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CHAPTER 18

1. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel, etc Here we have a narrative of the celebrated convention held in Shiloh, where it was deliberated, as to the casting of the remaining lots. For although with pious zeal they had attempted the casting of lots, yet the proceeding had been interrupted, as if victory behooved to precede the distribution which depended solely on the mouth of God. They assemble, therefore, in Shiloh to determine what was necessary to be done in future. And there is no doubt that Joshua summoned this meeting in order to raise them from their lethargy. For they do not come forward spontaneously with any proposal, but he begins with upbraiding them with having been sluggish and remiss in entering on the inheritance which God had bestowed upon them. It is easy to infer from his speech that they had shown great alacrity at the outset, but that there had been no perseverance.

And yet that obedience, which shortly after grew languid, was honored with the approbation of the Holy Spirit. It is to be observed that the people are blamed, not for neglecting to proceed to the lot, but for not occupying the inheritance divinely offered to them. And, certainly, as the distribution by lot was a sign of confidence, so each district which fell out to each was a sure and faithful pledge of future possession; for the Lord was by no means deluding them in assigning to each his portion.

The word hpd, which I have translated “to cease,” signifies also to be remiss or feeble. He charges them, therefore, with base heartlessness, in that while the full time for routing the enemy had arrived, they by their delays retard and suspend the effect of the divine goodness. For had they been contented with the bare lot, and faithfully embraced the results which it gave, they would doubtless have been prompt and expeditious in carrying on the war, nay, would have hastened like conquerors to a triumph.

The ark is said to have been stationed at Shiloh, ^ft155 not only that the consultation might be graver and more sacred, as held in the presence of God, but because it was a completely subjugated place, and safe from all external violence and injury. For it behooved to be their special care to prevent its exposure to sudden assault. No doubt the hand of God would have been stretched to ward off attacks of the enemy from any quarter; still, however, though God dwelt among them, they were to be regarded as its guardians and attendants.

But although a station for the ark was then chosen, it was not a perpetual abode, but only a temporary lodging. For it was not left to the will or suffrages of the people to fix the seat where God should dwell, but they behooved to wait for the period so often referred to in the Law, when he was to establish the memorial of his name elsewhere. This was at length accomplished when Mount Zion was set apart for the Temple. For this reason it is said in the Psalm,

“Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.”
(Psalm 122:2)

These words intimate that up to that time the ark was pilgrimating. At last the ruin and devastation of Shiloh showed that no rank or dignity can screen those who corrupt the blessings of God from his vengeance. Up to the death of Eli, God allowed his sacred name to be worshipped there; but when all religion was polluted by the impiety of the priests, and almost abolished by the ingratitude of the people, that spot became to posterity a signal monument of punishment. Accordingly, Jeremiah tells the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who were proudly boasting of their Temple, to turn their eyes to that example. Speaking in the name of the Lord, he says,

“Go you now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.” (Jeremiah 7:12)

4. Give out from among you three men, etc Caleb and Joshua had already surveyed those regions, and the people had learned much by inquiry: Joshua, however, wishes the land to be divided as if according to actual survey ^ft156 and orders three surveyors to be appointed for each of the seven tribes, in order that by the mouth of two or three persons every dispute may be settled. But nothing seems more incongruous than to send twenty-one men, who were not only to pass directly through a hostile country, but to trace it through all its various windings and turnings, so as not to leave a single corner unexamined, to calculate, its length and breadth, and even make due allowance for its inequalities. Every person whom they happened to meet must readily have suspected who they were, and for what reason they had been employed on this expedition. In short, no free return lay open for them except through a thousand deaths. Assuredly they would not have encountered so much danger from blind and irrational impulse, nor would Joshua have exposed them to such manifest danger had they not been aware that all those nations, struck with terror from heaven, desired nothing so much as peace. For although they hated the children of Israel, still, having been subdued by so many overthrows, they did not dare to move a finger against them, and thus the surveyors proceeded in safety as through a peaceful territory, under the pretext either of trading, or at least of making a harmless visit. ^ft157 It is also possible that they arranged themselves in different parties, and thus made the journey more secretly. It is certain, indeed, that there was only one source from which they could have derived all this courage and confidence, from trusting under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty, and thus having no fear of blind and stupid men. Hence the praise here bestowed on their ready will. For had they not been persuaded that the hands of those nations were tied up by supernal power, they would have had a just and honest cause for refusing. ^ft158

