Joshua 13

Introduction

Joshua 13 marks a structural transition in the book: the shift from conquest to distribution. The wars are, in one sense, over — or at least the major campaigns are complete. Now the land must be apportioned to the tribes. But the chapter opens with a sobering divine word: Joshua is old, and vast tracts of territory remain unpossessed. The conquest has been real but incomplete, and the second half of Joshua (chapters 13–21) is governed by this tension between what God has promised and what Israel has yet to claim.

The chapter serves two functions simultaneously. First, it honestly acknowledges the limits of the conquest — naming the Philistine cities, the Geshurite and Maacathite territories, and the Phoenician coast as still outside Israelite control. Second, it formally records the Transjordanian allotments already given by Moses to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. This eastern inheritance is described in careful geographic detail: city lists, boundary markers, and notable events (including the death of Balaam). Threading through the chapter twice is the principle that the Levites receive no territorial inheritance — for the LORD himself is their inheritance. That repeated theological note holds the chapter together.

The Land That Remains (vv. 1–7)

¹ Now Joshua was old and well along in years, and the LORD said to him, "You are old and well along in years, but very much of the land remains to be possessed. ² This is the land that remains: All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites, ³ from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory) — that of the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as that of the Avvites; ⁴ to the south, all the land of the Canaanites, from Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek, as far as the border of the Amorites; ⁵ the land of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath. ⁶ All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim — all the Sidonians — I Myself will drive out before the Israelites. Be sure to divide it by lot as an inheritance to Israel, as I have commanded you. ⁷ Now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh."

¹ Now Joshua was old and far along in years. The LORD said to him, "You are old and far along in years, and very much of the land still remains to be taken. ² This is the land that remains: all the territory of the Philistines and of the Geshurites — ³ from the Shihor River east of Egypt northward to the boundary of Ekron (which is reckoned as Canaanite territory). The five Philistine rulers are of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron; and there are also the Avvites. ⁴ To the south: all the land of the Canaanites from Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek, reaching to the border of the Amorites; ⁵ the land of the Gebalites; and all of Lebanon eastward, from Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon all the way to Lebo-hamath. ⁶ As for all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim — all the Sidonians — I myself will drive them out before the Israelites. You need only allot it as an inheritance to Israel, as I have commanded you. ⁷ Now then, divide this land as an inheritance among the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh."

Notes

The divine word to Joshua is candid. It does not pretend the conquest is complete; it acknowledges that significant territory remains outside Israelite possession and instructs Joshua to proceed with the distribution anyway. The phrase הַאָרֶץ הַנִּשְׁאֶרֶת — "the land that remains" — is not a rebuke but a statement of reality. The promise of the land does not require that every inch of it be militarily subdued before it can be distributed. God's grant precedes Israel's full occupation. The distribution is an act of faith as much as an administrative task.

The five Philistine cities named — Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron — form the famous Philistine Pentapolis, a federation of city-states on the coastal plain. The פְּלִשְׁתִּים — Philistines — are likely among the "Sea Peoples" who migrated into the eastern Mediterranean coast around 1200 BC, contemporaneously with or shortly after Israel's settlement. Their ironworking technology (reflected in the later narrative of 1 Samuel 13:19-22) gave them military advantages that would define the conflict of the Judges–Samuel period. These five cities will be a recurring antagonist through Samson, through the ark narrative, through Saul's wars, and into David's reign. The fact that they are named here as "remaining" in Joshua 13 is the book's way of flagging a problem Israel has not yet solved — and will not solve for centuries.

God's promise "I myself will drive them out" (v. 6) echoes language from earlier in the conquest but carries an important condition. Elsewhere in Scripture, this promise is linked to Israel's obedience — when Israel is faithful, God acts; when Israel compromises, the remaining nations become thorns rather than being expelled (Judges 2:21-23). The partial conquest is thus not a failure of God's promise but a staging ground. The promise remains operative; Israel's faithfulness determines whether it is realized.

Interpretations

Why did God allow the conquest to remain incomplete? Three broad interpretive positions have been held:

The first view emphasizes Israel's failure of faith and nerve. On this reading, passages like Judges 2:1-3 place the blame squarely on Israel for making covenants with the remaining Canaanites and failing to destroy their altars. The incomplete conquest is a consequence of disobedience, not part of God's design.

The second view — prominent in the text of Judges itself (Judges 2:22-23, Judges 3:1-4) — holds that God sovereignly left remaining nations in the land to test Israel, to prove whether each generation would walk in the LORD's ways. On this reading, the incomplete conquest is not failure but divine pedagogy: the presence of unconquered peoples was God's chosen means of forming Israel's covenant character across generations.

The third view draws on Exodus 23:29-30, where God told Moses: "I will not drive them out in a single year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land." This practical-providential reading sees the gradual conquest as God's accommodation to Israel's demographic reality — the land needed proportional settlement to prevent ecological collapse. The incomplete conquest reflects wisdom and pacing rather than punishment or testing.

