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Joshua

About this book
Chapter 13

1 When Joshua was very old, the Lord told him, “You are very old, and a great deal of land remains to be conquered. 2 This is the land that remains: all the territory of the Philistines and all the Geshurites,⁠ 3 from the Shihor River east of Egypt northward to the territory of Ekron (it is regarded as Canaanite territory), including the area belonging to the five Philistine lords who ruled in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as Avvite land 4 to the south; all the Canaanite territory, from Arah in the region of Sidon to Aphek, as far as Amorite territory; 5 the territory of Byblos and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 6 I will drive out before the Israelites all who live in the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, all the Sidonians; you be sure to parcel it out to Israel as I instructed you. 7 Now, divide up this land among the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.” 8 The other half of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad received their allotted tribal lands on the east side of the Jordan, just as Moses, the Lord’s servant, had assigned them. 9 Their territory started from Aroer (on the edge of the Arnon Valley), included the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plain of Medeba as far as Dibon, 10 and all the cities of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon, and ended at the Ammonite border. 11 Their territory also included Gilead, Geshurite and Maacathite territory, all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah— 12 the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei. (He was one of the few remaining Rephaites.) Moses defeated them and took their lands. 13 But the Israelites did not conquer the Geshurites and Maacathites; Geshur and Maacah live among Israel to this very day.⁠ 14 However, Moses did not assign land as an inheritance to the Levites; their inheritance is the sacrificial offerings made to the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed them. 15 Moses assigned land to the tribe of Reuben by its clans. 16 Their territory started at Aroer (on the edge of the Arnon Valley) and included the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plain of Medeba, 17 Heshbon and all its surrounding cities on the plain, including Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon, 18 Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, 19 Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on the hill in the valley, 20 Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth. 21 It encompassed all the cities of the plain and the whole realm of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon. Moses defeated him and the Midianite leaders Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba (they were subjects of Sihon and lived in his territory).⁠ 22 The Israelites killed Balaam son of Beor,⁠ the omen reader, along with the others. 23 The border of the tribe of Reuben was the Jordan. The land allotted to the tribe of Reuben by its clans included these cities and their towns. 24 Moses assigned land to the tribe of Gad by its clans. 25 Their territory included Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half the Ammonite territory as far as Aroer near Rabbah. 26 Their territory ran from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the territory of Debir. 27 It included the valley of Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Sukkoth, and Zaphon, and the rest of the realm of King Sihon of Heshbon, the area east of the Jordan to the end of the Sea of Kinnereth. 28 The land allotted to the tribe of Gad by its clans included these cities and their towns. 29 Moses assigned land to the half-tribe of Manasseh by its clans. 30 Their territory started at Mahanaim and encompassed all Bashan, the whole realm of King Og of Bashan, including all 60 cities in Havvoth Jair in Bashan. 31 Half of Gilead, Ashtaroth, and Edrei, cities in the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were assigned to the descendants of Makir son of Manasseh, to half the descendants of Makir by their clans. 32 These are the land assignments made by Moses in the rift valley plains of Moab east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho. 33 However, Moses did not assign land as an inheritance to the Levites; their inheritance is the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed them.

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 31:8 and Joshua 13:22

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Numbers 31 depicts Balaam’s death during Israel’s attack on Midian, and Joshua 13 repeats this, calling him a fortune teller. Together, these traditions portray Balaam as leading Israel astray and practicing forbidden magic, with his death his judgment.

Passages

Numbers 31:8

Hebrew Bible
6 So Moses sent them to the war, 1,000 from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge of the holy articles and the signal trumpets. 7 They fought against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian in addition to those slain—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—five Midianite kings. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. 9 The Israelites took the women of Midian captive along with their little ones, and took all their herds, all their flocks, and all their goods as plunder. 10 They burned all their towns where they lived and all their encampments.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Joshua 13:22

Hebrew Bible
20 Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth. 21 It encompassed all the cities of the plain and the whole realm of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon. Moses defeated him and the Midianite leaders Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba (they were subjects of Sihon and lived in his territory). 22 The Israelites killed Balaam son of Beor, the omen reader, along with the others. 23 The border of the tribe of Reuben was the Jordan. The land allotted to the tribe of Reuben by its clans included these cities and their towns. 24 Moses assigned land to the tribe of Gad by its clans.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joshua

References

"... the preponderance of the passages on Balaam, biblical and postbiblical alike, are derogatory. The ground text is in the Balaam section itself, in the episode of the ass: Here Balaam seeks to curse Israel without divine permission (22:22, 34). Its reflex surfaces first in Deuteronomy with the explicit charge that Balaam set out to curse Israel: “The Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, for the Lord your God loves you” (Deuteronomy 23:6; see Joshua 24:10; Nehemiah 13:2). Deuteronomy’s denigration of Balaam is understandable given its premise that prophets arise only in Israel, whereas their pagan counterparts are abominable magicians (Deuteronomy 18:9-15). And elsewhere Balaam is censured for another reason: “They [the Midianites] are the very ones who, at the bidding of Balaam, induced the Israelites to trespass against the Lorn in the matter of Peor, so that the Lord’s community was struck by the plague” (Numbers 31:16). Balaam, that is, had advised Balak to demoralize Israel’s fighting force by using Midianite women to seduce it into the service of their cult. That this tradition is as old as that of Deuteronomy, if not older, is now demonstrable by the eighth-century Deir ‘Alla inscription, which also tells of Balaam advising the establishment of an idolatrous cult. Both pejorative traditions are combined in Joshua 13:22, “Together with the others [the Midianites] that they slew, the Israelites put Balaam, the augur, to the sword.” That he was an augur points to his condemnation by Deuteronomy 18:10-13, and that he was slain with the Midianites whom he incited against Israel points to Numbers 31:8, 16 ..."
Jacob Milgrom, Numbers: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990), 470–471.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Numbers 31:8 and Joshua 13:22

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