The Theology of Real Estate: Reuben's Inheritance Text: Joshua 13:15-23
Introduction: God of the Dirt
We live in a gnostic age. Our culture, and sadly, much of the church, has imbibed the notion that the "spiritual" is what really matters, and the material world, the stuff of dirt and rock and rivers, is either an unfortunate distraction or a playground for our autonomous desires. We want a disembodied faith, a set of abstract principles that float above the messy realities of geography, property lines, and political boundaries. We want a God of our hearts, but not a God of our dirt.
But the God of the Bible is emphatically a God of the dirt. He made the dirt. He walked on the dirt. He redeemed us on a bloody cross planted in the dirt. And here, in the book of Joshua, we find Him deeply, meticulously, and unapologetically concerned with real estate. We come to these long lists of unpronounceable towns and obscure valleys, and our eyes glaze over. We are tempted to skip these chapters to get to the more "exciting" parts. But in doing so, we miss the very heart of the covenant. God's promises are not ethereal platitudes; they are concrete, geographical, and historical. He promised Abraham a specific piece of land, and here in Joshua, He is delivering on that promise with the precision of a master surveyor.
This is not just an ancient land grant. This is a theological treatise written in the language of geography. It is a declaration that God's authority extends to every square inch of His creation. It is a lesson in the nature of inheritance, the consequences of sin, and the absolute necessity of rooting our faith in the solid ground of God's historical acts. The modern Christian who wants a "personal relationship with Jesus" that has no bearing on his property, his politics, or his place in the physical world is practicing a different religion than the one found in the book of Joshua. God is making a point here: His covenant has borders. His blessings have a location. His kingdom takes up space.
As we examine the inheritance given to the tribe of Reuben, we are not just looking at an old map. We are looking at the character of God, the outworking of His covenant promises, and a foreshadowing of the greater inheritance that is ours in Christ Jesus. This is theology with dirt under its fingernails, and we would do well to pay close attention.
The Text
So Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the sons of Reuben according to their families. And their territory was from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley and all the plain by Medeba; Heshbon, and all its cities which are on the plain: Dibon and Bamoth-baal and Beth-baal-meon, and Jahaz and Kedemoth and Mephaath, and Kiriathaim and Sibmah and Zereth-shahar on the hill of the valley, and Beth-peor and the slopes of Pisgah and Beth-jeshimoth, even all the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses struck with the leaders of Midian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land. The sons of Israel also killed Balaam the son of Beor, the diviner, with the sword among the rest of their slain. And the border of the sons of Reuben was the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben according to their families, the cities and their villages.
(Joshua 13:15-23 LSB)
Covenant Inheritance Made Concrete (v. 15-16)
The passage begins by establishing the source and nature of this allotment.
"So Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the sons of Reuben according to their families. And their territory was from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley and all the plain by Medeba;" (Joshua 13:15-16)
Notice first that this was an act of Moses. Though Joshua is overseeing the division of the land west of the Jordan, the inheritance for the two-and-a-half tribes on the east was already established by Moses. This provides continuity. The work of God is not dependent on one man. Joshua is faithfully administering the covenant plan that God initiated through Moses. This is a picture of how God's redemptive plan unfolds through history, passed from one generation of faithful servants to the next.
The word "inheritance" is key. This land is not a wage earned or a prize won through sheer military might. It is a gift. It is a gracious bestowal based on the covenant promise God made to their fathers. Yes, they had to fight for it, but the fighting was the instrument of taking possession of a gift already given. Faith is not passive; it is the active appropriation of God's promises. We, too, have an inheritance in Christ, and we are called to "fight the good fight of faith" to lay hold of it (1 Timothy 6:12).
And then we get the geographical details: "from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon." God is not vague. His promises are not fuzzy spiritual sentiments. They have precise boundaries. This specificity demonstrates God's total sovereignty over the earth. He knows every valley, every river, every plain. He is not just the God of Israel; He is the God of the Arnon valley. This is a polemic against all pagan nature worship. The rivers and hills are not deities to be appeased; they are lines on God's map, markers of His covenant faithfulness. For us, this means our faith must be grounded in the specific, historical claims of the gospel: a man named Jesus, who lived in a real place called Nazareth, died on a specific hill outside a real city called Jerusalem, and rose from a particular tomb. Our faith stands on facts, not feelings.
The Ghost of Paganism Past (v. 17-21)
The list of cities that follows is more than just a list. It is a record of conquest and displacement. It is a history of judgment.
"Heshbon, and all its cities which are on the plain: Dibon and Bamoth-baal and Beth-baal-meon... even all the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses struck with the leaders of Midian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land." (Joshua 13:17-21)
Many of these names carry the stench of idolatry. "Bamoth-baal" means "high places of Baal." "Beth-baal-meon" means "house of the dwelling of Baal." Reuben is inheriting the ruins of a pagan kingdom. This is a graphic illustration of the biblical principle of dispossession. The wicked are tenants on God's earth, and when their lease is up, when their iniquity is full (Genesis 15:16), God evicts them and gives the property to His people. The righteous will inherit the land (Psalm 37:29).
