Joshua 19:1-51
1 And the second lot came forth to Simeon, even for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families: and their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah.
2 And they had in their inheritance Beersheba, or Sheba, and Moladah,
3 And Hazarshual, and Balah, and Azem,
4 And Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah,
5 And Ziklag, and Bethmarcaboth, and Hazarsusah,
6 And Bethlebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages:
7 Ain, Remmon, and Ether, and Ashan; four cities and their villages:
8 And all the villages that were round about these cities to Baalathbeer, Ramath of the south. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families.
9 Out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon: for the part of the children of Judah was too much for them: therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them.
10 And the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their families: and the border of their inheritance was unto Sarid:
11 And their border went up toward the sea, and Maralah, and reached to Dabbasheth, and reached to the river that is before Jokneam;
12 And turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrising unto the border of Chislothtabor, and then goeth out to Daberath, and goeth up to Japhia,
13 And from thence passeth on along on the east to Gittahhepher, to Ittahkazin, and goeth out to Remmonmethoar to Neah;
14 And the border compasseth it on the north side to Hannathon: and the outgoings thereof are in the valley of Jiphthahel:
15 And Kattath, and Nahallal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages.
16 This is the inheritance of the children of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.
17 And the fourth lot came out to Issachar, for the children of Issachar according to their families.
18 And their border was toward Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem,
19 And Hapharaim, and Shion, and Anaharath,
20 And Rabbith, and Kishion, and Abez,
21 And Remeth, and Engannim, and Enhaddah, and Bethpazzez;
22 And the coast reacheth to Tabor, and Shahazimah, and Bethshemesh; and the outgoings of their border were at Jordan: sixteen cities with their villages.
23 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Issachar according to their families, the cities and their villages.
24 And the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families.
25 And their border was Helkath, and Hali, and Beten, and Achshaph,
26 And Alammelech, and Amad, and Misheal; and reacheth to Carmel westward, and to Shihorlibnath;
27 And turneth toward the sunrising to Bethdagon, and reacheth to Zebulun, and to the valley of Jiphthahel toward the north side of Bethemek, and Neiel, and goeth out to Cabul on the left hand,
28 And Hebron, and Rehob, and Hammon, and Kanah, even unto great Zidon;
29 And then the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre;a and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib:
30 Ummah also, and Aphek, and Rehob: twenty and two cities with their villages.
31 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.
32 The sixth lot came out to the children of Naphtali, even for the children of Naphtali according to their families.
33 And their coast was from Heleph, from Allon to Zaanannim, and Adami, Nekeb, and Jabneel, unto Lakum; and the outgoings thereof were at Jordan:
34 And then the coast turneth westward to Aznothtabor, and goeth out from thence to Hukkok, and reacheth to Zebulun on the south side, and reacheth to Asher on the west side, and to Judah upon Jordan toward the sunrising.
35 And the fenced cities are Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, Rakkath, and Chinnereth,
36 And Adamah, and Ramah, and Hazor,
37 And Kedesh, and Edrei, and Enhazor,
38 And Iron, and Migdalel, Horem, and Bethanath, and Bethshemesh; nineteen cities with their villages.
39 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Naphtali according to their families, the cities and their villages.
40 And the seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families.
41 And the coast of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Irshemesh,
42 And Shaalabbin, and Ajalon, and Jethlah,
43 And Elon, and Thimnathah, and Ekron,
44 And Eltekeh, and Gibbethon, and Baalath,
45 And Jehud, and Beneberak, and Gathrimmon,
46 And Mejarkon, and Rakkon, with the border beforeb Japho.
47 And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father.
48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.
49 When they had made an end of dividing the land for inheritance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them:
50 According to the word of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnathserah in mount Ephraim: and he built the city, and dwelt therein.
51 These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So they made an end of dividing the country.
As you get into the nineteenth chapter, the second lot came forth and it was for the tribe of Simeon. Simeon became the southern most tribe in Israel. The area down around Kadesh-Barnea and desert area, a vast desert area Beersheba, and up almost to Hebron. But that whole southern part was the lot that Simeon received.
