Yehoshua - Perek 15: “Portion of Yehuda”
Part 1: The Division of the Land and the Borders of Yehuda (15:1-12)
Summary
Part 2: Calev conquers Kiryas Arba and offers his daughter to whoever captures Kiryas Sefer (15:13-19)
Summary
Points to Ponder
What was the contentious issue and how was it solved?
On the surface, it sounds like the family debate was surrounding the anticipated high dowry for the marriage between Achsa and Osniel. It sounds like the offered dowry was not sufficient.
However, the Alshich quotes Chazal who add a fascinating point, that when Moshe Rabbeinu died and Yehoshua took over, there was actually a loss of three hundred halachos (according to another opinion in TB Temura 16a there were actually three thousand halachos lost. Apparently, something was lost in the transition and transmission of the Oral Torah from Moshe’s generation to Yehoshua. In light of this midrashic background, Calev was actually saying that whoever can conquer Kiryas Sefer, (the place of the book), meaning whoever can reclaim those lost halachos would be rewarded to be able to marry his daughter. It was therefore not a military victory, but a spiritual success that Osniel succeeded in. He was able to redevelop the tools to be able to find those halachos through deduction rather than tradition.
Part 3: The cities of the portion of Yehuda are listed (15:20-63)
Summary
Points to Ponder
What is the reason behind this contradiction in the number of cities listed?
In verse, the Tanach teaches us "Kol arim esrim v'teisha v'chatzreihen," that there twenty-nine cities that Yehuda owned. However, if one counts them, there are actually thirty-eight. The Radak provides an insight which gives us an entirely different view of this chapter. He says that if we look carefully at who received an inheritance in the land of Israel, not all of the tribes were given a portion in the land. Shimon, for example, did not get a portion in the land of Israel. Why not? Originally, when Shimon and massacred the city of Shechem, Yaakov cursed them that: "achalkeim b'Yaakov va'afitzem b'Yisrael," - I am going to divide them up among my territory and scatter them among Israel.
The meaning of this was that Shimon and Levi would not get their own portion, which indeed came true. Levi only had forty-eight cities, and Shimon did not have his own portion of land. The obvious follow-up question is where did Shimon live? The fact that Shimon would not have a portion of his own is referenced in the blessing of Moshe Rabbeinu in the end of his life, in which he said "Shema Hashem kol Yehuda," - Hashem has heard the voice of Yehuda. The word “shema” is a hint to the missing Shimon. The Radak explains that the cities of Shimon were ultimately subsumed within the portion of Yehuda. Shimon’s tribe were to live dispersed among the portion of Yehuda.
This explains the extra nine city discrepancy in the cities of Yehuda. These extra cities are the hidden portion of Shimon, embedded in the portion of Yehuda. The Radak points out that the names of those cities, some of which are deep in present day Gaza, were later conquered over by the Philistines. They were a part of a critical battle fought later on in Shoftim and in Shmuel.
Why was Yerushalayim of all places not conquered?
Depending on different account in the books of Yehoshua and Shoftim, it is a little ambiguous as to how much of Yerushalayim was conquered or how much remained unconquered. It seems that part of the area swas conquered, but nonetheless we are being told that a certain central part of Yerushalayim was not to be conquered until later on in the times of David.
The reason for this delay in full conquest can be found in parshas Vayeira. We are told of an incident in which Avimelech, the king of the Philistines, and Phichol, his military leader, come to Avraham and requested a peace accord. Avraham made the deal on condition that they would admit that the wells which he dug were in fact his (a claim they had refused to aknowledge until that point). The give on his side of the deal was that he would not harm Avimelech or his children or grandchildren.
The Radak points out that the Yevusi living in Yerushalayim were in fact an extended family of Avimelech of the times of Avraham, and thus the deal was still in force. Therefore, this section of the land remained unconquered.
Summary
- The chapter begins to describe the division of the land of Israel.
- Each tribe is to receive it’s own territory.
- First we learn about the portion of Yehuda in the South, from the Dead Sea across to the Yarden.
- The southern border is at Be’er Sheva in the portion of Yehuda.
