Joshua 18:11

THE BOUNDARIES OF BENJAMIN

"And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the border of their lot went out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. And their border on the north quarter was from the Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the hill-country westward; and the goings out thereof were at the wilderness of Bethaven. And the border passed along from thence to Luz (the same is Bethel), southward; and the border went down to Ataroth-addar, by the mountain that lieth on the south of Beth-horon the nether. And the border extended thence, and turned about on the west quarter southward, from the mountain that lieth before Beth-horon southward; and the goings out thereof were at Kiriath-baal (the same is Keilath-jearim), a city of the children of Judah: this was the west quarter. And the south quarter was from the uttermost part of Kiriath-jearim; and the border went out westward, and went on to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah; and the border went down to the uttermost part of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite southward, and went down to En-rogel; and it extended northward, and went out at En-shemesh, and went out to Geliloth, which is over against the ascent of Adummim; and it went down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben; and it passed along to the side over against the Arabah northward, and went down unto the Arabah; and the border passed along to the side of Beth-hoglah northward; and the goings out of the border were at the north bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan: this was the south border. And the Jordan was the border of it on the east quarter. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the borders thereof round about, according to their families."

Travelers have often mentioned the fact that all of the geographical landmarks mentioned here are clearly discernible today, and that there are no "mistakes" in the directions here given. Philbeck's summary of Benjamin's territory is as follows:

"Benjamin's holdings were bounded by Ephraim on the north and Judah on the south. His land extended from the Jordan river on the east to lower Beth-horon and Keilath-jearim on the west. This represents a maximum distance of 25 miles east to west, and ten miles north to south."[12]

As we shall see in the next paragraph, some of the most important and historic cities of ancient Palestine lay within the limited area of Benjamin's territory.

"The Arabah ..." "This was the name given by the Hebrews to the whole of that great depressions from the Sea of Galilee to the Gulf of Akabah."[13]

This allotment for Benjamin was providential. It fulfilled the prophecy of Deuteronomy 32:12 by placing the ultimate site of the Temple within Benjamin, and it also made Benjamin a kind of buffer state between the two powerful and mutually jealous tribes of Judah and Ephraim. This arrangement contributed to the unity and glory of the kingdom during the early phase of the monarchy.