Joshua 15:12
And the western border was the coastline of the Great Sea. These are the boundaries around the clans of the descendants of Judah.
Sermons
The Inheritance of JudahW. G. Blaikie.Joshua 15:1-12














Joshua 14:6 = -end.
Few characters finer than that of Caleb. If Moses was pattern of faithful leader, Caleb was of faithful follower. There are some things which suggest he was not an Israelite by birth. Kenaz the name of his father or brother, is an Edomite name, and the expression in Joshua 14:14, "Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb... because that he wholly followed the God of Israel;" and that of Joshua 15:13, "Unto Caleb he gave a part among the children of Judah," are expressions which suggest that he was associated with that tribe rather than sprung from it. Whether or not he was an Israelite in flesh, he was earnestly so in faith. If not by birth an Israelite, he is an instance of the converting power of truth, and of the way in which identity of heart and aim supersedes all diversity of nature. He was one of the twelve spies. Had there been other ten like him, the invasion of Canaan would have begun and finished forty years earlier. There was no delusion in his mind; he saw all his colleague saw - the stature of the men, the walls of the cities, the difficulty and all but impossibility of the con. quest. But he saw what only Joshua saw besides him - the presence and the power of God. And seeing that, he believed in the possibility of what seemed to others impossible. Consider some elements of instruction here.

I. GOOD MEN ARE NEEDED FOR SECOND PLACES AS WELL AS FIRST. We cannot all be statesmen, rulers, missionaries. There are many more humble positions than exalted ones. Twelve spyships for one lordship. Good men are needed for all stations. Men who fear to do wrong, who fear to grieve God, and who have no other fear. Complain not of an obscure lot, of a slight opening for your powers; but do the duties of the lot, and avail yourself of the openings you have, and all will be well.

II. Second, observe THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS. He believed in his prime, he believes in his old age. Ready to follow God's leading then, ready now. "As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in." There is, of course, a miraculous element in this persistence of physical strength and mental vigour at such an age. But it is only a miraculous extension of what is a blessed fact of daily experience. It is strange the vie inertiae of souls. Forty years ago some were faithless, and are so now; others believing, they are so now. There is a tendency for the unjust to be unjust still, and for the righteous to be righteous still. Motion or rest alike tend to be eternal Rise up and follow Christ, and you tend to follow Him on through countless ages. Forsake Him, and you tend to go on forsaking Him. This persistence of habit is nature; but the persistence of better habit is partly grace as well. God keeps the feet from falling, daily charms the spirit afresh, while each step of progress in a good path reveals new reasons for choosing and pursuing it. Do not despair. Of Christ's flock none is lost. "They go from strength to strength; every one of them appeareth before God in Zion." We may not, like Joshua, see eighty-five, and long before the life ends our powers may wither; but grace will not wither.

III. Observe THE USEFULNESS OF SUCH A LIFE OF PROGRESS. Eighty-five years of steady well doing! of right aiming and right action I of the boldness of faith. Joshua and He were left alive, as a sort of leaven to leaven the whole lump of Israel, and they did it. One steady, progressive life of goodness - the same today as yesterday - how invaluable in a village, in a church, in any community. If you would be useful, keep on. Remember Abraham Lincoln's policy for the conquest of the secession - it was to "keep pegging away." Seeming hopeless, it was crowned with success.

IV. Lastly, observe, CALEB'S FAITH HAS A GRAND REWARD. A manifold reward.

1. In the contagiousness with which it spread. It infects his own family (see Joshua 15:17). It infects, as we have seen, many besides.

2. His faith has the opportunity of proving its wisdom. That city, which was impregnable, he took; and these Anakim, who seemed terrific, he mastered. Some men, some things, some forces may be stifled for want of opportunity. But God will always see that there is a candlestick for the light. An "open door" for the "little strength" which can enter it.

3. His faith gets an earthly inheritance of a noble kind. Hebron is his family's for an everlasting possession. The shortest road to getting anything is deserving it. While the clever, the tricky, the greedy, the saving see only what they aspire to "afar off," the deserving go straight on and reach it. His property we can trace in the possession of his descendants down to the time of David (1 Samuel 30:14). It is not sufficiently observed how essential to goodness the courage of faith really is. Let Caleb's example commend it to us. - G.

This then was the lot of... Judah.
Judah was the imperial tribe, and it was fitting that he should be planted in a conspicuous territory. Judah and the sons of Joseph seem to have obtained their settlements not only before the other tribes, but in a different manner.. They did not obtain them by lot, but apparently by their own choice and by early possession. Judah was not planted in the heart of the country. That position was gained by Ephraim and Manasseh, the children of Joseph, while Judah obtained the southern section. The territory of Judah was not pre-eminently fruitful; it was not equal in this respect to that of Ephraim and Manasseh. It had some fertile tracts, but a considerable part of it was mountainous and barren. It was of four descriptions — the hill country, the valley or low country, the south, and the wilderness. "The hill country," says Dean Stanley, "is the part of Palestine which best exemplifies its characteristic scenery; the rounded hills, the broad valleys, the scanty vegetation, the villages and fortresses, sometimes standing, more frequently in ruins, on the hill tops; the wells in every valley, the vestiges of terraces whether for corn or wine."

