March
22nd Joshua
16
Ephraim & Manasseh’s portion
Ephraim & Manasseh’s portion
1:
And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho,
unto the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goeth
up from Jericho throughout mount Bethel, 2:
And goeth out from Bethel to Luz, and passeth along unto the borders
of Archi to Ataroth, 3:
And goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti, unto the coast of
Beth-horon the nether, and to Gezer: and the goings out thereof are
at the sea. 4:
So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their
inheritance. 5:
And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families
was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was
Ataroth-addar, unto Beth-horon the upper; 6:
And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north
side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanath-shiloh, and
passed by it on the east to Janohah; 7:
And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to
Jericho, and went out at Jordan. 8:
The border went out from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah; and
the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of
the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families. 9:
And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the
inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their
villages. 10:
And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the
Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under
tribute.
Joshua 17
1:
There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh; for he was the
firstborn of Joseph; to wit, for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh,
the father of Gilead: because he was a man of war, therefore he had
Gilead and Bashan. 2:
There was also a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh by
their families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of
Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of
Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of
Shemida: these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph
by their families. 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, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and
Tirzah. 4:
And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the
son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, The LORD commanded Moses
to give us an inheritance among our brethren. Therefore according to
the commandment of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the
brethren of their father. 5:
And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, beside the land of Gilead
and Bashan, which were on the other side Jordan; 6:
Because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons:
and the rest of Manasseh's sons had the land of Gilead. 7:
And the coast of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah, that lieth
before Shechem; and the border went along on the right hand unto the
inhabitants of En-tappuah. 8:
Now Manasseh had the land of Tappuah: but Tappuah on the border of
Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim; 9:
And the coast descended unto the river Kanah, southward of the river:
these cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh: the coast
of Manasseh also was on the north side of the river, and the
outgoings of it were at the sea: 10:
Southward it was Ephraim's, and northward it was Manasseh's, and the
sea is his border; and they met together in Asher on the north, and
in Issachar on the east. 11:
And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Beth-shean and her towns,
and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns,
and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns, and the inhabitants of
Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns,
even three countries. 12:
Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of
those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 13:
Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong,
that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive
them out. 14:
And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou
given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great
people, forasmuch as the LORD hath blessed me hitherto? 15:
And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up
to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of
the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for
thee. 16:
And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and
all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots
of iron, both they who are of Beth-shean and her towns, and they who
are of the valley of Jezreel. 17:
And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to
Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power: thou
shalt not have one lot only: 18:
But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut
it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive
out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they
be strong.
Joshua
18 The remaining land divided
1:
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled
together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation
there. And the land was subdued before them. 2:
And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which
had not yet received their inheritance. 3:
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to
go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given
you? 4:
Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send
them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it
according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again to
me. 5:
And they shall divide it into seven parts: Judah shall abide in their
coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their
coasts on the north. 6:
Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the
description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before
the LORD our God. 7:
But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the
LORD is their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of
Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east,
which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them. 8:
And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went
to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and
describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you
before the LORD in Shiloh. 9:
And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by
cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to the
host at Shiloh. 10:
And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there
Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to
their divisions.
Benjamin’s
portion
11:
And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up
according to their families: and the coast of their lot came forth
between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. 12:
And their border on the north side was from Jordan; and the border
went up to the side of Jericho on the north side, and went up through
the mountains westward; and the goings out thereof were at the
wilderness of Beth-aven. 13:
And the border went over from thence toward Luz, to the side of Luz,
which is Bethel, southward; and the border descended to Ataroth-adar,
near the hill that lieth on the south side of the nether Beth-horon.
14:
And the border was drawn thence, and compassed the corner of the sea
southward, from the hill that lieth before Beth-horon southward; and
the goings out thereof were at Kirjath-baal, which is Kirjath-jearim,
a city of the children of Judah: this was the west quarter. 15:
And the south quarter was from the end of Kirjath-jearim, and the
border went out on the west, and went out to the well of waters of
Nephtoah: 16:
And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before
the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the
giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the
side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to En-rogel, 17:
And was drawn from the north, and went forth to En-shemesh, and went
forth toward Geliloth, which is over against the going up of Adummim,
and descended to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben, 18:
And passed along toward the side over against Arabah northward, and
went down unto Arabah: 19:
And the border passed along to the side of Beth-hoglah northward: and
the outgoings of the border were at the north bay of the salt sea at
the south end of Jordan: this was the south coast. 20:
And Jordan was the border of it on the east side. This was the
inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the coasts thereof round
about, according to their families. 21:
Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to
their families were Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and the valley of
Keziz, 22:
And Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel, 23:
And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah, 24:
And Chephar-haammonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities with their
villages: 25:
Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth, 26:
And Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah, 27:
And Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah, 28:
And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and
Kirjath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance
of the children of Benjamin according to their families.
In todays Bible
reading we have further detailed descriptions of the borders of the
land of three more tribes. Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin. In the
inheritance of the firstborn three privileges were seen. There was
authority, the priestly function and a double portion of the
blessing. These firstborn rights were lost by Reuben and given to
others. Judah had the authority, Levi had the priestly ministry and
Ephraim and Manasseh had together the double portion of blessing on
behalf of their father Joseph. When looking at the map previously we
can see the extent of the territory of the tribes of Ephraim. They
had the whole central portion of the land from the Mediterranean sea
on the west to the river Jordan on the east from nearly Jerusalem in
the south to nearly Shechem in the north. About 50 miles wide and 25
miles from top to bottom. The tribe of Manasseh had an area twice the
size. It was immediately north of Ephraim and extended from the
Mediterranean Sea in the west right over the river Jordan right on
into the eastern mountains and into the desert. It extended from
Shechem in the south to Meggido in the north. An area 100 miles wide
and 35 miles from top to bottom. The tribe of Ephraim drove out the
Canaanites from their territory but a small number of Canaanites
still remained to serve them under tribute. The tribe of Manasseh had
a portion twice as big as his brother because he was the firstborn.
They had a double portion because the daughters had possessions as
well as the sons. They were unable to drive out all of the Canaanites
from the land but they ruled the Canaanites causing them to pay
tribute. The tribe of Ephraim complained that there was not enough
room for all their families and the enemy had chariots of Iron but
Joshua replied that they were to conquer the land and cut down some
of the woods for grazing. Joshua encouraged them, calling them a
great people and great in power and that they were to have courage
and drive out the Canaanites even though they had iron chariots and
were a strong force. The children of Israel pitched the Tabernacle at
Shiloh and assembled there. All the land of Canaan was overcome in
the main only pockets of resistance remained. However seven of the
tribes had still not entered into their inheritance. Joshua said to
these tribes, why are you slack to enter into your inheritance? and
he chose three men from each tribe to go in and view the land that
remained unconquered. They were to go and walk through the land and
describe it, dividing it into seven parts. They went and did as
Joshua had said and wrote it in a book. And then they came back to
Joshua. Then Joshua cast lots for it before the Lord. The tribe of
Benjamin had a small area just below Ephraim about 20 miles wide and
ten miles from top to bottom. They were near to Judah who along with
them would form the southern kingdom of Judah. Referred to today as
‘the Jews’.
- Complete the map of the territory of the Tribes.
- Why were seven tribes slow to enter into their inheritance?
- What difference did it make if they didn't move into these areas?
No comments:
Post a Comment