Chapter 14 of Sefer Yehoshua opens the second part of the book: the transition from conquest to division. Seven years of war have ended, the Emorites have been subdued and no longer gather for battle, and now begin seven years of dividing the land. The chapter opens with a general statement about how the land was divided by lot and by whom the division was carried out, and continues with the request of Kalev ben Yefuneh to receive Chevron. The Malbim expands greatly in his introduction to the chapter in explaining the method of division, and we will suffice with the general outline; whoever wishes may study it there at length.
Lot or Urim ve'Tumim?
It is an explicit verse that the Land of Israel was divided by lot: "Only by lot shall the land be divided." On the other hand it is written "And Yehoshua cast a lot in Shiloh before Hashem," and "before Hashem" means by way of the Urim ve'Tumim. Seemingly there is a contradiction here: if the division was by lot, what need is there for the Urim ve'Tumim? A lot can be done without them as well. And if there were Urim ve'Tumim there, what need is there for a lot? The Urim ve'Tumim tell in advance to each and every one what his portion is.
Rather, Chazal teach (and as it is arranged in the Talmudic Encyclopedia, entry "Goral") that the two were done to complement one another. This was the order of things: Elazar the Kohen was clothed in the Urim ve'Tumim, Yehoshua and all of Israel stood before him, and two boxes (vessels) were placed before him: one box containing the names of the tribes, and another box containing the names of the territories. Elazar aimed with ruach hakodesh and said: Zevulun comes up, and the territory of Akko comes up with it. He mixed the box of the tribes, meaning he shuffled and drew one out, and Zevulun came up in his hand exactly as he had said; he mixed the box of the territories, and the territory of Akko came up in his hand exactly as he had said. And he again aimed with ruach hakodesh: Naftali comes up, and the territory of Ginosar comes up with it, and he mixed the two boxes and Naftali and the territory of Ginosar came up in his hand. And so for each and every tribe. And two young Kohanim stood there to mix the boxes, one drawing from the box of the tribes and one drawing from the box of the territories, and it came out matching.
And why would they first inquire of the Urim ve'Tumim and only afterward draw from the box? Because they were wary of the grumblers. There will always be complainers who will say: Do you think this came about by chance? He drew out portions for his cronies, he marked them in advance, he knew what he was pulling. And this is a sign that we are the original Jewish people; we have proofs of this in abundance: see what they did to Moshe Rabbeinu in the wilderness. Once there was a non-Jewish tour guide who led a group from the Land of Israel, and at the end of the tour, when it is customary to give the guide a tip, everyone got off the plane, shook his hand, "thank you very much," and went off. And he watches his tip walking farther and farther away. The last one arrived, shook his hand, said goodbye and left. The guide's heart sank. After a few seconds that fellow ran back to him: "Oh, I forgot!", and pulled an envelope out of his pocket. The guide said to him: Look, they say about you Jews that you killed Yeshu; I am not sure that is true, but what is clear is that you drained the soul out of him.
In any case, in order to prevent slander, why did this one receive and that one did not, they would first inquire of the Urim ve'Tumim, and when they saw that the lot came up exactly as Elazar had prophesied first, they knew that it was a fair division and no one grumbled about it.
And why did they need two boxes? Seemingly it would have been enough to draw only from the box of territories, and to say "now I am taking the portion that comes up for Reuven." Rather, the verse requires that the division be by lot, and if only the territories come up by lot while the tribe is fixed in advance, this is not a complete lot. The tribe too must come up by lot: the tribe is drawn from the box, and the territory is drawn from the box, and then the entire division is made in correspondence by the lot.