9. And the men went and passed, etc Here not only is praise bestowed on the ready obedience by which their virtue shone forth conspicuous, but the Lord gives a signal manifestation of his favor by deigning to bestow remarkable success on pious Joshua and the zeal of the people. Had they crept along by subterranean burrows, they could scarcely have escaped innumerable dangers, but now, when they are taking notes of the cities and their sites, of the fields, the varying features of the districts, and all the coasts, and without meeting with any adverse occurrence, return in safety to their countrymen, who can doubt that their life had been kept safe among a thousand deaths by a wonderful exertion of divine power? It is accordingly said emphatically, that they returned to celebrate the grace of God, which is just equivalent to saying that they were brought back by the hand of God. This made the people proceed more willingly to the casting of lots. For their minds would not yet have been well purged of fastidiousness had they not perceived in that journey a signal display of divine favor, promising them that the final issue would be according to their wish. Joshua is hence said to have divided according to the inheritance of each, as if he were sending them to enter on a quiet possession, though the effect depended on the divine presence, because it ought to have been enough for them that the whole business was carried on by the authority of God, who never deceives his people, even when he seems to sport with them. In what sense the ark of the covenant is called God, or the face of God, I have already explained in many passages.

In the lot of Benjamin nothing occurs particularly deserving of notice, unless that a small tribe takes precedence of the others. I admit, indeed, that its limits were narrowed in proportion to the fewness of its numbers, because it obtained only twenty-six cities; but still an honor was bestowed upon it in the mere circumstance of its receiving its inheritance before more distinguished tribes. We may add, that in this way they were conjoined and made neighbors to the other ^ft159 children of Joseph, with whom their relationship was more immediate. For they were placed in the middle between the children of Ephraim and Manasseh on the one side, and those of Judah on the other. They had also the distinguished honor of including Jerusalem in their inheritance, though they afterwards granted it by a kind of precarious tenure to the children of Judah for a royal residence. ^ft160

It is strange, however, that having obtained such a quiet locality, they did not live on peaceful and friendly terms with their neighbors. But we possess the prophecy of Jacob,

“Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.” (Genesis 49:27)

They must, therefore, have been by nature of a covetous and turbulent disposition, or from some necessity not now known to us, they must have been impelled to live upon plunder. In regard to the city of Luz, the other name is added, (“the same is Bethel,”) because then only did the name given by Jacob come into common use. (Genesis 28:19) It was at no great distance from Beth-Aven, whose name, as it was opprobrious and infamous, was transferred to Bethel itself, after it was corrupted and polluted by impious superstitions. ^ftcorrupted and polluted by impious superstitions. ^f161 It is probable that Ciriath-Baal was called Ciriath-Jeharim, to take away the name of the idol, which would have been a stain on its true piety. For it certainly would have been base and shameful that the lips of the people should have been polluted by the name of a protector who was an enemy to the true God.

From A Translation of Calivn’s Translation

1               And the whole multitude of the children of Israel assembled in Silo, and placed there the tabernacle of convention, after the land was subdued before them.

2               And there had remained of the children of Israel, to whom they had not divided their inheritance, seven tribes.

3               And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long do you delay to go in to possess the land which Jehovah the God of your fathers has given you?

4       Each tribe of you give up three men whom I will send; and they shall rise and walk through the land, and shall describe it according to its inheritance; afterwards they shall return to me.

5               And they shall divide it into seven portions; Judah will stand in his confines on the south, and the families of Joseph will stand in their confines on the north.

6               And do you describe the land in seven portions, and bring it hither to me: then I will cast the lot here before Jehovah our God.

7               For there is no part to the Levites in the midst of you, because the priesthood of Jehovah is their inheritance; and Gad, and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave to them.

8               And those men rose up, and went away; and Joshua commanded those who went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it; afterwards you will return to me, and I will cast the lot for you here in Silo.

9               The men therefore went away, and passed through the land, and described it by cities in seven parts, in a book: and they returned to Joshua, to the camp in Silo.

10             And Joshua cast a lot for them in Silo before the Lord; and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their portions.

11             And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin by their families came up, and the boundary of their lot fell out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.

12             And their boundary was on the side of the north by the Jordan; and their boundary went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up to the mountain at the sea; and their outgoings are at the desert of Beth-aven.

13             And thence the boundary passes through into Luz to the side of southern Luz, (the same is Bethel,) and the boundary descends into Ateroth-Adar near the mountain which is on the south of lower Beth-horon itself.

14             And the boundary is marked out, and goes round to the side of the sea at the south, from the mountain which is over against Beth-horon on the south; and its outgoings are at Ciriath-Baal, (the same is Ciriath-Jearim,) a city of the sons of Judah, that is, the side of the sea.

