‘ And Joshua said to the children of Israel, “How long are you dallying from going in to possess the land, which YHWH the God of your fathers has given you?” '
Joshua now challenged the remainder of the tribes on the need to advance. Eleazar was ‘the priest' who acted with regard to the casting of lots but Joshua was still the recognised leader and Servant of YHWH. The whole book is consistent in presenting this picture. Notice the words which link specifically with the covenant with Abraham, ‘YHWH, the God of your fathers'. What lay before them was because of the God Who was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, and because of the promises that He had made to them to give their descendants the land. Thus they should not have been hanging around and delaying. They should have been eager for action.
Clearly in fact the first enthusiasm had worn off and as they foresaw the difficulties ahead, which had already become apparent with the efforts of Judah and Joseph to take their inheritances, they were hesitating to go forward. They were prepared to settle back and enjoy what they had, scraping out an existence in the hills and in the Jordan Rift Valley.
To some extent we can sympathise. They had entered the promised land, and all had seemed to be swept before them. They had probably begun to think that now all they had to do was move in easily and take over. And then had come the unexpected opposition. Though ‘defeated', the opponents would not lie down. There were still battles to fight, opponents to defeat, hard work to be done. And they had lost heart. Later these people would be praised as being faithful to YHWH (Judges 2:10). But they were not models of perfection.
It is similar in the Christian life. Often the first enthusiasm begins to wane because of temptation and spiritual battle, because life can suddenly becomes hard, and because the expected blessings are preceded by soul testing. But we too must heed the words of Joshua and arise and possess the land.