The tabernacle moves from Gilgal to Shiloh and settles near the centre of the land — God’s house gets a permanent address. But seven tribes still have no territory, not because none is left, but because they have not gone to take it. Joshua’s question is pointed: how long are ye slack? The land is surveyed, divided by lot, and last of all Joshua asks for his own share — a single town.
A study in Joshua 18-19 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 7 min read
They Set Up The Tabernacle At Shiloh
“And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.”
Joshua 18:1
For years the base of operations was Gilgal, on the edge of the country. Now the tent of meeting is carried inland to Shiloh, near the centre, where every tribe can reach it. The land “subdued,” the first concern is where the worship of God will live. Shiloh would house the ark for some three centuries — until Israel treated it as a lucky charm and lost it (1 Samuel 4), and God later held up its ruins as a warning to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 7:12).
How Long Are Ye Slack To Go To Possess The Land?
“And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?”
Joshua 18:3
Seven tribes are sitting in camp with no inheritance — and it is not for lack of land. The gift has been made; they simply have not stirred to go and live in it. Joshua names the sin exactly: not rebellion, but slackness. It is possible to have a promise from God in hand and never possess a foot of it, out of sheer inertia. The land had to be walked (Joshua 1:3); it still does.
They Described It By Cities In A Book
“And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to the host at Shiloh. And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD.”
Joshua 18:9-10
The remedy for the paralysis is method: three men per tribe walk the ground, write it up, split it into seven fair parts, and the lot — cast “before the LORD” — assigns them. No tribe can complain of favouritism, because the survey was even and the outcome was God’s. Faith does not cancel careful work; here it commissions a mapping expedition.
The City Which He Asked
“According to the word of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnath-serah in mount Ephraim: and he built the city, and dwelt therein.”
Joshua 19:50
Only after every tribe has its portion does Joshua take his — and he asks for one town, which he then has to build himself. The commander-in-chief serves himself last and smallest. Set it beside the tribe of Joseph demanding a double share of land already cleared, and the contrast is the whole point: the man God used to give Israel the country claimed the least of it.
“The name given to the city was Timnath-serah, ‘the portion that remains’—a standing testimony to the noble character and unselfish spirit of the conqueror, who, instead of being the first to appropriate the spoils of conquest, deferred his claim until the humblest of his people had been served.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 515
