Gilgal, and pitched about Shiloh, for every Israelite will desire to fix there where God's tabernacle fixes. Mention is made, on this occasion, of the land's being subdued before them, to intimate, that the countiy, hereabouts at least, being thoroughly reduced, they met with no opposition, nor were they apprehensive of any danger, but thought it time to make this grateful acknowledgment of God's goodness to them in the constant series of successes with which he had blessed them. It was a good presage of a comfortable settlement to themselves in Canaan, when their first care was to see the ark well settled, as soon as they had a safe place ready to settle it in. Here the ark continued about three hundred years, till the sins of Eli's house forfeited the ark, lost it, and ruined Shiloh, and its ruins were long after made use of as warnings to Jerusalem; Go, see what I did to Shiloh, Jer. 7. 12. Ps. 78. 60.
2. And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. 3. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you? 4. Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise and go through the land, and describe it, according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again to me. 5. And they shall divide it into seven parts: Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north. 6. Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God. 7. But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them. 8. 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, that I may here cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh. 9. And the men went, and passed through the land, and described it by cities, into seven parts, in a book, and came again to Joshua to the host at Shiloh. 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.
Here,
I. Joshua reproves those tribes which were yet unsettled, that they did not bestir themselves to gain a settlement in the land which God had given them. Seven tribes were yet unprovided for: though sure of an inheritance, yet uncertain where it should be, and, it seems, in no great care about it, v. 2. and with them Joshua reasons, v. 3, How long are ye slack? 1. They were too well pleased with their present condition, liked well enough to live in a body together, the more the merrier, and, like the Babel-builders, had no mind to be scattered abroad, and break good company. The spoil of the cities they had taken, served them to live plentifully upon for the present, and they banished the thoughts of time to come. Perhaps, the tribes of Judah and Joseph, who had already received their inheritance in the countries next adjoining, were generous in entertaining their brethren, who were yet unprovided for, so that they went from one good house to another among their friends, with which, instead of grudging that they were postponed, they were so well pleased, that they cared not of going to houses of their own. 2. They were slothful and dilatory; it may be, they wished the thing done, but had not spirit to stir in it, or move toward the doing of it, though it was so much for their own advantage; like the sluggard, that hides his hand in his bosom, and it grieves him to bring it to his mouth again. The countries that remained to be divided, lay at a distance, and some parts of them in the hands of the Canaanites. If they go to take possession of them, the cities must be rebuilt or repaired, they must drive their flocks and herds a great way, and carry their wives and children to strange places, and this will not be done without care and pains, and breaking through some hardships; thus, He that observes the wind, shall not sow; and he that regards the clouds, shall not reap, Eccl. 11. 4. Note, Many are diverted from real duties, and debarred from real comforts, by seeming difficulties. God by his grace has given us a title to a good land, the heavenly Canaan, but we are slack to take possession, we enter not into that rest, as we might, by faith, and hope, and holy joy; we live not in heaven, as we might, by setting our affections on things above, and having our conversation there. 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 was sensible of the inconveniences of this delay, that while they neglected to take possession of the land that was conquered, the Canaanites were recovering strength and spirit, and fortifying themselves in the places that were yet in their hands, which would make the total expulsion of them the more difficult. They would lose their advantages by not following their blow; and therefore as an eagle stirreth up her nest, so Joshua stirs them up to take possession of their lot. He is ready to do his part, if they will but do their's.
II. He puts them in a way to settle themselves. 1. The land that remained must be surveyed, an account taken of the cities, and the territories belonging to them, v. 4. These must be divided into seven equal parts, as near as they could guess at their true value, which they must have an eye to, and not only to the number of the cities, and extent of the country. Judah is fixed on the south, and Joseph on the north, of Shiloh, to protect the tabernacle, v. 5. and therefore they need not describe their country, but those countries only that were yet undisposed of. He gives a reason, v. 7. why they must divide it into seven parts only, because the Levites were to have no temporal estate, (as we say,) but their benefices only, which were entailed upon their families. The priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance, and a very honourable, comfortable, plentiful inheritance it was. Gad and Reuben, with half of the tribe of Manasseh, were already fixed, and needed not to have any further care taken of them. Now, (1.) The surveyors were three men out of each of the seven tribes that were to be provided for, v. 4. one-and-twenty in all, who, perhaps, for greater expedition, because they had already lost time, divided themselves into three
