Joshua 17 More Land... More Land

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Joshua 17:15 “If you are so numerous,” Joshua answered, “and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites.”

16 The people of Joseph replied, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots fitted with iron, both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”

17 But Joshua said to the tribes of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—“You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment 18 but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out.”​

I think it's time for a map again.

Map-Canaan-Twelve-Tribes.gif

This is from the easy https://www.easyenglish.bible/bible-commentary/joshua-lbw.htm site.

  • The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh wanted more land. They believed that they should have more land. They asked Joshua for more land.
    [*]Joshua gave them a very wise answer. They could cut trees down. This would give them more land.
    [*]The two tribes said that even that was not enough. Also, the people who lived there were very strong. Joshua gave them the hills. He told the two tribes that they could defeat the people.​

This turns out to be quite a story.

These chapters seem to be the land distribution negotiations. A couple days ago I read where Caleb's daughter went to her father on behalf of her husband to talk about the water rights on her land. She asked Caleb to make sure they had the springs included in their negotiations.

Now it seems that its the two sons of Joseph who are in line to negotiate. So it seems that the two [2] families of Ephraim and Manasseh wanted more land. I would think that even in this theocracy that the families of Joseph would be treated a little different. After all, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. God was with him though and he actually became the financial ruler of all of Egypt. That's a big deal. The Israelites all knew the history. I would suppose the two tribes were used to getting their way.

First they used their numbers to get more land. Then they claimed they weren't big or bad enough to take on the Canaanites. Joshua had them there. He said [loosely paraphrased] "If you have so many people that you need more land.... then you have so many soldiers that you will be able to conquer the Canaanites that are left on your land".

This is from Bible.org.

These tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh) describe the enemies' strength in hopes of getting an extra allotment, but Joshua reminds them that they had claimed to be strong in numbers (part of the promised blessing of Deuteronomy 27-28).​

Joshua's right.... you can't have it both ways.

:coffee:
 
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