Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
how many thousand heads there were in each tribe, and then to adjudicate a larger or smaller space
according to the size of the tribe" ( Calvin ). Or, as Clericus observes (Num 26:52), "the lot seems to
have had respect to the situation alone, and not to the extent of territory at all.")
The casting of the lots was probably effected, as the Rabbins assumed, by means of
two urns, one filled with slips having the names of the tribes upon them; the other,
with an equal number, representing separate divisions of the land: so that when one
slip, with a name upon it, was taken out of one urn, another slip, with a division of
the land upon it, was taken from the other. The result of the lot was accepted as the
direct decree of God; "for the lot was not controlled in any way by the opinion, or
decision, or authority of men" ( Calvin ). See the fuller remarks at Num 26:56.
In the account of the casting of the lots, the first fact which strikes us is, that after the
tribes of Judah and Joseph had received their inheritance, an interruption took place,
and the camp was moved from Gilgal to Shiloh, and the tabernacle erected there
(Josh 18:1-9); after which the other tribes manifested so little desire to receive their
inheritance, that Joshua reproved them for their indolence (Josh 18:3), and directed
them to nominate a committee of twenty-one from their own number, whom he sent
out to survey the land and divide it into seven parts; and it was not till after this had
been done that the casting of the lots was proceeded with, and each of these seven
tribes received its inheritance. The reason for this interruption is not given; and the
commentators have differed in their opinions as to the cause (see Keil's former
Comm. on Joshua, pp. 347ff.). The following appears to be the most probable
supposition.
When Joshua received the command from the Lord to divide the land among the
tribes, they made an approximative division of the land into nine or ten parts,
according to the general idea of its extent and principal features, which they had
obtained in connection with the conquest of the country, and then commenced
distributing it without any more minute survey or more accurate measurement,
simply fixing the boundaries of those districts which came out first according to the
size of the tribes upon whom the lots fell. As soon as that was done, these tribes
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