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Joshua 15:13-63

¹³ According to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah, Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). ¹⁴ And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak. ¹⁵ And he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir. Now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. ¹⁶ And Caleb said, “Whoever strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.” ¹⁷ And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. ¹⁸ When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she got off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” ¹⁹ She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

²⁰ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans. ²¹ The cities belonging to the tribe of the people of Judah in the extreme south, toward the boundary of Edom, were Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, ²² Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³ Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ²⁴ Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, ²⁵ Hazor-hadattah, Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor), ²⁶ Amam, Shema, Moladah, ²⁷ Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet, ²⁸ Hazar-shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, ²⁹ Baalah, Iim, Ezem, ³⁰ Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, ³¹ Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, ³² Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon: in all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.

³³ And in the lowland, Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, ³⁴ Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah, Enam, ³⁵ Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, ³⁶ Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, Gederothaim: fourteen cities with their villages.

³⁷ Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad, ³⁸ Dilean, Mizpeh, Joktheel, ³⁹ Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, ⁴⁰ Cabbon, Lahmam, Chitlish, ⁴¹ Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah: sixteen cities with their villages.

⁴² Libnah, Ether, Ashan, ⁴³ Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, ⁴⁴ Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah: nine cities with their villages.

⁴⁵ Ekron, with its towns and its villages; ⁴⁶ from Ekron to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages.

⁴⁷ Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; to the Brook of Egypt, and the Great Sea with its coastline.

⁴⁸ And in the hill country, Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, ⁴⁹ Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir), ⁵⁰ Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, ⁵¹ Goshen, Holon, and Giloh: eleven cities with their villages.

⁵² Arab, Dumah, Eshan, ⁵³ Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah, ⁵⁴ Humtah, Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior: nine cities with their villages.

⁵⁵ Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, ⁵⁶ Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, ⁵⁷ Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah: ten cities with their villages.

⁵⁸ Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor, ⁵⁹ Maarath, Beth-anoth, and Eltekon: six cities with their villages.

⁶⁰ Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah: two cities with their villages.

⁶¹ In the wilderness, Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah, ⁶² Nibshan, the City of Salt, and Engedi: six cities with their villages.

⁶³ But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

Here is another example (with a few more on the way) of tough reading. If you made it all the way through all those name – good for you! It’s a struggle every time for me. But these words are included by God’s design, so we read them out of obedience and because He believed them important enough to leave them in the Bible.

Even though the passage could only be called laborious, there are a few nuggets of information here for us. I am intrigued by the daughter of Caleb, who had clearly been raised by her father to understand the depth of her inheritance and she boldly claims it and asks for more! Caleb as raised a strong woman and she attains the best for her family, And we are informed of the struggle Judah had with capturing all of the inheritance given to them, specifically the city of Jerusalem. The tribe of Judah was able to acquire all of the land and villages surrounding Jerusalem, but the city itself remained in the hands of the Jebusites.

Complete Israelite success at capturing and controlling Jerusalem will have to wait until King David, who will come from the tribe of Judah (2 Samuel 5:6–10). His victory over the city would come about 1000bc, some four hundred years after the time of Joshua. Yet the true victory would be achieved only by Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who has vanquished all sin and evil, triumphing over the devil and all the powers of hell by his atoning death and victorious resurrection on the third day.

Harstad, A. L. ©2004. Joshua (p. 550). Saint Louis, MO: CPH.