Through the Bible – Day 78

_1-5Nine and a half tribes still did not have any land, although two and a half tribes had already received land east of the River Jordan. Moses had divided that land among them, and he had also said that the Levi tribe would not receive a large region like the other tribes. Instead, the people of Levi would receive towns and the nearby pastures for their sheep, goats, and cattle. And since the descendants of Joseph had become the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, there were still nine and a half tribes that needed land. The LORD had told Moses that he would show those tribes how to divide up the land of Canaan.

When the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of the families and tribes of Israel met to divide up the land of Canaan, the LORD showed them how to do it.

₆One day while the Israelites were still camped at Gilgal, Caleb the son of Jephunneh went to talk with Joshua. Caleb belonged to the Kenaz clan, and many other people from the Judah tribe went with Caleb. He told Joshua:

₁₃Joshua prayed that God would help Caleb, then he gave Hebron to Caleb and his descendants. ₁₄And Hebron still belongs to Caleb's descendants, because he was faithful to the LORD God of Israel.

₁₅Hebron used to be called Arba's Town, because Arba had been one of the greatest of the Anakim.

There was peace in the land.

₁The clans of the Judah tribe were given land that went south along the border of Edom, and at its furthest point south it even reached the Zin Desert. ₂Judah's southern border started at the south end of the Dead Sea. ₃As it went west from there, it ran south of Scorpion Pass to Zin, and then came up from the south to Kadesh-Barnea. It continued past Hezron up to Addar, turned towards Karka, ₄and ran along to Azmon. After that, it followed the Egyptian Gorge and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. This was also Israel's southern border.

₅Judah's eastern border ran the full length of the Dead Sea.

The northern border started at the northern end of the Dead Sea. ₆From there it went west up to Beth-Hoglah, continued north of Beth-Arabah, and went up to the Monument of Bohan, who belonged to the Reuben tribe. ₇From there, it went to Trouble Valley and Debir, then turned north and went to Gilgal, which is on the north side of the valley across from Adummim Pass. It continued on to Enshemesh, Enrogel, ₈and up through Hinnom Valley on the land sloping south from Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem itself belonged to the Jebusites.

Next, the border went up to the top of the mountain on the west side of Hinnom Valley and at the north end of Rephaim Valley. ₉At the top of the mountain it turned and went to Nephtoah Spring and then to the ruins on Mount Ephron. From there, it went to Baalah, which is now called Kiriath-Jearim.

₁₀From Baalah the northern border curved west to Mount Seir and then ran along the northern ridge of Mount Jearim, where Chesalon is. Then it went down to Beth-Shemesh and over to Timnah. ₁₁It continued along to the hillside north of Ekron, curved around to Shikkeron, and then went to Mount Baalah. After going to Jabneel, the border finally ended at the Mediterranean Sea, ₁₂which was Judah's western border.

The clans of Judah lived within these borders.

₁₃Joshua gave Caleb some land among the people of Judah, as God had told him to do. Caleb's share was Hebron, which at that time was known as Arba's Town, because Arba was the famous ancestor of the Anakim.

₁₄Caleb attacked Hebron and forced the three Anakim clans of Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai to leave. ₁₅Next, Caleb started a war with the town of Debir, which at that time was called Kiriath-Sepher. ₁₆He told his men, “The man who captures Kiriath-Sepher can marry my daughter Achsah.”

₁₇Caleb's nephew Othniel captured Kiriath-Sepher, and Caleb let him marry Achsah. ₁₈Straight after the wedding, Achsah started telling Othniel that he ought to ask her father for a field. She went to see her father, and while she was getting down from her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What's bothering you?”

₁₉She answered, “I need your help. The land you gave me is in the Southern Desert, so I really need some spring-fed ponds for a water supply.”

Caleb gave her a couple of small ponds, named Higher Pond and Lower Pond.

₂₀The following is a list of the towns in each region given to the Judah clans:

_21-32The first region was in the Southern Desert along the border with Edom, and it had the following twenty-nine towns with their surrounding villages:

_33-36The second region was in the northern part of the lower foothills, and it had the following fourteen towns with their surrounding villages:

_37-41The third region was in the southern part of the lower foothills, and it had the following sixteen towns with their surrounding villages:

_42-44The fourth region was in the central part of the lower foothills, and it had the following nine towns with their surrounding villages:

_45-47The fifth region was along the Mediterranean coast, and it had the following towns with their surrounding settlements and villages:

_48-51The sixth region was in the south-western part of the hill country, and it had the following eleven towns with their surrounding villages:

_52-54The seventh region was in the south-central part of Judah's hill country, and it had the following nine towns with their surrounding villages:

_55-57The eighth region was in the south-eastern part of the hill country, and it had the following ten towns with their surrounding villages:

_58-59The ninth region was in the central part of Judah's hill country, and it had the following six towns with their surrounding villages:

The tenth region was in the north-central part of Judah's hill country, and it had the following eleven towns with their surrounding villages:

₆₀The eleventh region was in the northern part of Judah's hill country, and it had the following two towns with their surrounding villages:

_61-62The twelfth region was in the desert along the Dead Sea, and it had the following six towns with their surrounding villages:

₆₃The Jebusites lived in Jerusalem, and the people of the Judah tribe could not capture the city and get rid of them. That's why Jebusites still live in Jerusalem along with the people of Judah.

₂₁Simon from Cyrene happened to be coming in from a farm, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross. Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.

₂₂The soldiers took Jesus to Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull”. ₂₃There they gave him some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain, but he refused to drink it.

₂₄They nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes. ₂₅It was about nine o'clock in the morning when they nailed him to the cross. ₂₆On it was a sign that told why he was nailed there. It read, “This is the King of the Jews.” _27-28The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.

₂₉People who passed by said terrible things about Jesus. They shook their heads and shouted, “Ha! So you're the one who claimed you could tear down the temple and build it again in three days. ₃₀Save yourself and come down from the cross!”

₃₁The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses also made fun of Jesus. They said to each other, “He saved others, but he can't save himself. ₃₂If he is the Messiah, the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross! Then we will see and believe.” The two criminals also said cruel things to Jesus.

₃₃About midday the sky turned dark and stayed that way until around three o'clock. ₃₄Then about that time Jesus shouted, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”

₃₅Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, “He is calling for Elijah.” ₃₆One of them ran and grabbed a sponge. After he had soaked it in wine, he put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus. He said, “Let's wait and see if Elijah will come and take him down!” ₃₇Jesus shouted and then died.

₃₈At once the curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom.

₃₉A Roman army officer was standing in front of Jesus. When the officer saw how Jesus died, he said, “This man really was the Son of God!”

_40-41Some women were looking on from a distance. They had come with Jesus to Jerusalem. But even before this they had been his followers and had helped him while he was in Galilee. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joseph were two of these women. Salome was also one of them.

₄₂It was now the evening before the Sabbath, and the Jewish people were getting ready for that sacred day. ₄₃A man named Joseph from Arimathea was brave enough to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus. Joseph was a highly respected member of the Jewish council, and he was also waiting for God's kingdom to come.

₄₄Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, and he called in the army officer to find out if Jesus had been dead very long. ₄₅After the officer told him, Pilate let Joseph have Jesus' body.

₄₆Joseph bought a linen cloth and took the body down from the cross. He had it wrapped in the cloth, and he put it in a tomb that had been cut into solid rock. Then he rolled a big stone against the entrance to the tomb.

₄₇Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were watching and saw where the body was placed.