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Joshua 18

Joshua book home•Chapter 18 of 24•28 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Joshua 18 Overview

Israel assembles at Shiloh and sets up the tabernacle there. Seven tribes still have not received their inheritance, so Joshua rebukes their delay and sends three men from each tribe to survey the remaining land in seven portions. The survey is written in a book, lots are cast before the LORD, and Benjamin receives its territory between Judah and Joseph.

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Before you read Joshua 18

Coming from

Chapter 17 completed Manasseh’s allotment and challenged Joseph’s tribes to possess difficult territory rather than complain about limited space.

In this chapter

The national center shifts to Shiloh, and Joshua organizes the unfinished distribution so the remaining tribes stop delaying possession of their inheritance.

Leads into

Chapter 19 assigns land to the remaining six tribes and finally gives Joshua his own inheritance after the tribal distributions are complete.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Shiloh becomes Israel’s major sanctuary location for a long period before Jerusalem. The phrase 'How long are ye slack?' shows that delay itself has become a problem: land has been subdued broadly enough for organized survey and allocation, but tribes must still receive and occupy their portions. Casting lots 'before the LORD' frames the distribution as covenant assignment rather than political bargaining alone.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Sacred worship and land administration meet at Shiloh; the tabernacle remains central to national life.

Truth 2

Delay can become disobedience when God has already opened the way for a commanded responsibility.

Truth 3

The land is surveyed carefully rather than divided arbitrarily.

Truth 4

Benjamin’s position between Judah and Joseph has lasting historical significance for Israel’s geography.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

1 Samuel 1–4 later presents Shiloh as the location of the tabernacle in the days of Eli and Samuel.

Connection 2

Judges 18:31 also refers to the house of God at Shiloh during the period before the monarchy.

Connection 3

Joshua 19 completes the distribution process begun here.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not read the lot as mere chance; the chapter explicitly places the casting before the LORD.

Keep this clear 2

The rebuke for slackness should not be turned into a generic motivational slogan without its land-inheritance context.

Keep this clear 3

Shiloh’s later importance does not mean God promised it would remain the permanent sanctuary forever.

Read Joshua 18 watching for…

The setting up of the tabernacle at Shiloh.

Joshua’s question to the seven tribes about delay.

The number and task of the survey teams.

The written survey brought back to Joshua.

Benjamin’s placement between Judah and Joseph.

Chapter outline3 sections

1The tabernacle is set up at Shiloh 2-10Seven remaining tribes survey the land and lots are cast 11-28The borders and cities of Benjamin are listed

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.

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

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?

Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again to me.

And they shall divide it into seven parts: Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north.

Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.

But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them.

And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh.

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: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.

And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.

And their border on the north side was from Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north side, and went up through the mountains westward; and the goings out thereof were at the wilderness of Bethaven.

And the border went over from thence toward Luz, to the side of Luz, which is Bethel, southward; and the border descended to Atarothadar, near the hill that lieth on the south side of the nether Bethhoron.

And the border was drawn thence, and compassed the corner of the sea southward, from the hill that lieth before Bethhoron southward; and the goings out thereof were at Kirjathbaal, which is Kirjathjearim, a city of the children of Judah: this was the west quarter.

And the south quarter was from the end of Kirjathjearim, and the border went out on the west, and went out to the well of waters of Nephtoah:

And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to Enrogel,

And was drawn from the north, and went forth to Enshemesh, and went forth toward Geliloth, which is over against the going up of Adummim, and descended to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben,

And passed along toward the side over against Arabah northward, and went down unto Arabah:

And the border passed along to the side of Bethhoglah northward: and the outgoings of the border were at the north bay of the salt sea at the south end of Jordan: this was the south coast.

And Jordan was the border of it on the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the coasts thereof round about, according to their families.

Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Bethhoglah, and the valley of Keziz,

And Betharabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel,

And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,

And Chepharhaammonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities with their villages:

Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth,

And Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah,

And Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah,

And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kirjath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.

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Joshua 18:13

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