The Lands of the Twelve Tribes MAP. "These are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan.”—Jos., 14, 1. A MAP showing the portions of the Promised Land assigned by lot to the various tribes of Israel, can be outlined in almost every particular from the full account given in the Book of Joshua. The children of Levi, being the priesthood, had no regular territory, but were assigned special cities scattered through the lands of the others. Yet, without counting the Levites, the number of lots. assigned was twelve; for the descendants of Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were accounted as two separate tribes. Indeed there were in reality thirteen. lots; for the tribe of Manasseh had been again divided, half of the tribe electing to remain east of the Jordan with Reuben and Gad, the remainder settling in central Palestine. Moreover, not very long after Joshua had allotted the lands, a further change was caused by the migration of a portion of the tribe of Dan from their region in the southwest, to a new region, the farthest north in Palestine. Thus this tribe was also divided like that of Manasseh, while part of Dan's allotted territory was never occupied, but remained for centuries the home of the Philistines. |