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Joshua 18:10

in Joshua 18

And Joshua cast lots for them in the presence of the LORD at Shiloh, where he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their divisions.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Jehovah: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.

KJV

And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.

This verse in Joshua 18

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 23.4 · Written before 253.

Therefore we must believe that also here, in imitation of these things, Scripture relates that lots are drawn by Jesus [Joshua], and the inheritance for each of the tribes is determined by divine dispensation; and that in this casting of lots, through the ineffable providence and foreknowledge of God, a model of the future inheritance in heaven is dimly sketched.

This site's exposition

Joshua commanded them to map out the land

on Joshua 18:8-10

The surveyors map the land into seven portions, which Clarke calls the first act of surveying on record. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown cite Josephus that men skilled in geometry did the work. With the lot cast as Numbers 26:55 directed, the survey removes guesswork and the lot removes favour.

This site's exposition

according to their divisions

Gill describes two stages: the lot gave each tribe one of the portions, and the tribe shared its portion among its clans. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that casting the lot before the tabernacle gave the result divine sanction. Origen read the scene as a sketch of the heavenly inheritance.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord,.... For the seven tribes, as he had for the two tribes and a half at Gilgal; of the manner of casting lots; see Gill on Num 26:55, and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their division: the land that was divided into seven parts, he distributed to the seven tribes, as the lot came up for them, and then divided these several parts according to the families and households in each tribe.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord--before the tabernacle, where the divine presence was manifested, and which associated with the lot the idea of divine sanction.

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ֩and he threw

    vaiyashlekhH7993 →125 times

  • לָהֶ֨םfor <the> them

    lahem

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֧עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • גּוֹרָ֛לa lot

    goralH1486 →78 times

  • בְּשִׁלֹ֖הin Shiloh

    beshilohH7887 →32 times

  • לִפְנֵ֣י<to> before

    lifneiH6440 →2123 times

  • יְהוָ֑הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וַיְחַלֶּק־and he apportioned

    vaychalek-H2505 →65 times

  • שָׁ֨םthere

    shamH8033 →834 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֧עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָאָ֛רֶץthe land

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • לִבְנֵ֥יto [the] people of

    livneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • כְּמַחְלְקֹתָֽם׃ פaccording to divisions their

    kemachlekotamH4256 →42 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Colossians 1:12

    giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

    it leads to

    • Acts 20:32

      And now I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

    • Ephesians 1:11

      In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

    • Ephesians 1:18

      I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

    • Acts 26:18

      to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified…

    • Romans 8:17

      And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

  • Through

    Acts 13:19

    And having vanquished seven nations in Canaan, He gave their land to His people as an inheritance.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 14:1

      Now these are the portions that the Israelites inherited in the land of Canaan, as distributed by Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes of…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Deuteronomy 7:1

      When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations…

    • Psalms 78:55

      He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

Where this verse is studied

About Joshua

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 23.4.