Yehoshua 18: Seven Remain

Seven tribes remain without allocation of land. Reuven, Gad, Menashe, Yehuda, and Ephraim all had their land allocated already. Joshua sends cartographers out to map out the remaining part of the land and assign it to the remaining tribe(יהושע י״ח:ד׳:״הָבוּ לָכֶם שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים לַשֵּׁבֶט וְאָקוּמָה וְאֲשַׁלְּחֵם וְיָקוּמוּ וְיִתְהַלְּכוּ בָאָרֶץ וְיִכְתְּבוּ אוֹתָהּ לְפִי נַחֲלָתָם וְיָבֹאוּ אֵלָי״).Then Joshua gathers everyone for a lottery(יהושע י״ח:ו׳:״וְאַתֶּם תִּכְתְּבוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ שִׁבְעָה חֲלָקִים וַהֲבֵאתֶם אֵלַי הֵנָּה וְיָרִיתִי לָכֶם גּוֹרָל פֹּה לִפְנֵי ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ״).Is this the same lottery as the last chapter or is this a different lottery? The conquest seems to have been accomplished in order. First, the outer tribes conquered their land back in Deuteronomy. Next the two larger and more powerful tribes of Yehudah and the sons of Yosef conquered their territory. Now, the Navi focuses on the remaining tribes. Some commentators point to the fact that these other tribes were smaller so they banded together to help each other. They were afraid of conquering their areas and settling because then they would lose their fighting force. But the timeline does not seem to match the details. The outer tribes can be set aside as their territory was granted in Deuteronomy. Why would Joshua send out cartographers only for the smaller tribes? How did Yehudah and Yosef know the borders of their lands? It would make sense that the cartographers were sent to demarcate the whole land and then the land would be split. What would be the point of having a lottery for only two tribes? Also, how would the smaller tribes know what land to conquer without it being assigned?Based on the text, the entire land was conquered: “The land was now under their control” (verse 1)(יהושע י״ח:א׳:״וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ כָּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל שִׁלֹה וַיַּשְׁכִּינוּ שָׁם אֶת־אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וְהָאָרֶץ נִכְבְּשָׁה לִפְנֵיהֶם״).The issue was that the smaller tribes had not yet taken over their part: “but there remained seven tribes of the Israelites which had not yet received their portions.” (verse 2)(יהושע י״ח:ב׳:״וַיִּוָּתְרוּ בִּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל שִׁבְעָה שְׁבָטִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא־חָלְקוּ אֶת־נַחֲלָתָם״).Yehudah and Yosef remain in their areas in the north and south, leaving the rest of the land open: “They shall divide it into seven parts—Judah shall remain by its territory in the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain by its territory in the north” (verse 5)(יהושע י״ח:ה׳:״וְהִתְחַלְּקוּ אוֹתָהּ שִׁבְעָה חֲלָקִים יְהוּדָה יַעֲמֹד עַל־גְּבוּלוֹ מִנֶּגֶב וּבֵית־יוֹסֵף יַעַמְדוּ עַל־גְּבוּלָם מִצָּפוֹן״).If Yosef and Yehudah had received their portion by lottery already, why would Joshua have to confirm that they will remain in their areas? There are two possible answers here. The first is that there were two lotteries. The first demarcated the land for the larger tribes. Yosef and Yehudah were large and they were able to take over their areas easily. The rest of the tribes needed to band together to conquer the rest, which did not allow them to settle in a specific area. So now, there was a lot of open land, but none of the tribes knew were to go Joshua has a second lottery. The second option is that the lottery only happened now. Yehudah and Yosef had an “outer tribes” situation whereby they simply settled in the areas that the nation had conquered together because they were larger. Now, Joshua conducts a lottery demarcating the plots that retroactively confirmed the allotments to Yehudah and Yosef.