesthood Is the Levites' Inheritance
7. BUT THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE LORD IS THEIR INHERITANCE. — "The priesthood," that is, the priestly revenue — namely the offerings, victims, first fruits, and vows that by law had to be given to the priests — was, as it were, the inheritance of the Levites; for from these they lived, because they had no portion of land, as the other tribes did.
Verse 9: Seven Months of Surveying
9. AND THEY RETURNED TO JOSHUA IN THE CAMP AT SHILOH. — Josephus says they were occupied for seven months in this description of the land, and in the seventh month returned to Joshua at Shiloh.
Verse 14: The Border Bends
14. AND IT BENDS. — In Hebrew תאר taar, that is, it is delineated, figured with some inclination and curve. Whence Masius translates, "it went around"; the Zurich Bible, "it turns back."
Verse 16: The Mountain Facing Hinnom
16. AND IT DESCENDS TO THE PART OF THE MOUNTAIN THAT FACES THE VALLEY OF THE SONS OF HINNOM. — "Of the mountain," namely Moriah, as I said in chapter 15:8.
Verse 18: Geliloth — the Mounds
18. AND IT PASSES TO THE MOUNDS. — In Hebrew: to Geliloth, which our translator renders as Mounds. The word Mounds here is therefore a proper name of a city or place, so called from heaps or mounds of sand or stones, etc. See the commentary above on chapter 15, verse 7.
Verse 21: The Valley of Keziz and Balsam
21. THE VALLEY OF KEZIZ. — In Hebrew קציץ kasis, which word signifies cutting off or end. It is the proper name of a valley and the city situated in it, because it was divided and as it were cut through. Whence Masius translates, "the broken valley," or "the cut-through plain." Others translate, "the valley of incision," because in it balsam was cut not with iron, but with a sharp piece of glass, bone, or stone; for if it is cut with iron, the shrub dies, says Pliny in Book 12, chapter 25, and Josephus in Antiquities Book 14, chapter 1. For this valley was not far from Jericho, which alone produced balsam, as Josephus teaches in the same passage.