Three Approaches to the Method of Division
First approach: Rabbeinu Gershom Me'or HaGolah, the Rashbam, the Rama and the Ramban explain that the lot was for equal portions for each and every tribe. It made no difference whether the members of the tribe were many or few, all received portion by portion in exact measure. And that which is written "To the many you shall increase their inheritance and to the few you shall decrease their inheritance" was said about the internal division within the tribe: there, there is a family numbering five hundred souls and a family numbering two hundred souls, and it would not be logical for both to receive an equal portion, and therefore within the tribe, to the many you increase and to the few you decrease. But how much each tribe receives of the land, equal for equal.
Second approach: Rashi on the Torah holds that the division was in unequal portions. A tribe large in population received a larger portion, and a tribe whose members were few received a smaller portion, as it is written "To the many you shall increase their inheritance and to the few you shall decrease their inheritance, each according to his count shall his inheritance be given": this teaches that the Land of Israel was divided only to each and every tribe according to what it was, according to its size.
Third approach: The Shitah Mekubetzet in Bava Batra brings in the name of the Raavad, and so wrote the Rav Yitzchak Abravanel, and so is the view of the Malbim (and he holds that this is also the view of Rashi): the division itself was indeed according to the number of people in the tribe, but the lot was not on the size of the portions but on the territories and districts. That is, they did not demarcate by lot from this corner to that point, but rather they said: such and such a tribe in this region, another tribe in the Galil, and the like. They divided by lot according to regions, and the exact sizes, whether this tribe's portion would be wider or narrower, Yehoshua determined afterward according to the majority of its people and the situation of the tribe.
And regarding the division to the families within the tribe: some say that not only the division of the tribes was by lot, but also the division of the families and individuals within each tribe, as it is written "And you shall inherit the land by lot according to your families"; the difference is that this lot was done without the Urim ve'Tumim (and some wished to say that even in it there were Urim ve'Tumim). And in contrast, from the view of the Malbim it is implied that for the families there was no lot at all, and that which is written "according to your families" does not refer to the lot but to the manner of division: according to the size of the family, to the many you increase and to the few you decrease, even without a lot.
Those who begin the division (verses 1-2)
וְאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר־נָחֲלוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן אֲשֶׁר נִחֲלוּ אוֹתָם אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן־נוּן וְרָאשֵׁי אֲבוֹת הַמַּטּוֹת לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ בְּגוֹרַל נַחֲלָתָם כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהֹוָה בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁה לְתִשְׁעַת הַמַּטּוֹת וַחֲצִי הַמַּטֶּה׃ - And these are the inheritances that the children of Israel received in the land of Canaan, which Elazar the Kohen and Yehoshua son of Nun and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel apportioned to them. By the lot of their inheritance, as Hashem commanded through Moshe, for the nine tribes and the half tribe.
Here we enter the matter of dividing the land by lot. The Malbim says: from here onward Scripture reckons for us how the lot worked, and it does not speak of the division by individuals but of the division among the tribes. "As Hashem commanded through Moshe" - just as He commanded, "only by lot shall the land be divided."
Why nine and a half tribes (verses 3-4)
כִּי־נָתַן מֹשֶׁה נַחֲלַת שְׁנֵי הַמַּטּוֹת וַחֲצִי הַמַּטֶּה מֵעֵבֶר לַיַּרְדֵּן וְלַלְוִיִּם לֹא־נָתַן נַחֲלָה בְּתוֹכָם׃ - For Moshe had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half tribe on the other side of the Jordan, and to the Levi'im he did not give an inheritance among them.
As soon as Scripture comes to detail the division, it anticipates and resolves a difficulty: there are twelve tribes, so how could you say "for the nine tribes and the half tribe"? To this Scripture answers: "For Moshe had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half tribe on the other side of the Jordan" - the inheritances of the children of Gad, the children of Reuven, and the half tribe of Menashe had already been given beforehand, and therefore only nine and a half tribes remained to be apportioned.
