Joshua 18:1-19:51

Joshua continues to distribute the land to the remaining seven tribes that still had not been given their lands. The first five tribes that have been discussed were assigned to specific locations that God assigned through both Moses and Joshua.  These designations provided a framework around which the remainder of the nations would be given their lands.  Levi was not given a land so the land was divided into twelve portions since the land of Joseph was divided into two between his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh.  We continue to see God’s challenge for the people to move forward and His order in the distribution of the Promised Land.

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND: For the seven remaining tribes, Joshua told each tribe to choose three representatives to come forward.  These twenty-one leaders were then given the task of coming up with a description of the rest of the land and then a division of that land in seven logical portions.  The lands of five had already been settled, so the other seven portions were to be decided in accordance with these previous divisions.  There was no way for the men not know who was going to be given what so they could not be partial to their own wants or desires.  This would assure that they would all strive to make the division as even as possible allowing for adequate size as well as resources in each division.

THE DIVISION OF THE LAND: Once the committee in charge of describing the remaining land in seven portions had done their work, Joshua divided the land by casting lots.  Any discussion about how to make the division fair had to occur before this division.  Each tribe was then given the appropriate land according to the division that was decided by the casting of these lots.  I find it interesting that such an important decision was left up to the “chance” of casting the lots for these seven tribes while the other five seemed to have a predetermined designation.  Perhaps this demonstrates that there are different ways for us to make decisions but the reality is that God is in control of both.  The difference lies in how the will of God is revealed.  Perhaps this demonstrates that we should not be dogmatic in the way that we make decisions.