Joshua 13:15-23 meaning

Joshua 13:15-23 provides a detailed description of the inheritance Moses gave to the tribe of the sons of Reuben (v 15). While the Israelites were still in the region east of the Jordan River, two tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh requested that portion of the land, as it was ideal for raising livestock. Initially, Moses was reluctant to grant the request. But they vowed to join the rest of the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan. With this commitment, Moses consented (Numbers 32). Our previous passage gave a general description of the territory Moses gave to these eastern tribes.

The name Reuben means "behold a son." Reuben was the first of the six sons of Jacob by his wife Leah (Genesis 35:23). He rescued Joseph when his brothers plotted to kill him (Genesis 37:18-24). He was the founder of the tribe of Reuben. That tribe received an allotment of land under the leadership of Moses according to their families (v 15).

The term translated as families is "mišpāḥâ" in the Hebrew language. It can be used broader than the nuclear family (a couple with their children). It also can refer to a large ethnic group within a tribe, an extended family (Joshua 7:14). "Mišpāḥâ" includes parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. That said, Moses considered the size of the Reubenites during the land distribution to ensure they received a proportionate share. Their territory stretched from Aroer, on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley and all the plain by Medeba  (v 16).

Aroer was a town in Moab on a pass along the summit of the hills in modern-day Jordan. It lies on the edge of the valley of the Arnon (v 16), just one mile from the river Arnon (Deuteronomy 2:36; 3:12). The Valley of the Arnon (modern Wadi el-mojib) flows from east to west through a canyon with walls 1,500 feet high into the Dead Sea. During the Israelite campaign in Canaan, the Arnon gorge served as a natural boundary between Moab to the south and the Ammonite kingdoms to the north (Numbers 21:13-15). Medeba was a fertile tableland 25 miles south of modern-day Amman, Jordan.

The territory of the Reubenites reached as far as the city of Heshbon (v 17a), about 50 miles east of Jerusalem, which served as the capital of the kingdom of Sihon (see map). In this region lay all the cities on the plain: Dibon, Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon, Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth-shahar on the hill of the valley, Beth-peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth (vv 17b-20).

The town of Dibon was about five miles northwest of Aroer. Years later, it became the capital of Moab for some time. Bamoth-baal (also listed by its shortest name "Bamoth") was a town in Moab, where the Israelites camped on the route into Canaan (Numbers 21:19-20). Beth-baal-meon was a northern Moabite town more commonly called "Baal-meon" (Numbers 32:38). Jahaz was a town east of the Dead Sea, where the people of God subdued King Sihon of the Amorites (Numbers 21:23-24). Kedemoth was a wilderness area on the upper course of the Arnon River, from which Moses contacted King Sihon (Deuteronomy 2:26). Mephaath, Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth-shahar, and Beth-peor (vv 18-20) were towns on the tableland of Moab (Jeremiah 48:21; Numbers 32:37, 38).

The slopes of Pisgah refer to a mountain located at the northeast end of the Dead Sea, not too far from the city of Jericho. Moses went to its summit to view the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 3:27). Later, he returned there to die (Deuteronomy 34:1). Beth-jeshimoth was north of the Dead Sea, where the Israelites camped at the end of their wilderness journey (Numbers 33:49).

The territory allotted to the Reubenites also included even all the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites (v 21). He reigned in Heshbon, the capital of his kingdom. When the Israelites traveled from the wilderness towards the land of Canaan, they requested peaceful passage through the territory of Sihon, but he refused and attacked them. Therefore, with God's help, Moses struck him with the chiefs of Midian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba (v 21). These Midianite kings were the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land (v 21) (Numbers 31:8). At that time, the sons of Israel also killed Balaam, the son of Beor, the diviner, with the sword among the rest of their slain (v 22).

Balaam was a wicked prophet hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse the Israelites while they were at the border of Moab. The LORD, however, instructed Balaam to bless His covenant people, and he did that initially. Later, the false prophet advised King Balak on how to trap the Israelites, causing them to fall into idolatry and sexual immorality (Numbers 22-24). For this reason, the LORD delivered Balaam into the hands of His people, and they killed him alongside the Midianite leaders.

The New Testament treats Balaam as a standing warning. The Apostle Peter describes false teachers as those who "followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Peter 2:15). Balaam blessed Israel with his mouth while plotting Israel's ruin for worldly gain (Numbers 31:16).

Jude also references Balaam as he describes the sin of corrupting members in the church, listing other Old Testament illustrations of rebellion as well, from Cain to Korah (Judah 1:11). In the letter to the church in Pergamum, Jesus describes false teachers in their midst, comparing their distorted teaching to Balaam's,

"But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality"
(Revelation 2:14).

This section concludes by stating that the border of the sons of Reuben was Jordan to the west (v 23). They received the territory east of the Dead Sea, which the Moabites previously occupied. This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben, according to their families, the cities and their villages (v 23). The Hebrew term translated as village here ("ḥāṣēr") refers to a permanent settlement without fortified walls. For this reason, the inhabitants of a village relied upon the nearby city for protection (Joshua 15:20-63). The distribution of a portion of land east of the Jordan to the Reubenites demonstrates Moses's faithfulness to his word.