And lest we mistakenly think that the Levi'im were among the tribes being apportioned, Scripture adds, "and to the Levi'im he did not give an inheritance among them," and immediately explains how, nevertheless, there are twelve here:
כִּי־הָיוּ בְנֵי־יוֹסֵף שְׁנֵי מַטּוֹת מְנַשֶּׁה וְאֶפְרָיִם וְלֹא־נָתְנוּ חֵלֶק לַלְוִיִּם בָּאָרֶץ כִּי אִם־עָרִים לָשֶׁבֶת וּמִגְרְשֵׁיהֶם לְמִקְנֵיהֶם וּלְקִנְיָנָם׃ - For the children of Yosef were two tribes, Menashe and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levi'im in the land, except cities to dwell in, with their open lands for their cattle and their possessions.
Yosef splits into two, Ephraim and Menashe, so that we have twelve tribes for the division of the land even without Levi; the splitting of Yosef is what makes up for the absence of the tribe of Levi. And Scripture stresses, "and they did not give a portion to the Levi'im in the land" - do not think that only on the other side of the Jordan they received nothing, but even in the land itself they took no inheritance, except cities to dwell in with open lands for their cattle. "Cities to dwell in" - an expression of dwelling, and this is not a place that a tribe receives as an inheritance.
כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהֹוָה אֶת־מֹשֶׁה כֵּן עָשׂוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּחְלְקוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ׃ - As Hashem commanded Moshe, so the children of Israel did, and they divided the land.
As Hashem commanded Moshe - to divide by lot, and to the larger group increase its inheritance and to the smaller diminish it - so the children of Israel did, all according to the divine command.
Kalev's request (verse 6)
וַיִּגְּשׁוּ בְנֵי־יְהוּדָה אֶל־יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בַּגִּלְגָּל וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו כָּלֵב בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּה הַקְּנִזִּי אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ אֶת־הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּר יְהֹוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה אִישׁ־הָאֱלֹהִים עַל אֹדוֹתַי וְעַל אֹדוֹתֶיךָ בְּקָדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ׃ - The children of Yehudah approached Yehoshua at Gilgal, and Kalev ben Yefunneh the Kenizzite said to him: You know the matter that Hashem spoke to Moshe, the man of God, concerning me and concerning you at Kadesh Barnea.
Notice: all the children of Yehudah approach Yehoshua about a matter that seemingly concerns only Kalev. Why? Because the moment Kalev receives this place, it is an expansion of the entire inheritance of Yehudah. If Kalev settles in Chevron, this clears the way and makes the rest of the region available to them, and therefore all the children of Yehudah come along with him.
And here is a fundamental question: where in the Torah is it explicitly written that Kalev receives Chevron? Kalev comes to claim something that was promised to him, so where is the promise? Let us examine the verses closely: first it says, "For none of the men who saw My glory shall see the land... but My servant Kalev, because he had a different spirit with him, I will bring him into the land into which he came, and his seed shall inherit it," and afterward it says, "You shall not come into the land... except for Kalev ben Yefunneh and Yehoshua ben Nun." There is a redundancy here: if in the end you mention Kalev and Yehoshua together as the only two who will enter the land, why did you first say separately, "I will bring him into the land into which he came"?
The Malbim answers: you are forced to say that the intent of the first statement is a special, separate promise, that "the land into which he came" is Chevron, the place to which Kalev went to pray at the graves of the forefathers. The first promise distinguishes Kalev from everyone and gives him a special gift that is not for Yehoshua and not for anyone else: "I will bring him into the land into which he came, and his seed shall inherit it," which is Chevron. Only afterward is it said in general terms that Yehoshua and Kalev will reach the land.
From here we can also understand why Kalev says "concerning me and concerning you," even though Yehoshua received no special portion. Rather, it is precisely from the joint mention of Kalev and Yehoshua that we learn that the first mention of Kalev alone comes for a separate portion; were it not for the verse mentioning them both together, this would not have been necessary. Therefore Kalev repeats and includes Yehoshua in his words.
