Joshua 15:63, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the division and settling of the Promised Land among the tribes in Joshua 11-21. The city is Jebus, that is Salem or Jerusalem, a little city that fell by lot to Judah and lies in Judah's tribe and territory. Judah could not drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem but dwelt there together with them, and Benjamin likewise lived there and failed to dispossess them. The failure shows Israel's lack of faith and slowness in possessing the land, yet God wrought all that He had promised and none of His good word failed.

The Jebusites kept their strongholds of Mount Moriah and Mount Zion for many years, until the days of David, when David took Zion, the last stronghold within Israel's borders. God chose Jerusalem in Judah as the place to locate His sanctuary and temple afterward built there, which is distinct from the tribe and territory of Judah itself. This explains why Judah is called God's sanctuary, for God was among His people in a cloud and pillar of fire and His dwelling at Jerusalem belonged to Judah, and when the ten tribes revolted Judah remained loyal as the kingly tribe.

The same portion allotted to Judah, the tribe from which the Saviour was to descend, is where Abraham built his altar, where he was called to offer his son Isaac, where he received the promise, and where Melchizedek reigned. Judah and Benjamin together as the two tribes living at Jerusalem are the one rich man in the parable of Luke 16, meaning the part of the Jewish nation at Jerusalem that saw Christ, rejected Him, and put Him to death. This leaves the ten tribes to be the five brethren in Luke 16:28 who would hear of Christ through the preaching of the apostles from Moses and the prophets.