Genesis 35:23-26 seems to reflect strongly upon the overall
order of the dividing of the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel. It is
impossible for me not to notice the relationship of the tribes to each other
when comparing the geographical and chronological pattern of the land
assignments to their fathers' order of birth and who belonged to which wife of
Jacob. Among other things, this reminds me that our choices today have the
potential of affecting people for MANY years.
Jacob had been dead for centuries, but his life was still impacting his
many descendants.
Now, Jacob's first wife, Leah, birthed these sons to him in
this order: Reuben, Simeon, and Levi & Judah. Reuben had been guilty of
incest (Genesis 35:22). Simeon & Levi had been guilty of troubling their
father greatly (Genesis 34:30). Judah became the blessed son above all of the
others. Joseph and Benjamin were favorites of their father as the offspring of
his first love, Rachel. So, it does seem to fit loosely that up to this point
all of the more "privileged" sons of Jacob knew their inheritance
(with the addition of Gad), except for Simeon. So, Simeon came next and was
give land right in the middle of the section that had already been given to
Judah (partially because the tribe of Judah wasn't large enough to use all of
the land that had been allotted to them). Although the plots of land (to the
last 7 tribes) were given randomly, there was still a pecking order that was
esteemed by Joshua related to the levels of respect that evidently existed
among them way back half of a millennium prior to this.
Zebulon & Issachar were next in line as the remaining
sons of Leah - they received portion numbers 3 & 4 that day. Asher was
Gad's only full brother and was the younger son of Leah's servant, Zilpah. Asher got the 5th slot out of the 7. Lastly
(except for Joshua's land, he took his very last - in the style of exemplary
servant-leadership), the sons of Rachel's servant, Bilhah, received their land.
Dan & Naphtali were indeed last, but there was still plenty of land overall
for the expansion of any of the tribes.
Since Dan wouldn't fit in their one section on the coast of the
Mediterranean, they took another piece of real estate in the far north. Dan and
Manasseh were therefore the only 2 tribes with geographically divided tribal
populations.
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