Part 2: Calev conquers Kiryas Arba and offers his daughter to whoever captures Kiryas Sefer (15:13-19)
Summary
- Calev drives the giants out of Kiryas Arba and offers his daughter, Achsa, to whomever succeeds in conquering Kiryas Sefer. His own brother Osniel ben Kenaz (one of the early judges in sefer Shoftim) succeeds in doing so and marries her.
- She diffuses a tension which endures between the two brothers, by begging her father Calev for better land with water springs, which he gives her. These places are named Gulos Ilyos and Gulos Tachtiyos.
Points to Ponder
What was the contentious issue and how was it solved?
On the surface, it sounds like the family debate was surrounding the anticipated high dowry for the marriage between Achsa and Osniel. It sounds like the offered dowry was not sufficient.
However, the Alshich quotes Chazal who add a fascinating point, that when Moshe Rabbeinu died and Yehoshua took over, there was actually a loss of three hundred halachos (according to another opinion in TB Temura 16a there were actually three thousand halachos lost. Apparently, something was lost in the transition and transmission of the Oral Torah from Moshe’s generation to Yehoshua. In light of this midrashic background, Calev was actually saying that whoever can conquer Kiryas Sefer, (the place of the book), meaning whoever can reclaim those lost halachos would be rewarded to be able to marry his daughter. It was therefore not a military victory, but a spiritual success that Osniel succeeded in. He was able to redevelop the tools to be able to find those halachos through deduction rather than tradition.
Part 3: The cities of the portion of Yehuda are listed (15:20-63)
Summary
- The chapter lists thirty-eight cities as belonging to Yehuda.
- It then describes that twenty-nine cities belong to the tribe of Yehuda.
- Although Yehuda conquered huge sections of land, some sections, including Yerushalayim, held by the Yevusi remained unconquered.
Points to Ponder
What is the reason behind this contradiction in the number of cities listed?
In verse, the Tanach teaches us "Kol arim esrim v'teisha v'chatzreihen," that there twenty-nine cities that Yehuda owned. However, if one counts them, there are actually thirty-eight. The Radak provides an insight which gives us an entirely different view of this chapter. He says that if we look carefully at who received an inheritance in the land of Israel, not all of the tribes were given a portion in the land. Shimon, for example, did not get a portion in the land of Israel. Why not? Originally, when Shimon and massacred the city of Shechem, Yaakov cursed them that: "achalkeim b'Yaakov va'afitzem b'Yisrael," - I am going to divide them up among my territory and scatter them among Israel.
The meaning of this was that Shimon and Levi would not get their own portion, which indeed came true. Levi only had forty-eight cities, and Shimon did not have his own portion of land. The obvious follow-up question is where did Shimon live? The fact that Shimon would not have a portion of his own is referenced in the blessing of Moshe Rabbeinu in the end of his life, in which he said "Shema Hashem kol Yehuda," - Hashem has heard the voice of Yehuda. The word “shema” is a hint to the missing Shimon. The Radak explains that the cities of Shimon were ultimately subsumed within the portion of Yehuda. Shimon’s tribe were to live dispersed among the portion of Yehuda.
This explains the extra nine city discrepancy in the cities of Yehuda. These extra cities are the hidden portion of Shimon, embedded in the portion of Yehuda. The Radak points out that the names of those cities, some of which are deep in present day Gaza, were later conquered over by the Philistines. They were a part of a critical battle fought later on in Shoftim and in Shmuel.
Why was Yerushalayim of all places not conquered?
Depending on different account in the books of Yehoshua and Shoftim, it is a little ambiguous as to how much of Yerushalayim was conquered or how much remained unconquered. It seems that part of the area swas conquered, but nonetheless we are being told that a certain central part of Yerushalayim was not to be conquered until later on in the times of David.
The reason for this delay in full conquest can be found in parshas Vayeira. We are told of an incident in which Avimelech, the king of the Philistines, and Phichol, his military leader, come to Avraham and requested a peace accord. Avraham made the deal on condition that they would admit that the wells which he dug were in fact his (a claim they had refused to aknowledge until that point). The give on his side of the deal was that he would not harm Avimelech or his children or grandchildren.
The Radak points out that the Yevusi living in Yerushalayim were in fact an extended family of Avimelech of the times of Avraham, and thus the deal was still in force. Therefore, this section of the land remained unconquered.