And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.
when.
Acts 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Deuteronomy 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
Joshua 24:11 And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand.
Chanaan.
Genesis 12:5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
Genesis 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
Psalm 135:11 Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan:
Canaan.
Numbers 26:53-56 Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names…
Joshua 14:1 And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance to them.
Joshua 18:10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.
He gave their land to His people as an inheritance
The land of Canaan was given to the Israelites as an inheritance, signifying God's faithfulness to His covenant promises. This inheritance was not earned by the Israelites' own strength or righteousness but was a gift from God (Deuteronomy 9:5-6). The distribution of the land among the tribes of Israel is detailed in the book of Joshua (Joshua 13-21). This inheritance is a foreshadowing of the spiritual inheritance believers receive through Christ, as mentioned in the New Testament (Ephesians 1:11, Colossians 1:12). The concept of inheritance also points to the eternal inheritance promised to believers, which is imperishable and kept in heaven (1 Peter 1:4).
God Himself is the active conqueror. Israel’s victories were not the result of military genius but of divine intervention.
• Exodus 23:27: “I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter.”
• Joshua 23:3 reminds the people, “It is the LORD your God who fought for you.”
By stressing God’s action, Paul (in Acts 13) underlines the Lord’s unmatched sovereignty and faithfulness.
Paul echoes the familiar list in Deuteronomy 7:1—Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
• Deuteronomy 7:2: “When the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, you must devote them to complete destruction.”
Seven often signifies completeness in Scripture; here it highlights the totality of God’s triumph over entrenched wickedness.
The text shifts from conquest to gift. God did not merely clear ground; He transferred ownership.
• Joshua 11:23: “So Joshua took the entire land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel.”
• Psalm 44:2–3 celebrates that the land came “not by their own sword…but by Your right hand.”
The land was reserved for a covenant community chosen by grace.
• Exodus 6:7: “I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God.”
• Deuteronomy 7:6 testifies that Israel is “a people holy to the LORD.”
Their identity rests on God’s promise, not on their merit.
“Inheritance” signals permanence, legal transfer, and family relationship.
• Numbers 34:2 calls the land “the inheritance for you.”
• Hebrews 4:8–9 points ahead to a fuller rest, while 1 Peter 1:4 speaks of “an inheritance imperishable…kept in heaven for you.”
The earthly allotment foreshadows the eternal portion secured through Christ for all who trust Him.
Acts 13:19 shows God faithfully conquering evil, fulfilling promise, and gifting His chosen people with a lasting inheritance. Paul weaves this snapshot of Israel’s history to demonstrate that the same faithful Lord has now provided the ultimate inheritance—salvation and eternal life—through Jesus the Messiah.
(19) He divided their land to them by lot.--Accepting this reading, the reference is to the command given in Numbers 26:55-56, and recorded as carried into effect in Joshua 14-19. The better MSS., however, give a kindred word, which signifies "he gave as an inheritance."Verses 19, 20. - Canaan for Chanaan, A.V.; he gave them their land for an inheritance, for about four hundred and fifty years: and after these things he gave them judges, etc., for he divided their land unto them by lot: and after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, etc., A.V. and T.R. It is difficult to say what is the meaning of the R.T. in regard to the four hundred and fifty years, what is the terminus a quo or ad quem intended by it. The usual explanations of the reading of the R.T. (adopted by Lachman, Bishop Wordsworth, and others) is that the years are dated from the birth of Isaac, and that the meaning is that the promise to give the land to the seed of Abraham was actually performed within four hundred and fifty years (ὡς ἔτεσι) (after the analogy of Galatians 3:17), which gives a good sense and is not at all improbable (see Bishop Wordsworth's note). The reading of the T.R. has grave objections on the score of chronology as well as grammar. Duration of time is expressed by the accusative case, as vers. 18 and 21; the measure of time in which a thing is done by the dative. So that the natural rendering of the T.R. would be that he gave them judges four hundred and fifty years after the entrance into Canaan; which of course cannot be the meaning. The other objection is that, if the times of the judges from the final conquest of the land to the judgeship of Samuel was four hundred and fifty years, the whole time from the Exodus to the building of the temple must have been about six hundred and forty years (37 from death of Moses to Othuiel + 450, + 30 for judgeship of Samuel, + 40 of Saul's reign, + 40 for David's reign, +3 years of Solomon, + and the 40 years in the wilderness), whereas 1 Kings 6:1 gives the time as four hundred and eighty years; while the genealogies suppose a much shorter time - about two hundred and eighty years. It is an immense gain, therefore, to get rid of this four hundred and fifty years for the time of the judges, and by the well-supported reading of the R.T. to get a calculation in agreement with Galatians 3:17 and with the chronology of the times. Gave them... for an inheritance. The T.R. has κατεκληροδότησεν, the R.T. has κατεκληρονόμησεν, which words are not infrequently interchanged in different codices of the LXX. (see Joshua 19:51; Deuteronomy 1:38; Deuteronomy 21:16, etc.). They have nearly identical meanings, "to give as an inheritance by lot." Neither word occurs elsewhere in the New Testament.