Joshua 17, Two Tribes With One Common Problem Series

Introduction: Joshua had begun to distribute the land of Canaan to the various tribes of Israel. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh had received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River, and Judah had received the southern part of the land. Ephraim and the other portion of Manasseh had received a large area in just about the middle. Despite the promise, these two tribes agreed on one common problem. They decided to approach Joshua about it.

The First Complaint and Reply

Text: Joshua 17:14-15, KJV: 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.

Someone once observed that when two people or groups approach a leader with the same problem, the problem tends to be large. That was the case when “the children of Joseph”, or Manasseh and Ephraim, came to Joshua with what seems to be a strange complaint.

This complaint was something along the lines of “Why didn’t you give me more land than what I thought I should get?” A number of commentators, interestingly, observed that Ephraim, in particular, was a tribe that wanted the preeminence. Part of this would make sense because Joshua himself was from the tribe of Ephraim, and another part might be that Joseph, the father of both Manasseh and Ephraim, had been the second-most powerful man in Egypt! Compared to the other sons of Jacob—ranchers and herders, mainly—it might have been easy for these two tribes to feel, maybe, superior.

So here they came, whether the whole tribe or only the leaders is not really important. What was important is that they had a complaint which they felt was valid. They posed the question and, it seems, waited for Joshua’s reply.

One of the claims which Ephraim, especially, had made was “the LORD has blessed me.” In one sense, that was very untrue, as Ephraim had experienced a net loss of 8000 men (comparing Numbers 1:33 and 26:37)! We don’t know why this decrease had happened, but it did, and it’s hard to imagine the LORD’s blessings when there were and are fewer people to bless. Manasseh, however, had almost doubled their population, from 32, 200 (Numbers 1:35) to 52.700 (Numbers 26:34). Again, Scripture gives no reason for this increase, but they did increase, and could truly claim the LORD’s blessing. Besides, there were enough of the Manassites to populate good-sized areas on both sides of the Jordan!

Now, maybe they didn’t really understand or comprehend the borders of their inheritance. These borders were described in detail as recorded in Joshua 16 (Ephraim’s inheritance) and 17:7-13 (the western half of Manasseh’s inheritance). I have to confess I still don’t understand why they weren’t satisfied with the land they were given, but here’s proof they really weren’t.

And note how Joshua replies to their complaint. First, he uses their own words as part of this reply. “You’re saying ‘I am a great people’? Then, get busy! Get up to the forest, cut down as much wood as you need, if in fact mount Ephraim is too small for you (paraphrased)”. It’s hard for us to imagine, sometimes, that Israel was once densely forested. That was true here and was still true hundreds of years later after Israel returned from the Babylonian captivity. The prophet Haggai exhorted the returnees (only a limited number of Israelites returned home) to build the Temple, saying, “Go up to the mountains, bring wood, and build the house (Haggai 1:7)!” How could they cut timber if there wasn’t any?

Joshua also reminded them, even though these other men did not, about the Perizzites and giants who seemed to be living in the land of the inheritance. Had the sons of Manasseh and Ephraim forgotten how the same LORD Whom they said had blessed them also cleared out the enemies?

2 The Second Complaint and Reply

Text, Joshua 17:16-18, KJV: 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 Bethshean 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.