The text explicitly reminds us of the history here. This was the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites. He was a wicked king who refused Israel passage and came out to fight them, and God gave him into their hands (Numbers 21). His defeat was a sign of God's judgment. The inheritance of the saints is always built upon the judgment of the wicked. The cross, our great inheritance, is simultaneously the place of God's greatest judgment on sin. You cannot have the blessing without the curse being dealt with.
Notice also the mention of the leaders of Midian who were allied with Sihon. This connects the conquest to another sordid tale. It was the Midianites, at the counsel of Balaam, who seduced Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality at Beth-peor, another city mentioned in this list (Numbers 25). God's judgment is thorough. He doesn't just deal with the king; He deals with his wicked allies. This is a warning to us. We must not make alliances with the world's systems of rebellion. To be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God (James 4:4), and to be an ally of God's enemies is to put yourself in the path of His judgment.
The Wages of Divination (v. 22)
Tucked into this land grant is a brief, but potent, historical note.
"The sons of Israel also killed Balaam the son of Beor, the diviner, with the sword among the rest of their slain." (Joshua 13:22)
Balaam is one of the most tragic and sinister figures in all of Scripture. He was a man with a genuine prophetic gift, a man who heard from God and spoke true words about Israel's blessed destiny (Numbers 22-24). But his heart was rotten. He "loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Peter 2:15). When he found he could not curse Israel directly, he gave their enemies the playbook for destroying them from within through seduction and idolatry (Revelation 2:14).
Here, his story comes to its ignominious end. He is not killed in some grand battle. He is simply found "among the rest of their slain." He threw his lot in with the enemies of God, and he shared their fate. He who prophesied of the Star to come out of Jacob died by the sword of Jacob's sons. This is a stark warning against prostituting spiritual gifts for personal gain. It is a warning against trying to play both sides. Balaam wanted the blessing of God and the paycheck of Moab. He wanted to serve God and mammon. And in the end, he got what he deserved: a sword in the gut. The church today is filled with Balaams, men who use the language of Scripture and the appearance of spirituality to fleece the flock and serve their own bellies. Their end will be the same.
God's Boundary Lines (v. 23)
The section concludes with a summary statement, defining the western edge of Reuben's inheritance.
"And the border of the sons of Reuben was the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben according to their families, the cities and their villages." (Joshua 13:23)
The Jordan River was their border. This was a clear, unmistakable line. On one side was Reuben; on the other, the rest of Israel. This boundary was both a blessing and, as history would show, a potential snare. It gave them their own space, but it also separated them from the central life of the nation and the tabernacle. Their decision to stay on the east side, while permitted by Moses, was born of a love for the good pastureland they saw there (Numbers 32). It was a choice based on sight, not on the full promise of Canaan proper.
This reminds us that God establishes boundaries for our good. His law, His created order, the geographical lines He draws, are all for our protection and flourishing. To despise God's boundaries is to invite chaos and destruction. The modern spirit that wants to erase all distinctions, all borders, whether geographical, moral, or biological, is a spirit of rebellion against the God who creates by separating and ordering.
The inheritance is given "according to their families." God deals with us covenantally, as members of families and communities. Our radical individualism is a modern heresy. God saves households, He blesses families, and He gives inheritances to tribes. This is why the health of the Christian family is central to the health of the church and the nation. When our families crumble, the inheritance is lost.
Our Better Inheritance
This detailed account of Reuben's inheritance is a shadow, a type, of a greater reality. We who are in Christ have been given a better inheritance, one that is "imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4).
Like Reuben, our inheritance is a gift of grace, not a wage we have earned. It was secured by our Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ, who led us out of the bondage of sin. Like Reuben, our inheritance is built upon the ruins of a defeated kingdom. Christ, through His death and resurrection, has conquered the kingdom of Sihon the Amorite, that is, the kingdom of Satan. He has disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them at the cross (Colossians 2:15).
Our inheritance includes the defeat of our Balaam. The Accuser of the brethren, who seeks to curse us and counsels the world to seduce us, has been cast down. His end is certain. And our inheritance has boundaries. The border is the blood of Christ. All who are within that border are safe, secure, and blessed. All who are outside of it remain under the wrath of God.
But unlike Reuben, our inheritance is not a piece of land on the fringe, separated by a river. Our inheritance is Christ Himself. We are not just given blessings from God; we are given God Himself. We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). He has not settled us on the east side of the Jordan; He has seated us with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). Let us therefore not be like the Reubenites, who settled for the good when the best was just across the river. Let us press on to take hold of the full inheritance that God has for us in His Son, a kingdom that cannot be shaken, a city whose builder and maker is God.