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.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes, people just don’t want to face, let alone hear, the truth? I remember another old saying, “Friends tell you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear”. Joshua must have felt some feelings, some stirrings, as these were members of his own tribe and those of Ephraim’s brother, Manasseh. Joshua, though, wasn’t going to go along with the complaints of his kin.
And the complaints seemed to be just a rehash of what had been said before: “I don’t have enough room, and I have too many enemies”. There are various explanations of the term “the hill is not enough for us” in the commentators (witness the comments and writings for this passage in the “Biblical Illustrator” at https://biblehub.com/commentaries/illustrator/joshua/17.htm) but the common thread that I see is that Ephraim, especially, plus those of Manasseh living on the west side of Jordan didn’t want to fight anymore. Proof of this was written in verses 12 and 13, even though the LORD had helped Israel defeat armies in the north who had a very large number of troops and chariots (Joshua 11).
Joshua then reminded both groups, using their own words, reminding them they were indeed a great people. He said, “The mountain’s yours if you want it! If there are too many trees, cut them down; and if there are too many enemies, then drive them out (paraphrased)!”
The chapter closes here, as well as this incident. There is no record that either Ephraim or Manasseh ever took the corrective action Joshua commanded. Their history, and the rest of Israel, might well have been much different if they had driven out the Canaanites instead of putting them to forced labor.
These two tribes had one common area of land as their inheritance, some of the best in Canaan. They also had common enemies, well-armed Canaanites who had “iron chariots” but they had also, with the rest of Israel, had defeated well-armed enemies in northern Canaan.
They also had one common failure: they didn’t follow the LORD’s commands to exterminate the Canaanites, allowing them to live in the land Israel had conquered. Not long after this, and not too long after Joshua’s death, Israel fell into the worship of these Canaanite deities (see Judges 2:11-15, “Baalim” was the plural name for all the various “Baals” they worshiped). Of course, the LORD provided relief from the bondage Israel endured, but none of that would have happened if Israel had followed the LORD’s instructions.
What does this mean for believers in these days? Whether united, or as individuals, we’re going to face various challenges. The Enemy of our souls never gives up trying to get us either destroyed or distracted, maybe even defeated—anything to get us to compromise or just plain give up on following the Lord. I hope we learn from the mistakes of Israel that giving in never results in victory for us, just victory for the enemies.
In a word, don’t let what happened to Israel happen to you!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
