Joshua 7:14

“ In the morning therefore you will be brought near by your tribes, and it shall be that the tribe which YHWH selects shall come near by families, and the family which YHWH shall select shall come near by households, and the household which the Lord shall take shall come near man by man.”

We do not know quite how the method of selection would proceed but in one way or another they would be brought near before YHWH in the Tabernacle (compare Exodus 22:8; 1 Samuel 10:19). This may have been by the use of Urim and Thummim, or some other method of sacred lot (Proverbs 16:33, compare 1 Samuel 14:41), possibly by names written on lots (see also Numbers 17:1). Or Joshua may have received personal illumination. It was clearly a method that required gradual application. Presumably the ‘coming near' was in the person of the leaders, first of the tribes, then of the sub-tribes in that tribe, then of the wider families, then of the family household (the ‘thousands, hundreds and tens?'). Once the family household was reached each member would be required to come near before YHWH until the culprit was discovered.

The whole of Israel would stand round the Tabernacle watching in awe and waiting as the decisions were reached and the priest, or Joshua, moved in and out.