and *ye* shall describe the land into seven portions, and bring [the description] hither to me, and I will cast lots for you here before Jehovah our God.
Seven tribes still had no land, so Joshua sets out a plan: a survey team, a written description, and a lot cast at Shiloh. The verse joins two things we often keep apart — careful human work, and a decision left to God alone.
Before any land changed hands, men had to walk it and write it down. Then the book went to Shiloh, and God had the final word.
Joshua told three men from each tribe to go out from Shiloh, walk through the land, and describe it. "You shall describe the land in seven divisions and bring the description here to me. And I will cast lots for you here before the LORD our God" (v. 6). So they surveyed the land, wrote the result in a book, and laid it before the LORD in Shiloh. Joshua cast lots before the LORD for them (v. 10). This proved His purpose for His people, just as He had promised their fathers.
The land was split seven ways because seven tribes still had nothing. Joshua's plan had a second aim beyond stirring them to move.
Now that five of the tribes had entered on their portions, seven remained to receive their inheritance... Joshua wanted to stir the people to feel what they ought to possess. He also wanted to keep before them, in the way best suited to their state, that the whole deciding of the lot rests with the LORD.
The lot settled where each tribe would sit, but it did not fix forever how much they would hold.
By the lot, God showed His mind more plainly than He could have in any other way. "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD," says the voice of inspiration itself (Prov. 16:33). But the lot seems to have fixed only the position of these possessions, not their extent. That left room to redraw boundary lines as tribes grew or shrank through faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Had they been faithful as a whole, their enlarged territories would have made such a redrawing necessary.
The survey came first, and the lot came after. So no surveyor knew which portion would fall to his own tribe.
Joshua told Israel to pick out three men from each tribe who could pass through the remaining territory, survey it and part it into seven portions (vv. 4-6). Then Joshua would cast lots before the LORD as to which portion each of the tribes would receive. So the men would be in a position of wanting to be completely impartial in dividing the land.
Everything in this arrangement moves out from one place and comes back to it. The men start at Shiloh, and they must bring the description back there.
Shiloh, then, was not only the true ground of worship, where the LORD dwelt among the people. It was also the centre of all operations and conquests. From there three men from each tribe were to go out and mark off the land that remained... They were solemnly charged to bring the description there, to Shiloh, before the LORD. And they did so.
The book was accurate and complete. That was the danger: a people can rest in a record instead of a land.
Israel's unbelief finds its echo in the slackness of soul of those saints who are content to know that their portion is in "the book." Satisfied that it is recorded for them, they are too slow of soul to go in and take possession. Israel knew exactly what belonged to them. The unpossessed land was set out in detail, and the districts so described were divided among the tribes. But it is one thing to know our portion, and another to live in it.
- Described — Three men from each tribe walked the land and wrote it down in a book. The survey came before the sharing.
- Delivered — The men carried the description back to Shiloh, where God dwelt among His people, and laid it before Him.
- Decided — The lot took the choice out of human hands. Its every decision is from the LORD, so the surveyors had no reason to favour themselves.
- Defined, not limited — The lot fixed each tribe's position, not the final size. Faithfulness would have pushed the boundaries outward.
- Dwelt in — Knowing what the book says is yours is not the same as living in it. Israel's portion stayed on the page.
But the Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of Jehovah is their inheritance. And Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave them.
Joshua is at Shiloh, and seven tribes still have no land. Before the surveyors go out, he names two exceptions: Levi, whose portion is better than land, and the two and a half tribes Moses settled east of the Jordan.
Joshua is stirring a slack people to take what God has given them. As he does it, he keeps reminding them who hands out the land.
He wanted to stir the people up to feel what they ought to own. He also wanted to keep one thing before them, in the way best suited to their state: the whole handing out of the land by lot comes from Jehovah. The separate place of those who served the sanctuary is carefully kept — a striking testimony among the earthly people.
So this is no dry note about land records. Surveyors are carving the nation into acres, and one tribe stands as a sign that a man's wealth can be something else.
Levi's empty hands are not a penalty. The verse says the priesthood itself is their heritage. One writer names the two parts of that portion, and says believers now hold the same.
