Today we begin Joshua Chapter 14.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.
For the King James version, click HERE.
“These are the inheritances which the people of Israel took in the land of Kena‘an, which El‘azar the cohen, Y’hoshua the son of Nun and the heads of the ancestral clans of the tribes of the people of Israel distributed to them by lot for them to inherit, as Adonai ordered through Moshe, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe.”-Joshua 14:1-2
Alrighty, from Joshua Chapter 14, the topic at hand completely switches from talking about the land on the east side of the Jordan (territory that was NOT part of the Promised Land given to Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of Manasseh)…
…to discussing the actual occupation of the Land of Canaan itself.
The main character also switches over from Moses, the one who led the attack on the eastern region, to Joshua, who led the attack on the western region.
And suddenly, right out of the blue, the current High Priest (Eleazar, the son of Aaron) makes a reappearance.
Why is this so?
It all has to do with the big event of distributing the land amongst the remaining 9 1/2 tribes who have not yet received their inheritance.
Since this was such an important event, both the military leadership of Israel as represented by Joshua AND the spiritual leadership of Israel as represented by Eleazar needed to be present.
In addition, 10 princes each representing the 10 tribes, were also present.
Technically speaking, I know there were 9 1/2 tribes and not 10 but it would be kind of impossible to have 1/2 of a prince present himself to represent 1/2 of the tribe of Manasseh now, wouldn’t it?
Therefore, a total of 10 princes participated in this grand ceremony.
There’s one other point I want to make clear.
Although we’re told that the drawing of lots was how the land was distributed, don’t mistakenly think Eleazar’s presence was necessary in order for this to happen.
The men could have drawn the lots and distributed the land on their own.
But here’s the thing and this really is a key point.
The dividing up of the land was a DIVINE event.
Hence, it was totally appropriate to have the spiritual leadership of Israel in the form the High Priest present.
Never forget that folks.
While there are many great countries in the world, only Israel is HOLY and only Israel is unique and especially chosen from God’s perspective.
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