Joshua 18:11 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The lot of Benjamin came up No doubt it was by peculiar direction of Providence that the children of Benjamin should have the first lot of these seven, next to the children of Joseph, they two being the only sons of Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob. For thus it happened that their coast, or the portion assigned them, lay between the children of Judah, who were on the south of them, and the children of Joseph, the Ephraimites in particular, who lay on the north of them; the only place in which the prophecy contained in Deuteronomy 33:12, could have been accomplished. And it is observable, that, in that blessing of Moses, Benjamin is placed between Judah and Joseph, Levi having no inheritance among them. But Providence placed Benjamin here, not only that he might be next to Joseph, his own and only brother, on the one hand; but that, being next to Judah on the other, this tribe might hereafter unite with Judah, in an adherence to the throne of David, and the temple of Jerusalem.