The Lord commanded it: Aaron, the priests, and the whole tribe of Levi could have no inheritance in Israel. Their inheritance had two sides: "the Lord God of Israel," and "the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire." It is the same for us, His heavenly people. We have no portion on earth. Our privilege is to stand before God and to serve Him. More than this, we have Him as our own, and we have communion with Him in the heavenly places, with the Father and with the Son... But our portion in the Son is also "the sacrifices of the Lord made by fire." That is to say, Christ in all the perfection of His work and His Person before God.
No tribal territory meant no ordinary income.
The tribe of Levi received no inheritance of their own. They were scattered among the tribes to serve the Lord wherever He placed them, and they depended on God to provide for them through the sacrifices and offerings of the people. So they were simply to look to God for their support. The same is true for any servant of the Lord today who works full time in the Lord's work.
That dependence reached past food. Kelly ties a servant's trust in God's provision to the weight of his words.
The workmen of the Lord stood on different ground from the rest of His people. God called them to a special confidence in His provision for them and in His word about them. If they failed in this, could they wonder that their words had little power?
The second exception is different in character. Gad, Reuben and half of Manasseh already hold land on the east side. Moses gave it to them before Israel ever crossed the river, so no lot at Shiloh falls to them. Commentators differ on how to read that grant. One writer treats their choice as a loss they brought on themselves.
Their promise to cross the Jordan armed and ready ahead of their brothers drew something like agreement from Moses. It looked like a remarkable show of unselfishness and energy. They would leave all their loved ones behind and cross the Jordan only to fight for their brothers. But where had they left those loved ones? They had left them short of the divine mark. They had deprived them of a place and a portion in the true land of promise... And for what? Just to get good pasture for their cattle.
Another writer traces that eastern ground back to God's own plan — and notes what it cost them.
So the land of Israel's inheritance lay on both sides of the Jordan, just as God had settled it beforehand. Yet it does not appear that He meant any of them to live east of that river. The tribes who asked for their portion there did get it. But they soon discovered the drawback of it.
Joshua names both exceptions in one breath, yet they run opposite ways. Levi has no land because God kept the best for them. The two and a half have their land because they asked for it early, and settled for it.
- Portion. Levi's blank space on the map is the point. The priesthood is the inheritance, and God Himself fills the place that land fills for everyone else.
- Provision. That portion feeds them — the offerings made to God become the food of those who serve Him, so their table is His altar.
- Dependence. No territory means no income, and servants of God still live this way: looking to Him, not to a holding of their own.
- Power. When that trust fails, the words of God's workmen lose their force. Trust and testimony rise or fall together.
- Preference. The tribes who chose pasture east of the river show the other road. They took a real portion, but stopped short of the land God had in view.
And the men arose and went away. And Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, and I will cast lots for you here before Jehovah in Shiloh.
Joshua sends men out to walk the land, write down what they find, and bring the record back to him at Shiloh. He had just asked the tribes a sharper question: why were they so slow to take what God had already given them?
One writer follows the survey through to what it produced.
The men surveyed the land. They recorded the result in a book and laid it before the LORD in Shiloh. Lots were cast before the LORD for them (v. 10). This proved God's purpose for His people, which He had promised to their fathers. The land was divided among the people of Israel according to their divisions.
Israel was at rest and gathered at Shiloh, and still not moving. The call that follows was the last of its kind.
The peace God had given Israel let them assemble at His call in Shiloh. From Shiloh came Joshua's last call to the nation to go in and take what God had given them: "How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?" God had said, "I will not leave you." But Israel had slackened in energy. They had lost their grip on the promise and become slothful. Warnings about what slackness costs came later, but never again such a call to go in and take the land. The last call had come. Let the believer take warning. He can sink slowly into spiritual dullness. He can neglect call after call to wake and rise, until at last the final appeal comes in vain and his run of victory ends.
The men set out from Shiloh, and Joshua tells them to return there. One writer explains what that place was to Israel.
Shiloh was not only the true ground of worship, where the LORD lived among the people. It was also the centre of all operations and conquests. From there three men from each tribe were to go out and mark out the land that remained... Joshua solemnly charged them to bring the description there to Shiloh before the LORD. And they did so, and "described it in a book by cities in seven divisions. Then they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh."
The men mapped the land, but they did not assign it. Joshua's aim in the whole arrangement was twofold.
