Joshua 14:1-15

Come in, and receive God’s promises!

Joshua

Brian Rowlands

Maps to help you to study this book are on the Internet at www.easyenglish.info.

Chapter 14

Joshua divides the rest of the land – Joshua 14:1-19

v1 Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the families of *Israel divided the land. They chose different parts of the land for each *tribe. This is how they did it. v2 They used *lots to decide how God wanted them to divide the land. Each of the 9 and a half *tribes that remained would receive their land. This is what the *Lord had told Moses to do. v3 Moses had already given land east of the river Jordan to the two and a half *tribes. But he had not given any land to the *Levites. v4 (The *tribe of Joseph was now two *tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim.) The leaders gave the *Levites towns to live in, with enough land near them to feed their animals. v5 The leaders of the *Israelites gave a part of the land to each *tribe. This is what the *Lord had told Moses to do.

Verse 1 God, by Moses, had told the *Israelites how to divide the land (Numbers 34:1-18).

Verse 2 God told Moses which leaders should divide the land (Numbers 34:19-29).

See Notes on 7:16-18 above. We cannot be sure how the leaders used *lots. We do not need to know. It was God’s way to show the people.

Verse 3 The two and a half *tribes - see Notes on 1:12-15 above.

Verse 4 The *tribe of Joseph was divided between his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Chapter 21 tells us more about the *Levites.

v6 Some of the men of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb, son of Jephunneh, spoke to Joshua. He said, ‘You know what God said to Moses, the man of God, at Kadesh Barnea. You know what he said about you and me. v7 I was 40 years old when he sent me from there to explore the land. And I brought a report to him that was true. I was sure that we could take the land. v8 The other men who went with us made the people afraid. But I did only what the *Lord wanted us to do. v9 So Moses made a promise to me on that day. Moses said, "The land, where you walked, will always belong to you and to your children. This is because you have done everything that the *Lord told you to do.” ’

v10 Caleb said to Joshua, ‘The *Lord has kept me alive for 45 years since Moses said this. *Israel was walking through the desert during this time. Now I am 85 years old. v11 I am as strong now as on the day that Moses sent me out. I can fight as well now as I could then. v12 Now then, give to me this hill country that the *Lord promised to me. You heard that the Anakites were there then. And you heard that their cities were large and strong. But the *Lord will help me to push them out. The *Lord said that he would do that.’

v13 Then Joshua asked the *Lord to do good things for Caleb, son of Jephunneh. And he gave Hebron to him as his part of the land. v14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite since that day. He had done everything that the *Lord had told him to do. So Joshua gave the land to him. v15 (Hebron had been called ‘Kiriath Arba’ because Arba was the most important man among the Anakites.)

After this, the land was at peace.

Verses 6-9 You can read this story in Numbers 13:26-33 and Deuteronomy 1:34-36. Caleb was one of 12 men that Moses sent in secret to look at the *promised land. Only Joshua and Caleb brought good news back (Numbers 13). Caleb had *faith that God would provide. Moses made a promise to Caleb. Caleb would possess some of the *promised land for himself.

Verses 10-12 Caleb had waited 45 years to receive his land. He did not ask for an easy task. He asked for mountains to climb and Anakites to defeat. (Anakites were giant men.)

Verse 13-15 Joshua gave Caleb the land near Hebron. (See Joshua 21:11-12.) Hebron is in the mountains. And Hebron was the place where the Anakites lived. So, the *Israelites had to defeat the Anakites – see Joshua 11:21.

Sometimes we have to wait a long time before God answers our prayers. But we are never too old to work for God.

Israel ~ all the people born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; the people that God chose; or, the land that the Israelites lived in.

Israelites ~ people from Israel. They are also called Hebrews and Jews.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of the Israelites.
tribe ~ the whole family of one of Jacob’s 12 sons.'lot, lots ~ a method to choose something by chance, or with God’s help.
Lord ~ a name for God in the Bible. The original language of the Old Testament is called Hebrew. In the Hebrew language, there are two words that we translate as ‘Lord’. The Hebrew word ‘ADONAI’ means that God rules. God is our master. The Hebrew word ‘YHWH’ means that God never changes. God is always God.

Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.
Levite ~ a person from the tribe of Levi. God chose them to work for him. They taught God’s law.

tribe ~ the whole family of one of Jacob’s 12 sons.
Israelites ~ people from Israel. They are also called Hebrews and Jews.

Israel ~ all the people born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; the people that God chose; or, the land that the Israelites lived in.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of the Israelites.

'promised land ~ the land that God promised to give to Abraham and his family.
faith ~ trust, trust in God, belief.