Four Reasons Why the Portion Is Due to Him (verses 7-10)
בֶּן־אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה אָנֹכִי בִּשְׁלֹחַ מֹשֶׁה עֶבֶד־יְהֹוָה אֹתִי מִקָּדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ לְרַגֵּל אֶת־הָאָרֶץ וָאָשֵׁב אֹתוֹ דָּבָר כַּאֲשֶׁר עִם־לְבָבִי׃ - I was forty years old when Moshe, the servant of Hashem, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him back word as it was in my heart.
The Malbim says: if we follow the verses, we see that Kalev counts four reasons why this portion is fitting for him. The first reason: I was a faithful emissary. I did not report according to what the eye sees, as the other spies did. They reported according to what they saw with their eyes: giant men, strange fruits, people burying their dead. I reported "as it was in my heart," according to the vision of the discerning, understanding heart, and according to the choice to choose the good. According to the sight of the eye I should have spoken like the rest of the spies, but through the heart's contemplation I saw otherwise: the fact that they were burying their dead there was so that they would not notice us; the fact that there were special fruits there shows the abundance of the land, not that the place is strange; and the fact that the cities were large and fortified, on the contrary, indicates their weakness, that they need to hide behind bolts and walls.
וְאַחַי אֲשֶׁר עָלוּ עִמִּי הִמְסִיו אֶת־לֵב הָעָם וְאָנֹכִי מִלֵּאתִי אַחֲרֵי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָי׃ - But my brothers who went up with me melted the heart of the people, while I wholly followed Hashem my God.
The second reason: I had those who obstructed and incited, and nevertheless I stood against them. "Melted the heart of the people" means they melted and incited the heart of the people, and I feared neither them nor the people. I was not frightened by the demonstrations, I did not calculate, but rather I did the will of Hashem. "Himsiu," says the Malbim, follows the pattern of the Aramaic "atiu" (atiu chamra), and like "natiu raglai," and it is from the root of melting, from the expression of the heart's melting.
וַיִּשָּׁבַע מֹשֶׁה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר אִם־לֹא הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר דָּרְכָה רַגְלְךָ בָּהּ לְךָ תִהְיֶה לְנַחֲלָה וּלְבָנֶיךָ עַד־עוֹלָם כִּי מִלֵּאתָ אַחֲרֵי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָי׃ - And Moshe swore on that day, saying: Surely the land upon which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and for your children forever, because you wholly followed Hashem my God.
The third reason: Moshe's oath. Moshe Rabbeinu swore to me, and we see that the Holy One, blessed be He, agrees to this oath. Do not say: how could Moshe give a portion that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not give? For the Holy One, blessed be He, agrees to it.
וְעַתָּה הִנֵּה הֶחֱיָה יְהֹוָה אוֹתִי כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּר זֶה אַרְבָּעִים וְחָמֵשׁ שָׁנָה מֵאָז דִּבֶּר יְהֹוָה אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה אֲשֶׁר־הָלַךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּמִּדְבָּר וְעַתָּה הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי הַיּוֹם בֶּן־חָמֵשׁ וּשְׁמֹנִים שָׁנָה׃ - And now, behold, Hashem has kept me alive, as He spoke, these forty five years, since Hashem spoke this word to Moshe, while Israel walked in the wilderness; and now, behold, I am today eighty five years old.
The fourth reason: Divine providence itself agrees. Forty five years have passed since we were in the wilderness, and I am today eighty five years old, which means that back then I was forty. The fact that Hashem has kept me alive all these years, as He spoke, shows that this is the will of the Creator, blessed be He, and that His providence agrees that this is the portion I should receive.
"As my strength was then, so is my strength now" (verse 11)
עוֹדֶנִּי הַיּוֹם חָזָק כַּאֲשֶׁר בְּיוֹם שְׁלֹחַ אוֹתִי מֹשֶׁה כְּכֹחִי אָז וּכְכֹחִי עָתָּה לַמִּלְחָמָה וְלָצֵאת וְלָבוֹא׃ - I am still as strong today as on the day Moshe sent me; as my strength was then, so is my strength now, for war and to go out and to come in.
