(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 34:16–29, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, These are the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. And ye shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance. And the names of the men are these: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli. The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. These are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.”
It was important that the entire process of dividing the Promised Land between the tribes was to be done properly. It did not only have to be done correctly but it had to be seen to be done correctly. Often people are willing to be involved in a process but they complain later when the don’t like the outcome. In this case, a leader was selected from each tribe involved and they formed the division committee. This would mean that the tribes could only complain to their own leaders and not to the overall leadership of the nation. It is important to note that many of the people chosen were princes, that is, they were the leading person in that tribe. These people had already been chosen to be leaders by their own tribe before they were asked to act on behalf of their tribe. The Lord had chosen the best possible way to ensure that there would no complaints after the Land had been divided among the tribes. The two and a half tribes who chose to remain on the other side of the Jordan River were not involved in this process at all.
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