Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
began to move off into the territory allotted to them, and to take possession of it. The
exact delineation of the boundaries, however, could not be effected at once, but
required a longer time, and was probably not finally settled till the tribe had taken
possession of its land. In this manner the tribes of Judah, Ephraim, and half Manasseh
had received their inheritance one after another.
And whilst they were engaged in taking possession, Shiloh was chosen, no doubt in
accordance with divine instructions, as the place where the tabernacle was to be
permanently erected; and there the sanctuary was set up, the whole camp, of course,
removing thither at the same time. But when the casting of the lots was about to be
continued for the remainder of the tribes, they showed no great desire for fixed
abodes, as they had become so accustomed to a nomad life, through having been
brought up in the desert, that they were much more disposed to continue it, than to
take possession of a circumscribed inheritance-a task which would require more
courage and exertion, on account of the remaining Canaanites, than a life in tents, in
which they might wander up and down in the land by the side of the Canaanites, and
supply their wants from its productions, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had formerly
done, since the Canaanites who were left were so weakened by the war that the
Israelites had no occasion for a moment's anxiety about them, provided they did not
attempt to expel or to exterminate them.
But Joshua could not rest contented with this, if he would remain faithful to the
charge which he had received from the Lord. He therefore reproved these tribes for
their tardiness, and commanded them to take steps for continuing the casting of lots
for the land. But as the tribe of Joseph had expressed its dissatisfaction with the
smallness of the inheritance allotted to it, and by so doing had manifested its
cowardice, which prevented it from attacking the Canaanites who were still left in the
territory that had fallen to their lot, Joshua may possibly have had his eyes opened in
consequence to the fact that, if the casting of lots was continued in the manner begun,
and with nothing more than an approximative definition of the different portions of
the land, there was a possibility of still greater dissatisfaction arising among the other
tribes, since some of them at any rate would be sure to receive
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