“As for the Y’vusi, who lived in Yerushalayim, the descendants of Y’hudah could not drive them out; so the Y’vusi live with the descendants of Y’hudah in Yerushalayim to this day.”-Joshua 15:6
As I mentioned yesterday, geography was the reason why certain villages clustered together at certain locations.
One cluster of villages could be separated by another cluster by a barren desert, mountains or even a lake or river.
And as I also mentioned, these village clusters were dependent on each other for trade and mutual protection.
Their interdependence equaled a healthy and growing economy.
Normally, there was one main central town surrounded by other smaller cities that stretched out into a bunch of small villages.
And a clan usually decided which cluster of villages to settle in based on its specialty.
What do I mean by that?
Well, one clan might have an exceptionally high number of wine makers, others might be primarily made up of shepherds while others might be famous for a certain type of craftsmanship and so on.
It was best for members of a clan if they were the strongest clan amidst a cluster of villages in a certain area that matched up with what they needed and their talents.
Why?
Because that led to less inner fighting, made it easy for families within the same clan to intermarry (extremely desired) and just made it a whole lot easier in general for the dominant clan to grow in power minus outside interruptions.
Finally, notice the last verse of Joshua chapter 15 where it says “Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah” (NIV version).
The important thing about this verse is that the author of the Book of Joshua is making it clear that these events took place BEFORE King David.
Because we’re told the Tribe of Judah was unable to drive out the Jebusites.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN JOSHUA CHAPTER 16
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