C. The Allotment of Judah (15:1-63)

Judah’s allotment is described in much more detail than most of the rest of the others. This is one of many testimonies to Judah’s prominence throughout Israel’s history. Jacob had promised and prophesied that importance (Ge 49:8-12). Subsequent history, down to the present day, bears it out.

With Judah especially we see the land as part of the spiritual inheritance of Israel. When Jacob blessed his sons (Ge 49), he passed over Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, Judah’s older full brothers, to give the blessing of the firstborn to Judah. One way this blessing is brought to reality is in the tribal allotments. The descriptions of Judah’s borders are the most detailed, and the list of Judah’s cities the most nearly complete, of any tribe. Judah’s geographical position among the tribes is central, guaranteeing Judah’s leadership in the affairs of the nation. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, whose transgressions had caused Jacob to pass them over, each became, as tribes in the land, dependent upon Judah. The geography of the tribal allotments both reflected and helped to shape the fulfillment of each tribe’s spiritual inheritance as given by Jacob and confirmed by Moses (Dt 33).