He would rouse the people to feel what they ought to take for themselves. He would also keep before them, in the way best suited to their condition, that the whole disposing of the lot is of the LORD. The arrangement carefully keeps those who served the sanctuary in a place of their own — a striking testimony in the middle of God's earthly people.
Another writer notes what the lot fixed and what it left open.
The lot expressed the mind of God more definitely than any other way: "the whole disposing of it is from the LORD," says the voice of inspiration itself (Prov. 16:33). But the lot seems to have fixed only the position of these possessions, not their size. That left room to redraw boundary lines as tribes grew or shrank through their faithfulness or unfaithfulness. If the nation as a whole had been faithful, its growing territory would have made such redrawing necessary.
The book the men brought back told each tribe exactly what was theirs. What happened next exposed the gap between information and occupation.
This fact declares loudly the inertness and unbelief of the nation. The same thing echoes in the slackness of soul of God's saints who are content to know that their portion is in "the book." Satisfied that it is recorded for them, they are too slow in soul "to go and possess." Israel knew exactly what belonged to them. The land they had not taken was set out in detail, and the districts so described were divided among the tribes. But it is one thing to know our portion, another to live in it.
- Given. The land was already Israel's by God's promise to their fathers. The survey did not create the inheritance. It only measured what God had given.
- Mapped. Three men from each tribe walked the ground and wrote it down. Every tribe then knew in detail what belonged to it.
- Granted. The lot at Shiloh settled each tribe's place, not the surveyors' choice. The whole disposing of it was from the LORD.
- Unclaimed. Knowing your portion and living in it are two different things. Israel had the book and still had not gone in to take the land.
- Last call. This was the final appeal to go in and take the land. Warnings followed, but no further invitation. Slackness is worth catching early.
And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven portions, in a book, and they came to Joshua, to the camp at Shiloh.
Joshua had ordered a survey of the land, and this verse reports that the men carried it out. The bare record raises a sharp question. Why did a people already given the land need it measured and written down for them?
The seven tribes still without a portion were not held back by enemies. One commentator sees a people who lost their energy just when success should have fed it:
In Joshua 18 the whole assembly gathers at Shiloh, and the tabernacle is set up there. Five of the tribes had now entered their portions. Seven still waited for their inheritance. What a picture of a people with no energy! The signs of God's presence were plain to see. Still they would not go forward against the Canaanites, as His word — yes, His command — told them. The very fact that the land was subdued became a snare.
Another writer names what had dulled them, and what their neglect cost:
They had most likely also grown tired of war. It had been a hard, demanding time. Going out to conquer, taking new territory and facing the enemies was difficult work. They must also have gained many comforts they never knew in the wilderness. The land was rich and its resources plentiful, and so they became self-indulgent and settled into ease. Their neglect in not possessing the land paid them back, for the land they left untaken, with its enemies, became a whip on their sides and thorns in their eyes.
The men describe the land "by towns," and the result is a record on paper. But a record is not a home. One commentator turns that fact onto the reader:
This fact declares loudly that the nation was idle and unbelieving. It also has its echo in the slackness of soul of God's people who are content to know that their portion is in "the book." They are satisfied that it is written down for them, yet they are too slow in soul to go in and take possession. Israel knew exactly what belonged to them. The land they had not taken was set out in detail, and the districts it described were divided among the tribes. But it is one thing to know our portion, and another to live in it. Even in Israel's best days — the time of Solomon — the land was not fully occupied.
The verse notes where the men returned: to Joshua, to the camp at Shiloh. The tabernacle now stood there, and one writer makes that place the fixed point of the whole operation:
So Shiloh was not only the true ground of worship, where the Lord dwelt among the people. It was also the center of all operations and conquests. From there three men from each tribe were to go out, mark out the land that remained, and divide it into seven parts. They were given a solemn charge to bring the description back to Shiloh, before the Lord, so that Joshua could cast lots for them there. And they did so.
after_note: DELETE
The men mapped and described the land, but they did not hand it out. That waited for the lot, cast before the Lord. One writer notes what this did to the men themselves:
Then Joshua would cast lots before the Lord to decide which portion each tribe would receive. That put the men in a position of wanting to be completely impartial in how they divided the land.
Another sees Joshua working on two fronts at once:
He would rouse the people to feel what they ought to possess. At the same time he would keep before them, in the way best suited to their state, that the whole deciding of the lot rests with the Lord.