A further proof: I am still as strong today as on the day Moshe sent me. And who can say such a thing, a man of eighty five who declares that he is as strong as a man of forty? The strength here, says the Malbim, is both strength of heart, that he does not fear or dread anything, and strength of body, "for war and to go out and to come in." And the phrase "as my strength was then, so is my strength now" is like "for you are like Pharaoh," meaning equal and the same.
But the Malbim wonders at the order of the wording: when a person wants to say that his strength today is like his strength then, he should have said "my strength now is like my strength then," for one always compares the subject to the analogy, the present reality to the past. Yet here it is stated the other way around, "as my strength was then, so is my strength now." He explains: in truth we have no testimony at all about Calev's physical strength at the time of the spies. We saw his wisdom, the valor of his heart, how he stood against all the other spies, but we did not see any special strength, for he was not sent then to war and was not a soldier. Now, however, when he was sent to the army, his might became known in wars. Therefore Calev says: I estimate that my strength then was like my strength now, meaning not less than what is now known about me.
And the Metzudat David explains: since he came to request Chevron, he was concerned that Yehoshua would say to him, but you have grown old and your strength has waned, how can you conquer such a great city? Therefore he said to him in advance: as my strength was then, so is my strength now.
"Give me this mountain" (verse 12)
וְעַתָּה תְּנָה־לִּי אֶת־הָהָר הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּר יְהֹוָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כִּי אַתָּה־שָׁמַעְתָּ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כִּי־עֲנָקִים שָׁם וְעָרִים גְּדֹלוֹת בְּצֻרוֹת אוּלַי יְהֹוָה אוֹתִי וְהוֹרַשְׁתִּים כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהֹוָה׃ - And now, give me this mountain of which Hashem spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim are there, and great fortified cities; perhaps Hashem will be with me, and I will drive them out, as Hashem spoke.
"This mountain" is Chevron. For this purpose Hashem kept me alive and gave me strength, as my strength is now so was my strength then, so that I could drive them out; and indeed it was said in the promise "and his seed shall inherit it," I have an explicit promise that I will drive them out.
And the Malbim asks: what is "perhaps Hashem oti"? It should have said "perhaps Hashem will be with me." He explains based on the verse in Yirmeyahu "and Hashem is with me like a mighty warrior," that "oti" is from the word "ot," my sign. That is: Hashem is my sign, He is my emblem and He is my strength, and therefore "I will drive them out, as Hashem spoke." One could also explain, with some difficulty, that "oti" is from the word "eitan," firm and strong, Hashem is in my strength, as then so now.
The granting of Chevron (verses 13-14)
וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וַיִּתֵּן אֶת־חֶבְרוֹן לְכָלֵב בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּה לְנַחֲלָה׃ - And Yehoshua blessed him, and gave Chevron to Kalev the son of Yefuneh as an inheritance.
The Radak asks: what exactly did he give him? He gave him the fields of the city and its courtyards, but not the city itself, because Chevron was a city of refuge, and as is written in the passage of the cities of refuge, Chevron and its surroundings belonged to the Kohanim. Therefore what is discussed here is the fields of the city and its courtyards.
עַל־כֵּן הָיְתָה־חֶבְרוֹן לְכָלֵב בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּה הַקְּנִזִּי לְנַחֲלָה עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יַעַן אֲשֶׁר מִלֵּא אַחֲרֵי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - Therefore Chevron became the inheritance of Kalev the son of Yefuneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed Hashem, the God of Israel.
The Metzudat David explains: Chevron did not come to Kalev as his portion and lot among the members of his family and tribe, but solely by the power of the promise that the Holy One, Blessed be He, made to him: "because he wholly followed Hashem, the God of Israel," for this reason alone.