Now if you were of the tribe of Simeon you may have thought that you got a bum deal because it's pretty much desert and wilderness area down there. But there is one nice advantage; it's sure nice in the wintertime. It's sort of like Palm Springs in the wintertime. When we go over to Israel now, if we have a day, say, planned to tour through Jerusalem, we wake up in the morning and it's cold and raining, we'll head down to Beersheba, and we'll take the tour through Beersheba, because it's always so nice and beautiful and warm down there in the wintertime. So we sort of when we're over there remain flexible according to the weather, we tour. When the days are nice in Jerusalem, then we tour Jerusalem. If the weather gets bad there, we can always know that we can go down to Beersheba and find great weather, because you only get a little more than an inch of rain in that area down there, we go to Masada and Beersheba and it makes a neat day of it, but it is pretty desolate, pretty barren. It was up until of course just recently in the redevelopment of the land, the Jews have channeled now the Jordan River and up above, or up at the area of the Galilee, and they have brought the Jordan River all the way down to this vast area. Now the thing is like the San Joaquin Valley or Imperial Valley. It's really a tremendous farm area down there because of the irrigation now that they have developed through the water from the Sea of Galilee.
The third lot [in verse ten] came up for the children of Zebulun (Joshua 19:10):
And they received the area of the valley of Megiddo, and up in that area up there. So Zebulun was in that vast valley that goes from Haifa on back towards Mount Gilboa.
The fourth lot came up and it was for the tribe of Issachar, [in verse seventeen and they received the area south of the Sea of Galilee]. The fifth lot came out for the children of Asher [in verse twenty-four and they received that beautiful coastal area from Haifa on up to Sidon] (Joshua 19:17; Joshua 19:24).
So the area that includes Acco and that neat beautiful area along the Mediterranean there, extremely beautiful area.
In the thirty second verse,
The sixth lot came out for Naphtali, [and they received the area around the Sea of Galilee] (Joshua 19:32).
Really here's one area I wouldn't mind living at all. The Sea of Galilee is one of the most beautiful places, I love-I can understand why Jesus spent most of His ministry at the Sea of Galilee. It would-it's almost equivalent to spending your ministry in Hawaii or something. It's just a neat, beautiful area. Even to the present time it is not really highly developed. Boy, if you had a house there on the Sea of Galilee with a ski boat, oh would you ever have a fabulous set up. It's just so beautiful. This was given to the tribe of Naphtali.
So there was always, of course, the farming on the hillside along the Sea of Galilee, good water supply, and just a beautiful place indeed. The weather is quite nice there, it does get warm in the summertime, but you are six hundred feet below sea level. So, in that pocket it stays pretty warm, but it is tremendously fertile land and great agricultural area.
The seventh lot came out for the tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:40).
In verse forty. Dan was given the area known as the Hula Valley, which is the upper Jordan before it gets to the Sea of Galilee. It is that valley with the Golan on the right, and the Lebanese mountains on the left, and they went clear on up to the Mount Hermon area. In fact, the city of Dan is just, oh, three miles from the base of Mount Hermon. You're on the foothills there. The city of Dan again was just a fabulously beautiful city, because you had this beautiful river coming by. You've never seen anything in Hawaii that is any more beautiful than the sights around the Tel, what they called Tel-Dan or the ruins of the city of Dan over there. So the upper Jordan River area, the Hula Valley was given unto Dan.
Now verse forty-nine,
When they had made an end of dividing the land for the inheritance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance unto Joshua: According to the word of the Lord they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnathserah in mount Ephraim: and he built the city, and dwelt there. And these are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance (Joshua 19:49-51)
So they divided out the land and they finally gave a city to Joshua, inasmuch as he was the leader, in the area of mount Ephraim. Which means that it was in the area of the center part of the land, where the ancient city of Samaria or Shechem is and that general area is known as Mount Ephraim. An area that is beautiful with the many, many fruit trees, the terraced hillsides, and the fertile valleys right in the heart of the land and a beautiful place indeed.
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