“Those of the Negeb
Shall possess
Mount Esau.
Those of the Shephelah,
The land of the Philistines,
Shall possess
The land of Ephraim
With the land of Samaria.
Benjamin
Shall possess Gilead.
The exiles
Of the Israelites
Who are in Halah,
Shall possess
Phoenicia
As far as Zarephath.
The exiles of Jerusalem
Who are in Sepharad
Shall possess
The towns
Of the Negeb.
Those who have been saved
Shall go up
To Mount Zion
To rule Mount Esau.
The kingdom
Shall be Yahweh’s.”
This short chapter and book ends and a new larger Israel, as their long standing enemy neighbors will no longer exist. Israel shall rule them. The area of the Negeb was the arid southern land that would change from the land of Edom or Mount Esau into Israel. Israel was going to possess the Shephelah, the western area along the Mediterranean coast where the Philistines lived. They were also going to have the land of Samaria and the territory of Ephraim, north of Judah. The territory of Benjamin would include land on the east side of the Jordan River, the Gilead. The exiled Israelites in Halah in the upper Mesopotamia region and those in the Phoenician town of Zarephath, as well as the exiles in Asia Minor in Shephard would all return to live in the arid southern Negeb region. All the saved Israelites would return to Mount Zion, as Mount Esau and all of Edom would go away and be under the Israelites.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 