There are still very large areas of land to be taken over. (Joshua 13:1) The previous chapters outlined the three military campaigns led by Joshua in Canaan. This passage makes it clear there was still work to be done.
Notice the division of land. God didn't say, Well, I was going to give you this land, but you didn't conquer it, so now your inheritance will have to be much smaller. No, the division of land went on as planned, even for land that hadn't yet been been conquered. God gave them the land. Next step? Take it.
Most responsible preachers try to stay away from allegorical interpretations of Scripture. So I'm not saying God orchestrated this gradual assimilation of Canaan to Israeli control to show how our spiritual life works, but I also can't overlook the obvious connection. Show me someone who has set their goals in life and achieved every single one according to a pre-planned time table, and I'll show you an anomaly - an outlier. Most of us have starts and stops in our forward progress. Israel's ongoing battles to take the land God had already given them illustrates the point.
Does your reach exceed your grasp? What victories are still ahead of you?
It never occurred to me to think they *wouldn't* get that land, so I had never seen it as strange that they were claiming things that were still unconquered. Good point! Helps this section be something more than a 'boring' list of land divvying.
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