United Commentaries

Josh.13.8-21.45

As he had promised, God brought Israel into the land. Joshua next turned his attention to the allotment of the land to Israel’s tribes.

The tribal allotments gave geographical reality to the Israelites’ covenant with God and expressed the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because God owned the land, the apportionment to the tribes was a gift. God gave them the land to dwell in and directed its distribution.

In these lists of tribal allotments, the author describes some borders in such detail that they can be plotted on a map while others were far less well defined.

Josh.14.1-19.51

The allotment of land to the tribes on the west side of the Jordan describes what God intended for each tribe to possess.

The narrator frames this section with the assignment of land to Caleb at the beginning (14:6-15) and to Joshua at the end (19:49-51). Only Caleb and Joshua had expressed faith in God that Israel could conquer the land (Num 13:30; 14:6-9).

Josh.16.1-17.18

Joseph had two sons,Manasseh and Ephraim (Gen 41:50-52). Half of Manasseh’s descendants had received their inheritance east of the Jordan River. The tribe of Ephraim and the rest of the tribe of Manasseh now received their allotments. This brought the total number of allotments to twelve and fulfilled the blessing Jacob had pronounced upon Joseph (Gen 49:22-26). Like Judah in the south, Joseph’s tribes exercised leadership from their central position in the north.

Josh.17.1

See 13:29-33 and study note.

Josh.17.3-6

In ancient Israel, inheritance usually passed from a father to his sons. Without sons, a man’s name could pass into oblivion. However, Zelophehad’s daughters had petitioned Moses, Moses had inquired of God, and God had ruled that they should inherit their father’s portion (see Num 27:1-11). God’s ruling established a general principle, declaring that no family would be excluded from a portion of God’s material blessings.

Josh.17.7-13

As with the tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh’s territory was defined by a general description of its borders.

Josh.17.7

Asher was north-northwest of Manasseh, across the Jezreel Valley.

Josh.17.8-10

This general description of Manasseh’s southern border with the land given to the tribe of Ephraim provides more detail than the description of Ephraim’s northern border in 16:8.

Josh.17.11-13

All the towns mentioned here except Endor were important, but the military strength of the Canaanites prevented the tribe of Manasseh from inhabiting them for a time.

Josh.17.13

Throughout the period of the judges and beyond, the Israelites gradually grew stronger and the Canaanite people weaker. After the time of Joshua, the Israelites forced the Canaanites to work as slaves. They eventually absorbed these people and were influenced to worship the Canaanite gods. This idolatry ultimately cost them the land.

Josh.17.14

Joseph’s one portion is described in 16:1-4. The descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh received portions that, when combined, were larger than the allotment of any other tribe.

Josh.17.15

The Perizzites lived in Canaan when Israel’s conquest began.

Rephaites: See study note on 12:4; see also Deut 2:10-11, 20-21; 3:11.

Josh.17.16

As a result of the Canaanites’ iron chariots, Ephraim and Manasseh were restricted to the hill country in the early part of the settlement period (see study note on 11:4).

The valley of Jezreel, a geological interruption of the hill country, separated Lower Galilee to the north from the hill country of Manasseh to the south. The Canaanites living in and near it and the valley of Beth-shan restricted Manasseh’s expansion and apparently Ephraim’s as well. Most of the towns named in 17:11 were on the edges of these valleys.

Josh.17.17-18

Rather than rebuke the people for their fear, Joshua repeated his instructions to clear forest land for settlement. His promise that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh would eventually drive out the Canaanites gave them a hope by which they could enlarge their faith and conquer their fear.

Much of the hill country was forested, and Canaanite settlement was sparse there. If Ephraim and Manasseh had contented themselves with land already cleared, they would have had little room for settlement. With the introduction of iron technology at about this time, including iron axe heads, the people of these tribes could clear the virgin forests and open up new land for settlement. Joshua might have set an example by being the first to clear his own homestead at Timnath-serah (19:50), a forested region in the Ephraimite hill country.