Joshua 18 · a question people ask
Why were seven tribes still waiting? Does the Bible say?
Not in this chapter. It says the land "was subdued before them" (18:1), that the seven had "not yet divided their inheritance" (18:2), and that Joshua asked, "How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land" (18:3). It doesn't give their reason, and it doesn't say how long they had waited. The book does show that taking the land was not finished: the LORD had told Joshua, "there remains yet very much land to be possessed" (13:1); of Jerusalem, "the children of Judah couldn’t drive them out" (15:63); and the house of Joseph told Joshua, "All the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron" (17:16). None of those verses gives the seven tribes' reason. What the chapter does record is what Joshua did next: he sent men to walk the land and write it down (18:4), and cast lots before the LORD (18:10).
The verses
“The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land was subdued before them. Seven tribes remained among the children of Israel, which had not yet divided their inheritance. Joshua said to the children of Israel, “How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land, which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you? Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe. I will send them, and they shall arise, walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance; then they shall come to me.”
“Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD. There Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.”
“Now Joshua was old and well advanced in years. The LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed.”
“As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah couldn’t drive them out; but the Jebusites live with the children of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.”