I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 18-20.

    Today’s passage gives us an interesting insight into how the allocation of land occurred. Seven tribes have yet to have land allocated to them at this point and Joshua admonished them for their failure to claim their land. Joshua then lays out a plan for them to divide the remaining land among them. We learn from this that, while they got approval from Joshua and through him from God, the tribes of Judah, Ephraim, Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad received the land they did because they went out and conquered it. The other tribes had to settle for dividing what was left because they did not take the initiative to go out and conquer the land they desired. Of course, what I just wrote is an oversimplification, because we are told that the tribe of Simeon was given a portion of the land originally given to the tribe of Judah. What does this mean? I am not completely sure. However, my interpretation is that despite getting a choice portion of land because they took the initiative to conquer it, when the leadership of the Children of Israel reviewed the division of the land they realized that the tribe of Judah had bitten off more than they could chew and slotted some of the land initially claimed by Judah to the tribe of Simeon.