Rest of the Land Divided
18 Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them.
2 There remained among the sons of Israel seven tribes who had not divided their inheritance. 3 So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you? 4 Provide for yourselves three men from [a]each tribe that I may send them, and that they may arise and walk through the land and write a description of it according to their inheritance; then they shall [b]return to me. 5 They shall divide it into seven portions; Judah shall stay in its territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall stay in their territory on the north. 6 You shall describe the land in seven divisions, and bring the description here to me. I will cast lots for you here before the Lord our God. 7 For the Levites have no portion among you, because the priesthood of the Lord is [c]their inheritance. Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh also have received their inheritance eastward beyond the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.”
8 Then the men arose and went, and Joshua commanded those who went to describe the land, saying, “Go and walk through the land and describe it, and return to me; then I will cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.” 9 So the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities in seven divisions in a book; and they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh. 10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions.
It’s hard to say if this chronologically follows the last chapter, but if it does, there is an interesting contrast. We had accused the sons of Manasseh of being somewhat lazy, but here we have seven tribes that hadn’t even scoped out the rest of the land yet.
But I think part of the problem is that they didn’t have a plan. There is a verse that says “for lack of vision, the people perish.” In other words, you can’t thrive without a plan.
I’m good at flying by the seat of my pants, but in business, life, and even faith, I need to have a plan. I need to have something I’m aiming for, goals, and ways to accomplish those goals.
Joshua realized this, and devised a plan for dividing the remainder of the land, and that got the ball rolling. Are you living life with a purpose, or wandering aimlessly. Start setting some goals, start small, and work your way up, and you never know what you might accomplish. But sit back and relax and you’ll find yourself going backwards.