15             And the side on the south is from the extremity of Ciriath-Jearim; accordingly the boundary goeth out to the sea, goeth out, I say, to the fountain of the waters of Nephthoah.

16             And the boundary descends to the extremity of the mountain which is over against the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the Rephaim on the north, and it descends to the valley of Hinnom to the side of the Jebusite on the south, and thence descends to En-rogel.

17             And it makes a circuit from the north, and goes out to En-semes, and proceeds outwards to Gehloth, which is over against the acclivity of Adummim; and descends to Eben of Bohan, the son of Reuben.

18       Thence it passes through to the side which is over against the plain on the north, and descends into Arabah.

19       Thence the boundary passes through to the side of Beth-hogla on the north; and the outgoings of its boundary are at the limit of the salt sea on the north, at the extremity of the Jordan on the south; that is the south boundary.

20             And the Jordan bounds it on the east side. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by his boundaries round about by his families.

21             And these were the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin by their families, Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and the valley of Cesis.

22             And Beth-araba, and Semarain, and Bethel,

23             And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,

24             And Haamonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities and their villages.

25       Gibon, and Raamah, and Beeroth,

26             And Mispeh, and Chephirah, and Mosah,

27             And Recem, and Irpeel, and Tharalah.

28             And Sela Eleph, and Jebusi, (the same is Jerusalem,) Gibath, Ciriath, fourteen cities and their villages; this is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin by their families.

Footnotes

^ft155This place, which afterwards became so celebrated as the fixed station of the ark and tabernacle during the remainder of Joshua’s life and the rule of the Judges, down to the tragical death of Eli, is described in Judges 21:19, as “On the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.” This minute description corresponds with a place now called Seilun, which is situated about twenty miles N.N.E. from Jerusalem, and has several ruins indicative of an ancient site. If this was the place, it stood nearly in the center of the country, and was thus the most convenient which could have been selected. While its locality made it easily accessible from all quarters, its site, in the heart of a basin completely enclosed by hills except on the south, where a narrow valley opens into a plain, admirably adapted it for the still and solemn performance of religious services. — Ed.

^ft156Latin, “Quasi ex praesenti aspectu.” French, “Comme s’ils eussent este presens sur le lieu;” “As if they had been present on the spot.” — Ed.

^ft157Latin, “Innoxii hospites.” French, “Estrangers innocens qui passent leur chemin;” “Innocent strangers passing on their way.” — Ed.

^ft158These observations are made on the understanding that the survey made on this occasion was very minute, embracing, as Calvin here expresses it, all the “various windings and turnings,” so as not to leave a single corner unexamined, and extending with the same minuteness, not only to the lands actually conquered, but to those still in the undisputed possession of the original inhabitants. Assuming this to be the fact, the dangers to be encountered by the surveyors are certainly not exaggerated in the very graphical description of them here given, and nothing but a series of miraculous interposition’s could have saved them. It may be suggested, however, that the object of the surveyors was only to obtain such a general measurement as might suffice, in the manner already explained, for the taking of the lot, and that such a measurement might possibly have been made without much danger of awakening the suspicion, or rousing the hostility of the actual inhabitants. That the survey was more cursory than minute seems to be indicated by the description given of it in Joshua 18:9, “And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities.” — Ed.

^ft159Latin, “Reliquis filiis.” French, “Des autres enfans;” “The other children,” — an apparent oversight, as if Benjamin had been a son and not a brother of Joseph. — Ed.

^ft160Latin, “Postea filiis Juda quasi precario sedem regiam concederent.” French, “Depuis ils la baillerent aux enfans de Juda comme par emprunt, pour en faire le siege royal;” “Afterwards they let it to the children of Judah as by loan, to make it the royal residence.” These words seem to imply that at some time or other a regular agreement to this effect had been made, but we nowhere find any mention of such an agreement. It would rather seem from Joshua 15:63, and Judges 1:8, 21, that the inhabitants of Judah possessed Jerusalem in consequence of their having wrested it from the Jebusites. — Ed.

^ft161This refers to the setting up of the golden calves by Jeroboam, and the idolatrous worship which thus impiously originated by him was long practiced by his successors. See 1 Kings 12:28-33; 1 Kings 13; 2 Kings 10:29-31; 2 Kings 23:15; Amos 4:4; Hosea 10:5,8. Bethel or “the house of God,” so called by Jacob the morning after he had risen from his wonderful vision, having forfeited its name in consequence of the abominations practiced at it, became afterwards known by that of Bethaven, “the house of idols,” or of vanity and iniquity. — Ed.

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