The Sin of Settling Short Text: Joshua 18:1-10
Introduction: The Danger of Almost
We have come to a curious and dangerous pause in the book of Joshua. The initial, high-stakes battles are over. The land, we are told, was "subdued" before them. The great kings have been defeated, the major military obstacles have been cleared, and the backbone of the Canaanite resistance is broken. And what happens next? Seven of the twelve tribes just... stop. They have a beachhead in the Promised Land, but they have not possessed their full inheritance. They have settled down in the camp at Shiloh, around the tent of meeting, and have become comfortable with the status quo. They have confused "subdued" with "fully possessed."
This is a perennial temptation for the people of God. It is the danger of the good becoming the enemy of the best. It is the temptation to settle for a B+ when God has called you to an A. It is the sin of spiritual apathy, of a holy procrastination that masquerades as contentment. The modern American church is filled to the rafters with Christians from these seven tribes. We have been saved, we have our ticket to Heaven, we have set up the tent of meeting in our comfortable suburbs, and we have largely stopped advancing. The land around us, the culture, lies unsubdued, and we have grown accustomed to living in the camp instead of possessing the inheritance.
The world sees this and calls it hypocrisy. They are not wrong. We sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers" while sitting comfortably in our padded pews, with no intention of marching anywhere. But God sees it and calls it something far more serious: unbelief. It is a failure to take God at His word. God had given them the land, all of it. Their failure to possess it was not a failure of God's promise, but a failure of their faith. Joshua's rebuke to these seven tribes is therefore God's rebuke to us. "How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you?" This is not a gentle suggestion. This is a covenantal lawsuit. It is a divine jolt to a slumbering people.
This passage, then, is about the relationship between worship and warfare, between divine sovereignty and human responsibility, and between God's gracious gift and our faithful reception of it. It is a summons to shake off our lethargy and to take up the hard, glorious work of possessing what God has already given us.
The Text
Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them. And there remained among the sons of Israel seven tribes who had not divided their inheritance. So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you? Provide for yourselves three men from each tribe that I may send them, and that they may arise and walk through the land and write a description of it according to their inheritance; then they shall return to me. And they shall divide it into seven portions; Judah shall stay in its territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall stay in their territory on the north. So you shall write a description of the land in seven divisions and bring the description here to me. I will cast lots for you here before Yahweh our God. For the Levites have no portion among you because the priesthood of Yahweh is their inheritance. Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh also have received their inheritance eastward beyond the Jordan, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave them.” Then the men arose and went, and Joshua commanded those who went to write the description of the land, saying, “Go and walk through the land and write a description of it, and return to me; then I will cast lots for you here before Yahweh in Shiloh.” So the men went and passed through the land and wrote a description of it by cities in seven divisions in a book; and they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh. And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Yahweh, and there Joshua divided the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions.
(Joshua 18:1-10 LSB)
Worship Centralized, Dominion Stalled (v. 1-2)
The scene opens with a profound juxtaposition. On the one hand, there is a great act of faithfulness. On the other, a great failure of nerve.
"Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them. And there remained among the sons of Israel seven tribes who had not divided their inheritance." (Joshua 18:1-2)
First, the positive. The entire congregation gathers at Shiloh to set up the tabernacle. This is a monumental event. The wandering tent of meeting now has a semi-permanent home. This act centralizes the worship of Israel, fulfilling the command in Deuteronomy to worship God at the place He would choose. All dominion-taking, all cultural engagement, all inheritance-possessing must flow from and be oriented toward the central reality of corporate worship. Before they can properly map the land, they must first properly orient themselves to God. Worship is the engine of faithful obedience. When worship is corrupted or neglected, the mission will inevitably stall out.
And this is precisely what we see. The land was "subdued," which means the major military threats were neutralized. But right on the heels of this great victory and this central act of worship, we find a great lethargy. Seven tribes, more than half, had not yet received their inheritance. They were content to live in the camp, near the tabernacle, but not in their own allotted land. They were enjoying the benefits of the initial conquest without taking on the responsibility of completing it. It is possible to be orthodox in your worship, to have the tent of meeting set up in the right place, and still be disobedient in your mission. It is possible to love the idea of your inheritance more than the actual, dusty, difficult work of possessing it.
The Prophetic Rebuke (v. 3)
Joshua, the leader, does not coddle this spiritual laziness. He confronts it head-on.
"So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, 'How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you?'" (Joshua 18:3)
Notice the force of the question: "How long?" This implies their delay has been unreasonable. This is not a prudent waiting; it is a culpable procrastination. The word for "put off" here carries the sense of being slack, remiss, or idle. They were being lazy. And their laziness was an insult to the Giver of the gift. Joshua points them back to the source: this is the land "which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you."
