Глава 18

1. Setting up the sacred Tabernacle at Shiloh. 2–9. An admonition to the tribes of Israel who received no inheritance, and a new measure for the proper division of the remaining land. 10–20. The lot of the tribe of Benjamin and the boundaries of the inheritance inherited by it. 21–28. Cities in this area. Joshua 18:1. All the congregation of the children of Israel assembled at Shiloh, and they pitched the tabernacle of meeting there, for the land had been subdued by them. When the land was conquered and the tribe of Ephraim took its inheritance in the middle zone, the “Tent of Meeting” (Ex. 27:21, etc.) was transferred from Gilgal in the Jordan Valley to Shiloh, the city of the tribe of Ephraim. According to Judges 21:19, it was “north of Bethel and east of the road leading from Bethel to Shechem.” Currently, its place (found by the famous geographer of Palestine Robinson) is called Seilun. The hill on which it was located is surrounded by other hills and covered with ruins bearing signs of antiquity. Shiloh was 8 hours from Jerusalem to Shechem and 4 hours from the latter. It was chosen as the site of the Tabernacle, no doubt by divine direction, although the biblical writer does not say so. This idea of ​​​​the election of Shiloh is inspired both by the decree of Deuteronomy (Deut. 12:11), according to which the Lord chooses a place for His name to dwell on it (this decree is meant by the writer of the book of Joshua in the final words of Joshua 9:27), and by the words of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 7:12): “go to my place in Shiloh, where I have appointed my name to dwell.” The reason for choosing this place for the public sanctuary is, one might think, that the latter, being in the middle of the land of Canaan, could be most accessible to the entire Israeli people. Joshua 18:3. And Jesus said to the children of Israel, “How long will you be hesitant to go and inherit the land that the Lord God of your fathers has given you?” The “negligence” for which Joshua reproaches the Israelites of the 7 tribes, who had not yet received their inheritance, could stem both from the habit of a nomadic life, among which the majority of the people were born and raised, and from the awareness of the great difficulties that settled life presented for the then generation of Israelis in a country in which there were still a lot of the former population, the fight against which required a lot of courage and effort. This behavior of the 7 tribes could not continue for long, because the conquered country, remaining for a long time without a settled population, would have fallen into a wild state and the Canaanites who remained in their places would have become even more powerful. In order to prevent dissatisfaction in the future, similar to that expressed by the Ephraimites and Manassetes, and to achieve a division of the land that was as proportionate as possible to the composition of the tribes, Joshua took a special measure, which consisted in the fact that 3 electors were sent from each of the 7 tribes, who were supposed to collect more accurate and complete information about the conquered country, which still remained undivided, and the electors had to keep in mind “how it is necessary to divide them into inheritances” (Joshua 18:4), i.e. 7 knees, or 7 sections. Joshua 18:9. They went and walked through the land, [examined it] and described it, according to its cities, into seven inheritances, in a book, and they came to Jesus in the camp at Shiloh. From what has been said here about the fulfillment of the mandate entrusted to them by the electors, it is clear that they entered the description of the land of Canaan they examined with the cities located in it “in the book,” the instructions of which were to be of decisive importance in possible disputes between the tribes regarding the ownership of certain localities. Joshua 18:10. Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land for the children of Israel according to their portions. Joshua 18:11. The [first] lot went out to the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, according to their families. Their boundary by lot was between the sons of Judah and between the sons of Joseph; Joshua 18:12. their border on the north side begins at the Jordan, and this border passes near Jericho on the north, and ascends to the mountain to the west, and ends in the desert of Bethaven; Joshua 18:13. from there the border goes to Luz, to the south side of Luz, otherwise Bethel, and the border goes down to Ataroth-Adar, to the mountain, which is on the south side of Beth-oron lower; The lot was cast by Joshua in “Siloma before the Lord,” i.e. before the Sacred Tabernacle, as a place of special divine presence. The first lot went out to the tribe of Benjamin, which was given an inheritance “between the sons of Judah and between the sons of Joseph,” i.e. in the middle between the inheritances of the tribe of Judah and Ephraim. As a result, the northern border of the tribe of Benjamin coincided with the southern border of the tribe of Ephraim, from Jericho to lower Bethuron, described in Joshua 16: 1–3. Joshua 18:14. then the border turns and slopes towards the sea side to the south from the mountain, which is in the south before Beth-oron, and ends at Kiriath-Baal, otherwise Kiriath-jearim, the city of the sons of Judah. This is the west side. From the mountain that rises in front of Bethhoron on the southern side, the border turned and went “to the sea side” - i.e. to the west, to the south and went out to Kiriath-Baal, which also bore the name Kiriath-Jearim (Joshua 9:17) and belonged to the tribe of Judah. Joshua 18:15. On the southern side from Kiriath-jearim the border goes to the sea and reaches the source of the waters of Nephtoah; The southern border of the tribe of Benjamin coincided with the northern border of Judah described in Joshua 15:5-9, with the difference that