Joshua 18 shows us the whole congregation assembled together at Shiloh, and the tabernacle set up there. Now that five of the tribes had entered on their portions, seven remained to receive their inheritance. What a picture of lack of energy, in spite of the visible tokens of God's presence, to go forward against the Canaanites, according to His word, yea, command The very fact that the land was subdued became a snare. It was not otherwise even with the apostles, not to speak of the church in apostolic days. “O faithless generation I how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?” said the Lord, aggrieved with their unbelief, not their mere weakness or the power of the adversary. He is superior to every need, to every demand; but what can, what must, be the result, if His own people avail themselves not of His presence and love and power?
His servant makes a fresh appeal, and takes measures suitable to the occasion. “And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Jehovah 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 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 Jehovah our God. But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of Jehovah 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 Jehovah gave them.” He would both rouse the people to feel what they ought to possess, and keep up before them in the way best adapted to their state that the whole disposing of the lot is of Jehovah. The separate position of those who served the sanctuary is carefully maintained: a striking testimony in the midst of the earthly people.
Benjamin's lot is next described, borders and land and cities, to the end of the chapter (Josh. 18:11-2811And 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. 12And 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 Beth-aven. 13And the border went over from thence toward Luz, to the side of Luz, which is Beth-el, southward; and the border descended to Ataroth-adar, near the hill that lieth on the south side of the nether Beth-horon. 14And the border was drawn thence, and compassed the corner of the sea southward, from the hill that lieth before Beth-horon southward; and the goings out thereof were at Kirjath-baal, which is Kirjath-jearim, a city of the children of Judah: this was the west quarter. 15And the south quarter was from the end of Kirjath-jearim, and the border went out on the west, and went out to the well of waters of Nephtoah: 16And 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 En-rogel, 17And was drawn from the north, and went forth to En-shemesh, 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, 18And passed along toward the side over against Arabah northward, and went down unto Arabah: 19And the border passed along to the side of Beth-hoglah 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. 20And 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. 21Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and the valley of Keziz, 22And Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Beth-el, 23And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah, 24And Chephar-haammonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities with their villages: 25Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth, 26And Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah, 27And Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah, 28And 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. (Joshua 18:11‑28)).