An Expert Breakdown of Joshua 13:1-7: Land Yet to Take

Joshua’s Age and God’s Unfinished Promise

Even in his old age, Joshua still had God-given work to do - claiming and dividing the land that remained unconquered.

Joshua had already led Israel through many battles and into the Promised Land, but this passage shows that not every area was yet under Israelite control. God’s reminder that 'there remains very much land to possess' wasn’t a rebuke, but a call to keep moving forward in faith.

The regions still unclaimed included the coastal areas of the Philistines and inland territories all the way up to Lebanon, home to powerful groups like the Sidonians. Though Joshua was aging, God instructed him to begin dividing this land among the nine and a half tribes who had not yet received their inheritance, setting the stage for the detailed allotments in the chapters ahead.

The Unconquered Land and Israel’s Incomplete Obedience

The list of remaining territories and rulers shows that Israel had not yet fully obeyed God’s command to take the entire land, a failure later acknowledged in Judges 1:18-36.

The Philistines, with their five city-rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, operated as a loose alliance of city-states, each with its own king - a common political structure in the ancient Near East where local power was centered in fortified cities. These coastal cities were strongholds of culture and military strength, and Israel’s failure to drive them out completely would later lead to ongoing conflict and spiritual compromise. The mention of the Sidonians and Gebalites in the north highlights how even powerful mountain tribes remained outside Israel’s control.

God’s instruction to divide the land - even before it was fully conquered - reveals His faithfulness to His promise, trusting that obedience would follow as the tribes stepped into their assigned portions.

This unfinished task reminds us that following God often begins with faith in what He has promised, even when the obstacles still stand. The next chapters will show how the land was divided, setting the stage for the tribes to finish what had been started.

God’s Promise and Our Responsibility

Even though God had already given the land to Israel, they still had to step out in faith to take it - showing that receiving God’s promises often requires active trust.

God told Joshua in Joshua 1:3, 'Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given it to you,' yet here in chapter 13, much of that land remained unconquered. This shows that divine promise and human action go hand in hand - God gives, but we must receive by obedience.

Agreeing with the facts or knowing God is faithful is not enough. We must move forward as if we truly believe Him.

This pattern continues throughout Scripture - later, in 2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul writes, 'For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' God spoke light into darkness, and He calls us to live in the light He has revealed, trusting Him in the unseen. Like Israel, we inherit God’s promises not by sitting still, but by walking forward in faith. The next chapters will show how the tribes stepped into their portions, reminding us that every generation must actively claim what God has provided.

The Promise of Land and the Greater Inheritance in Christ

The remaining land was more than a piece of real estate. It was part of a larger story that began with God’s promise to Abraham and points to Jesus.

Back in Genesis 12:7, God told Abraham, 'To your offspring I will give this land,' and in Genesis 15:18-21, He outlined its full extent, including the territories of the Philistines and Sidonians now mentioned in Joshua. Yet even as Israel entered the land, their possession of it was only a partial fulfillment of that promise.

Centuries later, Stephen reminded the religious leaders in Acts 7:45 that Joshua and the Israelites 'received the land as an inheritance,' but then added, 'Yet they did not inherit it for themselves, but God gave it to them as a possession.' That subtle shift shows the land was never the final goal - it was a down payment on something greater.

The writer of Hebrews picks this up in Hebrews 4:1-11, warning believers not to fall short of entering God’s rest, as Israel failed to fully claim the land. The rest they entered was a shadow. The true and lasting rest - our full inheritance in Christ - is what God has prepared for His people. Like the land in Joshua’s day, salvation and eternal life are gifts we receive by faith, not by conquest. God called Israel to keep moving forward, and He calls us to walk in the fullness of what Christ has already won.

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