These are they whom the Lord commanded,.... Not only named and appointed them, but laid his commands upon them, and obliged them:

to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel; even this order was made before the land was conquered by them, so sure and certain was it unto them; and accordingly they did divide it, and that in Shiloh, before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, as in the presence of God, doing it in the most impartial and solemn manner; see Jos 19:51.

Next: Numbers Chapter 35

names of the men . . . which shall divide the land--This appointment by the Lord before the Jordan tended not only to animate the Israelites faith in the certainty of the conquest, but to prevent all subsequent dispute and discontent, which might have been dangerous in presence of the natives. The nominees were ten princes for the nine and a half tribes, one of them being selected from the western section of Manasseh, and all subordinate to the great military and ecclesiastical chiefs, Joshua and Eleazar. The names are mentioned in the exact order in which the tribes obtained possession of the land, and according to brotherly connection.

Next: Numbers Chapter 35