The long lists of boundaries and towns that follow this verse are often skipped. One writer sees in them the record of something far larger:
The division of Canaan among the twelve tribes — how much it ought to speak to us of our inheritance beyond death! Oh, for faith to go over and take possession of it! Then the list of names, now almost barren to us, would show us the beauty of a land that is the glory of all lands, a land the eyes of the Lord never leave. Our eyes for all this beauty — where are they?
- Given — the land already belonged to them. Verse 9 adds nothing to the gift; it only writes it down.
- Slack — seven tribes stalled, not because the enemy was strong, but because life was easy and they were tired. Success became the snare.
- Described — the survey put their portion in a book, town by town, so ignorance could never be the excuse again.
- Shiloh — the men went out from God's dwelling place and brought the record back there. The place of worship was the center of all the work.
- Possess — to know your portion is written down is not to live in it. Go over and take what is already yours.
And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Jehovah. And there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.
The seven remaining tribes had surveyed the land, written it up in a book, and brought it back to the camp. Now comes the decisive act. Joshua does not hand out portions by his own judgement. He casts lots at Shiloh, and God's choice divides the land.
The land was not carved up by human preference. Even the leaders who oversaw the division had no say in who received what.
Joshua and Eleazar the priest divided the land west of the Jordan River. But their own judgement did not decide it. Casting lots settled what each tribe would receive. Proverbs 16:33 tells us, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD." Each tribe carried the responsibility of driving out any enemies still left in its own inheritance.
The order of events mattered for the men who did the survey. They mapped out the seven parts first; the lots came after:
Then Joshua would cast lots before the Lord to decide which portion each tribe would receive. So the men were put in a position where they would want to be completely impartial in dividing the land.
The casting of lots marks off this side of the Jordan from the other. The tribes who settled east of the river received their ground without any lot. And the lot itself did not decide everything:
Casting the lot was the mark of how the land was shared out on the west side of the Jordan. The share-out on the east side, as noted elsewhere, was done without it. By the lot God made His mind known clearly, in a way nothing else could match: "its every decision is from the LORD," says the voice of inspiration itself. But the lot seems to have settled only the position of these possessions, not their size. Room was left to redraw the boundary lines as individual tribes grew or shrank, according to their faithfulness or unfaithfulness. If they had been faithful as a whole, their enlarged territory would have made such a revision necessary.
Seven tribes were still sitting idle in a land already given to them. Joshua's survey plan had two aims: to stir the people up, and to remind them who was really dividing the land. It also kept the servants of the sanctuary in a place of their own.
He would stir the people up to feel what they ought to possess. At the same time, in the way best suited to their state, he kept before them that the whole outcome of the lot is from the LORD. The separate place of those who served the sanctuary is carefully kept: a striking testimony among this earthly people.
Shiloh is more than a place name here. The tabernacle — God's dwelling among Israel — stood there. Every move the nation made started from that spot.
Shiloh was not only the true ground of worship — there the LORD dwelt among the people — but also the centre of all operations and conquests.
Another writer draws a lesson from the exact spot where the lots fell:
The possessions of the tribes were allotted in Shiloh before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. This is a picture of the Christian receiving his position from heaven.
The lots fell and the boundaries went into a book. That is where Israel stopped.
Israel's portion was stored up in the book before the Lord, but the seven tribes did not make their inheritance their own... The same slackness of soul is found in God's people who are content to know that their portion is in "the book." Satisfied that it is recorded for them, they are too slow in soul to go and take possession. Israel knew exactly what belonged to them, because the land they had not yet taken was set out in detail... but it is one thing to know our portion, and another to live in it. Even in Israel's best days — the time of Solomon — the land was not fully occupied.
- Given — the land was Israel's before the lot ever fell; the lot only decided which tribe held which part.
- Decided — no man chose his own share. "Its every decision is from the LORD," and even the surveyors stayed impartial.
- Before the LORD — the division happened at Shiloh, at the tabernacle door, where God dwelt. Every operation of the nation started there.
- Open-ended — the lot fixed where each tribe stood, not how much it held. Faithfulness could have widened the borders.
- Possessed? — a portion recorded in the book is not a portion lived in. Seven tribes knew their land and still did not take it.