Allotment of the Remaining Land

 

Joshua 18: 1-10

 

Allotment of the Remaining Land

Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.

There remained among the people of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned.  So, Joshua said to the people of Israel, “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?   Provide three men from each tribe, and I will send them out that they may set out and go up and down the land. They shall write a description of it with a view to their inheritances and then come to me.   They shall divide it into seven portions. Judah shall continue in his territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall continue in their territory on the north.   And 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.   The Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their heritage. And Gad and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.”

 So, the men arose and went, and Joshua charged those who went to write the description of the land, saying, “Go up and down in the land and write a description and return to me. And I will cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.”   So the men went and passed up and down in the land and wrote in a book a description of it by towns in seven divisions. Then they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh, and Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord. And there Joshua apportioned the land to the people of Israel, to each his portion.

 

Why did the people wait to claim what God had promised them, are you like that and I often ask am I?  Has God made promises that you and I have not acted on, and the answer is yes, but the question is why?   Is it unbelief, or maybe ignorance, why were they not acting on the promises of God, and if you come up with the answer, could that be also why you are not moving on the promises of God’s written word?

 

Joshua sent out three men from each tribe that was still waiting to take action on the promises of God, and they came back with a detailed report for Joshua, and he cast lots to see who got what.  It had taken Joshua over 40 years of being Moses grunt to prepare him to lead this group of people to the promised land, not a job most of us would have wanted, for they were not easily led.  My hope is that as a follower of Christ, we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and do not make the lives of those the Lord has put over us to be a challenge.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice