Deeper Commentary
Jos 17:1 This was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the
firstborn of Joseph. As for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father
of Gilead, because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and
Bashan-
The giving of land by "lot" was clearly overruled. Because it is here
noted that Gilead and Bashan, wild territory inhabited by wild people, was
given to a warlike man to inherit. The nature of our calling to service in
this life, and the nature of our eternal inheritance in the Kingdom, is
personally tailored to suit our unique personality. We shall be given a
name written which nobody knows apart from our Lord and ourselves (Rev.
2:17).
Jos 17:2 So this was for the rest of the children of Manasseh according to
their families: for the children of Abiezer, for the children of Helek,
for the children of Asriel, for the children of Shechem, for the children
of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these were the male children
of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families-
The children of Manasseh through Machir inherited east of Jordan
(:1), and the rest of his clans listed here inherited west of Jordan.
Jos 17:3 But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of
Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters: and these are the
names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah-
The fact God allows His children to live His truth on different levels
needs to be grasped firmly by us, lest we become discouraged that others
live on an apparently lower level than we do in some aspects of life. Being
surrounded by ‘lower levels’ ought to inspire us to the higher levels.
Zelophehad had only daughters; usually, in his context, a man would have
taken concubines in order to produce sons. The record of his only having
daughters is presented in the context of genealogies which show that many
Israelite men had more than one wife (1 Chron. 7:15). But Zelophehad wasn’t
dragged down by this; God inspired him to maintain the higher level which he
had chosen to live by. He didn't use the principle of Jephthah's vow.
Jos 17:4 They came near before Eleazar the priest and before Joshua the
son of Nun and before the princes, saying, Yahweh commanded Moses to give
us an inheritance among our brothers-
Examples of spiritual ambition are inspirational; just as soldiers
inspire each other by their acts of bravery. Achsah followed her father
Caleb’s spiritual ambition in specifically asking for an inheritance in
the Kingdom (Josh. 14:12; 15:18); and this in turn inspired the daughters
of Zelophehad
to ask for an inheritance soon afterwards (Josh. 17:4). And so it ought to
be in any healthy congregation of believers. Ponder the parallel between
Is. 51:1 and 7: “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye
that seek the Lord… hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness”. To know
God’s righteousness is to seek / follow it; of itself, it inspires us to
ambitiously seeking to attain it.
Jos 17:5 Ten parts fell to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and
Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan-
These ten parts may refer to specific inheritances defined for each
family within the tribes. They are the reference of the frequent comment
that the tribes received an inheritance "according to their families". The law of Moses reasons as if each family of Israel had a specific
inheritance which was not to be sold or moved outside the family. Hence
the sin of Ahab in obtaining Naboth's vineyard. It would seem that there
was some unrecorded list made of each family and which land they were to
be given. This looks forward to our very personal and unique inheritance
in God's Kingdom, possibly based around spiritual family units.
Jos 17:6 because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his
sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh-
Manasseh's inheritance was split into ten parts (:5); five for the
five sons of Gilead (Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem and Shemida); and
five for the five daughters of Zelophehad.
Jos 17:7 The border of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethath, which is
before Shechem. The border went along to the right hand, to the
inhabitants of En Tappuah-
Asher doesn't refer to the tribe of Asher but to a town east of
Shechem.
Jos 17:8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh; but Tappuah on the
border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim-
The latter "Tappuah" must refer to the town of that name.
Jos 17:9 The border went down to the brook of Kanah, southward of the
brook. These cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh. The
border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook, and ended at the
sea-
This is another example of where the inheritances were recalculated.
This could have been for many reasons. The lack of living room perceived
by some of the tribes was unnecessary- had they driven out the Canaanites
and cleared the land. But God makes concessions to human weakness, and
allowed them to inherit in other areas. He is similarly flexible with His
people today.
Jos 17:10 Southward it was Ephraim’s, and northward it was Manasseh’s, and
the sea was his border. They reached to Asher on the north, and to
Issachar on the east-
"The sea" is the Mediterranean.
Jos 17:11 Within the territories of Issachar and Asher, Manasseh possessed
Beth Shan and Ibleam, along with their surrounding towns, as well as Dor
(the one on the coast), Endor, Taanach, Megiddo, and their surrounding
towns-
Dor was in Asher (Josh. 11:1,2; 12:23; 17:11; Jud. 1:27,28). Taanach
was within either Issachar or Asher (Josh. 17:11,12,25; Jud. 5:19). But
these towns were also given to Ephraim (1 Chron. 7:29). As each Israelite
was promised some personal inheritance in the land, rather than some
blanket reward which the while nation received, so we too have a personal
reward prepared. But the precise nature of that reward is as it were
negotiable by us now, according to our spiritual ambition. Just as Caleb
chose Hebron and secured it for himself.