All three views have textual support and need not be mutually exclusive. The biblical narrative holds together God's sovereign intention, Israel's moral responsibility, and practical-historical realities without resolving them into a single tidy explanation.

Eastern Allotments and Israel's Failures (vv. 8–14)

⁸ The other half of Manasseh, along with the Reubenites and Gadites, had received the inheritance Moses had given them beyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had assigned to them: ⁹ The area from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon, ¹⁰ and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the Ammonites; ¹¹ also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah — ¹² the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had remained as a remnant of the Rephaim. Moses had struck them down and dispossessed them, ¹³ but the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites. So Geshur and Maacath dwell among the Israelites to this day. ¹⁴ To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The food offerings to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, just as He had promised them.

⁸ The other half-tribe of Manasseh, together with the Reubenites and Gadites, received the inheritance that Moses had given them on the east side of the Jordan, as Moses the servant of the LORD had assigned it to them: ⁹ the territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, with the town in the middle of that valley, and the whole plateau from Medeba as far as Dibon, ¹⁰ and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon, extending to the border of the Ammonites; ¹¹ also Gilead, and the region of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all of Bashan as far as Salecah — ¹² the entire kingdom of Og in Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei, one of the last of the Rephaim. Moses had defeated them and expelled them. ¹³ But the Israelites did not expel the Geshurites or the Maacathites; Geshur and Maacath continued to live among Israel — as they do to this day. ¹⁴ To the tribe of Levi alone Moses gave no inheritance. The food offerings made to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he had promised them.

Notes

Verse 13 carries a characteristic note of the land-distribution section: "the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites." This failure formula, with its pointed ending "to this day," marks incomplete obedience with permanent consequences. The formula recurs throughout Joshua 13–21 and throughout Judges 1 — a drumbeat of partial settlement and compromised holiness. What is especially significant here is that these are not listed among the peoples Israel simply could not defeat; they are peoples Israel chose not to expel.

The geographical reference to Geshur becomes narratively significant centuries later. 2 Samuel 3:3 identifies David's wife Maacah as the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, making Absalom half-Geshurite. When Absalom fled after murdering his brother Amnon, it was to Geshur he went — to his maternal grandfather — and he lived there three years (2 Samuel 13:37-38). The Geshurites whom Israel left in place during the conquest of Transjordan became family members of Israel's greatest king and the refuge of his most rebellious son. The unresolved compromises of the conquest have long tendrils into Israel's later story.

The Levitical inheritance formula in verse 14 — אִשֵּׁי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הוּא נַחֲלָתָם, "the food offerings of the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance" — is one of two such statements in this chapter (the other comes at verse 33: "the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance"). The repetition is emphatic and deliberate. The Levites are supported not by territory but by proximity to the altar, and the gifts brought to that altar constitute their provision. This is a structural statement about the nature of priestly ministry: their security lies in God's sustenance through his people's worship, not in independent land ownership.

Reuben's Inheritance (vv. 15–23)

¹⁵ This is what Moses had given to the clans of the tribe of Reuben: ¹⁶ The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, to the whole plateau beyond Medeba, ¹⁷ to Heshbon and all its cities on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon, ¹⁸ Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, ¹⁹ Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth-shahar on the hill in the valley, ²⁰ Beth-peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth — ²¹ all the cities of the plateau and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon until Moses killed him and the chiefs of Midian (Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba), the princes of Sihon who lived in the land. ²² The Israelites also killed the diviner Balaam son of Beor along with the others they put to the sword. ²³ And the border of the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the clans of the Reubenites, including the cities and villages.

¹⁵ This is what Moses allotted to the clans of the tribe of Reuben: ¹⁶ their territory ran from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley — including the city that sits in the valley — across the entire plateau beyond Medeba, ¹⁷ and on to Heshbon with all its cities on the plateau: Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon, ¹⁸ Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, ¹⁹ Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth-shahar on the hill above the valley, ²⁰ Beth-peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth — ²¹ all the plateau cities and the entire kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon. Moses killed him, and also the chieftains of Midian who were princes bound to Sihon: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. ²² The Israelites also killed Balaam son of Beor, the diviner, by the sword along with the rest. ²³ The Jordan served as the western border of Reuben's territory. This was the inheritance of the clans of Reuben, with all their cities and settlements.

Notes

The Reubenite inheritance is essentially the plateau of Moab — the territory that Sihon king of the Amorites had seized from the Moabites and then held until Israel's conquest. Many of the cities named here (Heshbon, Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Sibmah, Kiriathaim) reappear in the later oracles against Moab in Isaiah 15, Isaiah 16 and Jeremiah 48, suggesting that Moabite culture and population reasserted itself over time in this region — another instance of the incompleteness of Israel's hold on Transjordanian territory.

