Bible study · Joshua 19:1-51
Joshua 19: The last lots, and Joshua's city
Read Joshua 19:1-51 before you meet.
In a few lines
Simeon's land sat "in the middle of the inheritance of the children of Judah" (19:1) because Judah had too much; Joshua was given his city last, "among them" (19:49), in words the book used of Caleb. And the lands drawn here for Zebulun and Naphtali are the ones Matthew names when Jesus came to live in Capernaum (Matthew 4:13).
The verse to carry
“So they finished distributing the land for inheritance by its borders. The children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them.”
Joshua 19:49
To talk about
1. Judah's portion "was too much for them" (19:9), so Simeon lived in the middle of it; Joseph's tribes said they had "just one lot and one part" (17:14). When have you had more than you needed, and what did you do with it?
2. Joshua was given his city only after every tribe had its land (19:49-50). What does it look like, in your life, to take your own share last?
3. Isaiah says of "the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali" that "in the latter time he has made it glorious" (Isaiah 9:1), and Matthew says Jesus came to live there (Matthew 4:13-16). Why do you think it matters where Jesus lived and began?