Joshua 21 Background Information with Maps and Images (Picture Study Bible - Joshua) Free Bible Online

Joshua 21

1 - Then the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.
2 - They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, "The LORD commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for our livestock."
3 - The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of The LORD, these cities with their suburbs.
4 - The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.
5 - The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6 - The children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
7 - The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.
8 - The children of Israel gave these cities with their suburbs by lot to the Levites, as the LORD commanded by Moses.
9 - They gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are mentioned by name:
10 - and they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot.
11 - They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (also called Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its suburbs around it.
12 - But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.
13 - To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Libnah with its suburbs,
14 - Jattir with its suburbs, Eshtemoa with its suburbs,
15 - Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs,
16 - Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth Shemesh with its suburbs: nine cities out of those two tribes.
17 - Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs,
18 - Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs: four cities.
19 - All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
20 - The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.
21 - They gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Gezer with its suburbs,
22 - Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth Horon with its suburbs: four cities.
23 - Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs,
24 - Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath Rimmon with its suburbs: four cities.
25 - Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath Rimmon with its suburbs: two cities.
26 - All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with their suburbs.
27 - They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of ManassehGolan in Bashan with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Be Eshterah with its suburbs: two cities.
28 - Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs,
29 - Jarmuth with its suburbs, En Gannim with its suburbs: four cities.
30 - Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs,
31 - Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs: four cities.
32 - Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs: three cities.
33 - All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
34 - To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, Kartah with its suburbs,
35 - Dimnah with its suburbs, and Nahalal with its suburbs: four cities.
36 - Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, Jahaz with its suburbs,
37 - Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs: four cities.
38 - Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs,
39 - Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs: four cities in all.
40 - All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites. Their lot was twelve cities.
41 - All the cities of the Levites among the possessions of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs.
42 - Each of these cities included their suburbs around them. It was this way with all these cities.
43 - So the LORD gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it.
44 - The LORD gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.
45 - Nothing failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

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Joshua Images and Notes

The Book of Joshua

Joshua 5:13 - And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, [Art] thou for us, or for our adversaries?
Joshua 5:14 - And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
Joshua 5:15 - And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy. And Joshua did so.

The Old Testament - A Brief Overview

Bible Survery - Joshua
Hebrew Name - Yehoshua "Yahweh is salvation"
Greek Name - Iesous (Greek form of the Hebrew)
Author - Joshua
Date - From 1451 to 1425 BC Approximately
Theme - The Conquest of Canaan
Types and Shadows - In Joshua Jesus is the captain of the LORD's host

ARCHAEOLOGY

Ancient Rallying Horn

Carchemish Relief Horn Blowing

This Carchemish relief reveals how horns were blown.


Summary of The Book of Joshua

The book of Joshua received its name because of the main character of the book which is Joshua, whose name means "Jehovah is salvation". The Greek form of the name of Joshua is actually Jesus and means the same thing as the Hebrew Joshua.  The man Joshua makes his first appearance as the commander of the armies of Israel against the Amalekites in the book of Exodus (Exodus 17:8 ff). Joshua was clearly a leader of Israel, he accompanied Moses to the foot of Mount Sinai when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the 10 Commandments, but Joshua did not go up with him (Exodus 24).

The way that Joshua enters the  book of Joshua is already as an established leader in. Even Moses commissioned Joshua as the man chosen and conquer the land.

When Moses gave his farewell speech in Deuteronomy 34 Joshua accompanied him to the foot of Mount Sinai

This book is named for its chief character, Joshua, whose name means "Jehovah is salvation." The Greek form of this name is Jesus. The first appearance of Joshua is as the leader of the forces of Israel against Amalek (Exodus 17:8ff). The manner in which he is introduced into the story indicates that he was already well established as a leader. Later, he accompanied Moses to the foot of Mt. Sinai, but did not make the ascent with him (Exodus 24). In Exodus 32-33 he is also found in close association with Moses. No doubt, the years which he spent with Moses greatly influenced his spiritual development. The aspect of his life for which Joshua is most often remembered is his having brought back a positive report from the land of Canaan after serving as one of twelve men sent to spy out the land (Numbers 13). From this it can be seen that the experience and spirit which were Joshua's equipped him well for his duties and responsibilities as the leader, of God's people.

Quick Reference Map
 Map of the Conquest of Canaan
Map of the Conquest of Canaan (Click to Enlarge)

The book may be regarded as consisting of three parts which may be analyzed as follows :

Outline of the Book of Joshua

1) The Conquest of Canaan (Joshua 1-12). This includes the preparation for and crossing of the Jordan (Joshua 1-4). After the crossing, they camped at Gilgal. Here they circumcised all the males who were born in the wilderness, as circumcision had not been observed since the departure from Egypt. Gilgal was also the scene of the keeping of the Passover and the cessation of the manna. Joshua 5:13-6:27 tells of the miraculous destruction of Jericho and the salvation of Rahab. The crime and punishment of Achan is discussed in Joshua 7. In Joshua 8, the narrative records the avenging of the defeat which Israel had suffered at the hands of Al because of the sin of Achan. The latter portion of this chapter tells of the setting up of the stones on Mount Ebal. The stratagem of the Gibeonites is the topic of Joshua 9. In Joshua 10 is contained the story of the conquest of Southern Canaan, with the aid of Joshua's long day. Joshua 11-12 describes the conquest of Northern Canaan and give a list of the defeated kings.

2) The Distribution of the Territory (Joshua 13-22). This provides a record of the area which was assigned to the various tribes (13-19), the appointment of the six cities of refuge (Joshua 20) and the forty-eight cities of the Levites (Joshua 21), as well as the departure of the Transjordanic tribes to their home.

3) Joshua's farewell addresses (Joshua 23-24). The first of these is a speech of encouragement and warning. The second recalls the history of Israel, with emphasis on divine interventions on their behalf. At the close of this speech, Joshua issued the famous statement, "choose you this day whom you will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).

The book closes with an account of the renewal of the covenant and the death of Joshua and Eleazer.

Quick Reference Maps

The Conquest of Canaan

The City of Jericho

The City of Sidon

Philistia

The Twelve Tribes

The First Day. Light.

Joshua Resources

Joshua and the Promised Land

More About the Book of Joshua
Joshua in the Picture Study Bible
Timeline of the Ancient World
Back to the Old Testament
Back to Bible History Online
 

Bibliography Information

Free Bible Online - Picture Study Bible, King James Version. New York: American Bible Society: www.free-bible.com, 1995-2013. Bible History Picture Study Bible. Nov 22, 2024.

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