161 And the lot came forth for the children of Joseph from the Jordan of Jericho as far as the waters of Jericho eastwards, to the wilderness which goes up from Jericho to the hill-country of Bethel. 2 And [the border] went from Bethel to Luz, and passed to the border of the Archites to Ataroth, 3 and went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, as far as the border of the lower Beth-horon, and to Gezer; and ended at the sea. 4 And the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
5 And the border of the children of Ephraim was according to their families; the border of their inheritance eastwards was Ataroth-Addar as far as the upper Beth-horon; 6 and the border went forth westwards to Micmethath on the north; and the border turned eastwards to Taanath-Shiloh, and passed by it eastwards to Janohah, 7 and went down from Janohah to Ataroth and Naarath, and touched upon Jericho, and went out to the Jordan. 8 From Tappuah the border went westwards to the torrent Kanah, and ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families, 9 with the cities that were set apart for the children of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities and their hamlets. 10 But they did not dispossess the Canaanites that dwelt at Gezer; and the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and serve under tribute.
171 And the lot came to the tribe of Manasseh (for he was the firstborn of Joseph), to Machir, the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, for he was a man of war, and he had Gilead and Bashan. 2 There was also [a portion] for the rest of the children of Manasseh according to their families: for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these are the children of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, the males, according to their families. 3 And Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, Jehovah commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren. And he gave them according to the commandment of Jehovah an inheritance among the brethren of their father. 5 And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which are beyond the Jordan. 6 For the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons; and the rest of Manasseh's sons had the land of Gilead.
7 And the territory of Manasseh was from Asher to Micmethath, which is before Shechem, and the border went on the right hand toward the inhabitants of En-Tappuah. 8 Manasseh had the land of Tappuah; but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim. 9 And the border descended to the torrent Kanah, south of the torrent. These cities were Ephraim's among the cities of Manasseh. And the territory of Manasseh was on the north side of the torrent, and ended at the sea. 10 Southward it was Ephraim's, and northward it was Manasseh's, and the sea was his border. And they touched upon Asher on the north, and upon Issachar on the east. 11 And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher, Beth-shean and its dependent villages, and Ibleam and its dependent villages, and the inhabitants of Dor and its dependent villages, and the inhabitants of En-Dor and its dependent villages, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its dependent villages, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its dependent villages, the three hilly regions. 12 But the children of Manasseh could not dispossess [the inhabitants of] those cities; and the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 13 And it came to pass when the children of Israel were become strong, that they made the Canaanites tributary; but they did not utterly dispossess them.
14 And the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me as inheritance one lot and one portion, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as Jehovah has blessed me hitherto? 15 And Joshua said unto them, If thou art a great people, then get thee up to the wood, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if the hill-country of Ephraim is too narrow for thee. 16 And the children of Joseph said, The hill-country will not be enough for us; and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, those that are of Beth-shean and its dependent villages, and those that are in the valley of Jizreel. 17 And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power: thou shalt not have one lot only, 18 but the hill-country shall be thine, as it is a wood, thou shalt cut it down, and its outgoings shall be thine; for thou shalt dispossess the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots; for they are powerful.
181 And the whole assembly of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them.
2 And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not been distributed to them. 3 And Joshua said to the children of Israel, How long will ye shew yourselves slack to go to take possession of the land which Jehovah the God of your fathers hath given you? 4 Provide you three men for a tribe; that I may send them, and they shall rise and go through the land, and describe it according to the proportion of their inheritance, and they shall come to me. 5 And they shall divide it into seven portions. Judah shall remain in their border on the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain in their border on the north; 6 and ye shall describe the land into seven portions, and bring [the description] hither to me, and I will cast lots for you here before Jehovah our God. 7 But the Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of Jehovah is their inheritance. And Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave them. 8 And the men arose and went away. And Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, and I will cast lots for you here before Jehovah in Shiloh. 9 And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven portions, in a book, and they came to Joshua, to the camp at Shiloh. 10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Jehovah. And there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.
