Read Joshua 18 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
18:1-10 {p} Seven tribes survey the land; Joshua divides it before YHVH
18:11-20 {p} The borders of Benjamin
18:21-28 {p} The cities of Benjamin
Jos 18:1-10 Chiastic Structure:
The abstract concept of inheritance in the Hebrew is from Strong’s H5157, נחל nachal, a primitive verb meaning, “to receive an inheritance.” The 3-letter root is nun + chet + lamed.
nun ן ,נ = the seed, thus continue, heir, son
chet ח = the wall, thus outside, divide, half
lamed ל = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
The Hebrew Root Word parable is of the heir (nun) receiving what has been divided (chet) to him by his father (lamed). The twelve tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Asher, Dan, Gad, Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, Ephraim of Joseph, Manasseh of Joseph, and Benjamin received an inheritance of land, that is, of material goods. The land was how they made their income, by growing crops and raising livestock. But the tribe of Levi received an inheritance of service to YHVH God:
“Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to YHVH, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’” Num 18:21-24
And He provided material goods for them, not from their own land, but from the tithes of the tribes who had land and material goods, because of their service.
If there are questions, this is a good resource:
How was God Himself the inheritance of the Levites? – Got Questions
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