The Divine Domesday Book Text: Joshua 15:33-47
Introduction: God's Glorious Geography
We come now to a portion of Scripture that causes many modern readers to quietly shut their Bibles and go look for something more "inspirational." We are confronted with a list of names. It is a long list of towns, many of which are now nothing more than dust and archaeological tells. Eshtaol, Zanoah, Jarmuth, Azekah, Keilah, Mareshah. It feels like reading a phone book for a city that no longer exists. Our temptation is to skim, to let our eyes glaze over, and to assume that this is just biblical record-keeping, the necessary but tedious fine print of the Old Covenant.
But to do this is to make a profound theological mistake. It is to assume that God can be boring. It is to believe that the Holy Spirit, when inspiring the text, sometimes just had to fill pages. This is the height of impiety. These lists are not filler. They are declarations of victory. They are deeds of ownership. This is God's Domesday Book, a detailed, public, and legal record of the inheritance He promised to Abraham four centuries earlier and has now delivered to his children. Every name on this list is a nail driven into the coffin of Canaanite rebellion and a brick laid in the foundation of the kingdom of Israel.
We must understand what is happening here. This is not just geography; it is theology. This is not just real estate; it is covenant faithfulness made visible. God told Abraham that his seed would inherit this land, and now, under Joshua, the first great son of Judah is receiving its portion. The level of detail is staggering, and it is entirely the point. Our God is not a God of vague, spiritual platitudes. He is the God of Eshtaol and Zorah and Ashnah. He knows the number of hairs on your head, and He knows the name of every village He gives to His people. This precision is a polemic against the vague, chaotic, and impotent gods of the pagans. Their authority was a fiction; God's authority is granular. He doesn't just own "the land," He owns Tappuah and Enam, Socoh and Azekah. He is demonstrating His total and meticulous sovereignty.
And as we shall see, this list is not just about what has been taken, but also about what remains to be taken. It is a roll call of victories, but it ends with a to-do list. It is a map of our inheritance that includes enemy fortifications. And in this, it is a perfect picture of the Christian life. God has given us all things in Christ, and yet we must still fight.
The Text
In the Shephelah: Eshtaol and Zorah and Ashnah, and Zanoah and En-gannim, Tappuah and Enam, Jarmuth and Adullam, Socoh and Azekah, and Shaaraim and Adithaim and Gederah and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages. Zenan and Hadashah and Migdal-gad, and Dilean and Mizpeh and Joktheel, Lachish and Bozkath and Eglon, and Cabbon and Lahmas and Chitlish, and Gederoth, Beth-dagon and Naamah and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages. Libnah and Ether and Ashan, and Iphtah and Ashnah and Nezib, and Keilah and Achzib and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages. Ekron, with its towns and its villages; from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages. Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; as far as the brook of Egypt and the Great Sea, even its coastline.
(Joshua 15:33-47 LSB)
Inheritance Inventoried (vv. 33-44)
The first part of our text is a detailed inventory of the cities given to Judah in the Shephelah, the lowlands between the coastal plain and the hill country.
"In the Shephelah: Eshtaol and Zorah and Ashnah... fourteen cities with their villages... Zenan and Hadashah and Migdal-gad... sixteen cities with their villages... Libnah and Ether and Ashan... nine cities with their villages." (Joshua 15:33-44)
The Chronicler here is acting as a divine notary, recording the transfer of title. The land is divided into districts, and the cities in each district are named, and the count is tallied at the end. Fourteen cities. Sixteen cities. Nine cities. This is meticulous. This is legal. This is God fulfilling His promise with precision. He is not a slumlord who vaguely gestures at a territory. He is the sovereign who has surveyed every square inch and assigned it according to His perfect will.
Many of these names should ring bells for the attentive reader of Scripture. This is the region where Samson would later be born, between Zorah and Eshtaol (Judges 13:25). This is where David would hide from Saul in the cave of Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1). This is where David would fight Goliath, between Socoh and Azekah (1 Samuel 17:1). This is the region of Lachish, a major fortified city that would later be the site of Sennacherib's proud and blasphemous siege (2 Kings 18). This is not just a list; it is the stage for the great drama of redemption that is about to unfold.
By listing these cities, God is doing more than giving property. He is giving a history before it happens. He is laying out the chessboard. He is saying, "This is your home. This is where you will live, and work, and sin, and be disciplined, and be delivered. This is where My Son, the Lion of your own tribe, will one day walk." The act of naming and listing is an act of consecration. These are no longer just Canaanite strongholds; they are now the inheritance of the people of God.
