Joshua 18:2

And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes,.... Which were those of Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan: which had not yet received their inheritance; and

And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance. There remained ... seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.

Joshua 18:2 And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.Ver. 2. Seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance.] Nor, as it may seem by the next verse, cared to do, because they saw there would be a necessity of waging a new war. Hence it was seven years, say expositors, ere they set upon this second division of the land, living on the spoils they had taken in the conquest of the country, and giving themselves to ease and pleasure.

(2) And there remained . . . seven tribes, which had not yet received . . . inheritance.—This statement is well worthy of notice, as illustrating the character of the Israelites in a manner which is thoroughly true to nature. The conquest of the Canaanitish armies being completed, the two leading divisions of the host of Israel took possession of their shares of the conquered territory. The house of Judah and the house of Joseph were satisfied. This done, the weaker tribes were left to take care of themselves. They did not venture to select their own portions; the others did not come forward to offer them anything. Thus there remained, for a time, seven tribes which had not received their inheritance.

Ch. Joshua 18:1-10. Erection of the Tabernacle at Shiloh 1. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel] The descendants of Judah and of Joseph had now taken up their respective inheritances, the one in the south, the other in the north of the country. But “the murmuring,” it has been remarked, “of the children of Joseph, and the spirit from which it proceeded, gave sad indications of danger in the near future. National disintegration, tribal jealousies, coupled with boastfulness and unwillingness to execute the work given them of God, were only too surely foreboded in the conduct of the children of Joseph. If such troubles were to be averted, it was high time to seek a revival of religion.” Dr Edersheim’s Israel in Canaan under Joshua and the Judges, p. 94. The camp at Gilgal, therefore, was broken up, and the people removed to Shiloh, which was situated within the territory of Ephraim, Joshua’s own tribe. The whole congregation of the children of Israel. This formula often recurs. Thus in Exodus 16:1 we read, “And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin;” and again, Exodus 16:9, “And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel.” Sometimes it is more brief, “the congregation of Israel,” as in Exodus 12:3, “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel.” Sometimes more briefly still, “the congregation,” as in Leviticus 4:15, “And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the Lord.” The Greek word here used is the same as that used by our Lord, Matthew 16:18, “Upon this rock I will build My Church.” Originally it denoted an assembly of persons called out from among others by the voice of a herald, as, at Athens, for the purpose of legislation. It is applied to the Israelites, as being a nation called out by God from the rest of the world, to bear witness to His unity, to preserve His laws, to keep alive the hope of Redemption, and to exhibit the pattern of a people living in righteousness and true godliness. Hence, St Stephen says of Moses, that he was “in the Church (or congregation) in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina” (Acts 7:38); again, David says in Psalms 22:22, quoted in Hebrews 2:12, “I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church (or congregation) will I sing praise unto Thee;” and again he says in Psalms 26:12, “My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the Lord.” assembled together at Shiloh] Few places in respect to situation are described so accurately as Shiloh.

Two tribes and a half had already received their portions on the east of Jordan; Judah, Ephraim, and the remaining half of Manasseh had also been provided for Josh. 15–17.

2. Seven tribes — There seem to have been two causes for this delay in the allotment to these tribes: (1) The fondness for a roving life which these tribes had acquired, and their indisposition to