Joshua 13


Joshua 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible or in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to Joshua, with additions by the high priests Eleazar and Phinehas, but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter records the list of land still to be conquered and the land allotments for the tribes Reuben, Gad and half of the Manasseh, a part of a section comprising Joshua 13:1–21:45 about the Israelites allotting the land of Canaan.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 33 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint include Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus.

Old Testament references

  • :
  • : ;

    Analysis

The narrative of Israelites allotting the land of Canaan comprising verses 13:1 to 21:45 of the Book of Joshua and has the following outline:

The command to allot the Land (13:1–7)

After the completion of the conquest narrative, this passage starts the major section concerning the allocation
of territory to the tribes. The command to Joshua recalls other challenges to Israel in the book, with promise and warning at the same time. It is followed by the outline of the land not yet conquered, covering three areas:
  1. the Philistine lands from the border with Egypt in the south to the five Philistine cities in the coastal plain north of it ;
  2. the Phoenician coast, and
  3. the mountains of Lebanon.
Now Joshua's task is to divide the land in Cisjordan, as the Transjordanian land have already been allotted.

Verses 2–3

  • "Philistines": This is the first report in the book of this group of people in the land of Canaan, and Israel unconditionally promised to expel them from the Shephelah. Joshua never fought directly with the Philistines, because during the period of his conquest the area of Philistine cities might still largely be occupied by the "Anakim". The first clash of Israelites with the Philistines occurred briefly in the time of Shamgar. The Philistines definitely established as a major force in Canaan during the time of Samson and later.

    The settling of Transjordan (13:8–33)

The allotment of the Transjordan prefaces the section about the distribution of the Cisjordan, with more abbreviated lists of
cities than the parallel in Numbers 32:34–38, but including other materials. Moses led the conquest in Transjordan, so he could 'give' the land as 'inheritance', and this continues to chapter 14, until finally Joshua is the one who 'gives for an inheritance'. This Transjordan narrative is therefore to affirm the unity of Moses' and Joshua's work, and demonstrates the unity of all tribes of Israel. The division of the large tribe of Joseph into two, Ephraim and Manasseh, explains why the tribe of Levi did not receive land of its own, so the twelvefold character of Israel is maintained. Although Moses and Joshua distribute the land, it will be an 'inheritance', as its ultimate giver is the God of Israel.

Verse 22

  • "Balaam": was hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel, but he committed to the word of God to bless the Israelites, but he continued to practice divination and gave advice leading to Israel getting the curse in Baal-Peor, so his killing is to recompense his part to the incident.