Appoint for you three men of each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall arise, and walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance; and they shall come to me.
Perhaps the break in the allotment proceedings plus continuing Canaanite intimidation influenced the leaders of the remaining tribes to delay distributing the rest of the land. Joshua had to scold them for procrastinating (Joshua 18:3). He then appointed a special group of men, three from each of the seven remaining tribes, to act as a surveying crew. These men studied the land and divided it into seven parts. This may be the earliest instance of land surveying on record. [Note: See Bush, p. 174.] This may have been the same method they used to determine the earlier allotments, though the writer did not state this in the text. The casting of lots proceeded when this work was complete (Joshua 18:10). This evidently took place at the tabernacle (i.e., before the LORD, Joshua 18:6).