the first is described in the direction from west to east, and the second - from east to west. The first began from the “end” (according to the Hebrew text “miktse”), according to the Greek-Slavic translation ἀπὸ μέρους - “from the part of Kiriath-jearim”, i.e. from the border of this city, went west “to the sea... to the source of the waters of Nephtoah” (Joshua 15:9). Joshua 18:16. then the border goes down to the end of the mountain, which is before the valley of the son of Hinnom, in the valley of Rephaim, to the north, and comes down through the valley of Hinnom to the south side of Jebus, and goes to Hien-Rogel; Joshua 18:17. then he turns from the north and goes to En-shemesh, and goes to Geliloth, which is opposite the hill of Adummim, and goes down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben; Joshua 18:18. then it passes near the plain to the north and descends onto the plain; Joshua 18:19. from here the border runs near Beth Hoglah to the north, and the border ends at the northern gulf of the Salt Sea, at the southern end of the Jordan. This is the southern limit. On the eastern side, the Jordan serves as the limit. From here the border “descended to the end of the mountain that was before the valley of the son of Hinnom,” at the northern end of the valley of Rephaim (Joshua 15:8), then descended into the valley of Hinnom along the southern side of Jebus, to the spring of Hien-Rogel, etc. see Joshua 15:5–7. Joshua 18:21. These cities belonged to the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, according to their families: Jericho, Beth-Hoglah, and Emek-Keziz, The cities that were in the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin are divided into two groups according to their geographical location. The first consisted of 12 cities located in the eastern half of the inheritance, namely: Jericho (Joshua 2:1), Beth Hoglah (Joshua 15:6), Emek-Ketzitz (according to the Greek-Slavic translation: Amekkasis); The name of this, apparently, city is currently borne by the valley between Jerusalem and Jericho, southeast of the source of the Apostles (Joshua 15:7) 168. Joshua 18:22. Beth Arava, Tzemarim and Bethel, Beth-Arava (see Joshua 15:6,61); in the last place this city is ranked among the tribe of Judah. Tsemaraim, according to the Greek-Slavic translation Semrim, is indicated by some at the site of the ruins of Samra, on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho 169, by others on Mount Tsemaraim, one of the mountains of Ephraim (2 Chronicles 13:4), Bethel (Joshua 7:2). Joshua 18:23. Avvim, Farah and Ofra, Avvim is unknown in his position. Farah is indicated at the site of the ruins bearing the same name, in the Farah wadi, southwest of Jericho, 3 hours' journey from it and the same number from Jerusalem. Ofra in Eusebius and Jerome is indicated in 5 Romans. miles east of Bethel; The place of this Ophra, different from the Ophra of Gideon in the tribe of Manasseh (Judges 6:11), is recognized as the village of Et-Taiygebe with the ruins of an ancient fortress on the top of a hill, northeast of Bethel. Joshua 18:24. Kefar Ammonai, Afni and Geva: twelve cities with their villages. Of the three cities named here, the location of the last one is known - Geva (in the Greek-Slavic translation Gavaa), which was located on the site of the present village of Jeba, located on a high hill covered with ruins, 2 1/2 hours northeast of Jerusalem. Joshua 18:25. Gibeon, Rama and Beroth, The second group of cities of the tribe of Benjamin consisted of 14, which were generally located in the western half of the inheritance. Of these, regarding Gibeon, see Joshua 9:3. Rama was located, according to Judges 19:11–14, north of Jerusalem, according to Eusebius, in 6 Romans. miles from it; According to this, its location is recognized as the village of Yer-Ram, on a high hill, with the ruins of a church and a tower, 2 hours’ journey north of Jerusalem. This Rama was identical, in all likelihood, with Ramathaim-Zophim or Rama, the birthplace and residence of the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1,19,7:17, etc.). Regarding Beroth, see Joshua 9:17. Joshua 18:26. Mitzfeh, Kefir and Motza, Joshua 18:27. Rekem, Irfeil and Farala, Of the 6 cities named here, only the first two are known by their geographical location. Mitzpe (in the Slavic Bible Masfa) was located on a high mountain called Nebi Samvil (“the prophet Samuel”), 2 hours northwest of Jerusalem, half an hour south of Gibeon 170. For Kefir, see Joshua 9:17. Joshua 18:28. Zela, Elef and Jebus, otherwise Jerusalem, Gibeath and Kiriath: fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families. The location of Zela, which served as the burial place of the family of King Saul (2 Samuel 21:14) and Elef, is unknown. Tsela and Elef in Alex. and some other Greek lists form one name Σηλαλεφ or Σελαελαφ, as in the Slavic Bible. Gibeath, called in other places Gibeah (Judges 19:12), Gibeah of Benjamin (1 Sam. 13:2) or Gibeah of Saul (1 Sam. 11:4), is usually indicated an hour's journey north of Jerusalem, on the high hill of Tellel-Ful, on the top of which are the ruins of a tower made of ancient material 171. Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky (Holy Land, vol. 2, 11), speaks specifically about the Kaaziz valley, which is found a 20-minute journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. However, the domestic researcher derives the name Kaaziz from the word “azazel” (p. 14), and not from “Ketsits”. Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky, Ibid., p. 17–18. For a description of Mount Samuel, see Holy Land, 2ff.; according to prof. A. A. Olesnitsky, based on local tradition, Mount Samuel is one and the same with Ramathaim-Zophim in 1 Samuel 1:1 and with the Gospel Emmaus. According to prof. A. A. Olesnitsky, this identification of Gibeah Saul with Tel el-Ful “has no basis.” Holy Land, 2, 300. You might be interested in: