And there remained. Judah and Joseph received their portions first because the royal line and the two Messiahs were destined to arise from them. The remaining tribes had not yet received their portions by lot.

How long will you be negligent in going to possess it? For Hashem had told Joshua above (13:1–6): “You have grown old,” etc.; “I Myself will dispossess them; only divide it as an inheritance.” Thus, Hashem made their dispossession of the remaining peoples dependent upon the land first being apportioned, so that each tribe would know its own portion. By failing to cast lots for the tribal territories, they were therefore negligent in going to possess the land. Abarbanel explains that until then they had been unwilling to divide the land because they feared that afterward each tribe would refuse to help the others dispossess the inhabitants of their respective portions. They preferred that everyone first conquer the entire land together and divide it only afterward. Judah and Joseph alone requested their portions first because their hearts were courageous among the mighty. Therefore, Joshua said, “How long will you be negligent?”

Provide for yourselves. Know that there is a distinction between one who causes a lot to fall and one who shoots or casts it. Shooting or casting describes the act from the perspective of its point of origin: a person casts or shoots an object from his hand, without regard to the place upon which it will land. For the latter perspective, Scripture employs the expression “causes to fall”—that is, he causes the lot to fall upon one of those participating in the lottery. Both expressions are therefore appropriate to any lottery. From the perspective of casting the lot from one’s hand, it may be said that he “cast a lot”; from the perspective that his casting necessarily causes it to fall upon one of the participants, it may be said that he “caused the lot to fall”—that is, he brought about its fall. Thus, Scripture says, “They cast pur, that is, the lot” (Esther 3:7), and “they cast lots” (I Chronicles 26:13; Nehemiah 11:1). This applies to a lot whose outcome occurs by chance. With a providential lot, however—such as Joshua’s lotteries, concerning which “the lot is cast into the lap, but its every judgment is from Hashem”—the person merely casts the lot, while Hashem causes it to fall upon the proper place. Therefore, regarding such lotteries Scripture says, “This is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance” (Numbers 34:2), and “the portions of Manasseh fell” (above, 17:5). It attributes the falling to the lot itself rather than to the person, because the person merely casts it from his hand; he does not truly cause it to fall upon the proper place. Know also that there is a further distinction between one who casts a lot and one who shoots a lot. One who casts does not aim at a particular point; wherever the object falls is where it falls. One who shoots, however, aims at a particular target, like an archer who consistently shoots toward a mark. Accordingly, the language of shooting is inappropriate for ordinary lotteries, since the person cannot aim at the place where the lot will fall, for its fall is accidental and unknown to the one conducting the lottery. Only here (verse 6) does Scripture use the expression, “and I will shoot a lot for you,” because Joshua had in fact received a tradition identifying each tribe’s portion and boundaries, including how and where its lot would fall. Thus, Jacob and Moses, in their blessings, blessed each tribe in accordance with the territory it would inherit: “Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore” (Genesis 49:13); “for they shall draw from the abundance of the seas” (Deuteronomy 33:19); and concerning Joseph, “Blessed by Hashem is his land” (ibid., 13); and similarly with all the tribes. Joshua was therefore truly shooting the lot toward a target, not merely casting it. Although outwardly he appeared to be conducting a lottery without knowing where each lot would fall, in truth he directed it through his Divine inspiration so that it would strike its target—the territory already known to him through tradition. This is the meaning of the verses here. Joshua disclosed this matter to the children of Israel, telling them to appoint three men from each tribe. They would arise, traverse the land, and describe it according to their inheritance. That is, I know that the Divine Spirit will manifest itself through the work of these emissaries, causing them to describe the land in accordance with the inheritance designated by Hashem. Therefore, he said:

And they shall appear to divide it. The reflexive form may denote an apparent or pretended action, as in “There is one who appears to make himself rich” and “one who appears to make himself poor” (Proverbs 13:7). Thus, it will appear outwardly as though they themselves are dividing the land into seven portions, whereas in truth the division will occur of itself in accordance with Hashem’s will. Scripture then explains why it was to be divided into only seven portions: Judah shall remain, etc. Judah’s boundary, which occupied the Negev, and Joseph’s boundary, which occupied the northern part of the southern region, would not change; each would remain within its existing boundary. Only seven tribes therefore remained to receive their territories by lot.

And you. Nevertheless, you must not rely upon the miracle; rather, you must actually record the land, so that it will appear that you are the ones describing it.

And I will cast the lot for you here. I too will direct the lot—for, as I have already explained, shooting means striking a deliberately chosen point. That is, the lot will fall upon the place where it truly ought to fall, in accordance with what had already been made known to me by tradition.

For the Levites have no portion. Scripture explains why the land was divided into only seven portions: Levi had no territorial portion, and three tribes had already inherited east of the Jordan, in addition to Judah and Joseph, who were mentioned in verse 5.

And Joshua commanded those who went. Although Joshua had informed the children of Israel that every detail of the undertaking was ordained by Hashem, and that the entire determination of the lot and inheritance came from Him, he nevertheless instructed the emissaries to proceed like ordinary people—traveling, acting, and dividing the land through their own free choice.

Go, etc., describe it, and return to me. Likewise, he did not tell them that he would direct the lot toward its target, but said, “Here I will cast a lot for you,” because outwardly he would cast it in the ordinary human manner, without knowing or deliberately determining where it would fall. The question that arises here—how they divided the remaining land into seven portions when Simeon’s inheritance was taken from Judah’s territory—will be explained below (chapter 19).

And he cast. The lot indicated the location of each tribe’s territorial boundaries.

And Joshua apportioned it. Afterward, Joshua apportioned the land according to the number of individuals, as I explained above (chapter 14).

On the northern side. Along the boundary of the children of Joseph described above (16:1–3).

From the Jordan. Scripture enumerates the boundary from east to west.

On the north. It follows that Jericho belonged to Benjamin. Scripture, however, says, “to the slope of Jericho,” because the fertile district of Jericho, situated east of the city, was not given to Benjamin at that time, as we will explain below.

And it ascended through the hill country. This was Mount Bethel, which belonged to Benjamin, proceeding westward.

And its extremities were. There the straight boundary line ended, and the line turned inward toward the south, as explained above (16:2) and below (verse 22). Above (7:2), Scripture says, “Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, east of Bethel.” Thus, the Beth-aven near Ai was also east of Bethel. We must therefore say that Mount Bethel lay east of the city of Bethel, while the wilderness of Bethel extended westward from Beth-aven. Consequently, Mount Bethel lay east of the wilderness of Beth-aven, even though the city of Bethel itself lay west of Beth-aven; for otherwise, the verse there implies that Bethel was near Ai and, correspondingly, near Beth-aven.

And it passed from there. The boundary turned inward toward the south.

To the southern slope of Luz. Thus, Luz lay outside the boundary line and belonged to Joseph.

It is Bethel. This was the place that Jacob named Bethel, not the Bethel near Ai, which belonged to Benjamin. When I Chronicles 7:28 states that Bethel belonged to Ephraim, it refers to Bethel-Luz.

Upon the mountain to the south. It follows that Lower Beth-horon belonged to the children of Joseph. Therefore, Scripture says above (16:3), “as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon.”

And the boundary curved around. The boundary encircled the mountain on three of its sides, which is the meaning of ve-ta’ar, “and it curved around.”

And it turned, etc., from the mountain. At the mountain’s lower slopes, the boundary turned southward in the shape of the letter dalet. The line then proceeded from north to south and ended at Kiriath-baal, which belonged to Judah. This also defines Benjamin’s western border from north to south: it extended from Mount Beth-horon at the northwestern corner to Kiriath-jearim at the southwestern corner.

And the southern side. Scripture enumerates the southern boundary from west to east.

From the southern edge of Kiriath-jearim, as stated above (15:9) and explained there (verse 10).

And it went out to the spring. The boundary extended southward and widened there. For in describing Judah’s border, Scripture says that it “went out” from the spring of the waters of Nephtoah toward the cities of Mount Ephron, where it extended northward.

To the edge, etc. The eastern edge.

Southward. It follows that the slope of the Jebusite—that is, Jerusalem—belonged to Benjamin.

And it curved around northward and went out to En-shemesh. The boundary line extending from En-rogel to En-shemesh departed southward from its straight course; therefore, Scripture says, “and it went out.” Upon reaching En-shemesh, it encircled En-shemesh on three sides; therefore, it says, “and it curved around northward.” It then went out southward a second time, as I explained above (15:7).

And it passed. As I explained above in the description of the inheritance of the children of Judah.

This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to its boundaries. In describing the inheritance of each of the tribes in chapter 19, Scripture says, “This is the inheritance of the children of Simeon according to their families,” and it uses the same formulation for Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. Concerning Judah, however, it says (15:12), “This is the boundary of the children of Judah all around,” and later (15:20), “This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah.” In Judah’s case, Scripture initially described only the boundary, not the inheritance itself, because the children of Simeon later received part of Judah’s inheritance. Accordingly, verses 1–12 enumerate only Judah’s border and territorial limits, and therefore Scripture says, “This is the boundary of Judah.” Beginning with verse 20, it enumerates the cities individually and therefore says, “This is the inheritance.” Concerning Benjamin, however, Scripture describes both the border and the inheritance, since no other tribe received territory within it. It therefore says, “This is the inheritance,” referring to the individual cities, and “according to its boundaries,” referring to the territorial limits. With the other tribes, whose borders were not described in complete detail and whose cities alone were enumerated, Scripture simply says, “This is the inheritance.”

Fourteen cities. Yet when counted individually, only twelve are found. The commentators explain that Zela-haeleph represents two cities, as does Gibeath-kiriath. In my opinion, however, Scripture omitted from the detailed list Anathoth and Almon, which are enumerated among Benjamin’s Levitical cities (21:18). It likewise appears that Zela-haeleph was a single city, since Zela is vocalized with a patach, indicating the construct state; the same applies to Gibeath-kiriath.