The Inheritance, Part 3 – The Other Seven (Joshua 18-19)

Seven tribes have received their inheritance – with seven more to go! Wait, you might say, but there are only 12 tribes – how come there are 14 inheritances?!

There were 12 sons of Jacob – each gets one inheritance, right? Except Joseph gets a double portion, so there are 13 inheritances to be distributed. Except Levi doesn't get a full portion – but Levi's portion is the sacrifices (13:14), or the LORD himself (13:33), or the levitical cities with their pasturelands (14:4).

So if you look at the previous chpaters, you will see inheritances given for Reuben, Gad, half of Manasseh (that's 3), Judah, Ephraim, and the other half of Manasseh (that makes 6), with regular reference to Levi's portion (that's 7).

And so Israel gathers at the tent of meeting at Shiloh...