(W. G. Blaikie.)

People
Achsah, Addar, Ahiman, Anak, Anakites, Arba, Ben, Bohan, Cain, Caleb, Dagon, Debir, Dumah, Eder, Eglon, Ephron, Gad, Gedor, Hezron, Hoglah, Jebusites, Jephunneh, Jezreel, Joshua, Kenaz, Maon, Naamah, Othniel, Pelet, Reuben, Seir, Shamir, Shema, Sheshai, Shual, Talmai, Tappuah, Telem, Timnah, Zur
Places
Achzib, Adadah, Addar, Adullam, Adummim, Ain, Akrabbim, Amam, Anab, Anim, Aphekah, Arab, Ashan, Ashdod, Ashnah, Azekah, Baalah, Bealoth, Beersheba, Beth-anoth, Beth-arabah, Beth-dagan, Beth-hoglah, Beth-pelet, Beth-shemesh, Beth-tappuah, Beth-zur, Biziothiah, Bozkath, Brook of Egypt, Cabbon, Carmel, Chesalon, Chesil, Chitlish, City of Salt, Dannah, Debir, Dilean, Dimonah, Dumah, Eder, Edom, Eglon, Ekron, Eltekon, Eltolad, Enam, En-gannim, Engedi, En-rogel, En-shemesh, Eshan, Eshtaol, Eshtemoh, Ether, Ezem, Gaza, Gederah, Gederoth, Gederothaim, Gedor, Gibeah, Gilgal, Giloh, Great Sea, Hadashah, Halhul, Hazar-gaddah, Hazar-shual, Hazor, Hazor-hadattah, Hebron, Heshmon, Hezron, Holon, Hormah, Humtah, Iim, Iphtah, Ithnan, Jabneel, Jagur, Janim, Jarmuth, Jattir, Jebus, Jerusalem, Jokdeam, Joktheel, Jordan River, Juttah, Kabzeel, Kadesh-barnea, Kain, Keilah, Kerioth-hezron, Kinah, Kiriath-arba, Kiriath-baal, Kiriath-jearim, Kiriath-sannah, Kiriath-sepher, Lachish, Lahmam, Lebaoth, Libnah, Maarath, Madmannah, Makkedah, Maon, Mareshah, Middin, Migdal-gad, Mizpeh, Moladah, Mount Baalah, Mount Ephron, Mount Jearim, Mount Seir, Negeb, Nephtoah, Nezib, Nibshan, Rabbah, Rimmon, Salt Sea, Sansannah, Secacah, Shaaraim, Shamir, Shema, Shikkeron, Shilhim, Socoh, Tappuah, Telem, Timnah, Valley of Achor, Valley of Hinnom, Valley of Rephaim, Zanoah, Zenan, Ziklag, Zin, Zior, Ziph, Zorah
Topics
Border, Boundaries, Boundary, Clans, Coast, Coastline, Coast-line, Edge, Families, Judah, Limit, Line, Marked, Round, Shore, Sons, Thereof, West
Outline
1. The borders of the lot of Judah
13. Caleb's portion and conquest
16. Othniel, for his valour, marries Achsah, Caleb's daughter
18. She obtains a blessing of her father
21. The cities of Judah
63. The Jebusites unconquered

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Joshua 15:1-63

     5235   boundary
     7266   tribes of Israel

Library
The Sea of Sodom
The bounds of Judea, on both sides, are the sea; the western bound is the Mediterranean,--the eastern, the Dead sea, or the sea of Sodom. This the Jewish writers every where call, which you may not so properly interpret here, "the salt sea," as "the bituminous sea." In which sense word for word, "Sodom's salt," but properly "Sodom's bitumen," doth very frequently occur among them. The use of it was in the holy incense. They mingled 'bitumen,' 'the amber of Jordan,' and [an herb known to few], with
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Tiglath-Pileser iii. And the Organisation of the Assyrian Empire from 745 to 722 B. C.
TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ORGANISATION OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE FROM 745 to 722 B.C. FAILURE OF URARTU AND RE-CONQUEST Of SYRIA--EGYPT AGAIN UNITED UNDER ETHIOPIAN AUSPICES--PIONKHI--THE DOWNFALL OF DAMASCUS, OF BABYLON, AND OF ISRAEL. Assyria and its neighbours at the accession of Tiglath-pileser III.: progress of the Aramaeans in the basin of the Middle Tigris--Urartu and its expansion into the north of Syria--Damascus and Israel--Vengeance of Israel on Damascus--Jeroboam II.--Civilisation
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 7

John the Baptist --visit of Jesus to John, and his Abode in the Desert of Judea --Adoption of the Baptism of John.
An extraordinary man, whose position, from the absence of documentary evidence, remains to us in some degree enigmatical, appeared about this time, and was unquestionably to some extent connected with Jesus. This connection tended rather to make the young prophet of Nazareth deviate from his path; but it suggested many important accessories to his religious institution, and, at all events, furnished a very strong authority to his disciples in recommending their Master in the eyes of a certain class
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

