After a seven-year war, “the land was subdued” (Jos 18:1) so the tabernacle was set up at Shiloh.
Shiloh, in the mountains now claimed by Ephraim, is almost exactly halfway between the northern border at Mount Hermon and the southern border at the Negev. There, we read, “the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together…and set up the tabernacle of meeting there” (Jos 18:1). What a lovely spot it is—a gentle grass-covered bowl surrounded by the Samaritan hills. But at this point, “there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance” (v 2). All of the land east of the Jordan Valley had been already claimed in Moses’ day: Reuben was in the south, on the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea. Gad had a large portion from Reuben’s northern border all the way to just south of the Sea of Galilee, including the Gilead, famed for its aromatic spices. Then half the tribe of Manasseh occupied Bashan, the modern Golan. Judah had received her land, stretching from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, measured north to south by the length of the western shore of the Dead Sea. Ephraim and Manasseh had the central mountains. That left the desert region south of Judah, a narrow belt of land between Judah and Joseph traversing the width of the country, the Jezreel Valley, and all of the region of Galilee. Joshua felt the tribes were dragging their heels: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?” he asked (v 3). So off they went, “three men for each tribe” (v 4), to subdivide what was left into seven equitable parts. Now I wonder: Does our Joshua, the blessed Lord Jesus, need to remind us, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” (Heb 4:11)?