Joshua 19:45 Meaning and Explanation
“And Jehud, and Beneberak, and Gathrimmon,”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Land can be assigned on paper and blocked on the ground. These three names sit in the fertile plain west of the hills, exactly the country Judges says Dan was prevented from entering. Reading the verse alongside that report explains a great deal about why the tribe eventually went looking north for somewhere to live.
Out on the fertile lowland, three more places are entered on Dan's record, including Gathrimmon, later set apart for the Levites, though Judges reports the Amorites kept Dan out of this plain.
The Context of Joshua 19:45
Verses 41 through 46 list Dan's towns from the hill country westward. Verse 44 has just named Eltekeh, Gibbethon, and Baalath. This verse continues out onto the plain, and verse 46 finishes with Mejarkon, Rakkon, and the border before Japho, the port on the sea. Verse 47 then reports the tribe's move north to Leshem. Joshua 21 later draws four towns from Dan for the Levites descended from Kohath, and Gathrimmon, named right here, is one of them.
What Does Joshua 19:45 Mean?
Jehud, Beneberak, and Gathrimmon all lie in the lowland toward the sea rather than up in the hills. Jehud is named only here in the Old Testament. Beneberak begins with the ordinary Hebrew word for sons, and Gathrimmon joins the word for a winepress to the name Rimmon. The three sit between the towns of verse 44 and the coastal boundary described in verse 46, filling out the western reach of Dan's grant. Their placement is the important thing. Verse 47 comes only two lines later and explains that this whole coast went out too little for the tribe.
Judges 1 states that the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain and would not suffer them to come down to the valley. The valley in question is the plain these three towns occupy. So the grant recorded here describes ground the Danites could see and could not take. Joshua's register and the report in Judges are both accurate, describing different things: one the assignment made at Shiloh, the other the situation on the ground a generation later. The Bible preserves both without smoothing them together, which is part of why its account of Israel reads as honest history.
Gathrimmon carries one further distinction. When the Levites received towns to dwell in, the sons of Kohath were given four cities out of the tribe of Dan, and Gathrimmon was among them. The Levites held no tribal territory of their own and lived scattered through the other tribes so that instruction and worship would be present everywhere. That arrangement means a town Dan struggled to hold was still designated as a place where the LORD's ministers would live. God's provision for the whole nation was distributed across every tribe's portion, including the portions hardest to secure.
Joshua 19:45 in the Original Language
gath rimmon (גַּת רִמּוֹן), 'Gathrimmon' -- the first element is the ordinary Hebrew word for a winepress, the same word standing behind the Philistine city of Gath. Place names built on it point to towns known for pressing grapes in the surrounding country.
Bible Verses Related to Joshua 19:45
“And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:”
- Judges 1:34
“Aijalon with her suburbs, Gathrimmon with her suburbs; four cities.”
- Joshua 21:24
“Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them.”
- Numbers 35:2
“And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;”
- Exodus 31:6
Where Joshua 19:45 Echoes in Scripture
Exodus 31:6 names Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, as the man God gave to work alongside Bezaleel in building the tabernacle. Verse 51 of this chapter records that the whole land was divided at the door of that same tabernacle. A Danite helped construct the tent before which his own tribe's portion was finally assigned, which places Dan's contribution to Israel earlier and more honorably than the tribe's later difficulties might suggest.
How to Apply Joshua 19:45 Today
There is a particular ache in seeing what was promised and being unable to reach it. Dan's families lived in the hills and looked down at fertile fields entered on their record as theirs. Some of us know a version of that: work we were made for and cannot get to, health we remember and cannot recover, a relationship we can picture and cannot repair. Dan's response was to look elsewhere, which brought fresh troubles along. Naming the gap honestly, staying put, and asking God for help is the harder and better path.
Reflection & Prayer
What can we see clearly and still not reach, and what have we been tempted to do about it? A prayer: Lord, You know the distance between what You have promised and where we now stand. Keep us from grasping at substitutes, and give us strength to wait and to work faithfully right where we are. Amen.