And notice the refrain: "with their villages." The great work of conquest under Joshua broke the back of the organized resistance by taking the major fortified cities. But the promise was not just for the urban centers. It was for the whole land, the cities and the surrounding farmlands and pastures that supported them. The dominion mandate is comprehensive. It is not enough to capture the high places of the culture; the gospel must saturate everything, down to the smallest village. God's concern is for the entire fabric of a society, from the capital to the hamlet.
The Unfinished Task (vv. 45-47)
Then, the tone of the list shifts dramatically. After inventorying the conquered and assigned cities, the text moves to the coastal plain, the territory of the Philistines.
"Ekron, with its towns and its villages; from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages. Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; as far as the brook of Egypt and the Great Sea, even its coastline." (Joshua 15:45-47 LSB)
Notice what is missing here. There is no tally. There is no "five cities with their villages." Why? Because these cities had not yet been taken. This portion of the inheritance was still occupied by a formidable enemy. Ekron, Ashdod, Gaza, these were three of the five major cities of the Philistines. This is part of Judah's assigned lot, but it is currently in enemy hands. The deed has been signed over in heaven, but the tenants have not yet been evicted.
This is a crucial lesson for Israel, and for us. God's gift of inheritance does not preclude the necessity of fighting for it. The promise is the basis for the command to go in and possess. God gives the victory, but He requires that we fight the battle. He gives us the land, but we must put our feet on it. This is the constant tension of the Christian life, the "already and not yet." In Christ, we have been "blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3). We are seated with Him, victorious. That is the ultimate reality. But down here, on the ground, there are still Philistines in the land. There is sin to be mortified, strongholds of rebellion to be torn down, and gospel proclamation to be carried out to the ends of the earth.
Judah's failure to drive out the Philistines would become a thorn in Israel's side for centuries. It was from Gath, another of these cities, that Goliath would come. The Philistines would capture the Ark of the Covenant and place it in their temple to Dagon in Ashdod (1 Samuel 5). This incomplete obedience, this failure to take possession of the whole inheritance, had long and bitter consequences.
God includes this unconquered territory in the list to remind Judah of two things: the vastness of His gift and the necessity of their faithful obedience. He is telling them, "Do not get comfortable. Do not settle for what you have already taken. I have given you the coastland as well. Now go, in my strength, and possess your possessions."
From Earthly Lots to a Heavenly Inheritance
This entire chapter, with its detailed boundaries and city lists, points us forward to a greater reality. The first Joshua, the son of Nun, led Israel into a physical land. He was a type, a forerunner. But as the author of Hebrews tells us, "For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day" (Hebrews 4:8). The rest that Joshua provided was partial and temporary. The land was a shadow; the substance is Christ.
The tribe of Judah received the preeminent inheritance among the tribes. From Judah would come the kings, and ultimately, the King of Kings. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ, is our true inheritance. In Him, all the promises of God are Yes and Amen. The detailed accounting of Judah's land is a type of the detailed and particular love God has for His elect in Christ.
Just as Judah's lot was meticulously laid out, so our inheritance in Christ is secure and specific. Peter tells us we have "an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4). God has a specific, named place for us in His coming kingdom. He has prepared cities for us (Hebrews 11:16).
And just like Judah, our inheritance comes with a fight. We are called to "fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life" (1 Timothy 6:12). We are given the whole armor of God because we have an enemy who occupies territory that rightfully belongs to King Jesus. Our task is to press the claims of the crown rights of Jesus Christ over every area of life, personal and public. We do this not to earn our inheritance, but because it has already been given to us. We fight from victory, not for victory.
Conclusion: Possess Your Possessions
So what do we do with a list of ancient cities? We are to see it as a glorious display of the faithfulness of God. Our God makes promises, and He keeps them in exquisite detail. He is not a God of generalizations, but of particulars. He gave Judah not just "some land," but Azekah and Makkedah and Libnah.
And we are to see it as a summons to faithful action. God has given us a glorious inheritance in His Son. He has given us His Word, His Spirit, and His Church. He has given us a mission to disciple the nations. But there are still Philistines in the land. There are strongholds of unbelief in our own hearts, in our families, and in our culture. The command to Judah is the command to us: Possess your possessions. Do not be content with the territory you have already taken. Press forward. By faith, lay claim to every square inch of your life and this world that has been purchased by the blood of the Lamb.
The God who mapped out the Shephelah is the God who has mapped out your life. He who named the cities of Judah has called you by name. He is faithful. Therefore, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.