Read Joshua 13 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
13:1-14 {p} Joshua commanded to divide the land/ the land yet to be possessed
13:15-23 {p} The inheritance of Reuben east of the Jordan
13:24-28 {s} The inheritance of Gad
13:29-32 {p} The inheritance of half Manasseh which Moses gave east of the Jordan
13:33 {s} Moses gave the tribe of Levi no inheritance; YHVH was their inheritance
Joshua 13:14-33 Reverse Parallelism (a Chiastic Structure without the central axis):
I thought it interesting, the mention of Balaam, whom we haven’t heard about since Numbers.
So Balaam rose and departed and returned to his place; Balak also went his way. Num 24:25
His place being, the town of Pethor in Aram, which is today Syria and Jordan.
Then he [Balak king of Moab] sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River [used consistently for the Euphrates in Scripture] in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me!” Num 22:5
… because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Aram Naharaim [“plateau between two rivers,” that is, Mesopotamia], to curse you. Deu 23:4
I wondered, after Balaam had returned to his place, what he was doing among the Midianites. For,
They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword. Num 31:8
The Midianite women were those who enticed Israel into idolatry at Baal-Peor (see Numbers 25). We only later learned that it was Balaam who suggested this snare, since he was prevented from cursing Israel outright.
Scripture doesn’t say what he was doing there, so whatever reason would be just speculation. But perhaps he was planning on continuing to meddle into Israel’s affairs. He made a big mistake aligning himself on the wrong side of YHVH, the God of Israel. It’s a Learning from the Narrative lesson many nations today could use.
If there are questions, these are good resources:
Pethor – Net Bible Study Dictionary
Aram – Net Bible Study Dictionary
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