THE PORTION OF BENJAMIN Unfortunately, as much as the three tribes “Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh”, raced to enjoy the greatest possible portion of the inheritance, the rest of the tribes were negligent. 1- Negligence of the seven tribes 1- 10 2- The portion of the Benjamites 11- 28 1- Negligence of the seven tribes: “Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them. But there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: ‘How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?’ “ (Joshua 18: 1 - 3) As ‘Shiloh’ came to represent God’s presence in the midst of His people, there the tabernacle of meeting was set up, and sacrifices to the Lord were offered. That is why the whole congregation assembled with Joshua in the presence of God, to see that the land was subdued before them, and that the inheritance was already set. It is a living portrait of how we, as the Church of God and His people; should assemble together with and in the true Head, as members of His body (Ephesians 5: 3), in order to realize our new possibilities: the land is subdued, our body is sanctified for the Lord, and our whole life became His, to inherit as His possession, and for us to inherit His glories in the true Shiloh -- the Church of the New Testament. There we do not set a tabernacle of meeting, but the Holy Spirit in us turns us into His holy temple; we do not inherit a land taken away from human kings, but everything is subdued before us, to inherit the heavenliness, and to enjoy the everlasting Kingdom. It was hard on Joshua’s heart to see how negligent some of his people were, who have crossed over the Jordan, brought down the walls of Jericho, defeated Ai with its king and inhabitants, and overcame all the adversary cities ... Everything was set, and nothing remained except for the rest of the tribes to receive their inheritance ! The Lord has set the banquet, invited the guests, who have nothing to do except to come to enjoy it; yet they were unwilling to come (Matthew 22: 3). That is what 217 brings grief to the heart of our true Joshua, who prepared everything for us, did not let us in need of anything; fought for our sake and conquered, died and rose to make us rise with Him; opened up the doors of paradise before our human nature, that was, for a long time, stranger to heaven; and offered us His Holy Spirit a support and helper; So we have no more excuse. ...The Kingdom became very close to us, yet, we are still negligent to enter into His inheritance that He granted us. Joshua commanded them to pick out from among them three men from each tribe, to rise and go through the land, survey it according to their inheritance, and come back to him (Joshua 18: 4). Joshua designated their tasks for them: “to rise, to go through the land, to survey it according to their inheritance, and finally to come back to him to divide it among them”. Who are these men? And what are these tasks? Those men picked out from the tribes, represent in the life of man three aspects: thought, talk, and work. So the whole Church stands, as though it is the seven tribes; for each of its members to present his thoughts, words and behavior, in the hands of our living Jesus, who is capable of sanctifying us; those three men becoming a sign of our sanctity in Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit. If we are judged for every hidden thought, lust, or look (Matthew 5: 28), for every idle word (Matthew 12: 36), and for every wicked behavior; we would be deprived of his everlasting inheritance. On the contrary, if we have these energies sanctified, we would be crowned and would inherit forever! As to works, they have first to “rise”... Approaching our Joshua, by our inner thought, our tongue, and the rest of our members, He would set them in Him, as holy tools, that practice His resurrected life, as a life for us. Let us then approach, with all what we have, the true Joshua, the One capable of granting us the resurrection, as a continuous daily process; in order to live according to His life, and to bear His features in us, and to be worthy of the fellowship of His glories! And as I often said, the Book of Joshua, as the Book of inheritance, is the Book of resurrection; there is no inheritance without the inner life, resurrected in and by Him. After resurrection, He says: “go through the land”; namely, set forth to the land of inheritance; We are invited, after having enjoyed the secret of burial and resurrection in Baptism; and are enjoying resurrection with every new day, through the continuous daily renewal; to go through the holy land, namely, to taste the pledge of heaven, while we are still on earth. He then told them to “survey” it, namely, to realize 218 its dimensions as far as they could, and to recognize its incomprehensible secrets; then finally to “come back” to Joshua ... Every time we discover the secrets of the eternal life, we should come back to our Jesus, to enter into His depths, and to live in Him on new levels, until we encounter Him face to face. He probably meant by coming back to Joshua, to divide the land, coming back to Him in the great day, to encounter Him as the Grantor of inheritance, for each one of us to enjoy his everlasting portion! 2- The portion of Benjamin: The tribe of Benjamin, although counted as the smallest in number of all the tribes, yet its lot among the seven tribes came the first. “The territory of their lot came out between the children of Judas and the children of Joseph” (Joshua 18: 11). Benjamin, the youngest of Jacob’s children had a special position in the heart of his brother Joseph; being his only brother from his father and mother; He gave him a double portion, when he came to Egypt with his brothers; and not bearing to see him, he went to his chambers and bitterly wept! These same emotions passed on to their children. Yet, later on, the tribe of Benjamin got merged with the tribe of Judah, to form together the Kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem, that was within the portion of Benjamin, to become its capital. The merging of Benjamin with Judah was not a strange thing; as Benjamin, meaning (the right hand), refers to the Lord Christ, who comes from the tribe of Judah, and who sits on His Father’s right hand.
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