The mention of Balaam in verse 22 is a notable aside. His death during Israel's campaign against the Midianites is described more fully in Numbers 31:8, where he is killed alongside the five Midianite kings. Balaam had been hired by Moab's king Balak to curse Israel but was constrained by God to bless them instead (Numbers 22–24). He subsequently advised the Midianites on how to lead Israel into sexual immorality and idolatry at Baal-peor, an incident that triggered a plague killing 24,000 people (Numbers 25:1-9, Numbers 31:16). His death is mentioned here in the administrative allotment record almost as a footnote — a legal loose end tied up. The phrase קֹסֵם — "diviner" or "one who practices divination" — is his formal designation here, distinguishing him from a true prophet of the LORD. His status as a foreign professional diviner who nevertheless received genuine divine communication makes him one of the more theologically complex figures in the Old Testament.

Gad's Inheritance (vv. 24–28)

²⁴ This is what Moses had given to the clans of the tribe of Gad: ²⁵ The territory of Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, near Rabbah; ²⁶ the territory from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Debir; ²⁷ and in the valley, Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, with the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon (the territory on the east side of the Jordan up to the edge of the Sea of Chinnereth). ²⁸ This was the inheritance of the clans of the Gadites, including the cities and villages.

²⁴ This is what Moses allotted to the clans of the tribe of Gad: ²⁵ the territory of Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half the territory of the Ammonites as far as Aroer near Rabbah; ²⁶ the land from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Debir; ²⁷ and in the Jordan Valley: Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon — the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, the east side of the Jordan up to the southern tip of the Sea of Chinnereth. ²⁸ This was the inheritance of the clans of Gad, with all their cities and settlements.

Notes

Gad's territory runs through the heart of Gilead — the fertile upland region east of the Jordan famous for its balm (Jeremiah 8:22) and its forested landscape. The cities of the Jordan Valley portion — Succoth and Zaphon — appear later in the Gideon narrative (Judges 8:4-17), where Gad's own towns refused to give bread to Gideon's exhausted army chasing the Midianites. That later failure of Israelite solidarity within Gadite territory illustrates again how the formal allotment of territory did not automatically produce a unified, covenant-faithful Israel.

The reference to "half the land of the Ammonites" in verse 25 is somewhat puzzling, since the Ammonites were explicitly not to be attacked or dispossessed (Deuteronomy 2:19). The phrase likely refers to former Ammonite territory that Sihon had seized before Israel's arrival — land that Israel captured as part of Sihon's kingdom rather than from the Ammonites directly. The legal nuance matters: Israel did not violate the divine prohibition on displacing Ammon; they took land Ammon had already lost to Sihon.

Manasseh's Eastern Inheritance and the Levitical Principle (vv. 29–33)

²⁹ This is what Moses had given to the clans of the half-tribe of Manasseh, that is, to half the tribe of the descendants of Manasseh: ³⁰ The territory from Mahanaim through all Bashan — all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, including all the towns of Jair that are in Bashan, sixty cities; ³¹ half of Gilead; and Ashtaroth and Edrei, the royal cities of Og in Bashan. All this was for the clans of the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh, that is, half of the descendants of Machir. ³² These were the portions Moses had given them on the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho. ³³ To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, just as He had promised them.

²⁹ This is what Moses allotted to the clans of the half-tribe of Manasseh, that is, to half the descendants of Manasseh: ³⁰ their territory ran from Mahanaim through all of Bashan — the entire kingdom of Og king of Bashan — including all the settlements of Jair in Bashan, sixty cities; ³¹ half of Gilead; and the royal cities of Og in Bashan, Ashtaroth and Edrei. All of this went to the clans of the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh — specifically, to half of Machir's descendants. ³² These were the allotments Moses made on the plains of Moab, on the east side of the Jordan across from Jericho. ³³ But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance. The LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he had promised them.

Notes

The allotment to the half-tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan corresponds to the great territory of Og's kingdom — the region of Bashan, famous for its rich pastures and livestock (Amos 4:1, where the wealthy women of Samaria are mocked as "cows of Bashan"). The sixty cities of Jair — חַוֹּת יָאִיר, "the tent-villages of Jair" — reflect an early pattern of Israelite settlement in the northeast, where the semi-nomadic clan of Jair (a descendant of Manasseh, Numbers 32:41) established a network of settlements across northern Bashan.

The chapter concludes with its second iteration of the Levitical inheritance principle: "The LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance" (v. 33). The first statement in verse 14 says the אִשֵּׁי יְהוָה — the food offerings of the LORD — are the Levites' inheritance; this second statement elevates the principle to its fullest theological form: the LORD himself is their inheritance. The difference in phrasing is significant. Verse 14 speaks of the material mechanism (the offerings sustain them); verse 33 speaks of the ultimate reality (their relationship with God is their true possession). This double statement forms a theological bracket around the entire eastern-allotment section.

The connection to the New Testament is explicit in 1 Corinthians 9:13-14, where Paul invokes the same principle to establish that those who proclaim the gospel should receive their living from the gospel: "Do you not know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the altar's offerings? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel." The Levitical model of ministry without territorial inheritance, sustained by the community's offerings, becomes the New Testament model for Christian ministry.