June 26, 2021
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Joshua? Here’s today’s reading:
Joshua 15 (NIV)
Allotment for Judah
1 The allotment for the tribe of Judah, according to its clans, extended down to the territory of Edom, to the Desert of Zin in the extreme south.
2 Their southern boundary started from the bay at the southern end of the Dead Sea, 3crossed south of Scorpion Pass, continued on to Zin and went over to the south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it ran past Hezron up to Addar and curved around to Karka.......Continue Reading
The different inheritances and land allotments are clearly important to God that He would be sure they are recorded in the Bible. It is a practical realization of God’s promises to the Israelites coming to pass…even if it isn’t the most exciting read :))
Joshua 15
As I read, I couldn’t help think about the people who knew all these reference points. Property deeds read in similar ways and surveyors are the ones most familiar. The personal stories were interesting. Caleb giving his daughter to the one who would capture a certain city. I guess her cousin winning the contest wasn’t weird back then….There is also a curious note that Judah could not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem. Such an odd thing considering the power of God available. It’s kind of a picture of that besetting sin that is hard to root out but strive we must with all our will and the power of God’s Spirit and Word that empowers it….
It occurred to me that the exact tracking of land ownership would be important in relation to the jubilee.
63Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah.
I find while reading through the Old Testament that all of these complaints about “the patriarchy” keeping women down, are often refuted. Perhaps people would think that “giving a daughter” is possessive, etc. but it was the culture and means of protecting women and promoting family. Caleb’s daughter seems to have no qualms with asking Caleb for what she wants:
“One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”
19 She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.”