Joshua 15:1-12

The allotment for the tribe of Judah, clan by clan, extended down to the territory of Edom, to the Desert of Zin in the extreme south.

Their southern boundary started from the bay at the southern end of the Salt Sea, crossed south of Scorpion Pass, continued on to Zin and went over to the south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it ran past Hezron up to Addar and curved around to Karka. It then passed along to Azmon and joined the Wadi of Egypt, ending at the sea. This is their southern boundary.

The eastern boundary is the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan.
The northern boundary started from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan, went up to Beth Hoglah and continued north of Beth Arabah to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. The boundary then went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor and turned north to Gilgal, which faces the Pass of Adummim south of the gorge. It continued along to the waters of En Shemesh and came out at En Rogel. Then it ran up the Valley of Ben Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem). From there it climbed to the top of the hill west of the Hinnom Valley at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim. From the hilltop the boundary headed toward the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, came out at the towns of Mount Ephron and went down toward Baalah (that is, Kiriath Jearim). Then it curved westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, ran along the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Kesalon), continued down to Beth Shemesh and crossed to Timnah. It went to the northern slope of Ekron, turned toward Shikkeron, passed along to Mount Baalah and reached Jabneel. The boundary ended at the sea.

The western boundary is the coastline of the Great Sea.
These are the boundaries around the people of Judah by their clans.


I have been wondering, other than the fulfilment of God's promise, what does allotment of land represent in the bible. To be sure that this is not just about how God allocated a land, I recently saw a book in Times that talked about the Genesis genealogy and discussed how God's plan was revealed in the genealogies in Genesis. So I was thinking there might be a bit more to this land allotment than it seems.

The twelve clans provided me a basis for further thinking. According to my connect journal, Judah was the first of two tribes that received its first preference for alloted land in Canaan. I was just wondering, what about Judah? Why, when Jacob blessed the twelve tribes, God inspired him to prophesize that the scepter will not depart from Judah? You know what Judah did? He was the mastermind that helped to land Joseph in Egypt. Yet his descendent was to have the privilege of being the tribe that will produce its one great king and the be the tribe that Jesus will come from. It received the privileged land, a lush and fertile land at the southern part of Canaan.

But yet, it is really all because of Judah. Read this:

Then Judah went up to him and said: "Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father or a brother?' And we answered, 'We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'

"Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.' And we said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.' But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.' When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.

"Then our father said, 'Go back and buy a little more food.' But we said, 'We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

"Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.'

"So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life, sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!'

"Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father."


Judah showed a true change of heart in this instant, when Joseph tested his brothers when they came to look for him for food during the seven years of famine. This leads to one conclusion. Our faith and our heart for God goes a long way beyond our physical death. Judah's faith resulted in God's favour for many generations. The action of one man can last many generations, can impact many generations. Think about it, today, a lot of godly people, as a result of their faith and action, resulted in a lot of blessing for the church today, like the Reformation, the Azuza Street Revival, etc. We are constantly impacted by people whose heart followed God, like Billy Graham, Jim Elliot, Mother Theresa etc.

And Judah's faith brought his tribe to a long way.

This, again, is a story of faith. Today, are we demonstrating lasting faith? Faith that last? Faith that will bless our future spiritual generations in church to come? What are we doing now that will ensure that the future generation will continue to receive God's blessing?

Let's have a faith that will go a long way.

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