Divers Matters.
I. Beth-cerem, Nehemiah 3:14. "The stones, as well of the altar, as of the ascent to the altar, were from the valley of Beth-cerem, which they digged out beneath the barren land. And thence they are wont to bring whole stones, upon which the working iron came not." The fathers of the traditions, treating concerning the blood of women's terms, reckon up five colours of it; among which that, "which is like the water of the earth, out of the valley of Beth-cerem."--Where the Gloss writes thus, "Beth-cerem
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Epistle xxvi. To Theoctista, Patrician
To Theoctista, Patrician [1704] Gregory to Theoctista, &c. That your Excellency, though placed in so great a tumult of affairs, is full of the fruitfulness of the sacred word, and incessantly pants after eternal joys, for this I give great thanks to Almighty God, in that in you I see fulfilled what is written of the elect fathers, But the children of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea (Exod. xv. 19). But on the other hand, I am come into the depth of the sea, and the storm hath
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Emmaus. Kiriath-Jearim.
"From Beth-horon to Emmaus it was hilly."--It was sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem.--"To eight hundred only, dismissed the army, (Vespasian) gave a place, called Ammaus, for them to inhabit: it is sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem." I inquire, whether this word hath the same etymology with Emmaus near Tiberias, which, from the 'warm baths,' was called Chammath. The Jews certainly do write this otherwise... "The family (say they) of Beth-Pegarim, and Beth Zipperia was out of Emmaus."--The
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Coast of the Asphaltites, the Essenes. En-Gedi.
"On the western shore" (of the Asphaltites) "dwell the Essenes; whom persons, guilty of any crimes, fly from on every side. A nation it is that lives alone, and of all other nations in the whole world, most to be admired; they are without any woman; all lust banished, &c. Below these, was the town Engadda, the next to Jerusalem for fruitfulness, and groves of palm-trees, now another burying-place. From thence stands Massada, a castle in a rock, and this castle not far from the Asphaltites." Solinus,
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah
"And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come forth unto Me (one) [Pg 480] to be Ruler in Israel; and His goings forth are the times of old, the days of eternity." The close connection of this verse with what immediately precedes (Caspari is wrong in considering iv. 9-14 as an episode) is evident, not only from the [Hebrew: v] copulative, and from the analogy of the near relation of the announcement of salvation to the prophecy of disaster
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Moses and his Writings
[Illustration: (drop cap W) Clay letter tablet of Moses' time.] We now begin to understand a little of the very beginning of God's Book--of the times in which it was written, the materials used by its first author, and the different kinds of writing from which he had to choose; but we must go a step farther. How much did Moses know about the history of his forefathers, Abraham and Jacob, and of all the old nations and kings mentioned in Genesis, before God called him to the great work of writing
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The Power of Assyria at Its Zenith; Esarhaddon and Assur-Bani-Pal
The Medes and Cimmerians: Lydia--The conquest of Egypt, of Arabia, and of Elam. As we have already seen, Sennacherib reigned for eight years after his triumph; eight years of tranquillity at home, and of peace with all his neighbours abroad. If we examine the contemporary monuments or the documents of a later period, and attempt to glean from them some details concerning the close of his career, we find that there is a complete absence of any record of national movement on the part of either Elam,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

Some Helps to Mourning
Having removed the obstructions, let me in the last place propound some helps to holy mourning. 1 Set David's prospect continually before you. My sin is ever before me' (Psalm 51:3). David, that he might be a mourner, kept his eye full upon sin. See what sin is, and then tell me if there be not enough in it to draw forth tears. I know not what name to give it bad enough. One calls it the devil's excrement. Sin is a complication of all evils. It is the spirits of mischief distilled. Sin dishonours
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Sennacherib (705-681 B. C. )
The struggle of Sennacherib with Judaea and Egypt--Destruction of Babylon. Sennacherib either failed to inherit his father's good fortune, or lacked his ability.* He was not deficient in military genius, nor in the energy necessary to withstand the various enemies who rose against him at widely removed points of his frontier, but he had neither the adaptability of character nor the delicate tact required to manage successfully the heterogeneous elements combined under his sway. * The two principal
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

Kadesh. Rekam, and that Double. Inquiry is Made, Whether the Doubling it in the Maps is Well Done.
The readers of the eastern interpreters will observe, that Kadesh is rendered by all Rekam, or in a sound very near it. In the Chaldee, it is 'Rekam': in the Syriac, 'Rekem': in the Arabic, 'Rakim'... There are two places noted by the name Rekam in the very bounds of the land,--to wit, the southern and eastern: that is, a double Kadesh. I. Of Kadesh, or Rekam, in the south part, there is no doubt. II. Of it, in the eastern part, there is this mention: "From Rekam to the east, and Rekam is as the
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Joshua
The book of Joshua is the natural complement of the Pentateuch. Moses is dead, but the people are on the verge of the promised land, and the story of early Israel would be incomplete, did it not record the conquest of that land and her establishment upon it. The divine purpose moves restlessly on, until it is accomplished; so "after the death of Moses, Jehovah spake to Joshua," i. 1. The book falls naturally into three divisions: (a) the conquest of Canaan (i.-xii.), (b) the settlement of the
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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