Kiryat Arba and the Land at Rest (Pasuk 15)
וְשֵׁם חֶבְרוֹן לְפָנִים קִרְיַת אַרְבַּע הָאָדָם הַגָּדוֹל בָּעֲנָקִים הוּא וְהָאָרֶץ שָׁקְטָה מִמִּלְחָמָה׃ - And the name of Chevron formerly was Kiryat Arba, he being the great man among the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.
The verse informs us that there were Anakim (giants) there, and from this comes the name Kiryat Arba. Rashi explains: "Arba" was the name of the great man among the Anakim, the father of Achiman, Sheshai and Talmai, and the place was named after him. Another interpretation: it is named after the father and his three sons, offspring of the giant, the city of the four giants.
Why did Rashi not bring the second interpretation first? First, because the plain meaning of the verse, "Kiryat Arba, he being the great man among the Anakim," speaks of a single man; and if you were to explain that it refers to four sons, what place is there for "he being the great man among the Anakim"? And there is another proof: it does not say "Kiryat Arba'ah." If there had been four giants there, the place would fittingly be called Kiryat Arba'ah. True, you could say that those giants were not great sticklers for Hebrew grammar, but in any case it should have said arba'ah and not arba. Therefore Rashi brings as the first interpretation that this was the name of that giant; and one can explain why he was called Arba (four), because he was the size of four men.
"And the land had rest from war" returns to the earlier matter: after seven years of conquest, in which they conquered the surrounding cities and the Emorites submitted and no longer gathered for war, from here on they begin to divide the land. Seven years of conquest and seven years of division.
And the Midrash Aggadah expounds: "the great man among the Anakim" is Avraham Avinu. It was he who caused the land to have rest from war for forty years for the Canaanites. Why did Israel tarry forty years in the wilderness, so that the Canaanites thereby received another forty years of rest? As a reward for honoring the elder in Kiryat Arba, when they said to him, "You are a prince of God in our midst." In this place they honored the great man among the Anakim, and therefore they received an extension of another forty years in which the land had rest from war, and only afterward did we come to conquer the land.
And this does not contradict what we know, that because of the sin of the spies we were forty years in the wilderness. For when the Holy One, Blessed be He, brings a decree, each one pays his own price and there is a reckoning with each and every one. That they did not receive immediate war but rather a delay of forty years, that was their merit; and that we were forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years, that was our obligation. The Holy One, Blessed be He, exacts payment from each one according to his matter, on his own private account.
And the Radak adds: "the land had rest from war" - do not think that this was because they had finished the work, but rather because the children of Israel were lax in driving out those who remained. The land indeed was at rest, but they needed to go and drive out all of them, as we will see later in the book in a more explicit manner.
Summary:
Chapter 14 opens the division of the land: the lottery was conducted through a combination of the Urim veTumim and two ballot boxes, so that the division would be both Divine and visible to all, leaving no room for complaint. The verse explains why nine and a half tribes remained: two and a half tribes had already taken their portion across the Yarden, Levi took no inheritance, and the splitting of Yosef into Ephraim and Menasheh completes the twelve. Into this overall picture enters Calev ben Yefuneh, who claims Chevron by virtue of a special promise stated to him in the Torah - "and I will bring him to the land into which he came, and his descendants shall inherit it." He gives four reasons: that he was a faithful emissary and reported according to what the heart saw rather than what the eye saw; that he stood against the inciters and was not frightened; that Moshe's oath is in his hand and the Holy One, blessed be He, agreed to it; and that Providence itself testifies about him, for Hashem kept him alive forty five years and he is still as strong as on the day he was sent. Yehoshua blesses him and gives him Chevron, not by lottery and not from his tribe's portion, but "because he fully followed Hashem, the God of Israel." And at the end of the chapter - "and the land rested from war," a rest that gave an opening for the division, but also a rest in which Israel grew lax about completing the conquest.