It is not entirely clear if Joshua is rebuking the tribes, though this is the most common interpretation.1 Possibly he is simply asking a rhetorical question2 in light of the fact that some time has passed since the allotments of Judah and Joseph.3 In that sense he is trying to encourage the remaining tribes to focus on exploring and then taking their allotment.4
3 So Joshua said to the people of Israel, “How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?