For the Levites have no portion among you; for the priesthood of Yahweh is their inheritance: and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave them.
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).