Jos 17:12 Yet the children of Manasseh couldn’t drive out the inhabitants
of those cities; but the Canaanites continued to dwell in that land-
"Drive out" is s.w. "possess". We must note the difference between the
Canaanite peoples and their kings being "struck" and their land "taken" by
Joshua-Jesus; and the people of Israel permanently taking possession. This
is the difference between the Lord's victory on the cross, and our taking
possession of the Kingdom. Even though that possession has been "given" to
us. The word used for "possession" is literally 'an inheritance'. The
allusion is to the people, like us, being the seed of Abraham. The Kingdom
was and is our possession, our inheritance- if we walk in the steps of
Abraham. But it is one thing to be the seed of Abraham, another to take
possession of the inheritance; and Israel generally did not take
possession of all the land (Josh.
11:23 13:1; 16:10; 18:3; 23:4). The language of inheritance / possession
is applied to us in the New Testament (Eph. 1:11,14; Col. 3:24; Acts
20:32; 26:18; 1 Pet. 1:4 etc.). Israel were promised: "You shall possess
it" (Dt. 30:5; 33:23). This was more of a command than a prophecy, for
sadly they were "given" the land but did not "possess" it. They were
constantly encouraged in the wilderness that they were on the path to
possessing the land (Dt. 30:16,18; 31:3,13; 32:47), but when they got
there they didn't possess it fully.
Jos 17:13 It happened that when the children of Israel had grown strong,
they put the Canaanites to forced labour, and didn’t utterly drive them
out-
One reason why Israel failed to drive out the tribes, and thereby lost
the Kingdom, was simply because they wanted to take tribute from them
(Josh. 17:13). Ez. 7:19 defines “silver and gold” as Israel’s
stumblingblock- moreso than idols. They just so loved wealth. The men of
Bethshemesh looked into the ark to see if there were any more jewels left
in it (1 Sam. 6:19 cp. 6,15); they trampled upon the supreme holiness of
God in their crazed fascination with wealth.
Jos 17:14 The children of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, Why have you
given me just one lot and one part for an inheritance, since I am a great
people, because Yahweh has blessed me so far?-
Ephraim and Manasseh demanded more land at the time of Josh. 17:14,
but their argument was weak because they had been given ample land, but
they refused to drive out the Canaanites or clear the forests (Josh
17:15). Their combined population was about that of the single tribe of
Judah according to the census of Num. 26. The amount of land they had per
head of population was roughly that of the other tribes, and much of it
was exceptionally fertile. They claimed they deserved it because they had
been "blessed". By saying this they were twisting scriptures which speak
of their blessing (Gen. 48:20; 49:25,26; Dt. 33:13), and therefore
demanding more territory which was easier to live in. But the promised
"blessing" didn't require they be given more land, and the other tribes
were also "blessed". This is typical of how people take one verse here or
there to justify their own secular claims.
Jos 17:15 Joshua said to them, If you are a great people, go up to the
forest, and clear land for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites
and of the Rephaim; since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for
you-
Joshua himself was from Ephraim, so he was careful not to show any
bias towards them. "If you are a great people" could sound sarcastic, as
if he didn't rate the spirituality of his own tribe. As explained on :14,
he could have answered them with statistics, proving their claim wrong.
But as so often in the Bible, men are answered out of their own mouths
(Lk. 19:22). The wrong ideas and claims of men are for a moment accepted
as true, and then turned against them.
When "the children of Joseph" complained that they
didn't have enough territory, Joshua could've told them to go and drive
out Canaanites and take their territory- this was clearly God's ideal
intention. Instead, Joshua said they could go to some virgin forest and
cut down trees to provide more territory for themselves. This was itself a
concession to human weakness.
Jos 17:16 The children of Joseph said, The hill country is not enough for
us. All the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots
of iron, both those who are in Beth Shean and its towns, and those who are
in the valley of Jezreel-
They are presented as typical of so many who complain they need more,
when arrogance, lack of faith and laziness are their real problem. They
had not tried clearing the hill country, but they complain it was in any
case not enough for them. And they have evaluated at great length the
obstacles, the nature of the chariots, and where the Canaanites were
located.
Jos 17:17 Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to
Manasseh saying, You are a great people, and have great power. You shall
not have one lot only-
This appears almost sarcastic, in response to their insistence that
they are such a great people. "The hill country" was not an additional
lot; they had already been given it. They are being told to make it
"yours" (:18) in practice by cutting down the trees there. Again we see
the difference between actual possession, and merely being assigned
territory.
Jos 17:18 but the hill country shall be yours. Although it is a forest,
you shall cut it down, and it shall be yours from one end to the other;
for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron,
and though they are strong-
The
closer one looks, the more conditional prophecies and Divine statements
there are. “You
shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and
though they are strong” was in fact conditional on their effort and faith- although it doesn’t
sound like that in the positive way it is spoken. Daniel understood that
after 70 years Jerusalem must be restored; but he earnestly prayed for
their forgiveness so that this would happen (Dan. 9:2 cp. 19).
Perhaps he opened his window and prayed towards Jerusalem exactly because
he wanted to fulfil 2 Chron. 6:37,38: “If they shall bethink themselves in
the land whither they are carried captive, and turn, and pray unto
thee… toward their land… and toward the city which thou hast chosen”. He
knew that repentance was a precondition for the promised restoration to
occur.
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