Chapters 18 and 19 deal with the allocation of land to the remaining seven tribes and Joshua gathered the whole congregation together at Shiloh where he set up a tabernacle of meeting (v1-3). The land was peaceful, but the seven tribes had not possessed their land. Maybe they were too lazy to bother but Joshua was not pleased and berated them, “How long will you neglect you go and possess the land which The LORD God of your fathers has given you.” It is clear that they had been disobedient and neglectful.
Joshua instructed them to send out three men for each tribe and survey the land and return with their report to Joshua (v4-8). Gad, Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh already had their land on the eastern side of the Jordan, Judah and the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and the other half of Manasseh had their allocation on the western side. The Levites of course didn’t have an allocation. Joshua instructed those who went to survey the land, saying, “Go, walk through the land, survey it, and come back to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh.”
The men went and surveyed the land and returned to Shiloh with their report written in a book. Joshua cast lots before the LORD and divided the land to them (v9,10). In chapters18:11 to 19:48 we have the final allocations to the tribes of Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Dan.
According to Judges 1:21 we read that the Benjamites lived alongside the Jebusites, v22-26 the house of Joseph spared one of the enemy and his family, who went and built a city! An apparently ‘little evil’ festers and makes a great sore. Big things have small beginnings.
In v34 The Danites despite the number of their fighting men (one of the largest tribes) would not fight their enemies, nor did they seem to join forces with their brothers, and consequently they did not obtain their allotted portion and their enemies retained land allotted to and promised by God to the Danites if they obeyed. Joshua had told them (1:11) “Go in to possess the land which The LORD your God has given you to possess it.”
The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country not allowing them to come down into the plain, and held out in Mt Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim. It is interesting to note that it was left to King Saul many years later (1 Samuel 14:31) to defeat the Philistines from Micmash and Aijalon. If the Danites had done their job, there would have doubtless been no Philistines in these places. Dan perhaps thought they were being resourceful when they decided to go up north and take possession of Leshem and dwelt there and called it Dan, but there was no need to do it.
The inhabitants of Canaan were steeped in heathen idolatry and Israel was to be a separate people. Thus, the command to Israel, over and over again, was “You shall drive out the inhabitants of Canaan; destroy their images….” Numbers 33:50-56 laid down the instructions for the conquest of Canaan.
We read earlier, “When Israel was strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labour and did not utterly drive them out.” This was all well and good, but it was in disobedience to The LORD’s commands and as a result Israel did not raise the Canaanites to their level, rather, Israel came down to theirs. It is always the same – disobedience leads to decline. Israel trusted in themselves rather than in God. Not only did they decline but they, the Danites, became prisoners in their own allotted land. They were confined (v34). This is what Satan does to us – we become prisoners of our own disobedience and words like, “I can’t conquer this sin or that, I seem to have no victory etc.” become commonplace.
Finally, when they had finished dividing the land, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua. They gave him the city he asked for (v49-51), Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim and he built a city there and lived in it. This shows the character of Joshua and his trust in The LORD that he left himself until last in total humility after everyone else had received theirs.
This was a picture of Jesus Christ our LORD who displayed such humility and an example to us as His followers.
