Division of Canaan
- Dates
- 1400 BC
As Joshua and Israel conquer the land, though not totally, it is divided and given to the different tribes of Israel. Joshua 13—19 gives a full geographical reference to the land of Israel. Leaving a few Canaanites slowly leads Israel into idolatry.
In detail
Joshua 14 is a preface to the division of the land among the nine and a half tribes. The time had come for the Israelites to disperse themselves and to take over their new conquests. Canaan would have been subdued in vain, if it was not now inhabited. Centuries had passed since the call of Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees, and since the promise that his seed should inherit the land. God's promises are sometimes long delayed because of the unfaithfulness of those to whom they are made. It is our privilege to hasten the fulfillment of His promises.
Bible passages
- Joshua 13:8-33
8 With whom the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond Jordan eastward, even as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them; 9 From Aroer, that is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river, and all the plain of Medeba unto Dibon; 10 And all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon, unto the border of the children of Ammon; …
- Joshua 14:1-15
1 And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance to them. 2 By lot was their inheritance, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half tribe. 3 For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and an half tribe on the other side Jordan: but unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them. …
Text of the King James Version.