11 And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families. And the territory of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. 12 And their border on the north side was from the Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up to the mountain westward; and ended at the wilderness of Beth-Aven; 13 and the border passed on from thence toward Luz, to the south side of Luz, which is Bethel: and the border went down to Ataroth-Addar, near the hill that is on the south of the lower Beth-horon. 14 —And the border reached along and turned on the west side, southward from the hill that is before Beth-horon southward; and ended at Kirjath-Baal, which is Kirjath-jearim, a city of the children of Judah: this is the west side. 15 —And the south side was from the extreme end of Kirjath-jearim, and the border went out on the west, and went out to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah. 16 And the border went down to the end of the mountain that is before the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in the valley of Rephaim on the north, and went down the valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite on the south, and went down to En-rogel; 17 and it reached along on the north, and went forth to En-shemesh, and went forth towards Geliloth, which is opposite to the ascent of Adummim, and went down to the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben, 18 and passed along towards the side opposite to Arabah northwards, and went down to Arabah; 19 and the border passed on to the side of Beth-hoglah on the north, and the border ended at the tongue of the salt sea northward, at the south end of the Jordan: this is the southern border. 20 —And the Jordan borders it on the east side.—This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, according to its borders round about, according to their families. 21 And the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were: Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and Emek-Keziz, 22 and Beth-Arabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel, 23 and Avvim, and Parah, and Ophrah, 24 and Chephar-haammonai, and Ophni, and Geba: twelve cities and their hamlets; 25 Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth, 26 and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah, 27 and Rekem, and Jirpeel, and Tharalah, 28 and Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, that is, Jerusalem, Gibeah, Kirjath: fourteen cities and their hamlets. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.
21 But it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census should be made of all the habitable world. 2 The census itself first took place when Cyrenius had the government of Syria. 3 And all went to be inscribed in the census roll, each to his own city: 4 and Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city Nazareth to Judaea, to David's city, the which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 to be inscribed in the census roll with Mary who was betrothed to him [as his] wife, she being great with child. 6 And it came to pass, while they were there, the days of her giving birth [to her child] were fulfilled, 7 and she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him up in swaddling-clothes and laid him in the manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were shepherds in that country abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock. 9 And lo, an angel of [the] Lord was there by them, and [the] glory of [the] Lord shone around them, and they feared [with] great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people; 11 for to-day a Saviour has been born to you in David's city, who is Christ [the] Lord. 12 And this is the sign to you: ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels departed from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, Let us make our way then now as far as Bethlehem, and let us see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. 16 And they came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger; 17 and having seen [it] they made known about the country the thing which had been said to them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard [it] wondered at the things said to them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things [in her mind], pondering [them] in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all things which they had heard and seen, as it had been said to them.
21 And when eight days were fulfilled for circumcising him, his name was called Jesus, which was the name given by the angel before he had been conceived in the womb. 22 And when the days were fulfilled for their purifying according to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem to present [him] to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of [the] Lord: Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord), 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of [the] Lord: A pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons.
(Read Luke 2:1-7)
The fulness of time was now come, when God would send forth his Son, made of a woman, and made under the law. The circumstances of his birth were very mean. Christ was born at an inn; he came into the world to sojourn here for awhile, as at an inn, and to teach us to do likewise. We are become by sin like an outcast infant, helpless and forlorn; and such a one was Christ. He well knew how unwilling we are to be meanly lodged, clothed, or fed; how we desire to have our children decorated and indulged; how apt the poor are to envy the rich, and how prone the rich to disdain the poor. But when we by faith view the Son of God being made man and lying in a manger, our vanity, ambition, and envy are checked. We cannot, with this object rightly before us, seek great things for ourselves or our children.
(Read Luke 2:8-20)
Angels were heralds of the new-born Saviour, but they were only sent to some poor, humble, pious, industrious shepherds, who were in the business of their calling, keeping watch over their flock. We are not out of the way of Divine visits, when we are employed in an honest calling, and abide with God in it. Let God have the honour of this work; Glory to God in the highest. God's good-will to men, manifested in sending the Messiah, redounds to his praise. Other works of God are for his glory, but the redemption of the world is for his glory in the highest. God's goodwill in sending the Messiah, brought peace into this lower world. Peace is here put for all that good which flows to us from Christ's taking our nature upon him. This is a faithful saying, attested by an innumerable company of angels, and well worthy of all acceptation, That the good-will of God toward men, is glory to God in the highest, and peace on the earth. The shepherds lost no time, but came with haste to the place. They were satisfied, and made known abroad concerning this child, that he was the Saviour, even Christ the Lord. Mary carefully observed and thought upon all these things, which were so suited to enliven her holy affections. We should be more delivered from errors in judgment and practice, did we more fully ponder these things in our hearts. It is still proclaimed in our ears that to us is born a Saviour, Christ the Lord. These should be glad tidings to all.
(Read Luke 2:21-24)
Our Lord Jesus was not born in sin, and did not need that mortification of a corrupt nature, or that renewal unto holiness, which were signified by circumcision. This ordinance was, in his case, a pledge of his future perfect obedience to the whole law, in the midst of sufferings and temptations, even unto death for us. At the end of forty days, Mary went up to the temple to offer the appointed sacrifices for her purification. Joseph also presented the holy child Jesus, because, as a first-born son, he was to be presented to the Lord, and redeemed according to the law. Let us present our children to the Lord who gave them to us, beseeching him to redeem them from sin and death, and make them holy to himself.
