And they shall divide it into seven parts
According to the number of the seven tribes not yet settled; and this they were to describe and divide was all the land subdued, or not subdued, only the following excepted:
Judah shall abide in their coast on the south;
on the south of the land of Canaan, where their lot fell, so that needed not to be measured and described; and this tribe was to retain what they were possessed of, unless it should appear they had too much, and others wanted, and they willing to part with some of it to their brethren, as they afterwards did to the tribes of Simeon and Dan:
and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coast on the north;
on the north of the tribe of Judah; not of the land of Canaan, for some other tribes lay more northerly.