Joshua 18

The allotment of land between the tribes continues in this chapter, but before jumping into the borders of Benjamin's territory we get a story about Israel's own 'Lewis and Clark Expedition'. Joshua sent out 21 men, three from each of the remaining tribes, and they mapped the area and divided it into seven regions. Those, then, will be assigned by lot to the remaining tribes - and I suspect that will take us through the end of this book.

It is somewhat interesting, now that I reflect upon it, how important the division of land was to the Israelites. Today I just think of the whole of the USA as my country, and I couldn't care less where the exact border of states is. Oddly, I do very much care about the borders of Seattle, as making them larger would mean Seattle would get a bigger dot on maps, but I think that is just me wanting more bragging rights. I wonder if it was the same for people back then, or if land and borders meant more in that time and place. We are in such a global world now, no pun intended, that borders are beginning to have a lot less meaning. The more I think about that the less I think it is good, though - and I didn't think it was good to begin with. Perhaps clearly-defined limits are best...