To borrow a term from musicology, Joshua 19 can best be described as allegro. In rapid
succession, readers learn how the last seven tribes of Israel, via divine lottery, took possession
in the Holy Land. We speak of Benjamin (end of Joshua 18), Simeon, Zebulun, Yissachar, Asher,
Naphtali, and Dan (Joshua 19).
“And the second lot came out for Simeon, even for the tribe of the children of
Simeon according to their families; and their inheritance was in the midst of the
inheritance of the Children of Judah.”
Because Judah’s territory more than sufficed for their population needs, Simeon inherited his
land within Judah’s. As for the tribe of Dan, the last and twelfth tribe to receive property in the
Holy Land, a complaint was lodged. “And the border of the Children of Dan was too confining
for them; so the Children of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, and took it, and smote it
with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after
the name of Dan their father.”
Commentators grapple with the question: Had Leshem land been the original inheritance given
to Dan, or not? Abravanel holds that the territory had not been earmarked for Dan. Rather, a
situation developed. Dan felt that their allotment came up short, since their population size
grew quite sizeable. They sought remedy by expanding their holdings, hence their march on
Leshem. Geographically, Leshem sat north of what had been the northern border of the Holy
Land. Concluding this point, Abravanel writes that the reason why Joshua 19 addresses Dan’s
war on Leshem is because it had been a novel territorial expansion, one not initially granted to
Dan.
Next, Abravanel asks when Dan’s war took place. If, as other commentators posit, it occurred
after Joshua’s death and during the Micah Idol affair (Judges 17 &18), why is Dan’s military
victory mentioned here in Joshua?
Possibly, Dan’s invasion of the north had taken place after Joshua’s passing. However, Joshua’s
author or the man who arranged the Bible wanted to make order. That is, the battle had really
taken place after Joshua died. However, the Bible’s editor interjected it here in Joshua, as it
made good stylistic sense. Since the topic at hand covers the tribes’ territories in Israel, it
included territory that Dan would eventually possess as an inheritance (Leshem).
In concluding Joshua 19, we read a summary: “These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the
priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the
Children of Israel, distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the
Tent of Meeting. So they made an end of dividing the land.”