Joshua 17--The Allotment for Ephraim and Manasseh (Part 2)

Joshua 17
English Standard Version
17 Then allotment was made to the people of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war. 2 And allotments were made to the rest of the people of Manasseh by their clans, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These were the male descendants of Manasseh the son of Joseph, by their clans.

3 Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 They approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers.” So according to the mouth of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. 5 Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan, 6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the people of Manasseh.

7 The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, which is east of Shechem. Then the boundary goes along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah. 8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the people of Ephraim. 9 Then the boundary went down to the brook Kanah. These cities, to the south of the brook, among the cities of Manasseh, belong to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh goes on the north side of the brook and ends at the sea, 10 the land to the south being Ephraim's and that to the north being Manasseh's, with the sea forming its boundary. On the north Asher is reached, and on the east Issachar. 11 Also in Issachar and in Asher Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, and Ibleam and its villages, and the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its villages, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; the third is Naphath. 12 Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. 13 Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

14 Then the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am a numerous people, since all along the LORD has blessed me?” 15 And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” 16 The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.” 17 Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only, 18 but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”

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The last passage we studied mostly focused on the allotment of land to Ephraim, whereas today's will focus on the allotment to West Manasseh.  The allotment was made not only by tribe, but by clan, mostly by listing the male heirs that were the heads of each clan, but also allotments were made for the clans which had no male heirs in verses 3-4 (this particular issue was addressed in the book of Numbers starting in chapter 26 and carrying over throughout chapter 27.  God had said that it was not right for a family to lose their eternal inheritance simply because they had no male heirs to keep it in the family.  The text tells us that there were therefore ten allotments made in West Manasseh besides the land of Gilead and Bashan that formed East Manasseh in the Trans-Jordan area.

The boundaries are given here and there some places that you may find familiar if you know Bible history and prophecy (such as the plane of Migeddo where some important battles have been and will be fought).  We see a recurring theme though that the people of Manasseh failed to drive out the Canaanites as they were commanded, but this time they believed they grew strong enough to be able to subjugate them into forced labor (if you are strong enough to force them into slavery, you should be strong enough to drive them out of the Land as the LORD commanded you).  This is all a setup for what we will see in the book of Judges when we will see these remaining people have a negative influence on the peace of Israel and they will corrupt the culture when the leaders like Joshua and Caleb and all those of that generation were gone.  This was "their" war that the next generation didn't seem to want to continue to fight until it threatened their own peace, and when it did, they had no soldiers ready to stand up and fight.

Then we see that Ephraim and Manasseh are kind of spoiled brats among the Israelites (kind of like their father Joseph was) and think they should have gotten more than anyone else (this was already a sizeable inheritance compared to what many would get) when half the tribe of Manasseh already too their inheritance in the east side of the Jordan River.  They tried to argue to Joshua that they were too numerous for all their people to have room in such a SMALL piece of land, and Joshua turned their argument right around against them and said if they were so numerous, then they would have no issue cutting down the trees of the forest in their allotment to make more room for themselves (this is probably the forced labor that they forced the Canaanites in their area to do for them).  Then Joshua repeated the LORD's command to them that they shall drive out the Canaanites from their land and that too would make plenty of room for them.  Of course it felt a little crowded there because they had not been obedient and were trying to coexist with their enemy, which was never God's plan.  The Land would never be big enough for the Canaanites and the Israelites and we see that to this very day in the idea of "Land for Peace" agreements in the Middle East.  Israel cannot and should not give up its eternal inheritance to its enemies in the name of peace because they will then have neither land nor peace.  God was very clear that those that were the enemies of the LORD--the descendants of Canaan specifically, but all the descendants of Ham would never possess the Land he had sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (honestly it's not just about the Canaanites, but everyone else who would covet that Land which had been given to the Jews...and there would be many of them).  The LORD gave Israel lots of other land that was not an eternal inheritance for the Jews, and that land was for all the other God-fearing peoples who decided they wanted to come under the authority of the theocracy of the kingdom of God.  I'll include that map today to mix things up a bit, but take a look at how much land the LORD had given them and they are squabbling about not having enough room because they are unwilling to drive the enemies out of the all this land that the LORD had given to them.  A small piece of this Land was given to them as tribal land by clans which is what we are talking about here in the book of Joshua, but there was plenty of room for the people to spread out if necessary.  Imagine how the world and history might have been different if Israel had been faithful to drive the enemies of the LORD out of all of the covenant Land.  One day, these are the boundaries that will be restored to the LORD's people and no one will say there is not enough room, even though the kingdom will be made of a remnant from every tribe, tongue and ethnicity (sometimes translated "nation," but it's more a cultural word than a geo-political word).