And now it was left to the high priest Eleazar and Josue the son of Nun to divide up Chanaan itself between the clan chieftains of Israel.

The division was made by lot, in pursuance of the command the Lord gave through Moses, among the nine and a half tribes that remained.

(Two and a half had been allotted their portions by Moses, on the further side of Jordan; the nine and a half did not include the Levites, since these were not to own territory like their brethren,

but must be content with cities to live in and pasture for their beasts around them. Meanwhile, the division of Joseph’s posterity into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasses, made up the full number.)

The Israelites, then, set about the task of dividing up the land, as the Lord through Moses had bidden them.

So it was that the descendants of Juda appeared before Josue in Galgala. And now Caleb, son of Jephone, the Cenezite, spoke thus to him: Thou hast not forgotten the divine promise that was made to God’s servant Moses at Cades-Barne, concerning us two.

I was then forty years old, and he had sent me from Cades-Barne to view the land; I brought back with me an honest report,

and although my fellow-spies tried to daunt the spirits of the people, I took, none the less, the part of the Lord my God.

And Moses promised me that day, Thou, who hast taken the part of the Lord my God, shalt live to have a portion in the very land thou hast traversed, and leave it to thy race in perpetuity.

The Lord has made good his promise, and life is still mine. That word was spoken to Moses forty-five years since, when Israel began its wanderings up and down the desert, and now, a man eighty-five years old,

I am as vigorous as I was when I went on that errand; in battle or on the march, the strength of old days is still with me.

Give me, now, that hill-country which the Lord promised me in thy own hearing; there are Enacim living on it,✻ in strong, walled cities, and I would fain see if I cannot drive them out, with the Lord at my side, and claim his promise.

So Josue blessed him, and gave him Hebron for his portion;

ever since then, Hebron has belonged to the family of Caleb, son of Jephone, the Cenezite, the man who took the Lord’s part.

(Hebron, in earlier days, was called Cariath-Arbe, after the great father of the race.✻ ) And once more the land was at peace.