Division of the Land at Shiloh

The event

With major military resistance broken, Israel set up the tabernacle at Shiloh, in the hill country of Ephraim, establishing the nation's central place of worship for the generations to come. From there, the land still to be settled was surveyed and divided among the remaining tribes by casting lots — a method that removed the process from human favoritism or tribal politicking and placed it directly in God's hands.

Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh had already received their inheritance east of the Jordan under Moses, territory suited to their large flocks and herds. The seven tribes still without land sent men to survey the country west of the Jordan, and their findings were recorded and divided by lot before the LORD at Shiloh, with Joshua presiding over the process.

Each family's plot of ground was more than real estate — it was the tangible fulfillment of the promise God had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries earlier (Genesis 15:18-21), and it anchored Israel's future worship, agriculture, and tribal identity to specific, named places that show up again and again through the rest of the Old Testament.

Scripture references

• Joshua 18:1-10