This is a crucial theological point. God had already given it to them. The deed was signed in the covenant with Abraham. The victory was secured by God's power in the conquest. Their task was not to win the land, but to possess what was already won. This is the constant tension in the Christian life. We are to "work out" our salvation, because God has already "worked in" us (Philippians 2:12-13). Our inheritance in Christ is secure, but we are commanded to actively, diligently, and sometimes painfully, take possession of it. We are to put to death the remaining pockets of sin, to take every thought captive, to disciple the nations. Spiritual passivity is not a sign of trusting in God's sovereignty; it is a sign of doubting His promise.
A Practical Plan for Possession (v. 4-7)
Joshua does not just rebuke; he provides a concrete, practical plan of action. True leadership calls out sin and then points the way to obedience.
"Provide for yourselves three men from each tribe... arise and walk through the land and write a description of it... And they shall divide it into seven portions... So you shall write a description of the land in seven divisions and bring the description here to me. I will cast lots for you here before Yahweh our God." (Joshua 18:4-6)
Here we see the beautiful interplay of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. The final allocation will be determined by God through the casting of lots. The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord (Proverbs 16:33). The ultimate distribution is not a matter of human politics or clever gerrymandering; it is from the hand of God. This is a profound comfort. God is in control of the details of our inheritance.
But God's sovereignty does not negate human action; it energizes it. Before the lots are cast, the men must get up and do the hard work. They must "arise and walk through the land." They must survey it, map it, describe it, and divide it. This requires diligence, courage, and expertise. Faith is not a blind leap in the dark; it is stepping out on God's promise and then getting out the surveying equipment. We are to pray as if it all depends on God and work as if it all depends on us. This is the Puritan work ethic in its biblical context. We are to study the Scriptures diligently, and pray for the Spirit to grant illumination. We are to evangelize our neighbors faithfully, and trust God for the results. We are to build Christian institutions with all our might, knowing that unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain.
Verse 7 provides a crucial parenthetical. The Levites get no land inheritance because "the priesthood of Yahweh is their inheritance." Their portion is the Lord Himself. This is not a consolation prize; it is the ultimate prize. It is a pointer to the New Covenant reality where every believer is a priest (1 Peter 2:9), and our ultimate inheritance is not a plot of land, but God Himself. To have God is to have everything.
Obedience in Motion (v. 8-10)
The rebuke and the plan have their desired effect. The men get moving.
"Then the men arose and went... So the men went and passed through the land and wrote a description of it... and they came to Joshua... And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Yahweh, and there Joshua divided the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions." (Joshua 18:8-10)
The repetition of "arose and went" and "went and passed" is significant. The spell of apathy is broken. Obedience is faith in shoe leather. They did exactly what Joshua commanded. They walked the land, they wrote the book, and they returned. Their work provided the raw data, the human effort, upon which the divine decision would be made.
And the whole process culminates where it began: at Shiloh, "before Yahweh." The casting of the lots is a solemn act of worship. It is a corporate submission to the sovereign will of God. They bring their maps, their surveys, their human effort, and they lay it all before the Lord, trusting Him to make the final assignment. This is the pattern for all Christian endeavor. We plan, we work, we build, we write, we strive with all our might, and then we commit the outcome to the Lord, acknowledging that He is the one who gives the increase.
Conclusion: Possess Your Possessions
The lesson of Shiloh is a sharp and necessary one for the modern church. God has given us an inheritance in Christ that is vast and glorious. He has given us "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). He has given us the Great Commission, a mandate to disciple the nations, to teach them all that He has commanded. The land is, in principle, subdued. Christ has defeated our great enemies: sin, death, and the devil. The victory is won.
And yet, how much of our inheritance lies unclaimed? How many areas of our personal lives, our families, our communities, and our culture remain un-possessed for Christ? Like the seven tribes, we have become comfortable in the camp. We have mistaken the initial victory for the final one. We have become spiritually sluggish, content with a defensive crouch when we have been called to a victorious advance.
The word from Joshua is the word for us today: "How long will you put off entering to take possession?" This is a call to shake off our sloth. It is a call to get up, and walk through the land. It means we must diligently study God's Word to map out the territory of His will. It means we must courageously walk into the un-possessed areas of our culture, our arts, our sciences, our politics, and describe them for what they are in a book, bringing them under the authority of Christ. It means we must do the hard work of building, planting, and catechizing.
And all of this must be done "before Yahweh." Our work must begin, continue, and end in worship. We must bring our efforts, our plans, our five-year-goals, and cast them as lots before the Lord, trusting His sovereign providence to assign the portions. Let us not be the generation that settled for Shiloh. Let us be the generation that heard the rebuke, arose, and went out to possess the land. For the land is ours. God Himself has given it.