Joshua 18:8

18:2-10 After a year or more, Joshua blamed their slackness, and told them how to proceed. God, by his grace, has given us a title to a good land, the heavenly Canaan, but we are slack to take possession of it; we enter not into that rest, as we might by faith, and hope, and holy joy. How long shall it be thus with us? How long shall we thus stand in our own light, and forsake our own mercies for lying vanities? Joshua stirs the Israelites up to take possession of their lots. He is ready to do his part, if they will do theirs.

And the men arose, and went away,.... The seven tribes took the advice of Joshua, chose three men out of each tribe, and presented them to him, who gave them their commission and instruction to go and describe the land of Canaan, not yet disposed of, and whether subdued, or not subdued; upon which they prepared for their journey, and took it, after he had given them the following charge: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land; before they departed from him: saying, go and walk through the land; and take particular notice, and an exact survey of it, both of the quality and the quantity of it: and describe it; its cities and towns, hills and dales, the goodness and badness of the soil, and put it down in a book, or lay it out in a map, that it may be discerned by the eye what number of cities, and what space of ground it contains, and what parts are hilly and woody, and what otherwise: and come again to me; to make a report of it: that I may cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh; that is, for the several tribes which they belonged to, and by whom they were chosen for this purpose.

And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to {g} describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh. (g) By writing the names of every country and city.

4-9. Give out from among you three men for each tribe—Though the lot determined the part of the country where each tribe was to be located, it could not determine the extent of territory which might be required; and the dissatisfaction of the children of Joseph with the alleged smallness of their possession gave reason to fear that complaints might arise from other quarters, unless precautions were taken to make a proper distribution of the land. For this purpose a commission was given to twenty-one persons—three chosen from each of the seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance, to make an accurate survey of the country.

[Bible] 18:5. Divide to yourselves the land into seven parts: let Juda be in his bounds on the south side, and the house of Joseph on the north. 18:6. The land in the midst between these mark ye out into seven parts; and you shall come hither to me, that I may cast lots for you before the Lord your God. The land in the midst between these mark ye out into seven parts... That is to say, the rest of the land, which is not already assigned to Juda or Joseph. 18:7. For the Levites have no part among you, but the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. And Gad and Ruben, and the half tribe of Manasses have already received their possessions beyond the Jordan eastward: which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them. 18:8. And when the men were risen up, to go to mark out the land, Josue commanded them saying: Go round the land and mark it out, and return to me: that I may cast lots for you before the Lord in Silo. 18:9. So they went and surveying it divided it into seven parts, writing them down in a book. And they returned to Josue, to the camp in Silo. 18:10. And he cast lots before the Lord in Silo, and divided the land to the children of Israel into seven parts. 18:11. And first came up the lot of the children of Benjamin by their families, to possess the land between the children of Juda, and the children of Joseph. 18:12. And their border northward was from the Jordan: going along by the side of Jericho on the north side, and thence going up westward to the mountains, and reaching to the wilderness of Bethaven, 18:13. And passing along southward by Luza, the same is Bethel, and it goeth down into Ataroth-addar to the mountain, that is on the south of the nether Beth-horon. 18:14. And it bendeth thence going round towards the sea, south of the mountain that looketh towards Beth-horon to the southwest: and the outgoings thereof are into Cariathbaal, which is called also Cariathiarim, a city of the children of Juda This is their coast towards the sea, westward.

Appeals to lots were made under divine authority by the chosen people on the most solemn occasions Leviticus 16:8; Numbers 26:55; Joshua 7:14-18; Joshua 13:6; Joshua 18:8; 1 Samuel 14:41-42; Acts 1:26, and it must have been a truth commonly recognized by the people that though "the lot was cast into the lap, the whole disposing thereof was of the Lord" Proverbs 16:33.

(20) The tribe of Benjamin was taken. —How the “lots” were taken is not said; usually it was by throwing tablets ( Joshua 18:6 ; Joshua 18:8 ), but sometimes by drawing from a vessel or urn, as in Numbers 33:54 . The latter, from the Hebrew word used, was probably the method employed on this occasion.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families. And the territory of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. And their border on the north side was from the Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up to the mountain westward; and ended at the wilderness of Beth-Aven;