What Does Joshua 12:7 Mean?
And these are the kings of the land which Joshua and the children of Israel struck on this side of the Jordan, toward the sea, from Baal-gad in the cleft of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which climbs to Seir; and Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession, according to their portions.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions;THE KEY
The Hebrew word translated “possession” belongs to a root that means both inheriting land and dispossessing its holders, binding inheritance to the violence in this verse.
THE MEANING
This verse names land bounded from Baal-gad to Mount Halak toward Seir, after its kings are struck down, and given to Israel’s tribes in portions. Possession here is concrete and costly: the same word-family can speak of inheriting ground and dispossessing those who hold it. Inheritance appears as both a transfer of territory and an allocation with borders.
THE ROOT
יְרֻשָּׁה
yerushah
GROWS FROM
ירש
To take possession or inherit; a causative form can mean to dispossess or drive out.
“as a possession” in this verse is yerushah. The noun in this verse names an inheritance or possession, while a causative form from the same root can name driving holders out. The word-family keeps both sides of the transfer in view: inheriting and dispossessing.
ALSO GROWS
yārash: To inherit; take possession.
יָרַשׁ
This verb gives the inheritance its active edge: the land becomes held by its new possessors.
hôrîsh: To dispossess; drive out.
הוֹרִישׁ
This causative form shows the other side of taking possession, keeping displacement within the same word-family.
מַחְלְקֹתָם
maḥălqōtām
GROWS FROM
חלק
To divide or apportion; a share or portion is what is divided out.
“according to their portions” in this verse is maḥălqōtām. The Hebrew points to division as the structure by which the land becomes each tribe’s share. The inheritance is not left as one undifferentiated whole; it is portioned among distinct groups.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēleq: A portion or share.
חֵלֶק
This noun names what each tribe receives within the larger territory.
ḥālaq: To divide or apportion.
חָלַק
This verb shows the act that turns land held collectively into distinct shares.
THE PATTERN
A possession takes shape through boundaries and portions assigned within them.
"Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names.The cords fall to me in sweet places; indeed, my inheritance is beautiful.And he made from one blood every nation of humankind to settle upon all the face of the earth, marking out their fitted seasons and setting the boundary stones of their dwelling.THE THREAD
And he said to him, I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to take hold of it.Genesis uses the same root, ירש (y-r-sh; yārash, inherit or take possession), when the land is named as something to be inherited. Joshua shows that inheritance as bounded ground apportioned among the tribes, with the root still carrying the hard edge of taking possession.
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