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Joshua 19 · a question people ask

"According to the LORD’s commandment" Joshua was given his city. Where is that command?

In the text

The Bible doesn't record it. Joshua 19:50 is the first place the Bible names Timnathserah, and no earlier verse records the LORD speaking about it. The book says something like it for Caleb: "a portion among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua" (15:13). For Caleb, chapter 14 tells of an earlier promise: "Moses swore on that day" (14:9) that "the land where you walked shall be an inheritance to you" (14:9). For Joshua, the text says only that it was the LORD's command, and that he asked (19:50). The LORD had said long before that both men would enter the land (Numbers 14:30).

The verses

“According to the LORD’s commandment, they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnathserah in the hill country of Ephraim; and he built the city, and lived there.”
Joshua 19:50 · World English Bible
“He gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, even Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (also called Hebron).”
Joshua 15:13 · World English Bible
“Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where you walked shall be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’”
Joshua 14:9 · World English Bible
“surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.”
Numbers 14:30 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Joshua 19

Joshua 19: The last lots, and Joshua's city

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).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions